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One in nine migratory birds are threatened with extinction and 45% of migratory species such as cuckoos, turtle doves and Arctic terns are in decline, according to a global report.
The migratory slender-billed curlew was officially declared extinct last year, the first global bird extinction in mainland Eurasia and Africa in recent centuries. Worldwide, seven migratory bird species have been confirmed or are suspected to have become extinct over the last 150 years.
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This week’s best wildlife photographs from around the world
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Customers seeking greens at one Berlin outlet are dealing with some very local supply chains indeed
Walking into the Felix Thomas REWE supermarket in Lankwitz, Berlin, customers are immediately presented with a choice of greens: romaine, rocket, iceberg. But last month, a new option joined the selection: Lankwitz loose-leaf lettuce. A combination of head lettuce, romaine lettuce, Lollo Rosso, and dark green easy leaf lettuce, its yellow packaging makes it stand out in a row of green. But it’s not just the flashy packaging that makes it distinct. Unlike its neighbouring lettuces, which come from regional farms or all the way from Italy, these greens were grown just a few metres away – or rather, a few metres up. “Frisch Vom REWE Dach” or “Fresh from the REWE roof”, the bags read.
Rooftop farms are nothing new: in cities such as Paris, Hong Kong, Copenhagen and New York, similar farms supply food to adjacent food retailers or even restaurants. This model has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation (and its associated costs), minimise the urban heat effect, make use of dead space and perhaps even improve the relationship between buyers and their food.
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Emissions of planet-heating methane and CO2 from natural sources are worsening the climate crisis, paper says
Rising global temperatures caused by the burning of fossil fuels are transforming the world’s forests, wetlands and tundra to the point they are releasing emissions that could further worsen global heating by as much as 30%, a new study has found.
As the world heats up, permafrost in the high latitudes is thawing, fiercer wildfires are burning in drying forests and wetlands and lakes are warming. All of these changes are themselves causing the release of planet-heating methane and carbon dioxide locked in trees and soils, therefore worsening the climate crisis, the paper states.
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Record demand for A&E units, ambulance services and NHS 111 shows extreme heat having unprecedented impact on health, experts say
The NHS came under its most intense strain ever as a result of the summer’s five heatwaves, amid warnings that extreme heat is having an unprecedented impact on human health.
A&E units, ambulance services and the NHS 111 telephone advice line all experienced record demand for their services in England in June, July and August as Britain experienced record temperatures.
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Cranbrook, Kent: We are felling a crop of willow trees that have managed to survive their nemesis – the grey squirrel – and are destined for the batter’s grip
As the thwack of leather on willow fades from village greens with the waning of the cricket season, a new sound, perhaps less evocative of the country idyll, fills our little valley. Toppled willow trees rip through the canopies of their doomed neighbours, and drop with dull thuds to the angry screams of chainsaws.
To watch any tree fall is poignant, but for someone involved in woodland management like me, it can be conflicting. These majestic willows were planted in my teenage years, they have received my care and protection, and in turn they have given me much joy, but I always knew they were a crop, not a permanent feature. So, as these old friends are felled and hauled away to become cricket bats, an acutely uncomfortable feeling rises in me, somewhere between grief and satisfaction.
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SMD is the moisture the soil must make up until it is at capacity, with very dry conditions over most of England and Wales
When the ground is thoroughly wet, after excess rainwater has run off it is said to be at field capacity. Meteorologists describe drought in terms of soil moisture deficit (SMD) from field capacity. The SMD is a measure of how thirsty the soil is, expressed as how many millimetres of rain it would take to top it up to field capacity.
In southern England, the SMD tends to hover around zero in winter when fields are wet. In summer it may be about 100mm, going up to 150mm or more in a dry year. The extreme of dryness, when soil has no water accessible to plants, is known as the permanent wilting point or PWP.
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More than 100 lenses inside Luke Jerram’s Pollenarium let visitors see the outside world as insects would
From the outside, it looks a little like something out of the Teletubbies.
In fact, the new installation by the Bristol artist Luke Jerram represents a grain of pollen, and the inside is an insect’s eye.
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Tornadoes kill hundreds each decade in the US. These researchers are investigating why some storms produce twisters – despite the fatal risks
On a narrow road in southern Iowa, my phone shrieked.
Tornadowarning. Take shelter now in a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building.
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An artisanal mining boom driven by war and poverty is causing a public health emergency, as chemicals poison soil, water and society
In Abu Hamad, on the banks of the Nile, verdant orchards, gardens and fields once produced a bounty of dates, citrus fruits, winter grains and cereals for the towns and cities of eastern Sudan, including Khartoum and Port Sudan.
Today, the land looks drastically different. Trees have been cut down, agricultural areas cleared, and farms have been replaced by shops and commercial sites. Dotted around the town and its outskirts, more than 700 mounds of grey waste are poisoning the soil, water and air. The mounds are the toxic remnants of artisanal gold mining, a practice that began in about 2008 and has intensified over the past six years.
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Imunološke stanice mogu se iscrpiti nakon dulje izloženosti raku, postupno gubeći sposobnost napada na tumorske stanice. Ovaj fenomen je posebno izražen kod agresivnih tumora mozga i može ozbiljno ograničiti učinkovitost imunoterapije. No, sada je nova studija pokazala da all-trans retinoična kiselina (ATRA), derivat vitamina A, može pomoći u sprječavanju takve iscrpljenosti i poboljšati učinkovitost inhibitora imunoloških kontrolnih točaka.
Nova studija koju su vodili znanstvenici iz Mass General Brigham otkriva da određene značajke u slezeni skrivene unutar slikovnih skeniranja mogu signalizirati rizik osobe od koronarne bolesti srca (KBS), što sugerira ciljeve za prevenciju i liječenje.
Ljudi koji žive s teškim oblikom astme pokazuju suptilne razlike u strukturi mozga u usporedbi s ljudima čija je astma dobro kontrolirana, pokazuje nova studija. Prethodne studije sugerirale su da astma može biti povezana s promjenama u mozgu, ali malo se znalo o tome jesu li te promjene izraženije kod ljudi s teškom bolešću. Tešku astmu tipa 2 uzrokuje preaktivan imunološki odgovor. Uzrokuje perzistentnu upalu, česte napade astme i poteškoće s disanjem. Mnogim pacijentima potrebni su višestruki lijekovi, a neke je i dalje teško liječiti unatoč intenzivnoj terapiji.
Prema rezultatima novog istraživanja, izgleda da ateroskleroza ispunjava kriterije za autoimunu bolest. Kod autoimunih bolesti, imunološki sustav se okreće protiv vlastitog tijela putem patogenih B stanica s visokim afinitetom ili T stanica, što dovodi do teškog oštećenja organa: Multipla skleroza (paraliza živčanog sustava), dijabetes tipa 1 (snažan faktor rizika za aterosklerozu koji zahtijeva cjeloživotno liječenje) i reumatoidni artritis (iscrpljujući, mučni deformiteti zglobova) primjeri su takvih klinički važnih autoimunih bolesti.
Singapurski znanstvenici su razvili mikroskopske kapljice peptida koje isporučuju velike količine molekula za utišavanje gena u stanice raka i u imunološke stanice, smanjujući rast teško liječljivih kolorektalnih tumora za oko 67 posto kod miševa.
Znanstvenici su identificirali alfa-1 antitripsin kao potencijalnu metu za sprječavanje spontanog prijevremenog porođaja. U velikoj genetskoj studiji na više od 200.000 majki, varijanta gena SERPINA1, koja kodira alfa-1 antitripsin, bila je povezana s kraćim trudnoćama. U eksperimentima na miševima, liječenje ljudskim alfa-1 antitripsinom spriječilo je prijevremeni porođaj uzrokovan upalom.
Imunološke stanice koje normalno štite tijelo od oštećenja napadajući strane ili zaražene stanice nalaze se u mozgu pacijenata s Alzheimerovom bolešću i srodnim poremećajima u mnogo većim razinama nego u zdravom mozgu. Čini se da stanice doprinose neurodegeneraciji, ali odakle dolaze i kako su se pripremile za akumulaciju u mozgu, nije bilo poznato.
U nedavno objavljenom pregledu znanstvenici su istraživali učinke razine testosterona u serumu i nadomjesne terapije testosteronom (TRT) na rizik od fibrilacije atrija (AF). Dokazi nisu bili dosljedni u svim studijama, no nekoliko izvješća ukazalo je na veći rizik od fibrilacije atrija i pri niskim i pri visokim razinama testosterona. Ovo može biti relevantno pri procjeni rizika od fibrilacije atrija kod muškaraca koji primaju ili razmatraju nadomjesnu terapiju testosteronom, iako povezanost još treba potvrditi u budućim studijama.
Utjecaj hormona progesterona na raspoloženje dobro je poznat. Sada su španjolski znanstvenici pokazali kako su više razine progesterona tijekom menstrualnog ciklusa povezane s manje izraženim obrascima aktivnosti u područjima mozga uključenim u kontrolu emocija.
Muškarci koji su već genetski ugroženi za najčešći oblik gubitka kose imaju 7 posto dodatni rizik od gubitka kose ako koriste lijekove poput semaglutida i tirzepatida za dijabetes tipa 2 i pretilost, pokazuje nova studija.
Deep in the mountains of Palawan, Conservation International scientists are capturing what few people ever see: the secret lives of the Philippines’ rarest species.
At Maido — the Lima restaurant recently crowned the best in the world — one of the star dishes is paiche, a giant prehistoric river fish.Its journey to the table begins on a small family farm deep in Peru’s Amazon.
“Jane Goodall forever changed how people think about, interact with and care for the natural world,” said Daniela Raik, interim CEO of Conservation International.
Conservation International’s Neil Vora was selected for TIME’s Next 100 list — alongside other rising leaders reshaping culture, science and society.
Climate change is happening. And it’s placing the world’s reefs in peril. What can be done?
After decades of negotiation, the high seas treaty is finally reality. The historic agreement will pave the way to protect international waters which face numerous threats.
The Amazon rainforest, known for lush green canopies and an abundance of freshwater, is drying out — and deforestation is largely to blame.
The ocean is engine of all life on Earth, but human-driven climate change is pushing it past its limits. Here are five ways the ocean keeps our climate in check — and what can be done to help.
In a grueling and delicate dance, a team led by Conservation International removes a massive undersea killer.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. These pictures might be worth even more. An initiative featuring the work of some of the world’s best nature photographers raises money for environmental conservation.