Tag: SB001

The number of prescriptions written for antidepressants in wealthy countries has doubled in the past 20 years.

The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest mass of ice in the world, holding around 60% of the world’s fresh water. If it all melted, global average sea levels would rise by 58 metres. But scientists are grappling with exactly how global warming will affect this great ice sheet.

Political momentum is growing in Australia to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050.

From the farm to the plate, the modern day food system has a waste problem. Each year, a third of all food produced around the world, or 1.3 billion tonnes, ends up as rubbish.

Nearly all contracts for coffee delivery are benchmarked against the C price, with the result that prices for green Arabica (unroasted beans) have risen by over 80% during the past year. Those for Robusta coffee – a cheaper, less palatable alternative – have risen over 30%.

After 19 months of paying to help UK workers to stay in their jobs during the pandemic, the government furlough scheme finishes at the end of September. The cost of almost £70 billion has been enormous, but the scheme has been a clear success story.

Rising temperatures due to climate change are causing more than just uncomfortably hot days across the United States. These high temperatures are placing serious stress on critical infrastructure such as water supplies, airports, roads and bridges.

The available data on Havana syndrome matches closely with mass psychogenic illness – more commonly known as mass hysteria. So what is really happening with so–called Havana syndrome?

Electricity generation produces a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. The electric grid also is highly vulnerable to climate change effects, such as more frequent and severe droughts, hurricanes and other extreme weather events.

The Chinese property giant Evergrande is suffering under an enormous pile of debt, reportedly worth US$305 billion (£220 billion). There have been angry protests at its headquarters, shares have tumbled, and the eyes of the financial world remain anxiously focused on its future.

The 2021 water year ends on Sept. 30, and it was another hot, dry year in the western U.S., with almost the entire region in drought. Reservoirs vital for farms, communities and hydropower have fallen to dangerous lows.

The Wall Street Journal recently revealed that Facebook treats users’ posts differently depending on their wealth, privilege and status.

Since Epcot’s inception, millions of tourists have descended upon the theme park famous for its Spaceship Earth geodesic sphere and its celebration of international cultures.

The widespread availability of low-priced parking in high-demand locations has significant impacts on our cities. When people expect parking to be available in these locations, they often choose to drive rather than use a more sustainable mode such as public transport.

The current HGV driver shortage is the latest chapter in the UK’s supply chain jitters, disrupting wholesale food delivery, cancelling bin collections and leading to the panic buying of fuel.

Addressing tooth decay will not only mean fewer people suffer from complications, it will also reduce the burden on NHS services and allow money to be redirected to other services. Expanding water fluoridation schemes is one effective way of doing this.

The U.S. government may be on the verge of spending as much as US$4.5 trillion in what could be one of the biggest investments in infrastructure and the social safety net in decades.

It’s outrageous to suggest the current UK energy situation is the result of a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. It is primarily a gas crisis, fuelled by the nation’s slow transition to lower carbon sources.

Delta was recognised as a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern in May 2021 and has proved extremely difficult to control in unvaccinated populations.

Ice ages form during protracted periods of a relatively cooler Earth. A definition must include the condition that the Earth is sufficiently cool for permanent ice formation.

If you’re like most Australians, the single biggest chunk of your energy bill — about 40% — goes to a network services company, which owns and operates the transmission lines or pipes delivering electricity or gas to your home.

The Labour party has voted to amend the rules governing how it elects leaders at its 2021 party conference. This was a marker successfully laid down by current leader Keir Starmer – but one that only came after a battle with the Labour left.

Global food prices shot up nearly 33% in September 2021 compared with the same period the year before.

The current shortage of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers in the UK is hitting consumers hard, leading to distribution problems in food, fuel and groceries.

US teacher Amy Watson started the trend with a selfie posted to Facebook from the day she was first tested for COVID in March 2020. Watson wore a trucker’s cap in the photo.

Houston Methodist Hospital, for example, required its 25,000 workers to get a vaccine by June 7. Before the mandate, about 15% of its employees were unvaccinated.

Cutting agriculture emissions will not be easy. The difficulties have reportedly triggered concern in the Nationals’ about the cost of the transition for farmers, including calls for agriculture to be carved out of any net-zero target.

While it makes sense for New Zealand to maintain and promote its nuclear-free policy, it must also be pragmatic about reducing tension and risk, particularly in its own region. Being outside the AUKUS agreement and being on good terms with China is a good start.

In the last few years, the party had experimented with two Merkel-style centrists. The first, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, quit the leadership in 2020 after a state election in Thuringia saw her party court far-right votes.

The recent spike in natural gas prices has closed many plants that make fertiliser in the UK – sending a shockwave through lots of other industries.

Hitachi’s share price duly went up 10%, reflecting investors’ negative sentiment towards building complex, highly regulated large nuclear power plants.

A trade deal between the UK and the US was once counted as a great potential prize of Brexit. But now those plans have been delayed, with no clear timetable in sight.

The U.S.’s top envoy to Haiti resigned abruptly on Sept. 22, 2021, over the Biden administration’s “inhumane” treatment of Haitian migrants crossing the border via Mexico into Texas.

Early clinical trial data released in January 2021 showed that four weeks after the first dose, the Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine was 66.3% effective at preventing COVID-19 infection. The initial studies also showed that it was 85% effective at preventing severe or critical disease.

The New South Wales and Victorian governments have released detailed roadmaps outlining how they’ll ease restrictions across Sydney and Melbourne.

The origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has caused the COVID-19 pandemic, has been hotly debated.

Green shoots emerging from black tree trunks is an iconic image in the days following bushfires, thanks to the remarkable ability of many native plants to survive even the most intense flames.

The Antarctic ice sheet is the largest mass of ice in the world, holding around 60% of the world’s fresh water. If it all melted, global average sea levels would rise by 58 metres. But scientists are grappling with exactly how global warming will affect this great ice sheet.

Figures released this week suggest Australia’s koala populations have plummeted by 30% in three years, and fewer than 58,000 now remain in the wild.

Auckland’s move to alert level 3 has also triggered speculation about whether the national COVID-19 elimination strategy has failed or is even being abandoned. While the government denies it, others clearly believe it is at least a possibility.

The WHO has reduced its annual recommended limit for PM2.5 from ten to five micrograms per cubic metre. Recommended limits on NO₂ have also been tightened – from 40 to ten micrograms per cubic metre.

In June 2021, our group commissioned a survey done by the independent, non-partisan researchers at NORC at the University of Chicago, seeking to discover how widespread insurrectionist sentiments are among U.S. adults.

Americans in households with annual incomes from $50,000 to $75,000 experienced the sharpest increase in food insufficiency when the COVID-19 pandemic began – meaning that many people in the middle class didn’t have enough to eat at some point within the previous seven days, according to our peer-reviewed study that ...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a rule to start eliminating a class of climate-warming chemicals that are widely used as coolants in refrigerators, air conditioners and heat pumps.

September marks the end of the summer sea ice melt season and the Arctic sea ice minimum, when sea ice over the Northern Hemisphere ocean reaches its lowest extent of the year.

Adaptive cruise control, lane change assistance, collision avoidance, blind spot monitoring, autopilots: These are just a few of the driver-assist features that are arriving in new cars. As technology races ahead with the aim of making driving safer, drivers are left with the daunting task of figuring out how it ...

The global opinions on the new AUKUS security pact between Australia, the US and the UK have been decidedly mixed. China and France immediately blasted the deal, while others, such as Japan and the Philippines, were more welcoming.

Much has been written about the taxpayer-funded windfalls to some companies provided by the A$90 billion JobKeeper scheme. Their gains have come from grants given to them to offset projected COVID-19 losses — with no obligation to pay that money back when the losses didn’t eventuate.

Many hopes have been pinned on repurposing existing drugs, such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, to treat COVID-19. However, we shouldn’t be too surprised these drugs haven’t yet lived up to the hype.

Collateralised loan obligations are underpinned not by mortgages but by so-called leveraged loans. These are corporate loans from syndicates of banks that are taken out, for example, by private-equity firms to pay for takeovers.