Twenty-eight weeks of Covid-19 Lockdown. I've got to say there's never been a dull moment during lo, these many weeks. And, Internet revived at 1a.m. this morning. I was more than ready.
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Covid-19 numbers do not look good. Compare today’s numbers with those of a month ago: Worldwide (Map)
October 1 – 33,881,275 confirmed infections: 1,012,980 deaths
September 3 – 26,940,000 confirmed infections; 861,870 deaths
US (Map)
October 1 – 7,233,199 confirmed infections: 206,940 deaths
September 3 – 6,114,000 confirmed infections; 185,710 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
October 1 – 674,340 confirmed infections: 16,735 deaths
September 3 – 630,596 confirmed infections; 14,390 deaths
SA is now 10th on the list of countries leading rates of infection, surpassed by (from first to ninth): US, India, Brazil, Russia, Colombia, Peru, Spain, Argentina, Mexico.
News blues…
- Global Covid report: Rio cancels Carnival for first time in a century as global deaths near 1 million
- One million coronavirus deaths: how did we get here?
- 'Confounding': Covid may have already peaked in many African countries
- Neanderthal genes increase risk of serious Covid-19, study claimsStrand of DNA inherited by modern humans is linked to likelihood of falling severely ill
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The Lincoln Project:Focus Group (0:24 mins)
Le Creimos (1:13 mins)
With Vote Vets: Our Moment (1:28 mins)
The Collapse (0:56 mins)
I’m Smart (1:20 mins)
She’s back! Sarah Cooper, How to Drugs (1:03 mins)
Meidas Touch: By Rudy (0;55 mins)
Healthy futures, anyone?
We all know about plastics and microplastics gumming up our planet, our oceans, our wildlife, our lungs, our digestives systems. Plastic is an indestructible material. It breaks down but never goes away.That may be changing.
A super-enzyme that degrades plastic bottles six times faster than before has been created by scientists and could be used for recycling within a year or two.I’m all for it… well, sort of. We, the people, have a remarkable history of jumping to miracle conclusions before a thorough checking out of new discoveries. Remember Agent Orange. Fertilizer. Genetically modified organisms….
The super-enzyme, derived from bacteria that naturally evolved the ability to eat plastic, enables the full recycling of the bottles. Scientists believe combining it with enzymes that break down cotton could also allow mixed-fabric clothing to be recycled. Today, millions of tonnes of such clothing is either dumped in landfill or incinerated….
The super-enzyme was engineered by linking two separate enzymes, both of which were found in the plastic-eating bug discovered at a Japanese waste site in 2016. The researchers revealed an engineered version of the first enzyme in 2018, which started breaking down the plastic in a few days. But the super-enzyme gets to work six times faster.
“When we linked the enzymes, rather unexpectedly, we got a dramatic increase in activity,“ said Prof John McGeehan, at the University of Portsmouth, UK. “This is a trajectory towards trying to make faster enzymes that are more industrially relevant. But it’s also one of those stories about learning from nature, and then bringing it into the lab.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Mystery revealed. I’ve noticed, occasionally, what looks like evidence of trampling in areas of the garden pond. I’d hoped it might be otters – clawless otters and river otters frequented the pond before my mother fenced them out to fence in her dogs. I considered it might be a dog, but nah. The dogs aren’t interested in pond life.Today, I saw… a pair of woolly necked cranes foraging in the pond, trampling the pond foliage.
