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Colpoda, one of the most widespread ciliated protozoa in soil, are poorly understood in regard to their genetics and evolution. Our research revealed extreme mitochondrial gene rearrangements dominated by gene loss events, potentially leading to the streamlining ofColpodamitogenomes. Surprisingly, while interspecific rearrangements abound, our population-level mitogenomic study revealed a conserved gene order within species, offering a potential new identification criterion. Phylogenomic analysis traced their lineage over 326 million years, revealing two distinct groups. Substantial genomic divergence might be associated with the lack of extended collinear blocks and relaxed purifying selection. This study systematically revealsColpodaciliate mitogenome structures and evolution, providing insights into the survival and evolution of these vital soil microorganisms. 

Hydrofluoroolefins are being adopted as sustainable alternatives to long-lived fluorine- and chlorine-containing gases and are finding current or potential mass-market applications as refrigerants, among a myriad of other uses. Their olefinic bond affords relatively rapid reaction with hydroxyl radicals present in the atmosphere, leading to short lifetimes and proportionally small global warming potentials. However, this type of functionality also allows reaction with ozone, and whilst these reactions are slow, we show that the products of these reactions can be extremely long-lived. Our chamber measurements show that several industrially important hydrofluoroolefins produce CHF₃(fluoroform, HFC-23), a potent, long-lived greenhouse gas. When this process is accounted for in atmospheric chemical and transport modeling simulations, we find that the total radiative effect of certain compounds can be several times that of the direct radiative effect currently recommended by the World Meteorological Organization. Our supporting quantum chemical calculations indicate that a large range of exothermicity is exhibited in the initial stages of ozonolysis, which has a powerful influence on the CHF₃yield. Furthermore, we identify certain molecular configurations that preclude the formation of long-lived greenhouse gases. This demonstrates the importance of product quantification and ozonolysis kinetics in determining the overall environmental impact of hydrofluoroolefin emissions. 

In recent years, the emergence of fake news outlets has drawn out the importance of news literacy. This is particularly critical in social media where the flood of information makes it difficult for people to assess the veracity of the false stories from such deceitful sources. Therefore, people oftentimes fail to look skeptically at these stories. We explore a way to circumvent this problem by nudging users into making conscious assessments of what online contents are credible. For this purpose, we developed FeedReflect, a browser extension. The extension nudges users to pay more attention and uses reflective questions to engage in news credibility assessment on Twitter. We recruited a small number of university students to use this tool on Twitter. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the study suggests the extension helped people accurately assess the credibility of news. This implies FeedReflect can be used for the broader audience to improve online news literacy.