Ocean plastic-hunting satellites, rooftop wind power boost, the UK’s first openly HIV-positive mayor

Photo: Jakob Owens/Unsplash

In today’s edition of Squirrel News, we’re talking about using satellites to clean up our oceans, a breakthrough in rooftop wind turbine design inspired by airplanes, and the UK’s first-ever openly HIV positive mayor.

Satellites can aid ocean cleanup efforts by identifying and locating plastic pollution

Debris such as plastic bags and bottles can now be spotted from space thanks to a method developed by the European Space Agency.

Source: The Ecologist

A new design for rooftop wind turbines could drastically increase the amount of electricity they can generate

By using the same principles which create lift for airplane wings, engineers have developed a quieter, more efficient, and stronger turbine.

Source: Ecowatch

The UK has elected their first-ever openly HIV positive mayor

Philip Normal hopes to destigmatise the condition, and has pledged to support LGBT+ rights.

Source: Pink News

A New Dehli startup has developed an exoskeleton with the potential to help those with movement problems walk again

The technology will be able to assist those with a variety of neurological conditions achieve a certain level of confidence and indepence.

Source: The Better India

Researchers have restored an injured man’s sense of touch thanks to a computer-brain interface

The result is a huge step towards concrete technologies restoring limb function to those with paralysis due to spinal cord injury or disease.

Source: Eureka Alert

A team of UK activists are creating multilingual coronavirus content

The volunteers are ensuring key information gets to those most at risk due to linguistic barriers.

Source: Al Jazeera

An Indian man has been ensuring over 400 stray dogs stay healthy by providing over 50kg of food every day

Jojo Singh’s dog food service Woof Yums has stepped to protect pets abandoned by their owners due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Source: The Better India

Hospital are using robot dogs armed with iPads to help doctors communicate with COVID-19 patients

The move means that risk of infection is greatly reduced, according to robot manufacturer Boston Dynamics.

Source: Futurism

A non-profit organisation is recycling hotel soap and saving lives in the process

Over 150 at-risk women have been employed by Eco-Soap Bank, who give back to their communities by sanitising, remoulding, and redistributing the soap to those in need.

Source: Treehugger

A team of scuba divers are creating reusable face masks out of ocean plastic pollution

The group have so far recycled over 1,200 pounds of plastic waste, with over 15,000 masks already pre-ordered.

Source: CNN

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