Six countries pollute the oceans more than all the rest combined ● One species of salamander can regenerate its brain ● Norway is building the first “cemetery” for carbon dioxide ● A sensational blow to genetics! We have the genome of an ancient watermelon

Six countries pollute the oceans more than all the rest combined

In recent years, you are used to reading about the USA and China as the biggest polluters of the planet. Well, that’s not quite the case. At least when it comes to polluting the oceans and dumping plastic waste there, you shouldn’t, another country takes the unwanted first place.

Dutch researchers from the University of Wageningen, who are assisted by volunteers from the environmental organization Ocean Cleanup, tell about it. The latter are also from Holland. These people collected samples of fixed plastic from a huge garbage island that stretches for millions of square kilometers in the Pacific Ocean. More than 6,000 samples were analyzed to see where they came from.

It found that 33.6% came from Japan, 32.3% from China and 9.9% from South Korea. It is followed by the USA with 6.5%, Taiwan with 5.6% and Canada with 4.7%. Together, the mentioned countries are responsible for more than 92% of the garbage in the oceans. What is even more interesting is that ten times more plastic waste enters the oceans from fishing than from large urban settlements.

This is very good. I mean, it’s bad that they dump plastic and other crap into the oceans. Good thing I identified them. It remains to be seen whether any measures will be taken, whether these people will suffer somewhere from the measures taken. Of course, but so far they do not understand why these statistics affected them.

One species of salamander can regenerate its brain

You’ve heard of those salamanders that can regenerate their lost limbs. A researcher comes, cuts off a paw, a leg, because that’s what he does, and, ugh, they have a new one in place of the lost limb in a few weeks. You know from us that these salamanders are lovers. Actually, not really from us, because we don’t torture amphibians, but from a study recently published in the journal Science by an international group of salamander specialists.

These scientists discovered that a certain species of salamander, Ambystoma mexicanum by its scientific name, or axolotl as it is known to Mexicans (that’s where it lives), can even regenerate its brain if part of it disappears for various reasons. And not only the brain, but also the spinal cord, heart, etc. Please, this has been known since 1964, it’s not exactly new.

We’ll look at the reasons why researchers continue to cut out the brain, spine, or heart of these salamanders from then until today. Importantly, they also discovered how the entire regeneration process works. More precisely, which genes are responsible for all this and how certain cells turn into neurons.

It takes about 12 weeks for the entire brain to regenerate, and rest assured, researchers say it works better than before. It remains to be seen how I can apply the strategy to people, because that’s really what skepticism is all about.

Norway is building the first “cemetery” for carbon dioxide

The Norwegians seem intent on solving the carbon dioxide problem once and for all. To do this, they decided to build a huge underground storage, where they will pump liquefied carbon dioxide, which is produced as a result of industrial activity in Europe. It sounds good, but you will find that it is not.

It takes place on the island of Oigarden, and the warehouse is not only for companies in Norway, but for all companies interested in reducing pollution in this way. The idea is not entirely new. There are already several dozen such deposits all over the planet, and they are still only profitable. For example, the Americans just closed a similar initiative in Petra Nova, Texas, on the grounds that it was not profitable.

The Norwegians have already signed contracts with the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium to build pipelines to send liquefied carbon dioxide there. They will then pump it 2,600 meters below sea level, which they estimate will amount to about 6 million tons a year. Considering that the EU alone emits about 3.7 billion tons annually, the initiative of the Norwegians seems like a drop in the ocean. But this is only the beginning.

The well-known organization Greenpeace has already openly opposed the project and claims that, in fact, such actions only encourage the use of fossil fuels. Environmentalists say that instead of investing more than 1.7 billion euros in such cemeteries, it would be better to invest them in the development of eco-technologies. In conclusion, do not be happy that a solution has not been found. It’s far away.

A sensational blow to genetics! We have the genome of an ancient watermelon

A recent study published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution by a joint team of British and German geneticists claims to have identified the genome of an ancient watermelon for the first time using approximately 6,000-year-old seeds found in Libya.

How useful it is for us is not known for sure, especially since no one yet knows how the transition from the bitter melons of that time to the sweet ones of today took place. Please, today’s are also not as sweet as they used to be, but that’s another matter of genetics. Going back to the genome, it’s good to have one because you never know when you’ll need it.

The idea is that melons were first eaten in North Africa, where they originated. At first they were bitter and only ate the seeds, remember this ancient practice as you never know when you will return to it. More precisely, those melons, Citrullus mucosospermus by their name, were impossible to eat, because they leavened the soul, as the name says. Therefore, only seeds were used, especially in all kinds of soups and stews.

The Egyptians, educated people, managed to domesticate melons and obtain ever sweeter varieties. as? Not known. This is what the mentioned geneticists are trying to find out. We hope that when they find out, they will also tell our sellers. Of course, but someone noticed that we have already passed the third evolutionary stage of melon development, in which we managed to successfully achieve the taste of crepe cardboard.