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The ways in which people conceptualize the human–nature relationship have significant implications for proenvironmental values and attitudes, sustainable behavior, and environmental policy measures. Human exceptionalism (HE) is one such conceptual framework, involving the belief that humans and human societies exist independently of the ecosystems in which they are embedded, promoting a sharp ontological boundary between humans and the rest of the natural world. In this paper, we introduce HE in more depth, exploring the impact of HE on perceptions of the human–nature relationship, the role of culture in HE, and speculating on the origins of HE. We consider potential implications for environmental decision‐making, conservation and environmental science, and promoting proenvironmental behavior. We present empirical evidence on the pervasiveness and consequences of HE in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic) populations, and potential interventions. Finally, we close with implications of human‐exceptionalist thinking on other sustainability‐related fields, including conservation practices, nature management, climate change adaptation, and environmental science. Understanding the cognitive and social drivers of this disconnect is vital on a planet now dominated by environmental change, as not only are humans increasingly impacted by natural disasters, but the choices they make can have ever more dire consequences for the sustainability of ecosystems. Understanding people's conceptions of nature and the human‐nature relationship is important for understanding pro‐environmental values, attitudes, and behavior. We discuss human exceptionalism, a conceptual framework promoting beliefs that humans and human societies are ontologically distinct from non‐human living beings and natural ecosystems, and implications of this framework for environmental decision‐making, conservation, environmental science, and promoting pro‐environmental behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular phenotyping by imaging of intact tissues has been used to reveal 3D molecular and structural coherence in tissue samples using tissue clearing techniques. However, clearing and imaging of cardiac tissue remains challenging for large-scale (>100 mm 3 ) specimens due to sample distortion. Thus, directly assessing tissue microstructural geometric properties confounded by distortion such as cardiac helicity has been limited. To combat sample distortion, we developed a passive CLARITY technique (Pocket CLARITY) that utilizes a permeable cotton mesh pocket to encapsulate the sample to clear large-scale cardiac swine samples with minimal tissue deformation and protein loss. Combined with light sheet auto-fluorescent and scattering microscopy, Pocket CLARITY enabled the characterization of myocardial microstructural helicity of cardiac tissue from control, heart failure, and myocardial infarction in swine. Pocket CLARITY revealed with high fidelity that transmural microstructural helicity of the heart is significantly depressed in cardiovascular disease (CVD), thereby revealing new insights at the tissue level associated with impaired cardiac function., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Kim, Parajuli, Sinha, Mahamdeh, van den Boomen, Coll-Font, Chen, Fan, Eder, Phipps, Yuan and Nguyen.)