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Pismo Ministru Tolušiću.
Mirno Jadransko more
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Known as ‘white gold’, lithium is among the most important mined elements on the planet – ideal for the rechargeable batteries used in tech products. Can Europe’s largest deposit bring prosperity to the local community?
It looks more like the past than the future. A vast chasm scooped out of a scarred landscape, this is a Cornwall the summer holidaymakers don’t see: a former china clay pit near St Austell called Trelavour. I’m standing at the edge of the pit looking down with the man who says his plans for it will help the UK’s transition to renewable energy and bring back year-round jobs and prosperity to a part of the country that badly needs both. “And if I manage to make some money in the process, fantastic,” he says. “Though that is not what it’s about.”
We’ll return to him shortly. But first to the past, when this story begins, about 275-280m years ago. “There was a continental collision at the time,” Frances Wall, professor of applied mineralogy at the Camborne School of Mines at the University of Exeter, explained to me before my visit. This collision caused the bottom of the Earth’s crust to melt, with the molten material rising higher in the crust and forming granite. “There are lots of different types of granite that intrude at different times, more than 10m years or so,” she says. “The rock is made of minerals and, if you’ve got the right composition in the original material and the right conditions, then within those minerals there are some called mica. Some of those micas contain lithium.”
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Researchers say waste dumping and climate breakdown have contributed to rise in brick, concrete and glass on beaches
As much as half of some British beaches’ coarse sediments may consist of human-made materials such as brick, concrete, glass and industrial waste, a study has suggested.
Climate breakdown, which has caused more frequent and destructive coastal storms, has led to an increase in these substances on beaches. Six sites on the Firth of Forth, an estuary on Scotland’s east coast joining the River Forth to the North Sea, were surveyed to better understand the makeup of “urban beaches”.
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Paying attention to the calls of our avian neighbours can reduce stress, find scientists in Germany
Feeling stressed? Try a dose of birdsong to lift the spirits. A new study shows that paying attention to the treetop melodies of our feathered friends can boost wellbeing and bring down stress levels.
Previous research has shown that people feel better in bird-rich environments, but Christoph Randler, from the University of Tübingen, and colleagues wanted to see if that warm fuzzy feeling translated into measurable physiological changes. They rigged up a park with loudspeakers playing the songs of rare birds and measured the blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol levels (a marker of stress) of volunteers before and after taking a 30-minute walk through the park. Some volunteers experienced the birdsong-enriched environment, some heard just natural birdsong, and some wore noise-cancelling headphones and heard no birdsong. Half of the recruits were asked to pay attention to the birdsong.
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A shortlist of 24 images has been selected for the wildlife photographer of the year people’s choice award. You can vote for your favourite image online. The winner will be announced on 25 March and shown from that date as part of the overall wildlife photographer of the year exhibition, which runs until 12 July at the Natural History Museum in London
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Inkpen, Berkshire: We’re paying the price now for a poor grass harvest, and the concern is isn’t a one-off bad year
At this point in the year, when the growing season seems so far away, last summer’s hay harvest is most remembered, sometimes rued. The hottest summer followed the driest spring in over 100 years in southern England. And although making hay while the sun shines is genuinely crucial, rain is critical to growth. Last year produced a very poor harvest, and hay is now running out.
Traditionally, two cuts are made, in late spring and summer, doubling the yield. It’s an ancient, ingenious and hopeful system, and in the case of meadow hay (rather than single-species ryegrass) it benefits nature, removing nutrient‑laden grass and encouraging biodiversity. But long-term studies show that as our weather patterns change, grass-growing potential has declined greatly over the last 80 years.
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Ministers’ proposals to tackle ‘forever chemicals’ fail to match tougher stance taken in Europe, say experts
Environmental campaigners have criticised a “crushingly disappointing” UK government plan to tackle “forever chemicals”, which they warn risks locking in decades of avoidable harm to people and the environment.
The government said its Pfas action plan set out a “clear framework” of “coordinated action … to understand where these chemicals are coming from, how they spread and how to reduce public and environmental exposure”.
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Chagossian people would be allowed to fish in area that has teemed with life since ban was introduced in 2010
One of the most precious marine reserves in the world, home to sharks, turtles and rare tropical fish, will be opened to some fishing for the first time in 16 years under the UK government’s dealto hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Allowing non-commercial fishing in the marine protected area (MPA) is seen as an essential part of the Chagossian people’s return to the islands, as the community previously relied on fishing as their main livelihood. But some conservationists have raised the alarm, as nature has thrived in the waters of the Indian Ocean since it was protected from fishing.
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With government action stalled and living in ‘inhumane’ conditions, families in San José are making plans to relocate
In Emilio Peña Delgado’s home, several photos hang on the wall. One shows him standing in front of a statue with his wife and oldest son in the centre of San José and smiling. In another, his two sons sit in front of caricatures from the film Cars. For him, the photos capture moments of joy that feel distant when he returns home to La Carpio, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Costa Rica’s capital.
Delgado migrated with his family from Nicaragua to Costa Rica when he was 10, as his parents sought greater stability. When he started a family of his own, his greatest hope was to give his children the security he had lacked. But now, that hope is often interrupted by the threat of extreme weather events.
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Support from more than 20 countries propels National Trust to its target to protect chalk figure and local wildlife
It feels like a very British monument: a huge chalk figure carved into a steep Dorset hillside that for centuries has intrigued lovers of English folklore and legend. But an appeal to raise money to help protect the Cerne giant – and the wildlife that shares the landscape it towers over – has shown that its allure stretches far beyond the UK.
Donations have flooded in from more than 20 countries including Australia, Japan and Iceland, and on Tuesday, the National Trust confirmed it had reached its fundraising target to buy land around the giant.
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With some of Ukraine’s most valuable biodiversity sites and science facilities under occupation, experts at Sofiyivka Park in Uman are struggling to preserve the country’s natural history
In the basement laboratory of the National Dendrological Park Sofiyivka, Larisa Kolder tends to dozens of specimens of Moehringia hypanicabetween power outages. Just months earlier, she and her team at this microclonal plant propagation laboratory in Uman, Ukraine, received 23 seeds of the rare flower.
Listed as threatened in Ukraine’s Red Book of endangered species, Moehringiagrows nowhere else in the wild but the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine. Of those 23 seeds, only two grew into plants that Kolder and her colleagues could clone in their laboratory, but now her lab is home to a small grove of Moehringiaseedlings, including 80 that have put down roots in a small but vital win for biodiversity conservation amid Russia’s war with Ukraine.
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Nova studija nudi nadu da bi pacijenti s transplantiranim bubregom jednog dana mogli primati mjesečni tretman umjesto više lijekova svaki dan. Novi tretman također može smanjiti nuspojave i produžiti životni vijek donorskog organa. Trenutno, pacijenti kojima je transplantiran bubreg moraju uzimati koktel lijekova svaki dan do kraja života. Ovi standardni imunosupresivi sprječavaju imunološki sustav da napadne novi organ, ali s vremenom mogu oštetiti funkciju bubrega i postati manje učinkoviti.
Nova studija sugerira da starije odrasle osobe hospitalizirane s delirijem mogu imati bolje ishode kada se liječe trazodonom, koji se obično koristi za liječenje depresije i problema sa spavanjem, u odnosu na uobičajeno korištene antipsihotičke lijekove. Delirij, iznenadno stanje zbunjenosti koje često pogađa starije odrasle osobe tijekom ili nakon hospitalizacije, često se liječi lijekovima unatoč ograničenim dokazima o tome koji su lijekovi najsigurniji.
Strategija prevencije koju su razvili kanadski znanstvenici može smanjiti rizik od najčešćeg i najsmrtonosnijeg oblika raka jajnika za gotovo 80 posto, tvrde rezultati nove studije. Strategija, poznata kao oportunistička salpingektomija (OS), uključuje proaktivno uklanjanje jajovoda osobe kada već prolazi kroz rutinsku ginekologiju poput histerektomije ili podvezivanja jajovoda, što se obično naziva podvezivanje jajovoda.
Signali popravka DNK i integriranog odgovora na stres (ISR) u krvi otkrivaju kratki molekularni prozor koji prethodi dijagnozi Parkinsonove bolesti, pokazala je nova studija. Parkinsonova bolest je progresivni neurodegenerativni poremećaj karakteriziran motoričkim simptomima, poput bradikinezije, posturalne nestabilnosti, tremora i ukočenosti, koji se pojavljuju tek nakon značajne neurodegeneracije.
Analizirajući tkivo pacijenata s Parkinsonovom bolešću te životinjske i stanične modele bolesti, španjolski znanstvenici s INc-UAB otkrili su da glavne imunološke stanice mozga postaju reaktivne i prekomjerno eksprimiraju određene receptore koji potiču eliminaciju dopaminergičnih neurona, čak i kada su ti neuroni još uvijek funkcionalni. Studija ukazuje na novi pristup imunoterapiji koji bi mogao pomoći u očuvanju održivih neurona kod osoba s ovom dijagnozom.
Dvoje od troje adolescenata sa sindromom iritabilnog crijeva (IBS) započinje odraslu dob bez bolesti, tvrde rezultati dugoročne studije koja je pratila više od 2.500 ispitanika. Simptomi IBS-a često uključuju dugotrajne bolove u trbuhu, zatvor ili proljev, neredovitu stolicu i plinove. Iako se smatra da čimbenici u ranoj dobi igraju ulogu u razvoju bolesti, istraživanja u ovom području su ograničena - posebno u odnosu na prijelaz iz adolescencije u odraslu dob.
Chlamydia pneumoniae - uobičajena bakterija koja uzrokuje upalu pluća i infekcije sinusa - može se godinama zadržati u oku i mozgu te može pogoršati Alzheimerovu bolest, pokazuje nova studija. Ovo otkriće sugerira da ova bakterija može pojačati Alzheimerovu bolest i ukazuje na potencijalne intervencije, uključujući terapije za ograničavanje upale i rano liječenje antibioticima.
Hordom je rijedak tumor karakteriziran lošom prognozom, ograničenim terapijskim mogućnostima i visokom stopom ponovne pojave. Unatoč napretku u onkologiji, učinkoviti tretmani za hordom ostaju ograničeni. Otpornost na konvencionalnu radioterapiju i kemoterapiju ograničava terapijske mogućnosti, a kirurško liječenje često je izazovno zbog blizine tumora kritičnim anatomskim strukturama. Posljedično, identificiranje novih terapijskih ciljeva ključno je za poboljšanje dijagnoze hordoma, strategija liječenja i predviđanja ishoda.
Dodavanje palbocikliba anti-HER2 i endokrinoj terapiji, nakon indukcijske kemoterapije, može odgoditi napredovanje bolesti kod pacijenata s metastatskim rakom dojke pozitivnim na hormonske receptore (HR+) i pozitivnim na receptor 2 humanog epidermalnog faktora rasta (HER2+), pokazala je nova studija. Rezultati su pokazali medijan preživljavanja bez progresije bolesti od 44,3 mjeseca u skupini koja je primala palbociklib, u usporedbi s 29,1 mjesecom u kontrolnoj skupini.
Znanstvenici su razvili način uzgoja visoko specijaliziranog podskupa moždanih živčanih stanica koje su uključene u bolesti motornih neurona i oštećene su kod ozljeda kralježnice. Smatra se, da ovo postignuće postavlja temelje za daljnja istraživanja o tome mogu li ovi molekularno usmjereni neuroni formirati funkcionalne veze u tijelu i za istraživanje njihove potencijalne upotrebe u ljudskim bolestima gdje su kortikospinalni neuroni ugroženi.
