Micro- and nano-scopic sized pieces of plastic people use everyday can eventually find its way into the most unlikely of places, even in the plaque of clogged arteries of cardiac patients, a recent study found.

"If microplastics might be promoting coronary disease, you might not be able to avoid ingesting the microplastics, because they're everywhere, but you can sure do the other things. You can keep your blood pressure low. You can exercise. You can get your cholesterol measured," Gerber said.

"Overall, the report is full of bad news that is good news."

At least, that's one of the findings from the 2024 Space Environment Report published by the European Space Agency (ESA) on July 23. The report offers an accounting of satellites and debris accumulating in Earth's orbit. ESA's latest report, which has been published annually since 2017, is like a census for space activities and shows how bad the problem is becoming. According to its data, there are more than 35,000 objects being tracked by surveillance networks, with approximately 26,000 being pieces of debris larger than 4 inches in size.

The report suggests that despite an improved effort to mitigate this massive amount of space debris, the junk has continued to pile up. So much so, in fact, that we are creating "an unsustainable environment in the long-term," the report says.

Just this week, SpaceX revealed the 6,200 satellites in its Starlink megaconstellation have had to make almost 50,000 collision-avoidance manuevers over the past year, dodging junk and debris in low-Earth orbit. The company also had an on-Earth near-miss in May, after debris from one of its Crew Dragon spacecraft landed throughout the mountains of North Carolina, including on private residences.

The Cass Review - Final Report - Key points & download

Some info on the Cass Report can be found here:

• The Cass Report: Anti-science and Anti-trans || video 14 min || text + link

This is Part Two of a two-part story. Find Part One here.

Key Ideas

• As climate change accelerates, some scientists are calling for more field research into solar geoengineering concepts. However, these ideas are running into opposition from other researchers, some governments and the public.

• A series of recent setbacks has put solar geoengineering research on the back foot, attempting to figure out a way to navigate the opposition.

• Proponents of field research say it would help humanity better understand the potential and problems with solar geoengineering, while opponents argue that there are too many risks and it could take our eye off the ball: cutting carbon emissions.

• The debate has spilled into the international arena, pitting nations that support greater research against those that would like to see a solar geoengineering non-use agreement.

A combined team of Earth scientists and climate specialists at the University of California San Diego and the National Center for Atmospheric Research has found via modeling that geoengineering projects such as marine cloud brightening can have unexpected and sometimes harmful consequences.

In their study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the group designed models to predict what might happen if large-scale marine cloud brightening projects were undertaken in two major regions in the western United States.

The researchers found that the artificial clouds would reduce temperatures in the western U.S., primarily California—reducing risk of dangerously high temperatures by as much as 55%. But they also found the same clouds would reduce rainfall amounts, both in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

The research team also found that if the MCB project continued to the year 2050, its benefits would taper off and heat waves in Europe would become much more common, showing that engineering projects can lead to unforeseen consequences in other parts of the world.

Welcome to the deep ocean. Commonly considered to be the waters below 200 meters (656 feet), the deep ocean is a place where it is dark, food is scarce, and temperatures and pressures are extreme. Life is hard here, but there’s a lot of it.

There’s no place like home, but what does home look like for creatures of the deep? The variety of habitats in the deep ocean is extraordinary. These habitats are radically different from those anywhere else on Earth, and they’re host to organisms that have adapted to survive harsh conditions that are unimaginable to those of us on land.

Seamounts and canyons, deep-sea corals and sponges, chemosynthetic features like hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, and the water column are just some examples of the features — both geological and biological — that provide habitat for the deep ocean’s wildly wonderful life forms.

In June 2024, in recognition of National Ocean Month and World Ocean Day, we shared information about these habitats and some of the creatures that call them home.

Signed by 827 marine science & policy experts from over 44 countries

Methane (CH4) is the second main greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2). However, while CO2 will persist in the atmosphere for centuries, methane reacts with other air molecules. The lifetime of methane in the atmosphere is approximately nine years, before it is consumed into CO2. CH4 molecules also have a much stronger warming potential than carbon dioxide: 84 times larger on a 20-year time scale. That's why reducing methane emissions can have immediate and relatively effective impact on our climate.

The European Union (EU) has recently voted unprecedented measures to reduce our emissions, but what is concerned by this law?

What emits methane?

In Europe, emissions are mainly from agriculture (38% in 2022, JRC 2023), through the digestive system of ruminants. (...)

A significant part (globally 30% in 2017 Saunois et al., 2020) of anthropogenic emissions, meaning from human activities, comes from the fossil fuel industry. (...)

In Europe, the majority of methane emissions caused by the fossil fuel industry is from leaks.

Things are starting to change

In 2020, the European Commission announced the creation of the international methane emissions observatory (IMEO). Then, in November 2023, came a series of measures designed to tackle methane emissions from the fossil fuel industry, as part of the "European Green Deal," and passed by a majority vote on 10 April 2024.

A groups that monitors settlements in the West Bank says Israel has budgeted millions of dollars to protect and support the growth of small, unofficial Jewish farms in the Israeli-occupied territory

Documents uncovered by Peace Now illustrate how Israel’s pro-settler government has quietly poured money into the unauthorized outposts, which are separate from its more than 100 officially recognized settlements.

Palestinians and the international community say all settlements are illegal or illegitimate and undermine hopes for a two-state solution.

The Ministry of Settlements and National Mission, which is headed by a far-right settler leader, confirmed it budgeted 75 million shekels ($20.5 million) last year for security equipment for “young settlements” — the term it uses for unauthorized Jewish farms and outposts in the West Bank. The money was quietly authorized in December while the country’s attention was focused on the war against Hamas in Gaza.

The group estimates approximately 500 people live on the small, unauthorized farms and 25,000 more live in larger outposts. Those outposts, while not officially authorized by the government, often receive tacit support before they are retroactively legalized.

On Friday, the top United Nations court said Israel’s presence in the Palestinian territories is unlawful and called for an immediate halt to settlement construction.

Netanyahu’s far-right government is dominated by West Bank settlers and pro-settler politicians.

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