Extinct in the wild: The precarious state of Earth's most threatened group of species.

Extinct in the Wild (EW) species are placed at the highest risk of extinction under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, but the extent and variation in this risk have never been evaluated. Harnessing global databases of ex situ animal and plant holdings, we report on the perilous state of EW species. Most EW animal species-already compromised by their small number of founders-are maintained at population sizes far below the thresholds necessary to ensure demographic security. Most EW plant species depend on live propagation by a small number of botanic gardens, with a minority secured at seed bank institutions. Both extinctions and recoveries are possible fates for EW species. We urgently call for international effort to enable the latter.

Using self-study as a methodology for dental educators' professional inquiry.

INTRODUCTION: Dental educators play crucial roles in dental education and in the functioning of dental schools. Whilst it is recognised that dental educators need more than relevant disciplinary expertise and that scholarly development of dental educators is important, there is a lack of knowledge about ways research can be used to promote professional development. This article aims to showcase a research methodology for professional inquiry that is widely used in teacher education to promote the view that dental education is a professional practice. APPROACH: Self-study methodology was employed by four dental educators to illuminate their theory-informed practice. We chose to frame the inquiry around technology and accumulated three forms of data: individual journaling, video-call discussions and Padlet/bricolage. Analysis of this data focused on how the learning was co-constructed by the group. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION: Five key elements of our self-study were constructed into narratives: understanding technology as a dental educator, being a learner and embodied scholarship, the (expanded) roles of a teacher in a technological environment, advancing our own professional identity as an educator, and possibilities and limits for self-study in the dental education context. CONCLUSION: Professionalisation of dental educators is critical to sustainable dental education. By educators researching their own practice, research approaches such as self-study can perform a dual role of facilitating scholarly development and contributing to the generation of new knowledge about becoming and being a dental educator.

The impact of an electronic guide on students' self-directed learning in simulation clinic.

INTRODUCTION: Simulation training on high-fidelity simulated models have been used to provide a safe and effective training platform for dental students to develop the skills necessary to treat patients. To surpass challenges of traditional pedagogies in simulation training and reinforce self-directed learning, a bespoke computer application, PerioPal, was designed to complement training of dental students in periodontal instrumentation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study evaluated the impact of PerioPal on a cohort of 92 second-year dental students at an Australian University. During the first semester in 2019, they received traditional simulation periodontal instrumentation training (control semester). In the following semester, PerioPal was implemented as a technological teaching adjunct (intervention semester). Student perceptions of their learning experiences were gathered through a qualitative and quantitative questionnaire. Impact on student performance was evaluated through comparing periodontal instrumental assessment results in control and interventionsemesters. RESULTS: With introduction of PerioPal, students perceived that the simulation clinic learning environment, better contributed to the speed at which they learnt new instrumentation as well as being able to self-pace their work. They commented that instructional videos and independent learning were most beneficial. Interestingly, students suggested that PerioPal aided their preparation for theoretical assessments more than their practical assessments. After introduction of PerioPal a minor improvement of average practical assessment marks was observed but could not be statistically confirmed as significant. CONCLUSION: Although the computer-supported learning did not lead to improvement of the students' practical performance a positive effect on the student self-paced learning experience and engagement in simulated environment were observed.

Guidelines for innovation in dental education during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

During the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, dental education and training requiring face-to-face interaction must prioritize infection prevention and the safety of students, staff, and patients. In July 2020, the Association for Dental Education, Asia Pacific (ADEAP) published safety guidelines for safe dental education during the COVID-19 pandemic. These guidelines summarize ADEAP recommendations for classroom-based courses, reopening of simulated training courses and dental clinics, and provision of clinical skills training courses in dentistry during the COIVID-19 pandemic. They have been formulated to ensure the safety of students and teaching staff, dental auxiliary staff, and patients. However, the present guidelines are considered appropriate only when the number of COVID-19 epidemic cases has been significantly reduced, i.e. when the epidemiological curve has flattened in the area concerned. The criteria for lifting restrictions on activities should be consistent with relevant jurisdictional guidelines.

Biodiversity Conservation and the Earth System: Mind the Gap.

One of the most striking human impacts on global biodiversity is the ongoing depletion of large vertebrates from terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Recent work suggests this loss of megafauna can affect processes at biome or Earth system scales with potentially serious impacts on ecosystem structure and function, ecosystem services, and biogeochemical cycles. We argue that our contemporary approach to biodiversity conservation focuses on spatial scales that are too small to adequately address these impacts. We advocate a new global approach to address this conservation gap, which must enable megafaunal populations to recover to functionally relevant densities. We conclude that re-establishing biome and Earth system functions needs to become an urgent global priority for conservation science and policy.

Crucial Role for Outdoor Chemistry in Ultrafine Particle Formation in Modern Office Buildings.

In the developed world, we spend most of our time indoors, where we receive the majority of our exposure to air pollution. This paper reports model simulations of PM2.5 and ozone concentrations in identical landscape offices in three European cities: Athens, Helsinki, and Milan. We compare concentrations during an intense heatwave in August 2003 with a meteorologically more typical August in 2009. During the heatwave, average indoor ozone concentrations during office hours were 44, 19, and 41 ppb in Athens, Helsinki, and Milan respectively, enhanced by 7, 4, and 17 ppb respectively relative to 2009. Total predicted PM2.5 concentrations were 13.5, 3.6, and 17.2 µg m(-3) in Athens, Helsinki, and Milan respectively, enhanced by 0.5, 0.4, and 6.7 µg m(-3) respectively relative to 2009: the three cities were affected to differing extents by the heatwave. A significant portion of the indoor PM2.5 derived from gas-phase chemistry outdoors, producing 2.5, 0.8, and 4.8 µg m(-3) of the total concentrations in Athens, Helsinki, and Milan, respectively. Despite filtering office inlet supplies to remove outdoor particles, gas-phase precursors for particles can still enter offices, where conditions are ripe for new particles to form, particularly where biogenic emissions are important outdoors. This result has important implications for indoor air quality, particularly given the current trend for green walls on buildings, which will provide a potential source of biogenic emissions near to air inlet systems.

The role of vocal individuality in conservation.

Identifying the individuals within a population can generate information on life history parameters, generate input data for conservation models, and highlight behavioural traits that may affect management decisions and error or bias within census methods. Individual animals can be discriminated by features of their vocalisations. This vocal individuality can be utilised as an alternative marking technique in situations where the marks are difficult to detect or animals are sensitive to disturbance. Vocal individuality can also be used in cases were the capture and handling of an animal is either logistically or ethically problematic. Many studies have suggested that vocal individuality can be used to count and monitor populations over time; however, few have explicitly tested the method in this role. In this review we discuss methods for extracting individuality information from vocalisations and techniques for using this to count and monitor populations over time. We present case studies in birds where vocal individuality has been applied to conservation and we discuss its role in mammals.