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showing posts for 'environment'

6 expert essays on the future of biotech

How will biotechnology transform our approach to human health? Scientists from the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council share key insights. World Economic Forum future of biotech DNA technology - genetic screening for disease, recombinant protein production, CAR T cells, gene therapy, organoid...
Source: weforum.org

Biopharma 2020: A landmark year and a reset for the future

Biopharma in 2020 has shown what it can achieve when it works at its best. How can the industry build on this renewed sense of purpose in the years ahead? McKinsey biopharma 2020 3 Overarching trends Operating under a spotlight - expectation of innovationNavigating protracted economic uncertainty -...
Source: mckinsey.com

Climate activists buy environment secretary's Cornwall constituency office

"Insulate Britain supporters donate rent from George Eustice MP's HQ towards protesters'€™ court costs." Landlord activism.
Source: theguardian.com

Early warnings and emerging accountability: Total's responses to global warming, 1971-2021 Global Environmental Change.

Building upon recent work on other major fossil fuel companies, we report new archival research and primary source interviews describing how Total responded to evolving climate science and policy in the last 50 years. We show that Total personnel received warnings of the potential for catastrophic global...
Source: sciencedirect.com

Psychology of panic buying

I've been fascinated by the psychology of panic buying and it is clearly an area for future research. It has an enormous impact on delivery infrastructure and I wonder if anyone has been tracking the data of the causes and the impact in the current fuel 'crisis'. A systematic review from last year identified...
Source: nih.gov

New WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines aim to save millions of lives from air pollution

"Air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to human health, alongside climate change. New guidelines provide clear evidence of the damage air pollution inflicts on human health, at even lower concentrations than previously understood." "Global assessments of ambient air pollution alone...
Source: who.int

Council policies 'inconsistent' with climate goals

A third of English councils support policies that could increase emissions, BBC research suggests.
Source: bbc.com

New WHO toolkit promotes inclusion of people with dementia in society

“Towards a dementia-inclusive society: WHO toolkit for dementia-friendly initiatives”, launched today, is WHO’s latest response for establishing and scaling-up dementia-friendly initiatives globally. The toolkit helps countries raise public awareness and understanding of dementia to support people...
Source: who.int

Canada blocks proposed Rocky Mountain coal mine on environmental grounds

Canada on Friday formally blocked a proposal to build a steelmaking coal mine in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, citing what it said would be the significant environmental damage.
Source: reuters.com

'Big risk': California farmers hit by drought change planting plans

Joe Del Bosque is leaving a third of his 2,000-acre farm near Firebaugh, California, unseeded this year due to extreme drought. Yet, he hopes to access enough water to produce a marketable melon crop.
Source: reuters.com

Then and now: Pandemic clears the air

Air pollution is highly damaging to the environment, but Covid lockdowns show we can clear the air.
Source: bbc.com

Greta Thunberg aims to change how food is produced

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has set her sights on changing how the world produces and consumes food in order to counteract a trio of threats: carbon emissions, disease outbreaks and animal suffering.
Source: reuters.com

China lands its Zhurong rover on Mars

The six-wheeled robot has made the hazardous descent to the surface of the Red Planet, China announces.
Source: bbc.com

Human remains from Mary Rose show diversity of Tudor crew

A team of researchers with Cardiff University, the Mary Rose Trust, HM Naval Base and the British Geological Survey's National Environmental Isotope Facility has found evidence of racial diversity among the crew of the Mary Rose—a warship from the time of King Henry the VIII. In their paper published...
Source: phys.org

IEA issues 'dire warning' on CO2 emissions as it predicts 5% rise

Global CO2 emissions from energy are seen rising nearly 5% this year, suggesting the economic rebound from COVID-19 could be "anything but sustainable" for the climate, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.
Source: reuters.com

World's wealthiest (and 'business as usual') 'at heart of climate problem'

"These [polluter elite] are people who fly most, drive the biggest cars most and live in the biggest homes which they can easily afford to heat, so they tend not to worry if they’re well insulated or not. … They’re also the sort of people who could really afford good insulation and solar panels...
Source: bbc.com

Sewage discharged into rivers 400,000 times in 2020

Waterways in England had sewage discharged into them for three million hours
Source: bbc.com

Microbes Unknown to Science Discovered on The International Space Station

The menagerie of bacterial and fungal species living among us is ever growing - and this is no exception in low-gravity environments, such as the International Space Station (ISS).
Source: sciencealert.com

Scientists unlock mysteries of world's oldest 'computer'

The 2,000-year-old mechanism has baffled experts since it was discovered on a shipwreck in 1901.
Source: bbc.com

PAIRED: A New Multi-agent Approach for Adversarial Environment Generation

This Google AI blog describes a method for machine learning using paired agents. The gap between the one that did the best and the one that did the worst is regret. That feeling of 'could have done' better is what pushes the 'unsupervised environment design' algorithm towards a better solution. "The...
Source: googleblog.com