【推荐1】Scientists have assessed 78 mountain glacier-based water systems around the world and ranked the Asian water towers as the most threatened, according to a recently published study in the journal Nature.

Scientists ranked the importance of the water systems to neighbouring lowland communities while assessing the vulnerability (脆弱性) to future environmental and socioeconomic changes. These water systems, known as mountain water towers, store and transport water via glaciers, snowpacks, lakes and streams, therefore supplying invaluable water resources to 1.9 billion people globally.

The scientists analyzed the various factors that influenced how independent downstream communities were upon the supplies of water from these systems. They also assessed each water tower to determine the vulnerability of the water resources, as well as the people and ecosystems that depended on them, based on predictions of future climate and socio-economic changes. The paper said that global water towers are at risk due to the threats of climate change, growing populations and mismanagement of water resources.

Among the 78 global water towers identified, Asian water towers that rely on river systems in the Third Pole region were ranked as the most threatened water towers.

“If temperatures increase two degrees Celsius globally, the Asian water towers could see a temperature hike as high as four degrees Celsius,” said Prof. Yao Tandong, a scientist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and also a co-author of the research, adding that by 2060 to 2070, rising temperatures due to climate change could lead to ever-stronger glacier reduction in the region.

Since 2014, a network of 11 monitoring stations has been set up across the Third Pole region to track meteorological (气象的) variables, such as air temperature, humidity, air pressure, precipitation (降水量) and winds, according to a comment published in Nature earlier this year. Data needs to be expanded on the water cycle by measuring the stable isotopes (同位素) of hydrogen and oxygen in water vapor.

【推荐2】In a video submitted to a nationwide science competition, Heman Bekele from Virginia spelled out his mission briefly — cure cancer, one bar of soap at a time. He created a cheap soap that could potentially help fight skin cancer. His invention won him the title of “America’s Top Young Scientist” at the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, an annual competition that invites students in grades five through eight to “change their world for the better with a single innovative idea”, on October 10, 2023.

At age 4, Heman moved to America from Ethiopia, where he always saw people constantly working under the hot sun. While he considered ideas for the competition, it struck him that so many people in his hometown were unaware of the risk of sun exposure. The recollections fueled his decision to focus his research on skin cancer.

“I hoped to make my idea something that not only was great in terms of science but also could be affordable for as many people as possible,” Heman said. As he initially thought about his approach, Heman wanted his product to be something as much of a “constant” in people’s life as possible, an item that was most convenient in contrast to other medicinal products.

In June 2023, he was selected as a top-ten finalist and paired with 3M product engineering specialist Deborah Isabelle to develop and test a physical prototype (原型) of his idea. It took the pair four months of trial and error to create “Skin Cancer Treating Soap” (SCTS). The bar contains chemicals that restore the body’s dendritic cells killed by cancer cells. Once reconstructed, dendritic cells, the body’s first line of defense against cancer and infections, are capable of fighting against cancer cells. SCTS, which costs just 50 cents a bar, still has to undergo clinical trials. The process could take over five years.

Heman’s plan for the soap stretches far beyond the winning. He has a five-year plan, which includes seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration. He also hopes to start a nonprofit to distribute the soap in the future. “There is still a lot left to do,” the 14-year-old teenager said.

【推荐1】Aristotle was among the first thinkers to become interested in the red snow on Mount Parnassus in the 4th century BC. The Greek philosopher owed the colour to hairy worms living in freezing conditions at high altitude. The phenomenon has puzzled scientists ever since. Now a team of French researchers find that snow is getting redder all the time.

The red is indeed produced by organisms in the snow - not by hairy worms, but by microalgae(微藻类)that inhabit ecosystems up to 3, 000 metres above sea level. The microalgae that are green and invisible in the winter become loaded with pigments(色素)in the summer which protect them from the sun, turning the snow reddish. It's when the sun's rays become strong that the microalgae create a protective layer of red molecules(分子) that are like a sun cream.

The researchers say on their website, “The appearance of ‘red snows’ seems to be more and more frequent at high altitudes, as well as in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.” One explanation for the spread of red snows could be global warming, the scientists say. Microalgae capture carbon dioxide when exposed to light, turning it into organic matter and placing it at the foundation of ecosystems in soil, water and snow. With climate change, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing. “It is therefore expected that certain microalgae respond positively to this increase, behaving as markers of climate change,” the website says.

Yet scientists are unsure about what impact the microalgae have on melting glaciers and snow. They suspect that because the red pigments absorb the heat they are accelerating environmental change. “Even if it is fantastic to see microalgae developing in the snow, one of the consequences is... the disappearance of their environment,” the researchers added.

【推荐2】Unless you’ve been faithfully bringing reusable shopping bags to the store, you probably grab the plastic bags waiting for customers at the checkout. You’re not alone.

About 100 billion plastic bags are used in the U. S. each year. Unfortunately, single-use plastic bags have serious consequences once our trip to the store is over. Less than 10% of plastic bags used in the U. S. are recycled, leaving the rest to end up in landfills (垃圾填埋场), and polluting soil, oceans and other natural habitats.

To fight pollution and other environmental problems, major companies are taking steps to get rid of the use of plastic shopping bags. If you’re a frequent customer at Walmart, don’t be surprised if you notice the plastic bags disappearing over the next few months. Last summer, Walmart announced its goal to be a zero-waste company — meaning no more plastic bags.

But Walmart has announced its Beyond the Bag, an initiative (倡议) working to explore reusable options and “reimagine” the plastic bag. Target and CVS are also on board as founding partners of Beyond the Bag, and so far, the three brands have invested $15 million to come up with a brand-new bag design.

The initiative also started the Beyond the Bag challenge, giving innovators (创新者) a chance to share their ideas. The challenge ran throughout the summer of 2020, and nine winners from over 450 submissions were selected. From a station supplying reusable bag in-store to a new and improved paper bag, the winning designs cover a lot of bases. Each product now has the chance to be tested with funding from the initiative.

While a final replacement for plastic bags at Walmart has yet to be decided, there’s a more sustainable future on the horizon. And if you want to start reducing your use of plastic bags right now, check out our list of reusable bags to bring on your next shopping trip.

【推荐3】In the early 1970s, a computer program called World One predicted that civilization would likely collapse in the near future.

When deciding the fate of civilization, the program considered the following variables: pollution, population, the availability of natural resources and global quality of life. The program produced graphs that indicated what would happen to those variables in the future. The graphs identified 2020 as a turning point for civilization.

“At around 2020, the condition of the planet becomes highly unlivable. If we do nothing about it, the quality of life goes down to zero. Pollution becomes so serious that it will start to kill people, which in turn will reduce the population to the level in the 1900 and that civilized life as we know on this planet will disappear around 2040 to 2050.”

This was not the end of the model. In 1972, the Club of Rome published The Limits to Growth, a book that built on a program called World Three. This time the variables were pollution, population, food production, consumption of nonrenewable natural resources and scientific developments.

The Limits to Growth pushed the collapse of civilization to 2072, when the limits of growth would be the most readily apparent and result in population and industrial declines.

The book touched off a fierce media war. The New York Times, for instance, wrote that the book assumed that a resource could never change over time, leaving their data shortsighted to any possible changes in consumption habits.

Writing in The Guardian, Cathy Alexander, a Melbourne-based journalist, argued, “The research does not say that collapse of the world economy, environment and population is a certainty. Nor does it claim the future will unfold exactly as the models predicted. But the findings should sound an alarm bell. It seems unlikely that the search for ever-increasing growth can continue unchecked to 2100 without causing serious negative effects—and those effects might come sooner than we think.”