New research finds baby bottles may release millions of microplastic particles with each feeding. Beeki / Needpix
The process of preparing and mixing a baby bottle formula seems innocuous, but new research finds this common occurrence is actually releasing millions of microplastic particles from the bottle's lining, Wired reported.
<p><br>Microplastics are particles that are smaller than five millimeters long. Sterilizing and mixing formula may also release trillions of nanoplastic particles, which are billionths of a meter long, Wired reported.</p><p>The new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-00171-y" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">study</a> published in <em>Nature Food</em> found that the amount of microplastic babies consume is much larger than previous estimates. "We were absolutely gobsmacked," study co-author John Boland told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/19/bottle-fed-babies-swallow-millions-microplastics-day-study" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. "A study last year by the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated adults would consume between 300 and 600 microplastics a day — our average values were on the order of a million or millions."</p><p>"The numbers are, well, frightening," Deonie Allen, who studies microplastics at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, but wasn't involved in the research, told Wired. "They're bigger than any exposure tests that have been done before for human uptake."</p>
<p>The researchers examined the amount of formula that infants up to a year old consumed in 48 global regions. They discovered that, on average, bottle-fed babies were exposed to 1.6 million microplastic particles a day, The Guardian reported.</p><p>"We have to start doing the health studies to understand the implications," Boland told The Guardian. "We're already working with colleagues to look at what buttons in the immune system these particles begin to press."<br></p><p>The researchers explained their methodology and results in <a href="https://theconversation.com/bottle-fed-babies-may-consume-millions-of-microplastic-particles-our-research-suggests-148350" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. They used common polypropylene baby bottles, and followed the WHO's 2007 <a href="https://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/PIF_Bottle_en.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">guidelines</a> for preparing baby formula. This involved cleaning, sterilizing and mixing formula. The results were that bottles released up to 16 million particles per liter of water heated to 158 degrees F. The number of particles jumped to 55 million at 203 degrees F.</p>
<p>Not only does hotter water shed more microplastics, but so does shaking the bottle, which is a common practice for reconstituting formula.</p><p>However, the researchers also created a simple four-step method for reducing microplastic exposure, detailed in The Conversation:</p><ol><li>Rinse sterilized feeding bottles with cool, sterile water.</li><li>Always prepare formula in a non-plastic container.</li><li>After formula has cooled to room temperature, transfer it into the cooled, sterilized feeding bottle.</li><li>Avoid rewarming prepared formula in plastic containers, especially with a microwave oven.</li></ol><p>The last step resonated with Boland. He told Wired, "I think the important learning is never, ever, ever use a microwave oven to heat anything with a plastic container. Because what happens is you get in fact the local heating of the plastic and the water together, which gives enhanced levels of microplastic generation. And so that combination we think is particularly potent."</p>
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Trump Calls Fauci 'a Disaster,' Tries to Blame Science and Medical Experts for Failed Coronavirus Response
14h
Politics
Trump arrives as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci looks on during a Coronavirus Task Force press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 4, 2020. JIM WATSON / AFP via Getty Images
President Trump attacked the nation's top infectious disease specialist in a call with campaign staffers that several reporters were allowed to listen to on Monday. In the call, Trump said that Dr. Anthony S. Fauci was "a disaster." He added that despite the evidence that coronavirus cases are once again rising across the country, the public was tired of hearing so much news about the virus, especially from "these idiots" in the government and scientific community, as The Washington Post reported.
<p>Trump seemed irked by an interview that Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gave to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssiLlfGT9gg&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">60 Minutes</a> in which Fauci said he was not surprised that Trump contracted the coronavirus after attending a large event at the White House for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett where attendees were not masked.</p><p>In many interviews, Fauci has touted the efficacy of wearing masks and social distancing, while warning that a failure to follow those safety measures could lead to a very difficult fall and winter as coronavirus and influenza intersect. The evidence suggests Fauci is correct, as the U.S. saw more than 70,000 new cases on Friday, its highest total in months, while the virus is gaining strength in Europe once again, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/us/politics/trump-fauci-covid.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p><p>In his broadside Monday, Trump dismissed those concerns about the virus, claiming that the public's interest has waned.</p>
<p>"People are tired of COVID," Trump said on the call, according to The New York Times. "I have the biggest rallies I've ever had. And we have COVID. People are saying: 'Whatever. Just leave us alone.' They're tired of it."</p><p>He tried to shift blame for the administration's response by saying, "People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots — these people, these people that have gotten it wrong," Trump said, as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/fauci-says-he-s-not-surprised-trump-contracted-covid-19-n1243857" target="_blank">NBC News</a> reported. "Fauci's a nice guy. He's been here for 500 years. He called every one of them wrong. And he's like this wonderful guy, a wonderful sage telling us how to respond to the pandemic. Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we'd have 500,000 deaths. If we listened to him, we'd have 700-800,000 deaths right now."</p>
<p>At the same time that Trump was issuing his attacks on the government's medical experts, Fauci was receiving the National Academy of Medicine's first-ever Presidential Citation for Exemplary Leadership in a virtual event, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/19/politics/donald-trump-anthony-fauci-coronavirus/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>"We have a lot of challenges ahead of us and I can't help thinking that we're really going through a time that's disturbingly anti-<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/">science</a> in certain segments of our society," Fauci said in his speech as he accepted the award, according to CNN.</p><p>Trump was not done with his attacks on Fauci. Later in the day, Trump took to Twitter to mock Fauci for his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eD5xkn4WLA" target="_blank">errant ceremonial first pitch</a> for the Washington Nationals on opening day, as The Washington Post reported.</p><p>"Tony should stop wearing the Washington Nationals' Mask for two reasons. Number one, it is not up to the high standards that he should be exposing," Trump wrote on <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1318252740431155200" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. "Number two, it keeps reminding me that Tony threw out perhaps the worst first pitch in the history of Baseball!"</p>
<p>Trump's attack on one of the nation's most revered doctors generated a swift backlash from both sides of the aisle.</p><p>The Biden campaign responded by saying, "Mr. President, you're right about one thing: The American people are tired. They're tired of your lies about this virus," as The New York Times reported.</p><p>Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee, called Fauci one of the country's most distinguished public servants.</p><p>"If more Americans paid attention to his advice, we'd have fewer cases of COVID-19, & it would be safer to go back to school & back to work & out to eat," Alexander wrote on <a href="https://twitter.com/SenAlexander/status/1318259834437906439" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.<span></span></p>
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Anika Chebrolu of Frisco, Texas has been named "America's Top Young Scientist" for identifying a molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Anika Chebrolu / YouTube
Scientists at top universities searching for a coronavirus cure have just gotten help from an unexpected source: a 14-year-old from Texas.
<p>Anika Chebrolu of Frisco, Texas has been named "America's Top Young Scientist" for identifying a molecule that can selectively bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in hopes of developing a cure for the disease that has so far <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">infected</a> more than 40 million people and claimed more than one million lives.</p><p>"My effort to find a lead compound to bind to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus this summer may appear to be a drop in the ocean, but still adds to all these efforts," Chebrolu told <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/18/us/anika-chebrolu-covid-treatment-award-scn-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p>
<p>To identify the binding molecule, Chebrolu used in-silico methodology for drug discovery. Binding the virus's spike protein is important because inhibiting this protein can potentially stop the virus from entering a healthy cell, <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201014005340/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Business Wire explained</a>. Chebrolu used software to screen millions of potential molecules for drug-likeness and ADMET properties, as well as their ability to bind to the spike protein. The molecule with the most binding ability was then chosen as a potential drug candidate.</p><p>Chebrolu did all this work as part of the <a href="https://www.youngscientistlab.com/challenge" target="_blank">3M Young Scientist Challenge</a>, a nationwide science competition for fifth to eighth grade students, now in its 13th year. Students submit a one to two minute video explaining their solution to an everyday problem. Based on these videos, ten finalists are then selected and given the chance to develop their project with a 3M scientist mentor. Chebrolu's mentor was Dr. Mahfuza Ali, a 3M corporate scientist in the materials resource division.</p>
<p>This year for the first time, the top ten finalists competed virtually for the winning spot, which comes with $25,000, a special trip and the honor of being named "America's Top Young Scientist."</p><p>"Amidst the challenges of a global pandemic, quality STEM education for all has become an even more urgent need, and 3M's commitment to fostering the next generation of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/science" target="_self">science</a> leaders has never been more determined," 3M senior vice president of corporate affairs Denise Rutherford told Business Wire. "In spite of challenges, like adjusting to new norms of distance learning and participating in virtual events, this year's <em>3M Young Scientist Challenge</em> finalists have smashed through barriers with grit, creativity, innovative thinking, and excitement – all in the name of applying science to improve lives. 3M is inspired by these young innovators and we celebrate each one of them. Our heartfelt congratulations go to this year's winner, Anika Chebrolu, and our many thanks to all our <em>3M Young Scientist Challenge</em> finalists."</p>
<p>Chebrolu did not originally intend to complete a project about the coronavirus, according to CNN. Her initial submission video was about finding a molecule that could bind a protein in the influenza virus.</p><p>"I have always been amazed by science experiments since my childhood and I was drawn towards finding effective cures for Influenza disease after a severe bout of the infection last year," <a href="https://www.youngscientistlab.com/entry/2397" target="_blank">she told 3M</a>.</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="959cb7785a544c148c6302151ef7a793"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fziWyFUO2dw?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>However, when COVID-19 began to spread, Chebrolu worked with her mentor to switch gears.</p><p>"After spending so much time researching about pandemics, viruses and drug discovery, it was crazy to think that I was actually living through something like this," Chebrolu told CNN.</p><p>Chebrolu's work isn't done now that she has won the prize. She told 3M that she hopes to be a medical researcher and professor in the next 15 years, and she is getting an early start. She now wants to work with other scientists to turn her project into an actual treatment for COVID-19.</p>
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New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern Wins Historic Victory Following Science-Based Leadership on COVID and Climate
19 October
Politics
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declares victory during the Labor Party Election Night Function at Auckland Town Hall on Oct. 17, 2020 in Auckland, New Zealand. Hannah Peters / Getty Images
Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand Prime Minister who has emerged as a leader on the climate crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, has won a second term in office.
<p>Ardern's Labour Party secured a historic victory in New Zealand's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/new-zealand-ardern-renewable-energy-2647595133.html" target="_self">general election Saturday</a>, earning 49 percent of the vote and an estimated 64 out of 120 parliamentary seats, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/17/jacinda-arderns-labour-party-set-for-victory-in-new-zealand-election" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. It is Labour's biggest victory in 50 years, and the first time any party has won a large enough majority to govern alone since 1996, according to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-54519628" target="_blank">BBC News</a>. Ardern's popularity has been attributed in part to her pro-<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/science" target="_self">science</a> approach to the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Guardian. She acted to close down borders and institute a national lockdown, and the country saw a total of 25 deaths and less than 2,000 cases.</p><p>"Science and clear communication around Covid-19 have won the day against Trumpery and fake news — people have clearly seen how the government looked after us," Labour supporter Christine told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/18/jacinda-ardern-eases-into-second-term-amid-relief-in-new-zealand-at-election-landslide" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> Sunday.</p>
<div id="1bb8d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="870071749bb41f9c7a734ba644150169"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1317477722789236740" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Historic results:
-New Zealand First loses all its representatives
-Worst National result since 2002 (26.85%)
-Firs… https://t.co/zX1tn3xis3</div> — Election Forecast 🇦🇺 🇳🇿 (@Election Forecast 🇦🇺 🇳🇿)<a href="https://twitter.com/ForecastOceania/statuses/1317477722789236740">1602946141.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The election has also been seen as a mandate for Labour's climate policy, according to <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/10/19/new-zealanders-vote-climate-ambition-jacinda-ardern-greens/" target="_blank">Climate Home News</a>. During Ardern's first term, Labour governed in coalition with the Greens and the populist New Zealand First party. The government <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/new-zealand-offshore-oil-gas-2559278982.html" target="_self">banned</a> future offshore <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-and-gas" target="_self">oil and gas</a> exploration and passed a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/new-zealand-zero-emissions-2641247378.html" target="_self">historic bill</a> pledging to get the country to zero emissions by 2050.</p><p>However, some of Ardern's climate ambitions during her first term were curtailed by her partnership with New Zealand First, which blocked ideas like a tax on imported <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuel" target="_self">fossil-fuel</a> cars and a subsidy for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicles" target="_self">electric vehicles</a>.</p>
<p>This time around, New Zealand First has lost all of its seats in parliament while the Green Party has increased its share of the votes from six to eight percent. While Labour has secured enough votes to govern alone, Ardern has said she is open to forming a coalition government, according to The Guardian, and Green Party leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson said they hoped to be included in order to move the government in a more progressive direction.</p><p>Before the election, Labour had promised more environmental policies if it won, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/new-zealand-ardern-renewable-energy-2647595133.html" target="_self">including</a> achieving 100 percent <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" target="_self">renewable energy</a> by 2030 instead of 2035. Labour's main opposition, the National Party, only secured 27 percent of the vote, down from 44 percent, according to Climate Home News. The party had run on reversing the oil and gas drilling ban as well as rolling back protections for freshwater ecosystems, <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/story/jacinda-arderns-nuclear-free-moment-heres-three-things-that-would-make-it-a-reality/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=election&utm_content=supporter-email" target="_blank">according to Greenpeace New Zealand</a>.</p>
<p>"The election result has delivered a strong mandate for the transformational climate action that the Prime Minister promised," Greenpeace New Zealand wrote.</p><p>Nearly 80 percent of New Zealanders are worried about the climate crisis and support a green recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, which has thrown New Zealand into its first recession in 11 years, according to BBC News.</p><p>Recovering from that recession will be a major challenge for Ardern's second term. In addition, she no longer has the excuse of New Zealand First holding her back from more ambitious climate policies.</p><p>"NZ First was often blamed for slow progress on environment policies, and sometimes this was true. With Winston Peters and his party gone, we expect to see immediate moves to tackle agricultural climate pollution, to invest in rail and cycleways, and to protect the oceans from overfishing," Greenpeace New Zealand director Russell Norman told Climate Home News.</p>
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted a mild winter for most of the U.S. Thursday, forecasting that the drought that now covers nearly half the country will get worse, according to The New York Times.
<p><br/></p>
<p>NOAA's <a href="https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Climate Prediction Center</a> released its winter outlook for 2020-2021 Thursday and predicted that much of the South and Southwest will remain dry this winter, while areas in the Pacific Northwest and the Upper Plains will have the opposite problem — they will have a wetter than average winter, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/15/weather/2020-winter-forecast-noaa-outlook/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>That means that the current drought that blankets just under 47 percent of the continental U.S. will only get worse during the months that usually bring relief. The country is currently in its most widespread drought since 2013.</p>
<p>NOAA's <a href="https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=2" target="_blank">prediction model</a> said that this year's La Niña will drive warmer and drier weather through the southern part of the country this winter. This zone includes areas where wildfires are currently burning, like Southern California and Colorado.</p><p>"With La Niña well established and expected to persist through the upcoming 2020 winter season, we anticipate the typical, cooler, wetter North, and warmer, drier South, as the most likely outcome of winter weather that the U.S. will experience this year," said Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/us-winter-outlook-cooler-north-warmer-south-with-ongoing-la-nina" target="_blank">in a news release</a>, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/10/15/noaa-winter-outlook/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>The model splits the lower 48 states into three stripes. One massive stripe runs coast-to-coast from Southern California to North Carolina. It will see a dry winter. A band that encompasses Oregon and Washington and runs along the northern part of the country to Michigan will see a wet winter. The rest of the country will see fairly normal conditions, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-news-weather-united-states-1e67f7a2fa8093c748a8741dad55ca84" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p>
<p>Halpert added in a call with reporters that La Ninas, which are periodic cooling of waters in the tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean, usually reduce the odds of large snowstorms on the East Coast. However, the model cannot predict extreme events months ahead of time, according to the AP.</p><p>The climate prediction model is also forecasting above average temperatures for much of the country, with the largest spikes above the average in southern Texas. However, each month may see fluctuations that differ from the overall trend toward warming, as <a href="https://weather.com/forecast/national/news/2020-10-14-winter-2020-2021-temperature-outlook-united-states" target="_blank">The Weather Channel</a> reported.</p><p>"The typical La Niña response is for warm November, cold December, and warm January/February; however, January and February can have significant volatility depending on if high-latitude blocking occurs," said Todd Crawford, chief meteorologist at The Weather Company, as The Weather Channel reported. High-latitude blocking stymies the flow of La Niña from west to east and allows cold air from the Arctic to make its way south.</p>
<p>Studies show that the Southwest, which has been in a drought for the past two decades, is in the grips of its worst megadrought in 1,200 years, as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/southwest-drought-climate-crisis-2645742986.html" target="_self">EcoWatch</a> reported.</p><p>Halpert said the high likelihood of a worsening drought in the region this winter is directly linked to La Niña, which started in August and is expected to continue through December, as The New York Times reported.</p><p><span>Halpert also emphasized that the prediction is based on mathematical models and that sometimes the impacts of La Niña and El Niño systems do not play out.</span>​</p>
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The Glass Fire burns on a mountainside with the Beckstoffer Vinyards in the foreground on Sept. 28, 2020 in St. Helena, Californai. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
By Kenny Stancil
As the climate crisis fuels devastating wildfires across the western United States and melts Arctic sea ice at an alarming rate, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday that Earth just experienced the hottest September on record and that 2020 is on pace to be one of the three hottest years on the books.
<p><a href="https://www.noaa.gov/news/earth-just-had-its-hottest-september-on-record" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">According to</a> NOAA, "the 10 warmest Septembers have all occurred since 2005, with the seven warmest Septembers occurring in the last seven years."</p><p>"We've broken the climate system," tweeted meteorologist Eric Holthaus. "We are in a climate emergency."</p>
<p>NOAA <a href="https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/202009/supplemental/page-2" target="_blank">found</a> that 2020 has a 65% chance of beating out 2016 as the warmest year on record, a 35% chance of being the second-warmest ever, and will almost certainly rank in the top three.</p><p>Climate scientists emphasized that this year's record-setting temperatures have been accompanied by an unprecedented wave of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather">extreme weather</a> events. A <a href="https://www.undrr.org/publication/human-cost-disasters-overview-last-20-years-2000-2019" target="_blank">report</a> published Tuesday by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction examined the "staggering" increase in climate-related disasters, which doubled from 3,656 between 1980 and 1999 to 6,681 between 2000 and 2019, as Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/13/uninhabitable-hell-millions-un-report-sounds-alarm-humanitys-continued-destruction" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a>. </p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUyMzM4My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NDUzMTg0OH0.rbCjdegltKGIl4s67tRVN9oy5BzfGCgrV2YFQHTmbCc/img.png?width=980" id="c59fd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="14b10059877082736fc58eae8cd9a837" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>Researchers at Yale <a href="https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/10/september-2020-was-warmest-september-on-record-noaa-reports/" target="_blank">found</a> that eight weather-related disasters causing $1 billion or more in damage occurred across the world in September alone, bringing the annual total thus far to 35. There were 40 such events in both 2018 and 2019.</p><p>With 16 extreme weather events so far in 2020, the U.S. has already tied its record for most billion-dollar weather disasters in a single year. </p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDUyMzM5MS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNTE4MDgxOH0.NdmxdhaKwzDvkn784hESu2ZA4P5NNIDvthK11NopCZ8/img.png?width=980" id="3a4e7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dc302971d3a01053e3841558a704bfbe" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p>NOAA's findings echo a European Union study published one week ago. As Common Dreams <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/07/scientists-warn-2020-pace-become-hottest-year-ever-september-heat-smashes-previous" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a>, one of the EU climate scientists who contributed to the analysis noted that the planet "will carry on warming if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the rate they are at the moment."</p><p>"It is baffling that we willingly and knowingly continue to sow the seeds of our own destruction," the U.N. report stated, "despite the science and evidence that we are turning our only home into an uninhabitable hell for millions of people."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/14/planet-earth-says-noaa-just-had-its-hottest-september-record" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Could the climate crisis drive Homo sapiens to extinction? An artist's illustration shows a desolate landscape, perhaps after global warming has rendered much of Earth inhospital to humans. MARK GARLICK / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty Images
Could the climate crisis drive Homo sapiens to extinction?
<p>If history repeats itself, then maybe. In a study published in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590332220304760?via%3Dihub" target="_blank"><em>One Earth</em></a> Thursday, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scientists" target="_self">scientists</a> used a combination of the fossil record and climate modeling to determine that three early human species lost a significant chunk of their climate niche right before going extinct.</p><p>"It is worrisome to discover that our ancestors, which were no less impressive in terms of mental power as compared to any other species on Earth, could not resist climate change," lead author Pasquale Raia of Università di Napoli Federico II in Napoli, Italy said in a <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-10-climate-drove-early-human-species.html?fbclid=IwAR1jKLrU_rUPVVaNCK8JWyoE-_fNz6WTPjzLbkSb1fhbvzB-RtnblalCHTY" target="_blank">Cell Press press release published by Phys.org</a>. "And we found that just when our own species is sawing the branch we're sitting on by causing climate change. I personally take this as a thunderous warning message. Climate change made Homo vulnerable and hapless in the past, and this may just be happening again."</p>
<p>The researchers looked at six early human species that had existed from the Pliocene to the Pleistocene epochs: <em>Homo habilis</em>, <em>Homo ergaster</em>, <em>Homo erectus</em>, <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em>, <em>Homo neanderthalensis</em> and <em>Homo sapiens.</em> They compared 2,754 archeological findings with a climate emulator that determines rainfall, temperature and other factors over the last five million years in order to determine the climate niche for each species and whether it changed over time.</p><p>A climate niche is the sweet spot of climate conditions that are best suited to a given species' survival, <a href="https://institutions.newscientist.com/article/2257479-climate-change-may-have-driven-early-human-species-to-extinction/" target="_blank">New Scientist explained</a>.</p><p>For <em>Homo erectus</em>, <em>Homo heidelbergensis</em> and <em>Homo neanderthalensis, </em>their climate niche shrunk just before extinction. <em>Homo erectus</em>, for example, went extinct during the last glacial period, which was the coldest period that species had ever experienced, the study said.</p>
<p>"Our findings show that despite technological innovations including the use of fire and refined stone tools, the formation of complex social networks, and — in the case of Neanderthals — even the production of glued spear points, fitted clothes, and a good amount of cultural and genetic exchange with Homo sapiens, past Homo species could not survive intense <a href="https://phys.org/tags/climate+change/" target="_blank">climate change</a>," Raia said in the press release. "They tried hard; they made for the warmest places in reach as the climate got cold, but at the end of the day, that wasn't enough."</p><p>The researchers do think that, for Neanderthals, direct competition with modern humans combined with climate changes to push the species to the brink.</p>
<p>Other researchers who were not involved in the study cautioned that the fossil record is spotty for all of the species studied besides Neanderthals, which might mean that the species had longer lifespans or different climate niches than revealed in the study.</p><p>"Individuals belonging to these taxa lived at times, and in places, not sampled by the existing fossil record," Bernard Wood at George Washington University in Washington, DC told New Scientist.</p><p>The researchers did try to account for this somewhat by testing for two fossil records: a core fossil record including only remains known to belong to each species and an extended fossil record including unidentified remains that could have belonged to more than one species. They found that the climate niche shrunk before extinction for the three species in question no matter which record they used.</p>
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The ozone hole over Antarctica on Oct. 6, 2020. NASA Ozone Watch
The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica is one of the largest and deepest in the past 15 years, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Tuesday.
<p>The ozone hole over Antarctica usually starts to grow in August and reaches its peak in October, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-antarctica-climate-change-archive-geneva-ec4eeb8da25ef7a7536c05105cf50550" target="_blank">The Associated Press explained</a>. This year, it peaked at 24 million square kilometers (approximately 9.3 million square miles) and is now at 23 million square kilometers (approximately 8.9 million square miles), the WMO said. This means the hole is larger than the average for the past decade and extends over most of Antarctica.</p><p>"With the sunlight returning to the South Pole in the last weeks, we saw continued ozone depletion over the area. <a href="https://public.wmo.int/en/media/news/antarctic-ozone-hole-smallest-record" target="_blank">After the unusually small and short-lived ozone hole in 2019,</a> which was driven by special meteorological conditions, we are registering a rather large one again this year, which confirms that we need to continue enforcing the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/montreal-protocol" target="_self">Montreal Protocol</a> banning emissions of ozone depleting chemicals," Vincent-Henri Peuch, director of the EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) at ECMWF, said in the WMO press release.</p>
<div id="e533d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3148f785e224740722e9b973c1f73d13"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1313453354266382337" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The #ozone hole over the #Antarctic is one of the largest and deepest in recent years, per @CopernicusECMWF,… https://t.co/k8DUe65iqV</div> — World Meteorological Organization (@World Meteorological Organization)<a href="https://twitter.com/WMO/statuses/1313453354266382337">1601986657.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The ozone layer is important because it protects the earth from dangerous ultraviolet radiation, <a href="https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/monitoring-ozone-layer" target="_blank">CAMS explained</a>. In the late 20th century, that layer was damaged by the human release of ozone-depleting halocarbons, which the Montreal Protocol of 1987 sought to control.</p><p>But the size of the ozone hole every year is also impacted by specific weather conditions. This year, a strong polar vortex has chilled the air above Antarctica, and consistently cold air creates the ideal conditions for ozone depletion.</p><p>"The air has been below minus 78 degrees Celsius, and this is the temperature which you need to form stratospheric clouds — and this quite (a) complex process," WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis said at a UN briefing reported by The Associated Press. "The ice in these clouds triggers a reaction which then can destroy the ozone zone. So, it's because of that that we are seeing the big ozone hole this year."</p><p>Specifically, the ice can turn nonreactive chemicals into reactive ones, the WMO explained. Light from the sun then triggers chemical reactions that deplete the ozone layer.</p>
<p>The Montreal Protocol has been <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/montreal-protocol-ozone-climate-change-2641579082.html" target="_self">hailed</a> as an example of effective international collaboration on a major environmental problem. Last year's hole over Antarctica was the smallest it has been since the hole was discovered, but this was due to unusual weather, not emissions reductions, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/ozone-hole-antarctica-largest-deepest-years-researchers/story?id=73451987" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ABC News reported</a>.</p><p>"There is much variability in how far ozone hole events develop each year," Peuch said in the WMO release.</p><p>The 2018 hole was also on the larger side.</p><p>Still, the WMO and the UN Environment Programme determined in 2018 that the ozone layer was on the road to recovery and could return to pre-1980 levels over Antarctica by 2060.</p>
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Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence participate in the vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah on Oct. 9, 2020. PBS NewsHour / YouTube
The climate crisis was discussed for roughly 10 minutes at Wednesday night's vice-presidential debate in Salt Lake City, Utah between Senator Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence.
<p>The first question about the climate crisis came about 40 minutes into the debate when moderator Susan Page turned to Pence and brought up the record number of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes" target="_self">hurricanes</a> and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="_self">wildfires</a> in 2020. She then asked if he agreed with the scientific consensus that man-made climate change is making hurricanes and fires larger and more dangerous.</p><p>Pence did acknowledge that the climate is changing, but he would not say that human activity is causing it. He insisted that the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="_self">Trump</a> administration would listen to the science before pivoting to attack both the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" target="_self">Paris agreement</a> and the Green New Deal.</p><p>In her reply, Harris insisted that Joe Biden believes in <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/">science</a>. She drew a contrast with President Trump who has questioned science.</p><p>"We have seen a pattern with this administration, which is they don't believe in science," Harris said while looking straight at the camera.</p><p>She brought up that when Trump met with California Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, Trump said about global warming, "I don't think science knows, actually," as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-california-biden-climate-science-2647658093.html">EcoWatch</a> reported at the time.</p>
<p>Pence argued that the country has lowered CO2 emissions through hydraulic fracturing, or <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking/">fracking</a>, and through innovation. Pence then claimed that Biden and Harris wanted to ban fracking.</p><p>"I will repeat, and the American people know, that Joe Biden will not ban fracking," Harris said in her reply. "That is a fact."</p><p>The issue of fracking is something Pence glommed on to in what analysts see as a direct plea to voters in Pennsylvania where the oil and natural gas industry is prominent, as <a href="https://time.com/5897789/vp-debate-climate-change/" target="_blank">TIME</a> reported.</p><p>Harris, in her rebuttal, noted that clean energy infrastructure is actually part and parcel of an economic recovery, pointing out that Moody's said Biden's plan will create 7 million more jobs than Trump's plan.</p><p>"Joe Biden has been very clear that he thinks about growing jobs," she said. "Part of those jobs that will be created by Joe Biden are going to be about clean energy and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a>."</p>
<p>Pence also refused to attribute the wildfires and the increased moisture and slow movements of hurricanes to human activity. As the moderator attempted to enforce Pence's time limit, he argued that there are no more hurricanes than there were 100 years ago. Prior to that, he addressed the wildfires.</p><p>"With regard to wildfires, President Trump and I believe that forest management has to be front and center, and even Gov. Gavin Newsom from your state has agreed, we have to work on forest management," Pence said.</p><p>He neglected to mention that nearly 60 percent of California's forests are on federal land, as <a href="https://abc7news.com/politics/sen-kamala-harris-vp-mike-pence-spar-on-california-wildfires-during-debate/6854295/" target="_blank">KGO</a>, San Francisco's ABC affiliate, reported.</p><p>When Harris replied, she brought up the wildfires currently burning, the plight of the Gulf Coast as Hurricane Delta approaches, and the Iowa farmers whose fields were flooded by a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/derecho-storm-midwest-2646947250.html" target="_self">derecho storm</a>.</p><p>She segued from there to attack the Trump administration's hostile attitude towards science, noting that the terms "science" and "climate change" were removed from a government website about energy and the environment.</p><p>"Let's talk about who is prepared to lead our country over the course of the next four years on what is an existential threat to us as human beings," she emphasized.</p><p>When asked directly by Page if the climate crisis is an existential threat, Pence dodged the question and started to discuss taxes.</p>
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New England Journal of Medicine Urges Readers to Oust Trump Over Bungled Coronavirus Response
08 October
Politics
Trump stands on the Truman Balcony at the White House on Oct. 5, 2020 in Washington, DC after receiving treatments for COVID-19 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images
For the first time in more than two centuries of publication, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has taken a stand on a U.S. election.
<p>In an editorial titled "<a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2029812" target="_blank">Dying in a Leadership Vacuum</a>" published Wednesday, the journal condemned the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" target="_self">Trump administration</a> for its handling of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic.</p><p>"Covid-19 has created a crisis throughout the world," the editors wrote. "This crisis has produced a test of leadership. With no good options to combat a novel pathogen, countries were forced to make hard choices about how to respond. Here in the United States, our leaders have failed that test. They have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy."</p>
<p>The editors pointed to the outsized U.S. caseload and death toll — the country still leads the world for both metrics. They compared the U.S. numbers with other countries that had greater vulnerabilities but much lower death tolls, such as China, where COVID-19 originated; Japan, which has a large elderly population; and Vietnam, which has fewer resources. They pointed out that the death rate in China was three per million, while in the U.S. it was more than 500 per million.</p><p>Further, they highlighted specific failures in pandemic response, such as an early delay in widespread testing and getting proper protective gear to frontline medical workers. They also railed against the politicization of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a>.</p><p>"[I]n much of the country, people simply don't wear masks, largely because our leaders have stated outright that masks are political tools rather than effective infection control measures," they wrote.</p>
<p>Finally, they argued that the U.S. had the ability to respond well to the pandemic, both because of its manufacturing capabilities and its many scientific institutions and experts. But instead of listening to these experts, the editors said, the current administration sidelined them. It either undermined, ignored or politicized government institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health that could have led an effective response.</p><p>"Our leaders have largely claimed immunity for their actions. But this election gives us the power to render judgment. Reasonable people will certainly disagree about the many political positions taken by candidates. But truth is neither liberal nor conservative. When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent. We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs," the editorial concluded.</p>
<p>While the editorial does not mention President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> or his election rival former Vice President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/joe-biden" target="_self">Joe Biden</a> by name, it is a clear call to oust the president at the polls in November.</p><p>"The fact that @NEJM has taken a side in this Presidential election is telling as to how critical of a moment we are in," Joseph Sakran, a trauma surgeon and director of emergency general surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, <a href="https://twitter.com/JosephSakran/status/1314034223519543296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1314034223519543296%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=about%3Asrcdoc" target="_blank">tweeted</a> Wednesday, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/08/science-journal-endorsement-trump/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Washington Post reported</a>.</p><p>This is only the fifth time in the journal's 208-year history that all of its editors have signed an editorial. The previous four included an obituary for former editor in chief Arnold S. Relman and statements in <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1315461" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">support of contraception access</a>, in <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1910174" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">support of Roe v. Wade</a> and a <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1413296" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">comment</a> on a government draft policy on informed consent requirements for standard-of-care research. While three of these articles did weigh in on specific policies, the editorial board has never before taken a position on an election or candidate.</p>
<p>"It should be clear that we are not a political organization," NEJM editor in chief Dr. Eric Rubin told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/health/new-england-journal-trump.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR0_IYA5fDP1gEcQdR6WfIk1lIdTX7Ib2UomxWa317eslze4M-U2GTe0FP4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. "But pretty much every week in our editorial meeting there would be some new outrage. How can you not speak out at a time like this?"</p><p>The NEJM isn't the first scientific publication to break with precedent ahead of the 2020 election.</p><p>On Sep.15, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientific-american-endorses-joe-biden1/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Scientific American</a> backed a presidential candidate for the first time in its 175-year history when it endorsed Biden.</p><p>"The evidence and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/science" target="_self">science</a> show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and its people — because he rejects evidence and science," the editors wrote.</p><p>In addition to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the editors also pointed to Trump's rollback of environmental health measures designed to protect people from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" target="_self">air pollution</a> and his refusal to act on the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>.</p>
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The CDC has acknowledged that the coronavirus can spread via airborne transmission, especially in poorly ventilated spaces. avdeev007 / E+ / Getty Images
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has officially acknowledged that the new coronavirus can be spread via airborne transmission.
<p>"Today, CDC issued updated guidance to its <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-covid-spreads.html" target="_blank">How COVID-19 Spreads</a> website, which includes information about the potential for airborne spread of the virus that causes COVID-19," the agency <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/s1005-how-spread-covd.html" target="_blank">wrote</a> Monday in a press release.</p><p>By doing so, the CDC is finally catching up with what many health experts have been warning for months, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/10/05/920446534/cdc-acknowledges-coronavirus-can-spread-via-airborne-transmission?utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&fbclid=IwAR0_41Bqdm19jwzVOTLeIjSIqNQ_eyYuQdOD681eNb9CFjoU8sqBeB9KBuE&fbclid=IwAR376RvZkfU84DtwEJtIEY3DWC-zkOaT0qYYYjSs4UZG7YmgnNWYqBZ29Jw&fbclid=IwAR3N1xPErnhES46Mv48JtlChS6wEsyH8IwVx3ZMm1HZRGA_Xp_tB66r11CI&fbclid=IwAR3302zbHCYlfZx1QIv6vip2QFL3cW-QwaSMZhQWnGje-17tcPtB7NBwGuk&fbclid=IwAR3K1ZeNfkX3x9TJmKIdxmyjl72xUPzNsDPnQ9w2MSCmJOvVIcoS_tUVknI" target="_blank">NPR pointed out</a>. The World Health Organization <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/who-coronavirus-airborne-2646382362.html" target="_self">acknowledged</a> airborne transmission in July after <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/airborne-coronavirus-who-science-2646347672.html" target="_self">239 scientists</a> wrote a letter urging the organization to take airborne spread seriously. The U.S. agency seemed ready to accept airborne transmission last month, when it posted guidance saying that COVID-19 was most commonly spread "through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols," as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-covid-guidance-coronavirus-transmitted-by-breathing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">CBS News reported at the time</a>. However, it quickly removed the update, saying it was draft language posted in error.</p>
<p>Monday's updated guidance admits to airborne transmission once again, but says it is not the most common way the coronavirus spreads.</p><p>"CDC continues to believe, based on current <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/science" target="_self">science</a>, that people are more likely to become infected the longer and closer they are to a person with COVID-19," the agency wrote in the press release announcing the change. "Today's update acknowledges the existence of some published reports showing limited, uncommon circumstances where people with COVID-19 infected others who were more than 6 feet away or shortly after the COVID-19-positive person left an area. In these instances, transmission occurred in poorly ventilated and enclosed spaces that often involved activities that caused heavier breathing, like singing or exercise. Such environments and activities may contribute to the buildup of virus-carrying particles."</p><p>In the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-covid-spreads.html" target="_blank">updated guidance</a>, the CDC compared the airborne transmission of COVID-19 to the spread of other diseases like tuberculosis and chicken pox.</p>
<p>Outside <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scientists" target="_self">scientists</a> were pleased with the change.</p><p>"It's gratifying to see CDC acknowledge that there's a role for airborne transmission with this virus," University of Maryland aerobiologist Donald Milton told NPR.</p><p>Milton co-wrote a letter in Science Monday urging clearer <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> communication around airborne transmission of the new coronavirus. Unlike the CDC, Milton and his colleagues think that COVID-19 is primarily airborne, even when spread between people in close contact with one another.</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/10/02/science.abf0521" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">letter</a>, they differentiate between virus spread via droplets, which are larger and tend to fall to the ground, and virus spread via aerosols, which are smaller and remain aloft.</p><p>"Individuals with COVID-19, many of whom have no symptoms, release thousands of virus-laden aerosols and far fewer droplets when breathing and talking. Thus, one is far more likely to inhale aerosols than be sprayed by a droplet, and so the balance of attention must be shifted to protecting against airborne transmission," they wrote. "In addition to existing mandates of mask-wearing, social distancing, and hygiene efforts, we urge public health officials to add clear guidance about the importance of moving activities outdoors, improving indoor air using ventilation and filtration, and improving protection for high-risk workers."</p><p>In its list of preventative measures, the CDC does call for avoiding crowded indoor spaces and making sure indoor spaces are properly ventilated, as well as for spending time outdoors or in well-ventilated spaces as much as possible.</p><p>The CDC also recommends staying six feet apart from others, wearing masks, washing hands and surfaces frequently and self-isolating if sick.</p>
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The Nobel Assembly announces the three winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Oct. 5, 2020. JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / AFP via Getty Images
As the world continues to battle one deadly virus, the Nobel Assembly is honoring three scientists who discovered another.
<p>The assembly announced Monday it was awarding the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.</p><p>"Prior to their work, the discovery of the Hepatitis A and B viruses had been critical steps forward, but the majority of blood-borne hepatitis cases remained unexplained," the Nobel Assembly said in a <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2020/press-release/" target="_blank">statement</a>. "The discovery of Hepatitis C virus revealed the cause of the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis and made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives."</p>
<div id="6b5e6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1bdff32b713fdf28946e2bcce6db49a3"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1313049505802194945" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING NEWS:
The 2020 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael… https://t.co/fzchOMYudC</div> — The Nobel Prize (@The Nobel Prize)<a href="https://twitter.com/NobelPrize/statuses/1313049505802194945">1601890372.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The three researchers each contributed to solving a deadly medical mystery.</p><p>Hepatitis, or liver inflammation, is typically caused by viral infections. By the 1940s, researchers had discovered two: Hepatitis A, which is food-and-water-borne and does not typically cause lasting harm, and a blood-borne hepatitis that can cause cirrhosis and liver <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/cancer" target="_self">cancer</a>. In the 1960s, scientists identified one blood-borne virus that they called Hepatitis B. But, after diagnostic tests and a vaccine were developed, people continued to catch a form of hepatitis after blood transfusions.</p><p>What follows is a timeline of how the winning researchers uncovered the culprit, according to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54418463" target="_blank">BBC News</a>.</p><p>1972: Professor Harvey Alter discovered while working at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that people were still getting liver disease after blood transfusions. He injected chimpanzees with the blood of infected patients and showed that the chimps also developed the disease.</p><p>1989: While working at the pharmaceutical firm Chiron, professor Michael Houghton isolated the genetic sequence of the mystery virus, which was then called Hepatitis C.</p><p>1997: Professor Charles Rice conducted an experiment at Washington University in St. Louis in which he genetically engineered a Hepatitis C virus and injected it into a chimpanzee, proving that the virus did in fact cause hepatitis.</p>
<p>The discoveries enabled the creation of diagnostic tests for Hepatitis C, which have stopped it from being passed through transfusions in much of the world, the Nobel Assembly explained. Further, the findings have made possible the development of antiviral treatments. While blood-borne hepatitis still claims more than a million lives a year, the winners' work may contribute to a world in which that is no longer the case.</p><p>"For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating Hepatitis C virus from the world population," the assembly wrote.</p><p>The scientists all kept on researching after their discoveries. Alter continues to study Hepatitis C and other blood transfusion risks at the <a href="https://irp.nih.gov/pi/harvey-alter" target="_blank">NIH</a>. Houghton is a virology professor at the University of Alberta, Canada, where he directs the Li Ka Shing Applied Virology Institute, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/05/health/nobel-prize-medicine-hepatitis-c.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. Rice teaches at Rockefeller University in New York and directed its Center for the Study of Hepatitis C from 2001 to 2018.</p><p>Nobel Assembly secretary-general Thomas Perlmann told BBC News he was only able to reach Rice and Alter with the news of their win.</p><p>"They were definitely not sitting by the phone because I called them a couple of times before without any answer," Perlmann said. "But once I reached them, they were extremely surprised and they were really happy and speechless almost, so it was really fun to talk to them."</p>
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Biodegradable, Carbon-Negative Straws and Cutlery Could Help Stop Plastic Pollution
03 October
Business
Newlight's Air Carbon cutlery is made of methane and degrades in the ocean the way cellulose would. Newlight
Newlight Technologies, a California biotech company, has set its sights on curbing greenhouse gas emissions and marine plastic pollution simultaneously. The startup uses ocean bacteria to create a new material that is made of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and that can replace many single-use plastics and leathers.
<p>Newlight has been exploring ways to make use of greenhouse gas emissions for more than a decade. "AirCarbon," its latest creation, is made with ocean microbes, air and waste greenhouse gases. The new biomaterial, which can be shaped into anything from straws to office chairs to frames for glasses, is durable, completely biodegradable in the ocean and carbon-negative, the company's <a href="https://www.newlight.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">website</a> explained.</p><p>"We asked the question, how can we take carbon that would otherwise go into the air, and turn it into useful materials," Mark Herrema, CEO of Newlight, told <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90551498/these-carbon-negative-ocean-degradable-straws-and-forks-are-made-from-greenhouse-gasses" target="_blank">Fast Company</a>. "As we looked around nature, we discovered pretty quickly that nature uses greenhouse gas to make materials every day."</p>
<p>Herrema's team found inspiration in nature-based processes that take in methane and carbon dioxide. Researchers honed in on a certain strain of ocean microbes that consume methane as food and produce AirCarbon as a byproduct.</p><p>"After they eat that gas, [the microbes] then convert that into a really special material inside themselves," he told Fast Company. "It's a meltable energy storage material, which you can purify and then form into various parts and shapes and pieces."</p><p>Newlight replicated the process in land-based production tanks by combining saltwater containing the ocean microorganisms with air and methane from an abandoned coal mine, to create AirCarbon within the bacteria, <a href="https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a34127608/newlight-covalent-restore-straws-leather-goods-review/" target="_blank">Esquire</a> reported. Researchers extracted the resultant substance and processed the material into a fine white powder which could be melted and molded into different shapes.</p>
<p>The methane used would otherwise have been emitted into the atmosphere, so the products are helping to sequester the greenhouse gas, <a href="https://www.optimistdaily.com/2020/09/these-eco-friendly-biodegradable-straws-are-made-out-of-methane-by-bacteria/" target="_blank">Optimist Daily</a> noted. That makes them "carbon-negative," Esquire pointed out, and "every product they create is pollution that didn't end up in the air and water." The products are actually "regenerative" because the production process for AirCarbon captures or destroys more greenhouse gases than it emits, the magazine added. A Newlight <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/newlight-technologies-aircarbon-material-has-been-certified-carbon-negative-by-the-carbon-trust-301138193.html" target="_blank">press release</a> stated that "for every one kilogram of AirCarbon produced in Newlight's production process using methane seeping from abandoned coal mines, 88 kilograms of CO2e are sequestered."</p><p>Because AirCarbon is produced naturally by the microbes, it also decomposes completely and naturally, the way a leaf would on the forest floor, reported <a href="https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/biodegradable-carbon-negative-straws-and-forks-made-from-methane/" target="_blank">Good News Network</a>. Luckily, it won't decompose unless faced with the same type of ocean microorganisms that created it, which means that AirCarbon products are durable, washable and reusable, Esquire noted.</p>
<p>Now, after a decade of refining their research, Newlight's first AirCarbon products are coming to market, Fast Company reported. The company is launching with single-use straws and cutlery, which look and feel like plastic but degrade like paper in ocean water.</p><p>In a separate offering, Newlight has also created carbon-negative "leather" made from AirCarbon, which it is turning into wallets and handbags. Unlike natural leather, the material won't peel or crack and doesn't require lots of greenhouse gases in its production; unlike synthetic leather, it can be easily recycled, reported Fast Company. Finally, Newlight will also offer carbon-negative eyewear.</p><p>All products will be stamped with a "Carbon Date" that consumers can plug into a website to view how the greenhouse gases in that item moved through the production process, Esquire described. The innovative blockchain technology tracking will also allow consumers to know exactly how much carbon impact their purchase had and which independent third party calculated and certified it, Newlight's website said.</p><p>According to the company press release, AirCarbon was named "Biomaterial of the Year" by the Nova Institute and "Innovation of the Year" by Popular Science. The World Economic Forum called Newlight a "Technology Pioneer" and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Newlight the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award.</p><p>According to Esquire, "As you hold each [AirCarbon] product, what you're holding is a chunk of pollution that could have gone into the atmosphere but is instead a fashionable and/or functional product."</p>
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