Photo: Andrej Lišakov/Unsplash (CC0)
We’re closing out the week at Squirrel News talking about the UK government’s announcement that animal testing will be phased out by 2030, the financial literacy programmes supporting US high school graduates, and the “gay sheep” rescuers saving rams from near-certain death.
The new plans include ending the use of dogs and non-human primates in tests for human medicines by a minimum of 35% by 2030, as well as replacing animal experimentation for major safety tests by the end of this year.
Source: BBC News
The announcement makes Egypt the seventh country in the Eastern Mediterranean Region to meet the WHO’s trachoma elimination criteria. The elimination campaign used the WHO-endorsed “SAFE” strategy: surgery for trichiasis, antibiotics to clear the infection, facial cleanliness, and environmental improvements to lower transmission.
Source: Cairo Scene
The drug, ganaplacide/lumefantrine or GanLum, was more than 97% effective at treating malaria in a phase III trial among 1,688 adults and children across 34 sites in 12 African countries, according to drug developer Novartis.
Source: Reuters
The move by Clarke County School District in Athens, Georgia, hopes to tackle financial illiteracy, with one in five teens US lacking basic personal finance skills. The region has teamed up with Gifted Savings, a nonprofit that gives high school seniors $1,000 in an investment portfolio, coupled with weekly lessons on the essentials of saving and investing.
Source: Good Good Good
As the third-largest cranberry-producing region in the world, a large amount of acreage in the state is taken up for production purposes. With an ever-increasing number of defunct cranberry bogs being rotated out of cultivation, a new programme is converting them back into natural wetlands.
Source: Good Good Good
Historically speaking, victims of sexual violence have often been forced to justify themselves on grounds of consent. Now, Italy has updated its law to redefine sexual violence to include explicit “free and current” consent.
Source: Euronews
Founded in 2021, the centre in Ghana is home to 54 survivors, along with their 12 children, who enroll in a two-year course to participate in a beauty school, fashion programme, or university prep track.
Source: Good Good Good
A growing body of research has linked environmental threats like extreme heat and wildfire smoke to an uptick in stillbirths, premature births and low-birth weights. Now doulas, who traditionally provide emotional and physical support to pregnant people, are helping their patients through climate-related issues.
Source: Reasons To Be Cheerful
Two unique methods have emerged to protect threatened species: in the UK, scientists have developed contraceptive-laced nutty spread for invasive grey squirrels, while across the Pacific, black-footed albatross eggs are being moved away from their low-lying homes.
Source: BBC News
Homosexuality is prevalent in the animal kingdom, with roughly 10% of male sheep expressing same-sex behaviours. However, rams who don’t mate with female sheep are often considered useless and sent to slaughterhouses. Michael Stücke’s farm is a sanctuary for these gay sheep, but with a mission: he shears their wool for yarn products, with all proceeds going to Germany’s largest queer rights organisation.
Source: Good Good Good
