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19/12/2022 ---- 26/12/2022

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26.12.2022
THEME: ENVIRONMENT

The US faced over Christmas the most powerful winter storm in the last century

In the last few days, record-low temperatures have been registered in large territories of Canada and the US. A powerful and prolonged winter storm brought strong winds and snow in incredible amounts. The scope of the storm has been unprecedented, stretching from Canada as far south as the Rio Grande. The snowfall and blizzard conditions made roads impassable, froze power substations and left more than a dozen dead. At least 38 deaths have now been linked to this severe Arctic freeze. Storm-related deaths were reported in Vermont, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Colorado. South Florida's temperatures dropped so low that iguanas froze and fell from trees. Over 200'000 people were left without power, with their homes covered in snow and ice. Thousands of flights have been cancelled, preventing many people from reaching their families at Christmas. The western US state of Montana is the worst hit by the cold, with temperatures dropping to -45C. Atlanta and Tallahassee, Florida, were forecast to have their coldest temperature recorded on December 24. Such an event is so rare that it should happen once in a hundred years. However, it is not the first potent and extreme weather event this year. The whole northern hemisphere was hit earlier in the summer by record-high temperatures and droughts. Recently, studies published by eminent climatologists demonstrated that the effects of global warming are to increase the frequency of extreme events. May this recent storm also be a consequence of climate change?

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23.12.2022
THEME: HEALTH

FDA approved the first monoclonal antibody drug for the treatment of COVID-19 hospitalized patients

The FDA has approved Tocilizumab - also known as Actemra and commercialized by Roche Genentech - for treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The treatment is for individuals who receive corticosteroids and require supplemental oxygen, non-invasive or invasive mechanical ventilation or oxygenation. Tocilizumab is the first FDA-approved monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19, recommended for use as a single intravenous injection. Scientists evaluated Tocilizumab for the treatment of COVID-19 in 4 studies in more than 5500 individuals who were hospitalized. The studies showed that Tocilizumab may improve outcomes in individuals receiving corticosteroids and requiring supplemental oxygen or breathing support. There were no new warnings or precautions related to Tocilizumab noted in the trials, with the most common adverse events being anxiety, constipation, diarrhoea, hypertension, insomnia, nausea, and urinary tract infection. More than one million people hospitalized with COVID-19 have been treated with Actemra worldwide since the pandemic's beginning. Tocilizumab has been approved for use for COVID-19 in the United States, European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Russia, and Brazil. It is also provisionally approved in Australia and authorized for emergency use in Ghana, Mexico, and Korea for individuals hospitalized with severe or critical COVID-19. The World Health Organization has also recommended and prequalified the drug.

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21.12.2022
THEME: ENVIRONMENT

At COP15 in Montreal, nations agreed on four goals and 23 targets to protect biodiversity

Earlier this year, the environmental issues have been growing, ranging from devastating floods to extreme heat and drought in the northern hemisphere. The preservation of biodiversity is crucial to sustaining human life on Earth. On this topic, countries have reunited in Montreal, Canada, from December 7 to 19 at the UN COP15 conference. The conference was presided over by China. The premises of this meeting called for prompt action to preserve biodiversity: the latest WWF's Living Planet Report warned that global wildlife populations declined by 69% on average from 1970 to 2018. The accelerating loss of nature has already impacted human well-being and economies. Healthy ecosystems also play indispensable roles in tackling climate change, and biodiversity loss weakens our resilience. In response, nations agreed on four goals and 23 targets to protect biodiversity. The four goals are: (1) to maintain genetic biodiversity, increase the natural ecosystem's areas and reduce extinction rate and risk tenfold (2) to support the restoration and maintenance of biodiversity (3) to share the monetary and non-monetary benefits equitably from utilizing genetic resources, including with indigenous populations and local communities (4) to guarantee adequate means of implementation, including financial resources, capacity-building, and technical and scientific cooperation. A few of the 23 targets for 2030 supporting these goals are undoubtedly relevant. It is agreed to reach the conservation of at least 30% of the world's lands, inland waters, coastal areas and oceans (today, only 17% and 10% of the world's terrestrial and marine areas are under protection). Further, a target mentions reducing the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance to near zero, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity. It is also agreed to cut global food waste in half and reduce overconsumption and waste generation. Financial targets also mentioned phasing out subsidies that harm biodiversity by at least $500 billion per year while mobilizing by 2030 at least $200 billion per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources – public and private. Although all the targets agreed upon in Montreal are impressive, it is fair to question if they will be achieved. In fact, in 2002, nations committed "to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss". They failed. In 2010 they met in Japan and agreed on a new plan, which included the 20 Aichi Targets. But not one of these targets was fully satisfied by the 2020 deadline. It is worth noting that, being these targets non-binding by law, they are rather guidelines to support objectives. Despite the ambition demonstrated at COP15 leaving hope, it remains true that just earlier this year, a monumental occasion to protect biodiversity failed miserably. At the end of last August, after 15 years of negotiations, nations could not agree on a binding pact to preserve Earth's oceans' biodiversity in another UN meeting in New York - probably the biggest of the lost occasions to preserve our marine ecosystems.

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20.12.2022
THEME: ENVIRONMENT

Oil drilling may soon destroy the unique ecosystem of the Amazon Reef

In the 1970s, the biologist Rodrigo Moura completed a study on fishing on the continental shelf and wanted to expand his research by locating the reefs where he caught the fish. When Moura found the fish he caught around the Amazon Reef and in the mouth of the Amazon River, he saw this as an indication that there must be biodiversity underneath. A few decades later, a group of students from the University of Georgia noted that Moura's article did not contain GPS coordinates and used Moura's sound waves and seafloor samples to locate the reef. Finding the reef took about three years before an official announcement was made about its discovery. The Amazon River is home to about 20 per cent of the world's freshwater supply, placing the Amazon Reef at the mouth of the largest river in the world, where every day, one-fifth of the world's water flows into the ocean from the Amazon River. Because of this, the Amazon Reef is less biologically diverse compared to other reefs of its kind. It is a unique ecosystem, and researchers say it could contain many unknown species of medicinal or scientific value, some of which are being studied for their anti-cancer properties. The Amazon reef is unusual because it lies in deep water and is sometimes hidden by the muddy waters flowing into the sea from the world's largest river. Some species may appear only in that area and nowhere else in the world. Brazilian scientists say today that this unique reef habitat is threatened by government plans to drill for oil. The scientists worry that the Brazilian oil company Petrobras plans to drill for oil close to the reef could cause an oil leak that would devastate the ecosystem. Petrobras is planning this month to carry out a test to learn more about how oil diffuses in the case of a leak. If that satisfies Brazil's environmental protection agency, Ibama, exploration wells could follow soon afterwards, 160km (100 miles) from the shore, but much closer to the reef. "This area has one of the strongest currents on the planet and a tidal range that can be greater than 10m (33ft). These are environmental conditions that challenge any engineering work, making it very risky," says Rodrigo Leão de Moura, professor at the Institute of Biology at the University of Rio de Janeiro and the leading scientist involved in the reef's discovery. Brazil is also not new to environmental disasters due to oil drilling. An oil spill that hit the coast of northern Brazil in 2019 also casts a long shadow. On that occasion, tons of thick black crude began washing up at a thousand locations, bringing the tourism industry to a halt. Overnight the biggest market for locally caught fish also disappeared since buyers stopped buying for fear of contamination.

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