Today in Squirrel News, global air pollution seems to have surpassed its peak, a new race car is made with waste materials and runs on sewage, and hand-carved images allow visually-impaired children to feel picture books.
Global air pollution is falling. Of six main harmful air pollutants, five appear to be past their peak and going down. These include sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and organic carbon. Only ammonia, which is produced from agriculture, is rising.
UK becomes the first country to make AI generated child sex abuse images a crime
Four new laws target the use of artificial intelligence tools to create child sexual abuse images. The prevalence of these images, often incredibly realistic, has exploded in recent years, which advocates say normalises the abuse of children and emboldens abusers. The laws also target sites where pedophiles trade the images and give advice on grooming children.
The bill, approved in draft on Tuesday, will go into effect by the end of December this year. The draft also provides for wage improvement in the case of part-time employees.
Powered by poop: UK scientists develop hydrogen-powered race car that runs on sewage
In the initiative, Waste2Race, scientists at the University of Warwick are using as many sustainable technologies as possible. Made from materials like vegetable waste and recycled carbon fiber, the prototype race car is powered by compressed hydrogen fuel produced from sewage via microbial electrolysis, where microbes basically eat the poop.
North Carolina school district to build affordable teacher housing
While advocating for the long-term solution of higher teacher salaries, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has a plan to support teachers and students by building housing that will be offered to teachers at below-market rates. Similar projects have been starting to happen in different school systems across the US.
Tiny fly larvae shown to transform food waste into rich, sustainable bio-fertiliser
With a government grant and bipartisan support, Chapel Farms in Oregon has developed a low-investment, highly-portable solution to the problems of soil depletion and over-abundant food waste. The larva form of the black soldier fly eats four times its weight in food waste, without preference for which, and converts it to a rich compost in record time.
Goodwill store in California Jail offers job training and free outfits on release
Women incarcerated in the Elmwood Correctional Facility organise and run a Goodwill used clothing store, giving them hands-on job experience and skills for reentry. Inmates receive dividends from store sales and can choose two full outfits for a reentry with dignity upon release.
American Crocodiles have made a remarkable comeback in the canals of a nuclear power plant
At Turkey Point nuclear power plant in Florida a maze of manmade canals are home to an increasing wild population of this rare native species of crocodile. The cooling canals are not affected by radiation and have surprisingly provided a protective space for the crocodiles to thrive.
The River Seine is teeming with marine life again after near biological death
Restoration efforts of the Paris river have been very successful and biodiversity is thriving after many years of almost no biological life. Officials say improvements in waste water treatment and the quality of water entering the river have made the difference.
Hand-carved images allow blind children to feel the picture book experience
Living Paintings in the UK have been bringing blind and vision-impaired people more accessibility to art for 30 years. Now they are doing it with children’s picturebooks by carving images by hand that are reproduced to scale and paired with audiobooks.
