Photo: Manny Becerra / Unsplash (CC0)
In this edition of Squirrel News, solar-powered electricity overtakes coal in the US for the first time; European dam removal hits a record high, enabling rivers to reconnect over thousands of miles; and universal free education through secondary school in Zambia is written officially into law.
Despite the current US administration boosting coal over clean energy, solar power is hitting new milestones in the US and remains the leading source of new power. According to global energy thinktank Ember, solar supplied 12.8% of the nation’s electricity in May, surpassing coal for the first time.
Source: The Guardian
The Tumbleweed project is up and running, the first major battery installation that can provide eight straight hours of electrical power. Typical current installations can only go half as long. California’s stated aim has been to provide clean energy around the clock, and this project moves the state closer to that goal.
Source: Canary Media
602 barriers, including weirs, culverts, sluices and dams, were demolished in 2025, according to Dam Removal Europe. That is 11% more than the previous year. 2,324 miles of rivers were reconnected, as the EU continues its mission to restore 15,500 waterway miles to their natural state by 2030.
Source: The Guardian
The Zambian government reintroduced a policy of free education in 2022 and since then 2.6 million children have returned to school. Now universal free schooling from early childhood through secondary school is signed into law, making it harder for future governments to reverse.
Source: African Vibes
An advanced form of precision radiotherapy will shortly be in use in UK clinics for low-risk cases of prostate cancer where radiation is chosen. The change will mean thousands of men can do just five treatment sessions instead of 20. Now a trial is also underway for high-risk cases.
Source: BBC
Family doctor Roshni Kakaiya has developed a training kit for other doctors to incorporate paracervical blocks into insertions of intrauterine devices (IUD). This has typically been an extremely painful procedure, and, though new guidelines state that insertion should be made less painful, most doctors are not trained in this simple method.
Source: Slate
15-year-old Raheema Auwal-Panti developed ‘Pantipads’ using agricultural waste like cassava peelings and banana leaves with the intent to reduce plastic waste created by the 90% plastic conventional pads. She hopes local production of the pads will provide jobs and make period products more available.
Source: Mongabay
Deutsche Welle journalists talk to scientists in Kenya turning sand back to soil and recovering polluted earth in cities with the help of algae and microbe-rich compost, engineers in Germany using recycled activated coal to purify polluted rivers, and others using their particular skills and gifts to offer nature and objects an opportunity to live on.
Source: DW
Changing demographics have led to many school closures in US cities. A lot of the buildings have become much-needed housing, but in some places residents have joined in the planning process, and found ways to keep treasured buildings and create new spaces that serve the community.
Source: American Planning Association
Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth, home to the world’s largest colony of northern gannets, has been deemed a Site of Scientific Interest for three quarters of a century. Now conservation charity RSBP Scotland has purchased the island to protect the bird colonies there in partnership with the Scottish Seabird Centre.
Source: BBC
