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I graduated last autumn with a PhD in environmental engineering and today I work as a research fellow in geology, focusing on solid waste recycling and circular economy in the Estonian oil shale industry.

I have dabbled with photography and videography ever since high school, but took it up more seriously in 2016 as I hitchhiked from Estonia to Vietnam over the course of six months before starting my doctoral studies. Since then my portfolio in photo and video production has gradually expanded. At the end of last year I also launched my own brand.

In addition to my research and work as a photographer and videographer, I have organised student days in Tartu, play guitar in the punk band of geologists Eterniit, and keep myself occupied with plenty of other minor hobbies.

My usual mindset is “What do you mean it’s not possible?” and then I try to get things done myself or somehow find a way to make them happen.

Photography definitely supports research as well as all other hobby activities because good visuals and the accumulated image bank help to popularise science, promote the study of geology, and even provide illustrations for conference papers.

Similarly, years of research and other hobbies support the photographer’s profession in many ways. Firstly, by broadening one’s horizons and developing the skills and prior knowledge to search for different perspectives and ideas for taking pictures and, secondly, by developing the ability to quickly and efficiently search for information and understand how things actually work.

In addition, being educated as a geologist has certainly given me the opportunity to see and take photos of many interesting places, in Estonia and abroad, that an average traveller would not even know to visit.

The regularly updated portfolio can be followed:

www.purgis.eu
www.fb.com/purgismedia
www.instagram.com/peeterpaaver

Here are some examples of my work:

The post Peeter Paaver: A scientist with a camera appeared first on UT Blog.

Why study and live in Estonia?

Firstly, the quality of education should be underlined. More than a hundred degree programs are taught in English. In addition to this, English is not only used on campuses, but also a large percentage of the population speaks English fluently. In my experience, I have almost never had any difficulties in communication, even without speaking Estonian or Russian.

Side by side with this, in Estonia you can get a state scholarship or funding assistance if you have a strong academic background. I would like to mention that I have been one of the recipients of a Dora Plus scholarship in my group, which was really helpful for me, since I was unemployed at the beginning of my studies.

It should be noted that different from some other European countries in Estonia, students are allowed to have a full-time job if they can handle studies and work at the same time. However, in most countries students are only allowed to work with a part-time workload, due to the fact that it is thought that a full-time workload would affect students’ attendance in classes.

Finding a job was a little bit hard for me, since I do not speak Estonian, and most of the vacancies that I found required Estonian. However, I found a job at an international company and the work hours there were 24/7. To manage studies and work at the same time, I was working nights and studying during my breaks and in the evening. It was challenging for me, but if you enjoy your studies and workplace then nothing is an obstacle.

The next positive thing about Estonia is that the country is an e-society. Thus, Estonians operate with electronic ID-cards, e-government, e-healthcare, and e-schooling, which makes your life easier, since you are able to handle your duties online without leaving your accommodation.

Lastly, Estonia has an active and fun student life. Fortunately, the campus is located in the capital city, where we can make different connections that are useful to our future careers. The location helped us to access the national library in less than 5 minutes, so I used to go there with some of my groupmates to discuss the topics after classes or prepare for the exam. Other than that, the campus is very close to the Old Town, and you can rest while enjoying the marvelous view of the ancient buildings.  

Why study International Law and Human Rights?

Before applying to ILHR at the University of Tartu, I made some detailed research about other opportunities at different universities, not only in Europe but also all over the world. Since I was sure of my decision, that I wanted to study International Law and Human Rights together, it was hard to find this specific program. I found a lot of programs where I had a chance to study European Studies, European Law, International Law or Human Rights separately.

However, the University of Tartu was the only university to provide both fields in one program. In addition to this, before application I had a look at the syllabus of the program, and I realized that this was the program that I wanted to study. Since the program includes two different areas of law, we are able to take different classes in one program. I really enjoyed my time while studying Human Rights, Data Protection, Russian Approaches to International Law and Human Rights, and International Settlement of Disputes.

Also, I would like to mention that at the University of Tartu I had a chance to enhance my foreign language skills as well. I started learning Estonian via online classes and improved my French to an intermediate level. That was a nice and lovely journey, and in my opinion learning several languages is a good investment in our future job opportunities.

I would like to finish this article with the career opportunities that we can gain by studying in the International Law and Human Rights program at the University of Tartu. For me it seems like there is no limit after graduation. You can either open your own company as a human rights lawyer or work at any point on the globe.

I am planning to open my own law firm; however, it takes some time and practice, and therefore I am currently taking online courses in that field. As an ILHR program graduate, you can set your own limits however you wish.

The post An alumna explains: Why studying International Law and Human Rights in Estonia is a good idea appeared first on UT Blog.

Our work here focuses on fish cancer research, and the main purpose of this trip is to bring a number of live flounders to Estonia to test under controlled conditions (in a common-garden experiment) whether molecular defence mechanisms against cancer and pollution are effective also in changing environments – for example, whether fish continue to actively maintain their cellular defence when they are removed from the polluted environment into a clean one (further on our group’s activities see adapt.ut.ee). So we catch fish, collect samples, and furthermore bring them back alive to Estonia. This will be one very valuable fish cargo!

November 29. After testing for COVID-19 and waiting for the results, we were finally allowed on board the boat in the evening. We had a farmer’s breakfast for dinner (fried potatoes mixed with eggs), had to go through a series of formalities (safety instructions, ship briefing) and moved all the necessary research equipment to the various decks and cabins.

The top news of the day is of course the weather forecast for the next two days, which, to put it mildly… umm… will be wretched, sealike, Decemberish. The prediction for the coming days is up to 9 on the Beaufort scale, which stands for very strong wind and big waves. However, the captain says it’ll still be good enough to trawl the North Sea. We’ll let you know how it goes.

November 30. All of a sudden, I’m not feeling so good. Just 5 minutes ago I was proud of myself, happily humming (I certainly didn’t whistle, as whistling is not allowed on board) a tune and getting ready to have lunch, but now lunch is out of the question. It all happens in barely 2-3 minutes: seasickness knocks me off my feet, my arms and legs go limp and tingling, I have stomach cramps, throbbing neck pain, light is hurting my eyes. I crawl into my bunk and lie there, weak, arms and legs spread out, eyes closed.

I grab a packet of sweets from the shelf and eat a couple of toffee candies without opening my eyes. I start feeling better. I drink a little water, but not too much, fearing that if I had to pee, I wouldn’t make it to the toilet in time – or even if I made it, I probably wouldn’t make it back in time. I can hear someone vomiting next door and hearing it makes me sick. I close my eyes and try to get some sleep. I even manage to slip into a kind of liminal state between sleep and wakefulness. The dreams are strange and through my sleep I can feel the ship endlessly tossing me about. I’m trying to keep my back and neck muscles as relaxed as possible, but cannot fight the tossing around; also, otherwise I will suffer from cramps and sore muscles tomorrow.

Finally I fall into a deeper sleep. When I wake up, the ship is suspiciously quiet – people are lying down in their cabins, each struggling on their own – but also the ship doesn’t rock as much. Indeed, the captain has taken pity on us and we have found shelter from the storm behind the island of Helgoland. It gives no protection from the wind, however, so the gusts that sweep through the whole ship can be felt, but the waves are nearly gone compared to what they were. I’m feeling instantly better. The storm is over – at least for the moment.

I lift my head out of the bunkbed to look out the window. It’s getting darker outside. Still the same damned sea. A few clouds, the slightly pinkish horizon, the waves slowly receding. The same as before. I long for a spruce forest and snow crunching under my boots. Back home in Estonia, the snow is 15 cm deep and kids are already going to skiing practice. Luckily we won’t be trawling today, so we can relax for the rest of the evening. Tomorrow is another day.”

December 1. We must have had some kind of a hurricane here – called Daniel or Danielle or something. Beaufort force 11. We made two attempts at trawling today and are now we are back behind the Helgoland Island, sheltered from the waves. In the evening we’ll probably start moving through the Danish straits towards the Baltic Sea.

December 2–3. We’ve reached the Danish straits. We are about to cross the last big waves and the water is already calm east of the Jutland peninsula. It’s rather quiet on board, life follows a somewhat predictable path: the internet connection is bad, no meetings are allowed because of COVID-19 (a preventative measure imposed by the captain on our first week at sea) and so we just eat and sleep most of the time. Yesterday, the crew mess was decked with Christmas decorations: an artificial Christmas tree, a star light and some string lights.

The only research activity that night was taking some water samples from the deeper part of the Kattegat and testing an underwater unmanned vehicle. The Germans are also having problems with the internal information systems of the research apparatuses on the ship. Luckily, I have my laptop, field notebook and pencil – so as long as the fish can be caught, we’ll have everything we need for our research.

The food on board is authentically German. I’ve deliberately turned into a vegan here for a few meals – no one can eat all that processed meat and eggs and cabbage and potatoes and pasta and bread all the time. It is so nice when just for a change your entire meal is just grapefruit and vegetables and a glass of juice.

Tomorrow is an important day: we’ll reach the Kiel area in the morning and, after breakfast, we’ll catch our first fish from the polluted sea (where liver tumours are actively present in the local common dab population). Today we are making preparations for that, tagging sample containers and getting the equipment ready, and we have already calibrated the scales.

December 4. Today was the first serious workday, during which we made 6 catches in total, starting at 7 in the morning and finishing at 19 in the evening. As I write this, my back and hands are tired and everyone smells/reeks of fish from head to toe. J Still, the overall motivation was high, even though we had almost no time to eat.

Fishing was done with bottom trawls in the sea and bay of Kiel, and the aim was to collect fish samples for several research projects. So we collected fish as bird food for a future seagull project, sampled flounders and common dabs, and measured and individually tagged 32 live flounders – to bring the latter back to Estonia alive in 1,000 litre tanks for a common-garden experiment and a series of different measurements. The aim is to see, for example, whether the pollution and cancer defence mechanisms of fish in the polluted Kiel area remain up-regulated even after a longer period of living in clean water (to distinguish permanent genetic adaptation from so-called temporary ones).

As for the fish, there were huge numbers of common dab and European plaice, with a few herrings, cods, turbots, flounders, and common soles. There were also some nice 10 kg cods. And, of course, lots of all kinds of starfish and shellfish. Tomorrow we’ll carry on in the same area. Fortunately, the sea is calm.

Good news on the house rules as well – the requirement of wearing masks and no congregating was dropped (following two rapid COVID-19 tests on board).

December 5. For two days now we have hunted live flounder in the surroundings of Kiel. The crew is working overtime and even the captain drops in from time to time to ask how things are going, whether we’ve had enough already. J Anyway, it looks like we’ve infected the whole ship with “flounder fever”. Early at breakfast we start placing bets on how many flounders would be caught in the first trawl. I have to admit that my pessimistic 10 was more than doubled and today proved to be a much better day for flounder than yesterday. Anyway, we put in a good 11-hour day, and in two days we caught 127 live tagged fish from Kiel. This amount will do if you want to plan an experiment.

We are currently sailing along Germany’s north coast towards the island of Rügen, which is the next sampling location (compared to Kiel, the sea here is very clean and rich in fish, largely thanks to wind farms, or to be more precise, the no-traffic zone around them). The east wind has already kicked up a 3-metre wave by now – things are moving around on my cabin desk – and we are hoping that the fish don’t get seasick in the tank. All my clothes are impermeated with constant sea spray and a very specific smell. Maybe I should shave my beard… But there’s no rush. Luckily we have an ice-class vessel, so we’ll break through the young sea ice in Estonia when we get there at some point.

December 6.  This morning we were surprised by Christmas elves. Some left chocolate at the door, others brought fish in the trawl. The very first trawl after breakfast gave us about 300 flounders, enough for both sampling and tagging live. After lunch, we held a big fish tagging event, asking people on the ship to help us, during which 162 flounders were tagged with a green personalised number on their ventral fin. The fish caught yesterday and today are feeling well and we are once again a little closer to home. With that, two research locations are completed, with the Polish coast and Hiiumaa Island still to go. Tomorrow we will be in Poland.

December 7. Under Poland. We’re trawling fish. As there’s a little less flounder today, we’ll have to stay here for two days to get the fish we need. But there are plenty of cod. The weather is nice – today we went to the monkey island, the deck above the navigating bridge, to enjoy the view.

Evening mood. The final trawl of the evening resulted in a big catch of beautiful flounders (which, of course, meant that we had to summon people on board for another tagging event). We will be catching a few more fish in the morning and then we’ll leave Poland behind and head towards the Hiiumaa Island, navigating around the Russian maritime boundary.

December 8. The wind is picking up again. During the morning trawl we caught all the fish that we needed at the Polish sampling location. We are now heading towards Estonia, but the waves are high and it’s below freezing outside – the ship’s deck is covered in ice, with icicles hanging from the railing. The ship rocks so hard that a flounder flew out of the tank. We went out to rescue the fish and the tanks, to fix and set the covers. Everything is frozen and wet, water splashing around.

December 9. The sunrise in the morning is beautiful, but freezing cold. It’s also cold in the ship’s cargo hold, not to mention on the deck, which is completely covered in ice. The icicles on the railing are 30 cm long, and every time we go to check the health of the fish, the ship’s engine is stopped to ensure our safety and stability.

The weather in Estonia being so cold creates a serious problem. The four 1,000-litre tanks with fish on board have a constant overflow of seawater. And now this splashing overflow is constantly freezing into a several centimetres thick layer of ice, which covers all parts of the ship. The Germans keep building new systems – using all sorts of hoses and things – to protect the ship by keeping the ice from forming. And we keep dismantling them because the systems they build don’t work for us, they freeze, clog and endanger the health of the fish. So for the last two days we have been pulling a continuous tug-of-war: one side builds, the other side demolishes, and so far we have not found a good solution because the tools and equipment on board are also limited. In addition, all this has to be done in the dark, amidst several metres high waves, balancing on the ice covering the ship, hanging on tooth and nail.

Our first open-sea fishing trip off the coast of Hiiumaa yielded 28 flounders, a number of herring, Saduria entomon, a beautiful lumpfish and two shorthorn sculpins. After we had caught what we needed, we took samples and tagged the fish. The waves are high and the wind is strong. Estonia is not far from here, somewhere beyond the horizon.

We are tackling the massive logistics challenge to transport the live fish and four tonnes of water from the ship to the harbour and from the harbour to the laboratories at the Centre for Limnology.

It was a crazy day today, we finished work at half past 10 in the evening. Only one more day and a half of keeping the fish alive..

December 10 and the following days. So much has happened in the past few days that I’m struggling to remember what we did on any specific day. What is certain is that we reached the Paljassaare Bay near Tallinn, the weather had warmed up and the icicles had started to melt. On December 11 we loaded the fish tanks off the ship. Well, not exactly off, but onto the port’s tender, which brought the precious fish, as well as me and Ciara, to the Port of Lahesuu in Tallinn. From there the fish tanks were loaded with the port crane to the truck and were on their way to the Centre for Limnology. It was quite a logistical challenge for someone who is doing it for the first time.

As we were leaving the ship, Ciara and I both admitted feeling a pang of sadness, as we had closely bonded with our colleagues and friends on board over the two weeks, and who knows if and when we will meet again. Lots of waving and hugging and good wishes were exchanged before we climbed down the rope ladder. People waving from the deck and the lights of Walther Herwig III once again disappearing beyond the horizon in the foggy Tallinn Bay. Another voyage had come to an end. It was a hell of a ride!

Photo credits: Randel Kreitsberg, Esther Wilhelm, Ciara Baines, Alexander Knorrn

The post Winter Fieldwork: The North Sea and the Baltic Sea appeared first on UT Blog.

Rain Vagel graduated with a BSc degree in computer science from the Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu in 2017. After serving a year in the defence forces, he continued his master’s studies in the same field, this time specialising in data science, which he completed cum laude in 2020. While still at the university, Rain applied for a software engineer internship at Wise (formerly TransferWise), and today works as a data scientist for the same company, collaborating extensively with its international teams and leading key projects.

I have always been fascinated by IT. As a young boy, I used to play computer games and wonder how game worlds are made. You write a few lines of code somewhere and stories and characters come into being. It’s as if whole worlds are created out of nothing. Machine learning and AI captured my interest already back then – mainly for the reason that this type of work doesn’t necessarily have to result in a game. You can make machines do things that actually help people and make the world a better place for the future.

Even today, many people continue doing simple, mind-numbing work. I know the feeling–- one summer I was working at a meat factory, throwing chicken fillets onto a conveyor belt and cutting open meat bags. It’s practical to automate such tasks, as well as those that require big data analysis using machine learning. Banks, for example, need to keep track of a lot of data for detecting crime. Here a machine can perform an initial analysis so that human workers can move on to tackling more essential issues.

At Wise, I currently work in the team developing anti-money laundering systems, where we also mitigate risks related to human trafficking and terrorist financing. My work is very closely linked to what I studied at the university. A mathematical understanding and knowledge of how algorithms are created provides an additional benefit. I remember well a master-level course on algorithms taught by Jaak Vilo. It was a difficult subject with long lectures and a challenging amount of homework, but every aspect of it was tested out practically. Each student had to make a poster presenting their solution to a problem. In Wise, I’m now developing certain products using some of the algorithms I learned at this course.

During university studies, you often need to formulate ideas and present them to a larger audience. This helps to improve communication skills and express your ideas, which, in turn, will benefit you greatly if at any point in your professional life you need to create a vision, present it to others and then put it into practice. Currently, I have a number of projects of this kind, in which I need to explain to people from other areas of life how my idea can help us achieve our goals more efficiently.

My studies at the university cemented my interest in machine learning. Knowing what you want to do helps you move towards what you are interested in from the very first university years. Here’s another thing: you can get involved in interesting projects already before graduating. For example, I was briefly involved in an EstCube space project, but now students have the chance to assist in teaching a self-driving car to drive or develop military robots. The opportunities are endless and you can get involved in exciting projects.

Still, you need to put in considerable effort to get to all these fascinating subjects. At undergraduate level, maths was very challenging from the start and it never really became easy for me. Everything I had learnt during the 12 years of secondary school was summed up in a single lecture and from then on maths got “real”. Machine learning is basically a statistical phenomenon, so if you are interested in this subject, studying mathematics is worth it.

I knew right away that I was not going to go into research. To work in a company, you need to know whether you are more of an analyst or an architect. Data science, which is my field, remains somewhere in between the two, right next to product developers and leads. The best way to learn about your abilities is to do internships, get involved in all sorts of projects, or take part in hackathons. Even knowing what is not your area is important. During my undergraduate studies, I was an intern in a company developing business software and business intelligence. I discovered that this type of software developing was not my cup of tea. During my master’s studies, I got an internship as a data scientist at Wise and later stayed on to work there.

When studying computer or data science, you have to choose your internship placement carefully. There’s a good chance that it will become your future workplace, at least this was my experience. A good internship can teach you a lot. Be sure to look at how well the internship is organised in the company and whether it will result in a measurable outcome.

The time spent outside the classroom has also proved greatly beneficial for my work. During my undergraduate studies, I was actively involved in the activities of the student association MITS, where I met a great group of people who I still keep in touch with. It is also useful to meet people from other areas of life. People working in the IT share relatively similar views, but understanding a lawyer’s or a biologist’s thought processes helps broaden your worldview. In such conversations, you will learn about the trends and challenges of these disciplines and also how IT could be used solve these needs. True innovation tends to come from an in-depth knowledge of a field.

All in all, I really enjoyed my life at the university. Tartu is a great place to be and at the university anything seems possible. After starting a work career, you’ll inevitably face real-life constraints in time, money and even computing power. But the world is moving steadily towards greater automation. We have ever-increasing computing resources at our disposal, and a growing understanding of how to exploit machine learning to benefit humanity.

I believe that the young people who have decided to come to the university are choosing well for themselves and will create and implement visions that will make future life better for all of us.

• Rain Vagel graduated cum laude as a computer scientist in 2020 from the Institute of Computer Science, specialising in data science.
• During his studies, he was offered an internship at Wise and currently works at the same company as a data scientist.
• Rain’s hobbies include rock climbing and trekking.

The post Rain Vagel: Using algorithms learned during the master’s programme in computer science in Wise appeared first on UT Blog.

Stress as our everyday companion

Stress researcher Hans Selye was the first one who described stress as a “nonspecific response of the body to any demand”.¹ Stress is our everyday companion, and it can arise in different ways. If we talk about stress, we usually talk about physical, mental, and emotional tension that is experienced in situations where life’s challenges exceed one’s ability to cope. So we can say that stress is a subjective phenomenon – everyone perceives it differently and reacts to stressful situations differently.

We often associate stress with negative experiences and harmful outcomes, but even Selye showed us that stress can also be good and even useful. Stress can make us act. In stressful situations, our body mobilizes all that it can and might help us to improve our exam performance or to be more productive if facing a deadline. But as chronic and long-term stress can take a toll on our physical and mental wellness, we are looking for different ways to reduce its negative effects.

Our body in times of stress

When a person encounters stress, the initial response in the body is a reaction often referred to as the fight-or-flight response. This is triggered by activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which causes the adrenals to secrete adrenaline and other stress-related hormones.

This response is actually nature’s way to help our body to use all our resources to deal with danger. As a result, our heart rate and the force of contraction of the heart increases, and blood is shunted away from the skin and some other organs in order to supply muscles and the brain with much needed oxygen and glucose. The rate of breathing rises in order to supply the heart, brain, and muscles with much needed oxygen. In order to lower body temperature, sweat production increases. As in times of danger digestion is not the most critical bodily function, the production of digestive secretions reduces. In order to provide energy for the body to fight or flee, blood sugar levels rise dramatically.  

This phase is usually short-term, but even when the effects of the flight-or-fight response have worn off, different bodily functions still enable the body to continue fighting the stressor. This is largely influenced by different stress hormones, such as cortisol, for example. These hormones make sure that in case the body runs out of much-needed fuel like glucose, protein can be used as an energy supply, and they also promote the retention of potassium to keep blood pressure elevated.

These processes are much needed for the body if it has to face danger, but problems occur if this danger is persistent or to put it into the current context if the stressful situation persists. Prolonged stress is putting a huge load on our different organ systems, including blood vessels and the immune system, and it may increase the risk of different diseases (including high blood pressure, diabetes, menstrual irregularities, ulcers, etc.).

Support your body in times of stress

The problem nowadays is that we are faced with lots of different stressors, and we rarely find or make time to destress. Or our coping mechanisms that might seem helpful are counterproductive in reality and don’t support good health, such as drinking alcohol in order to relax. Fortunately, there are possibilities at hand to ease the negative impact stress can have on us and that we can use to replace our not-so-effective coping mechanisms. The main strategies to improve stress management include different techniques to calm the mind and the body and promote a positive attitude, but we can also take a second look at our lifestyle habits in order to help us.

Stress and lifestyle factors

If the body is not used to physical exercise, it is initially stressed. But the more we exercise, the more our body adapts to it, and exercise can become a good stress-reduction technique. For example, physical activity helps to fight fatigue, improve alertness, and helps to improve sleep, which in turn helps to reduce stress.²

It is wise to assume that nutrition can also play an important role in fighting stress. Our bodily processes need different nutrients and chemicals to function, and our main source of many needed nutrients is the food we eat.  Thus, in times of stress and anxiety, we need to support our body’s biochemistry as much as we can. How can we do this?

Restrict caffeine intake

Caffeine is found mainly in coffee, green tea, cocoa, and energy drinks. It is true that caffeine when ingested in moderate amounts is well tolerated by the body, and there is even research indicating that low dosages can reduce anxiety and elevate mood, but negative impacts can occur if caffeine is consumed in high dosages.

In that case the symptoms might include anxiety, insomnia, and restlessness. Sensitive individuals seems to be more prone to caffeine’s negative impact. For instance, higher sensitivity has been observed in people suffering with panic disorder and other psychiatric disorders, and to a lesser extent in case of depression.³ So if you feel that you are prone to stress and anxiety, it is a good idea to restrict your caffeine intake. Try not to drink more than 2-3 cups of coffee a day, and, if needed, try to find decaffeinated alternatives.  

Try to eliminate refined carbohydrates from your diet and eat regularly

During times of stress we can sometimes gain weight. The reason for this might be connected to the release of cortisol in times of stress. Cortisol directly effects fat storage and weight gain in stressed individuals, which in turn can lead to insulin resistance and obesity. It has been found that cortisol predisposes our body to increase abdominal fat. It helps to relocate fat to the abdominal area and make it more available in case there is a need for additional energy. Unfortunately, high levels of abdominal fat increase the risk of different cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes, and stroke.^4,5

Cortisol also influences our blood glucose levels and fluctuations that can be a contributing factor to insulin resistance. In order to help our body to stabilize the blood glucose levels, avoid refined carbohydrates (sugar, white flour) and irregular eating times that can contribute to poor blood sugar control. Choose to eat unrefined carbohydrates instead. Replace white bread with graham bread, eat wholegrain black bread, and choose fruit over sweets. Choose unrefined pasta over refined pasta, cut back on sweets and pastries, and bring more vegetables into your everyday meals. Don’t forget to eat regularly and not too late in the evening! This helps to keep your blood sugar in balance and to cope better with stress.

Eat whole foods in order to get much-needed nutrients to cope with stress

Our bodily processes are dependent on different nutrients. For example, magnesium status is highly associated with stress levels,⁶ so make sure that your diet is rich in magnesium. The best sources of magnesium are different seeds – for example, hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds, but also cocoa and parsley.

Another nutrient that is involved in stress response is vitamin C.⁷ So in order to have enough vitamin C to help your body to cope with stress, make sure you have fresh vegetables and fruits on your menu. The best sources of vitamin C are dog rose berries, bell pepper, different herbs, berries, kale, and broccoli. It has been found that B vitamins can help to support body and mood in stressful times.⁸

To ensure you get a variety of B vitamins from your food, eat a varied diet that contains unrefined grain products, some meat and poultry, leafy greens, and legumes. To support your nervous system, you also need omega-3 fatty acids. The best source of omega-3 is fish. Eat fish 2-3 times a week. Omega-3 can be obtained also from plant sources; for example, it is found in rapeseed oil, hemp oil, linseeds, and chia seeds.

Stress is our everyday companion, and each and one of us has different coping mechanisms in dealing with it. Although we are different, we can all benefit from taking a second look at our habitual coping mechanisms and enhancing them if needed. Striving toward a more varied and wholesome diet is good for our overall health, and helps us also to better cope with stress.

Sirli Kivisaar

Functional nutritional therapy practitioner

The material used for conducting the article:

1. Siang Yong Tan., A Yip. (2018). Hans Selye (1907–1982): Founder of the stress theory. Singapore Med J, Apr; 59(4): 170–171.

2. Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “Physical activity reduces stress”, https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/related-illnesses/other-related-conditions/stress/physical-activity-reduces-st (visited 12.01.22)

3. Richards, A., Smith, A. (2015).Caffeine consumption and self-assessed stress, anxiety, and depression in secondary school children. J Psychopharmacol. Dec; 29(12): 1236–1247.

4. Epel, E.S., McEwen, B., Seeman, T., et al. (2000). Stress and body shape: stress-induced cortisol secretion is consistently greater among women with central fat.
Psychosomatic Medicine, 62, 623-632.

5. Maglione-Garves, C. A., Kravitz, L., Schneider, S. (2005). Cortisol connection: Tips on managing stress and weight. ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal, 9(5), 20-23.

6. Vink, R., Nechifor, M., editors. (2011). Magnesium in the Central Nervous System. Adelaide (AU): University of Adelaide Press. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507250/

7. Marik, P.E. Vitamin C: an essential “stress hormone” during sepsis (2020). J Thorac Dis. Feb; 12(Suppl 1): S84–S88.

8. Young, L.M., et al. (2019). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of B Vitamin Supplementation on Depressive Symptoms, Anxiety, and Stress: Effects on Healthy and ‘At-Risk’ Individuals. Nutrients. Sep; 11(9): 2232.

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Venus is a planet similar to Earth in size, but it has a very thick atmosphere and, due to the combination of this thick atmosphere and closer proximity to the Sun, a very high surface temperature of over 400 degrees centigrade, complemented by sulfuric acid clouds. In this blog post we will talk about what would be needed to find any habitable places on Venus and how to design a mission to visit them, as well as Tartu Observatory’s team’s part in the mission.

Why to study venus and the VLF mission study

The Venusian atmosphere mostly consists of CO₂ and has clouds of sulfuric acid, so it has long been thought to be uninhabitable for life. In 2020, traces of phosphine were found in the Venusian atmosphere, and earlier measurements seem to enforce this. As there is no known process that could produce this gas on Venus in these quantities without life, phosphine has the potential of being a sign of life. To investigate this further, Venus Life Finder mission study, mainly sponsored by the Breakthrough Initiatives (a final report with all the details can be found here) was performed with more than 50 scientists and engineers from around the world (led by Prof. Sara Seager from MIT), and in it results from previous missions to Venus were analyzed and a set of three missions was proposed to investigate the situation further and to figure out what is actually going on there.

The main region of interest comprises the clouds of Venus at around 60 km from its surface, where the temperature is close to room temperature on Earth and pressure close to the ambient pressure on Earth’s surface, but the exact conditions there are unknown.

The VLF mission study proposes a set of three missions to gradually assess the habitability of Venusian clouds and to eventually bring back a sample for study on Earth. For a detailed description of the missions, instruments, and institutions and people involved, see the report. In the present blog post, we mostly concentrate on Tartu Observatory’s contribution.

How Tartu Observatory was included in the mission

Tartu Observatory has been tasked with building an acidity sensor to measure the sulfuric acid content of the Venusian cloud droplets and potentially an oxygen sensor. Here, we will mostly discuss the development of the acidity sensor, as it has been assigned to the second probe within the series of missions outlined in the VLF mission study report.

The acidity sensor has been designed to do a statistical study of the acidities of Venusian cloud droplets, because it is expected that different cloud particles could have very different acidities. The most prevalent theory thus far has been that the Venusian clouds consist of almost concentrated sulfuric acid, and this would be a significant hurdle for life. But newer analysis of data (see the report) proposes that there could be droplets in the Venusian atmosphere, the pH of which could be around 1. This acidity range is already habitable on Earth. For life to be possible, of course, other factors have to align also.

The idea to start the development of the sensor in Tartu emerged because Dr. Mihkel Pajusalu had previously worked at MIT during his post-doc times and developed various sensors for astrobiology studies, including luminescence-based oxygen sensors. Several scientific studies were performed (for example, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1069-4, https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/04/world/exoplanets-potentially-habitable-scn/index.html, and https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1804-0 ). The application of the same general principle was then studied for the task at hand, looking for fluorescent pigments that would fluoresce differently in different acidities, and a small workgroup was formed (including also Dr. Ida Rahu and Laila Kaasik) to study this during the summer of 2021. In addition, secondary school students were involved in aspects of the project.

The preliminary study results (included in the VLF mission study report), showed that a fluorescent pigment fluorescein is very well suited for this application, and the Tartu Observatory workgroup figured out a way of producing fluorescent films that could be coated on glass plates. Preliminary tests performed in laboratory conditions showed that this method is viable.

The path towards Venus

The work done for the VLF mission study was just the beginning. The next steps have to produce an actual scientific instrument that could be mounted on a spacecraft and sent to the clouds of Venus. The sensor developed at TO is intended for the second probe in the series of VLF missions, tentatively aimed to launch in 2026.

The current plan for the instrument is to use a camera system that would take photos of the fluorescent film in quick succession using different illuminating LEDs. The camera system could be similar to the one developed at Tartu Observatory currently for the Comet Interceptor ESA F-class mission and its OPIC (Optical Periscopic Imager for Comets).

Another important aspect of developing the sensor is how to simulate the Venusian cloud particles to test the sensor and calibrate it and to evaluate its expected performance during the mission. For this, we need to develop a system that could generate sulfuric acid clouds in controlled conditions. Currently, this setup is being developed.

We hope to develop a new version of the sensor and to publish the current sensor design as an article in 2022.

Also, there are uncertainties regarding the funding of the missions. The first set of the VLF missions, due to launch in 2023, is close to being funded. Some potential sponsors are being talked to about the follow-up missions. For more details, please see the full mission study report.

Dr. Mihkel Pajusalu, Head of the Space Technology Department and Associate Professor in Space Technology at Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu. Leader of the development of the acidity sensor for the Venus mission and PI of the OPIC instrument for Comet Interceptor.

Some media coverage and press releases for the full mission:

• MIT press release about the mission as a whole
• Tartu Observatory press release
  

Space Travel Blog

• Life on…Venus?

Various examples of media coverage in Estonia:

• https://novaator.err.ee/1608433343/tartu-teadlased-plaanivad-saata-oma-seadme-veenuse-pilvede-happesust-mootma 
• https://ekspress.delfi.ee/artikkel/95382123/suur-lugu-selgitasin-vanaemale-et-laheme-maitsma-kui-hapud-on-veenuse-pilved-eestlased-osalevad-ajaloolises-kosmoseuuringus
• https://teadus.postimees.ee/7406525/eestlased-asuvad-eramissioonidel-veenuselt-elu-

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