this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2023
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110
In a world of conflict news stories are often overshadowed by breaking news. What’s a recent news story, good or bad, you feel went under the radar? (feddit.dk)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 65 points 10 months ago (5 children)

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/germany-climate-seagrass/

People restoring sea grass to the Baltic Sea.

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2023/08/the-serial-killer-and-the-texas-mom-who-stopped-him

This woman stopped a serial killer.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/28/plastic-eating-bacteria-enzyme-recycling-waste

Plastic eating bacteria could change the world.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-28/quoll-thought-extinct-found-south-australia/102911364

An animal called a quoll thought to be extinct for 130 years has been rediscovered.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Since 2021, a French company named Carbios has been running an operation that uses a bacterial enzyme to process about 250kg of PET plastic waste every day, breaking it down into its precursor molecules, which can then be made directly into new plastic. It’s not quite composting it back into the earth itself, but Carbios has achieved the holy grail of plastic recycling, bringing it much closer to an infinitely recyclable material like glass or aluminium.

That’s a significant step forward from when the last time I read up on the plastic eating bacteria. Granted, I’d prefer it if it was recycled into something other than more plastic… but I’ll still take it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I think it's highly likely there's a catch, like you have to grow 250 tons of bacteria. Usually there is with amazing advances which get a news story but not a lot of reaction from other academics.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They’re still in the process of genetically engineering the bacteria, so their efficiency is still a work in progress.

There’s also the issue that economies of scale tip heavily in plastics direction,

It’s not a carbon neutral process. There’s significant both heating and cooling involved.

And, it doesn’t really solve the issue of retiring plastics.

The last update I read on the bacteria, prior to the genetic engineering, mentioned that the bacteria didn’t actually like the plastic and would only really break it down for want of something more practical. Presumably that has been solved, but I didn’t see it brought up in the article.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Well, how would we change it from plastic into something else?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

The article explains that they use the bacteria to basically break down the plastic into two solutions, which they ultimately recombine into plastic—seemingly out of lack of any other practical use for the results.

I’m not a scientist, I don’t know what could be a better use for the results of the bacteria doing their job. And seemingly, neither do the scientists, but it’s still a very young project in the grand scheme of things.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Nice! As a follow up, is there a good app/source to get more positive articles Ike this regularly?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Also enjoy this article on drive in sex boxes in Zurich, giving a new meaning to public spaces: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/aug/26/zurich-drive-in-garages-prostitutes

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I tend to read Metafilter (https://www.metafilter.com/), it's not all good news but it's a weblog of really interesting content.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That Vanity Fair story is one of the craziest things I’ve ever read, thanks for sharing!

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

The quoll species in question (it is a small doglike marsupial, a carnivore, and very cute) was known to be alive and well in Queensland (a state to the north) and was only extinct in South Australia. It seems to have spread back to the southern state.

There are other species of quoll.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh ok sorry. Still interesting though!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Yes, very. Did the rounds for a week or more here in Oz. Interesting that it hit the world news though. It's just another native cat, to most Aussies.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 10 months ago (2 children)

The death of all the coral in Florida.

It was front-page news where I live a few days ago but not a blip of it could be seen anywhere else.

It’s easily the most important news of the past two months and will negatively affect life on the planet anywhere but fuck all if humans outside of a local area could bring themselves to give a shit.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 months ago

I hate to inform you that corals are dieing all around the world, not just in Florida.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Fellow Floridian here. I hope we can get someone better after DeSantis' term limit is up. We live in one of the most climate change prone regions and a region where environmental changes mean a great deal.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 10 months ago (1 children)

A police officer drover over and killed an Indian student in Seattle, and when he found out, he laughed about it. He did apologize later but the system that led to it is still in place. Hate the game.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

I hate it when it happens with terrible news, but... I lost the game.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Millennials, Gen Z committing fewer violent crimes than previous generations of youth

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Probably due to the absence of lead that the previous generation got due to leaded gas emissions.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I mean we're not bothered to do anything nowadays. Not even bothered to commit crime. Why kill people irl which would lead to court and having to defend yourself and whatnog when you can just chill and do it in a video game with no consequence?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's a french news but in Rouen an empty appartement building full of asbestos burnt to the ground some days ago but due to the Hamas attack on Israel no news outlets talks about it anymore.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Is burning asbestos bad for you? I think it's about breathing in the small parts of it, not toxic fumes.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Asbestos doesn't burn(it's the biggest reason of why it was used everywhere) but the falling asbestos will break and create dust/particles that will propagates in the air and will go further and faster due to hot air being lighter thus creating updraft.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Baltimore schools are some of the most publicaly-funded in America. And yet, in 23 schools, 0 students passed a math proficiency test. ZERO. There were 10 high schools, 8 elementary schools, three middle/high schools, and 2 elementary/middle schools.

The news broke when a father raised the alarm. His daughter graduated high school with honors and was accepted in a military college. When she started classes, it became very apparent that she was not anywhere near ready to begin those classes and was put on academic leave. Turns out, instead of funding programs to get students up to speed, these schools just kept lowering standards for graduation, so that more students could pass, inflating graduation numbers.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

Damn, that’s infuriatingly sad and scary.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I have the feeling we should talk more about bio char. Seams like a feasible improvement for three very different problem mankind faces right now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Can you expand on that or provide some resources to learn about biochar. I've never really heard about it before.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Okay, in some ways bio char itself is like the regular charcoal we know from BBQs and the manufacturing process can be quite similar. But like most things, it's a very complex topic, therefore, I'll only give a very rough overview for now but I’ll also share some links to further information 👍 • While charcoal is mostly made from valuable wood, bio char can be made from every form of biomass, meaning it can be made from every form of biomass waste.
• During the manufacturing process, the chemical carbon in the biomass is put into a form that is stable for several thousand years, so unless the bio char is burned again it can’t reenter the atmosphere. • Each ton of bio char produced using plant based waste is equivalent to 2.6 tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide captured by those plants. • The manufacturing process generates a small amount of base-load energy which can be, depending on the size of the facility, enough for several hundreds of households. • The end product can be used to revitalize the extremely degraded soils we're fighting in industrial agriculture right now.

Tl:dr we (indirectly) take something very bad from the atmosphere, generate useful energy with it and then store it within our dead soils to revitalize it.

It is not THE solution but I think it’s a feasible improvement.

I’m happy to answer more questions... here are some links ✌️

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/biochar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Ethan Liming.

Was a kid in Akron Ohio who was driving around with black friends.

They drove past a group of black kids playing basketball, and one of his friends shot them with a bright orange water gel blaster.

Ethan ended up being brutally murdered (the only one), fractured skull, bootprints on his chest, then the group stole their car and took it on a joy ride to prevent him being taken to the hospital.

They were just found not guilty.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What did being black have anything to do with this story?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like they’re claiming race was a motive in his beating, but I don't know enough about this story to weigh in.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Seems like shooting at people from a moving vehicle was the motive. Story stays the same w race going unmentioned.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

OP sounds like they may be pushing a narrative, but if it’s true that the white kid that died did not shoot the gel gun and was the only one in the car to be beaten then it is possible race was a factor in the crime. I’m still highly skeptical and I don’t have the time right now to delve into this to get a full understanding so I’ll just leave it at that.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I don't know the story but it kind of strains credulity the way OP told it. A bunch of black kids that did this would have the book thrown at them in America, and probably become a racially-tinged campaign story for the AG's re-election campaign.

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[–] ZzyzxRoad 2 points 10 months ago

It's almost like you'd have to try to get it this wrong.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Spanish princess is in the military academy now and today at the national day parade she was wearing her uniform. It would be front page news if not for the war.

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