APES Current Events

England plans to put a ban on plastic straws, stirrers and cotton swabs by April of 2020. “These items are often used for just a few minutes but take hundreds of years to break down, ending up in our seas and oceans and harming precious marine life,” says Michael Gove, Environmental Secretary. This is a monumental decision that could influence a movement around the world to make a small and simple change to, potentially, save the Earths pollution issue. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/22/england-will-ban-plastic-stirrers-straws-and-cotton-swabs-from-2020.html This is something i came across a while ago but felt it was not only interesting but could be potentially helpful to the environment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4vQGgsimsk The podride is an electric, 4 wheeled bicycle that looks like a car. Although it may seem unpractical and a bit silly at first, when diving into the specs of the "car" it seemingly has no faults. It runs off of electricity and has a top speed

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/vaccines-may-help-bats-fight-white-nose-syndrome Scientists have discovered that vaccines could help bats survive White Nose Syndrome which has killed over 7 million bats since 2006 and can even cut down populations of bats by 75%. And as of yet these vaccines don’t cause Autism. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/experiment-hints-quantum-entanglement-inside-protons I know nothing about anything remotely related to quantum physics but apparently the little tiny particles that make up protons are always influenced by one another no matter how far separated they may be. Now I guess this discovery isn’t really solving any big scientific mysteries but is instead opening the door for newer mysteries that need solving. So overall it’s making things more difficult for scientists.

In the Aldabra Atoll, biodiversity is becoming an issue. Many species of tortoises have become scarce, but on on island, the turtle population has started to grow. This is a very good sign for natural diversity because it proves that species are able to come back from being almost endangered. These turtles have not come back fully, but they are able to move freely across the island. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2019/06/thomas-peschak-photographs-tortoises-on-aldabra-atoll-seychelles/

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fossil-teeth-push-human-neandertal-split-back-about-1-million-years-ago?tgt=nr It was always believed that humans split off from Neanderthals millions of years of go. A discovery of Neanderthal teeth, in Sima de los Huesos, dating back 430,000 years ago proves that it's true. This discovery proves that we split off of Neanderthals much later than we originally thought, 1.2 million to 800 thousand years ago. This is very interesting because it just goes to prove that humans were on earth even less time than we originally thought.

https://newsela.com/read/wax-worm-clean-up-plastic/id/51392/ As humans we produce a lot of waste and not a lot of ways to clean it up effectively. Each year we produce 300 million tons of plastic and much of it is not disposed of properly. Currently there are not many ways to break down plastic so it doesn't hurt the environment but these wax worms eat it. They could very well help with our problem.

Using the gene editing CRISPR tool, scientists were able to genetically mutate a snails genes that could be passed onto future generations. Most snails have shells that coil clockwise, however once the snipping was put into effect the snails coils mutated to the left. This marks the first time scientists were able to make changes to a snails genes. I find this interesting because this proves how advanced our technology is, and maybe one day in the future we can use this tool to help both animals and people. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tweaking-one-gene-crispr-switched-way-snail-shell-spirals?tgt=nr

Scientists are still trying to answer the intense question that is always on our minds: did the first birds flap their wings or did they glide majestically through the air? To answer our burning question, a group of researchers chose the simplest and most straightforward way of determining this. They first chose a dinosaur that could not actually fly, and that was not actually related to early fliers. This dinosaur is called Caudipteryx, and it was chosen because it had feathers and could run fast (gotta go fast). The scientists then had a very fun time pretending that it was actually made of springs with blocks of weights instead of limbs. The researchers thought, ‘Wow, this guy has some b o u n c y arms!’ This led them to believe that perhaps early fliers flapped their wings. But, being the very scientific scientists they were, their urge for knowledge was not yet quenched. Obviously, the best way to show proof that Caudipteryx had floppy little arms was to (1. Build a robot exactly

With the rising threats of global warming and the race to find alternative energy sources I'm wondering where the applications of processes like nuclear fission will go from here. Will perhaps old nuclear sites like these keep getting knocked down and later reclaimed through some new technology? Although it is also likely that perhaps these sites could be abandoned forever leaving another stain where life could grow. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/us/three-mile-island-shut-down.html?save=nyt-gateway-stories

News has it that climate change and rising sea levels might take out the worlds last and largest tiger. There us currently 500,000 species left and survival is hard. Where the tigers live has 70 percent of land that just a view feet above sea level, which might be able to wipe out the last remaining tiger. They say by 2070 they will all be dead. I think that this is a horrible situation and a hard thing to deal with and fix.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/science/tigers-climate-change-sundarbans.html

Trina Chiasson and her fellow entrepreneurs have come up with a way to help bring down production costs and help feed a growing population. Crickets and other insects are very high in protein and can potentially bring down animal agriculture. Insect farming in very popular in Europe, North America, and around the world. Insect farming produces less greenhouse gases than meat farming. I think that insect farming is a really good way to help feed the growing population. However, I think many people will turn their noses up at this and not want to eat bugs. This could have a positive impact on our environment if more people will contribute to insect farming rather than meat farming. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/silicon-valley-entrepreneurs-insect-cricket-farming-food-agriculture

https://newsela.com/read/giraffe-endangered-status/id/51473 The population of giraffes has dropped 4% since 1985. Some treats the giraffes suffer through are development, agriculture, loss of habitat and mining. Many petitions have been made in order to protect the giraffes but their population continues to decline. U.S. trade also has left a dent in the giraffe population. Currently, less and less giraffes exist and are becoming more endangered as time goes on. Obviously 4% is still a lot, but I am still surprised it isn't more.

According to the head of the EPA, Andrew Wheeler, unsanitary water is a bigger problem than climate change. The World Health Organization states that two billion people consume drinking water contaminated with feces. Thousands of children die everyday from dirty drinking water. People have proposed many different solutions but until they are put in place, more will die.

A space craft in Japan brought back samples of the asteroid Itokawa. The asteroid was believed to be bone dry because it was so close to the sun and it was created out of the collision of a much larger asteroid. Scientists managed to find traces of water in the asteroid which leads people to wonder if there are other planets that have water on them. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/water-found-dust-itokawa-asteroid-thought-be-bone-dry?tgt=nr

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/three-million-acres-brazil-rainforest-lost/ It talks about how deforestation is causing millions of acres to be lost. Its not just deforestation its also mines that are a leading problem. This isn't good because Brazil doesn't have a huge forest but it has a big enough one where if everything is cut down it could be a huge problem.