Articles from ‘elocal magazine’

In October, the National Health and Medical Research Council invited public consultation on new draft limits for 'forever chemicals' — also known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS — found in Australia's drinking water. · The draft guidelines propose lowering the limit for three PFAS compounds and setting a new value for a fourth. · PFAS can bioaccumulate in the human body, meaning their concentrations can increase over time…

Internationally acclaimed author Katherine Mansfield revolutionised 20th-century English short-story writing. She died from tuberculosis in France, on January 9th, 1923, aged just 34. · Katherine Mansfield was the pen name of Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp. Finding New Zealand too provincial, she sailed to London in 1908 and never returned. Despite this, she never lost her ties to the country of her birth, the setting for some of her best-known…

The global transition to green technologies has increased the demand for lithium dramatically.  · This critical mineral, abundant but distributed unevenly, is essential for energy storage and transport electrification.  · According to the International Energy Agency, by 2040, the demand for lithium could be up to 42 times its 2020 levels. · Lithium-ion batteries are used to power electric vehicles and store renewable energy such as wind and…

New York City will soon be getting its own personal offshore wind farm. The Empire Wind 1 project just received a US$3 billion project financing package and is expected to go online in 2027, powering roughly half a million borough residents. But what's the catch? · In the energy sector, levelized cost of energy (LCoE) is a key metric that looks at the cost of electricity generated over the lifetime of the unit generating the power. LCoE takes…

The re-election of Donald Trump as the next US President was greeted in the Middle East with a mixture of rapture and dread, especially among Palestinians. · While it is impossible to know exactly how a second Trump Presidency will act toward the Palestinian people and their demands for statehood, his first Presidency provides a guide to what they might expect. · Like all his predecessors, in his first term, President Trump’s dealings with…

Loneliness has long been associated with ill health but researchers say they have fresh insights into the link between the two. · While poor health can result in people becoming isolated and lonely, studies have also suggested loneliness can itself lead to poorer health. · Now researchers say they have unpicked a mechanism for the latter relationship, finding loneliness can affect the levels of a handful of proteins associated with various…

On January 8th 1863, geologist Julius von Haast led an expedition in search of an overland route from the east to the west coast of the South Island. He found a suitable route from the upper Makarora River, crossing the Southern Alps by the saddle now known as Haast Pass. · Although prospector Charles Cameron is credited with ‘discovering’ the pass, Haast was rewarded by having it named after him. His expedition reached the pass on 23 January.…

New clues have emerged in the mystery of how the brain avoids ‘catastrophic forgetting’ — the distortion and overwriting of previously established memories when new ones are created. · A research team has found that, at least in mice, the brain processes new and old memories in separate phases of sleep, which might prevent mixing between the two. Assuming that the finding is confirmed in other animals, “I put all my money that this segregation…

The economic uncertainty surrounding a Donald Trump takeover looms over the world as it enters a new year. The incoming US President, who will assume office on January 20, has already warned his two closest neighbours, Canada and Mexico, of a 25 percent tariff on all their products unless they curb the entry of illegal migrants and drugs into the US. · In his typical unilateral style, Trump has also threatened the BRICS group of countries –…

The ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. They were also the first to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year—though for them the year began not in January but in mid-March, when the crops were planted. · During a massive 12-day religious festival known as Akitu, the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the reigning king. They also…