APES Current Events

      On November 6th, 2020, the EPA had finally announced that a rule revising pesticide crop regulations for herbs and spices, essentially saving costs of the growers around $52 millions dollars annually. In this rule, the EPA revises commodity definitions, reducing the burden that the aforementioned spice and herb growers have to carry by reducing not only the amount paid towards the government for certain actions, but also international trade and purchases, and especially in regards to pesticide regulations and fees, however, maintaining the health standards that the EPA has normally set as a precedent. Overall, the EPA has allowed these spices and herbs, and especially those with increased value, specifically medicinal herbs, etc, to be produced on a more extensive basis.      Although not very in-depth in terms of the goings-on mentioned within the actual event itself, this decision is very influential throughout the spice and herb growing within America, as well as greatly affec

A peach farm throws away up to 70% of their years harvest due to markings from growing. There are so many peaches wasted, the company struggles to find people with enough space to take the produce. Even after giving the peaches to local shelters and companies who would benefit, there is still a great amount of food wasted. A young couple, in hopes to reduce the amount of food they waste, lived off of packaged food thrown away from expiration dates or other reasons. In the process, they found themselves running out of storage space for food that nobody else wanted or that was a little past company listed expiration dates.   Click Here!!! There are so many amazing new methods used for growing more food with higher harvest rates and to see most of it being thrown away is unsettleing. Food is being wasted for reasons as small as a mark on a peach. Realistically, an increase in farm land needed is not entirely due to population growth, but from the necessity of perfect produce for sellers.

       Even though President Joe Biden has only been in office for a week, he has already begun to plan how the United States will tackle the looming world climate crisis, as well with our interactions with other nations concerning this issue. Now, Biden wants to host a summit for Earth Day in April for nations to discuss climate and environmental issues. The problem is that the United States is no longer in the Paris Agreement, a global climate group set on lowering emissions. We were taken out by former president Trump, and the Obama limitations for 2025 are no longer valid. It is now said that we may not get back in until 2030. Former Secretary of State Kerry is working closely with Biden, negotiating with other countries to try and get the United States back in order for this summit to occur in April.      The goal to get US carbon emissions down by around 25% by April will be a difficult one, but there is ambition. But officials hope that the pandemic can help with a new start, an

     For years scientists have suspected the presence of bacteria that can use electrons from manganese to fuel their life functions. It's been more than a century since it was discovered that bacteria has the ability to borrow electrons from chemical elements to fuel growth (including nitrogen, sulfur, and iron), in a similar way that humans utilize the electrons from consumed carbohydrates. If bacteria borrows electrons from manganese, the metal is converted to manganese oxide which is found across the entire planet, and most curiously, in grapefruit sized balls on the ocean floor. However, until just recently, no one had discovered the exact species capable of such feats. That is, until a two environmental microbiologists working at Caltech, Jared Leadbetter and Hang Yu, left a jar in their office sink. Leadbetter had been experimenting with manganese carbonate in a glass jar. He had trouble cleaning it however, and filled it with tap water to soak while he left for a 10 week, f

       More than 40% of insect species are decreasing and 1/3 are endangered. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds, and reptiles.  The total mass of insects is dropping by 2.5% a year and the percentage is only getting higher.  The planet is at the  start of a sixth mass extinction  in its history, according to the best data, insects could vanish within a century.  “If this food source is taken away, all these animals starve to death." Many animals like amphibians, and birds depend on insects to get the nutrition they need. S cientists agree that it is becoming clear that insect losses are now a serious global problem.  41% of global insect species have  declined over the past decade.  A small number of adaptable species are increasing in number, but not nearly enough to outweigh the big losses.  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/10/plummeting-insect-numbers-threaten-collapse-of-nature

           The  largest iceberg on Earth is having to comes to an end as a sanctuary to penguins, seals, and a small population of endangered blue whales. Satellite images are showing that large chunks of ice are continuing to break off.  On December 17, about 69 square miles broke from the iceberg, and on December 22  the  front pointed tip of the iceberg broke. Due to the ice breaking,   A68d, A68e, and A68f were all formed. This is an issue because  the remainder of A68 and its siblings will become stuck there and cut South Georgia’s wildlife off from feeding grounds.   it’s also unclear how long the iceberg might stay intact and in place.  The chunks of ice are rapidly releasing freshwater into an ecosystem that is adapted to saltwater. P enguins and seals will suffer if the iceberg grounds in place because it would create a wall between the land and their feeding grounds. If the animals don't eat, their species will die off and become extinct.  https://www.nationalgeographic.c

  One way to fight invasive species? Eat them. From lionfish crudo to pickled kudzu, these invasive species—usually destructive and disdained—can also be delicious. I'm not sure if I would eat a swamp rat.  National Geographic

Plastic bags and other things similar are always found beside oceans at beaches. This causes for microplastics to increase in the atmosphere above water in oceans, rivers etc. A team of researchers were trying to figure out where all this microplastic was coming from. Even though the plastic was hard to see through the magnifying glass, the researchers wanted to know the type of plastic being spread. The plastics they noticed were polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and others in the samples they had. After the calculations of the mass and the average direction of the wind, they found out that the microplastic came from things such as plastic bags, and other types of plastic waste. The team later found out that microplastic enter the air by bubbles in the surface of oceans, or by the wind. When microplastics enter the air, they dry out quickly and are exposed to ultraviolet light, and they don't just disappear. Most of the exposed microplastics drop into the water. Microplast

Natural water alone contains many chemicals and salt. When water is used for agriculture, energetic production, or drinking, the water has to be purified. People use machines to remove these chemicals and salt from the water because of the important health guidelines. The thought of purifying water seems simple, but there are some parts of it that are pretty complicated. Scientists and experts are still trying to figure out how it works the way it does. With this experiment, scientists also wanted to know if there was a cheaper way of desalinating water. With a lot of studying, the research team along with DuPont Water Solutions figured out the mystery. They found out a way to decrease the cost of water production. The researchers found out that the quantity of desalination and their mass distribution affects the quality of the membranes. They figured out that the density of the nanoscale was the answer to increasing the amount of clean water membranes can make. Manish Kumar, who is a