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Today in Science.  "The first U.S. plan to reduce plastic waste."

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Russ Roberts (https://hawaiisciencejournal.blogspot.com).

 

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August 21, 2024: European space probe slingshots by the moon and Earth, a plan for reducing plastics, and where the VP candidates stand on health care. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

TOP STORIES

An image of the moon taken by monitoring camera 1 on Europe's JUICE Jupiter probe. ESA/Juice/JMC; acknowledgement: Simeon Schmauß & Mark McCaughrean (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)

JUICE Squeezes By Europe's JUICE Jupiter probe, which launched in April 2023 on a mission to study Jupiter and its four biggest moons, swung within 465 miles (750 kilometers) of the moon’s surface on Monday evening, and then flew by Earth nearly 24 hours later at 4250 miles (6840 km) above Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The craft snapped awesome photos of the moon with its two onboard monitoring cameras as it flew by. Why this is so cool: This is the first mission to use a “double gravity assist” in its trajectory. The spacecraft used the gravity of first the Moon and then Earth to change its speed and direction in order to reach Jupiter by 2031. Before it gets there it will pass Venus in August of next year, which will in turn slingshot JUICE out toward the giant planet. What the experts say:  "What we found is that by following this sequence of first Earth and then Venus, we manage to save about half a year of cruise time and arrive to Jupiter around July 2031," Ignacio Tanco, JUICE spacecraft operations manager, said during ESA's lunar flyby webcast.

Plastic Reduction Plans Humans have produced 9 billion metric tons of plastics since 1960, and experts estimate that roughly 80 percent of this material has piled up in landfills or the environment (only 9 percent has been recycled and 12 percent incinerated). In July, the Biden administration released the first U.S. plan for reducing plastics, and 175 nations are negotiating a binding international treaty on plastic pollution.  How it will work: Standardizing how we track plastics in the environment could help scientists gather consistent data that regulating bodies can use to set limits on microplastics in food, water and air, writes Sarah J. Morath, a professor of environmental law at Wake Forest University. Laws that require plastic producers to bear some of the cost of collecting and destroying their products exist in several states, and more states are considering such regulations. Plastic products that are used once and discarded are the most common types of plastic in the environment–banning such single-use plastics would significantly cut into plastic waste. What the experts say: Placing a cap on plastic production in the U.S. would likely drive more countries to limit their own plastics production, even though a production cap is currently not in the Biden plan, says Morath. “U.S. support could boost the chances of capping the ever-increasing flow of plastic into the world economy.”

TODAY'S NEWS

Picked up by the Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio State University on August 15, 1977, the Wow! signal is the most famous candidate alien transmission scientists have detected to date. Big Ear Radio Observatory and North American AstroPhysical Observatory (NAAPO)/Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

• The Wow! signal was not aliens (sorry), but was created when a flare from a hypermagnetized, hyperdense star called a magnetar struck a cold interstellar cloud of hydrogen gas, astronomers write in a new pre-publication study. | 6 min read

• Solving inflammatory bowel disease may require examining the genetics, immunology and the microbiome of people with the condition. | 4 min read

• Prisons usually lack AC, and heat indexes inside can reach 110 degrees Fahrenheit. A federal judge in Austin, Tex., is expected to rule on whether prisons in the state must install cooling. | 7 min read

• Here's how the Vice Presidential candidates' records compare on healthcare policy. | 6 min read

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EXPERT PERSPECTIVES

• A final round of negotiations for the UN's global plastics treaty is due to take place in South Korea in late November, and U.S. officials have announced that they will support the agreement. An international treaty to reduce plastics needs to be ambitious, specific and binding, says Imogen Napper, a marine science postdoc who studies plastic pollution at the University of Plymouth. "It is difficult to get nations to agree to firm action, because a lot of it comes down to money — both the money to be made from manufacturing plastic, and the money it costs to deal with waste." | 11 min read

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WHAT WE'RE READING

• Climate change has prompted a boom in Maine lobster populations--but it means a shortage of lobster habitats. | The Maine Monitor

• The communications team at the Australian National University College of Science read dozens of Ph.D. theses, and they found the most engaging material was usually in the acknowledgements section. | Australian National University

• The sounds of soil (yes, sounds!) can tell researchers which organisms are living below and the health of the patch. | Grist

I've said it before, but we can cut way down on plastic waste by eliminating single-use plastics from our everyday lives (20,000 plastic water bottles are purchased EVERY SECOND!). The UN Environment Programme has a fabulous interactive primer on how single-use plastic is made, how and where it's choking the Earth and ways YOU can get involved to help clean it up. Have you ever picked up plastic bottles from the beach or along your street? You're already helping.

Let me know the ways you reduce plastic consumption by emailing: newsletters@sciam.com. I'll be back tomorrow with more scientific discovery.

—Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

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