Patagioenas Picazuro

Patagioenas picazuro

Known in Brazil as Pombo da asa branca (white wing pigeon) is a pretty big guy that sounds like an owl. They're beautiful and commonly found in many countries of South America.

Edit: school pt 2

Chemistry behind 'earthy' scent

On rainy days, we often catch a whiff of that distinctive 'earthy' scent in the air. Many attribute it to the rain itself or the clouds. However, the main source of this smell is 'Geosmin,' a compound produced by Actinomycetes, a type of bacteria, in the soil.

Geosmin gives off an earthy and musty aroma. When raindrops hit the ground, they create aerosols that carry Geosmin into the air. Humans are incredibly sensitive to Geosmin's odor, and even a tiny amount (0.006 - 0.01 mg per liter of water) can be detected. The 'earthy' or 'muddy' flavor sometimes found in freshwater fish like carp and catfish primarily comes from Geosmin. Fortunately, adding vinegar when cooking these fish can effectively remove this taste as Geosmin breaks down into odorless hydrocarbons in acidic conditions.

reddit is having a glitch where it puts the wrong captions over photos and it’s the only thing i care about right now

It's a deal ♡

PLASTIC POLLUTION PREVENTION INSTEAD PLASTIC REMOVAL, RESEARCHERS SAY

A new international research highlights that plastic removal technologies have shown varied efficiency in the amount of waste material they are able to collect, in fact, plastic removal technologies used so far have have not been tested at all. Some have been shown to harm quantities of marine organisms, including fish, crustaceans and seaweeds, that far exceed the amount of plastic captured, meaning their overall impact on the ocean is potentially more harmful than helpful.

Plastics accumulates in all environments, from the highest mountains to the deepest oceans, whoever, plastic production is projected to triple by 2060, with plastic pollution increasing correspondingly under business-as-usual scenarios.

According to researchers, plastic removal technologies can temporarily mitigate plastic accumulation at local scales, but evidence-based criteria are needed in policies to ensure that they are feasible and that ecological benefits outweigh the costs. To reduce plastic pollution efficiently and economically, policy should prioritize regulating and reducing upstream production rather than downstream pollution cleanup.

There are innovations for the open ocean and the seabed that use combinations of towed nets, autonomous vessels and artificial intelligence, but researchers say that even if these technologies were to show signs of being truly effective, they would barely scratch the surface of the global problem. Cleanup practices could also lead to greenwashing through new schemes to offset the use of plastics through plastic collection.

Marine turtle trapped in a plastic fishing net, by Jordi Chias sourced from National Geographic.

Reference (Open Access): Bergmann et al. 2023. Moving from symptom management to upstream plastics prevention: The fallacy of plastic cleanup technology, One Earth.