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Plastic Waste In The Oceans

    In the last few years there has been more and more evidence that plastic pollution in our oceans is becoming a massive problem. Large pieces of plastic which end up in the sea can entangle marine animals or can also suffocate them.

    Tiny pieces of plastic — broken down by the action of water and the sun — cause harm by entering the marine food chain. If the animals eat plastic it will make them feel artificially full so that they do not eat and they starve to death. Furthermore, when fish have eaten plastic it becomes part of their body; if we then eat that fish our food contains plastic — we are eating our own plastic waste.

Infographic

(www.reducereuserecycle.co.uk. Adaptado.)

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    They power tiny phones and two-tonne electric cars. They form the guts of a growing number of grid-storage systems1 that smooth the flow of electricity from wind and solar power stations. Without them, the electrification needed to avoid the worst effects of global warming would be unimaginable.

    But lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have downsides. Lithium is scarce, for one. And the best Li-ion batteries, those with layered-oxide cathodes, also require cobalt and nickel. These metals are scarce, too — and cobalt is also problematic because a lot of it is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where working conditions leave much to be desired. A second sort of Li-ion battery, a so-called polyanionic design that uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP), does not need nickel or cobalt. However, such batteries cannot store as much energy per kilogram as layered-oxide ones.

    A group of companies, though, think they have an alternative: making batteries with sodium instead. Unlike lithium, sodium is abundant: it makes up most of the salt in the oceans. And chemists have found that layered-oxide cathodes which use sodium rather than lithium can get by without cobalt or nickel to increase their quality. The idea of making sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries at scale is therefore gaining traction. Engineers are adjusting designs. Factories, particularly in China, are springing up. For the first time since the Li-ion revolution began, lithium’s place on the electrochemical pedestal is being challenged.

(www.economist.com, 25.10.2023. Adaptado.)

¹grid-storage system: sistema de armazenamento de energia elétrica.

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THE FIVE DOMAINS FOR ANIMAL WELFARE

Did you know that your pets have different welfare needs? The Five Domains Model will help you make sure your pets are healthy and happy

Fonte: FOUR PAWS. The five domains for animal welfare. África do Sul, 11 jul. 2020. Disponível em: https://www. four-paws.org.za/our-stories/publications-guides/five-domainsanimal-welfare. Acesso em: 02 out. 2023. (Adaptado)

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The great global baby bust is under way

    Across the world, birth rates are declining more rapidly than expected. That worries retired people and policymakers. In 2010, there were 98 nations and territories with fertility rates below 2.1 (known as the replacement rate) according to the United Nations. In 2021, that number had risen to 124, or more than half the countries for which data were available. The world’s 15 largest economies all have fertility rates below the replacement rate.

    As the proportion of children declines, average ages rise, particularly as old people live longer (though the rise in longevity has slowed in recent years: in Britain lifespans are flatlining and in America they are falling). Some long-running demographic trends are changing, too. Educated women have for decades tended to have fewer children. Nevertheless, fertility among the less educated is now falling.

China, population aged 21-30

    All of this poses a huge economic challenge. In parts of the world where birth rates were already low, the shortfall of young employees, who are needed to subsidise the retired, will be felt intensely. In China, the number of workers aged between 21 and 30 has already declined from 232 million in 2012, to 181 million in 2021. By the mid-2050s the United Nations forecasts there will be fewer than 100 million (see chart). China’s one-child — and later two-child — policy has contributed to the country’s decline in young workers. Recent history has shown that it is much more difficult to raise fertility levels than it is to crush them in the first place.

(www.economist.com, 14.06.2023. Adaptado.)

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When one of the most important e-mail messages of his life landed in his in-box a few years ago, Kord Campbell overlooked it.

By
MATT RICHTEL

SAN FRANCISCO — When one of the most important e-mail messages of his life landed in his in-box a few years ago, Kord Campbell overlooked it.

Not just for a day or two, but 12 days. He finally saw it while sifting through old messages: A big company wanted to buy his Internet start-up.

The message had slipped by him amid an electronic flood: two computer screens alive with e-mail, instant messages, online chats, a Web browser and the computer code he was writing.

While he managed to salvage the $1.3 million deal after apologizing to his suitor, Campbell continues to struggle with the effects of the deluge of data. Even after he unplugs, he craves the stimulation he gets from his electronic gadgets. He forgets things like dinner plans, and he has trouble focusing on his family.

His wife, Brenda, complains, “It seems like he can no longer be fully in the moment.” This is your brain on computers.

Disponível em: https://www.seattletimes.com/. Acesso em: 14 ago. 2023. (Adaptado).