Biotech's birth story

🌍 Nearly 200 shipping companies are calling for the world’s first global fee on emissions from the maritime sector (Mongabay)

A new study has linked over 200 severe heat waves to greenhouse gas emissions from major fossil fuel producers, finding a quarter of them would be “virtually impossible” without this climate pollution (NPR)

🌍 Europe is experiencing increasingly severe and longer-lasting heat waves making cooling a matter of survival, and France is locked in an argument over air conditioning (The New York Times)

The EPA has proposed eliminating mandatory emissions tracking for over 8,000 major polluters, disproportionately harming Black communities that already face twice the pollution exposure (Capital B)

🌎 India is investing $570 million to help its steel companies reduce carbon emissions and transition to cleaner production methods (Bloomberg)

Recent breakthroughs in AI and biomarker technology are ushering in a new era of primary disease prevention (Ground Truths)

A vote to delay the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns until at least one month of age has been tabled amid concerns from medical experts that such delays could lead to more infant infections and chronic liver disease (the 19th)

Parkinson’s disease has largely become a man-made pandemic driven by environmental toxins, particularly herbicides and dry-cleaning chemicals, and spoiler! Internal industry documents show that companies knew they were potentially harmful but continued to sell them anyway (The New York Times)

Removing Planned Parenthood from Medicaid will potentially leave 1.1 million patients without access to reproductive health care, cancer screenings, and STI treatment (the 19th)

Cities and states are experimenting with zoning reforms and development projects to address declining housing affordability through increased supply (Slow Boring)

A market-based auction using a virtual currency increased food supply by 100 million pounds annually (enough to feed 60,000 people daily) by allowing food banks to bid on what they actually needed rather than receiving random allocations that often result in waste and spoilage (Works in Progress)

🌍 The EU is requiring member states to reduce food waste by 30% by 2030, while also implementing extended producer responsibility schemes to combat fast fashion waste (DW)

🌏 A NASA scientist has established a rapid assessment center to monitor global agriculture and prevent food supply disruptions (Bloomberg)

🌍 Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa have increased school meal provisions by nearly a third through domestic investment rather than foreign aid (Reuters)

Average household water bills in LA have risen by nearly 60% over the last 10 years, significantly outpacing inflation (LA Times)

While privacy concerns about smart glasses are valid, we can’t ignore that they are proving to be transformative for people with disabilities (The Verge)

🌍 Microsoft is using gas-powered generators to run at least one of its data centers in Mexico after being unable to connect to the grid, highlighting how the AI boom is driving energy demands that are outpacing infrastructure globally (Rest of World)

Library book checkouts skyrocketed after a school in Kentucky banned cellphones (The New York Times)

OpenAI is implementing a new feature where ChatGPT will notify parents when their children express thoughts of self-harm (Platformer)

Pacific Gas & Electric is piloting a virtual power plant program that coordinates rooftop solar, home batteries, and smart electrical panels to relieve stress on local power grid circuits, potentially saving billions in infrastructure upgrade costs (Canary Media)