May

May 2021

EU’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by nearly 4% in 2019, data shows

The EU’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by nearly 4% in 2019, data from Europe’s environmental watchdog has shown, as countries met online for the first time for UN climate negotiations. The fall of 3.8% for EU member states in 2019 brought EU…

31/05/2021 The Guardian

Hair waste from salons recycled to mop up oil spills on sea shores

Hair cuttings from salons are being used to mop up oil spills and hair bleaches, and dyes are being burned to create energy as part of a scheme to make the hairdressing industry greener.

29/05/2021 The Guardian

Oman plans to build world’s largest green hydrogen plant

Oman is planning to build one of the largest green hydrogen plants in the world in a move to make the oil-producing nation a leader in renewable energy technology.

27/05/2021 The Guardian

Blind man has sight partly restored after pioneering treatment

A blind man has had his sight partly restored after a form of gene therapy that uses pulses of light to control the activity of nerve cells – the first successful demonstration of so-called optogenetic therapy in humans.

24/05/2021 The Guardian

Trials to suck carbon dioxide from the air to start across the UK

Climate-heating carbon dioxide will be sucked from the air using trees, peat, rock chips, and charcoal in major new trials across the UK.

24/05/2021 The Guardian

Europe takes on cheap flights and landlords in race to net zero emissions

Trains instead of flights, fossil fuel ad bans and charging landlords for tenant’s heating emissions will be legislated in parts of Europe.

23/05/2021 Sydney Morning Herald

An avenue to other worlds: Auditorial, a new idea for accessible storytelling

Audio storytelling is an avenue into other worlds. So when the Guardian was approached to take part in an experimental project to make journalism more accessible to low-vision and blind users, it felt like an opportunity we couldn’t turn down.

20/05/2021 The Guardian

Three ways to ensure diversity training actually works

More and more employers are trying to increase the diversity of their staff – and rightly so. A recent report from management consulting firm McKinsey found that greater diversity within an organisation leads to greater productivity and profit, and…

19/05/2021 The Conversation

Acid test: scientists show how LSD opens doors of perception

When Aldous Huxley emerged from a mescaline trip that veered from an obsession with the folds in his trousers to wonder at the “miraculous” tubularity of the bamboo legs on his garden chairs, he offered an opinion on how the drug worked.

19/05/2021 The Guardian

Plan to treble tree-planting rates in England over next three years

The government will this week unveil plans to treble tree-planting rates in England by the end of this parliament.

15/05/2021 The Independent

Cimate activist Vanessa Nakate: ‘I felt like I had wasted time going to Davos’

Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate was cut from a photo with Greta Thunberg leaving only white people. It was an event that would hurtle her to global fame. She spoke to Abdi Latif Dahir

14/05/2021 The Independent

Welcome to United Arab Emirates’ ‘City of Future’, the world’s first zero-carbon city

The words ‘sustainable’ and ‘UAE’ rarely go hand-in-hand, but all that could be about to change with the Gulf’s latest tourist attraction, writes Rahma Khan

14/05/2021 The Independent

Using captured CO₂ in everyday products could help fight climate change, but will consumers want them?

Would you drink carbonated beverages made with carbon dioxide captured from the smokestack of a factory or power plant? How would you feel if that captured carbon dioxide were in your child’s toys, or in the concrete under your house?

14/05/2021 The Conversation

How service dogs safeguard, deepen relationships and save us from ourselves

Leadership coach John Bates was speaking at a TED conference in front of a huge audience when his dog Flash walked across the stage, sniffed him, and repeatedly started poking him with his nose.

13/05/2021 CNN

Renewable Energy Capacity Jumped 45% Worldwide In 2020; IEA Sees 'New Normal'

In 2020, renewable power was "the only energy source for which demand increased ... while consumption of all other fuels declined," the International Energy Agency says.

11/05/2021 NPR

IBM says it has created the world's smallest and most powerful microchip

The semiconductor industry's constant challenge is to make microchips that are smaller, faster, more powerful and more energy efficient — simultaneously.

06/05/2021 CNN

This crypto claims to be a 'green' alternative to bitcoin

Bitcoin may be the king of cryptocurrencies, but it's facing an environmental backlash over the energy-intensive technology underpinning it.

06/05/2021 CNN

MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD one step closer to FDA approval

The psychedelic drug MDMA, also called ecstasy or Molly, showed promise in a late-stage clinical trial for people with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), inching the drug closer to medical approval for the condition, The New York Times…

05/05/2021 LiveScience

Ethical bling: Pandora will no longer use mined diamonds

Mined diamonds have been tainted by ethical concerns, and Pandora will now use only ones made in labs.

04/05/2021 Al Jazeera

Installing solar panels over California's canals could yield water, land, air and climate payoffs

Installing solar panels over California's 4,000 miles of canals could generate less expensive, renewable energy, save water, fight climate change – and offer a solution for the thirsty American West.

03/05/2021 The Conversation