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Scientists race to discover new species before destruction of natural world drives them to extinction
From a toadstool with teeth to a vine smelling of marzipan and a flower that has cheated its way out of having to photosynthesise, a weird and wonderful host of new plant and fungus species have been discovered in 2024.
Other plants given scientific names for the first time include beautiful new orchids, a ghostly palm and a hairy plant that appears to have stolen a gene from an unrelated family. The species are among the 172 new plants and fungi named by scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and their partners.
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Law around illegal wood burning in smoke-control areas is not being enforced, campaigners say
Only four fines out of 5,600 complaints have been issued for illegal burning of wood in smoke-control areas from September 2023 to August 2024 in England, data has revealed.
The new data, from freedom of information requests submitted by the campaign group Mums for Lungs, shows that the law around illegal wood burning is not being enforced in England, campaigners said.
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Popular in Victorian times, they are sustainable, a good source of protein and brilliant for biodiversity, say those championing the bivalves
A splash of white wine, a handful of basil leaves and a few minutes preparation are all it takes to transform mussels that 24 hours ago were filtering seawater off the south Devon coast, into a delicious starter.
At the training kitchen in London’s oldest fish market, Billingsgate, in Poplar, we learn that fresh mussels require two vital preparation steps that the vacuum-packed, cooked variety don’t: “debearding” or pulling off the “byssus” thread that attaches the shell to rocks and other substrate, and the discarding of any with broken or open shells
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Balcony solar panels can save 30% on a typical household’s electricity bill and, with vertical surface area in cities larger than roof space, the appeal is clear
They are easy to install, and knock chunks off electricity bills. It may not be Romeo and Juliet, but Spain’s balcony scene is heating up as the country embraces what has hitherto been a mainly German love affair with DIY plug-in solar panels.
Panels have already been installed on about 1.5m German balconies, where they are so popular the term Balkonkraftwerk (balcony power plant) has been coined.
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Court rules in favor of 16 young people who said their health and prospects were being imperiled by climate crisis
Montana’s top court on Wednesday held that the state’s constitution guaranteed a right to a stable climate system and invalidated a law barring regulators from considering the effects of greenhouse gas emissions when permitting new fossil fuel projects.
The Montana supreme court upheld a landmark trial court decision last August in favor of 16 young people who said their health and futures were being jeopardized by climate change, which the state aggravates through its permitting of energy projects.
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Wincle, Cheshire: These woods have so much to lure in the unsuspecting naturalist, but the fallen trees are a warning – we enter at our own risk
The woods that run down off Wincle Minn form one of the most wildlife-rich, if unwelcoming, places I know in the Peak District. From the north-south oriented ridge (the Minn) descend 10 nameless brooks that all trend south-eastwards. These have incised a long, rippling hem of steep-sided gullies, clothed in a mix of oak, ash, alder, birch and hazel.
Its underlying sand and mudstones break down to fine clay and all the surrounding pasture is marshy, while the footpaths are seldom less than silver streams of mud soup. The woods are grazed by cattle, which have poached the underlying leaf litter to mire. Walking on the gully sides, which are all finely greased, carries obvious risk, but even standing still doesn’t look straightforward. The ground is so aqueous and loose that even tree roots can’t gain full purchase, and I have never known an English place with so many fallen trees.
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In 2019, scientists published a climate-friendly food plan. I’ve long wondered: could it work for most Americans?
As a fossil fuels and climate reporter, most of my journalism focuses on the need to radically overhaul the energy system. But the food sector also needs a makeover, as it creates between a quarter and a third of all greenhouse gas emissions.
When scientists came up with a new climate-friendly food plan in 2019 and published their findings in the medical journal the Lancet, I read with interest. The guidelines called for more vegetables, legumes and whole grains, which seemed doable to me. The authors even allowed for meat and dairy consumption, albeit in small quantities. Both are major drivers of the climate crisis: the United Nations estimates that meat and dairy produce more than 11% of all global greenhouse gas emissions, and some experts put the figure at up to 19.6%.
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Restoring age-old land rights has enabled 300 villagers to build a profitable business and halt the exodus to the city
It’s late morning and the sound of axes clacking against wood echoes through Pachgaon’s bamboo forest in the central Indian state of Maharashtra. A huge depot, larger than a cricket stadium,is full of bamboo branches, stacked neatly by size in different sections. Nearby is a small, windowless office painted in the colours of the forest – a record-keeper of Pachgaon’s turnaround from abject poverty to relative wealth in just over a decade.
Pachgaon’s rags-to-riches story follows the implementation of two longstanding Indian laws that restored to the local adivasi (tribal) community its traditional ownership rights over the forest, which they lost to rulers and colonisers several generations ago.
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By rejecting traditional grazing and maintaining trees and wildlife habitats alongside pasture, farmers are turning their land carbon positive. But will it be enough?
On a humid dawn in Colombia’s livestock capital, Michael Robbin rides across one of his farm’s pastures, where tall green stalks brush his horse’s belly. When he bought the land outside Montería in 2020 he divided it into 125 smaller fields. His neighbours called him crazy at first.
“That’s not how it’s done in this area,” he acknowledges. “Everybody was looking at me like I was from outer space.”
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Tips on where to start your cleanup, how to get the kids involved, and where best for your unwanted items to end up
It might not be the first place that springs to mind, but as Vicky Silverthorn, a professional declutterer, points out, it’s the place where you’re most likely to need a bit of space during the next few weeks.
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Rezultati nove studije ukazuju da zanemarena vrsta neizravnog oštećenja mozga pridonosi trajnoj invalidnosti nakon moždanog udara. Naime, pokazalo se, da je talamus - neka vrsta središnjeg mrežnog čvorišta koje regulira funkcije kao što su jezik, pamćenje, pažnja i kretanje - pogođen mjesecima ili godinama nakon što je osoba doživjela moždani udar.
Znanstvenici upozoravaju da su ljudi koji žive s neurodegenerativnim bolestima poput demencije ili Parkinsonove bolesti posebno osjetljivi na pogoršanje zdravlja uslijed toplinskih valova zbog većeg rizika od komplikacija povezanih s vrućinom.
Unatoč medicinskim smjernicama koje podržavaju upotrebu antivirusnih lijekova kod male djece s dijagnozom gripe, nedavna studija izvješćuje o premaloj upotrebi spomenutih lijekova. Inače, gripa čini do 10% svih pedijatrijskih hospitalizacija tijekom zimske sezone.
Izgleda da bi novi lijek mogao pomoći u liječenju Duchenneove mišićne distrofije (DMD), rijetkog genetskog poremećaja koji uzrokuje tešku degeneraciju mišića. Naime, kanadski znanstvenici s McGill University otkrili su da eksperimentalni spoj nazvan K884 može potaknuti prirodne sposobnosti obnavljanja mišićnih matičnih stanica. Inače, trenutni tretmani mogu usporiti oštećenje mišića, no ne rješavaju ključni problem.
Mikrobi koji žive u našim crijevima pomažu nam probaviti hranu preoblikujući žučne kiseline koje naša jetra proizvode za razgradnju masti. Sada se ispostavilo da dvije od ovih mikrobno modificiranih žučnih kiselina mogu utjecati na naš rizik za razvoj raka debelog crijeva.
Dvije neovisne studije pokazuju da pacijenti s dijabetesom tipa 2 koji se liječe semaglutidom imaju povećan rizik od razvoja oštećenja vidnog živca oka, što može dovesti do ozbiljnog i trajnog gubitka vida.
Alergijske bolesti kao što su astma, atopijski dermatitis i alergije na hranu posljednjih su godina u porastu. Alergije na hranu posebno pogađaju milijune ljudi diljem svijeta - to uključuje alergije na namirnice kao što su mlijeko, kikiriki, jaja i školjke. Obično ih uzrokuje preosjetljivost imunološkog sustava na bezopasne tvari u hrani i okolišu.
Nova studija otkriva da različiti profili crijevnog mikrobioma tijekom akutne SARS-CoV-2 infekcije mogu predvidjeti rizik od dugotrajnog COVID-19, nudeći uvid u skupine simptoma i potencijalne biomarkere.
Mnogi muškarci sa sporo rastućim karcinomom prostate sada se odlučuju za pažljivo praćenje tumora, umjesto aktivnog liječenja. Sada je
novo istraživanje pokazalo da povećanje unosa omega-3 masnih kiselina, može usporiti rast tumora.
Sve više mladih ljudi diljem svijeta postaje žrtva raka debelog crijeva, pokazuje nova studija. Stope raka debelog crijeva kod mladih odraslih porasle su u 27 od 50 zemalja diljem svijeta, uključujući i SAD. Ove stope među mladim odraslim osobama rastu iako su ostale iste kod sredovječnih ljudi i starijih osoba.
Doba u kojem živimo obilježeno je sve bržim promjenama koje se name?‡u morskom okolišu, a gotovo za sve odgovorni su ljudi. Obalna zona Sredozemlja, pa tako i našeg Jadranskoga mora, mjesto je na kojemu obitava više od polovice ukupnog stanovništva Mediterana te zbog toga ovo usko područje predstavlja i jedan od najugroženijih morskih okoliša.
U našem dijelu svijeta, koji zovemo zapadnim i smatramo razvijenim, prije samo 50 godina nisu sve žene imale pravo glasa na izborima, nisu imale jednak pristup obrazovanju, nisu mogle voditi države i nisu imale pristup visokim pozicijama u poslovnom svijetu.
Gotovo svi su upoznati s činjenicom kako oceani i mora prekrivaju više od 70 % površine Zemlje. Me?‘utim, nedovoljno je prepoznato kako su oceani, mora i obalna područja esencijalni dio Zemljinih ekosustava te kako o njima ovisi cijelo čovječanstvo, bilo na obali ili u dubokoj unutrašnjosti kontinenata! Zašto?
Ovaj cilj održivog razvoja odnosi se na ostvarivanje održive proizvodnje i potrošnje u čemu trenutačno ne uspijevamo jer je ekološki otisak koji ostavljamo i dalje ve?‡i od resursa koje imamo na raspolaganju. Dakle, potrebno je promijeniti načine na koji proizvodimo hranu, smanjiti bacanje hrane, pove?‡ati udjele obnovljive izvore energije u ukupnoj proizvodnji energije, pravilno gospodariti otpadom tijekom čitavog njegovog životnog ciklusa kako bi, me?‘u ostalim što manje utjecali na zaga?‘enje zraka, vode i tla.
Razvoj industrije i infrastrukture kao temelja za pove?‡anje životnog standarda za sve ljude, uz okolišno prihvatljiva rješenja te uključivanje novih tehnologija tema je cilja održivog razvoja koji se odnosi na okolišno prihvatljivu industrijalizaciju, kvalitetnu, pouzdanu, održivu i prilagodljivu infrastrukturu, a sve uz primjenu novih tehnologija, istraživanja i inovacija.
