A few milligrams of all the scientific news of the week.
Live longer in a carbon neutral world?
Could achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 improve life expectancy? This is suggested by a study recently published in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health. Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have calculated that reaching this target could translate to 2 million extra years of life for people in England and Wales. The decrease in atmospheric pollution would be the main factor contributing to the increase in life expectancy. With healthy lifestyle habits, the study authors estimated the potential gain at 2 million years for a population of nearly 60 million people.
Quiz
What proportion of the population of the United Arab Emirates believes that human activities are causing climate change?
According to a survey conducted by the French firm Elabe and the company Veolia last November, only 61% of Emiratis believe that climate change is of anthropogenic origin. Of the 25 countries surveyed, the United Arab Emirates ranks second to last on this question, ahead of Saudi Arabia (59%) and just behind the United States (62%). Remember that the next international climate conference, COP28, will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, at the end of the year.
The number
PHOTO GIORGIO VIERA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Hurricane damage Ian in Fort Myers Beach, Florida on September 30
313 billion
According to Aon, natural disasters in 2022 resulted in economic losses of US$313 billion globally. Losses reimbursed by insurers totaled 132 billion, or less than half of the overall bill.
Plea for sobriety
PHOTO JOHN LOCHER, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
A container of lithium carbonate
To achieve the electrification of transport, you will need lithium, a lot of lithium, an essential mineral for the production of batteries for electric vehicles. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global demand for lithium will increase 40 times by 2040. However, according to an analysis by the Institute for Socioeconomic Research and Information (IRIS), at this pace, 30% of the world’s lithium reserves will be depleted by 2050. A recent study by the Climate and Community Project and the University of California, Davis calculated that the United States could still reduce its lithium needs by 92%. lithium. How ? By adopting public policies favoring public transport, reducing urban sprawl and setting up a real battery recycling system for electric vehicles. This solution would only be viable if we also limited the weight of cars in order to produce smaller batteries that consume less lithium.
New kind of fertilizers
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVES
Cabbages were produced with the contribution of human urine and feces.
Fertilizers made from human urine and feces to produce fruits and vegetables? A team of Swiss researchers experimented with using “man-made” fertilizers to grow cabbage plants, which they compared to other types of fertilizers more commonly used in vegetable growing. Result ? Both cultures gave similar yields, with a slight advantage for the product made from human urine compared to that made from feces or a feces-urine mixture. Scientists believe, however, that using the mixture can increase the carbon content in soils over the long term. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science.