【推荐2】For a few seconds on a sunny afternoon last April，renewables broke a record for California’s main electric network，providing enough power to supply 94.5% of demand. The moment was praised as a milestone on the path to decarbonisation(脱碳).But what happens when the sunsets and the winds stop?

Handling the varied power production of renewables will require cheap storage for hours or even days at a time. New types of iron-based batteries might be up to the task.

Many firms are engaged in developing these kinds of batteries. Oregon- based ESS,whose batteries can store energy for between four and twelve hours，launched its first network-scale projects in 2021.Massachusetts-based Form Energy,which raised $ 240 million in 2021，has batteries that store power for up to 100 hours. Its first installation will be a one-megawatt(兆瓦)pilot plant in Minnesota，planned to be completed in 2023.

Both companies rely on batteries that use iron，one of the most abundant materials on the planet. This means that their offerings could eventually be cheaper than other network storage candidates. Form says its batteries could eventually cost just $ 20 per kilowatt-hour，lower than even optimistic predictions for lithium-ion(锂离子)batteries in the next several decades.

There are still challenges to address：iron batteries typically have low efficiency，meaning a good part of the energy that’s put into them can’t be recovered. Unwanted side reactions can also degrade them over time. But if iron-based batteries can be applied widely，at a low enough cost，they could help power more of the world with renewable energy.

【推荐1】The American space agency NASA has sent up a new satellite (卫星) designed to closely study the world’s oceans and atmosphere.

The satellite will spend at least three years studying the environment from 676 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. The satellite will map the entire world each day with two pieces of science equipment. A third one will glean monthly measurements. Scientists should start getting their first data within one or two months.

A major goal of the research is to help scientists improve their ability to predict (预测) hurricanes and other terrible weather events. The equipment can provide detailed data on temperature-related changes happening across the world. The satellite data might help scientists better predict when harmful algae (海藻) overgrowth will happen.

The satellite will also study aerosols (气溶胶) in the air. The study of aerosols is important because they can affect clouds. Aerosols can affect the thickness of clouds, as well as when and how much rainfall the clouds might drop.

Existing satellites can’t collect detailed data on aerosols. The new satellite will help researchers learn more about how aerosols affect clouds and climate over long periods. The new data is expected to provide scientists with detailed information on how aerosols affect the ocean and atmosphere.

There is a relationship between the aerosols and phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are very small plants that float near the surface of water. They serve as food for many sea creatures, ranging from shellfish to whales.

The satellite’s equipment will measure changes in phytoplankton. The satellite will collect data on aerosols attached to phytoplankton. These studies will be important in recognizing any changes in phytoplankton from interactions (相互影响) with aerosols which could affect the ocean and life in it.

The current Earth-observing satellites can only see in seven or eight different colors. But the new satellite will see in 200 colors, allowing scientists to better know about different kinds of algae in the sea and particles in the air.

【推荐3】The Daintree rainforest is overflowing with flora (植物群) and fauna (动物群) not found anywhere else in the world. It is also believed to be the oldest continual area of tropical rainforest in existence. With more than half of the world’s rainforests already destroyed,   here’s why it is important to help support activities to ensure this impressing part of Australia can’t be developed.

HalfCut is an innovative charity created in 2017 which is helping to save the Daintree rainforest in Far North Queensland. In fact, during the covid lockdowns of 2021, they helped raise more than $1.2 million for the Daintree “buy back” program which protected over 500,000 square metres of endangered Daintree rainforest. This is equal to 123.55 footbal fields worth of tropical rainforest.

Anyone wanting to support the protection of the Daintree is welcome by HalfCut. Created by James Standon-Cooke and life partner Jessie Clarke, this environmental activity is challenging you to cut off half of your hair, beard or moustache, since half stylish face makeup, baking goods, and even the odd half cut lawn have been popular more recently. If you feel like spending hundreds of dollars in colouring, then style your hair a different shade or braid (编) half of your hair, undercut or even get a normal haircut showing half of the length removed. Visit www. Go. HalfCut. org to share your new hairdo on social media with friends and family to help raise money. Every $2. 50 is one more square metre saved of the world’s oldest rainforest. It is up to you how long you stay halfcut. It may be for a day, a week or even a month. All money donated helps protect Daintree Rainforest in Far North Queensland which provides crucial habitat for many endangered species.

Don’t want to mess with your perfect hair? Then help spread the word by buying a HalfCut T-shirt, bag, hat or jacket and save 10 square metres of rainforest for life per purchase, or simply make a donation to this great cause. It is all about doing your bit to help to protect the oldest rainforest in the world.

【推荐1】Even for the team of experienced adventurers, exploring each new river part that feeds southern Africa’s Okavango Delta(奥卡万戈三角洲) in the north of Botswana presents unique challenges.

From April to July of 2019, the explorers of National Geographic’s Okavango Wilderness Project continued pushing their way into the unknown zone in the Angolan highlands, the source of the Okavango River, to explore the rivers and lakes that feed the delta, which run throughout Angola, Namibia, and Botswana.

Steve Boyes, an explorer from National Geographic, has been a project leader since 2015, when the team began formally describing the biodiversity(生物多样性) and characteristics of the Angolan highlands’ rivers for the first time. Since 2015, the team has crossed the Cuito and Cuanavale Rivers — two branches of the Okavango River. On the latest trip, they explored the source lakes of these two rivers and then headed westward to the Cubango River — the upper reaches of the Okavango River.

The trip to the source lakes was particularly unique. Although the team had been there before, this was the first time that they would dive under the surface to view a hidden world. These lakes are surrounded by thick layers of peat (泥煤) that have gathered over thousands of years, and have remained mostly undisturbed.

“We found 96 species of fish in the source lakes,” says Adjany Costa, another explorer from National Geographic. She explains this biodiversity has been unexplored until now because the locals never even fish there for food — they believe the lakes and rivers are occupied by a snake-like monster that protects the habitat.

The Cubango River is quite different from the Cuito and the Cuanavale. It is rocky and rough, and unlike the others, it has a well-travelled road to its west, which brings contact with people. Besides learning the biodiversity of the zone, a main focus of the Cubango River exploration was on figuring out how it is influenced by people living nearby. The team hopes the data collected in the exploration will be used to prevent seasonal drying and overuse of the valuable Cubango waters that feed the Okavango system.

Costa, as a native of Angola, is devoted to protecting her country. “Ever since I started working with the project, it has changed my opinion of how I see Angola as a whole,” she said.

【推荐2】Consumers may soon find meat on restaurant menus that has never walked the earth—grown from cell to fillet (肉块). The product, called “cultured” or “cultivated” meat, is reaching more plates. Cultivated chicken has been sold in a Singapore restaurant since 2020, and recently the Department of Agriculture approved the sale of cultured chicken in the United States. More than 150 businesses worldwide are working to put beef, fish, and pork on the market, too.

Cultured meat begins as a cell from an egg or a piece of traditionally butchered meat. Fed with certain nutrients for two or three weeks, the meat is processed into forms that consumers are familiar with. “Initial research is in a lab, but the meat is made in a production facility.” says Josh Tetrick, CEO of Good Meat, one of the USDA-approved cultured chicken manufacturers. The company has made public their own nutrient analysis, evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, which reveals that the nutritional profiles of their products are almost identical to conventional meats.

By alleviating the raising and killing of animals, cultured meat companies say their product helps reduce animal cruelty and will be better for the environment. Their process uses far less land because there’s no need to house animals or grow their feed. Cultured beef, especially, could reduce the number of cattle on farms-a significant source of methane emissions. However, some studies contradicted that cultured meat may also require greater energy usage than conventional production. Much of the environmental impact will depend on whether the energy used is renewable and on the efficiency of future production technology.

Given a growing consumer consciousness around animal rights and climate change, supporters foresee a future meat market where consumers will choose between different kinds of conventional meat, cultured meat, and plant-based alternatives. Approved sale of cultivated chicken in the U.S. is a landmark moment, but not yet a revolution. While cultured meat’s widespread consumption and impact on the economy seem a step closer to reality, scientists, philosophers, and the product’s own manufacturers acknowledge years of work lie ahead.

【推荐3】Let’s face it—most of us can’t resist a cup of tea or coffee sometimes. They’re a perfect pick-me-up and comforter. But there are alternative drinks, so why have we chosen these as our go-to drinks to soothe our busy lives? And which one is superior?

Let’s start with tea-it’s the second most consumed drink in the world. For many-especially the British-having a “cuppa” is a daily practice. The caffeine contained in it helps wake you up in the morning, and throughout the day we’ll make a brew to distract us from our work. And according to some scientists, habitual tea consumption can have some health benefits. Andrew Steptoe, a professor from University College London’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, told BBC Food that drinking black tea “may speed up recovery from the daily stresses in life. . . but we do not know what ingredients of tea were responsible for these effects on stress recovery and relaxation”.

Coffee is tea’s ＂trendier＂ rival(对手). Its popularity has grown over the years, and this is reflected in the number of coffee shops we see around-places to hang out, do business or catch up with friends. Coffee can taste great and can be served in many ways, but it’s sometimes how you have it that can be seen as a status symbol or the preserve of hipsters(潮人)I Of course, it gives you a strong caffeine hit-roughly double of that contained in tea. However, too much can lead to anxiety. Sleep scientist Matt Walker told the BBC that caffeine can decrease the amount of restorative deep sleep you have.

But some scientists say drinking coffee-and green tea-can also be good for us. Researchers at Osaka University linked drinking a daily cup of coffee with a lower risk of death among both stroke survivors and healthy people, while drinking seven or more cups of green tea was associated with a lower risk of death among both heart attack and stroke survivors. So, whether we turn to coffee or tea for its taste, its image or as a lifestyle choice, it could be a lifesaver!