Our World

A variety of stories, both good and bad, about this wonderful world we are trying to share with one another and with all other forms of life.

By Lorenzo

Lorenzo
Porpoises
Canada passes bill outlawing captivity of dolphins, whales, porpoises
orcasissues.com - Lin McNulty
— from Washington Post — Canada has banned the practice of keeping dolphins, whales and porpoises in captivity after a long-fought-for piece of …
Lorenzo
Alberta
Huge fires in Alberta force evacuations, turn the sky an eerie orange
Axios - Andrew Freedman
It's only the end of May, yet already about 1 million acres of forest have gone up in flames across Alberta, Canada. Why it matters: The wildfires …
Lorenzo
News (U.S.)
Earth's carbon dioxide has jumped to the highest level in human history
Axios - Andrew Freedman
The monthly peak amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere in 2019 jumped by a near-record amount to reach 414.8 parts per million (ppm) in …
Lorenzo
Liberal View
Arctic Is Thawing So Fast Scientists Are Losing Their Measuring...
truthout.org - Merula Furtado
We’ve never experienced anything like this: We are living with the full knowledge of our collapsing biosphere and watching huge portions of it …
Lorenzo
The Brain
Creative Types Reserve a Special Corner of the Brain for Dreaming Big
scientificamerican.com - Knvul Sheikh
Five-year-olds invent imaginary friends, teenagers visualize what an amorous crush would be like, and adults plan for job achievements, buying a …
Lorenzo
University backtracks on disputed Voynich manuscript theory
The Guardian - Esther Addley
A university that breathlessly declared one of its academics had cracked the code of the celebrated Voynich manuscript has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown after medieval experts poured scorn
Lorenzo
Millions of people inhabit this 'hidden continent' that's 94% underwater
Mother Nature Network - Russell McLendon
Earth is usually said to have six or seven continents, depending whether you separate Eurasia into Europe and Asia. While everyone may not agree on …
Lorenzo
Science
Researchers Say Evidence Shows What You Eat Really Does Matter
NPR - Allison Aubrey
Two new diet studies add to the evidence that when it comes to staying healthy, counting calories may not be enough. What really matters is what you choose to eat and the quality of your diet. There are
Lorenzo
World News
Trump takes war on abortion worldwide as policy cuts off funds
The Guardian - Sarah Boseley Health editor
The Trump administration has taken its war on abortion worldwide, cutting off all funding to any overseas organisation or clinic that will not agree to a complete ban on even discussing it. The Mexico
Lorenzo
Birdwatching
Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses about the environment
The Guardian - Damian Carrington Environment editor
The Guardian has updated its style guide to introduce terms that more accurately describe the environmental crises facing the world. Instead of “climate change” the preferred terms are “climate emergency,
Lorenzo
North Sumatra
US Ship Finds Mysterious ‘GHOST SHIP,’ Whole Crew Dead. What Happens Next Is Shocking
theepochtimes.com - Daksha Devnani
The legendary ghost ship “SS Ourang Medan” was allegedly found adrift at sea, with its whole crew dead for unknown reasons. To this day, the ominous …
Lorenzo
Saudi Arabian State Media Urges U.S. To 'Hit Iran Hard' With Punitive Airstrikes
Forbes - Zak Doffman
Iran sees the escalating tensions with the U.S. as extending to include Saudi Arabia and Israel. And on Thursday, an editorial in Saudi Arabia’s Arab News demanded: “Iran must not go unpunished… In [our]
Lorenzo
Iran tells Middle East militias: prepare for proxy war
The Guardian - Martin Chulov Middle East correspondent
Iran’s most prominent military leader has recently met Iraqi militias in Baghdad and told them to “prepare for proxy war”, the Guardian has learned. Two senior intelligence sources said that Qassem Suleimani,
Lorenzo
Scientists Create First Ever Map of ‘Wood Wide Web’
ecowatch.com - Olivia Rosane
Crowther had previously completed a map of all the world's trees and concluded that there were about three trillion, Science Magazine reported. …
Lorenzo
Three gardaí arrested in corruption investigation
BBC News
A superintendent, an inspector, and another member of the gardaí (Irish police) have been arrested in an investigation into alleged corruption in public office. A number of premises were searched during
Lorenzo
Bodies piled on floor of overflowing morgue in Mexican holiday hotspot turned ‘world’s most violent city’ Tiju
thesun.co.uk - Charlie Parker
SHOCKING images show dead bodies piled up on the floor of a Mexican morgue in a city dubbed the most violent in the world. Cartel drug violence has …
Lorenzo
Beachgoer Starts Filming Just Before Storm. Moments Later, Something Takes His Breath Away
theepochtimes.com - Daksha Devnani
While on a Daytona Beach getaway one summer, Clint Blevins caught the spectacular drama of a fine summer storm from the comfort of his beach-side …
Lorenzo
Science
World’s first living organism with fully redesigned DNA created
The Guardian - Ian Sample Science editor
Scientists have created the world’s first living organism that has a fully synthetic and radically altered DNA code. The lab-made microbe, a strain of bacteria that is normally found in soil and the human
Lorenzo
Polling
One Million Londoners Set To March Against Trump During UK State Visit, New YouGov Poll Suggests
HuffPost UK - By Paul Waugh
When Trump staged a ‘working visit’ last year, around 100,000 protestors turned out to greet him, with giant ‘Trump baby’ balloon launched over …
Lorenzo
Iran
Spain pulls frigate from U.S. Gulf mission amid differences over Iran
Reuters India - Reuters Editorial
FILE PHOTO: A crew member of Spanish Navy frigate Mendez Nunez participate in NATO's Dynamic Manta 2017 anti-submarine warfare exercise, in the Mediterranean sea, Italy March 13, 2017. Picture taken March
Lorenzo
Russia
Jim Sciutto: The Kremlin Is Waging a New Kind of War
The Atlantic - Jim Sciutto
Election interference is one front in Moscow’s larger campaign to undermine the U.S. without prompting a military response. What are Americans supposed to think when their leaders contradict one another
Lorenzo
President Trump's Trade War With China Wiped $1 Trillion Off Global Markets in a Single Day
TIME - Luke Kawa / Bloomberg
The flare-up in trade tensions sent global equities to the steepest losses of the year, wiping more than $1 trillion from stock values around the world Monday. The MSCI All-Country World Index fell 2%
Lorenzo
Historic Agreement on Plastic Pollution Reached by 180+ Countries Without the U.S.
ecowatch.com - Olivia Rosane
The U.S. is one of a few countries that has not signed on to a historic UN agreement to limit plastic pollution, the Associated Press reported. The …
Lorenzo
In the deep, dark, ocean fish have evolved superpowered vision
sciencemag.org - Elizabeth Pennisi
When the ancestors of cave fish and certain crickets moved into pitchblack caverns, their eyes virtually disappeared over generations. But fish that …
Lorenzo
Science
Protect solar system from mining 'gold rush', say scientists
The Guardian - Ian Sample Science editor
Great swathes of the solar system should be preserved as official “space wilderness” to protect planets, moons and other heavenly bodies from rampant mining and other forms of industrial exploitation,
Lorenzo
Hubble Space Telescope
New Hubble Space Telescope photo is a 'living history book' of our universe
NBC News - By Tom Metcalfe
The eye-popping image shows more than a quarter of a million galaxies. Astronomers have created the most detailed picture yet of our evolving universe. The eye-popping image, stitched together from thousands
Lorenzo
Millions of people eat octopus- here's why we shouldn't
weforum.org - David Knowles
Farming octopuses is not only unethical but deeply damaging to the environment, scientists say. From the Mediterranean to the Sea of Japan, octopuses …
Lorenzo
CO2 in the atmosphere just exceeded 415 parts per million for the first time in human history
TechCrunch - Jonathan Shieber
The human race has broken another record on its race to ecological collapse. Congratulations humanity! For the first time in human history — not recorded history, but since humans have existed on Earth