Month: September 2023

Enlarge (credit: Getty | Thomas Trutschel )

In an utterly firm effort to undercut plant-based rivals, big players in the dairy industry are again putting the squeeze on lawmakers to outlaw the use of the term "milk" for non-dairy beverages—or, in Food and Drug Administration lingo, beverages that are not the "lacteal secretion of cows."

Earlier this year, the dairy industry's blood curdled when the regulatory agency released a draft guidance stating that plant-based milk alternatives can keep using the term. It was a move that followed years of sour resentment over the labeling.

The FDA did humbly admit that almonds and other sources of plant-based milk don't, in fact, lactate; therefore, they don't meet the agency's own "standard of identity" for products labeled milk. Still, the FDA made a legal argument for keeping the names. It determined that "non-standardized" foods, such as plant-based milks, can legally be marketed with names that are "established common usage," such as "soy milk" and "almond milk."

Enlarge / Firefighters tackle a wildfire at Vale de Abelha village in Macao, Portugal, on August 16, 2017. (credit: AFP Contributor / Contributor | AFP)

The largest climate case ever raised before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) kicked off Wednesday in Strasbourg, France, Reuters reported. It's an "unprecedented" effort from six young Portuguese people—ages 11 to 24—who allege that 32 European governments have failed to honor the Paris Agreement and mitigate climate change impacts, causing significant harms and violating their human rights.

Filed in 2020 after a devastating 2017 Portuguese wildfire that killed 120, the complaint alleged that inadequate state measures to reverse climate change have resulted in more frequent heatwaves and wildfires, increasing the risks of heat-related morbidity and fatal illnesses. The plaintiffs also argued that their rights to life, privacy, and family life are being violated, as well as their rights to a life free of discrimination. And because states are unlikely to act fast enough, they've alleged that any current risks are "set to increase significantly over the course of their lifetimes and will also affect any children they may have."

A victory in the ECHR could lead to a ruling forcing European governments to act faster to meet ambitious climate goals—likely by phasing out fossil fuels, reducing emissions, restricting companies from contributing to emissions released overseas, and limiting imports of goods produced by releasing emissions.

Enlarge / Firefighters tackle a wildfire at Vale de Abelha village in Macao, Portugal, on August 16, 2017. (credit: AFP Contributor / Contributor | AFP)

The largest climate case ever raised before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) kicked off Wednesday in Strasbourg, France, Reuters reported. It's an "unprecedented" effort from six young Portuguese people—ages 11 to 24—who allege that 32 European governments have failed to honor the Paris Agreement and mitigate climate change impacts, causing significant harms and violating their human rights.

Filed in 2020 after a devastating 2017 Portuguese wildfire that killed 120, the complaint alleged that inadequate state measures to reverse climate change have resulted in more frequent heatwaves and wildfires, increasing the risks of heat-related morbidity and fatal illnesses. The plaintiffs also argued that their rights to life, privacy, and family life are being violated, as well as their rights to a life free of discrimination. And because states are unlikely to act fast enough, they've alleged that any current risks are "set to increase significantly over the course of their lifetimes and will also affect any children they may have."

A victory in the ECHR could lead to a ruling forcing European governments to act faster to meet ambitious climate goals—likely by phasing out fossil fuels, reducing emissions, restricting companies from contributing to emissions released overseas, and limiting imports of goods produced by releasing emissions.

Enlarge / NASA astronaut Frank Rubio smiles and waves moments after arriving back on Earth to wrap up more than a year in orbit. (credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two Russian crewmates parachuted to a landing on the remote steppe of Kazakhstan on Wednesday, capping a 371-day mission at the International Space Station, the longest single spaceflight ever undertaken by an American.

It was also the third-longest mission off the planet in the history of human spaceflight, eclipsed only by two Russian cosmonauts who lived on the Mir space station in the 1990s.

Rubio, a US Army lieutenant colonel who grew up in El Salvador and Miami, was supposed to spend about six months in low-Earth orbit on the International Space Station. He launched on September 21, 2022, on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with commander Sergey Prokopyev and flight engineer Dmitri Petelin.

Enlarge / NASA astronaut Frank Rubio smiles and waves moments after arriving back on Earth to wrap up more than a year in orbit. (credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and two Russian crewmates parachuted to a landing on the remote steppe of Kazakhstan on Wednesday, capping a 371-day mission at the International Space Station, the longest single spaceflight ever undertaken by an American.

It was also the third-longest mission off the planet in the history of human spaceflight, eclipsed only by two Russian cosmonauts who lived on the Mir space station in the 1990s.

Rubio, a US Army lieutenant colonel who grew up in El Salvador and Miami, was supposed to spend about six months in low-Earth orbit on the International Space Station. He launched on September 21, 2022, on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with commander Sergey Prokopyev and flight engineer Dmitri Petelin.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto )

Disinformation is more prevalent on Twitter (aka X) than on Facebook and other social networks, according to a European Union report.

The report released yesterday is a pilot study conducted as part of the voluntary Code of Practice on Disinformation that was created before Elon Musk bought Twitter, which he renamed to X. Musk pulled his social network firm out of the voluntary disinformation pact in May 2023, but it was still included in the pilot study.

"Partway through the study, X withdrew from the Code of Practice on disinformation," the report said. Twitter also changed its name during the study period; aside from a few X mentions, the 72-page report refers to the social network as Twitter throughout.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | NurPhoto )

Disinformation is more prevalent on Twitter (aka X) than on Facebook and other social networks, according to a European Union report.

The report released yesterday is a pilot study conducted as part of the voluntary Code of Practice on Disinformation that was created before Elon Musk bought Twitter, which he renamed to X. Musk pulled his social network firm out of the voluntary disinformation pact in May 2023, but it was still included in the pilot study.

"Partway through the study, X withdrew from the Code of Practice on disinformation," the report said. Twitter also changed its name during the study period; aside from a few X mentions, the 72-page report refers to the social network as Twitter throughout.