Tue.Mar 01, 2022

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Edible Extinction: Why We Need to Revive Global Food Diversity

Yale E360

The Green Revolution helped feed a surging global population, but at the cost of impoverishing crop diversity. Now, with climate change increasingly threatening food supplies, the need for greater agricultural resilience means restoring endangered crop and food varieties. Read more on E360 ?.

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It’s About Damn Time to Have a Black Woman on the US Supreme Court

Union of Concerned Scientists

At President Biden’s first State of the Union address, he can tout a historic promise he kept from the campaign trail in 2020: his nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to become the 116th Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. Standing on the shoulders of the likes of Constance Baker Motley and many others, she […].

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IPCC Climate Report: Six Key Findings for Water

Circle of Blue

Scientific body warns of ‘rapidly closing window’ for action. A woman reaches for a hose from a water tanker in Rajasthan, India. Temperatures on this day in July 2016 exceeded 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue. By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue – March 1, 2022. The United Nations climate panel issued a blunt and urgent warning to the world on Monday.

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Building Local Power With Neighborhood Microgrids

Union of Concerned Scientists

Microgrids can provide communities greater control over their electric supply.

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Implementing D.E.J.I. Strategies in Energy, Environment, and Transportation

Speaker: Antoine M. Thompson, Executive Director of the Greater Washington Region Clean Cities Coalition

Diversity, Equity, Justice, and Inclusion (DEJI) policies, programs, and initiatives are critically important as we move forward with public and private sector climate and sustainability goals and plans. Underserved and socially, economically, and racially disadvantaged communities bear the burden of pollution, higher energy costs, limited resources, and limited investments in the clean energy and transportation sectors.

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What’s Up With Water — March 1, 2022

Circle of Blue

Transcript. Welcome to “What’s Up With Water,” your need-to-know news of the world’s water from Circle of Blue. I’m Eileen Wray-McCann. In Germany, concerns about water supply are clouding the future of a Tesla factory key to the carmaker’s European expansion plans. The factory has been delayed for several reasons, one of which is a lawsuit filed by two prominent environmental groups.

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Texas Supreme Court Clarifies Postproduction Cost Decision

Energy & the Law

It was jurisprudential Groundhog Day as the Supreme Court of Texas handed down Nettye Engler Energy v. Bluestone Natural Resources , another in a series of postproduction cost disputes, only two days after Puxsutawney Phil peeked out of his cozy burrow to pronounce six more weeks of winter. The takeaway. The Court clarified Burlington Resources v. Texas Crude Energy.

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Ag and Food Law Daily Update: March 1, 2022

National Law Center

A comprehensive summary of today’s judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in agriculture and food. Email important additions HERE. . The post Ag and Food Law Daily Update: March 1, 2022 appeared first on National Agricultural Law Center.

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Panel calls on physicists to ‘shelve’ notion of Japan hosting the International Linear Collider

Physics World

Physicists backing Japan to build the ¥600bn ($5bn) International Linear Collider (ILC) must re-evaluate their plans and “shelve” the question of the country hosting the proposed next-generation particle collider. That is the stark message to emerge from a panel of senior Japanese officials who have examined progress made towards realising the ILC. They conclude that it is too early for Japan to proceed towards construction of the ILC and instead call for further research and international suppo

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Frontiers for Young Minds celebrates 15 million article views!

Frontiers

2021 was quite a year for Frontiers for Young Minds ! Our mission to connect kids with real scientists relentlessly continues. We have now reached 15 million article views! An amazing feat for which we are extremely proud and we could not have done this without the amazing support of all our authors, editor and young reviewers our there. I selected 6 articles for you to start exploring what our journal has to offer.

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Experts debate the possible paths to human-like AI

Physics World

Scientists and engineers continue to push the boundaries of what can be achieved with artificial intelligence (AI), with the last few years seeing impressive gains in areas such as speech recognition and natural language processing. But experts agree that the current state-of-the-art still falls some way short of the thinking machines that are widely depicted in science fiction. “AI is very good for solving very specific problems, as long as there is enough data to train the system,”

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Shaping a Resilient Future: Climate Impact on Vulnerable Populations

Speaker: Laurie Schoeman Director, Climate & Sustainability, Capital

As households and communities across the nation face challenges such as hurricanes, wildfires, drought, extreme heat and cold, and thawing permafrost and flooding, we are increasingly searching for ways to mitigate and prevent climate impacts. During this event, national climate and housing expert Laurie Schoeman will discuss topics including: The two paths for climate action: decarbonization and adaptation.

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What drives sea level rise? US report warns of 1-foot rise within three decades and more frequent flooding

Environmental News Bits

by Jianjun Yin, University of Arizona Sea levels are rising, and that will bring profound flood risks to large parts of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts over the next three decades. A new report led by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns that the U.S.

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New system could control quantum experiments in space

Physics World

A scalable and flexible system for the remote monitoring of quantum experiments in noisy and unpredictable environments has been created by researchers in the UK. Thomas Barrett and colleagues at the University of Sussex used the latest sensing, machine learning, and database technologies to create and maintain multiple quantum-related experiments involving ultracold atoms.

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Americans largely favor U.S. taking steps to become carbon neutral by 2050

Environmental News Bits

Read the full story from Pew. Amid growing global energy demand and rising carbon dioxide emissions, majorities of Americans say the United States should prioritize the development of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, and take steps toward the country becoming carbon neutral by the year 2050.

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Large-scale solar farms could increase rainfall in some arid regions

Physics World

Placing large-scale solar farms on the Arabian Red Sea coastal plain could dramatically increase rainfall in this arid part of the world, a new modelling study claims. According to the researchers, simulations show that such installations could change the reflectiveness of the land enough to unsettle coastal air circulation. The resulting changes in local weather patterns and rainfall could potentially produce enough water to meet the annual needs of five million people.

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Sustainability at Retail

Sustainability impacts every nation, company, and person around the world. So much so that, in 2015, the United Nations (UN) issued a call for action by all countries to work toward sustainable development. In response to this and as part of a global Sustainability at Retail initiative, Shop! worked collaboratively with its global affiliates to address these critical issues in this white paper.

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Water Sensors Toolbox

Environmental News Bits

This toolkit is a collection of resources and information related to EPA research that uses, evaluates, and/or develops water sensors?including remote sensors and related data management technology.

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Stonehenge may have been a giant calendar and now we know how it works

New Scientist

The sarsen stones of the Stonehenge monument could have been designed as a calendar to track a solar year, with each of the stones in the large sarsen circle representing a day within a month

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The advantages of museum philanthropy that builds staff diversity rather than new wings and galleries

Environmental News Bits

by Lisa M. Strong, Georgetown University Retired financier Oscar Tang, along with his wife, Agnes Hsu-Tang, are giving the Metropolitan Museum of Art US$125 million. Their gift, announced in November 2021, will help pay for a long-planned renovation of the New York City museum’s Modern and Contemporary Art wing.

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How do you solve a problem like Molinia?

The Applied Ecologist

The increasing dominance of the invasive purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea) on blanket bogs is a growing threat to diversity and carbon storage. In this post, practitioners from Moors for the Future Partnership give their account of the team’s latest research attempting to reverse these effects.

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The Road Ahead: What’s Next for Salmon Recovery

Washington Nature

Washingtonians care about salmon, and thanks in part to the conversations driven by the tribes, legislators, and advocates who built the Lorraine Loomis Act, the state Legislature is putting forth substantial investments into salmon recovery this year. With over $164 million proposed for salmon in the Senate’s budget, we’re hopeful that the legislature will meet the moment and give salmon the support they need.

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Transformational change is coming to how people live on Earth, UN climate adaptation report warns: Which path will humanity choose?

Environmental News Bits

by Edward R. Carr, Clark University Governments have delayed action on climate change for too long, and incremental changes in energy and food production will no longer be enough to create a climate-resilient future, a new analysis from scientists around the world warns.

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What are vacuum bombs and is Russia using them in Ukraine?

New Scientist

Thermobaric weapons, sometimes called vacuum bombs, use powdered metal to create a rapidly expanding fireball. Under international law, they must only be used against military targets, not civilians.

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Disasters can wipe out affordable housing for years unless communities plan ahead – the loss hurts the entire local economy

Environmental News Bits

by Shannon Van Zandt, Texas A&M University The tornadoes and wildfires that devastated communities from Kentucky to Colorado in the final weeks of 2021 left thousands of people displaced or homeless. For many of them, it will be months if not years before their homes are rebuilt. That’s especially hard on low-income residents.

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New research suggests Highway 413 & Bradford Bypass could have grave implications for communities in 905 and in the Greenbelt

Enviromental Defense

ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE, GRAVEL WATCH ONTARIO, SIMCOE COUNTY GREENBELT COALITION. New research suggests Highway 413 & Bradford Bypass could have grave implications for communities in 905 and in the Greenbelt. Impacts on residents, drinking water, climate targets, and farmland need to be considered as part of highway reviews. Simcoe County, Ont. – New research maps released by Gravel Watch Ontario, Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition and Environmental Defence suggest that the massive amounts of a

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Pandemic Premium Support: USDA Offers Premium Benefit for Planting Cover Crops

National Law Center

Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) announced it is providing insurance premium benefits to certain producers who planted cover crops. The post Pandemic Premium Support: USDA Offers Premium Benefit for Planting Cover Crops appeared first on National Agricultural Law Center.

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Skin tone impacts photoacoustic measurements of blood oxygenation

Physics World

Pulse oximeters, which measure the percentage of oxygen in the blood, can be used as part of clinical decision-making to triage patients, adjust supplemental oxygen levels, and more. In 2020, researchers analysed tens of thousands of blood oxygenation measurements collected from thousands of patients. The study, though not received without controversy and discussions about study design , found that Black patients had approximately three times the frequency of hypoxemia – an abnormal decrease in

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Countries agree to end plastic pollution in ambitious global treaty

New Scientist

Draft global plastics treaty reached at UN Environment Assembly suggests final deal will be legally-binding and cover the whole plastic supply chain

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February Monthly Round Up

National Law Center

As we begin March and reflect on last month, staff at the National Agricultural Law Center continue to bring trusted research. The post February Monthly Round Up appeared first on National Agricultural Law Center.

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Solar panel add-on pulls water from air without consuming electricity

New Scientist

The system uses day-night temperature differences to extract water from the air while slightly increasing electricity generation by cooling solar panels

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Statement: Frontiers stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine

Frontiers

We are shocked and saddened by the events in Ukraine. We stand in full solidarity with the Ukrainian people, and with all those affected, particularly our Ukrainian employees, our Ukrainian editors, reviewers, and researchers. Our thoughts go out to all of them and their families and friends. The vision of an open Europe, one that fosters a culture of social progress through collaboration and the sharing of knowledge, has been shaken to the core by Russia’s war.

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Genes from bacteria may have helped plants colonise the land

New Scientist

When aquatic plants first transitioned onto land, their success may have been due to genes they got from bacteria and fungi that let them take up nutrients from soil

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Bringing unsexy back: Are waste and wastewater the next big opportunity?

Environmental News Bits

Read the full story at Forbes. For sustainability investors, there are plenty of shiny objects to pay attention to right now. Finding the next opportunity in renewables, or jumping into the electrification of transport, or advanced batteries, among others. These are exciting growth areas that many infrastructure investors are focusing in on at the moment.

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Nanorobots clean up contaminated water by grabbing hold of pollutants

New Scientist

Nanorobots propelled by magnets can be used repeatedly without fuel, offering a sustainable and cost-effective way to clean up industrial wastewater

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New project to help scientists mitigate risks of environmental pollutants

Environmental News Bits

Read the full story from the University of Illinois. In addition to killing insects and weeds, pesticides can be toxic to the environment and harmful to human health. A new project led by Associate Professor Dong Wang and Huichun Zhang, Frank H.

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Dinosaur that broke its wrist may have fallen while mating

New Scientist

A dinosaur bone unearthed in eastern Russia shows evidence of an injury the plant-eater sustained when it fell awkwardly

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