135 articles from TUESDAY 16.5.2023

Plastic pollution could be cut by 80% by 2040, says UN report

Plastic pollution could reduce by 80% by 2040 if countries and companies make deep policy and market shifts using existing technologies, according to a new report by UN Environment Program (UNEP). The report is released ahead of a second round of negotiations in Paris on a global agreement to beat plastic pollution, and outlines the magnitude and nature of the changes required to end plastic...

More plants will go extinct if we do nothing, says researcher

A wide range of plant species is essential to our Earth because of the different materials and foods these plants provide. But plant diversity has decreased drastically in recent decades. Ph.D. candidate Kaixuan Pan explains what we can do to increase it once again.

Cutting the cost of education alone is not enough to prevent dropout, finds research

Recently, the French Education Minister, Pap Ndiaye, announced a potential education reform that would require private schools to diversify their student population to maintain their public subsidies from the State. Although this state intervention into private education is somewhat unusual, Ndiaye argues that public schools alone cannot achieve diversity. Similarly, India's Right to Education Act...

What Cassini's 'grand finale' taught us about Saturn's interior

Six years ago the Cassini spacecraft, which had spent nearly two decades in orbit around Saturn, finished its mission with a grand finale, plunging itself into the depths of Saturn's atmosphere. Those last few orbits and the final plunge revealed a wealth of information about Saturn's interior. A team of astronomers have collected all of the available data and are now painting a portrait of the...

New tool to guide efficient energy extraction from quantum sources

The idea that energy is a fundamental driver of societal progress has led to the concept that a civilization's level of technological development can be measured by its ability to harness and use energy. Based on this, Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev devised a famous Kardashev Scale in 1964 as a way to classify civilizations based on their energy consumption. Our human civilization's...

Opinion: 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3' urges us to defend real animals

As "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 "lights up the box office, its glow is reaching animals who are rarely seen: those in laboratories. Through the powerful stories of the central character Rocket Raccoon, alongside Floor the rabbit, Teefs the walrus and Lylla the otter, we are urged to empathize with real animals.

Short meetings could encourage teachers to stay on the job

A single, 10-minute meeting between teachers and their principals can increase teacher job satisfaction, our new research shows. This increase in job satisfaction could potentially encourage teachers to stay in the profession longer, thereby reducing turnover and potentially saving school districts hundreds of thousands of dollars.