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☆ Keystone pipeline break spilled diluted bitumen, complicating cleanup
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Rod Nickel | Mrinalika Roy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

(Reuters) -The oil spilled from TC Energy Corp’s ruptured Keystone pipeline was diluted bitumen, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Thursday, adding complications to the cleanup. REUTERS/Drone Base/File PhotoThe 622,000 barrels per day (bpd) pipeline was shut last week after it spilled 14,000 barrels of oil in rural Kansas, including into a creek. The parts of the pipeline carrying oil from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Illinois opened on Wednesday at reduced capacity. The Sierra Club, another environmental advocacy group, questioned why parts of the pipeline reopened before TC Energy had identified the leak’s cause. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, state and local agencies, TC Energy and TC Energy contractors, the agency said.

☆ China challenges US chip curbs at WTO, citing ‘trade protectionism’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

On October 7, the Biden administration unveiled a sweeping set of export controls that ban Chinese companies from buying advanced chips and chip-making equipment without a license. The commerce ministry blasted the US move as threatening global supply chain stability and called it “a typical practice of trade protectionism.” The complaint is the first action China has taken at the global trade body against the US chip sanctions. It also comes as the United States is looking to bolster its domestic chip manufacturing abilities, after chip shortages earlier in the pandemic highlighted the country’s dependence on imports from abroad. He called for both countries to boost cooperation in high-tech manufacturing and avoid “the politicization of economic and trade issues.”Chips are a growing source of tension between the United States and China. Before the October sanctions, the US government had already banned sales of certain tech products to specific Chinese companies, such as Huawei.

Put another way, more Black children in metro Phoenix will go through a child maltreatment investigation than won’t. Almost all described a system so omnipresent among Black families that it has created a kind of communitywide dread: of that next knock on the door, of that next warrantless search of their home. Many Black families first moved there as a result of redlining and racial covenants that blocked them from renting or owning property elsewhere. In Maricopa County, Black children experienced child welfare investigations at one of the highest rates among large counties nationally, and nearly three times the rate of their white peers, from 2015 to 2019. But throughout the country, investigations were more pervasive among Black families.

☆ Fact Check-Food products do not contain human fetal cells
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

There is no evidence that food products contain cells from aborted human fetuses as flavor enhancers, contrary to a social media claim that revives a related, previously-debunked charge about cells used in biomedical research. Research by Senomyx into the use of ‘HEK-293’ aborted human fetal cells as a flavor enhancer was published in Pubmed in 2002, after which several patents were filed by them. Reuters previously factchecked false claims that PepsiCo drinks contained aborted fetal cells. AN OLD CELL LINEThe controversial cell line is derived from fetal cells dating to the 1970s. There is no evidence that any food or beverage products contain cells from human fetuses or derived from fetuses.

And Wagner’s beloved fireflies – like so many insects worldwide – have largely vanished in what scientists are calling the global Insect Apocalypse. “Insects are the food that make all the birds and make all the fish,” said Wagner, who works at the University of Connecticut. Humans, too, see some 2,000 species of insects as food. “We’d see yields dropping of all of these crops.”And in nature, about 80% of wild plants rely on insects for pollination. WINNERS AND LOSERSWhile the situation is bleak for insects at large, a few types of insects are thriving.

☆ A new species of penguin-like diving dinosaur has been discovered
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Zoe Sottile | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A new study found evidence at least one species of dinosaur may have been an adept swimmer, diving into the water like a duck to hunt its prey. The study, published in Communications Biology on December 1, describes a newly-discovered species, Natovenator polydontus. Scientists from Seoul National University, the University of Alberta, and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences collaborated on the paper. The Natovenator specimen is very similar to Halszkaraptor, another dinosaur discovered in Mongolia, which scientists believe was likely semiaquatic. “There is a real question of, OK, you’ve got a swimming dinosaur in the desert, what’s it swimming in?” he said.

☆ A Penguin-Like Shape May Have Helped This Dinosaur Dive
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Kate Golembiewski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And then there are penguins, which plunge a quarter-mile deep into icy waters in search of food. It now seems that modern birds are not the only dinosaur group to embrace the plunge-and-prey lifestyle. A team of researchers say they have found the earliest example of an extinct dinosaur with a body that was streamlined for diving. They described the dinosaur discovery in the journal Communications Biology on Thursday. The new duck-size dinosaur was at first overlooked.

☆ ‘Living in despair and hopelessness’: A lack of affordable housing can put people’s health at risk
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Renuka Rayasam Fred Clasen-Kelly Kaiser Health News | Renuka Rayasam | Fred Clasen-Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

She suspected the gray and brown splotches spreading through the apartment were mold and had caused her son’s illness. A nationwide affordable housing crisis has wreaked havoc on the lives of low-income families, like Joseph’s, who are close to the brink. Housing instability — such as having trouble paying rent, living in crowded conditions, or moving frequently — can have negative consequences on health, according to the federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. And there is no county in the country where a minimum-wage worker could afford a two-bedroom rental home, according to an August report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. A few months after leaving the apartment, Joseph and her two children moved in with her sister in Orlando, Florida, with their remaining possessions — a car and some clothes.

☆ Factbox: What's known about the Russian volcano that may be about to erupt?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 21 (Reuters) - The Shiveluch volcano in Russia's far eastern Kamchatka peninsula may be gearing up for its first powerful eruption in 15 years, scientists say. It has become extremely active, threatening a powerful eruption, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team said on Sunday. "A growth of the lava dome continues, a strong fumaroles activity, an incandescence of the lava dome, explosions, and hot avalanches accompanies this process," the observatory said. The volcano's last most powerful eruption took place in 2007, according to NASA. This state of the dome is observed, as a rule, before a powerful paroxysmal eruption," he said.

☆ Russia's Shivulech volcano extremely active, threatens eruption, scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 20 (Reuters) - The Shiveluch volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East has become extremely active, threatening a powerful eruption, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team said on Sunday. "A growth of the lava dome continues, a strong fumaroles activity, an incandescence of the lava dome, explosions, and hot avalanches accompanies this process," the observatory said on its website. Hot avalanches with a temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius (1,832°F) roll down the slopes, pyroclastic flows descend. This state of the dome is observed, as a rule, before a powerful paroxysmal eruption." The volcano last most powerful eruption took place in 2007, according to NASA.

☆ Russia's Shivulech volcano extremely active, threatens eruption - scientists
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

☆ Opinion | Science Has a Nasty Photoshopping Problem
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Elisabeth Bik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +14 min

One evening in January 2014, I sat at my computer at home, sifting through scientific papers. Manipulated imagery in scientific papers can look ordinary at first glance. However, this ability, combined with my — what some might call obsessive — personality, helped me when hunting duplications in scientific images by eye. So when a scientist’s research shows a negative result, cheating can be tempting. Legitimate criticism of scientific research should receive legal protection.

☆ Fact Check-Nazi symbols in Warsaw were part of movie set for World War Two film
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Social media users are sharing images of Warsaw, Poland decorated with Nazi flags and swastikas, but the images are missing context. The images show the headquarters of the Polish Academy of Sciences, whose representatives told Reuters that the building and its immediate surroundings were turned into a movie set for a World War Two production. Photos of the Staszic Palace can be found on Google Maps (www.shorturl.at/nvMOU), showing a building that matches the one circulating on social media. More information on Skarbek, known as Christine Granville in England, and her work for the British Special Operations Executive during World War Two can be found (here). Nazi symbols in Warsaw were part of a movie set for a film about World War Two.

☆ 3 U.S.-based economists given Nobel Prize for work on banks
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

STOCKHOLM — This year’s Nobel Prize in economic sciences has been awarded to the former chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke, and two U.S.-based economists, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip H. Dybvig, “for research on banks and financial crises.”The prize was announced Monday by the Nobel panel at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Last year, half of the award went to David Card for his research on how the minimum wage, immigration and education affect the labor market. The Nobel Economics Prize was awarded to a US trio for their contributions on explaining the role of banks in the economy. French author Annie Ernaux won this year’s Nobel Prize in literature Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize went to jailed Belarus human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian group Memorial and the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties on Friday.

☆ Bernanke, Diamond, Dybvig share Nobel prize in economics
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

STOCKHOLM, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig won the 2022 Nobel Economics Prize "for research on banks and financial crises", the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday. The prize, formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel, is the last of this year's crop of Nobel awards and sees the winners share a sum of 10 million Swedish crowns ($883,954). ($1 = 11.3128 Swedish crowns)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Simon Johnson and Johan Ahlander, editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The econ Nobel offers a timely warning about central banks’ power
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN Business —The Nobel in economics is sort of the step-cousin of the Nobel family. Some scholars really dislike the economics prize, including one of Nobel’s own descendants, who dismissed it as a “PR coup by economists.”But hey, it still comes with a cash prize. In short, his work demonstrates that banks’ failures are often a cause, not merely a consequence, of financial crises. The Nobel committee has been known to play politics (see: that time Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after being in office for just eight months). And right now, it is using its spotlight to call attention to the high-stakes gamble playing out at central banks around the world, most notably the Fed.

☆ Bernanke bank-crisis Nobel requires markets sequel
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Rarely has an academic put theory into practice like Ben Bernanke. Yet the resulting era of tight bank regulation and ultra-low interest rates helped build up risks in financial markets which are only slowly becoming apparent. Bernanke’s research, and that of fellow laureates Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig, put lenders at the heart of the economy. In 2021, they accounted for about half of total global financial assets, compared with two-fifths for banks. Years of loose monetary policy, under Bernanke and his successors, have pushed many of these market players to take on more risk.

Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Tore Ellingsen, Hans Ellegren and John Hassler announce the 2022 Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences, during a news conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden October 10, 2022. The winners are Ben S. Bernanke (USA), Douglas W. Diamond (USA) and Philip H. Dybvig (USA). "Some households and some firms are already weakened," Gernot Doppelhofer, professor at the economics department of the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) said. The economics prize is not one of the original five awards created in the 1895 will of industrialist and dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel. It was established by Sweden's central bank and first awarded in 1969, its full and formal name being the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

☆ Nobel Prize in economics awarded to Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig for work on financial crises
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN Business —Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig were awarded the Nobel Prize in economics on Monday for their work on banks and financial crises. Bernanke, who led the US central bank during the 2008 global financial crisis, received the award for his research on the Great Depression. While Bernanke served as chair, the central bank pioneered a program of quantitative easing, buying up assets to help stimulate economic growth. The Nobel prize, officially known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, comes with an award of 10 million Swedish kronor ($885,370) to be split equally among the laureates. It was not instituted by Alfred Nobel, but established by Sweden’s central bank and awarded in memory of Nobel.

☆ Nobel economics prize awarded to U.S.-based economists including Bernanke for work on financial crises
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

U.S.-based economists Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig were awarded the Nobel prize in economic sciences for 2022 for their research on banks and financial crises. They added this was "invaluable" during the 2008-09 financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. The winners of the prize — officially called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel — receive 10 million Swedish krona ($883,000) to be split between them. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences select the winners from a list of candidates recommended by the Economic Sciences Prize Committee. He again cited the insurance sector in the U.K., when he said the "mismatch" came when there were calls for more collateral from insurance companies.

☆ Disdain and defiance among Kyiv residents after Putin order
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes an address on the conflict with Ukraine, in Moscow, Russia, in this still image taken from video released September 21, 2022. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"I still believe Putin isn't insane, there is some rationality in him. 'EMPTY WORDS'There was strong support among Kyiv residents for Ukraine's own armed forces, who helped by Western arms have been battling Russia's much bigger military for nearly seven months on several fronts and recaptured swathes of land in recent weeks. "I think we have to trust our armed forces and no one else. I believe in Ukraine's armed forces and hope that nothing bad will happen and that we will be defended.

☆ Scientists decry death by 1,000 cuts for world’s insects
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The world’s vital insect kingdom is undergoing “death by a thousand cuts,” the world’s top bug experts said. Wagner said scientists need to figure out if the rate of the insect loss is bigger than with other species. “There is some reason to worry more,” he added, “because they are the target of attack” with insecticides, herbicides and light pollution. Honeybees have been in dramatic decline because of disease, parasites, insecticides, herbicides and lack of food. Scientists have identified 1 million insect species, while probably 4 million more are still to be discovered, Berenbaum said.

According to a new study, there are estimated to be 2.5 million times more ants on this planet than people. In total, that's 20 quadrillion — or 20,000,000,000,000,000 — ants. Taken together, the total mass of ants on the planet would actually outweigh all of the world’s wild birds and mammals, he added. Jorge Villalba / Getty Images / iStockphotoAnts can be found in nearly all habitats except for polar regions, according to the study. A separate study published in April 2020 in the journal Science found that the planet has lost more than one-quarter of its land-dwelling insects in the past 30 years.

☆ Scientists calculated the global population of ants: there are 20 quadrillion, or 2.5 million per person
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Scientists have estimated the number of ants on earth, which is "unimaginable," a study author said. Per the study, there are 20 quadrillion ants on earth— 20 followed by 15 zeros. That's about 2.5 million ants per human. The astonishing number — 20,000,000,000,000,000 — means there would be about 2.5 million ants per single human living today. "We simply cannot imagine 20 quadrillion ants in one pile, for example.

No one knows what all the sperm whale codas mean, but they can have distinctive rhythms and tempos, known as “dialects,” Hersh said. They’ve now determined that there are at least seven distinct sperm whale “vocal clans” across the Pacific Ocean, each with their own identity codas, Hersh said. And the sperm whale clans may be thousands of years old. Beguš is part of Project CETI — the Cetacean Translation Initiative — which was established last year to decipher the sounds of sperm whales. “As the authors note, we still understand little about the function of sperm whale codas,” she said in an email.

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