Sat.Oct 16, 2021 - Fri.Oct 22, 2021

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Calling All Scientists: The Federal Government is Hiring

Union of Concerned Scientists

Here at the Union of Concerned Scientists, we have bad news and good news. First, the bad: The federal scientific workforce—in other words, the scientists and experts who work for the government on behalf of the public—needs help. That workforce is aging quickly. It’s not as diverse as it should be. And federal agencies have […].

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From Homes to Cars, It’s Now Time to Electrify Everything

Yale E360

The key to shifting away from fossil fuels is for consumers to begin replacing their home appliances, heating systems, and cars with electric versions powered by clean electricity. The challenges are daunting, but the politics will change when the economic benefits are widely felt. Read more on E360 ?.

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HotSpots H2O: As Famine Looms in East Africa, Humanitarian Groups Call for Urgent Action

Circle of Blue

Drought has left millions in the region facing food insecurity—and conditions are expected to get worse. The landscape of Kulaley Village in northern Kenya lays barren after a drought in 2011. Photo © OxFam East Africa / Wikimedia Commons. Climate models indicate the potential for another brutal famine in East Africa. As dry conditions bear on, humanitarian groups are calling on the international community to take action before it is too late.

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The Shock of the Global

Legal Planet

Source: George Shuklin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Pick up any newspaper and it is clear that much of the world is experiencing a series of interrelated energy price shocks. In Europe and the UK, natural gas prices are up by more than 500% over the last year , hitting all-time highs earlier this month. In the US, even with abundant supplies of natural gas as a result of extensive shale gas development, natural gas prices are more than double where they were a year ago.

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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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To Find Out If ExxonMobil Really Supports a Carbon Tax, Just Follow the Money

Union of Concerned Scientists

Despite claiming to endorse a carbon tax, ExxonMobil has funneled millions of dollars to lawmakers who oppose the idea.

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Finding Bright Spots in the Global Coral Reef Catastrophe

Yale E360

The first-ever report on the world’s coral reefs presents a grim picture, as losses mount due to global warming. But there are signs of hope — some regions are having coral growth, and researchers found that corals can recover if given a decade of reprieve from hot water. Read more on E360 ?.

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Quantum imaging techniques could help find exoplanets

Physics World

Astronomers in Australia and the UK have shown how exoplanets could be observed directly by using quantum hypothesis testing methods to analyse telescope images. Zixin Huang at Macquarie University, and Cosmo Lupo at the University of Sheffield have shown that the techniques can be used to discriminate between light emitted by a star-planet system and a star with no planets.

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Colorado’s Fossil Fuel Industry Wants to Buy Your Friendship. Don’t Be Fooled.

Union of Concerned Scientists

A new UCS report found that the oil and gas industry has spent massive amounts of money in Colorado to buy political influence and block public health and environmental safeguards.

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Bitcoin Miners Resurrect Fossil Fuel Power Plant, Drawing Backlash From Environmentalists

Yale E360

A cryptocurrency-mining operation in central New York has reopened a shuttered fossil fuel power plant to power 15,300 computer servers used to unlock bitcoins, raising concerns among environmentalists, the Associated Press reports. Read more on E360 ?.

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Nominees for a Science Award Were All White Men -- Nobody Won

Scientific American

A protest by a group of scientists has ignited spirited discussions about the persistent lack of diversity in such awards. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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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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Climate change in a nutshell: the causes and effects of global warming, simply put

Physics World

It might sound impossible to explain something as complex as the mechanisms of climate change both simply and accurately. But this is exactly what David Nelles and Christian Serrer – students at the University of Friedrichshafen, Germany – have achieved with their book Small Gases, Big Effect: This is Climate Change. Approved by more than 100 scientists, Small Gases, Big Effect starts with a breakdown of the components of the Earth’s climate, before detailing the many interconnected factors that

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Here’s What Richer Countries Must Deliver to Make COP26 in Glasgow a Success

Union of Concerned Scientists

We’re less than two weeks out from the start of the annual U.N. international climate talks, also referred to as COP26, which are set to take place in Glasgow, Scotland, from October 31-November 12. The gravity of the moment should be sinking in for world leaders. From a climate-caused drought in Madagascar that threatens food […].

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Rising Arctic Temperatures Mean Migrating North No Longer Worth It for Many Species, Study Finds

Yale E360

As temperatures rise in northern regions, migrating species are seeing less benefit from migrating north for the summer months, according to scientists who reviewed 25 recent studies. Read more on E360 ?.

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Extinct Japanese wolf is the closest wild relative of dogs yet found

New Scientist

The extinct Japanese wolf is not the direct ancestor of dogs but its DNA shows it is more closely related to those ancestors than any other wolves yet found

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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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Could the future of vaccines be syringe-free?

Physics World

In the global fight against COVID-19, around 6.8 billion vaccine doses have been administered across the world, a figure that is likely to rise as more doses become available and with many countries now recommending booster jabs. As often in times of health crises, new medical technologies have emerged, driven by the sense of urgency and extra funding, that address difficulties of existing methods and could change healthcare paradigms for years to come.

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EPA Plans to Take Bold Action on PFAS. Will it Be Enough?

Union of Concerned Scientists

EPA's new plans for regulating PFAS are an important step in the right direction. But more needs to be done.

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Four Success Stories in Gene Therapy

Scientific American

The field is beginning to fulfill its potential. These therapies offer a glimpse of what’s to come. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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Nearly every person in Iran seems to have had covid-19 at least once

New Scientist

An analysis of covid-19 infections among Iranian people casts further doubt on the idea that herd immunity can be achieved without vaccination

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Celebrating Open Access Week 2021, new environmental open-access journals

Physics World

Next week marks International Open Access Week 2021 , which has as its theme “It matters how we open knowledge: building structural equity”. Now in its 13th year, the global event aims to promote the benefits of open-access publishing. Open-access publishing – which removes the requirement for journal subscriptions as research papers are instead made immediately and freely available for anyone to read and reuse in their own work – has been going from strength to strength in recent years.

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Time to integrate global climate change and biodiversity science-policy agendas

The Applied Ecologist

This year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) will be held in Glasgow in November. In the lead up to the conference, we’re asking our editors and authors to share their research at the interface of climate and ecology.

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This Simple Experiment Could Challenge Standard Quantum Theory

Scientific American

Measuring the time it takes particles to travel between two points may offer the best-yet test for Bohmian mechanics. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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Sperm quality has been declining for 16 years among men in the US

New Scientist

Data from 170,000 semen analyses performed in the US between 2005 and 2021 reveals a worrying decline in sperm quality

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First positronium image recorded during a PET scan

Physics World

Simultaneous scans: Positronium lifetime image (left) and standardized uptake value image (right) of a phantom containing tumour and adipose tissue samples, recorded using the Jagiellonian-PET scanner. The positronium image reveals differences between cancerous and healthy tissues. (Courtesy: CC BY 4.0/Kamil Dulski, Jagiellonian University). Positron emission tomography (PET) is a molecular imaging method used for cancer diagnosis.

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Penelec Installs Equipment On Power Lines To Protect Eagles In Crawford County

PA Environment Daily

Penelec , a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., has placed markers on a long stretch of power line in the Erie National Wildlife Refuge in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, to help bald eagles avoid in-flight collisions that could cause power outages as they fly between their nest and fishing grounds. From a hovering helicopter, contractors clipped avian flight diverters every 15 feet along the 1,200-foot span of wire high above a marsh in the Erie National Wildlife Refuge.

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Forever Chemicals Are Widespread in U.S. Drinking Water

Scientific American

Experts hope that with the incoming Biden administration, the federal government will finally regulate a class of chemicals known as PFASs. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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7 Underrated Creepy Creatures

Cool Green Science

Bats and snakes get an undeserved bad rap. But here are some creepy crawlies that might keep you up at night. The post 7 Underrated Creepy Creatures appeared first on Cool Green Science.

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Small-world networks regulate transcription in cells

Physics World

Left: contact map highlighting beads that are close in space, comparing model simulations with experimental data for the modelled fragment. Right: DNA modelled as beads (connected by “spring” bonds, not shown). (Courtesy: CC BY 4.0/ Nat. Commun. 10.1038/s41467-021-25875-y). The regulatory patterns that underpin gene expression may originate from the spatial organization of the genome, according to a new study reported in Nature Communications.

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It’s Time To Start Thinking About Net Zero Homes

Earth 911

An increasing number of cities, counties, and states around the U.S. are committed to reducing. The post It’s Time To Start Thinking About Net Zero Homes appeared first on Earth911.

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I Eat Fish, Am I Eating Microplastics?

Ocean Conservancy

Written by Hayley McIlwraith, Research Assistant in the Rochman Lab and Chelsea Rochman, Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, co-founder of the University of Toronto Trash Team and Scientific Advisor to Ocean Conservancy. Plastic is everywhere. It’s in the laptop I’m using to write this blog, in the clothes I’m wearing as I sit at my desk and in the packaging protecting the food that I’m snacking on in between sentences.

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We Need to Ground Truth Assumptions about Gene Therapy

Scientific American

Researchers, practitioners and patients must balance the discipline’s promise with its reality. -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com.

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NASA’s Lucy mission launches to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids

Physics World

Asteroid quest: The $1bn Lucy craft will carry out several fly-bys of the Tojan asteroids over a 12-year period. (Courtesy: NASA). NASA has launched a $1bn mission to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids — two large clusters of rocks that are believed to be remnants of primordial material that formed the solar system’s outer planets. The probe, dubbed Lucy , lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 5:34 a.m. local time on Saturday aboard an Atlas V rocket.

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Ag & Food Law Daily Update: October 22, 2021

National Law Center

A comprehensive summary of today’s judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in agriculture and food. Email important additions HERE. Judicial: Class. The post Ag & Food Law Daily Update: October 22, 2021 appeared first on National Agricultural Law Center.

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Self-sustaining 3D-printed house harnesses the power of nature

Inhabitant

The Rain Catcher is a 3D-printed house that's off-the-grid and designed specifically to meet Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) 2030 Climate Challenge criteria for electric, heating and water consumption. This eco-house is truly made to harness all the power of nature.

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More companies pledge ‘net-zero’ emissions to fight climate change, but what does that really mean?

Environmental News Bits

by Amrou Awaysheh (Indiana University) You’ll probably hear the term “net-zero emissions” a lot over the coming weeks as government leaders and CEOs, under pressure, talk about how they’ll reduce their countries’ or businesses’ impact on climate change.