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How Mycelium is Powering the Next Generation of Materials.

For more than two decades, researchers knew of just a single, male individual of the greater mouse-eared bat that would repeatedly hibernate in an unused railway tunnel in Sussex, U.K. This male bat became known as the “loneliest soul in Britain” since he was without a companion.

But researchers have now found that he isn’t alone after all: they’ve confirmed two individuals of the greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) hibernating in the U.K.

Munn added the find shows the importance of preserving heritage sites, which have become a refuge for many species, especially bats that need to hibernate undisturbed.

The Wikimedia Foundation says it will likely roll out features previously used to protect editors in authoritarian countries more widely.

It’s a proven fact: the relationship between rising global temperatures and the number of climate-related disasters is directly proportional.

From 1991 through 2023, each rise of 0.1°C in the average global air temperature led to 360 new records of climate-related disasters in Brazil, including severe droughts, flooding and storms. The consequential rise in the ocean’s surface temperature led to 584 new cases. There was an average increase of 100 new extreme events per year in Brazil over the period and subsequent economic losses amounting to some R$ 5.6 billion ($970 million) for each 0.1°C rise in average global temperature. The process has accelerated this decade, with 4,077 disasters recorded per year on average. During the 1990s, this number was a mere 725, meaning there has been a 460% increase since then.

These unprecedented data are from the study entitled “2024 – The Hottest Year in History,” carried out by the Brazilian Ocean Literacy Alliance, a group of multiple organizations focused on work related to the Ocean Decade. The project is coordinated by the Sea of Science Program at Brazil’s São Paulo Federal University (UNIFESP), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, and by UNESCO. It is funded by the Boticário Group Foundation and other NGOs. The study is the first volume in the series entitled “Brazil in Transformation: The impact of the Climate Crisis.” (...)

Beaver County, Pennsylvania, has lost jobs, businesses and people. But Shell says its complex has created nearly 500 jobs and paid $52 million in taxes, royalties and fees.

A Shell petrochemical plant in western Pennsylvania has failed to deliver many promised economic benefits to the surrounding county since it was announced more than a decade ago, according to an analysis released Friday by the Ohio River Valley Institute, a longtime critic of the project.

Beaver County, northwest of Pittsburgh, has lagged both the state and the nation in measures including growth in gross domestic product, employment and number of businesses since the company unveiled plans to build the massive $14 billion plant in 2012, the report said.

The report said that “by nearly every measure of economic activity, today Beaver County is worse off than it was before the Shell plant was announced in 2012. Today, Beaver County has fewer jobs, fewer businesses, and fewer residents.”

Shell spokeswoman Natalie Gunnell declined to comment on the specifics of the new report but said the plant has helped the local economy.

After a Chinese export ban, can America get gallium and germanium from Canada — or will tariffs get in the way?

On February 8, 2024, NASA launched its PACE climate satellite with the Dutch aerosol instrument SPEXone onboard. A full year of observations now yields a world map of aerosols.

A new study has found a dramatic increase in levels of microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) in human brains in recent years.

MNPs have previously been detected in human lungs, intestine, bone marrow and placenta. In the new study, researchers took one tissue sample from the brain, kidney and liver of 80 people autopsied in 2016 and 2024. They also sampled the brains of 12 people who died with Alzheimer’s or dementia within that period.

The researchers found that brain and liver samples from 2024 had considerably higher MNP concentrations compared with those in 2016. Brain samples showed a 50% increase during the eight years.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/17862745

The use of third parties, rather than the Israeli military, at the central checkpoint in Gaza was reportedly a compromise in the agreement. A representative for UG Solutions told The Washington Post that their mandate is to allow people to go through the checkpoint, and only stop them when they “carry anything deemed unsafe” — but it’s unclear what that means, and Israel has long banned simple necessities from entering Gaza, including items like food, claiming that they can be used by armed Palestinian forces.

The use of third parties, rather than the Israeli military, at the central checkpoint in Gaza was reportedly a compromise in the agreement. A representative for UG Solutions told The Washington Post that their mandate is to allow people to go through the checkpoint, and only stop them when they “carry anything deemed unsafe” — but it’s unclear what that means, and Israel has long banned simple necessities from entering Gaza, including items like food, claiming that they can be used by armed Palestinian forces.