Photo: Getty Images / Unsplash+
In this edition of Squirrel News, a study shows working from home has led to more couples deciding to have children, scientists in Spain are making artificial corneas from fish scales, and 21 new nurses are the first graduates from a secret school for medical training in Myanmar.
A study looking at data from almost 40 countries concludes that couples where someone works at least one day from home are having more children and planning larger families.
Source: Kings College London
Working from home, slower highway speeds, and using public transport are the top three on the list to help households and businesses prepare for a drawn-out disruption to energy markets.
Source: The Guardian
Data analysts at BloombergNEF have constructed a modelled scenario based on 2025 data that they say shows the world was spared oil use of 23 million barrels a day by electric vehicles. A model from think tank Ember shows 1.7 million barrels avoided and says Europe saved $8 billion in oil imports and China $28 billion last year.
Source: Bloomberg News
Researchers in Spain have developed a new way to make a highly biocompatible, artificial cornea using the scales of common fish species like carp. It could represent an alternative to donor transplants which are difficult to come by and expensive.
Source: Reuters
A law that took effect in Brazil this week is being hailed as a milestone in protecting underage children from violent, pornographic, and addictive imagery online. The law requires minors to link their social media accounts to their legal guardian.
Source: AP
Ann Arbor, Michigan, approved a ‘Sustainable Energy Unit’ by ballot in 2024. A unique programme that presents a model for other cities, it is starting up in one community with particular need and will expand citywide. The city will install infrastructure like solar panels and run its own utility with microgrid capability parallel to the present private utility company.
Source: Grist
From social housing blocks getting fitted with community-owned solar power, to east London streets becoming green power stations, climate change activists turned entrepreneurs, non-profits, and local communities are collaborating to create a decentralised and fairer green energy future.
Source: Positive News
Conservation efforts to save the nightjars in South Downs National Park have paid off in what park management is calling a ‘remarkable comeback’. 78 of the elusive ground-nesting birds that only emerge at twilight were counted in an ecological survey last year, double the number from 5 years before.
Source: BBC
A scientist and his team have spent 20 years identifying and fostering whitebark pine trees with resistance to a fungus introduced from abroad that has been wiping out the species in a British Columbia national park. Now he is using the method against other invasive species and advising scientists around the world.
Source: OPB
A parallel secret health system has emerged in Myanmar, treating those who cannot risk government-controlled hospitals or who live in the vast areas of the country which are outside the regime’s control. This week, the first students completed a three-year degree course, ready to treat displaced people and pro-democracy fighters.
Source: The Guardian
