Environmental News

Neaderthal superglue:

Neanderthal adhesives were made through a complex synthesis process | Ars Technica

Apparently the idea has been kicked around by anthropologists for a while, and now they made it stick. So to speak. Make bone tools on wooden handles without all that fiddly leather wrapping.

 

Gizmodo drives today's entry:

3M Agrees to $10.3 Billion Settlement Over Forever Chemicals

Carbon-fluorine bonds are rare in nature, so it is not surprising that microbial enzymes (that decompose everything-the-heck else) are also rare. Fluorocarbons have gained the title 'forever chemicals', but not quite justly. As early as 2013 the topic was reviewed. I wrote a review on microbial degradation of polymers last year and missed that. Ooops. There are more recent studies of fluorocarbon degradation involving UV light (one of our best frenemies). So let us say 'extremely persistent' and not 'forever'. More to the point is 3M's large payout agreement. Article also mentions other manufacturers working toward$ $ettlement$ (but not all are )

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Two People in New Mexico Have Died From Hantavirus This Year

Rodent-borne hantavirus is clicky because if you get it you are about 1/3 dead already. But there are many other rodent-borne diseases with wider swathes. In general they (and their poops) are bad news. So, a public-service announcement. Little poops with white dots on one end come from lizards. Those not dotted come from mice or similar. I and grad students (er, kids) go to field stations where little poops are commonly observed. Do whatever you want to 'clean up' the dotted ones. For non-dotted ones, use water, put on the face mask you have been carrying around, and wash up after real good. This is not to say that lizards pose no health risks, but mighty mouse leads by a mile.

 

Photo contest winning birds:

See 11 Breathtaking Bird Images From the Audubon Photography Awards | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine

Not that they won...

 

Tall trees:

See the New Tallest Tree in Asia, a 335-Foot Cypress | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

Your humble reporter is awed by all over 100 meters, and the the known number has increased with recent equipment.

This cypress is growing on a steep slope and hypertrees mostly don't do that.

 

Human protein consumption (and one might say joy) come from eating animal flesh produced from large agricultural (food-source) areas. It is a big thing and has limited possibilities for expansion, and ag areas have other competing demands.

Many ways to work around that involve plant proteins, fungal proteins, cultured animal cells, and insect proteins as direct substitutes, Today's issue of Nature (journal) has two explainer articles:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02096-5
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02095-6

They do not include more use of insects as animal feed, which is now the largest alternative 'pathway'. It is also the least transformative pathway as it does not decrease sizes of cow, pig or chicken populations.

 

It may seen that a lot of global high-level conferences occur to explore topics like this:

Global science leaders herald new era of grou | EurekAlert!

I could not dispute that impression. This one involves an organization I am not familiar with. Their bingo card lacks few environmental buzzwords. That sounds disrespectful. Maybe I'm simply sad for not being invited. The real point is that good things do come out of such meetings, but that press releases do not provide much insight into those activities.

Behind the scenes. Vegan sausage making and so forth.

 

Orchids especially their flowers are pleasing to look at. All the ways they deceive pollinators to 'do it' add spice to the stories:

Sex lives of orchids reads like science ficti | EurekAlert!

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As did most other flowering plants, orchids found a way to bounce back after a particularly bad day about 66 million years ago. There is hope to be found in that.

 

A plant based meat substitute company is doing poorly:

Beyond Meat earnings drop 30% with falling demand | CNN Business

If readers would say how they feel about this topic, we could start a separate discussion. There are good reasons to not run animal fleets for human food.

Have I mentioned before that Earth's 'average human' has 1/6 of a cow and 1/6 of a car? Probably have.

 

Remembering climate/CO2 discussions before they acquired strong political overtones:

https://hakaimagazine.com/features/the-decade-of-sock-hops-poodle-skirts-and-climate-change-awareness/