1 . Innovation has pretty much finished with car tires (轮胎) right, I mean, what’s left to change? How about the whole “air” part?

Michelin Company’s attempt to tackle tire rubbish around the world witnessed them roll out puncture-proof “airless” tires, which they say should help reduce the 18% of all world tires that are abandoned early due to punctures (轮胎漏气). Deserted tires arc a huge worldwide waste problem — the US produces 260 million abandoned tires per year, many of which end up in landfills or on the sides of the freeway where they release harmful gases and microplastic pollutants as they break down.

Michelin Company's Unique Puncture Proof Tire System or “UPTIS” is designed using 46% recycled material, and made from a plastic matrix (母体) mixed with glass fibers that provide a flexible outer layer with a strong inner one. “The truly distinctive structure of the Michelin UPTIS prototype (原型), or its “strangeness” as we have often heard it called, really attracted the eye of many visitors and left a lasting impression on them,” stated Cyrille Roget, Michelin Group Technical and Scientific Communications Director. “It was an unusual experience for us, and our greatest satisfaction came at the end of the demonstration when our passengers, who were undoubtedly a little alert (警觉) at first, said they felt no difference compared with conventional tires.”

Michelin Company believes airless tires will improve everyone's lives. Maintenance (保养) costs for company’s vehicle fleets will be less expensive, and inexperienced car owners won’t accidentally ruin their rubbers when driving them because they are over-or under-inflated (充气). Although they are still in development stage and using at a large scale within years is unlikely to be available, Michelin Company is not in the least doubtful about their tires’ future.

2 . A new study shows that increases in extreme winter weather in parts of the US are linked to quickened warming of the Arctic (北极).

Over the past four decades, warming in the Arctic has been far more definite than that in the rest of the world and has caused a rapid decrease of summer sea ice. Heating in the Arctic has ultimately disturbed the circular pattern of winds known as the polar vortex (旋涡). As a result, it got stretched out of shape and slid southward off the pole. Scientists believe this vortex stretching process led to the deadly Texas cold wave in February this year.

“The polar vortex over the Arctic usually locks in cold air at the poles and does not easily move south. The stronger the winds, the more the air inside is kept, and the colder it gets,” explained lead researcher Dr. Judah Cohen, who’s a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “Melting (融化) ice in the Arctic and rising temperatures can disturb the Arctic vortex, making cold air no longer locked in the Arctic? but move some farther south.”

The researchers say that their findings are based on both observations and modelling and they show a physical link between climate change in the Arctic, the stretching of the polar vortex and the impacts on ground.

The researchers believe their work could improve predictions about the beginning of extreme cold winter events. The research team also believes that their findings will help people understand that global warming is complex and perhaps let go of the idea that colder winters mean climate change isn’t happening. “In the past, these cold extremes over the US and Russia have been used to justify not reducing carbon, but there’s no longer any excuse to not start reducing emissions (排放) right away,’’ said Dr. Cohen.

5 . The idea of billions of people going through a few masks a week during this pandemic definitely rings alarm bells, but a team of researchers in Melbourne may have the solution.

They’ve discovered that adding millions of discarded face masks to road-paving (铺路) mixtures would actually lower the cost of the road, while preventing billions of them from landfills. Just one kilometer of road would need three million masks, and the polypropylene (聚丙烯) plastic used to make single-use surgical face masks also increased the flexibility and durability of the road.

The new material is a mixture of about 2% torn masks, with recycled concrete aggregate (RCA)—a material obtained from waste concrete and other minerals from destroyed buildings. This recycled material was found in the study to be ideal for two of the four layers generally required to create roadways. Paving a kilometer of two-way road with the RCA and three million face masks would result in a change of 93 tons of waste from landfills.

The final product then is more resistant to wear than asphalt (沥青), as well as being cheaper too, provided there was a method for collecting masks. The research team did a cost-analysis and found that, at $26 per ton, the RCA was about half the cost of mining raw materials, and as much as a third of the cost of shipping the used masks to a landfill.

The widespread application would be ideal for large infrastructure (基础设施) projects. For example, Washington has the 11th worst roads in terms of unaddressed repairs in the U.S. If the damaged roads in Washington state were repaired with the RCA/mask mixture, it would reuse nearly 10 billion masks, sparing American landfills hundreds of millions of tons of trash.

It’s said that the team is looking for private industry partners or governments willing to give their plastic mask road an opportunity for a large-scale test.

8 . As a child, Rob Stewart loved the natural world. “He loved everything in the sea, but sharks the most,” said his mother, Sandy Stewart.

Stewart spent his life studying and photographing sharks and other sea creatures, and creating films. Sadly, he died in 2017 at the age of 37 in a diving accident. The accident happened while Stewart was filming Sharkwater Extinction, which members of his crew completed after his death.

Knowing that about 25% of shark species were endangered and sharks might soon be extinct, Stewart worked hard to raise awareness of sharks and their key role in nature. Stewart believed that they should be protected against humans and other enemies. He studied how illegally shark finning has led to a great fall in the shark population.

When Stewart found out about the finning, he tried to end it. As an experienced diver and skilled cinematographer, he was able to raise awareness of the problem by filming sharks in their natural environment. His films, said Sandy Stewart, showed people “how beautiful the underwater creatures are. People would fall in love with them and work to protect them.”

As of 2013, 55 countries had banned shark finning. Stewart lived and died a hero in the pursuit of saving sharks and the sea. He is believed to have saved one-third of the world’s sharks.

Stewart’s parents hope kids will continue his story by supporting shark-friendly actions. They encourage kids to buy or ask their parents to buy shark-free products.

Another thing that young people can do is learn more about sharks. A good place to start is 2 “Shark Database,” an online resource that was created by Rob Stewart’s friends.

“It’s your generation that we want to make sure sees the world that Rob saw and does whatever you can to protect the big fish,” said Stewart’s father. “One person can make a big difference.”

9 . Germany’s top court has ruled that parts of the country’s 2019 climate (气候) action law must be changed because they don’t do a good job of protecting young people. The result is a big victory for the nine young people who started the law suing (诉讼).

The court suing stresses an important part of the climate change: The change will impact greatly on young people far more than the adults. That’s because the effects of earth warming will become more serious over time. As young people become adults, they’ll be left to deal with many problems that today’s adults have ignored. The government’s failure to plan carefully was putting their future lives in danger.

In 2019, Germany passed a new law, promising that the country would be carbon neutral (碳中和) by 2050. The law made a detailed plan of action until 2030. But the law didn’t have any specific rules or plans for climate actions that would be taken between 2031 and 2050.

Last Thursday, the judges of Germany’s highest court agreed with the young people. They said that not taking climate action made the basic rights of young people to a good future in danger.

The young people had challenged the government’s law in four specific areas. The judges didn’t agree with all of the challenges. But having the court support even a part of their case is seen as a big victory. Neubauer is one of the young people who sued. She works with the climate action group Fridays For Future. Ms. Neubauer said, “Climate protection is our basic right. This is a huge win for the climate movement. It changes a lot.”

The court has given the German government until the end of 2022 to fix the law. The climate law will now need to have a much more detailed plan for the actions that will be taken after 2030 to cut Germany’s pollution, allowing it to become carbon neutral by 2050. Germany’s government has said that it will quickly begin working to make the needed changes.