175: Tetraquark

This is the members only edition of Future Crunch, a weekly roundup of good news, mindblowing science, and the best bits of the internet (not necessarily in that order). One third of your subscription fee goes to charity.

Good news you probably didn't hear about

Global electricity access rose markedly between 2010 and 2020, from 83% to 91% of the world's population, with the number of unserved falling from 1.2 billion to 733 million during that period. The pace of growth was faster than in previous decades, although it did slow between 2018 and 2020, because of the difficulty in reaching unserved populations and the impact of COVID-19. UN

Indonesia is one of the most spectacular development successes of the last two decades. With 274 million people, it's the fourth largest country on Earth - yet between 2000 and 2021, reduced the share of people living below the national poverty line from 20% to 10% - lifting around 25 million out of poverty.

A record 181 women  (one third of all candidates) are running in Japan’s upper house election this weekend, a big step up from 77 in 2019. The increase is attributed to a commitment by parties ensure more gender equality after the country ranked 163rd out of 190 countries for women in politics. Guardian

Sierra Leone is on the cusp of decriminalizing abortion after the government's unanimous backing of the 'risk-free motherhood' bill. The provisions of the bill also cover other aspects of maternal health, expanding access to contraceptives, post-abortion care and other reproductive health services. Guardian

At a time in the world when sexual and reproductive health rights for the women are either being overturned or threatened, we are proud that Sierra Leone can once again lead with progressive reform. I want it to be a norm that as an African man, an African leader, I can and should speak freely and publicly about menstruation, because there is no shame in menstruation.
President Julius Maada Bio

A landmark ruling in Kenya will see the Indigenous Ogiek people paid reparations for decades of illegal evictions from their ancestral land in the Mau Forest. It’s the first time a court has ruled in favour of both material and moral damages and the decision could set a precedent for other Indigenous peoples in East Africa. Grist

Argentina has approved a groundbreaking law to reduce discrimination against people living with HIV, viral hepatitis, TB and other sexually transmitted infections. The legislation prohibits mandatory testing for HIV and STIs by employers or educational institutions. Mirage News

California - the fifth largest economy on the planet - just announced it's going to manufacture its own insulin. This will make it significantly more affordable for millions of residents of the state, and push down prices nationwide. More than eight million Americans with diabetes depend on the drug. CNN

Pfizer is extending its donation of the antibiotic Zithromax for trachoma until 2030. The company’s 23-year commitment has played a crucial role in the prevention of the world's most common eye disease, with a 91% decrease in cases in the past decade. WHO

A simple, but important observation. On almost every single social issue, from womens rights to racial tolerance, minority rights, immigration, religion, gun ownership and abortion, Americans are more tolerant today than they have been at any point in their history. It's just that their governing and legal institutions have been captured by a fringe minority who are not. Globe & Mail

And no, America is not collapsing.

The only home we've ever known

Colombia has become the first country in the western hemisphere to protect 30% of its ocean, with fishing and oil exploration banned in four protected marine areas. The country recently joined forces with the US, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Canada, Panama and Costa Rica to collaborate and work faster to protect ocean areas. Axios

An ecological revolution in Wellington, New Zealand is underway, as the return of native bird species, and close encounters with orca and whales fuel a volunteer conservation movement. The city is seeing an explosion in wildlife thanks to the presence of Zealandia, the world’s first fully fenced urban ecosanctuary located 10 minutes from downtown. Bloomberg

Disruptions to food supply chains in Mexico City during the pandemic resulted in a revival of Aztec-era island farms known as 'chinampas.' The shallow lake farms produce beans, corn, squashes, and greens, and when lockdowns stopped produce flows to the city, customers reconnected with local chinamperos, rebooting a 1,300 year-old agricultural legacy. Nat Geo

Indigenous peoples in Colombia’s Amazon are closer to self-governance after a court ordered the registration of 14 indigenous territorial entity (ITE) applications. The creation of the ITEs will allow communities to self-govern and ensure the protection of up to 10 million hectares of native forest. The first three ITEs are expected to be formalised by early 2023. Mongabay

The Amazon exists as it is because of Indigenous peoples, and their knowledge. They are not part of the solution just because they have forests. They are part of the solution because they know how the Amazon has to be governed, understood and managed.
Juan Carlos Preciado, Legal Counsel, Gaia Amazonas

A federal judge in Northern California has restored a large number of protections for endangered and threatened species that were removed by the Trump administration. Environmental groups have applauded the move which will speed up protections and critical habitat designations for threatened species, including salmon in the Pacific Northwest. AP

Over the past ten years the Mikoko Pamoja project in Kenya has conserved over 100 hectares of mangroves and planted an additional 4,000 new mangroves along the coastline each year. The project has led to an increase in local livelihoods and  inspired similar efforts in Mozambique Madagascar, Gambia, and Senegal. AP

Remember that Twitter post we linked to a few months ago about the thousands of fin whales scientists discovered in Antarctica? Well, someone at the NYT picked that story up too... “It was one of the most spectacular observations I’ve had."

40 years after being declared locally extinct, rhinos are once again roaming the bush in Mozambique thanks to a translocation effort from South Africa. The black and white rhinos are being transported over 1,610 km to Zinave National Park, already home to more than 2,300 other reintroduced animals. Reuters

Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it

What a week for UK news. We're talking of course, about the £15 billion of new offshore wind farms announced at record-low power prices and the National Grid's plans for £54 billion of new electric grids to connect the next generation of clean energy infrastructure. The legacy of these projects will last long after Boris Johnson is a forgotten footnote in history. Carbon Brief

Some highlights:

• 11GW of renewables, in the government's biggest ever round of its flagship renewables auction scheme.
• 7GW of offshore wind, 2.2GW of solar, around 1GW of onshore wind, and for the first time ever, successful bids for tidal stream and floating offshore wind.
• A total of 93 projects across England, Scotland and Wales - more than in all three previous rounds combined.
• The newly awarded projects will generate around 42 TWh of electricity, roughly 13% of current UK demand, at prices four times below the current cost of gas.
• That's enough to power around 12 million British homes with clean, affordable, homegrown energy, helping to reduce exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices.
• All of it will be online by 2026/27 - around the same time as the Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor, which will generate electricity for two to three times the price. Tell us again how nuclear is the answer to our problems?

The Romanian government has published an emergency law to phase out coal by 2030, which is expected to be approved within a month. It accelerates the country’s original coal exit by two years, and clears the way for the country to exploit its enormous solar and wind energy potential. Beyond Coal

Only two countries in Africa are now building coal plants – Zimbabwe and South Africa  – and the pipeline of new capacity is collapsing after China's pledge to end overseas support. Meanwhile, wind and solar are already the cheapest way to generate electricity across almost every part of the continent. IEA

Earlier this week 35 faith institutions in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Italy, the UK and the US announced they were divesting from fossil fuels. That was followed by the news that the 1.7 million United Presbyterians had voted to divest from the five big oil companies. Religion News

This year, the number of new petroleum-engineering graduates in the United States is expected to be only 400, an 83% decline from 2017, when they peaked at more than 2,300. “The industry will need to replace a retiring cohort of Baby Boomers. But we are not seeing enough engineers to fill the demand.” Bloomberg

Turkey has discovered 694 megatonnes of rare earths. It's the second largest field in the world after China, containing 11 of the 17 rare earth materials. Total annual production is predicted to be twice the estimated global demand in 2030. All the journalists who said for years there aren't enough rare earth reserves for the energy transition will obviously now reassess. Right?

The decision by the US Supreme Court to scuttle the EPA's oversight of clean air regulations is chilling for a warming planet. However, it may prove increasingly irrelevant because the pendulum is swinging decisively in favour of combating climate change, and market forces are moving it. The transition to renewable energy has begun in force. Boston Globe

The IEA says high prices for natural gas and supply fears due to the war in Ukraine will slow growth in demand in the coming years. Global demand is now predicted to rise by 140 billion cubic meters between 2021 and 2025, less than half the increase of 370 bcm seen in the previous five-year period, which included the pandemic downturn. AP

In more 'Vladimir Putin, Climate Hero' news, the transformation of Europe's residential heating sector — the continent's largest source of gas consumption — is accelerating. More and more countries are introducing end dates. "Every gas boiler we get rid of is another step out of dependency on Russian gas," SP Global

Indistinguishable from magic

Scientists working at the Large Hadron Collider just discovered three never-seen-before particles - a new pentaquark, and the first-ever pair of tetraquarks. "The more analyses we perform, the more kinds of exotic hadrons we find. We’re witnessing a period of discovery similar to the 1950s." Vice

An international team of scientists say they have found the last two elusive nucleobases of DNA and RNA - cytosine and thymine - in samples from meteorites. That means all five of the basic building blocks for life on Earth have now been discovered in extraterrestrial objects, a tantalizing clue that life might have gotten an assist from space. Eureka

A New York based startup called Simplifyber is fundamentally rethinking how clothing and shoes are made. To make their products, they pour a liquid mix of wood pulp, other plants and biodegradable additives into a single 3D-printed mold. What comes out is a fully completed, biodegradable shirt or sneaker, cutting out 60% of steps and reducing 35% of the materials that end up as waste.

Researchers in Zurich have developed a wearable exomuscle named Myoshirt, a vest packed with sensors that predicts the wearer’s movements and the amount of force required, assisting in movement. The aim is to use the vest to increase the upper body strength and endurance of people with restricted mobility. ETH Zurich

There's an entire universe of Cas proteins beyond just Cas9. One of the most interesting is Cas12c, the black sheep of the Cas family. Rather than cutting the DNA of viruses, it shuts down the main genes they need for reproduction. "Cas12c is the first example of a natural DNA-targeting system that provides antiviral immunity without the need to cut DNA." Singularity Hub

Finnish researchers have installed the world's first fully working sand battery, which stores heat at around 500C, providing year-round supply. In Switzerland, a water battery capable of storing the equivalent of 400,000 EV batteries began operating a few days ago in a subterranean cavern just round the corner from the Matterhorn.

Information superhighway

Last month we posted an essay on the importance of aunts. We'd be remiss not to follow it up with one on uncles! Isaac Fitzgerald, says being an uncle gives him a new way to show up, a lightness of being, an unanchoring in his heart, that seems harder to come by the older he gets - a feeling he relishes all the more for its rarity. Esquire

A new 'nomos' for the planet, as a new geopolitical era slowly heaves into view. We're moving from a centuries old world order based on Westphalan principles of land-sea national sovereignty, to one comprising multiple geo-civilizational spheres. In short, one world, many systems. So much for globalization... Neoma

Maybe Tim Leary was onto something after all. The only way to tune in is to tune out. Here's a wild idea. How about, the next time you go for a walk, leave the headphones behind? Paul Daley gave it a go, and discovered an unexpected, pristine quiet. Guardian

There's no shortage of David Attenborough appreciation out there, but for some reason this really struck a chord. His interest in the natural world begins not with the gaze of an empath, but with the humility of an observer. That's the kind of work that’s both subtle in its execution and radical in its substance - and we're all richer for it. Dissent

Oliver Sacks, on science:

Read the rest.

Humankind

The power of waste

Meet Yuyun Ismawati, a 58 year old environmental engineer in Indonesia who helps local communities create and manage sanitation projects to improve their health, environment, and economy.

Yuyun was born in Bandung with an innate mission to make the world better. Her father was a high-ranking military official, and the family moved from posting to posting, inspiring in Yuyun a love of travel and an understanding of the world well beyond her years. After graduating university with an environmental engineering degree, she worked in the private sector, designing rural and city water supply systems but was frustrated that the projects failed to help the communities who needed them most.

By the mid-90s, inadequate waste management had resulted in critical environmental damage around Indonesia, especially in peak tourist areas where the speed and rate of government collection services were no match for the mountains of waste. In 1996 Yuyun moved to Bali and redirected her engineering expertise into helping communities create their own waste solutions. Partnering with a fledgling hotel waste company, Yuyun developed the island’s first sustainable waste and recycling organisation that reduced landfill at dump sites by 70% and employed hundreds of locals.

In June 2000, Yuyun founded BaliFokus (now Nexus3) and developed SANIMAS, a community-driven sanitation program that allowed her to replicate her Bali success across Indonesia. Yuyun's programs encourage locals to reimagine waste as a way to improve their local environment and boost their economy. Villages now use recycled materials to create traditional handicrafts for the tourist market,  compost is collected and distributed among farmers and local housewives are trained in easy-to-learn daily practices of waste separation and composting.

For the past 20 years, Yuyan has worked tirelessly to campaign for new environmental legislation for her country and has expanded her mission into helping communities stop the spread of toxic substances from burning wastes, pesticides, and heavy metals such as mercury. She believes the ultimate job of every government and organisation is to empower people to create and manage their own solutions.

Despite the hardship and poverty, I’ve seen people’s behaviour and confidence improve after becoming involved in our programs. When people are empowered and trusted to help themselves, they will succeed.

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