Ada Palmer / is on Nostr

F&SF Novelist (Terra Ignota), historian (U Chicago), Renaissance, book history, censorship, classics, disability activism, FILK music Sassafrass, manga/anime Tezuka, chronic pain

Last Notes

2024-09-16 16:00:18

Rwanda’s Volcano Belt Water Supply System Project will provide 354,000 people in the Musanze, Nyabihu, and Rubavu districts with clean water. https://buff.ly/3ZmuEZN #ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-09-12 16:01:17

Record number of breeding puffins in the Gulf of Maine
Seal Island has set a record for breeding puffins, with 672 active puffin burrows counted, about 100 more than the last census five years ago. Measures to restore the island’s populations started in 1992, after a century’s absence due to hunting in the late 1800s. Razorbills, a larger cousin of the puffin, are also doing well, with 101 active burrows recorded. Portland Press Herald
https://buff.ly/4diY7ax
#ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-09-11 16:00:02

The largest dam removal in history is complete
The best thing that happened in the world last week: after years of negotiating—and decades of activism—the Klamath River is free of four huge dams, reopening more than 644 kilometres of free-flowing water. It’s a landmark moment for the Shasta Indian Nation, who are restoring 2,800 acres of their ancestral land that is above ground for the first time in a century. https://buff.ly/4gd6E1b https://buff.ly/4cQUf04
#ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-09-10 16:00:02

Mexico enshrines right to 'adequate' food
Mexico’s new “General Law on Adequate and Sustainable Nutrition” prioritises the right to nutritious, safe, sufficient, quality, and culturally appropriate food. It also guarantees elementary school students have access to free or affordable meals at school and aims to reduce food waste. Food Politics https://buff.ly/3ZgcpW2
#ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-09-07 17:02:10

The UNDP is planning to utilize Crane WASP, a large-format, modular 3D printer, to make houses in Colombia. Unlike other construction 3D printing solutions, the printer does not use concrete but rather prints directly with local soil and natural materials such as agricultural waste. Inspiration for the idea originally came from the potter wasp, which constructs its nests from natural materials. https://buff.ly/3AO3ele
#ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-09-06 19:04:57

Canadian researchers have discovered a protein in a bacterium called Deinococcus radiodurans that has a never-before-seen ability to stop DNA damage. 'With a human cell, if there are any more than two breaks in the entire billion base pair genome, it can’t fix itself and it dies (...) this unique protein helps the cell to repair hundreds of broken DNA fragments into a coherent genome.' https://buff.ly/4gep1CP#ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-09-04 23:02:01

In Tanzania, a collaborative effort between the Tanzanian government, the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), the Global Fund, and various malaria stakeholders has cut malaria prevalence from 14% in 2015 to 7% in 2022, with a goal of eradication by 2050. Meanwhile, Laos has reduced malaria cases by over 90% in the past decade and aims to eliminate the deadliest malaria parasite by 2026. https://buff.ly/4cRPi6Y https://buff.ly/47hgbQH#ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-09-03 16:00:14

Stanford engineers have devised a new technique, called redox-couple electrodialysis, to extract lithium from brines at an estimated 40% of the cost of today’s dominant extraction method (evaporation), and at just a fourth of lithium’s current market price. The new technology would also be much more reliable and sustainable in its use of water, chemicals, and land. https://buff.ly/3AGOjt0 #ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-08-29 19:24:18

Today, on the two-year anniversary of President Biden's "Inflation Reduction Act," analysis shows its clean power rollout effects in the USA are on track to *triple the (humungous) initial estimate of clean power expected to be facilitated by the bill!* #ShareGoodNewsToo https://rmi.org/on-the-climate-bills-second-birthday-surging-successes-but-a-split-reality/

2024-08-29 16:00:05

Solar-powered device extracts drinking water from air
Researchers in Saudi Arabia have developed a self-sustaining technology that could be a lifeline for people in arid regions. The two-stage system captures water from the air using an absorbent material and then condenses it in a sealed chamber using sunlight. This technique can produce two to three litres of water, suitable for drinking or farming, per square metre in a single day. Independent https://buff.ly/3yHb4g3 #ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-08-20 16:00:02

The first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines reduced cardiovascular events and complications. https://buff.ly/4fTyXkY #ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-08-18 17:02:01

The Mar de las Calmas (Sea of Calm) in the Canary Islands has been a marine fishing reserve since 1996, and now the Spanish government has approved a proposal to declare it a national park. El País https://buff.ly/3SGq1p5 #ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-08-17 17:02:01

A new UN report shows that severe food insecurity in Brazil has fallen by a colossal 85% in just one year, from 8% in 2022 to 1.2% in 2023, meaning the country might be removed from the FAO Hunger Map.https://buff.ly/4fKOB23 #ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-08-13 16:00:12

After being trapped to extinction in the 19th century, the European Polecat (Mustela putorius), ancestor of the domestic ferret, has recolonised extensive parts of the United Kingdom and is now being reintroduced in Spain in an effort to bring the species back to its historic habitats on the continent. https://buff.ly/4ctEHip https://buff.ly/3X23c1G #ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-08-08 16:00:07

In the UK, a small fee on plastic bags has resulted in an 80% decrease in litter on beaches over the last decade. https://buff.ly/3WPw9Og #ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-08-07 16:00:25

Canada has taken a step towards protecting the spotted owl, releasing a draft recovery strategy that identifies over 400,000 hectares of old-growth forest critical to the survival of the bird. https://buff.ly/3yssVqP #ShareGoodNewsToo

2024-07-06 17:02:00

The Canadian province of Alberta once relied almost entirely on coal-fired electricity; in 2001, coal constituted 80% of provincial power supply. Now its coal era is over, and the last coal plant has been shut down. #ShareGoodNewsToo https://fixthenews.com/r/9e8fe70f?m=d62c57a4-125a-4b9d-b04d-bdfd23b8627c