Rising sea levels could erase one of the planet's iconic heritage sites
The research, published in the Journal of Cultural Heritage, specifically highlights that the 15 monumental figures at Ahu Tongariki could be inundated by powerful seasonal waves.
Lead author Noah Paoa and his team used a high-resolution "digital twin" of the island's coastline to model future wave impacts, predicting waves could reach Ahu Tongariki as early as 2080.
The site at Ahu Tongariki, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is vital for the island's tourism economy and cultural identity, attracting tens of thousands of visitors annually.
The study urges proactive measures such as coastal armoring, breakwaters, or even relocating the monuments to prevent irreversible damage to these globally significant heritage sites.
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The Independent
8 hours ago
- The Independent
Microplastics found in highest amounts in these popular drinks
Microplastics are all around us – in the air we breathe, in seas and rivers, they're found in the guts of sharks, and inside growing plants. They're also inside humans, too: in our blood, accumulating in our brains, and even in our testicles. So it is perhaps unsurprising to learn that one of the key means of entering the body is through the fluids we drink. Previous studies have established that microplastics are present in both tap water and bottled water, but new research has revealed that hot drinks may be an even bigger source of microplastics than was previously realised. A research team at the University of Birmingham tested 155 common soft drinks, including hot and cold drinks, for microplastics to get a picture of average human exposure through a realistic spectrum of daily drinks available in one country. The study, believed to be the first of its kind, found the highest concentrations of microplastics were in hot tea and hot coffee. The study also tested iced tea and coffee for microplastics, but found significantly less, suggesting the high temperatures and processes used for making hot drinks contribute to the levels of microplastics which end up in the product. The team assessed 31 different types of drinks in total from popular UK brands, all bought from supermarkets and coffee shops in 2024. These included hot and iced coffee, hot and iced tea, juices, energy drinks, and soft drinks. The samples were filtered, and then microplastic counts were determined through microscope imaging. Cold drinks were filtered immediately, while hot drinks were allowed to cool for 30 minutes before analysis. Hot tea in disposable cups contained the highest level of microplastics (MPs), averaging 22MPs per cup, compared to 14MPs per cup for glass cups. More expensive teabags leached the greatest amount of plastic, the study found, averaging 24 to 30MPs per cup. Similarly, the research team said that for hot coffee, their findings "strongly suggest that the disposable cup material is a primary source of [microplastics] in our hot coffee samples'. As not all samples were cup-sized, the team expressed their overall findings in microplastics per litre. The authors said their study "proves for the first time that assessment of exposure via drinking water only may substantially underestimate the risk" posed to humans by higher microplastics prevalence in other drinks. The same team published research in 2024, revealing the average microplastics concentration in tap water (24 to 56 MP per litre) was 'statistically indistinguishable" from that in bottled water (26 to 48 MP per litre). Professor Mohamed Abdallah from the University of Birmingham, who was one of the lead authors of the new research, told The Independent: "We noted that a lot of research in the microplastics sphere is focusing on drinking water – tap water, bottled water – and we've also released a paper from the UK on water. But we realised that people don't only drink water during their day. You drink tea, coffee, juices... "We found a ubiquitous presence of microplastics in all the cold and hot drinks we looked at. Which is pretty alarming, and from a scientific point of view suggests we should not only be looking at water, we should be more comprehensive in our research because other sources are substantial." He added: "We're consuming millions of teas and coffees every morning so it's something to definitely look at. There should definitely be legislative action from the government and also from international organisations to limit human exposure to microplastics … they're everywhere." The authors said the new research "serves as a critical step towards better understanding of the extent of MPs exposure under real-life scenarios, and advocates for more comprehensive studies for accurate risk assessment of MPs intake via dietary sources, to enable broader environmental and public health interventions".
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- The Guardian
Puppy fat jabs: are our pets next in line for weight-loss drugs?
Where humans lead, their dogs tend to follow – now it seems that might even apply to weight-loss wonder drugs. Medications such as Wegovy have become ubiquitous among people hoping to shed pounds quickly. But businesses keen to cash in on the science behind the weight-loss jabs are now investigating other applications for the drugs, and our four-legged friends could be the next in line for a slimming solution. The active ingredients in the drugs mimic a hormone called GLP-1, which makes people want to eat less. One biotech firm has just announced trials for an implant that reproduces the effect in dogs, with the aim of bringing it to the market as soon as 2028. The hope is that the same science can be used to quell the voracious appetite of some dog breeds that can lead to them piling on the pounds. While experts say such medications could be beneficial for some overweight animals, their use outside of humans is not without complication or the potential for controversy. What is not contentious is that pet weight is a real issue for many owners. Neutering, age, a lack of activity and overfeeding are among the factors that can contribute to the problem. According to a 2024 report by the trade body UK Pet Food, 50% of dogs and 43% of cats are overweight. Excess weight can shorten the lifespan of pets and reduce their quality of life; tubby cats, for instance, face a greater risk of problems including diabetes, urinary tract issues and cancer, while overweight canines are more likely to have to contend with conditions such as arthritis, heart disease, breathing problems and cancer. Commonly recommended solutions are increased exercise and strict prescription diets that are high in fibre and protein but low in calories. Dr Eleanor Raffan, a veterinary surgeon and expert in canine genetics and obesity at the University of Cambridge, said some good old-fashioned discipline should be the first option. 'I would [advise] owners, both for the benefit of their pockets, and possibly for the benefit of their pets, to try modifying their dog's diet and exercise regime first, because I think we know that that can be safe and effective if done well,' she said. 'But if that fails, or if there's an urgent need to get weight loss, then I see no reason why using [GLP-1 mimic] drugs shouldn't be a reasonable option, so long as they are tested in proper, prospective, well-designed, randomised clinical trials before being widely offered in practice.' A strong selling point of the medication is that it helps pet owners navigate one of the biggest obstacles to pet weight loss: what many vets describe as 'pester power', or, to put it another way, humans' inability to say no to their loyal companions. 'What our research shows in our group … is that that if you have a very foodie dog, you have to work much harder,' she said. 'You have to really resist the big brown eye treatment and that can be really hard in our busy lives today.' Appetite suppressants may help stop the kind of begging that most pet owners are familiar with, but they come with one major drawback: that a pet's appetite is often an important marker of their health. Some experts worry that if humans are unable to tell if their animal has stopped eating because they are unwell or because the weight loss drugs are doing their job, it could prove dangerous. 'If cats stop eating for a few days, they can develop a condition called hepatic lipidosis and other problems, which can be life threatening,' said Raffan. Michael Klotsman is the chief executive of Okava, one of the companies developing a long-acting implant called OKV-119 that contains a GLP-1 mimic called exenatide. He said behavioural changes from OKV-119 were quite different from illness-related appetite loss. 'What owners should expect to see is their pet eating appropriate portions without the previous food obsession – they'll still eat regularly and show interest in meals, just without the excessive begging, scavenging or gulping behaviour,' he said. The company is planning trials in dogs, and hopes to launch its implant commercially in 2028 or 2029. Klotsman said: 'OKV-119 represents an additional tool for veterinarians treating pets where conventional approaches have been insufficient, similar to how GLP-1 therapies have provided new hope for human patients struggling with obesity despite their best efforts with diet and exercise.' Prof Peter Sandøe, of the University of Copenhagen and the director of the Danish Centre for the Study of Companion Animal Welfare, said such drugs could potentially help some pets, such as food-obsessed dogs. However, he added, if owners were concerned enough about their pet's weight to consider such medications, then there were many other – probably cheaper – options they could try, from activity feeders to extra walks, microchip-controlled feeders, and switching out treats for fun and games. 'Why take the medical solution if there's some other solutions that actually might be better for both human and animal welfare?' he said.
Daily Mail
18 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The Story Of CO2 Is The Story Of Everything by Peter Brannen: When scorpions were the size of dogs
The Story Of CO2 Is The Story Of Everything Peter Brannen (Allen Lane £25, 512pp) Carbon dioxide (CO2), writes Peter Brannen, is 'the very stuff of life'. Without it, there would be no photosynthesis; without photosynthesis there would be no complex life on Earth. Organic carbon is ultimately made from CO2 and the basic building blocks of life are organic carbon. DNA is organic carbon. CO2 is also the 'principal control knob governing Earth's temperature'. There needs to be just the right amount in the atmosphere to produce the conditions for life. Brannen points out, 'when CO2 has varied between 0.1 per cent and 0.018 per cent of the atmosphere, it has been the difference between alligators in the Arctic Circle on the one hand, and an Antarctica's worth of ice burying North America on the other'. Brannen takes us on a grand tour of billions of years of history to prove his title, the story of CO2 is the story of everything. The so-called Cambrian Explosion, more than 500 million years ago, produced what Brannen calls 'nightmarish one-off experiments at the dawn of animal life'. In the Carboniferous Period, 150 million years later, there were 'dragonflies the size of seagulls… scorpions the size of golden retrievers and millipedes the size of alligators'. Bizarre trees, known as lepidendrons, also thrived. With bright green trunks, they would become the coal to supercharge the Industrial Revolution. The history of life on Earth has been punctuated by mass extinctions. The worst of them by far, sometimes known as the 'Great Dying', took place at the end of the Permian Period, around 250 million years ago. The result of volcanic eruptions in which 'a planet-deranging amount of carbon dioxide' came 'billowing out of Earth'. Almost every living thing died, although enough survived to reseed the planet. Brannen elegantly moves through the Earth's epochs. The Middle Miocene was 'the last time… when CO2 was as high as it might be again as soon as 2050'. The world was a different place. 'A verdant Greenland… lived up to its name', while turtles and parrots lived in Siberia. In the Pliocene Epoch, three million years ago, CO2 fell to 400 parts per million in the atmosphere. Level stayed below that amount until rising again in 2016. The story heads towards 'the CO2 Supereruption' caused by our activities. We're 'emitting CO2 ten times faster' than in the last mass extinction. At this rate, we're not going to get a zero-carbon future or, as Brannen puts it, 'likely even a livable one'. His story of CO2 comes to a chastening conclusion. There is still time for us to save ourselves, but action is needed now.
