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Poverty Conundrum: Why Most Poor People Live in 'Middle-Income Countries'  
One might think that the countries where most poor people live would be classified as poor themselves. But they aren't. The World Bank's "middle-income countries" designation means that huge numbers of the poorest are placed at further disadvantage.  
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AbstractRadio session - june 2016  


Take a bit of deep and a pinch of disco. Throw in a splash of funky together with just a hint of old school to bring out the full flavour. Add a dash of all-time classic for good measure.

Leave to marinate in a dark place for several months before serving.
No extra seasoning is necessary.

[serving suggestion loud, with good, solid footwear]

As is customary for any AbRad session, every track's a winner, but deserving of a special mention in dispatches are:
J. Sikora's “Larry's Garage”, Sahagun's twisted latin workout “The 3rd Advice”, Kink's ethereal “Pocket Piano” and X-Press 2's autumnal masterpiece - “Give It”.

Enjoy!

More soon

The Abrad team.

[any feedback, much appreciated]

select mixes by genre:

House

Deep

Funky

Disco

Tracklist

Start	Artist	Track Title	Label
00:00	rhythm doctor	intro	truelove
00:39	grand larceny	body workin	b2
03:32	rich pinder	hat play	d-vine
07:26	man without a clue	morning funk mix	clueless
11:01	roter lewis	get out of my life	nite grooves
14:21	juliet sikora	larry's garage	kitt ball
19:15	clio	dangerous	truesoul
25:40	be as deep	music makes me happy	plastic people
32:22	disk nation	saxophonists	cruise
35:09	rene amesz	like it deep	tiger
41:34	diskode	burp	moulton
44:46	move d	jus house	uzuri
49:07	lenny kiser	this time	moulton
53:37	soledrifter	soul groove	large
57:35	joi resh	here we go	kaleydo
64:38	rafa barrios	daledalehey	intec
67:43	alan de lanier	dance	mycrazything
71:49	soul divine	secret love	stereo flava
74:54	manuel sahagun	the 3rd advice	development
81:13	kerri chandler	mommy whats a record	downtown
86:16	kink	pocket piano	running back
91:39	x-press 2	give it	skint

-- Total running time 101.27 --

 
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Griffon Vulture  

My Planet Experience posted a photo:

The Griffon Vulture is a large raptor, inhabitant of the steep cliffs and rocky areas offering numerous cavities where it will nest.
The main cause of the rapid decline in the griffon vulture population is the consumption of poisoned baits set out by people. Wildlife conservation efforts have attempted to increase awareness of the lethal consequences of using illegally poisoned baits through education about the issue. It is very highly vulnerable to the effects of potential wind energy development and electrocution has been identified as a threat.
The flight of the Griffon Vulture is a real show of virtuosity. It soars during long moments, moving scarcely the wings, in an almost unperceivable and measured way.

© www.myplanetexperience.com

 
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The Jon Stewart Problem  


The heart of the progressive point of view is the idea that government has a role to play in solving some of our toughest problems. The private sector, for all the prosperity and innovation it brings, cannot do everything well.

No individual or business can clean the nation's air, protect civil rights, or keep our food supply safe, among many other tasks. And even if they could, there are many problems without a direct economic benefit to the problem solver - say, reducing poverty or stopping terrorism - so the private sector is not going to invest time and money trying to accomplish them.

That means that gaining support for progressive programs requires the public to believe government can do some things well. The more that confidence erodes, the less reason voters have to support action. Why pass a bill to clean up toxic waste or improve health care if government can't do anything right?

If you stop to think about it, there are plenty of successful government programs to support that idea: Centers for Disease Control, Medicare and Social Security, NASA, or DARPA (the agency that created the Internet), to name a few.

The best examples might be environmental laws like the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, which have made our country dramatically cleaner and healthier -- with benefits outweighing costs by 30 to 1 in the case of clean air programs.

Focus on those examples and you're reminded that many big challenges require organized national action, and that the federal government often carries them out to great effect.

But confidence in government is always on an uncertain footing. Part of that is the result of political arguments from those who want smaller government, or see political advantage in attacking "bureaucracy." Some of it comes from genuinely wasteful government programs that are, rightly, held up for public scrutiny. And some of it is the media, looking for a sensational story. We are, after all, a country built on an ideology of anti-government revolution.

So how do we ask the public to support the kind of bold policies we'll need to address big challenges like climate change -- which can't possibly be solved without government action?

First, we have to be open to making government more efficient. Some programs don't work; others can be improved. We can also insure that regular public interactions with the government leave people feeling impressed -- not frustrated. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's proposal to dramatically simplify the process of filing your taxes would remove an annual public service announcement for those who think government can't work well.

There's one more important thing we can do: stop reflectively accusing all institutions of being corrupt. It is so much a part of modern life that we hardly notice it. We assume institutions are weak or corrupt. It's a trend that was accelerated by the Daily Show and continues with its many spin-offs.

To be clear, I think Jon Stewart - like a long line of political commentators going back to Will Rogers and Mark Twain -- was funny, usually right, and very often helped push positive change. But the pressure to be entertaining forces every show like his to drop most nuance. A balanced description of government policies is not going to get much traffic on Hulu.

Critiquing government programs is absolutely vital to democracy, but blanket cynicism both is wrong and counter-productive. The truth is all people - and by, extension, all institutions they create -- are flawed. So it's always easy to find something to criticize about them. That's valuable, as long you don't judge them against an impossible standard.

If you belief something can be improved, of course you should continue to make your case. But it's not necessary to say everything is terrible to push for more reform.

You can admit the Affordable Care Act has pushed the uninsured rate below 10% for the first time while still arguing for single payer, if that's your position. You can recognize that our air is dramatically cleaner, while at the same time fighting for new mercury and smog standards to save even more lives. And acknowledging that Congress just passed a strong reform of our chemical safety system doesn't require you to stop pushing to limit hazardous chemicals.

We sometimes think we've got to paint the bleakest picture of government failure to make the case for strong policies. But because bolder programs in a democracy require a belief in government, we may be undermining our own most important goals.

On Twitter @RealKeithGaby


photo credit: Cliff

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Chevron's Garbage Fire Sale  

Photo credit: @JeremyJ_Miller

[Reposted from the Eye on the Amazon]

Chevron sending up massive flares in Richmond is not the only sign things are getting hot for the oil giant on the run from a $11 billion verdict.

On June 19th, Chevron's Richmond refinery erupted a torrent of flames and black smoke into the air and terrified local residents. The community remembers all too well when 15,000 people were sent to the hospital when that same refinery exploded in 2012. Unfortunately, since then the public hospital in Richmond has closed. They can't afford another explosion as the closest public emergency room services are now thirty to forty minutes away in Oakland.

But that's not the only thing "on fire" at Chevron lately. Similar to the company's claims that it needs massive flares to burn off excess gas, Chevron claims there's "nothing to see here" as it tries to sell off US $5 billion in assets in its Burnaby oil refinery in British Columbia. But the company's actions and track record tell a different story. Realizing it was going to lose in its legal battle and be forced to accept responsibility for deliberately dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Ecuadorian Amazon, Chevron instead sold off all its assets and fled that country. It's been a corporate criminal on the run ever since, but the law is finally catching up with Chevron in Canada.

In September, the Ecuadorian plaintiffs bolstered by a unanimous decision in their favor by Canada's Supreme Court will begin their trial to seize Chevron's Canadian assets to cover its US $11 billion debt to the affected communities in Ecuador.

Chevron currently holds approximately US $15 billion of assets in Canada, almost all of which is at risk due to this enforcement action. Chevron refuses to acknowledge its full liability to the SEC and to its shareholders, and this latest move may give a clue as to why. Unable to replicate its customary racist attacks against Ecuador's judiciary and legal system, Chevron has to dream up new methods in Canada.

The Ecuadorians have defeated Chevron in every single legal contest which has considered the evidence of their crimes in Ecuador (Chevron's singular victory a retaliatory RICO SLAPP suit in the US notoriously forbade any evidence of contamination in its proceedings and is still under appeal). The writing is on the wall in Canada, and Chevron is trying to slip out quietly and escape justice once again.

To make matters worse for the oil giant, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on the use of RICO may preemptively doom its defense before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. As respected appellate attorney Deepak Gupta wrote, the Supreme Court decision "further limits private RICO actions by requiring proof of a quantifiable, redressable and domestic injury something Chevron has steadfastly refuse to identify." The decision also made clear that the RICO statute could not be used to attack a final judgment from a foreign court, as Chevron has tried to do in the Ecuador case. Aaron Page, a U.S. lawyer for the Ecuadorians called it a "nail in the coffin" of Chevron's RICO case. He added, "Now, the Supreme Court has ruled you can't bring a RICO case, even a legitimate one, based on harm that took place abroad. This is another example of why Chevron's RICO case should have been thrown out on day one."

Bottom line on these developments: no matter how desperate it gets, Chevron can't hide its actions in Canada or its pollution in Ecuador or Richmond.

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Civil Society To Prime Minister Turnbull: Go 100% Renewable To Save The Reef  
The Hon Malcolm Turnbull
Prime Minister of Australia
PO Box 6022
House of Representatives
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600


Dear Prime Minister

RE: Crisis on the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is a natural wonder. It is a global treasure, integral to Australia's reputation in the world and to your environmental and cultural heritage. We understand that it is also a lynchpin of the Queensland and national economies, providing around $6 billion to the economy and 70,000 jobs. It is also a UN World Heritage site, and you, as the country's highest elected leader, are its custodian on behalf of all Australians and the global community.

We are all devastated to see it suffer an unprecedented coral bleaching event, the worst in recorded history, fuelled by global warming. Your monitoring agency, the GBRMPA has confirmed that almost a quarter of coral has died, with up to 50% coral death in far north Queensland. Director of the ARC's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, distinguished Professor Terry Hughes, calls it the "greatest environmental disaster in Australian history."

This disaster is international, with the bleaching of reefs worldwide, driven by global warming, threatening ecological collapse and putting the primary protein food source of up to 500 million people at risk.

This disaster requires an emergency response, Prime Minister. We urge you to visit the site of this destruction, accompanied by Australia's leading coral reef scientists. You must do this immediately, today, as you would for any other national emergency of this scale.

We hope once you have visited and seen first-hand the devastation to the reef that you will be moved to act. We are deeply concerned that your existing climate change policies are inadequate to the task. 57 eminent scientific experts have outlined essential elements of the necessary disaster response, which are priorities among the actions you must take to address climate change:

1. Cease all new coal mine and coal mine expansion approvals, and prohibit any new gas or oil developments.
   
2. Announce the rapid phase out of polluting coal-burning power stations, with a just transition plan for workers and communities.
   
3. Put Australia on the path to 100% renewable energy with the utmost urgency.
   
4. Restore the funds that you stripped from Australia's commitment to fighting poverty and climate change internationally to realise a world powered by 100% renewables.
   

The death of the corals from a significant stretch of the Great Barrier Reef must be deeply distressing to you, as it is to all of us. But it is also your opportunity to protect what remains of this irreplaceable icon now, and to safeguard it for future generations. Australians and the world are waiting for the strong leadership and urgent action that this emergency demands.

Signed:

Alexandra Wandel--Director and Vice-Chair of the Management Board at World Future Council
Bill McKibben--Founder of 350.org
Bunny McDiarmid--International Executive Director at Greenpeace International
Jacqui Rémond--National Director at Catholic Earthcare Australia
Jennifer Morgan--International Executive Director at Greenpeace International
Michael Brune--Executive Director at Sierra Club
Mohamed Adow--Senior Climate Advisor at Christian Aid
Sanjay Vashist--Director at Climate Action Network South Asia
Reverend Fletcher Harper--Executive Director at Greenfaith
Tomas Insua--Co-Founder of the Global Climate Catholic Movement
Wael Hmaidan--Director at Climate Action Network International

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Why Sustainable Development Makes Good Business Sense  
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the fundamental cornerstone to secure future economic and business growth by eradicating poverty in an inclusive way, while protecting the environment.

It is not possible to have a strong, functioning business in a world of increasing inequality, poverty and climate change. Business has the unique opportunity to embrace the SDG agenda and recognize it as a driver of business strategies, innovation and investment decisions. Doing so makes business sense and will give them an edge over their competitors.

The SDGs offer the greatest economic opportunity of our lifetime. With an estimated investment of $2-3 trillion a year, the potential value that can be unlocked for society will be immense. In some sectors it is estimated to be worth hundreds of billions, and even more in others. This is a very high payout for this global agenda and markets are already starting to react.

We have seen this on climate action, which influence 13 of the 17 SDGs, where business that actively take into account this issue enjoy 18 percent higher returns on investment. The 2015 Paris Agreement sent a clear sign that the governments of this world are committed to decarbonize our economies and this is felt in banks, stock exchanges, and boardrooms. It is a sign that the private sector is starting to embrace the business case for a rapid transition to a low carbon world, which will be discussed this week at the Business & Climate Summit in London, but more needs to be done. This is the spirit we also need for the SDGs.

Unilever set out on that journey in 2010 with the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, is our blueprint for sustainable growth whose goals mirror those of the SDGs. The USLP is proving that there is no trade-off between sustainability and profitable growth. We now see, for example, that our Sustainable Living brands are growing 30 percent faster than the rest of the company. These brands have integrated sustainability into both their purpose and products, and are thereby contributing to driving critical progress against the SDGs.

To give you one example -- simply by developing innovative washing products that require less water, women in developing countries need to spend less time collecting water, and have more free time for education, jobs and child care. This is especially true in parts of Africa and Asia where they can walk up to six kilometers a day to the nearest water source.

The path to get where we stand today has not been easy. We had to convince our shareholders and investors that sustainability was the way forward and could generate real value for Unilever.

Part of this process meant doing away with quarterly annual reports. Why? Because the issues we are trying to confront with our business model and through partnerships -- food security, sanitation, employment, climate change -- cannot be solved by quarterly reporting. They require longer-term solutions and value creation, and not 90-day pressures.

Not everyone was happy with that approach at first, but 85 percent of our investors now see the USLP as a driver of long-term value creation and 70 percent of our investors have held shares for more than three years -- at a time when global holding periods have become shorter and shorter. This was unthinkable a few years ago.

Purpose has always been part of Unilever's DNA. Our founder William Lever built a business around the sale of Lifebuoy soap that was not only profitable and sustainable, but also helped transform the health of the poor in Victorian Britain. It was time to re-embed this to the heart of the company.

Fortunately, we are not alone. More and more businesses are seeing the potential of a more sustainable business model, driven both by the firm belief that business can be a force for good, and by the realization that the cost of inaction often exceeds the cost of action -- notably when it comes to the growing threat of climate change and water scarcity.

Sustainability after all is no longer a niche issue. 54 percent of consumers want to buy more sustainably. Many already are. Consumers in both emerging and developed markets want it all -- high-performing products, the right price and a purpose that they can connect with.

Regrettably, however, we are not yet seeing the scale and speed we need. There is still too much reluctance by business leaders and investors to fully embrace the change to this new type of business model. The focus still tends to be on occasional corporate social responsibility (CSR), rather than embedding sustainability at the core of their business. They need to realize that the potential gains from working sustainably are huge, and that this approach needs to be more than a simple CSR exercise.

That is why the role of the Business & Sustainable Development Commission is so important. The Business Commission will quantify the enormous rewards to business that take a lead in sustainable development in all major sectors. This will help drive action at scale and speed by business, accelerating the contribution the private sector can bring to a more equitable, sustainable and inclusive world.

This is a time, like no other in history, when business needs to show the courage to adopt strategies that create long-term value for their companies and for the societies they serve. This is the time to create a brighter future for all.

This blog piece was originally written for the Business & Sustainable Development Commission website, published on 29th June 2016.

Paul Polman is CEO of Unilever and Chairman of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PaulPolman and on LinkedIn.

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How Food Can Save the World  
Just two weeks ago today, I was leaving one of the most enormous feasts of my lifetime. Engorged and almost bursting, I was finishing a two-day Nordic intellectual smörgåsbord at the 2016 EAT Stockholm Food Forum. A gathering of 500 of the planet's leaders in the fields of food, health and sustainability from the worlds of science, civil society, the private sector and policy -- this was a two day banquet of ideas, solutions and points of action.

The third iteration of this worldwide gathering, the concept is simple genius -- my favourite kind. Bring together innovators, leaders and forward thinkers who usually never meet but are working on interrelated, global challenges -- food systems, climate change, food security, global health and sustainable development. Put them in one room and get them to share ideas, share stories and hopefully reshape the broken systems driving our planetary shortcomings.

Jamie Oliver talked of a Food Revolution; Michael Pollan challenged the culture of food waste; Dr Francesco Branca of the World Health Organization called on the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition; Mark Watts presented a new urban blueprint for planetary and human health; and of course EAT Founder Dr. Gunhild Stordalen challenged the entire globe to step up, step out of our comfort zone, and cook up something new.

To summarize this two-day long lunch in a thousand words is impossible -- but instead I will provide a tasting menu of take-aways.

Here are just four game-changing ideas from Eating in Stockholm.

1. Accept complexity.

The world is complex -- beyond imagination. As someone who works at the global level in health, it is clearer every day that I know less and less. The world is more complex and interconnected than I had ever thought -- or could even imagine. Whether it's health, or food systems, or cities, or climate change -- each of these is a lifetime of understanding and yet each of these are evolving every day, and interconnected in every way.

We cannot try to understand everything, or even understand the complexity itself. We must simply accept this and instead of talking about complexity, or worse being paralyzed by it, embrace it, thrive on it, be fascinated by it -- and look beyond it.

Because the challenges might be endlessly complex, but the macro solutions can be very simple.

2. Seek simplicity.

Here is the exciting part: The complexity of connections and seemingly endless noise become manageable as "super wicked" problems converge toward solutions.

Whether it is climate change, food shortages, the global obesity epidemic, water crises, ocean sustainability, even geopolitical conflicts -- many or most are interlinked and therefore present common opportunities for co-mitigation.

The best part: many of these powerful links culminate at our food system. The way we subsidize, grow, trade, cook, process, waste, and eat food is where many of these challenges are born, amplify, globalize -- and where their solutions also lie.

In this context, we must seek these converging solutions and scale them.

Simple messages like "zero waste." We throw away or lose one-in-three mouthfuls of food each day, worldwide. Food that takes money to grow that could otherwise drive economic development and pull millions out of poverty. Food that takes water to thrive, that could otherwise stay in our aquifers and support biodiversity. Food that produces carbon to make, process and transport, carbon from a food system that already produces more emissions than any other sector, driving dangerous climate change. Seafood that could continue to sustain the ecosystems of the planet's oceans. And food that could be feeding the half a billion on our planet that go hungry each day.

The message is not about solving the 10 greatest challenges, it is simple: Zero waste. The rest will then come. And this is just one example.

3. Leverage connections.

From overwhelming complexity, to converging and focused solutions. Building on the macro links, we must next find points and platforms for driving implementation. At the EAT forum, three came through loud and clear.

The first is cities. More than half the world now lives in cities, for the first time in human history. While they may be a driver for many of the aforementioned problems, having large numbers of humans in a small space also presents profound opportunities. Through the C40 network, EAT is launching an urban food network. The idea is to connect forward-thinking cities from around the planet to share ideas, drive innovation and keep each other accountable to implementing food-focused solutions. Ensure cities become hubs of delicious health, not nutrition-driven diseases.

The second is the food system itself. We might think this means farmers -- and they are at the epicenter -- but it actually means much more. Bringing together those charged with setting trade and investment policies, those that produce food including the half a billion small-holder farmers on the planet, those that process and market and sell foods, those that transport it, those that cook and even us -- those that eat it. Thinking across the food chain from field to fork, or even fiscal to fork if you include the actors responsible for commodifying our food, is essential to making our food systems healthier, and sustainable. An action done in one link of the chain will have effects elsewhere, and so taking a "whole of food system" approach is key.

The last is the connection between the food system and ourselves -- diets. Through something we all did up to three times today, across 7.4 billion plates on this planet, we have an unprecedented opportunity for collective impact and positive change. One gram less of meat, or waste, or carbon might become 21 billion over a single daytime. We might feel like the quick fixes to our biggest challenges are beyond our reach, but maybe they're actually on our plates. Governments, organizations and individuals around the world are working overtime to find ways to build solutions into our diets, and to nudge consumers to think, talk, cook and eat more sustainably.

4. Take action today.

The final morsel of food for thought was to move from contemplation to action. It's time to quit perusing the menu, and go straight to the main course. As the United Nations declares a Decade of Action on Nutrition, as our global population moves from 50% urban to 70% urban over the coming decades, as food systems and diets become the leading risks to our planet's health, and the health of all mankind, there has never been a better -- or more crucial -- time to act.

Whether it's as an individual, an organization or a population, so much can be done today. By each of us.

Vote with your fork -- eat thoughtfully, waste less, buy food not products, limit your meat and eat a diverse range of colorful fruit and veg. Eat as a family, make time to cook with your kids, provide a flexible workspace for your employees to be able to breastfeed with confidence or finish in time to make dinner with children, encourage and support good food at the schools and workplaces around you, and use food to connect with others -- starting with your neighbors.

Finally, don't just vote with your fork -- but vote with your vote. Think about food, food policy and how food can be leveraged for collective gain when next you're at the polls. If those you can vote for aren't yet talking sustainable, healthy diets -- they soon will be. The biggest change will come through strong, effective policy to change the food environments and dietary determinants.

Food is our most powerful narrative.

When we look across our major global challenges -- and we have some very serious ones -- it can seem overwhelmingly complex to the point we lose our appetites for action. Climate change is happening around us. Water shortages affect 330 million people in India. Two billion of us wake up every day overweight and yet half a billion continue to go hungry. The Great Barrier Reef is under severe stress. Some estimate we have more plastic in our world's oceans than fish. War and conflict seem a daily presence in our media.

The world is a buzz of depressing, seemingly hopeless, diverging challenges.

But I challenge you.

Look beyond the buzz. Don't be distracted from the micro, look at the bigger picture. What becomes clear?

All of these challenges relate back to something simple. Something many of us enjoy every day. Something we all seek, obsess over, photograph and devour.

Food.

Over-consumed, often wasted, poorly managed and needlessly unhealthy. We cannot solve the world's problems, without first solving food. Or another view: food is our best opportunity for getting our planet back on track.

Bon appétit.

This column post was written by Dr Alessandro Demaio in his personal capacity. The views, opinions and positions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect the views of any third party. Additionally, those providing comments on this blogs are doing so in their personal capacity, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of the author.

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UK's oldest deep-water Marine Protected Area successfully protects coral reefs  
Deep, cold-water corals are very slow to recover from damage, a new, unique study shows. Therefore, say researchers, deep-water Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) protect vulnerable marine ecosystems most effectively when they are put in place before that damage occurs.  
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What Brexit Means For The Oceans  


Last week, voters in the United Kingdom narrowly voted to leave the European Union. The national referendum, dubbed "Brexit," had an immediate, negative impact on global markets and raised significant doubts about the future of the European Union. But whether or not one supported Brexit (Oceana took no position on the referendum), the exit of Britain from Europe is creating new uncertainties for ocean conservation.

The European Union has a Common Fishery Policy (CFP), meaning that the countries of the EU administer and regulate their fisheries as a cohesive whole. By catch weight (as reported to the FAO from 2005-2014), the 28 country EU ranks as the third largest ocean fishing entity in the world. It's also the single largest global market for fisheries and aquaculture products. The development of the CFP therefore represents one of the world's biggest policy achievements in ocean conservation. European oceans will be scientifically managed because of the CFP, with the EU prioritizing responsible policies focused on the long-term viability of European fisheries.

In the past, the UK's citizens have been constructive allies in the European battle for sustainable fishery policy. "Hugh's Fish Fight" -- a campaign by UK chef, broadcaster and campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, is one example of this. The campaign generated nearly a million (mostly British) signatures on a petition to stop fish discards. Aghast at the extent of wasted catch in European fisheries, "Hugh's Fish Fight" and the citizen activism it inspired helped lead to Europe's ban on discards.

Domestically, the CFP will no longer apply in the UK after Brexit, and it is unclear what might replace it. The Leave campaign used CFP and fisheries in general as an example of how the EU has been a destructive force for the UK. Nigel Farage, the former commodity broker who leads the UK Independence Party, staged a protest against the EU onboard commercial fishing vessels, sailing up the Thames to be photographed by the Houses of Parliament the week before the vote. At the same time, a very vocal part of the fishing industry supported Leave and will now likely try to weaken ocean protections, rejecting scientific fishing regulations as relics of the despised -- and now rejected -- EU bureaucracy.

Britain's planned departure from the European Union creates uncertainty about the future of shared fish stocks and ocean ecosystems. The UK will have to negotiate new terms for its fisheries with the EU and with other countries in whose waters they are currently fishing.

The UK's exit from the European Union will likely take years to complete, and the path forward is uncertain. However, whatever the future of the United Kingdom, I can assure you that the campaigners, advocates, scientists and leaders at Oceana will continue to push for the policies we need to restore healthy European oceans.

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Green lining? Five ways Brexit could be good for the environment  
Feeling despondent after the referendum result? Brexit may be bad in many ways, but it doesn't necessarily have to be a disaster for the environment  
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Our ancestors evolved faster after dinosaur extinction  
Our ancestors evolved three times faster in the 10 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs than in the previous 80 million years, according to researchers. The team found the speed of evolution of placental mammals -- a group that today includes nearly 5000 species including humans -- was constant before the extinction event but exploded after, resulting in the varied groups of mammals we see today.  
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http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/29/12058178/puma-sneakers-bmw-fabric-concept-car-collaboration-gina  
Puma made a shoe celebrating BMW's bizarre fabric-covered concept car  

Puma has collaborated with Designworks — BMW's for-hire design agency — to make a new shoe that pays homage to one of the stranger concept cars of the last decade.

The X-CAT DISC takes styling cues from BMW's GINA Light Visionary Model that debuted in 2008, a roadster with a seamless, silvery fabric pulled taut over a substructure where you'd normally expect metal panels. The car was ridiculous in all the ways you want a true concept car to be: when the swing doors opened, the cloth simply bunched up; when the headlights weren't needed, they disappeared behind cloth "eyelids." Whether you liked the design, you had to give credit to BMW for doing something radically different.

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Sleep is Good for the Waistline  


You are likely to have heard Americans are getting fatter. Eating fast and processed foods and a sedentary lifestyle are likely contributors. Today, almost 70% of Americans are overweight and this is a public health disaster. Officials in New York City sounded the alarm and intervened by banning trans fats but that is hardly enough. It is recognized that there are many other causes. By definition, you are considered obese if your body mass index is over 30.

Another prevalent health issue in the US is problems with sleeping. Almost 20 million people have sleep apnea and about one third of Americans are not getting enough sleep. There is also a high association between sleep disorders and being overweight. But did you know that almost 80% of overweight adults report sleep problems? A study followed women for 16 years and found that those sleeping less than 5 hours a night had a 30% greater chance of gaining 30 lbs or more over that time. How is that for a correlation!

Sleep deprivation has many effects including increasing irritability, memory issues, reduced immune function, risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. The connection between obesity and sleep has been reported many times. Predictably, sleepy people are apt to not exercise regularly. Reduced activity with even consistent caloric intake can pile on the pounds. On top of this, our bodies own metabolism works against us.

Hormonal changes are induced during sleep deprivation. The so called hunger hormones, leptin and ghrelin are appetite stimulating hormones whose levels are altered in sleep-deprived individuals. So when you are tired, the signals are interpreted as being hungry and you eat! It turns out that hunger and sleep induced fatigue alters the physiology of humans similarly.

Our brains also make a chemical called endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol or 2-AG. You might have guessed it is chemically related to the active chemical in marijuana and has some of the same effects. It is likely that the cause of the hunger arising from limited sleep is similar to the munchies from smoking pot. 2-AG is associated with pleasure and appetite and is elevated in those that are sleep deprived stimulating the brain's reward system. Researchers found that restricting sleep from eight and one half to four and one half hours, led to the consumption of an extra 1000 calories in the form of "fatty rewarding snacks" during the evening. These results provide obvious implications for weight gain from sleep deprivation.

Hunger correlates with 2-AG levels observed in the blood. Sleep deprived individuals had levels of 2-AG that were one third higher than those with a full night's sleep. For those sleeping normally, 2-AG builds during the day peaking in the early afternoon, while those with limited sleep maintained high levels of 2-AG well into the evening. Therefore 2-AG maybe a new target for therapy to prevent weight gain.

There is also hope in taking advantage of this connection between weight and sleep behavior. If you can achieve more normal sleep, this may help you with weight loss and vice versa.

Medical Discovery News is hosted by professors Norbert Herzog at Quinnipiac University, and David Niesel of the University of Texas Medical Branch. Learn more at www.medicaldiscoverynews.com.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

 
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http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/6/29/12057726/lg-flexible-pressure-sensor-prototype  
LG's flexible pressure sensors could help chairs adjust themselves  

LG's materials and components subsidiary, LG Innotek, has developed a new type of flexible, textile pressure sensor. The company has yet to commercialize the technology, but says it could be used in a number of industries, including healthcare and car manufacturing. The company points out that current pressure sensors are all inflexible and stiff, whereas LG's new design is made from a flexible, elastic material that means they can be seamlessly integrated into other products. It also detects pressure across the whole of its exterior — not just in specific points.

The company mentions a number of possible use cases for the pressure sensors, including:

• Healthcare. For example, pressure-sensitive shoes or even a whole carpet that...

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Bacon is not my vodka friend  

Things you can't do in Oklahoma

Bacon infused vodka may not be everyone's cup of tea, but selling this improbable beverage in Oklahoma could land you in hot water.…

 
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NASA Just Tested The Most Powerful Rocket Booster In History  
NASA fired up a booster for the most powerful rocket in the world on Tuesday, testing what will become part of the Space Launch System.
SLS, as it's ...

Read more: Nasa, Gif, Sls Test, Nasa Rocket Test, Rocket Booster, Space Launch System, Orion Spacecraft, Orion, Science News

 
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PAC slams UK government for lack of evidence-based science investments  

Says funding should be informed by a 'sound business case' ... WHAT?

The Public Accounts Committee has advised the UK government to take a more evidence-based approach when deciding spending on science projects, according to a report published today.…

 
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The Next Artist Who's About to Get Kicked Out of China  
This renegade artist is grappling with death and darkness in a country that doesn't want to.  
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Beyond Sightseeing: You'll Love The Sound Of America's Best Parks  

The National Park Service is racing to record soundscapes each park that capture nature for the ear. "If we start to lose sounds of wilderness, we start to lose a piece of us," one scientist says.

 
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Video privacy software lets you select what others can see  

Full Text:

Camera-equipped smartphones, laptops and other devices make it possible to share ideas and images with anyone, anywhere, often in real-time. But in our cameras-everywhere culture, the risks of accidentally leaking sensitive information are growing. Computer scientists at Duke University have developed software that helps prevent inadvertent disclosure of trade secrets and other restricted information within a camera's field of view by letting users specify what others can see.

Image credit: Duke University

 
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What happens when you steam a planet?  

Full Text:

There are reasons to be interested in the other worlds even if they couldn't possibly harbor life. The hot, rocky planets, for example, offer rare and precious clues to the character and evolution of the early Earth. Numerical models show these exoplanets can change their chemistry by vaporizing rock-forming elements in steam atmospheres that are then partially lost to space.

Image credit: NASA

 
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http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/28/483269369/click-for-fewer-calories-health-labels-may-change-online-ordering-habits?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=technology  
Click For Fewer Calories: Health Labels May Change Online Ordering Habits  

Will it be a hamburger or hummus wrap for lunch? When customers saw indications of a meal's calorie content posted online, they put fewer calories in their cart, a study finds.

 
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http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/06/27/480639265/human-or-machine-can-you-tell-who-wrote-these-poems?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=technology  
Human Or Machine: Can You Tell Who Wrote These Poems?  

Can a computer write a sonnet that's indistinguishable from what a person can produce? A contest at Dartmouth attempted to find out. With our online quiz, you too can give it a try.

 
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http://twitter.com/FelixWildlife/status/748027105368285185 
Do you know this Tortoise is in Nigeria? Aldabrachelys gigantea.#CITES Appendix II Endangered species #WildlifeNG https://t.co/p4vRiOVTcI 
https://t.co/p4vRiOVTcI