In a Lamentable Year, Finland Again is the Happiest Country in the World

1. Finland 🇫🇮
2. Denmark 🇩🇰
3. Switzerland 🇨🇭
4. Iceland 🇮🇸
5. Netherlands 🇳🇱
6. Norway 🇳🇴
7. Sweden 🇸🇪
8. Luxembourg 🇱🇺
9. New Zealand 🇳🇿
10. Austria 🇦🇹

Every year the World Happiness Report normally compiles data from the previous three years of surveys. 

Canadian town uses ‘Beardar’ to prevent hungry bear-human contact

Along the coast of Hudson Bay in Canada, hundreds of polar bears have been wandering for weeks, waiting for the wintertime sea ice to form so they can hunt seals.

Until then, the 900 people living in nearby Churchill, a remote sub-Arctic town, are trying not to come in close contact with the animals.

The town is working on a plan to prevent conflicts between hungry bears and humans, using a new radar system that can watch and warn when a bear approaches, even during the night or in a snowstorm.

“The radar can see through all of that,” said Geoff York, senior conservation director at Polar Bears International. He has been “training” the system’s artificial intelligence this year to recognize bears.

State of the World's Plants and Fungi 2020 by KEW Gardens

Never before has the biosphere, the thin layer of life we call home, been under such intensive and urgent threat. 

Deforestation rates have soared as we have cleared land to feed ever-more people, global emissions are disrupting the climate system, new pathogens threaten our crops and our health, illegal trade has eradicated entire plant populations, and non-native species are outcompeting local floras. 

Biodiversity is being lost – locally, regionally and globally.Yet this biodiversity sustains our lives. Open your fridge, peek into your medicine cupboard, examine your living room, feel your clothes. For thousands of years, we have searched nature to satisfy our hunger, cure our diseases, build our houses, and make our lives more comfortable. But our early exploration of useful traits in species relied on rudimentary tools, and indigenous knowledge was lost as local traditions were downplayed and globalisation emerged.

👎 Bad news: Tutela della biodiversità, il mondo ha mancato tutti i target 2020

Pubblicato il 5° Global Biodiversity Outlook delle Nazioni Unite

Il report, redatto dalla Convenzione sulla diversità biologica delle Nazioni Unite, torna nella sua quinta edizione per fornire un quadro puntuale della situazione. E per ricordare, ancora una volta, come la biodiversità sia uno strumento fondamentale per affrontare i cambiamenti climatici, per garantire la sicurezza alimentare a lungo termine e soprattutto per prevenire ulteriori pandemie. 

Irish Independent: Pensioner sees funny side of clock photo in pub being misunderstood

John Joe Quinn dissolves into a fit of laughter at the thought of his new-found fame.

The poignant image of him enjoying a pint of Guinness with an alarm clock beside him set social media alight with a mixture of sadness and anger.

The picture, taken in McGinn's Hop House in Galway's Woodquay and uploaded on their Facebook page on Monday, led to an outpouring of emotion across the country.

Many felt the picture was emblematic of people's social isolation during the pandemic. Others used it as an opportunity to criticise the Government over its strict rules on time limits in pubs.

But John Joe has very different feelings.

👍 Good news: Fermilab scientist Anna Grassellino is new deputy chief technology officer

Anna Grassellino (Foto Fermilab)

On Dec. 1, 2019.

Fermilab senior scientist Anna Grassellino started her new role as the laboratory’s deputy chief technology officer. She succeeds Fermilab senior principal engineer Rich Stanek, who served as deputy CTO for five years.

In the new position, Grassellino will help lead the lab’s exciting portfolio for advancing the key technologies in high-energy physics and help oversee the realization of important accelerator projects supported by the Department of Energy Office of High Energy Physics and Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

👍 Good news: Africa eradicates wild poliovirus

The independent Africa Regional Certification Commission (ARCC) for Polio Eradication officially declared on Tuesday that the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region is free of wild poliovirus.

This marks the eradication of the second virus from the face of the continent since smallpox 40 years ago.

Effectiveness of honey for symptomatic relief in upper respiratory tract infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background Antibiotic over prescription for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in primary care exacerbates antimicrobial resistance. There is a need for effective alternatives to antibiotic prescribing. Honey is a lay remedy for URTIs, and has an emerging evidence base for its use. Honey has antimicrobial properties, and guidelines recommended honey for acute cough in children.