Toxic: How the search for the origins of COVID-19 turned politically poisonous
22 April 2024 - The hunt for the origins of COVID-19 has gone dark in China, the victim of political infighting after a series of stalled and thwarted attempts to find the source of the virus that killed millions and paralyzed the world for months. The Chinese government froze meaningful domestic and international efforts to trace the virus from the first weeks of the outbreak, despite statements supporting open scientific inquiry, an Associated Press investigation found. That pattern continues to this day, with labs closed, collaborations shattered, foreign scientists forced out, and Chinese researchers barred from leaving the country. (more)

The world dumps 2,000 truckloads of plastic into the ocean each day. Here's where a lot of it ends up
22 April 2024 - The world produces around 400 million metric tons of plastic waste each year. Every day, 2,000 truckloads of it is dumped into the ocean, rivers, and lakes. Despite global efforts to give plastic products longer lives, only 9 percent of them are actually recycled. Most plastic waste goes into landfills or is shipped to places like Indonesia and other Southeast Asian nations, many of which are already drowning in their own plastic pollution. (more)

Which foods have the most plastics? You may be surprised
22 April 2024 - Ninety percent of animal and vegetable protein samples tested positive for microplastics, teeny polymer fragments that can range from less than 0.2 inch (5 millimeters) down to 1/25,000th of an inch (1 micrometer), according to a February 2024 study. ...Even vegetarians can't escape, according to a 2021 study. If the plastic is small enough, fruits and vegetables can absorb microplastics through their root systems and transfer those chemical bits to the plant's stems, leaves, seeds, and fruit. Salt can be packed with plastic. (more)

World faces 'deathly silence' of nature as wildlife disappears, warn experts
22 April 2024 - Loss of intensity and diversity of noises in ecosystems reflects an alarming decline in healthy biodiversity, say sound ecologists. (more)

FBI chief says Chinese hackers have infiltrated critical US infrastructure
21 April 2024 - Chinese government-linked hackers have burrowed into US critical infrastructure and are waiting 'for just the right moment to deal a devastating blow', the director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, has warned. An ongoing Chinese hacking campaign known as Volt Typhoon has successfully gained access to numerous American companies in telecommunications, energy, water, and other critical sectors, with 23 pipeline operators targeted, Wray said in a speech at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday [18 April]. (more)

Mutated strains of an unknown drug-resistant bacteria somehow got onto the International Space Station
21 April 2024 - The International Space Station (ISS) is home to crews of astronauts conducting research in low Earth orbit, but it also hosts a group of mutated bacteria that are thriving under the harsh conditions of space. (more)

A lake in Mexico's 'magical town' is disappearing. Authorities blame drought, and theft
20 April 2024 - Lake Patzcuaro in the western state of Michoacan has lost more than half its volume since authorities started tracking its falling water levels, according to a new report from CNN affiliate Televisa. The lake, which is part of a municipality that shares its name and is also known as the 'magical town,' is being affected by several 'environmental factors' and the 'illicit extraction of water,' according to Patzcuaro's local government. ...Experts told Televisa that deforestation in surrounding areas was also affecting the lake's water levels. (more)

Ocean spray emits more PFAS than industrial polluters, study finds
19 April 2024 - Ocean waves crashing on the world's shores emit more PFAS into the air than the world's industrial polluters, new research has found, raising concerns about environmental contamination and human exposure along coastlines. The study measured levels of PFAS released from the bubbles that burst when waves crash, spraying aerosols into the air. It found sea spray levels were hundreds of thousands times higher than levels in the water. (more)