Basic income in Kenya, equal pay in Brazil’s football, the guerilla rewilder in Britain

| Posted on September 4, 2020 |

Photo: Bennett Tobias / Unsplash (CC0)

In this issue of Squirrel News, we look at the success of a universal basic income trial in Kenya that has proven its worth over the course of the pandemic, the national women’s and men’s football teams of Brazil have been granted equal pay, and we look at the guerilla rewilder shaking up British farming and reintroducing forgotten species.

How a universal basic income trial in Kenya proved its worth

The 12 year trial began in 2017, and it has already shown that as little as 75 cents a day has had a significant boost for both food security and health in recent months.

Source: Vox

Brazil’s men’s and women’s national soccer teams to get equal pay

On Wednesday the Brazilian Football Federation announced the move, hopefully setting an example for other footballing nations to follow.

Source: CNN

Colourful cotton could be breakthrough for textile industry

A team of Australian scientists have managed to create a cotton that produces its own colour. An essential development for an industry renowned for its water-damaging dyeing practices

Source: Euronews

Denmark reforms sexual violence laws, making consent basis for determining rape

Welcomed by women’s groups, the legal change will no longer require there to be violence and coercion.

Source: The Local DK

Mothers’ names to finally go on child’s birth certificates in Afghanistan

Campaigning with the hashtag #Whereismyname, the Afghan government has finally accepted the proposal that has been pushed for years in a bid to grant more rights to women.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation News

Star Trek welcomes first transgender and non-binary characters to franchise

Ian Alexander and Blu Del Barrio, both trans and non-binary resepectively, will take the roles in the upcoming series Star Trek: Discovery.

Source: CNN

Air Shepherd: Stopping poaching with drones

Able to fly at night with heat-sensitive imaging, and covering vast distances navigated with AI, the drones are proving to be an effective tool in the fight against poaching.

Source: Reset

Killing breast cancer cells with honeybee venom

Scientists have discovered that a compound in the venom, called melittin, is able to destroy aggressive breast cancer cells in a lab setting.

Source: BBC News

‘It’s good for the brain’: how music can help BAME people living with dementia

A cafe playing Bollywood tunes benefits members of the south Asian community who find it hard to access mainstream services

Source: The Guardian

How thirty years of community-managed logging in Guatemala has saved the rainforest

Initially opposed by NGOs, the radical programme granted concessions to indigenous communities to use the natural resources, so as long as they did so sustainably. 30 years on, and these zones suffered from 5% of the deforestation as those without formal permission.