Meat-loving Germany is quickly becoming vegetarian
Researchers found that those who eat meat without any restrictions, are for the first time a minority in Germany.
Europe
Norway kickstarts one of the world’s largest carbon storage projects
The project — named Longship after the vessels built by the Vikings — will store CO2 captured from a cement plant in southern Norway and an incineration plant operating in Oslo. The greenhouse gas will be pumped down in a reservoir built undersea on the west coast of Norway specifically for this purpose.
Berlin opens giant city-run department store for second-hand goods
While the state-run store is meant to redirect useable goods away from landfill sites, the idea is also to use the stores to “anchor the re-use of used goods in urban society” by functioning as centers to educate and spread tips on re-use.
Norway shows rapid transition from diesel to electric cars
Today, no Norwegians are buying diesel Golfs. Instead, 97% of new Golfs sold in Norway are electrics. The shift is so dramatic that Volkswagen no longer sells the Golf with a diesel engine in Norway.
Older people today are smarter, stronger and faster than 30 years ago
A compelling new study from researchers in Finland has compared the physical and cognitive performance of a group of older people in 2017 with a similarly aged group three decades earlier. Improvements were seen in almost every test.
Monitoring brainwaves during sleep can pinpoint best antidepressant
Currently, in order to see if an antidepressant works, patients have to take the drug for at least a month. New research, however, suggests that by monitoring a patient’s brainwaves as they sleep, the effectiveness of an antidepressant can be gauged in as little as one week.
LEGO ditching single-use plastic bags in kits, eyes paper replacements
The Lego Group will move away from single-use plastic bags in its kits, the group announced on Tuesday. “From 2021, Forest Stewardship Council-certified recyclable paper bags will be trialed in boxes,” the company said.
First-ever floating solar power plant in Belgium begins operation
Floating PV NV installed a floating solar power plant on 5 hectares of lake at a cost of €2 million project. It includes 17,250 solar panels that are expected to produce 7 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity per year, which is approximately how much 2,000 homes in the region use.
Up to 48 species saved from extinction by conservation efforts, study finds
The Iberian lynx, California condor and pygmy hog are among animals that would have disappeared without reintroduction programmes, zoo-based conservation and formal legal protections since 1993, research led by scientists at Newcastle University and BirdLife International found.
New design uses huge 80-meter sails to reduce cargo shipping emissions by 90%
The Oceanbird is capable of transporting up to 7,000 cars at an average speed of 10 knots on a North Atlantic crossing. It’s four colossal 80-meter (260-ft) high extendable wing sails promise to reduce emissions by as much as 90 percent.