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===== How urban planning solutions and architecture help cool down cities ===== | ===== How urban planning solutions and architecture help cool down cities ===== | ||
[https://innovationorigins.com/en/how-urban-planning-solutions-and-architecture-help-cool-down-cities/ by Mauro Mereu 23/8/23 IO] | [https://innovationorigins.com/en/how-urban-planning-solutions-and-architecture-help-cool-down-cities/ by Mauro Mereu 23/8/23 IO] | ||
While a tool like a digital twin indeed represents an informed way to look at what parts of a city suffer the most from heat, the actual planning strategies are those making a difference in relieving a city from hot temperatures. Several good urban planning practices can be found in Europe. From ventilation corridors to groundbreaking architecture, these examples prove to be good ways of keeping downtowns cool. | While a tool like a digital twin indeed represents an informed way to look at what parts of a city suffer the most from heat, the actual planning strategies are those making a difference in relieving a city from hot temperatures. Several good urban planning practices can be found in Europe. From ventilation corridors to groundbreaking architecture, these examples prove to be good ways of keeping downtowns cool. | ||
# [[Architectural adaptations]] | |||
===== Dr James Hansen Warns Climate is Heating up way faster than IPCC forecasts & he has the receipts ===== | ===== Dr James Hansen Warns Climate is Heating up way faster than IPCC forecasts & he has the receipts ===== | ||
Revision as of 05:30, 27 June 2025
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Study identifies where psychopaths are most likely to live
by Anna Kutz 19/6/25 NewsNation
People with so-called “dark” personalities — including psychopaths, narcissists and sadists — are more common in U.S. states with the most adverse conditions, new research found.
‘Cancer is just everywhere’: could farming be behind Iowa’s unfolding health crisis?
Six months ago, Alex Hammer was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 37. Dianne Chambers endured surgery, chemotherapy and dozens of rounds of radiation to fight aggressive breast cancer, and Janan Haugen spends most days helping care for her 16-year-old grandson, who is still being treated for brain cancer he developed at the age of seven.
Intravenous SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein induces neuroinflammation and alpha-Synuclein accumulation in brain regions relevant to Parkinson’s disease
Part of the clinical picture of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are neurocognitive symptoms including fatigue, sleep disturbances, cognitive impairment and anxiety (Taquet et al., 2022). In up to 10–20 % of patients, symptoms persist or develop after viral clearance, referred to as Post COVID-19 condition or commonly Long COVID (Taquet et al., 2022, WHO, 2022). However, neurocognitive symptoms cannot be fully explained by viral invasion into the brain, which appears to occur only in severe cases (Matschke et al., 2020, Solomon et al., 2020). One standing hypothesis for CNS symptoms is that viral proteins detach from the virus and reach the brain from the nasal cavity or through the blood circulation (Rhea et al., 2021, Theoharides, 2022, Meinhardt et al., 2021). Spike proteins are surface glycoproteins consisting of trimers, each composed of a membrane-anchored S2-subunit and an outward-oriented S1-subunit (Cai et al., 2020).
Dry mouth, bad breath and tooth damage: the effects Ozempic and Wegovy can have on your mouth
by Adam Taylor 4/6/25 THE CONVERSATION
Ozempic and Wegovy have been hailed as wonder drugs when it comes to weight loss. But as the drug has become more widely used, a number of unintended side-effects have become apparent – with the weight loss drug affecting the appearance of everything from your butt to your feet.
Despite Trump-Musk Feud, CO2 Milestone Is the 'Important News of the Day'
by Olivia Rosane 6/6/25 Common dreams
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere peaked above 430 parts per million in 2025—the highest it has been in millions of years—according to data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego on Thursday.
Most freshwater game fish in Southern California carry invasive parasites capable of infecting humans, study finds
by University of California 3/6/25 PHYS ORG
"Americans don't usually think about parasites when they eat freshwater fish because it hasn't historically been an issue here," said Ryan Hechinger, an ecologist and parasitologist at Scripps and the study's senior author. "But these trematodes have now been widely introduced in the U.S. and that means that doctors and the public should be aware."
Health Care-Environmental Factors
Wake Up and Smell the Corruption
by Paul Krugman 6/6/25 Paul Krugman
So, I have a fully written piece ready to post about the destruction of U.S. science. But who would read it today? It will hold, while I talk about Trump and Musk.
Neo-Nazi group ‘actively seeking to grow in US’ with planned paramilitary training event
by Ben Makuch 7/6/25 The Guardian
An international neo-Nazi terrorist organization is boldly continuing to build in the US and planning a new paramilitary training event without fear of local authorities or the FBI, which once dismantled it in a nationwide effort.
Once Hard Core MAGA, He Now Sees Trump as a Wannabe Dictator
by Paul Glickman 15/6/25 DAILY KOS
Danny Collins’ family lived “pretty much in poverty” during his childhood in Fort Pierce, Florida in the ‘80s and ‘90s. When he was 9, he discovered that the woman he thought was his biological mother was in fact his stepmother. It turned out that his biological mom left when he
Government-US Electoral System
Neo-Nazi group the Base found a safe space to recruit Americans: the Russian internet
by Ben Makuch 28/10/24 The Guardian
Two masked men are in frame, wearing camouflage and sitting opposite each other. A table is between them and they are in the middle of what they claim is an American forest.
The river that came back to life: a journey down the reborn Klamath
by Gabrielle Cannon 7/6/25 The Guardian
Last year, the final of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River were removed in the largest project of its kind in US history. Forged through the footprint of reservoirs that kept parts of the Klamath submerged for more than a century, the river that straddles the California-Oregon border has since been reborn.
Environment-Habitat Preservation
Forest preservation can worsen climate change, UN affiliate says
by Anne C.Mulkern 6/5/25 Climatewire
Forests have been seen as one of the most effective places to counter climate change by absorbing carbon emissions. But that’s changed, says a May paper from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), an academic arm of the international U.N.
The Cause of Alzheimer's Might Be Coming From Within Your Mouth
by Peter Dockrill 6/6/25 Science alert
In recent years, an increasing number of scientific investigations have backed an alarming hypothesis: Alzheimer's disease may not be merely a condition of an aging brain, but the product of infection.
I was enjoying a midnight swim. Then my girlfriend kissed me – and the nightmare began
On a cold winter’s night, in a “fit of spontaneity”, Nathan Dunne and his girlfriend went for a midnight swim on Hampstead Heath in London. They had been living together for a few months and, although it was dark and chilly, they “had a summer feeling in that first flush of the relationship”, Dunne says. They shed their clothes and waded into the shallows. After diving into the icy water, Dunne’s girlfriend put her lips to his cheek, and as they pulled apart, his life changed beyond all recognition. “It was like being struck. Like something came down,” he says, slicing the air with his hand. “The flip of a switch.”
Scientists find DNA proof of swine feces in North Carolina homes
by Daily Yonder 7/6/25 NC Health News
In Duplin County, North Carolina, there is a pollutant that hangs in the air, the water and the soil. It tumbles in the breeze and into homes through open windows, settling as a thin film of dust on their kitchen tables. It gloops together in masses of sludge in the surface water that feeds their creeks and streams. The fresh, nostalgic smell of seawater along the county coast has dissipated, replaced by a permanent foul smell from nearby swine factory farms, similar to that of a decomposing body, residents say. Policymakers have long ignored their complaints but new research from Johns Hopkins University publishing soon could finally show scientific evidence of pollution that officials can’t ignore.
Environment-Resource Extraction
American doctors are moving to Canada to escape the Trump administration
by Brett Kelman for KFF Health News 9/6/25 DAILY KOS
Earlier this year, as President Donald Trump was beginning to reshape the American government, Michael, an emergency room doctor who was born, raised, and trained in the United States, packed up his family and got out.
There is a lake in Tanzania that looks like it’s from another planet: it kills everything it touches, except these animals
On the border of Kenya and Tanzania lies Lake Natron—a body of water 58 square miles wide but only about 9 feet deep. It might sound like the perfect spot for a family outing.
Environment-Habitat Preservation
New Climate Study Highlights Dire Sea Level Warnings
by ob erwyn 13/5/25 Inside Climate News
A new set of detailed clues gleaned from ancient fossil reefs on the Seychelle Islands shows an increasing likelihood that human-caused warming will raise the global average sea level at least 3 feet by 2100, at the high end of the projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Scientists have studied remote work for 4 years and have reached a clear conclusion: working from home makes us happier
Scientists have spent four years diving deep into the world of remote work and stumbled upon a powerful truth: working from home genuinely makes us happier. As millions shifted to teleworking amid the pandemic, what began as a forced experiment slowly revealed life-changing benefits far beyond what anyone expected.
New study debunks longstanding myth about impacts of vegan diet on your body: 'It was certainly ingrained in my mind'
by Brianne Nemiroff 12/6/25 TCD
It's a common myth that those who eat a vegan diet cannot put on muscle.
The reason this theory became perpetuated is because many studies showed that animal-based proteins created better muscle protein synthesis than plant-based proteins.
Deadly fungus that can "eat you from the inside out" is quickly spreading around the world
by Eric Ralls 15/6/25 Earth.com
Most molds and fungi are helpful, but some fungus and mold will jump from hospital wards to honeybee hives, and the line between helpful recycler and harmful invader grows blurrier each year.
Overwhelmed by company? Five introvert-friendly ways to hang out
by Jenny Valentish 28/5/25 The Guardian
It can be challenging to leave the house when you’re all out of eye contact, but a low social battery doesn’t have to mean a life short on socialising This article is more than 1 year old
Revealed: how a little-known pollution rule keeps the air dirty for millions of Americans
by Molly Peterson, Dillon Bergin and Emily Zentner 16/10/23 The Guardian
Regulators have exploited a little-known provision in the Clean Air Act called the “exceptional events rule” to forgive pollution caused by “natural” or “uncontrollable” events – including wildfires – on records used by the EPA for regulatory decisions, a new investigation from the California Newsroom, MuckRock and the Guardian reveals.
Environment-Water and Air Quality
Conservatives aim to restructure U.S. government and replace it with Trump’s vision
by Lisa Mascaro, Associated Press 29/8/23 PBS News
WASHINGTON (AP) — With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own.
Saguaro cacti collapsing in Arizona extreme heat, scientist says
by Liliana Salgado 25/7/23 Reuters
Summer monsoon rains the cacti rely on have failed to arrive, testing the desert giants' ability to survive in the wild as well as in cities after temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius) for 25 days in Phoenix, said Tania Hernandez.
How urban planning solutions and architecture help cool down cities
While a tool like a digital twin indeed represents an informed way to look at what parts of a city suffer the most from heat, the actual planning strategies are those making a difference in relieving a city from hot temperatures. Several good urban planning practices can be found in Europe. From ventilation corridors to groundbreaking architecture, these examples prove to be good ways of keeping downtowns cool.
Dr James Hansen Warns Climate is Heating up way faster than IPCC forecasts & he has the receipts
by FishOutofWater 28/10/23 DAILY KOS
Recent observations support Hansen’s warning that the earth is heating up at a rate well above IPPC forecasts. Hansen hypothesized for the past decade that IPCC models underestimated the sensitivity of the climate to greenhouse gases because they underestimated the cooling effects of pollution. In particular, sulfurous gasses produced by burning fossil fuels act as a powerful reflector when they interact with water. Atmospheric sulfur pollution bonds with water to form tiny droplets, smaller and more reflective than normal cloud droplets. These clouds are powerful at cooling the climate.
“It’s Project 2025, Stupid"
by Mikey Weinstein 10/4/24 DAILY KOS
Most voters are completely unaware of an impossibly wretched set of policy proposals developed by a slew of ignoble right-wing entities but spearheaded by the ultra-conservative, MAGA-worshipping Heritage Foundation. Ready? It’s called “Project 2025.” Its official name is “The Presidential Transition Project.”
Researchers make stunning discovery after examining farmland treated only with organic fertilizers for decades: '[Will] help us to move forward'
by Juliana Marino 13/10/24 TCD
Researchers at Kansas State University have been studying how different farming practices impact the amount of carbon stored in the soil. After comparing their results, the researchers concluded that soil treated with manure or compost fertilizer stores more carbon than soil treated with chemical fertilizers or no fertilizer.
Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans, studies find
The murder of Laken Riley took center stage during Thursday night's State of the Union address. Riley was a 22-year-old student who was killed last month at the University of Georgia. The suspect in her murder is a Venezuelan migrant whom officials say was illegally in the U.S.
Fremont Start-Up Promises Revolutionary 'Forever' Battery
by CBS San Francisco News Partner 26/7/23 Patch
Heinemann loves to bike and go long distances. Some might say the avid cyclist is his own source of renewable energy.
Slow solutions to fast-moving ecological crises won’t work – changing basic human behaviours must come first
by Mike Joy, Phoebe Barnard 18/10/23 The Conversation
As the world grapples with multiple ecological crises, it’s clear the various responses over the past half century have largely failed. Our new research argues the priority now should be addressing the real driver of these crises – our own maladaptive behaviours.
Many voters say Congress is broken. Could proportional representation fix it?
With an increasingly polarized Congress and fewer competitive elections, there are growing calls among some election reformers to change how voters elect members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Here is how we know that vaccines do not cause autism
Vaccines do not cause autism. You’ve almost certainly read that before — probably hundreds of times. But many people do not believe it, perhaps because too often it is repeated without a real explanation of how we know that.
The Mekong is slowly dying.
by Laura Bicker November 2023 BBC
Mai takes a deep breath before disappearing below the muddy brown waters of the biggest freshwater lake in South East Asia. A few bubbles rise to the surface - the only sign that he is underwater, freeing his fishing net, which he had left hanging between trees in a flooded forest.
Income-based U.S. household carbon footprints (1990–2019) offer new insights on emissions inequality and climate finance
by Jared Starr, Craig Nicolson, Michael M. Markowitz, Daniel Moran 17/8/23 ScienceOpen.com
Current policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase adaptation and mitigation funding are insufficient to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. It is clear that further action is needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and achieve a just climate future. Here, we offer a new perspective on emissions responsibility and climate finance by conducting an environmentally extended input output analysis that links 30 years (1990–2019) of United States (U.S.) household-level income data to the emissions generated in creating that income. To do this we draw on over 2.8 billion inter-sectoral transfers from the Eora MRIO database to calculate both supplier- and producer-based GHG emissions intensities and connect these with detailed income and demographic data for over 5 million U.S. individuals in the IPUMS Current Population Survey.
Surprising Link Between Menthol And Alzheimer's Discovered in Mice
by David Nield 30/1/25 Science alert
A study found something strange in 2023: When mice with Alzheimer's disease inhale menthol, their cognitive abilities improve.
It seems the chemical compound can stop some of the damage done to the brain that's usually associated with the disease.
Ancient Celtic tribe had women at its social center
In Britain, during the Neolithic Period (characterized by the introduction of agriculture) and the Bronze Age, which dated from about 4000 to 800 BCE, prehistoric human societies tended to be patrilocal. That's "where women move," says Cassidy. "They leave their home upon marriage, and they go join the village, the community of their husbands."
Bill Gates made waves with his statements on climate change. Here’s why he’s right–and what most people missed
by Gabriel Labbate 16/11/23 FORTUNE
When Bill Gates speaks, people listen. His contributions to tackling global problems have been nothing short of extraordinary, from funding cutting-edge vaccine development to supporting an array of groundbreaking initiatives on climate change. At New York Climate Week in September, his perspectives on climate change did not go unnoticed–and even made waves.
Perfect solar system' found in search for alien life
Researchers have located "the perfect solar system", forged without the violent collisions that made our own a hotchpotch of different-sized planets.
Buoyancy-driven hybrid energy platform moves to full-scale pilot
by Loz Blain 8/10/24 NEW ATLAS
Swedish company NoviOcean has tested a third-gen prototype of its combination wind/solar/wave energy platform, a floating platform rated for up to 1 megawatt of consistent clean energy around the clock thanks to a fascinating buoyancy-driven mechanism. Next step: a full-scale pilot.
While U.S. church attendance has dropped, prosperity gospel has risen—with a brutal take on poverty===== by Charles Jay 28/9/23 DAILY KOS
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ threw the moneychangers out of the Temple in Jerusalem, accusing them of turning it into “a den of robbers.” And he made his views about the rich and poor very clear in numerous passages
The bacteria that can capture carbon
by Isabelle Gerretsen 29/8/23 BBC
Scientists have recently discovered a microbe, a type of cyanobacteria, off the coast of a volcanic island near Sicily that eats carbon dioxide (CO2) "astonishingly quickly".
New maps show where snowfall is disappearing
Climate scientists say the future of snowfall is pretty clear: A warmer world driven by human pollution means precipitation is more likely to fall as rain than snow, all else being equal.
We are damned fools’: scientist who sounded climate alarm in 80s warns of worse to come
by Oliver Milman 19/7/23 The Guardian
The world is shifting towards a superheated climate not seen in the past 1m years, prior to human existence, because “we are damned fools” for not acting upon warnings over the climate crisis, according to James Hansen, the US scientist who alerted the world to the greenhouse effect in the 1980s.
The Trump administration has shut down more than 100 climate studies
by James Temple 2/6/25 MIT Technology Review
The Trump administration has terminated National Science Foundation grants for more than 100 research projects related to climate change amid a widening campaign to slash federal funding for scientists and institutions studying the rising risks of a warming world.
Glaciers will keep melting for centuries even if warming stops, study warns
by Stuti Mishra 3/6/25 INDEPENDENT
About 40 per cent of the world's glacier mass is already set to disappear due to past greenhouse gas emissions. The ongoing loss not only contributes to sea-level rise but also threatens freshwater supplies and increases the risk of natural hazards in mountainous regions.
The internet is in decline – it needs rewilding
by John Naughton 4/5/24 The Guardian
Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist, had come up with the idea for a “world wide web” as a way of locating and accessing documents that were scattered all over the internet. With a small group of colleagues he envisaged, designed and implemented it in the late 1980s and eventually put the whole thing – protocols, server and browser software, HTML specification, etc. – on one of Cern’s internet servers, and in doing so changed the world.
Can multivitamins improve memory? A new study shows 'intriguing' results
A team of researchers wanted to assess how a daily multivitamin may influence cognitive aging and memory. They tracked about 3,500 older adults who were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial. One group of participants took a placebo, and another group took a Silver Centrum multivitamin, for three years. The participants also took tests, administered online, to evaluate memory.
‘It was an accident’: the scientists who have turned humid air into renewable power
In the early 20th century, Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla dreamed of pulling limitless free electricity from the air around us. Ever ambitious, Tesla was thinking on a vast scale, effectively looking at the Earth and upper atmosphere as two ends of an enormous battery. Needless to say, his dreams were never realised, but the promise of air-derived electricity – hygroelectricity – is now capturing researchers’ imaginations again. The difference: they’re not thinking big, but very, very small.
The 'Game-Changing' Technology The Nuclear Industry Is Betting On For A Revival
by Alexander C.Kaufman 31/7/23 HUFFPOST
CAMDEN, N.J. ― On a bright, humid afternoon last September, Allen Hickman made the rounds on the floor of a factory that embodies the past, present and future of the nation’s atomic energy industry perhaps more than any other site in the United States.
Some ultra-processed foods are good for your health, WHO-backed study finds
Some ultra-processed foods increase the risk of developing cancer, heart disease and diabetes – but others are good for you, new research into the demonised foodstuffs suggests.
Mercury exposure linked to high youth suicides in Canada First Nation
by Leyland Gecco 20/7/23 The Guardian
Researchers who studied three generations of mothers and their children from the community of Grassy Narrows, Ontario, have concluded that sustained exposure to the toxic metal helped cause a suicide rate three times higher than any other First Nations community – which are already far higher than among the country’s general population.
Could kinder, gentler fracking create a breakthrough in geothermal power?
by Mark Sumner 23/7/23 DAILY KOS
Hydro power is often mentioned, but only in the sense that while it plays a significant role in the current energy portfolio, there are few options for expansion. While wind and solar have been racing up, hydroelectric production has declined.
The Mekong is slowly dying
A warming world and hydropower dams are destroying one of the world’s richest ecosystems - and threatening the millions of people who rely on it.
The circus that bought a tiny California town: ‘We’re creating our own Disneyland’
by Amanda Ulrich 11/24/24 The Guardian
rom 10 miles out, the tiny town of Nipton suddenly appears in the middle distance like a mirage: a huddle of lush eucalyptus trees in an otherwise impossibly vast, barren expanse of the California desert.
How to harvest water from clouds of fog
by Kat Lonsdorf Claire Harbage 10/06/23 NPR
This September morning, the air is cool. Murungi's wearing a wool hat and a maroon fleece, long pants and tall rubber boots. But the sun — strong at the equator — will soon warm the area. When the ground heats up during the day, its moisture evaporates into the air. Then when the night brings cooler temperatures, that moisture condenses, forming a fog of water droplets that Murungi and his wife collect.
Three independent studies say that blood platelet factor PF4 prevents and reverses cognitive decline
Although the percentage of older people with dementia is thankfully decreasing, from 13% to 10% in those over 70 from 2011-2019, the absolute number of people with dementia is actually increasing. That’s because the share of the U.S. population that is 65 and over ballooned by 38.6% from 2010-2020, in large part due to baby boomers (shown in dark blue below) crossing the 65-year mark. They’ll keep on doing that until 2031, so the 65+ population will continue to grow quickly until then.
It’s absolutely guaranteed’: the best and worst case scenarios for sea level rise
by Karen McVeigh 6/26/23 the Guardian
It is accelerating, too: the ocean rose more than twice as fast (4.62mm a year) in the most recent decade (2013-22) than it did in 1993-2002, the first decade of satellite measurements, when the rate was 2.77mm a year. Last year was a new high, according to the World Meteorological Organization. It is no coincidence that the past eight years were the warmest on record.
What Happens When You Tax Billionaires at 90 Percent?
by Thomhartmann 3/6/23 Daily KOS
“Succession” is over, but spoiled, entitled billionaire man-children are still very much with us, running social media companies, owning newspapers and television networks, and funding politicians and judges who then keep their taxes low and regulations minimal.
How the far right tore apart one of the best tools to fight voter fraud
On a night in January 2022, Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin stepped on stage in a former airbase in Houma, La.
With American flags draped from the stage, the topic of the night was democracy.
Defense arguments are set to open in a landmark climate case brought by Montana youth
Sixteen young Montana plaintiffs are suing state leaders in Helena, saying they've ignored scientific evidence and continue to promote fossil fuels, worsening climate change. They say that violates their right to a "clean and healthful environment," which Montana's constitution guarantees.
A Major Polling Company Is Throwing Its Weight Behind Huge Conspiracy Theories
by Matt Shuham 14/7/23 HUFFPOST
Kari Lake had lost Arizona’s 2022 governor’s race by thousands of votes, falsely declared that she’d been robbed, and was trying to overturn the election results in court when, finally, she was declared the winner of the race in March.
A beautiful, broken America: what I learned on a 2,800-mile bus ride from Detroit to LA
by Joanna Pocock 26/7/23 The Guardian
Historically, chroniclers of the road have travelled by car – intrepid individuals in charge of their destinies. They also tend to be male. The only book I could find by a woman about crossing the US was America Day by Day by Simone de Beauvoir. It is also the only Great American Road Trip book that features Greyhound bus travel. Simone became my companion on the road.
‘This way of farming is really sexy’: the rise of regenerative agriculture
by Alexandra Topping 14/8/23 The Guardian
Hollie Fallick looks over Brading on the Isle of Wight, at a patchwork of fields bordered by ancient oaks, which stretches to the Solent. “We still have to pinch ourselves every day,” says the 30-year-old, as she surveys the 50 hectares (125 acres) she farms with her best friend, Francesca Cooper, 34.
Five geoengineering trials the UK is funding to combat global warming
by Robert Chris 3/6/25 The Conversation
The UK government recently announced plans to fund five small-scale trials related to geoengineering. It’s the first time a state research funding body has put serious money into what’s known as solar radiation management, or SRM, which seeks to cool the planet by reflecting more of the Sun’s energy back into space.
Profound Paradigm Shift in Cellular Biology – DNA Damage Repaired by Antioxidant Enzymes
by CENTER FOR GENOMIC REGULATION 6/7/23 sciTechDaily
The human nucleus is metabolically active, according to the findings of a new study in Molecular Systems Biology by researchers at the CRG in Barcelona and CeMM/Medical University of Vienna.
A popular, but noxious, piping fix is sickening people. And it's throughout America's sewers.
by Emily Le Coz & Monique O.Madan 30/3/23 USA TODAY
A strong, epoxy-like odor that nauseated her and dozens of classmates and teachers at Spooner Middle School in Wisconsin. By the time they evacuated, Kaylie was feeling lightheaded. She passed out and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance.
How to improve US cities and tackle the climate crisis? Get rid of parking spaces
by Danielle Renwick 26/5/23 The Guardian
What could New York achieve if it repurposed some of its 3m curbside parking spots?
It could get rid of rats by moving trash off the sidewalks and into containers. It could create safe, cool play spaces for the more than 1m New Yorkers without easy park access. It could build bioswales to collect rainwater and prevent flooding during heavy storms.
Calculating the amount companies owe for causing global warming
Prior research has found that it is possible to tie certain environmental events to climate change—the current heat wave in parts of South Asia, for example, or excessive flooding in Myanmar and Bangladesh. As it stands now, governments wind up paying to restore order in such areas, or in some cases, insurance companies pay for those who have coverage.
Earth Matters: James Hansen warned us about climate change 35 years ago this month
by Staff Emeritus 1/6/23 DAILY KOS
“The present observed global warming is close to 0.4 degrees C [0.72 F], relative to ‘climatology,’ which is defined as the thirty-year (1951–1980) mean. A warming of 0.4 degrees C is three times larger than the standard deviation of annual mean temperatures in the 30-year climatology. The standard deviation of 0.13 degrees C i[0.23 F] is a typical amount by which the global temperature fluctuates annually about its 30-year mean; the probability of a chance warming of three standard deviations is about 1 percent. Thus, we can state with about 99 percent confidence that current temperatures represent a real warming trend rather than a chance fluctuation over the 30-year period.”—James Hansen testifying to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on June 23, 1988.
Experience exceeds awareness of anthropogenic climate change in Greenland
Although Greenland is a hub for climate science, the climate perceptions of Greenland’s predominantly Indigenous population have remained largely unstudied. Here we present two nationally representative surveys and show that Greenlanders are more likely than residents of top oil-producing Arctic countries to perceive that climate change is happening and about twice as likely to have personally experienced its effects. However, half are unaware that climate change is human-caused and those who are most affected appear to be least aware.
Hygroelectricity -- Nikola Tesla's Dream Reimagined?
by Irontortoise 6/7/23 DAILY KOS
In May, a team at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst published a paper declaring they had successfully generated a small but continuous electric current from humidity in the air…
‘Double agents’: fossil-fuel lobbyists work for US groups trying to fight climate crisis
by Oliver Milman 5/7/23 The Guardian
More than 1,500 lobbyists in the US are working on behalf of fossil-fuel companies while at the same time representing hundreds of liberal-run cities, universities, technology companies and environmental groups that say they are tackling the climate crisis, the Guardian can reveal.
Understanding the role of the sun in climate change
by Nicola Scafetta 6/7/23 PHYS ORG
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) supports the latter view and estimates that almost 100% of the observed warming of the Earth's surface from 1850–1900 to 2020 was caused by man-made emissions. This is known as the anthropogenic global warming (AGWT) theory.
Should I worry about ticks?
by Joel Snape 16/7/23 The Guardian
As arachnid superorders go, ticks are pretty evolutionarily successful. They’ve been around for at least 100 million years in one variety or another, with their main party trick – hanging around until they can latch a host to feed on – working on thousands of different animals across almost endless environments. But how concerned should you be about them in the UK? You won’t miss the blood they take, but they can cause a variety of unpleasant conditions in their hosts – and there’s some evidence that their population is growing.
As darkness descends on Gaza, I yearn for the world to see us, too
In Gaza, we have all been glued to the news for the last five days, watching in disbelief as strikes and counterstrikes have been exchanged and the death counts on both sides of the border mount. While every round of violence starts differently, they all end the same way here: with Palestinians paying a heavy price. We live in perpetual anticipation of a tragic ending.
Racism at heart of US failure to tackle deadly heatwaves, expert warns
by Nina Lakhani 6/8/23 The Guardian
Racism is at the heart of the American government’s failure to tackle the growing threat of deadly heatwaves, according to the author of an authoritative new book on the heating planet.
The Bruen Decision Is Not an "Originalist" Interpretation of the 2nd Amendment
by Old Rotohead 31/8/23 DAILY KOS
Self-proclaimed “originalists” tend to use their alleged doctrine as a fig leaf for enacting their prejudices. In addition to the subject of reproductive autonomy, that’s especially in evidence, it seems, with regard to the Second Amendment. The Supreme Court actually has a set of rules for legal interpretation which enshrines aversion of “originalism”:
Biden creates a new national monument near the Grand Canyon
President Biden designated a new national monument near the Grand Canyon on Tuesday. The move protects lands that are sacred to indigenous peoples and permanently bans new uranium mining claims in the area. It covers nearly 1 million acres.
Why Billionaires Fund Anti-Trans & Anti-Black-History Political Movements
by Thomnhartmann 16/8/23 DAILY KOS
Almost 12 percent of Americans, over 37 million of us, live in dire poverty. According to OECD numbers, while only 5 percent of Italians and 11 percent of Japanese workers toil in low-wage jobs, almost a quarter of Americans — 23 percent — work for wages that can’t support a normal lifestyle. (And low-income Japanese and Italians have free healthcare and college.)
Phoenix Roasts in Record-Breaking 110-Plus-Degree Heat, with No End in Sight
by Daniel Cusick 17/7/23 E&E News
Several million heat-tolerant Arizonans spent the weekend in air-conditioned semi-darkness, drawing their curtains shut as temperatures soared to nearly 120 degrees in one of America's largest metro areas.
Ready to cold plunge? We dive into the science to see if it's worth it
Your body's first reaction to a plunge in chilly water is the "cold shock" response. Your heart rate jumps. Stress hormones spike. You gasp suddenly, and may hyperventilate.
The 19th century sexual purity law that some want to revive
There has been a surprising and consistent theme in several of Kacsymaryk’s rulings: the Comstock Act, a 19th-century sexual purity law that has lain dormant for more than a century. Last spring, when Kacsmaryk ruled that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) never had the authority to approve mifepristone, a pill used in the standard protocol for medication abortion, which now accounts for more than half of abortions performed in the United States, he argued that the Comstock Act made it a federal crime to mail abortion pills.
Climate Change Breeds War in Africa
by Alan Singer 30/7/23 Daily KOS
Filippo Grandi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, warns European nations that refugees from Sahel region will be moving north to escape violence, climate crises like droughts and floods, and food shortages.
Giganto, largest ever primate, died out due to diet change, say scientists
by Nicola Davis 10/01/24 The Guardian
Previous studies have shown giganto’s range decreased considerably by about 330,000 years ago, but unpicking the cause of its extinction has been a challenge as it was unclear when exactly it was wiped out.
Despite backlash, Masha Gessen says comparing Gaza to a Nazi-era ghetto is necessary
by Rachel Treisman, Leila Fadel 22/12/23 nrp
Israel's air-and-ground assault on Gaza has killed more than 20,000 people in the 10 weeks since the Hamas-led attack on Israel killed some 1,200 people and took more than 240 others hostage.
First, Murdoch papers targeted me. Now there is evidence they falsely implicated me in a cover-up
by Gordon Brown 31/7/24 The Guardian
Lewis and Robert Winnett, who was appointed by Lewis as editor of the Washington Post before quickly deciding not to take the job, are accused of benefiting from private investigators who broke the law. As these allegations surface, an “alternative truth” is being briefed that the Lewis team represents a nimble “no-holds-barred” British journalism, in contrast to what is alleged to have been the plodding, loss-making reporting of newspapers such as the recent Washington Post. It is Lewis’s claim that he can turn round the fortunes of the publication, which lost $77m last year, that appears to have endeared him to the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, who is the paper’s owner. But as recent revelations demonstrate, the real dividing line is not between the disrupter and an entrenched resistance to change, but between ethics and the lack of them.
US businessman is wannabe ‘warlord’ of secretive far-right men’s network
by Jason Wilson 22/8/23 The Guardian
The founder and sponsor of a far-right network of secretive, men-only, invitation-only fraternal lodges in the US is a former industrialist who has frequently speculated about his future as a warlord after the collapse of America, a Guardian investigation has found.
California shores up beaver protection in nod to their ‘ecological benefit’
by Guardian staff and agencies 26/7/23 The Guardian
California is embracing beavers and the role they play in the ecosystem after years of viewing the animals as a nuisance for chewing down trees and blocking up streams.
Microplastic-eating plankton may be worsening crisis in oceans, say scientists
by Karen McVeigh 9/11/23 The Guardian
A type of zooplankton found in marine and fresh water can ingest and break down microplastics, scientists have discovered. But rather than providing a solution to the threat plastics pose to aquatic life, the tiny creatures known as rotifers could be accelerating the risk by splitting the particles into thousands of smaller and potentially more dangerous nanoplastics.
Trump’s EPA aims to cut pollution rules projected to save nearly 200,000 lives: ‘People will be hurt’
by Oliver Milman and Dharna Noor 19/3/25 The Guardian
A push by Donald Trump’s administration to repeal a barrage of clean air and water regulations may deal a severe blow to US public health, with a Guardian analysis finding that the targeted rules were set to save the lives of nearly 200,000 people in the years ahead.
New maps show where snowfall is disappearing
Snowfall is declining globally as temperatures warm because of human-caused climate change, a new analysis and maps from a NOAA climate scientist show.
Just add sugar: Research shows common antioxidant can be more beneficial through glycosylation
by Sydney Dahle 14/5/23 PHYS ORG
Polyphenols are a class of compounds found in many plant-based foods. Polyphenols help prevent cellular damage in the body and can help to prevent diseases such as cancer or heart disease. However, many of them do not dissolve in water, making it difficult to fully take advantage of their health benefits.
Vegan diet massively cuts environmental damage, study shows
by Damian Garrington 20/7/23 The Guardian
Eating a vegan diet massively reduces the damage to the environment caused by food production, the most comprehensive analysis to date has concluded.
The most famous extinction event in the planet’s history is happening again — in Santa Cruz
by Corinne Purtill 31/5/23 Los Angeles Times
The heat of impact generated massive fires that annihilated everything around them and sent colossal plumes of pollutants soaring into the atmosphere. Within a day or two, toxic clouds of pulverized rock, sulfate aerosols and wildfire soot had blanketed the planet, blocking all but a tiny fraction of the sun’s energy and bringing photosynthesis to a virtual halt for the only known time in history.
‘Wings’ on poles: Bill Gates-backed wind power tech promises 75% cheaper energy
by Jijo Malayil 30/5/25 Interesting Engineering
US-based firm Airloom Energy’s innovative renewable energy technology to maximize wind power’s potential has now gained significant backing from investors. The list also includes Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the innovation platform led by Microsoft founder Gates, and the state of Wyoming.
Trump funding cuts ripple through rural America
by P.J Huffstutter 29/03/25 Reuters
Trump's administration also rolled out cuts to other federal funding that has kept small agriculture businesses like Yates' Greenbrier Dairy churning.
‘Even a freeway is redeemable’: world’s largest wildlife crossing takes shape in Los Angeles
by Katharine Gammon 6/4/25 The Guardian
Above the whirring of 300,000 cars each day on Los Angeles’s 101 freeway, an ambitious project is taking shape. The Wallis Annenberg wildlife crossing is the largest wildlife bridge in the world at 210ft long and 174ft wide, and this week it’s had help taking shape: soil.
The doomsday vaults storing seeds, data and DNA to protect our future
by Ella Braidwood 19/11/23 The Guardian
Built in 2000, this seed bank is one of as many as 1,700 worldwide, otherwise known as ‘“doomsday vaults”: facilities intended to safeguard humanity in the event of civilisation’s collapse. It isn’t just about seeds – researchers are preserving everything from DNA to data, and even faeces. Should it all go wrong, these Noah’s Arks could provide the blueprints for our recovery.
Kitepower displays the ‘miracle of airborne energy’
On a farm field on the outskirts of Dirksland, a village in the western part of the Netherlands, there is a kite like no other. It spins in figures of eight, generating power out of the wind.
The king of dark money effectively controls the US supreme court now
by Joel Warner 1/06/23 The Guardian
Once again, the US supreme court has issued rulings triggering national uproar. This time, the court has ruled that universities’ race-conscious admission policies are unconstitutional, that businesses can deny services to LGBTQ+ customers, and that Joe Biden can’t move forward with his student loan forgiveness plan. And just like the justices’ decision last year to end federal abortion protections and other troubling Scotus developments this term, the court’s new decisions are all examples of how dark money reigns supreme.
China population decline accelerates as birthrate hits record low
by Helen Davidson 01/17/24 The Guardian
China’s population decline has accelerated, with a second year of record-low birthrates.
Antioxidants in fruits and flowers seem to counteract harmful effects of microplastics, study shows
By Tom Perkins 2/24/25 The Guardian
The paper focuses on microplastics’ reproductive toxicity and plant compounds called anthocyanins, which are widely found in nuts, fruits and vegetables. The new review of scientific literature on anthocyanins finds that the compounds are probably protective against a range of plastic-induced effects on hormones, reductions in testosterone and estrogen, decreased sperm counts, lower sperm quality, erectile dysfunction and ovarian damage.
The government will give homeowners $2,000 to buy kitchen-transforming stoves: 'Tons of power without … major home electrical upgrades'
Induction units, on the other hand, are totally gas-free. All they need is a plug on your wall since they run entirely on electricity and energy-efficient battery storage. This means they cook food faster and cheaper and keep your lungs healthier at the same time — a true win-win.
High rises made out of wood? What matters in whether ‘mass timber’ buildings are sustainable
by Brent Sohngen 12/11/24 The Conversation
Companies behind these “mass timber” projects say that wood is a lower-carbon alternative to steel or concrete and brings other benefits, such as faster construction time and lower cost than concrete and steel. Advocates say the wood materials, made of compressed layers of wood with glue, offer good fire safety as well.
Scientists say they’ve confirmed evidence that humans arrived in the Americas far earlier than previously thought
When the discovery of fossilized footprints made in what’s now New Mexico was made public in 2021, it was a bombshell moment for archaeology, seemingly rewriting a chapter of the human story. Now new research is offering further evidence of their significance.
Wind-powered cargo ship sets sail in a move to make shipping greener
The shipping industry produces more than one billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, accounting for nearly 3% of human-caused global emissions. In July, the sector pledged to reduce its planet-heating pollution to net zero “by or around 2050.” The use of wind is one way towards this. While it’s not a new concept (sailing ships date back more than 5,000 years) new wind assisted propulsion technologies have been making an appearance in recent years.
50 years ago on 9/11, Nixon and Kissinger killed Allende and Chile's Socialist Democracy
It’s hard to believe that Henry Kissinger is still alive. He is 100 years old now. For some reason, war criminals live to ripe old ages. Augusto Pinochet, the dictator who ruled Chile with a tyrannical iron fist for decades after the coup, lived to be 91. Kissinger and Nixon orchestrated the coup that killed Salvador Allende, the democratically elected President of Chile and replaced him with Pinochet, as declassified documents show, “Because Kissinger thought that Allende’s 'model' effect can be insidious."
For 50 years I’ve let friends and strangers share my house – this kind of communal living can make for better lives for all
by Lynne Segal 11/11/23 The Guardian
It’s more than half a century since I first set foot in Heathrow from Sydney, in my mid-20s, clutching my 14-month-old baby in one hand and what little remained of my luggage in the other. My large suitcase, stuffed with books and clothes, had vanished at a stopover at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka, where I narrowly avoided arrest as my infant son had startlingly managed to push an empty trolley into the glass duty-free shop, smashing part of it. I was surrounded by a hubbub of people and noise, and one man in khaki uniform who kept sidling up to me saying quietly, “Get on to the plane.” Slowly, I separated myself from those surrounding me and did just that. Twelve hours later, I landed in London, exhausted and bewildered.
PFAS levels in ground and air could be higher than expected, research suggests
by Tom Perkins 6/26/23 The Guardian
Background levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in the ground and air may be much higher than previously thought, federal testing of spatially random soil samples from across New Hampshire suggests.
Could Vienna’s approach to affordable housing work in California?
by Kristy Lang 4/30/24 The Guardian
In the past two years, at least four delegations of housing experts and political leaders from California have visited the Austrian capital, hoping to unlock the secrets of why Vienna regularly comes top in surveys of the world’s most livable cities.
Neuroscientists link low self-awareness to stronger brain reactions to moralized issues
by Eric W. Dolan PsyPost 4/01/25
A new study published in the journal Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience reveals that people who hold strong moral convictions about political issues make decisions more quickly—but that these choices are shaped by both emotional brain responses and metacognitive ability. The research shows that moral conviction activates specific brain regions involved in emotion and cognitive control, and that people with lower self-awareness about their own decision accuracy show stronger brain responses to morally charged political issues.
Financial models on climate risk ‘implausible’, say actuaries
by Camilla Hodgson Financial Times 7/03/23
Financial institutions often did not understand the models they were using to predict the economic cost of climate change and were underestimating the risks of temperature rises, research led by a professional body of actuaries shows.
How tariffs supercharge home construction costs.
by Greg from Vermont 12/25/24 DailyKos
Canadian softwood lumber and plywood products are used widely across the country and dominate the New England market. The framing materials can be 30 to 50 percent of the cost of the house. The proposed tariff of 25 percent will be added directly to the cost of those elements. 1
Watch Out: Tornado Alley Is Migrating Eastward
by By Mark Fischetti, Matthew Twombly & Daniel P. Huffman 5/11/23 Scientific American
Although tornadoes touch down in many places across the eastern half of the country, from the 1950s through the 1990s they struck most often in Tornado Alley, an oval area centered on northeastern Texas and south-central Oklahoma. More recently, that focus has shifted eastward by 400 to 500 miles. In the past decade or so tornadoes have become prevalent in eastern Missouri and Arkansas, western Tennessee and Kentucky, and northern Mississippi and Alabama—a new region of concentrated storms.1
