Discovery of former oceans on Venus ● We may be running out of ozone faster than we thought ● Ecuador will release 100,000 sterile mosquitoes to the Galapagos

Discovery of former oceans on Venus

In 2021, the renowned journal Nature announced that one of the most important aspects we have learned about Venus, namely that it has oceans and can support life, is not true. In fact, Venus would have been Earth’s evil sister from the beginning, waterless and incompatible with life as we know it.

Not true, comrades! In fact, there would have been oceans here, even much earlier than anyone imagined. More precisely, early in our solar system, when the amount of solar radiation was about 30% less than today, Venus would have had moderate surface temperatures, a decent atmosphere, and even liquid water.

Why did I mention companions? Well, they were also there with hypotheses (comrades from the Soviet Union) when they launched the Venus missions in the 60s. In fact, it is as if we are returning to the place where we left off.

There would still be a difference. A current study published in PNAS by a team of researchers at the University of Chicago tells us that the “habitable” period in the history of the planet Venus lasted until about 3 billion years ago. Oceans existed for a while, until about 700 million years ago. And that means that, given that life on Earth originated about 4 billion years ago, Venus could have had life at the microbial level around the same time. As I said, basically what was suspected in the 60s.

We may be running out of ozone faster than we thought

When we also said that the problem of the ozone layer is solved and that we can focus on other pressing problems of the planet, we learn from the journal Nature that we rejoiced in vain. And not only did we rejoice prematurely, but the danger to the ozone layer is greater than ever.

By 2019, the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica had reached its minimum level. The most important factor was the Montreal Agreement (1987), which ratified the cessation of production of ozone-depleting substances. Especially chlorofluorocarbons. NASA even calculated that at this rate the hole would disappear by 2050, at the latest by 2070, as if it never happened.

The fact is that in 2021, NASA measurements showed that the trend went in the opposite direction, and the hole over Antarctica grew by about 2.5 million square kilometers. In short, by 10% compared to last year.

When they began to analyze what happened, scientists came across a fact that could not be overlooked. Namely, that there is a close connection between the four largest wildfires in the history of the profiles (all of them occurring in recent years) and the problems of the ozone hole.

After the fires in Siberia in 2003 (the largest in history), Australia in 2019-2020 approached similar values. If we also look at the research that shows that smoke released into the atmosphere creates a domino effect that leads to the depletion of the ozone layer, we have the complete equation.

And this news is not suitable at all in conditions when the declared heat will break new records. By default, they start new large-scale forest fires. And here you really don’t know what else you can do, because it’s not like it’s a once-and-for-all event. no They will happen more and more often, and the ozone layer does not have much time to recover.

Ecuador will release 100,000 sterile mosquitoes to the Galapagos

Honestly, we really can’t imagine anyone counting those mosquitoes to the decimal point to see that there were exactly one hundred thousand of them. But the important thing is that there are a number of them, and they will be released on the Galapagos, according to the Ecuadorian authorities

Why do Ecuadorians do this? As already mentioned, we are talking about mosquitoes of the genus Aedes aegypti, which were irradiated and sterilized. Therefore, they can no longer produce offspring. And this will significantly reduce the number of those that already exist, as their natural cycle ends.

The idea is that Ecuadorian officials want, first of all, to reduce the number of cases of dengue fever, transmission of the Zika or Chikungunya viruses, which have increased significantly in recent years. And since the Galapagos is a major tourist destination, the risk of infection was high.

The measure was proposed after it was found that pesticides are doing more harm than good to the ecosystem there. That is why the Ecuadorians did it in the last six years. Mosquitoes were caught, sterilized, and now Trojan horses are being released into the wild. How it will work, they will let us know.

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