Rockefeller University

Program for the Human Environment

News

Accurate, informative coverage of new Stoeckle-Ausubel paper on eDNA of New York’s East River

National Geographic How many rats are in New York City? Scientists find new clues in the East River. By Melissa Hobson

BBC Wildlife Magazine East River DNA reveals secrets of life (and death) in New York | Discover Wildlife by Helen Pilcher

C&EN Environmental DNA brings the East River’s fish population into focus By Sarah Braner

Green Prophet Poop in the East River shows the city’s rat problem and what people like to eat  By Karin Kloosterman

 MSN Environmental DNA study reveals new insights into aquatic life by Co-Pilot from Phys.Org

BioEngineer, United States Environmental DNA from NYC’s East River Uncovers Insights into Local Human and Wildlife Populations

Le Figaro, France Fish, humans… and rats: what DNA monitoring in urban rivers reveals by Delphine Chayet

Deutsche Presse Agentur via WEB.de, Germany What rivers reveal: genetic material paints a picture of entire ecosystems

 el Mundo, Spain New York’s East River ‘knows’ how many rats the city has or what its inhabitants are eating by Florencia Da Silva

Mirage News, Australia East River transforms into living biosensor PLOS news release

Jesse video interview on enduring environmental realities

Texas geologist Scott Tinker interviews Jesse Ausubel on “Enduring Environmental Realities” for 20 minutes beginning at 6:25 of this recording of the annual Energy Future Forum of the National Center for Energy Analytics (NCEA).   Iddo Wernick is a Fellow of the NCEA. The Forum was presented by RealClearEnergy in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday 1 May in Washington DC.   The agenda and entire program are here.

East River DNA reveals fish, urban wildlife, and what New Yorkers eat

Mark and Jesse’s year-long study of East River eDNA “Biomonitoring in the Anthropocene: Urban estuary environmental DNA tracks marine fish, terrestrial wildlife, and human diet” is published today in PloS ONE. The findings suggest that urban waterways anywhere could become continuous biosensors, tracking biodiversity, habitat restoration outcomes, and human impacts in real time. Among the most novel results of the weekly East River sampling were genetic indicators of human food consumption, of rat and other terrestrial wildlife populations, and the discovery of newly abundant fish species, thought to reflect the success of habitat restoration efforts. Our lively press release is posted here and graphic highlights here.

Vintage talk on Power and Climate

We post Jesse’s talk on “Power and Climate” delivered to executives of the US electric power industry in 2019. The 30-page pdf includes text (13 pages) followed by 17 pages of figures. Some highlights were excerpted here in February 2025, which makes us think the talk is standing the tests of time and earns posting.

Leonardo DNA in Science magazine

Science magazine’s Richard Stone publishes a superb survey of the Leonardo da Vinci Project, The Real da Vinci Code, occasioned by the posting to BioRxiv of our big paper, Biological signatures of history: Examination of composite biomes and Y chromosome analysis from da Vinci-associated cultural artifacts.

Media coverage is occurring, a couple of items are linked below. 

The Telegraph Leonardo da Vinci DNA discovery could uncover lost paintings By Sarah Knapton

The Times Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA ‘found on artwork’  By Rhys Blakely

Irish radio program Drivetime interview with Jesse (starts with 2 minutes of patter)

Dubai radio The Agenda with Georgia Talley (starts at 56 minutes)

Australian radio program Sunday Extra

PHE high school intern presents to international eDNA meeting in Japan

Arya Kambhampati, Manhattan high school senior mentored by PHE’s Mark Stoeckle, presented on 13 December remotely to  the  8th Annual Meeting of The eDNA Society in Yamaguchi, Japan on using eDNA to measure vertebrate biodiversity on oyster reefs such as those now being encouraged in New York Harbor.  Congratulations, Arya, on your first talk to a major scientific conference.

Leonardo Da Vinci DNA Project public website

The purpose of the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project is to create insights into the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci through application of rapidly advancing tools in biology and anthropology in close association with expertise from history and the arts. The new detective technologies span genetics and genealogy, microbiology, physical anthropology, chemistry, hydraulics, and visualization. A principal means for insight would be a genomic profile of Leonardo. The Project was conceived in 2014 by Brunetto Chiarelli, Cesare Marchetti, and Jesse Ausubel with crucial help from Henry de Lumley…and finally opens a public website.

Mark & Jesse give NOAA Webinar on Urban estuary eDNA

On 19 November Mark Stoeckle and Jesse Ausubel presented the NOAA ‘Omics Webinar on “Urban estuary eDNA reports seasonal abundance of marine fish, and, thanks to wastewater, tracks local wildlife, land birds, household pets, and human diet.” A video of the Webinar, one hour including Q&A, is here in YouTube. Thanks to Katie Poser and Nicole Miller for hosting and organizing.

Abstract: Here we analyzed vertebrate eDNA in New York City’s East River, a rocky estuary channel difficult to survey with mechanical gear and subject to wastewater discharge. There was a 10-fold increase in local marine fish eDNA in summer and seasonal differences among taxa consistent with known phenology. Levels of other vertebrate eDNA—domesticated animal, non-fish wildlife, and dietary fish—were correlated with human eDNA levels, consistent with a shared wastewater source. Wastewater eDNA identified the commonest urban mammals, land birds, and household pets. Proportions of dietary animal eDNA in wastewater closely approximated proportions in national consumption statistics, opening a window into human diet assessment. Wastewater eDNA analysis added value in an urban estuary survey of marine fish eDNA.

On Trump’s Higher Ed Compact

Jesse Ausubel and Bill Massy, who teamed to create the first (and only) video game of the American university, Virtual U., reunited to publish an Op-Ed in RealClear Education on A Video Game of the Trump Higher Ed Compact, Seriously. Maybe university leaders can learn something from builders and players of World of Warcraft and Fortnite.  It’s time for a new generation of simulations in the spirit of Virtual U.