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That has allowed forests to become four to seven times more densely wooded than they once were, Safford said. Fire scientists advocate more deliberate burning at low-to-moderate severity to clear vegetation that makes forests susceptible to big fires. Susan Britting, executive director of one of the groups, Sierra Forest Legacy, acknowledged any cutting triggers skepticism because loggers historically took the largest, most marketable trees. But she said thinning trees up to a certain diameter is acceptable, though she prefers prescribed burning. Homeowners are anxious prescribed fires will jump perimeters and destroy houses.

Persons: ” Hugh Safford, Davis, John Muir, What’s, Safford, “ We're, ”, Brandon Collins, Chad Hanson, there's, Hanson, Christy Brigham, ” John Muir, Jeffrey, “ John Muir, ” Safford, gesturing, “, it's, Weeks, Susan Britting, ” Britting, John Muir Project's Hanson, Safford —, that's, what’s Organizations: University of California, Eldorado National, Sierra, U.S ., American Geophysical Union, John Muir Project, Earth Island Institute, Sequoia, National Parks, National Park Service, U.S . Forest Service, Service, Forest Service, Infrastructure Law, Sierra Forest Locations: Calif, Lake, Eldorado, Sierra Nevada, U.S, California, . California, Yosemite, Sequoia, Canyon, —, Berkeley, Lake Tahoe, Safford, New, Sierra

☆ Fresh look at Ötzi the Iceman reveals his true appearance and other surprises
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Viking arrows, an Iron Age tunic and prehistoric wooden skis are some of the artifacts recovered from melting ice patches. This week, learn more about Ötzi the Iceman, a scientific celebrity. A long time agoA 2016 reconstruction of Ötzi the Iceman is shown on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy. South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/OchsenreiterHikers found the mummified body of Ötzi in a gully high in the Italian Alps in 1991. Now, a new analysis of DNA extracted from Ötzi’s pelvis has revealed fresh details, including his true appearance — and it’s not what scientists first thought.

Persons: Edgar Lehr, Harrison Ford, —, Lehr, Ford, Indiana Jones, Samuel Peralta, Cornelia Sattler, NASA’s James Webb, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, NASA, Illinois Wesleyan University, BMC, National Museum Wales, NASA’s James Webb Space, CNN Space, Science Locations: Bolzano, Italy, Tyrol, Italian, deadwood, New York, Alabama

☆ BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition 2023 reveals nature's more obscure side
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Issy Ronald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A photo of a bright orange fungus growing on deadwood, with its striking color resplendent against the darkness, has been crowned winner of this year’s BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition. The image competition showcases the “intersection between art and science,” organizers said, in all its weird and wonderful forms. An image depicting an embryonic dinosaur developing within an egg between 72 million and 66 million years ago won the Paleoecology category. It was submitted by Jordan Mallon from the Candian Museum of Nature and created by Wenyu Ren from Beijing, China. A selection of the winning and runner-up images can be viewed in the gallery above.

Persons: Cornelia Sattler, palaeontologists, Roberto García, João Araújo, Victor Huertas, Jordan Mallon, Wenyu Ren Organizations: CNN, BMC, Macquarie University, University of Lund, New, Botanical Garden, James Cook University, Australia, Coral, Candian Museum of Nature Locations: deadwood, Australia, Roa, Sweden, Guinea, Beijing, China

☆ EQT’s India IVF buyout hits on fertile themes
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, Aug 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Private equity giant EQT (EQTAB.ST) is buying a majority stake in the country’s largest fertility clinic chain Indira IVF via its Asian unit BPEA EQT, valuing the firm at $1.1 billion. Indira IVF serves some of the 15% of Indian couples experiencing infertility, a problem on the rise in the world’s most populous country as people marry later and air pollution stifles the ability to conceive naturally. EQT’s deal also is another bet on the changing demands of the South Asian nation’s middle class. Thanks to the gradual maturing of the private equity business, both purchases come with the added benefit of the buyer taking control. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Indira, EQT’s, Shritama Bose, Steve Cohen, ’, Una Galani, Aditya Munjuluru Organizations: Reuters, Blackstone, HDFC, Twitter, Sequoia, Walmart, Thomson Locations: MUMBAI, Temasek

☆ Japan market rally fails to mask Nomura’s woes
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It also powered a near-fivefold increase in pre-tax earnings at the bank’s retail unit from the same period last year. Nomura’s own stock has also benefitted, though its 20% rise this year to a two-year high lags the broader market. And the rally did nothing to fix the abysmal underperformance at its mainstay wholesale division. Revenue at the unit that comprises the volatile investment banking and trading businesses fell 4% to 191 billion yen ($1.3 billion). They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Nomura, Morgan Stanley, Kentaro Okuda, Steve Cohen, Antony Currie, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Revenue, Global, Twitter, Sequoia, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, India

☆ BP appeal requires more than short-term sweeteners
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Bernard Looney is throwing cash at BP’s (BP.L) shortcomings. In the three months to the end of June the $109 billion European oil major missed expectations by a wide margin, with net income falling 70% to $2.6 billion year-on-year. Wael Sawan, his counterpart at rival Shell (SHEL.L) who only took the helm this year, has refocused his company on “molecules” – from oil and gas to low-carbon hydrogen and biofuels. But Shell has done better, and Bernstein analysts recently estimated BP was trading at a yawning 87% discount to the sum of its parts. The risk for Looney is that if investors want to own one European oil major, it won’t be his.

Persons: Bernard Looney, Looney, Wael Sawan, Shell, Bernstein, won’t, Yawen Chen, Steve Cohen, ’, George Hay, Pranav Kiran Organizations: Reuters, Shell, outperforming, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP, Twitter, Sequoia, Thomson Locations: outperforming U.S, India

☆ Aston Martin flips from cash-guzzler to carmaker
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Aston Martin Lagonda (AML.L) is making a painful transition from cash-guzzler to viable carmaker. A 216 million pound cash call on Monday brings its total capital raised since 2018 to just under 1.8 billion pounds. By this year, Aston Martin will have grown revenue by 13% per annum since 2019, according to Refinitiv data, thanks to new models like the DB12 and higher prices. Aston’s current enterprise value is just under 2 times forecast 2024 sales, a discount to Porsche, and far below Ferrari’s (RACE.MI) more than 8 times multiple. Yet Aston still needs to show it can make an electric vehicle, with the first due in 2025.

Persons: Aston Martin Lagonda, James Bond, Lawrence Stroll’s, Aston Martin, Aston, Neil Unmack, Steve Cohen, Liam Proud, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Public Investment Fund, Porsche AG, Porsche, Twitter, Sequoia, Thomson Locations: Japan, India

☆ Sequoia picks the right moment to ditch deadwood
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The $85 billion venture firm downsized the commitments it expects its investors to make to vehicles targeting cryptocurrency and its own peers, the Wall Street Journal reported. With those investors, known as limited partners, now less pressed to flee private markets, it’s a smart time for Sequoia to help them shift into more promising opportunities. As last year's downturn tanked their public investments, LPs found themselves relatively overinvested in still-highly-valued private markets, forcing them to pull back from the likes of venture funds. As public markets recover – the S&P 500 Index (.SPX) is up almost 20% this year – this “denominator effect” is fading, a Capstone Partners survey suggests. And with LPs once again keen on private markets, they may be more likely to stick around, despite Sequoia’s self-admitted mistakes on investments like now-bankrupt FTX.

Persons: Sequoia’s, Anita Ramaswamy, ’, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam Organizations: YORK, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Capstone Partners, Twitter, Walmart, BT boss’s, Thomson Locations: Sequoia

☆ Even with alpha strikeout, Steve Cohen scores
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, July 31 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Hedge fund mastermind Steve Cohen is best known for his savvy trades, but it doesn’t take an investing whizz to make money in baseball. His New York Mets are one of the worst teams in the league despite a record-setting $364 million payroll. Cohen bought full ownership of the club in 2020 for $2.4 billion and spent lavishly on the roster. Even so, the Mets are already worth $500 million more than Cohen paid, according to Forbes, a nice uplift for substandard performance. Dan Snyder just sold his woeful Washington Commanders for $6 billion; Snyder paid $800 million for the team and its stadium in 1999.

Persons: Steve Cohen, Cohen, Max Scherzer, Dan Snyder, Snyder, Michael Jordan, Jennifer Saba, ’, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam Organizations: YORK, Reuters, New York Mets, Mets, Forbes, SAC Capital Advisors, Charlotte Hornets, Twitter, Sequoia, Walmart, BT boss’s, Thomson

☆ Meet 3 couples who bought luxury RVs after selling their homes to gain freedom
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

They sold their home in 2018 and have been living in a Newmar Ventana luxury RV since then. The Roberts sometimes stay at luxury RV resorts that have amenities like a swimming pool, golf course and outdoor areas to relax. Joel and Deb BrettingenJoel and Deb Brettingen, from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, have been living in a luxury RV full-time for nine months after selling their home of 20 years. Joe and Sharon CarmichaelJoe and Sharon Carmichael in front of their RV with their granddaughter who comes to visit. Joe and Sharon CarmichaelJoe and Sharon Carmichael hit the road in their new motorhome after selling their house in 2015.

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