a collaboration for good
New research is finding that tiny creatures with tiny brains can perform very complex activities that essentially are based on thinking, as opposed to actions that are based on instinct. Spiders, in other words, are smarter than you think. Spiders are much smarter than you think https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/mind/2021/are-spiders-intelligent Related Reading
Mexico’s new General Law on Adequate and Sustainable Nutrition emphasizes everyone’s right to food and is designed to make food available to everyone, but what does the law actually say? The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service studied it, and here’s what it found. Mexico’s bold new law on adequate and sustainable nutrition. https://www.foodpolitics.com/2024/08/what-im-reading-mexicos-new-nutrition-law/ Related Reading
People use lithium batteries for a virtually endless number of reasons, but one key component of lithium batteries is graphite, and therein lies a problem. Graphite is largely supplied by China, which gets almost 60 percent of its electricity from burning coal, which creates toxic pollution that can cause extreme weather events and harm plants, animals, the economy and our…
There is no question but that bees are crucially important to human survival, but although biologists are constantly finding new bee species all over the Pacific Northwest, it remains amazing how little we know about them. Here a Bee, There a Bee, Everywhere a Wild Bee https://hakaimagazine.com/features/here-a-bee-there-a-bee-everywhere-a-wild-bee/ Related Reading
Tenants have a legal right to have functional heating equipment in their homes in winters, but should they also have that right to cooling equipment in summers? Local governments nationwide are considering it, but laws demanding it remain relatively rare. This three-part series examines the prospects and problems. Cities assert tenants’ right to cooling in…
Maritime shipping, which uses 300 million tons of fuel every year, causes 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. To combat that, a state-owned company in China has built a 10,000-ton containership that is fully electric, and it recently put the ship into service. A fully-electric 10,000 ton container ship has begun service equipped with…
In 1954, 45 percent of Americans said they had smoked a cigarette within the last week. Today, 70 years later, 11 percent say they have. And the numbers continue to drop. Cigarette Smoking Rate in U.S. Ties 80-Year Low https://news.gallup.com/poll/648521/cigarette-smoking-rate-ties-year-low.aspx Related Reading
Most people would agree that education is a good thing, but what constitutes an adequate education. Eighth grade? High school? College degree? Just what is the government’s responsibility? And what is education for? It’s complicated. What Is Education For? https://www.bostonreview.net/forum/danielle-allen-what-is-education-for Related Reading
Zircons may be best known as a birthstone of December, but they also record time much like tree rings, can tell the origin stories of planets, perhaps discover precious minerals beneath the Earth’s surface, even infer when continents rose from the oceans. Indeed, without zircons we would know very little about the Earth. Keeping time…
It is abundantly clear that our current economic system is deepening the chasm between the haves and have nots. But a new economy is taking root that could remake our society with structures and systems that honor our humanity, invest in our collective healing and well-being, and help us transition toward a model of democratic…
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