uvečaj veličinu pisma
Pismo Ministru Tolušiću.
Mirno Jadransko more
Foto: Vivian Grisogono
Britain’s toads have begun their spring migration, putting them at even greater risk than usual. Here’s how – and why – we should look after them
There’s a touch of old magic about toads, those shapeshifters of myth, superstition and folklore. Charismatic creatures with the pleasing Latin binomial bufo bufo, common toads have astonishing copper- or gold-coloured eyes and rugged, textured skin. “People say they look warty, which I’ve always thought is a bit unfair,” says Dr Silviu Petrovan, a conservationist and toad population researcher.
More prosaically, toads are great for your garden. “We say toads are a gardener’s best friend, because they eat all the pests,” says Jenny Tse-Leon, the head of conservation and impact at the British amphibian charity Froglife. Their spring migration is a dramatic event, during which hundreds of thousands of animals travel back to their ancestral breeding ponds. “Like the wildebeest of the Serengeti,” says Tse-Leon. “They’re just a lot smaller than wildebeest.” The males “piggyback” on potential partners: “You see them riding on the female’s back to get a lift to the pond.”
Continue reading...
Early spring sightings show colourful insect is a resident species for first time in decades, says conservation charity
The large tortoiseshell – an elusive and enigmatic butterfly that became extinct in Britain in the last century – is a UK resident species once again, with a flurry of early spring sightings.
Britain’s list of native butterflies has increased to 60 with the return of the insect after individuals emerged from hibernation in woodlands in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Cornwall and the Isle of Wight.
Continue reading...
Jessika Roswall cites Poland and Finland, which have made border areas near Russia or its allies ‘more hostile’ to cross
Countries should look to rewild their land borders as a deterrence to invasion and build up other geographical defences to attack, Europe’s environment chief has said.
Jessika Roswall, the EU’s commissioner for the environment, water resilience and a competitive circular economy, said nature should be used to improve national security. “Investing in nature and using nature as a natural border control is necessary, and actually increases biodiversity. It’s a win-win,” she said.
Continue reading...
A Guardian investigation with DeSmog reveals thousands of tonnes of fish are illegally turned into fishmeal and oil off the coast of Guinea-Bissau
The only ice factory on Bubaque, an island in west Africa’s Guinea-Bissau, is out of service. Local fishers, such as Pedro Luis Pereira, are forced to source ice from factories on the mainland, about 70km away – a six-hour round trip by boat.
“The machines have been broken for months,” Pereira says, as he pulls in his nets on the shore of the island inside the protected Bijagós archipelago. “We’ve alerted the ministry of fisheries, but so far, no one has come to fix them.”
Foreign industrial vessels anchored near the port of Bissau. Photograph: Davide Mancini
Continue reading...
Lower Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne: Under boardwalks, in concrete, on window ledges, seeds borne by water and carried on feet survive
The Ouseburn slides glassily, reflecting clouds, as it moves towards the Tyne. These lower reaches are tidal, once used for loading coal barges, here in the industrial heart of Newcastle. From glassworks, bottleworks, potteries and flax mills, the area is now transformed into waterside cafes, bars and housing. The burn flows through a variety of habitats: a wooded dene beneath a soaring viaduct, past stables, a farm and converted factories, exposed mud and ivied ruins, an evolving cityscape, its plants often overlooked.
We study the ground while joggers and prams go past and progress is slow; there’s so much life here in the footpath margins. James Common has researched the city’s plants for six years and his book Urban Flora of Newcastle and North Tyneside is published on Monday. He found the Lower Ouseburn to be the fifth most diverse 1km square of the 188 he covered, the others being nature reserves and the Victorian park of Jesmond Dene. This vibrancy is the result of movement, of people and industry, animals and ships’ ballast, seeds borne by the river or carried on feet.
Continue reading...
Private equity group EQT to take 42% stake as supplier faces scrutiny over environmental record and CEO’s pay
A leading European investor will pump fresh funding into Yorkshire Water including helping to cover a £600m loan, despite recent heavy sewage fines and a scandal over executive pay at the utility company.
EQT, a Swedish private equity group, said on Monday it would take a 42% stake in Kelda Holdings, the Jersey-registered parent company of Yorkshire Water, which has 5.7 million customers across Yorkshire and parts of the East Midlands and Lincolnshire.
Continue reading...
Self-styled ‘punk’ beer company bought land in 2020, pledging to plant Scotland’s ‘biggest ever forest’
The self-styled “punk” beer company BrewDog sold its Highland estate for a knockdown price after abandoning its efforts to plant Scotland’s “biggest ever forest” there.
BrewDog’s co-founder James Watt claimed its Lost Forest project at Kinrara in the Cairngorms national park would cover a “staggering area” and capture tens of millions of tonnes of CO2 during its lifetime.
Continue reading...
Like Stonehenge, the Australian coastal landmark is first seen from a busy highway – and locals warn charging a fee for safe viewing could make existing congestion worse
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
How much is a view worth? The Victorian public is asking itself that question after the state government announced on Monday that it would impose visitor fees on one of its most spectacular landmarks, the Twelve Apostles.
Bookings would be required and a fee payable for parking and access to the $126m Twelve Apostles Visitor Centre, the gateway to the main viewing decks for the famous sea stacks – columns of remnant rock from the eroded Victorian coastline, visible along the winding, 240km-long Great Ocean Road.
Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads
Continue reading...
zack mennell made a costume out of nappies and waded into filthy waterways saying: ‘I’m going to be the parasite.’ The performance artist’s project became more literal than originally intended
On the Deptford foreshore, a ghoulish figure is sinking into the Thames. Performance artist zack mennell (who writes their name in lower case) wades to their belly button as a crowd watches on. As they dip down further, their mutant costume – sewn together from 24 adult nappies – swells with water … and waste.
mennell’s work smears the personal and political across their body. The Thames performance is the finale of a project called (para)site, made in response to revelations of sewage discharge in our waterways and a reaction to the way benefit claimants are labelled as a drain on society. “OK,” mennell thought, “I’m going to be the parasite.” Their taking on of pollution was more literal than they intended; they contracted Weil’s disease from rat urine in the water.
Continue reading...
Well-intentioned laws designed to safeguard nature frequently have the opposite effect
The importance of protecting nature is not up for debate. One in six species in Britain is threatened with extinction. Since 1970, more than half our flowering plants have decreased in areas where they once thrived. In the 1950s, Britain’s hedgehog population was 30m strong. Now, it is believed to be under a million.
All this demands action. The problem is that a lot of the action we’ve taken – mainly in the form of legislation – fails to target the biggest drivers of nature loss. Instead, it bites when we try to build: wind turbines, solar farms, railways or nuclear power plants, making their construction lengthier, more expensive or, in some cases, impossible.
Continue reading...
Žene koje imaju komplikacije u trudnoći, poput preeklampsije, prijevremenog poroda, mrtvorođenčeta ili rađanja djeteta koje je malo za gestacijsku dob, mogu se suočiti s povećanim rizikom od kardiovaskularnih bolesti kasnije u životu, pokazala je nova studija. Jednako tako, za one koje prijavljuju visoku razinu stresa tijekom i nakon trudnoće, postoji povećani rizik od visokog krvnog tlaka, čak i godinama nakon poroda.
Opće je poznato da dojenje utječe na zdravlje i majke i djeteta, ali temeljna biologija koja dovodi do tih učinaka nije dovoljno proučena. No, nedavno objavljene studije pokazuju da T-stanice - bijele krvne stanice koje igraju ključnu ulogu u imunološkom sustavu - oblikuju imunološki sustav djeteta, podržavaju zdrave crijevne bakterije i smanjuju rizik od raka dojke za majke te da laktacija nije samo nutritivni proces, već je imunološki regulirano stanje s trajnim posljedicama za zdravlje majke i dojenčeta.
Pušenje marihuane (kanabis), te konzumacija kokaina ili amfetamina, mogu povećati rizik od moždanog udara, čak i ako se radi o mlađoj odrasloj osobi, pokazala je analiza 32 studije. Konzumacija kokaina i amfetamina može udvostručiti ili utrostručiti rizik od moždanog udara za bilo koju odraslu osobu. Marihuana također povećava rizik od moždanog udara, ali u manjoj mjeri.
U novom istraživanju znanstvenici su otkrili potencijalno novu strategiju za borbu protiv Alzheimerove bolesti i Parkinsonove bolesti, stanja koja su povezana s toksičnim nakupljanjem nakupina proteina tau i alfa sinukleina u mozgu. Naime, tubulin, gradivni blok mikrotubula, može spriječiti stvaranje toksičnih nakupina tau i alfa sinukleina i umjesto toga ih usmjeriti u njihove normalne, zdrave uloge.
Japanski znanstvenici otkrili su ključni mehanizam koji omogućuje širenje raka želuca u udaljene organe. Njihova studija pokazuje da stanice raka stimuliraju Wnt signalizaciju u okolnim stromalnim fibroblastima kako bi proizvodile hijaluronan, stvarajući podržavajuće mikrookruženje koje potiče metastaze.
Prirodni nusprodukt metabolizma jetre – ketonsko tijelo, β-hidroksibutirat (BHB) – može ojačati kondiciju i antitumorsku aktivnost CAR T stanica, tvrdi nova studija. Rezultati studije ističu potencijalni novi način poboljšanja imunoterapija raka, naime, pokazalo se da BHB - metabolit koji se proizvodi nakon duljeg posta ili na ketogenoj dijeti - može djelovati kao snažan izvor goriva za T stanice koje se koriste u imunoterapiji. Utvrđeno je da BHB preoblikuje i proizvodnju energije T stanica i regulaciju gena na načine koji poboljšavaju kontrolu tumora u više modela raka.
Nova studija znanstvenika s Wake Forest University School of Medicine identificirala je obećavajuću strategiju za liječenje metastaza u mozgu, jedne od najizazovnijih i najsmrtonosnijih komplikacija raka pluća, melanoma i raka dojke. Naime, metastatska bolest mozga javlja se kod do 30% pacijenata s rakom pluća, melanomom i rakom dojke, a srednje vrijeme preživljavanja ostaje kraće od godinu dana.
Po definiciji, epizodno pamćenje je svjesni fenomen. Tragovi pamćenja koje reaktivira hipokampus i ponovno uspostavi u senzornim korteksima moraju ući u svjesnu svijest da bi se ponovno doživjeli i otvoreno prisjetili. No, sve više dokaza sugerira da se epizodno prisjećanje može dogoditi bez svjesne svijesti, što postavlja temeljno pitanje: kako sjećanja ulaze u svijest?
Kada netko doživi srčani udar (infarkt miokarda), srce se ozlijedi i preoptereti. Čak i kada pacijenti prežive početnu epizodu, srce često s vremenom slabi zbog ožiljaka i gubitka zdravog tkiva. Jedan od prirodnih odgovora tijela je oslobađanje hormona nazvanog ANP (atrijski natriuretski peptid), koji pomaže u smanjenju stresa na srce i može ograničiti dugoročnu štetu. Ali tijelo nažalost proizvodi samo malu količinu ovog hormona, nedovoljnu da napravi veliku razliku u oporavku srca.
Nova studija pruža snažne dokaze o mogućoj učinkovitosti terapija koje ciljaju i lizosome – ili čestice u stanicama koje pomažu u održavanju stanične stabilnosti i dostupnosti hranjivih tvari – i protein nazvan SREBP-1 koji povećava unos glukoze i pomaže tumorima da se odupru trenutnim terapijama koje inhibiraju lizosome, kod karcinoma pluća koji ne reagiraju na imunoterapiju.
