【推荐2】Microbiologists have designed a sustainable way to remove polluting microplastics from the environment by using bacteria. Initial design as it is, it paves the way for sustainably lowering plastic pollution levels and stop the “plastification”.

Bacteria naturally tend to group together and stick to surfaces, and this creates a sticky material called “biofilm”. Researchers at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) want to use this adhesive bacteria character and capture microplastics in polluted water to form an easily disposable and recyclable blob(团) .

Sylvia Lang Liu, microbiology researcher at PolyU and lead researcher on this project, together with his team, has engineered a bacterial biofilm, which can fix and absorb microplastics floating around in the water, and make them sink to the bottom of the water. Then the researchers can separate the microplastics from the bacteria traps and get them ready to recycle.

Microplastics are the plastic fragments, usually smaller than 5mm, which are accidentally released into the environment during production and breakdown of grocery bags or water bottles, or during everyday activities such as washing synthetic (合成的) clothes or using personal care products with scrubbing microbeads in them. Microplastics are visually tiny, making it challenging to develop effective solutions to trap, collect, and recycle them.

Microplastics are not easily biodegradable (生物降解的), so they stick around for long and absorb and accumulate poisonous chemicals. They spread into wastewater and into the oceans, endangering marine animals and eventually threatening human health, Microplastics had been found in more than 114 species living in the water and also salt, lettuce, apples, and more in 2018 according to the International Maritime Organization.

“This is an innovative application of biofilm engineering l0 address the plastio pollution crisis,” said Dr Joanna Sadler, researcher at University of Edinburgh, who was not involved in this study. “One of the biggest challenges in dealing with microplastics is capturing such small particles. Liu and co-workers have denmonstrated an elegant solution to this problem, which holds great potential to be further developed into a real-world wastewater treatment technology.”

【推荐2】It’s 4:30 am in a forest where a small group of scarlet macaws (金刚鹦鹉) are waiting for Montoya Santiago.

“Twice a day, I give them rice with beans. When I can, I buy bird food. I do it with lots of love because they are like my children,” says Montoya, who lives in a small village called Mabita, where most of the villagers protect these colorfully feathered birds and the rest of the wildlife surrounding them.

Years ago, Montoya made extra money by selling macaw eggs and babies as pets — not realizing that it would have a detrimental impact on the bird population. When she learned the number of macaws was rapidly declining, Montoya decided to become a protector of the birds. She tried to convince the other villagers to follow in her footsteps.

“They threatened me at first, but I convinced everyone to stop selling the chicks,” says Montoya. “Before 1990, the hunting and sale of wild species was legal in my country and thousands of macaws were killed. In 2010, the population dropped to 100, compared to 500 in 2005.”

Montoya’s work drew the attention of One Earth Conservation based in New York, which decided to provide funds to monitor and strengthen the macaw population with the support of the local villagers. They were paid about $10 per day to take care of the macaws and Montoya was hired to serve as the community’s project director.

“We have similar projects all over the Americas, but the Mabita project is the most successful one because of Montoya’s commitment,” says LoraKim Joyner, founder of One Earth Conservation. “Despite having her own family to feed, including six children and other young relatives, she shared her precious crops with the birds. Not everyone can do that.”

Since the project began, the scarlet macaw population has grown from 100 to 800. However, there is concern that the progress made so far will be rolled back: funding for the community involvement will end the next year.

【推荐3】When Francesca Jones was eight, doctors told her she would not be able to play tennis as a professional. She has a rare condition called ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia syndrome(先天性缺指综合症). Jones was born with three fingers and a thumb on each hand, three toes on her right foot and four on her left. Now aged 20, Jones qualified this month to play at the Australian open-her first grand slam tennis tournament.

The Australian Open, which is due to start on 8 February, is one of the four big grand slam events in the sport. These are the most important competitions in tennis: the other three are the French Open, the US Open and Wimbledon.

Her condition means that Jones, who was born in Bradford, England, had lots of surgeries when she was younger. She suffered problems with balance and gripping the tennis racket. Jones was determined to overcome these issues and prove the doctors wrong. She won a place at a tennis academy in Barcelona, Spain, when she was nine and has been focused on playing tennis at the highest level ever since.

“I’m playing to have a positive impact on people who read my story, and I hope people can take the positive from it and build on it,” she said.