Today in Squirrel News, homeless people can use a new app to see which shelter has space and where to find services, channel tidal energy powers underwater turbines for clean energy production, and a new European document sharing platform provides a secure, homegrown alternative to those of existing tech giants.
New app lets homeless people check availability in shelters, review services
Working with a non-profit serving the homeless in Portland, high school senior Claire Cao saw the struggle community members had to access services. She designed the app to help folks keep track of shelter openings, mental health resources, and rotating food programmes.
“Docs”, new open source alternative to Google Docs out of Europe unveiled
A joint initiative of Europe’s two major powers, Germany and France, Docs offers a new and secure choice for European businesses, agencies and individuals to collaborate and share information via the web and in the cloud.
French tidal energy project should supply power for thousands
Funded by fines from greenhouse gas emitters, the underwater turbine farm off the coast of Normandy will turn Europe’s strongest tidal stream into clean energy. Fish and larger marine animals are already returning to the site after construction.
New machine enables carbon-neutral energy cycle of CO2 into fuel
A UK project long working to convert canned carbon dioxide to Syngas, has developed a machine to use carbon captured from the environment in a circular process that converts greenhouse gas to useable fuel.
Use of pesticides on UK farms to be cut 10% by 2030 to protect bees
The UK government plan encourages non-chemical pest management and includes penalties for those who use pesticides irresponsibly. Campaigners are welcoming the changes, but had hoped for a higher percentage and for a plan that would also extend to urban areas.
Nanoparticles in development will “cook” ovarian cancer and endometrial cells
In their work on magnetic nanoparticles that can target and cook to death only specific cells in the body, Oregon scientists have been able to impede the growth of ovarian cancer cells by seven times. A connected group is developing particles that can target and even diagnose endometriosis, which effects 1 in 10 women and at present can only be definitively diagnosed with surgery.
Friendships that bridge wealth divides help social mobility, study finds
Based on anonymous data from 20 million UK residents, the study found children from poorer families growing up amid mixed income groups are likely to earn more as adults. Low-income children who grew up in the 10% most economically connected local areas tended to earn £5,100 more a year than those from the 10% least-connected.
“Doubling down on community”: Portland’s migrant mutual aid group
In the Asylum Seeker Solidarity Collective, based in the US west coast city of Portland, volunteers and migrants work together to protect the migrant community. They gather with a principal of trust and of neighbors helping each other, providing community education and training on issues of safety for asylum seekers.
Brigade of citizen firefighters in Malibu could be model for other communities
With the idea of forming a bridge between firefighters and the community, volunteers formed the Community Brigade after a fire in Malibu in 2018. Members get crash training in firefighting and also support prevention and evacuation efforts. Unique in the US, the group has been put to the test with recent devastating fires.
Dutch architects combine principles of beauty and sustainability
The inspiring makeover of a 1960s Utrecht college at less than half the cost of a new building and a third the carbon footprint is among projects of the Dutch not-for-profit organisation Mevrouw Meijer. Their work counters the idea, dominant in the Netherlands and elsewhere, that construction sustainability requires all the latest environmental materials.
