Today at Squirrel News, we’re exploring how $400 incubators have saved the lives of over 5,000 pre-term infants across the world, China’s phased roll-out of free pre-school education, and the semilleros teaching the next generation of Indigenous children how to protect their land and heritage.
The low-cost incubators saving thousands of premature infants
Incubators for early-term babies can be very expensive to run and maintain, and at an average price of $40,000 are often a rarity across the developing world. A simple design created by a team of Spanish engineers works at 1% the standard cost ($400), and it’s already being sent to hospitals across the globe.
China to waive or reduce pre-school education fees
As part of a phased roll-out of free kindergarten education, the parents of children in their final year at public facilities will no longer be required to pay any fees. China also announced a childcare subsidy until the age of three last week.
World-first gonorrhoea vaccine officially launches in UK
The vaccines will first be offered to those at the highest risk of infection, primarily LGBT+ men with a history of STIs. NHS England claims the jab could prevent over 100,000 cases and potentially save the organisation roughly £8 million over the next decade.
Conservationists irradiate rhino horns to save the animals from poachers
After six years of research and testing on a process to render rhino horns radioactive, South African scientists from the Rhisotope Project have created a solution that’s completely safe for rhinos but should greatly deter poachers.
Interactive map of underground fungal networks could shape climate future
The ‘Underground Atlas’ is the world’s first map of the biodiverse system of fungi growing under the earth. Fungi suck a huge amount of carbon from the soil and could play a vital role in regenerating degraded ecosystems, but 90% are as of yet unprotected. The mapmakers want their creation to inform and encourage conservation and climate action.
AI app finds potato blight for early and more sustainable defense
Potatoes are the world’s fourth biggest food crop and the Welsh university researchers who developed the app say potato blight is a matter of food security. By sending real-time alerts to farmers’ phones, a more targeted defense is possible that is less reliant on blanketing the crop with fungicides.
In ‘phytomining’, plants not miners extract metals from the earth
Hyperaccumulator’ plants extract heavy metals, like nickel, zinc, and rare earth elements, from soil. Used since the 1980s for soil decontamination, now they are being seen as a potential alternative to conventional mining that is safer, produces less carbon, and leaves cleaner soil behind.
Android phones are doubling up as earthquake warning systems
Starting in the US in 2020 and expanding internationally since, owners of Android phones living in seismically active regions will receive warnings ahead of any potential shaking, and it’s on by default in most devices.
Nonprofit brings solar power to the Navajo and Hopi in New Mexico
One in five households in the Navajo Nation and Hopi reservation have no connection to the grid; others pay higher than average rates for electricity. Native Renewables, started by two Indigenous women and operating mainly on donations, have installed 119 solar units so far, some to families who thought they would never have electricity.
The Indigenous young people preparing to protect their ancestral lands
Hands-on lessons in protecting land and culture are taking place every weekend at semilleros: weekend schools where the next generation of Indigenous community members are able to learn resistance and cultural pride, as well as practical environmental stewardship.
