2 . According to the United Nations, 60 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come directly from the way that we currently produce our electricity.71 percent of the earth is covered in water yet only around 1.5 percent of the global energy is produced through wave power. That’s what inspired Eco Wave Power CEO, Inna Braverman to take on the challenge.

Two weeks after she was born in Ukraine in 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred and she got hurt, suffering from breathing arrest and a clinical death. But thanks to her mother, who was a nurse, she was saved. Growing up, she felt it her purpose to find green and sustainable energy.

Inna found that previous wave energy developers have decided to pursue offshore technologies, contributing to huge installation and maintenance costs, incredibly vulnerable stations in storms, and consequently lack of funding. Her innovative version, however, is to install the power station on land. The only part of the system in the water is the floaters which bob up and down with the waves. These push compressed air into a tank where the energy is stored to produce electricity. The floaters are attached to existing man-made structures such as banks, piers, and breakwaters.

The simplicity of the design makes it cheaper to install and maintain as well as being better protected from rough weather and therefore, insurable. Once a commercial plant producing 20 megawatt s or more (enough for 20,000 homes) is in place, the unit cost significantly reduces. “Our price of energy decreases to about $0.05 US (€0.05) per kilowatt hour, which is comparable to the prices of onshore wind,” Inna explains.

A pilot station was installed in Gibraltar in 2016. It was the first wave energy system to be connected to the grid in Europe. More tests of the wave energy system have been arranged in different countries and regions.

3 . Adverse impacts on health due to extreme weather and vector-borne disease risks could increase in the United Kingdom (UK) under a warming climate, according to a report published on Monday by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

The report, written by 90 experts, is based on climate projections using a high-end warming scenario (可能发生的情况) or a “worst-case scenario” of approximately 4.3 degrees Celsius of warming by 2100. “Our changing climate poses one of the greatest health security and societal challenges, impacting everything from the air we breathe to the quality and availability of our food and water,” Isabel Oliver, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said in a statement. The report estimates that there will be up to 10,000 deaths in the country by the 2050s as a result of extreme heat.

Based on a high-end warming scenario, the report anticipates a substantial surge in heat related deaths, with an increase of over 1.5 times by the 2030s and an over 12-fold rise by the 2070s. It also states that vector-borne diseases, such as chikungunya, dengue and Zika viruses, could become transmissible in London and other parts of the UK due to more Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquitoes) and Culex mosquitoes.

The report also warns that more people will be at high risk of flooding in the future due to changing rainfall patterns.

“Action is needed now to adapt our policies, environments and our behaviors to secure health, well-being and livelihoods,” Oliver said, adding that much can be done to “avert (避免) and prevent” the impacts of climate change on health.

UKHSA, an executive agency sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care, is responsible for planning, preventing and responding to external health threats.

This year is set to be the hottest year on record in human history, according to a report published by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) at the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

7 . The Australian sand octopus (章鱼) was discovered in 1990 and is the only octopus species known to bury itself deep in the sand to hide from enemies. A team of researchers are studying the venom (毒液) of this kind of octopus. They have discovered that the venom may greatly slow cancer growth. And it can also help fight drug resistance in patients with a BRAF-changed skin cancer. BRAF is involved in managing cell growth. A change in it results in abnormal cell growth. These BRAF changes are seen in half of all cases of skin cancers.

“We and other groups have previously discovered that other animals-snakes, spiders, bees-have anticancer properties,” said Dr. Maria, the study’s lead author. “However, in my current knowledge, the anticancer properties of an octopus species have never been studied or confirmed before.”

Current treatments face a few challenges including low response rates, poisoning and side effects, as well as drug resistance. The octopus venom slows the growth of BRAF-changed skin cancer. More importantly, it is safe to be used in large quantities — it is not poisonous. Therefore, in combination with other drugs, the treatments could potentially achieve better and safer patient outcomes.

It is very unlikely that the octopus has specifically developed its venom to contain an anticancer substance. According to the researching team, the octopus venom contains over 1,000 unique substances with several functions such as reducing pain and anticancer.

“In this study, we have shown that the octopus venom specifically targets BRAF-changed skin cancer. The next step is to examine whether similar promising results are applicable for other BRAF-changed cancers.” said Dr. Maria. “Before it can be used on patients, the team will need to perform several rounds of lab testing and clinical trials to understand how it works and its full potential as a drug against skin cancer.”

8 . For years, scientists have debated whether humans or the climate have caused the population of large mammals to decline dramatically over the past several thousand years. A new study from Aarhus University confirms that climate cannot be the explanation.

About 100,000 years ago, the first modern humans migrated out of Africa in large numbers. They were very good at adapting to new habitats, and they settled in almost every kind of landscape — from deserts to jungles to the icy taiga in the far north.

Part of the success was human’s ability to hunt large animals. With clever hunting techniques and specially built weapons, they perfected the art of killing even the most dangerous mammals.

But unfortunately, the great success of our ancestors came at the expense of the other large mammals.

It is well-known that numerous large species went extinct during the time of worldwide colonization by modern humans. Now, new research from Aarhus University reveals that those large mammals that survived also experienced a dramatic decline.

By studying the DNA of 139 living species of large mammals, scientists have been able to show that the abundances of almost all species fell dramatically about 50,000 years ago. This is according to Jens-Christian Svenning, a professor and head of the Danish National Research Foundation’s Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO) at Aarhus University and the initiator of the study.

“We’ve studied the evolution of large mammalian populations over the past 750,000 years. For the first 700,000 years, the populations were fairly stable. But 50,000 years ago, the populations fell dramatically and never recovered,” he says, and continues: “For the past 800,000 years, the globe has fluctuated (波动) between ice ages and interglacial periods about every 100,000 years. If the climate was the cause, we should see greater fluctuations when the climate changed 50,000 years earlier.But we don’t. Humans are, therefore, the most likely explanation.”

9 . A kindhearted family put themselves in a risky situation to rescue an aggressive owl that had become trapped in a soccer net. One morning, the Larsons discovered a trapped owl on the football field. They immediately wanted to rescue the poor owl, but they found that the owl was very aggressive. Fearful of the owl’s sharp claws and beak, Dave Larson approached with caution when he discovered the bird in his family’s soccer goal in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

In the dramatic footage, the distressed owl can be seen tangled in the netting while Dave slowly but surely attempts to cut the bird free. During the proceedings, Dave’s wife, Sue, filmed the rescue, which saw the startled bird snap at Dave on numerous occasions, stretching out its claws every time he got close. Fortunately, the family was able to free the distressed bird, with their son Travis sharing the clip online where they were showered with praise for assisting the animal on September 27.

Sue said: “We were very nervous knowing how strong and sharp his beak was, which he kept snapping to scare us. He also kept stretching his claws out every time we got close to him. We were able to feel a little more at ease when the owl eventually realized we weren’t trying to hurt him, and he seemed to relax and let us cut him free. As soon as he flew away, there was instant relief of the situation. But it was more happiness at knowing he was alright and being able to see him fly and move without injury.”

This beautiful story warms people’s hearts and also tells us that man and nature need to coexist in harmony. When we take care to protect Nature, Nature rewards us generously; when we exploit Nature ruthlessly, it punishes us without mercy. We need to have deep reverence for Nature, respect Nature, follow Nature’s laws and protect Nature, so as to build a homeland of harmonious coexistence between man and Nature.

10 . While you’re hiding away the Christmas presents, animals are storing food for the winter! Many animals “cache” (贮藏) or hide food for time to come, similar to how we stock our pantries with food. In the winter months, caching allows animals to survive when food is scarce.

Some animals, such as bobcats and mountain lions, leave dead animals’ bodies for short periods of time buried beneath surrounding vegetation. Other animals, such as rodents and birds, store seeds for long periods of time in places they’ll return to weeks or even months later.

Hiding food throughout an animal’s home range is known as scatter hoarding. This keeps the caches low and less enticing to any potential thieves. However, this technique requires a good memory, as the food is often in dozens, if not hundreds, of different locations.

Another caching technique involves animals collecting food in only a couple of places, referred to as larder hoarding. These caches are often found in cavities such as a hollow tree or a hole in the ground. They are easier to find but require lots of defensive measures.

Here are some of the animals that cache in the Peach State:

Birds such as chickadees, nuthatches, titmice and jays can store hundreds of seeds in a single day. Each seed is placed in a different location, and they usually remember where each is, even months later. Flying squirrels store a variety of seeds, nuts and acorns in their nests and in trees. These nocturnal squirrels will even bury seeds in the ground. It is believed that a single lying squirrel can store over 15,000 seeds in a year! Moles trap live earthworms underground. The mole bites the earthworm’s head off, and colder temperatures slow the earthworm down. If the weather warms up before the mole has a chance to consume its prey, however, earthworms can regrow their heads and tunnel their way to freedom.