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Marine life finds new home at base of wind turbines

How sea critters and wind turbines co-exist

URI Ph.D. student Emmanuel Oyewole
conducting field work at the South Fork
Wind farm turbines.
(Photos courtesy Emmanuel Oyewole)

As lobsters migrate to colder waters due to climate change, Jonah crabs are becoming one of the most important species for fisheries in Southern New England.

“As the biomass of the American lobster declines due to climate-related changes and shifting ocean conditions, many fishermen have adapted by targeting other valuable species, and the Jonah crab has become a major alternative,” said Emmanuel Oyewole, a first-year Ph.D. student in the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. 

“The Jonah crab used to be considered a bycatch species and thrown back because lobster was so lucrative. As lobsters became less abundant, people started to realize that the Jonah crab is a viable and delicious alternative.”

Oyewole is conducting a study that is partly funded by a grant from The Nature Conservancy into how offshore wind farm structures are impacting the growth and habitats of Jonah crabs.

Oyewole prepares Jonah crab muscle samples for analysis in URI’s Ocean Ecogeochemistry Laboratory.

“Ecologically, Jonah crabs also play an important role in the marine food web,” said Oyewole, who is from Ilé-Ifẹ̀, Nigeria, a town in the southwestern part of the country. “They are both predators and prey, helping to maintain balance within benthic ecosystems. Because they are closely connected to seafloor habitats, they can help us understand how offshore wind farm structures may influence local biodiversity, habitat use, and the productivity of fisheries.”

When turbine foundations are installed on the seafloor, their hard surfaces become desirable habitats for marine organisms to attach, grow, and live, just as they do on natural rock or reefs. As algae, barnacles, mussels, and other small marine life, settle on these structures, these smaller organisms attract larger species such as crabs and fish that come to feed, hide, or seek shelter.

“The turbines can create a kind of ‘mini ecosystem.’ They provide food and habitat, which can draw marine life into the area and potentially change how species use the surrounding environment,” said Oyewole. “The question is whether they are increasing the overall amount of marine life in the ocean by creating new production or simply concentrating animals that were already living in the surrounding areas.”

The data Oyewole collects and analyzes will benefit the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by local commercial fishermen.

These Simple Plant Foods Are Linked to Lower Blood Pressure

Bobby Junior would probably disagree

By BMJ Group

Higher soy and legume intake may reduce the risk of high blood pressure, with the greatest benefits seen at moderate daily consumption levels.

Higher consumption of soy foods and legumes may help lower the risk of high blood pressure, according to a pooled analysis of existing research published in the open-access journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health.

Researchers found that the greatest benefit was linked to eating about 170 grams (6 ounces) of legumes daily, including peas, lentils, chickpeas, and beans, along with 60 to 80 grams (2.1 to 2.8 ounces) of soy foods such as tofu, soy milk, edamame, tempeh, and miso.

Previous studies have connected legumes and soy foods with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, but evidence on their role in reducing high blood pressure has been inconsistent. To investigate further, researchers reviewed studies published through June 2025 and identified 10 publications containing data from 12 prospective observational studies.

Trump Uses America’s 250th Anniversary To Rewrite History With Corporate Sponsorships

George Orwell warned us: "Who controls the past, controls the future" 

By Gina-Marie Cheeseman

Key Takeaways

• Freedom 250 is a corporate-sponsored initiative by the Trump administration to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, heavily influenced by Hillsdale College’s narrative.
• Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has directed employees to promote Freedom 250, despite the existence of a nonpartisan organization, America250.
• The initiative serves as an advertising scheme, allowing corporations to sponsor the celebration for large donations, while taxpayer money funds these events.
• Critics argue that the Freedom 250 logo and its related propaganda undermine government neutrality and erase historical accuracy.
• Concerns have been raised about potential foreign donations, despite claims by Freedom 250 spokespeople that they do not accept such funds.

What do you get when you combine a view of American history reminiscent of the novel 1984 with corporate sponsors? Freedom 250 is the result, or as its website proclaims, the Trump administration’s “national, non-partisan organization leading the celebration of our Nation’s 250th birthday.”

The long-term consequences of McKee’s short-sighted energy savings plan

Get ready for another Dan McKee mess

By Bill Ibelle, Rhode Island Current

If you think the Washington Bridge fiasco was a bummer, wait until you see the sequel.

That horror movie is in production right now and will be coming to a theater near you if the governor’s cuts to clean energy programs are approved by the legislature. It will be another example of kicking the can down the road until disaster strikes. But more importantly, it will be another example of how saving a few dollars today can lead to astronomical costs in the very near future.

What should we learn from the Washington Bridge? We knew for years that our highway bridges were aging and that hundreds of them, both large and small, were in dangerously poor repair. We know that the Rhode Island Department of Transportation and a succession of governors chose to look the other way because it’s always smart politics to save voters a few dollars immediately, even if it’s going to cost them a fortune for years to come. 

Our government opted to save some money. And then the Washington Bridge had to be demolished because it was on the brink of collapse. This created a massive traffic jam that will choke our economy for at least four years and cost taxpayers a half a billion dollars to demolish the bridge and build a new one.  

Now let’s look at our present situation. The governor is promising to save you $15 a month on your electric bill by ignoring the climate crisis, but experts say those numbers are wildly inflated and the governor has yet to provide documentation to specifically back up its claim. Still, the governor’s offer is nothing to sneeze at. It could buy you a few cups of coffee

All you have to do to get that free coffee is to agree to kick the climate crisis down the road by cutting programs designed to speed our transition to clean energy. You may wonder why saving $15 a month is a bad idea. To answer that question, let’s watch the movie trailer “Return of the Short-Sighted Leaders.”

Attention, former RI state Representative Justin Price...

Former Richmond state Rep. Justin Price participated in the January 6 insurrection and claimed Antifa for causing the trouble. Does that mean that Antifa can file claims from this fund? 

May 27 puppet show

Remember The Way puppet show with Heather Henson

At the Cross Mills Library by the Tomaquag Museum

“Where water flows and creatures return, balance is remembered.”

Join Heather Henson in connecting to your local land and waterways. Participants will employ kinetic learning to explore planetary movements and seasonal rhythms. Together, we will journey through the interconnected waterways and shifting landscapes of the planet guided by the cultural keystone animals; Whales, Cranes, Sturgeon, and Bison.

Scientists are reading Block Island’s past to protect its future

Maybe it will teach us more about coastal change

By Amber Neville

Two new URI studies will decode over a century of coastal change on one of New England’s most treasured islands, delivering planning tools and scientific guidance directly to the community, backed by more than $800,000 in combined Rhode Island Sea Grant funding and matching funds. (URI Photo / Rhode Island Sea Grant)

Every summer, the population of Block Island swells to over 15,000 as visitors arrive for its 17 miles of beaches, dramatic glacial bluffs, and quiet ponds. The island has always changed — its bluffs eroding, its shorelines shifting, its marshes responding to the rhythms of tide and season. But the pace of that change is accelerating, and the decisions the community makes in the coming years will shape what the island looks like for generations to come.

The University of Rhode Island is working alongside that community to make those decisions better informed. Two new research projects, supported by more than $800,000 in combined Rhode Island Sea Grant funding and matching funds from URI and Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU), will produce the most detailed picture yet of how Block Island’s shoreline and salt marshes are changing and what is driving those changes.

Watch what you say

Your “um” and pauses could reveal early dementia risk

Baycrest Corporate Centre for Geriatric Care

The little pauses, “ums,” and moments when you struggle to find the right word may reveal far more about your brain than anyone realized. Researchers discovered that everyday speech patterns are closely tied to executive function — the mental system that powers memory, planning, focus, and flexible thinking. 

By using AI to analyze natural conversations, the team found they could predict cognitive performance with surprising accuracy, potentially opening the door to simple speech-based tools that could detect early signs of dementia long before traditional testing does.

The way people speak during ordinary conversations could offer valuable insight into brain health, according to new research from Baycrest, the University of Toronto, and York University. Scientists found that subtle speech characteristics, including pauses, filler words such as ('uh,' 'um'), and difficulty retrieving words, are closely connected to executive function, the group of mental abilities involved in memory, planning, attention, and flexible thinking.

The findings provide some of the strongest evidence so far linking natural speech patterns with key cognitive abilities. The work also expands on earlier research showing that older adults who speak more quickly tend to maintain stronger thinking skills over time (Wei et al., 2024).

Facial recognition data is a key to your identity – if stolen, you can’t just change the locks

Who benefits?

Jonathan S. Weissman, Rochester Institute of Technology

A woman strolls into a grocery store, thinking about grabbing some apples. Before she even reaches the produce aisle, a security camera has scanned her face. Whether the system is checking for shoplifters or simply logging her arrival, her face has joined a digital ledger, a trace she can’t easily erase. Retailers, banks, airports, stadiums and office buildings are doing the same.

But what if the woman’s facial information is stolen or misused? If a cybercriminal steals her password, she can change it. If they acquire her credit card number, she can cancel the card. But she can’t reset or revoke the appearance of her cheekbones.

Facial recognition systems don’t keep actual images. They convert a face into a mathematical template that maps the positions and proportions of the face’s features. When another camera scans a person later, the system checks their live face against these templates to confirm an identity.

In my work as a cybersecurity professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, I have found that even though templates are more secure than photos – which anyone online can capture and manipulate – templates, too, can be stolen. Once that happens, these digital keys create a lifelong vulnerability. If a facial recognition database is breached, the “locks” that a template opens – accessing a bank app, getting through security at an airport, entering an office building – can’t be reset. A person’s face is permanent, and so is the threat.

The threat isn’t theoretical. Biometric data has been stolen in data breaches. In 2024, biometric data from a facial recognition system used at bars and clubs in Australia was hacked. And in 2019, biometric data from a pilot facial recognition system set up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection was breached in an attack on a subcontractor’s network. It’s not clear whether anyone’s stolen biometric data has been exploited, however.

New hospital safety ratings show Westerly Hospital with an “A” and South County with a “C”

South County Hospital needs help

By Will Collette

The latest ratings on hospital safety just came out from the Leapfrog Group, the leading ranking service in the country. Under its rankings for Rhode Island, Miriam Hospital continues in the top spot as the safest in the state.

South County’s two non-profit hospitals have bracketed hospital ratings for safety and effectiveness over the past couple of decades, one usually ranked at or near the top, the other at or near the bottom.

When Cathy and I returned to Rhode Island in 2001, it was South County Hospital with the great scores and Westerly Hospital with the poor ones. That changed about ten years ago.

In 2012, Westerly Hospital was on the brink of shutting down, having run out of money with a management that had run out of ideas. They were saved, barely, when they were purchased by Lawrence & Memorial Hospital of New London. L&M management brutally cut staff and services at Westerly, while also engaged in a bitter strike with their own employees in New London.

However, in 2016, the dynamic changed when both Lawrence & Memorial and Westerly Hospitals were bought out by Yale-New Haven as Yale brought higher standards to both hospitals.

By contrast, South County Hospital remained Rhode Island’s only independent hospital, for better or worse, and also recently went through its own corporate turmoil that broke into the open in summer 2024.

My own personal connection to South County Hospital goes back more than 50 years. As a young strategic researcher, I worked on a statewide campaign led by former RI AFL-CIO President George Nee to get every hospital in Rhode Island to help uninsured and unemployed workers by treating them regardless of ability to pay and to write off a substantial amount of medical debt. Each hospital in turn was targeted until they agreed to these terms.

Donald Ford

Except South County. Under longtime CEO Donald Ford, South County already had these policies in place and advertised this policy on the radio. I called Ford to find out why South County alone had such a positive approach. He laughed, said he expected I’d get around to calling, and invited me down.

I went and discovered a new friend, if not a kindred spirit. As we walked through the whole hospital, especially the inner sections rarely seen by visitors, Donald greeted workers and often patients by name. He ran the hospital that way for almost 30 years. I mourned his passing in 2010.

Fast forward to the present and we have a new South County CEO, Aaron Robinson who took over as boss in 2018. His policies and management style provoked a staff revolt, mass resignations, a sharp decline in South County’s ratings and community protests demanding his resignation.

Robinson responded by adopting a siege mentality and, in a move I’ve never seen, filed a punitive SLAPP suit against the community opposition group “Save South County Hospital.” SLAPP suits are illegal under Rhode Island law.

Whether it was the SLAPP suit or some genuine compromise, South County management and its angry constituents came to some kind of undisclosed compromise, but not in time to prevent South County Hospital’s safety score from dropping another letter grade.

One of the few details of the settlement acknowledged by both sides was that South County would seek and secure some sort of "partnership" deal with an undisclosed third party that would boost quality through more investment yet also preserve SCH's independence.

I asked several SCH staff at various levels about this secret deal, and they said they were waiting to see what Robinson had in mind.

Meanwhile, under Yale-Haven, Westerly Hospital continues to show marked improvement as their scores over the past several years shows.

 

Contrast this with South County Hospital's poor showing.

If you open up the FULL REPORT, you can see where South County has fallen short. I was especially concerned about the two tables above. My interpretation of this data is that safety standards certainly appear to have slipped, but it doesn't seem to be the staff's fault. 

Non-profit hospitals should be a public trust. That's what Donald Ford told me almost 50 years ago. Today, they are more like businesses, and their leaders resemble Wall Street CEOs rather than Main Street civic leaders. While I harbor no false hopes about any return to the good old days, there must be a way rekindle the bond between the public and these once revered institutions.

Very good, Donald

Join the Hope Valley Memorial Day Parade

RI Senate passes Victoria Gu bill to require home insurers to give proper notice before cancellation

Climate change risk pushes insurers to cancel coastal home insurance 

The Senate approved legislation sponsored by Sen. Victoria Gu to require insurers to provide customers with advance notice of nonrenewal for homeowners and residential fire insurance policies.

“Insurance companies are being a lot more selective about the location and the condition of the houses they insure, declining to cover homes in coastal areas or with older roofs or water heaters,” said Senator Gu (D-Dist. 38, Westerly, Charlestown, South Kingstown). 

“The 60 days’ advance notice will help homeowners find alternative insurance coverage and find tradespeople if they need to fix something at their house in order to continue insurance coverage.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: Cathy and I went through this last year TWICE, each time finding insurance companies were changing the rules about covering properties near the coast. Once you find coverage, or maybe I should say IF you find coverage, prices are way up.  - Will Collette