In today’s edition of Squirrel News, we’re looking at the creation of the “Great Koala National Park” in New South Wales, the development of a vegan pregnancy test, and researchers designing a “glue gun” that can fix bone fractures.
A new national park in New South Wales could protect around 12,000 koalas from loggers and help safeguard old-growth forests that are home to over 100 endangered species.
Standard pregnancy tests use antibodies that could only be acquired from animals. Now, a German start-up is rolling out a test using only non-animal antibodies that can be harvested ethically and sustainably.
South Korean researchers designed a tool based on a glue gun that uses a biocompatible thermoplastic to fix bone fractures. It has been sucessfully tested and human trials are expected to begin soon.
The red squirrel has once more become the dominant species in Aberdeen, dethroning the invasive grey squirrel. Conservationists believe that lessons learnt in this project can help reverse the decline of other native species.
The endangered red and yellow mountain frog has seen its habitat damaged by feral pigs in New South Wales. Now, after years of work, researchers have successfully bred the species in captivity and released more into the wild.
Peat bogs are a natural carbon sink. Now Finland and Poland are looking into “rewetting” their currently dried-out peat bogs to help establish a natural defensive line on their borders with Russia.
Argentine researchers have developed a method to study the insects that lay eggs in a corpse to help forensic investigators learn more about crime victims.
Around half of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa lack bank accounts and don’t have access to financial services. Djamo, an Ivory Coast startup, is working to help at-risk people access digitised banking.
Brightworks, a kindergarten-to-12th-grade school in San Francisco, focuses on enabling student agency and creativity by removing a traditional grade structure and encouraging students to work on their own creative projects.
For years, a metal-plating factory dumped its wastewater into Hidden River Cave, leaving its waters deeply polluted and creating a stench in the town of Horse Cave. Local cleanup efforts have restored the site and made it a tourist attraction.
