Health Trotter

By BY JAN HOFFMAN from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3usvxhM

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September 30, 2021 at 11:26PM A few hundred yards south of the fishing boat docks at the Port of New Bedford in southeastern Massachusetts, workers will soon start offloading gigantic turbine components onto a wide expanse of gravel. Local trawlers and lobster boats will find themselves sharing their waterways with huge vessels hefting cranes and massive hydraulic jacks. And on an approximately 100-square mile patch of open sea that fishermen once traversed with ease, 62 of the world’s largest wind turbines will rise one by one over the ocean waves. Known as Vineyard Wind, the project is set to be the first-ever commercial-scale offshore wind farm in the United States, generating 800 megawatts of power, or enough to power about 400,000 homes. Dozens of other offshore wind projects are in development up and down America’s east coast. But some in the fishing industry, including many New Bedford fishermen, are concerned that the turbines will upend their way of life. [time-bri

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By BY BENJAMIN MUELLER from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3kS6lOK

In the early years of World War II, when Jane Goodall was around 6 years old, she was often woken from her sleep by the blare of air-raid sirens. The sound warned that Nazi planes were flying over Bournemouth, the English seaside town where Goodall’s family had moved at the outbreak of the war. Her younger sister Judy would be up like a shot, bounding down the stairs to the bomb shelter. But Goodall refused to budge. “I did not want to leave my bed,” she says. “They had to take me down with all my bedclothes.” Eight decades later, Goodall, now 87, is standing in the living room of the same house, an imposing redbrick Victorian building with cavernous ceilings, thick carpets and heavy armchairs. The bomb shelter is still here, now home to a washing machine and a fridge. In the rest of the house, wooden shelves are crammed with books, figurines and photographs—souvenirs from Goodall’s life as the world’s best-known naturalist. Her grandmother bought the house in the 1930s, and

By BY EMILY ANTHES from NYT Health https://ift.tt/2Y3k64F

By BY RONI CARYN RABIN from NYT Health https://ift.tt/39OsA1B

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By BY SHARON LAFRANIERE, SHASHANK BENGALI AND NOAH WEILAND from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3m9YwDo

By BY BENJAMIN MUELLER from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3CV30oo

September 28, 2021 at 06:41PM When you toss a plastic bottle into your recycling bin, there’s no guarantee it actually gets recycled. In fact, odds are, it doesn’t . According to the World Economic Forum, just 14% of plastic packagin g is collected for recycling globally. And because of complexities in the recycling process, huge amounts of single-use plastic (as well as glass and cardboard) that consumers try to recycle ultimately end up getting burned or tossed into landfills anyway. If recyclable materials are contaminated by food waste, or if consumers misunderstand what can be recycled and where—to cite two common examples—their garbage may not end up being repurposed after all. A 2017 study in Science Advances estimated that, of all the plastic waste generated globally up to 2015, just 9% had been recycled, while 12% was incinerated and the rest ended up in landfills or scattered around the natural environment. Some plastic waste is burned to create fuel or energ

By BY SABRINA IMBLER from NYT Health https://ift.tt/2Y4LHlT

By BY JAN HOFFMAN from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3m8E6us

By BY GINA KOLATA from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3m603dx

By BY EMILY ANTHES AND SABRINA IMBLER from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3zDY84N

By BY EMILY ANTHES AND SABRINA IMBLER from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3AGwIN5

By BY RONI CARYN RABIN from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3i7GwIy

By BY GINA KOLATA from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3o2A5uj

By BY APOORVA MANDAVILLI AND BENJAMIN MUELLER from NYT Health https://ift.tt/2W7oRZM

By BY APOORVA MANDAVILLI AND BENJAMIN MUELLER from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3CVLYqf

By BY RONI CARYN RABIN from NYT Health https://ift.tt/3kz67vC

September 23, 2021 at 08:44PM (WASHINGTON) — In what officials call a key step to combat climate change, the Environmental Protection Agency is sharply limiting domestic production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, highly potent greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners. The new rule announced Thursday follows through on a law Congress passed last year and is intended to decrease U.S. production and use of HFCs by 85% over the next 15 years, part of a global phaseout designed to slow global warming. The administration also is taking steps to crack down on imports of HFCs, greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide. They often leak through pipes or appliances that use compressed refrigerants and are considered a major driver of global warming. President Joe Biden has pledged to embrace a 2016 global agreement to greatly reduce HFCs by 2036. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy

September 23, 2021 at 04:34PM Tell Vinisha Umashankar that your teen years pale in comparison to hers, and she is quick to remind you that everyone has a different life journey. But the 14-year-old also knows that the future looks very different for her generation if the world doesn’t act to slow global warming and the effects of climate change. Still, she’s optimistic that “collective action” of people her age will turn the tide. That’s probably why Umashankar has already been doing more than her fair share. In Tiruvannamalai, a small temple town in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, she designed an ingenious solar-powered alternative for the millions of charcoal-burning ironing carts that ply the streets of India’s cities—pressing clothes for workers and families. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Her invention is now getting global recognition. Umashankar is the youngest finalist for the first Earthshot Prize, a £1 million ($1.3 million) award launched by Prince W

September 23, 2021 at 04:30PM Richard Powers’ 2018 novel The Overstory , which won that year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, followed decades of the MacArthur Fellow’s work investigating the intersections of culture, the environment, science and technology. His most recent book, Bewilderment , released Tuesday, again delves into the impact of science on human life. Bewilderment by Richard Powers In Bewilderment , something of a contemporary take on the Flowers for Algernon story, Powers writes of a neurodivergent, middle-school-aged child named Robin who undergoes an experiment involving decoded neurofeedback (a cutting-edge neuroscience technique in real life). The experiment improves Robin’s emotional quotient—at least at first. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Powers spoke to TIME ahead of the book’s release. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. TIME: Bewilderment clearly has a lot to say about current and ongoing events. Was it your intention t