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  • The urine revolution: how recycling pee could help to save the world

    Chelsea Wald

    February 09, 2022 |

    Nature |

    Photojournalism |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Sweden, Gotland

    Companies and research initiatives around the world are developing and testing new toilets that can collect human urine and turn it into fertilizer. These urine diversion toilets have been implemented in places like South Africa with mixed results. However, researchers in Sweden are using portable toilets to gather the urine, dry it into fertilizer pellets that are then used to grow barley for beer. This work could show how to implement these kinds of toilets on a large scale.

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  • Off the coast of Italy, a radical approach to battling illegal fishing: a seafloor sculpture museum

    Veronique Mistiaen

    February 07, 2022 |

    National Geographic |

    Multi-Media |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Italy

    An unlikely sculpture museum is helping to battle illegal fishing off the coast of Italy, but this one museum you'll have to dive to see. Over 39 sculptures make up this underwater exhibit and serve as a physical barrier to seafloor trawling.

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  • Rwanda Strives To Stamp Out Killer Malaria Using Drones

    Aimable Twahirwa

    September 14, 2021 |

    Rwanda Dispatch |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Rwanda, Kigali

    A pilot program is using drones to spray anti-Malaria pesticides in high-incidence regions. The spraying drones have a 10-liter on-board tank that holds a biological insecticide, which uses bacteria that impacts larval stages of certain insects, including mosquitoes. The operator flown drone has a battery powered spray pump that releases the spray and the downward thrust of the propellers pushes it to the ground. The fixed-wing drone takes off vertically and flies horizontally for 50 minutes and 80 miles. Estimates show a drastic decline of malaria cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the sprayed areas.

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  • The lost generation of ancient trees

    Katherine Latham

    September 08, 2021 |

    BBC |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United Kingdom

    Ancient trees like the Big Belly Oak, which grows to be hundreds of years old, provide substance to thousands of invertebrate species, and hundreds of species of lichen and fungi. However, due to changes in forest management and agriculture, many of the ancient trees are not surviving long enough to age. It's crucial for them to age because that's when many species of fungi and insects begin to move into their core. In order to speed up the aging process scientists are trying two methods, veteranisation and inserting fungi into trees.

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  • Cases of missing trans people are rarely solved. A married pair of forensic genealogists is hoping to change that

    Erica Lenti

    September 01, 2021 |

    Xtra |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Orange, Massachusetts

    Trans Doe Task Force is a nonprofit project by two professional genetic genealogists that works to solve cold cases involving missing and murdered trans people. Trans people are at greater risk of violence. When their unidentified bodies are found, police are more likely to mishandle or neglect their cases. Using the tactics of genetic genealogy to turn a DNA sample into a link to known family members, and then narrowing the list of possible victims to the right one, TDTF has solved two cases out of 173 it has worked on. It also has worked with police agencies to change hearts and minds.

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  • A San Francisco Airport Site Is Crawling With Snakes—And That's a Good Thing

    Ashley Stimpson

    July 27, 2021 |

    Atlas Obscura |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

    The endangered San Francisco garter snake has made a comeback due to conservation efforts at the San Francisco International airport. They built ponds and wetlands to make the conditions ideal for the snake to thrive and as a result, approximately 1,300 snakes call the property home. While there are still issues with invasive plants and industrial runoff polluting the area, the ecological improvements have helped the snake population’s rebound.

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  • Many mangrove restorations fail. Is there a better way?

    Katarina Zimmer

    July 22, 2021 |

    Knowable Magazine |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Guinea-Bissau

    Mangrove forests are known to be excellent storers of carbon and hosts of biodiversity, but they are also able to protect communities on coastlines from storm surge. However, many of the projects to restore these forests fail because they are rushed or planted in the wrong places. Scientists argue that organizers should focus on natural regrowth or “ecological mangrove restoration,” a science-based approach, which has been used in Indonesia and Guinea-Bissau.

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  • Colorado screening newborn babies for spinal muscular atrophy

    Jennifer Brown

    July 12, 2021 |

    The Colorado Sun |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Colorado

    A joint project between Wyoming and Colorado screens newborns for spinal muscular atrophy, allowing them to receive gene therapies to prevent the deadly disease’s progression. Once researchers identified a protein missing from the cells of people with the disease, they developed treatments that are most effective the earlier they are started. The tests have significantly increased the number of cases identified across the two states, all of which are sent to Children’s Hospital Colorado for immediate treatment. Most babies are diagnosed within four days of birth and can start treatment soon after that.

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  • The Big Idea: using AI to breed more sustainable crops

    Freya Pratty

    June 22, 2021 |

    Sifted |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Israel

    For the past 200 years, crops have been bred for yield, for feeding livestock, rather than nutritional value. However, as more people shift away from meat the industry is looking to produce crops for flavor and nutritional value. Yet, finding the right crops with the right traits can take a long time. One company is trying to speed up the process. Equinom, is a company that is using AI technology to select the best genes from each plant and then predict the outcomes. The technology has resulted in 100k acres of specialized crops.

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  • Chocpocalypse Now! Quarantine and the Future of Food

    Nicola Twilley Cynthia Graber Geoff Manaugh

    June 22, 2021 |

    Gastropod |

    Podcast |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: Australia, Barrow Island, Western Australia

    Off the coast of Australia, the energy company Chevron is experimenting with new quarantine management techniques to ensure that any plants and pests don’t hitchhike to new places, which can devastate the global food economy. They’ve redesigned shipping containers to make it harder for insects to tag along and they’ve created a video game to train workers on how to be better at finding these pests in their inspections. Some creatures and plants can slip through the process, but these tools have been successful and could be used in other ways.

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