Telescope #88

SUSTAINABILITY

• The volcano in the town of Grindavik, located on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula, erupted for the 4th time in 3 months.? Due to the size of the lava spread by the explosion, the police declared a state of emergency. DETAIL

• Across Europe and India, farmers are slinging manure and marching tractors in protest of a range of issues they say are devastating their economic stability. As the unrest in some cases turns violent, the protests showcase how agriculture has emerged as a flash point in a global culture war around money, food, climate change and class. DETAIL
• Global food and beverage company Nestlé has launched two new projects aimed at reducing and removing carbon emissions from the company’s cocoa supply chain. Developed with suppliers Cargill and ETG | Beyond Beans, the new five-year projects will promote agroforestry, accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture and support the reforestation of degraded lands around cocoa farming communities. DETAIL
• BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPP AM) announced the launch of the BNP Paribas Global Net Zero Transition Equity fund, a new active fund aimed at offering investors with exposure to a decarbonization and sustainable investment focused strategy, with sector, regional and market cap diversification. DETAIL
• Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment insights, announces the launch of the Morningstar? Low Carbon Transition Leaders (LCTL) Indexes?, the latest strategic collaboration between leading ESG ratings, research, and data provider Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes, the world’s fastest growing global index provider. DETAIL
• On the morning of March 15, workers at The Virginia Zoo in Norfolk arrived to find that one of the facility's endangered siamang gibbons had given birth — and soon, the primates were heard literally singing the baby's praises. DETAIL

HEALTH

• Plastic pollution may be making its way into our bodies and threatening our hearts, a new study reveals. Researchers found that people with microplastics lodged in their artery walls are a staggering 4.5 times more likely to experience heart attacks or strokes compared to those without these tiny plastic particles. DETAIL

• Scientists announced that they managed to isolate HIV from infected cells in the laboratory environment, using the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene modification technology. With this technology, which works like scissors at the molecular level, DNA can be "cut" and the harmful parts within it can be separated or rendered inoperable. At the end of the studies, the target body can be completely cleared of the virus, but more research needs to be done to prove that this method is safe and effective. DETAIL

• Surgeons in Boston transplanted a kidney from a genetically engineered pig into an ailing man, the first procedure of its kind. If successful, the breakthrough could one day make dialysis obsolete. DETAIL

• There is a new most expensive drug ever—a gene therapy that costs as much as a Brooklyn brownstone or a Miami mansion, and more than the average person will earn in a lifetime. Lenmeldy is a gene treatment for metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) and was approved in the US on Monday. Its maker, Orchard Therapeutics, says the $4.25 million wholesale cost reflects the value the treatment has for patients and families. DETAIL
• A new study by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that the egg closes itself with a zipper-like mechanism (using a protein called ZP2) that tracks the entry of a sperm and prevents the entry of a new sperm.? Why might this be important?? Because the path to a hormone-free contraceptive may have been paved. DETAIL

DIGITAL / TECHNOLOGY / SCIENCE / AI

• SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a classified contract with a U.S. intelligence agency, five sources familiar with the program said, demonstrating deepening ties between billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's space company and national security agencies. DETAIL
• Elon Musk's artificial intelligence initiative xAI, the open source basic coding of the Grok AI model, has been made available on GitHub.? The model, which does not have a training code and has 314 billion parameters, also provides commercial use. DETAIL
• Nvidia on Monday announced a new generation of artificial intelligence chips and software for running AI models. The new AI graphics processors are named Blackwell and are expected to ship later this year. The announcement comes as companies and software makers still scramble to get their hands on the current generation of H100s and similar chips. DETAIL

• BMW Introduced the 'Four-Wheeled Work of Art' i5 Flow NOSTOKANA. The German automotive giant BMW turns its color-changing car, produced using e-Ink technology, into a complete work of art with the patterns of South African visual artist Esther Mahlangu. DETAIL
• 29-year-old Nolan Arbaugh, (first human to receive neuralink Implant) a quadriplegic, says the brain implant has allowed him to play chess and Civilization on his PC using his mind. 'I’m so freaking lucky to be a part of this,' he says. DETAIL
• As next-generation weight-loss treatments like Wegovy and Zepbound continue to fly off the shelves, scientists are busy working on a medicine that could mimic the effects of exercise. As explained in an American Chemical Society press release, trials thus far on SLU-PP-332, the potentially groundbreaking compound in question, show that it seems "capable of mimicking the physical boost of working out." DETAI

ENERGY / TRANSPORTATION

• The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released stricter automotive emissions targets that encourage a shift away from gas-powered vehicles. The standards do not ban gas-powered vehicles or explicitly mandate that a certain percentage of new car sales must come from EVs. Instead, they limit the amount of pollutants vehicles can emit—such as carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter—for model years 2027 through 2032. DETAIL

CYBERSECURITY

• U.S. prosecutors in Virginia are probing whether Facebook-parent Meta's social media platforms facilitated and profited from the illegal sale of drugs, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing documents and people familiar with the matter. DETAIL
• China- and Iran-backed cyberattacks are targeting US drinking water systems, the US Environmental Protection Agency finds. DETAIL

HUMAN

• According to the 2023 report of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), Turkey ranks 148th among 173 countries in the Rule of Law category.? In Europe, Türkiye, which is behind Russia, is in a better situation than only Belarus.? The weakness of Turkey's legal record is clearly reflected in the statistics of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).? As of the end of February 2024, 35 out of every 100 cases pending at the ECHR are applications made by Turkish citizens.? For Russia, which ranks second, this rate is 16 percent. DETAIL
• Researchers led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in the United States found that three-quarters of countries will not have a fertility rate high enough to sustain population size by 2050.? Researchers predict that the situation will continue this way in 97 percent of countries by 2100, and that the global total fertility rate will decrease from 2.23 births per woman in 2021 to 1.68 in 2050 and to 1.57 in 2100.? In developed countries, the birth rate per person capable of bearing children in their lifetime needs to be 2.1 to maintain population levels. DETAIL
• The vast surveillance apparatus at the border is driving desperate people into more dangerous terrain, resulting in a 57 percent increase in recorded deaths at the US-Mexico border. DETAIL