In a world of conflict news stories are often overshadowed by breaking news. What’s a recent news story, good or bad, you feel went under the radar? : asklemmy

[-] BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 65 points 1 year ago

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/germany-climate-seagrass/

People restoring sea grass to the Baltic Sea.

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2023/08/the-serial-killer-and-the-texas-mom-who-stopped-him

This woman stopped a serial killer.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/28/plastic-eating-bacteria-enzyme-recycling-waste

Plastic eating bacteria could change the world.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-28/quoll-thought-extinct-found-south-australia/102911364

An animal called a quoll thought to be extinct for 130 years has been rediscovered.

[-] Wooster@startrek.website 29 points 1 year ago

Since 2021, a French company named Carbios has been running an operation that uses a bacterial enzyme to process about 250kg of PET plastic waste every day, breaking it down into its precursor molecules, which can then be made directly into new plastic. It’s not quite composting it back into the earth itself, but Carbios has achieved the holy grail of plastic recycling, bringing it much closer to an infinitely recyclable material like glass or aluminium.

That’s a significant step forward from when the last time I read up on the plastic eating bacteria. Granted, I’d prefer it if it was recycled into something other than more plastic… but I’ll still take it.

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think it's highly likely there's a catch, like you have to grow 250 tons of bacteria. Usually there is with amazing advances which get a news story but not a lot of reaction from other academics.

[-] Wooster@startrek.website 7 points 1 year ago

They’re still in the process of genetically engineering the bacteria, so their efficiency is still a work in progress.

There’s also the issue that economies of scale tip heavily in plastics direction,

It’s not a carbon neutral process. There’s significant both heating and cooling involved.

And, it doesn’t really solve the issue of retiring plastics.

The last update I read on the bacteria, prior to the genetic engineering, mentioned that the bacteria didn’t actually like the plastic and would only really break it down for want of something more practical. Presumably that has been solved, but I didn’t see it brought up in the article.

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[-] Zahille7@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Well, how would we change it from plastic into something else?

[-] Wooster@startrek.website 3 points 1 year ago

The article explains that they use the bacteria to basically break down the plastic into two solutions, which they ultimately recombine into plastic—seemingly out of lack of any other practical use for the results.

I’m not a scientist, I don’t know what could be a better use for the results of the bacteria doing their job. And seemingly, neither do the scientists, but it’s still a very young project in the grand scheme of things.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

That Vanity Fair story is one of the craziest things I’ve ever read, thanks for sharing!

[-] BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Isn't that bonkers? I read it twice I was so interested.

[-] anolemmi@lemmi.social 4 points 1 year ago

Nice! As a follow up, is there a good app/source to get more positive articles Ike this regularly?

[-] BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Also enjoy this article on drive in sex boxes in Zurich, giving a new meaning to public spaces: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/aug/26/zurich-drive-in-garages-prostitutes

[-] BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I tend to read Metafilter (https://www.metafilter.com/), it's not all good news but it's a weblog of really interesting content.

[-] Thisfox@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The quoll species in question (it is a small doglike marsupial, a carnivore, and very cute) was known to be alive and well in Queensland (a state to the north) and was only extinct in South Australia. It seems to have spread back to the southern state.

There are other species of quoll.

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[-] pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe 51 points 1 year ago

The death of all the coral in Florida.

It was front-page news where I live a few days ago but not a blip of it could be seen anywhere else.

It’s easily the most important news of the past two months and will negatively affect life on the planet anywhere but fuck all if humans outside of a local area could bring themselves to give a shit.

[-] bentropy@feddit.de 17 points 1 year ago

I hate to inform you that corals are dieing all around the world, not just in Florida.

[-] LongPigFlavor@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Fellow Floridian here. I hope we can get someone better after DeSantis' term limit is up. We live in one of the most climate change prone regions and a region where environmental changes mean a great deal.

[-] toxicbubble420@beehaw.org 35 points 1 year ago

this won't get reported in the news but i started my dream job after 10+ years of shitty jobs and that makes me happy 😊 I've got no motivational advice, life sucks and then you die lol

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[-] ItsMeForRealNow@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago

A police officer drover over and killed an Indian student in Seattle, and when he found out, he laughed about it. He did apologize later but the system that led to it is still in place. Hate the game.

[-] unknowing8343@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 1 year ago

I hate it when it happens with terrible news, but... I lost the game.

[-] LongPigFlavor@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago

Millennials, Gen Z committing fewer violent crimes than previous generations of youth

[-] SwearingRobin@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Probably due to the absence of lead that the previous generation got due to leaded gas emissions.

[-] Scribbd@feddit.nl 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

And maybe microplastics have the opposite effect. But this is just speculation, and afaik no sources support this.

Edit: I dunno why I got downvoted. Maybe I should be more specific that my claim, "maybe microplastics have the opposite effect", has no support. I didn't mean OP's claim was unsupported.

[-] writeblankspace@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

I mean we're not bothered to do anything nowadays. Not even bothered to commit crime. Why kill people irl which would lead to court and having to defend yourself and whatnog when you can just chill and do it in a video game with no consequence?

[-] applejacks@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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[-] NerfHerder@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago

What did being black have anything to do with this story?

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Sounds like they’re claiming race was a motive in his beating, but I don't know enough about this story to weigh in.

[-] NerfHerder@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago

Seems like shooting at people from a moving vehicle was the motive. Story stays the same w race going unmentioned.

[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

OP sounds like they may be pushing a narrative, but if it’s true that the white kid that died did not shoot the gel gun and was the only one in the car to be beaten then it is possible race was a factor in the crime. I’m still highly skeptical and I don’t have the time right now to delve into this to get a full understanding so I’ll just leave it at that.

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah, I don't know the story but it kind of strains credulity the way OP told it. A bunch of black kids that did this would have the book thrown at them in America, and probably become a racially-tinged campaign story for the AG's re-election campaign.

[-] ZzyzxRoad@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

It's almost like you'd have to try to get it this wrong.

[-] Bibliloo@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

It's a french news but in Rouen an empty appartement building full of asbestos burnt to the ground some days ago but due to the Hamas attack on Israel no news outlets talks about it anymore.

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[-] bentropy@feddit.de 9 points 1 year ago

I have the feeling we should talk more about bio char. Seams like a feasible improvement for three very different problem mankind faces right now.

[-] druckbleistift@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

Can you expand on that or provide some resources to learn about biochar. I've never really heard about it before.

[-] bentropy@feddit.de 7 points 1 year ago

Okay, in some ways bio char itself is like the regular charcoal we know from BBQs and the manufacturing process can be quite similar. But like most things, it's a very complex topic, therefore, I'll only give a very rough overview for now but I’ll also share some links to further information 👍 • While charcoal is mostly made from valuable wood, bio char can be made from every form of biomass, meaning it can be made from every form of biomass waste.
• During the manufacturing process, the chemical carbon in the biomass is put into a form that is stable for several thousand years, so unless the bio char is burned again it can’t reenter the atmosphere. • Each ton of bio char produced using plant based waste is equivalent to 2.6 tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide captured by those plants. • The manufacturing process generates a small amount of base-load energy which can be, depending on the size of the facility, enough for several hundreds of households. • The end product can be used to revitalize the extremely degraded soils we're fighting in industrial agriculture right now.

Tl:dr we (indirectly) take something very bad from the atmosphere, generate useful energy with it and then store it within our dead soils to revitalize it.

It is not THE solution but I think it’s a feasible improvement.

I’m happy to answer more questions... here are some links ✌️

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/biochar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar

[-] EmhyrVarEmreis@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

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[-] BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago

Did they finally find more dick pics or something? What's new to report?

[-] johnyrocket@feddit.ch 20 points 1 year ago

Don't your read the news? They are about to find all of the evidence and as soon a it is revealed it will change everything. Just like last month!

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[-] ExLisper@linux.community 5 points 1 year ago

Spanish princess is in the military academy now and today at the national day parade she was wearing her uniform. It would be front page news if not for the war.

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