Science Daily News | 30 May 2023
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Here's which generation you're part of based on your birth year — and why those distinctions exist
Defining generations helps researchers investigate how history impacts the ways people see the world. Generation Z was shaped by technology.
In 2019, Pew Research Foundation officially established a generation after millennials, Generation Z.
Generation Z includes anyone born between 1997 and 2012.
Defining generations helps researchers see how coming of age during certain historical events and technological changes influence the way people see the world.
Yet that hasn't stopped demographers from classifying other cohorts into ranges of birth years. Often this is done to better understand how formative experiences such as world events or technological changes shape the ways people see and interact with the world.
The economic recession of 2008 — which came at a time when many millennials were entering the workforce — played a significant role too. At the same time, Generation Z's only experience with the workforce was through their parents' eyes.
Here's how Pew officially categorizes the generations by birth year at this point in time:
The number of birth years that a generation includes can vary. Millennials span a 16-year range, according to Pew. The Gen X cohort was another 16-year group, but the boomers had a 19-year range and the silent generation an 18-year range.
Picking a cutoff year is complicated, of course, as groups change over time.
"[T]he differences within generations can be just as great as the differences across generations, and the youngest and oldest within a commonly defined cohort may feel more in common with bordering generations than the one to which they are assigned," Dimock wrote.
Yet establishing a cutoff point helps researchers investigate how a group has been shaped by similar experiences.
"We look forward to spending the next few years studying this generation as it enters adulthood," Dimock wrote of Generation Z, adding that it's always possible that new data could give researchers a reason to reevaluate these generational boundaries. "All the while, we'll keep in mind that generations are a lens through which to understand societal change, rather than a label with which to oversimplify differences between groups."
Steve Coogan and Lee Mack join pollution protest at Windermere
They are campaigning against sewage discharge into England's largest lake.
Comedians Steve Coogan and Lee Mack joined a protest against the discharge of sewage in the Lake District.
Campaigners gathered at Windermere in Cumbria, claiming the lake had already been damaged by pollution.
Mr Coogan, best known for playing Alan Partridge, said the water company United Utilities was the "chief offender".
The firm said it was investing £900m in making improvements across its network.
Zoologist Matt Staniek claimed a significant amount of the phosphate in the lake had come from United Utilities' owned sites, which was feeding algal blooms.
Blue-green algal blooms can make humans ill and kill animals, while affecting fish numbers.
It was previously claimed that phosphate may also have come from septic tank discharge belonging to home owners and holiday lets, and from run-off from farming land, but this is disputed.
There were 246 days in 2022 when sewage was discharged by United Utilities from storm overflows into Windermere lakes, according to Environment Agency data.
Storm overflow systems are large pipes integrated into combined sewer networks, which automatically release sewage into rivers or the sea during heavy rainfall, to prevent waste flooding homes.
"Last year, there were algal blooms which are an indicator of high phosphorus content", Mr Coogan told the BBC.
"There were huge blooms it was quite staggering, [it was] a very fluorescent green colour, it was unmissable."
Mr Coogan, Mr Mack and Paul Whitehouse were among the comedians who agreed to back Mr Staniek, who organised the protest.
Mr Coogan said: "Although I have a very strong local connection here, it's a wider issue nationally and Windermere is the biggest lake in England, the Lake District is [a] Unesco heritage site.
"We're here to tell United Utilities, to quite simply stop putting sewage in Windermere - and to use their resources to remove the damage that's been done over the last few decades."
At Bowness-on-Windermere, campaigners held up "Save Windermere" and "Pootopia" banners, with some criticising United Utilities.
Paul Whitehouse, who previously worked on the documentary-series, Our Troubled Rivers, said he wanted to see a "joined-up" approach.
He said: "People are rightly appalled by the way they've treated our water systems and they're going to have to shift, they're going to have to move, and shift policy.
"The ball is in their court - it's not going to go away, I am optimistic for the future".
United Utilities said it recognised there were "concerns" and that it was committed to "playing its part" in minimising its impact on the water environment.
The firm, which previously said it had implemented measures to reduce the phosphate contributed from its systems, said it was accelerating a multimillion-pound improvement programme.
Helen Apps, from the firm, said: "We've pulled together a plan to really start tackling this now.
"We've announced that we're going to be fast forwarding £900m worth of investment over the next two years to get a head start on what will be a huge overhaul of the region's wastewater network".
However, she said it had faced challenges including increased temperature, climate change and increased tourism.
She said: "That's why we all have to work together as a community to make sure that we're treating the wastewater from the systems that United Utilities manages, we're reducing storm overflows and we're also looking at what can be done to improve the discharges that come from septic tanks and the run-off from agriculture as well - it will be a joint project."
UAE announces groundbreaking mission to asteroid belt, seeking clues to life's origins
The United Arab Emirates unveiled plans Monday to send a spaceship to explore the solar system's main asteroid belt, the latest space project by the oil-rich nation after it launched the successful Hope spacecraft to Mars in 2020. Dubbed the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, the project aims to develop a spacecraft in the coming years and then launch it in 2028 to study various asteroids. “This mission is a follow up and a follow on the Mars mission, where it was the first mission to Mars from the region," said Mohsen Al Awadhi, program director of the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates unveiled plans Monday to send a spaceship to explore the solar system's main asteroid belt, the latest space project by the oil-rich nation after it launched the successful Hope spacecraft to Mars in 2020.
Dubbed the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, the project aims to develop a spacecraft in the coming years and then launch it in 2028 to study various asteroids.
“This mission is a follow up and a follow on the Mars mission, where it was the first mission to Mars from the region," said Mohsen Al Awadhi, program director of the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt. "We’re creating the same thing with this mission. That is, the first mission ever to explore these seven asteroids in specific and the first of its kind when it’s looked at from the grand tour aspect.”
The UAE became the first Arab country and the second country ever to successfully enter Mars’ orbit on its first try when its Hope probe reached the red planet in February 2021. The craft's goals include providing the first complete picture of the Martian atmosphere and its layers and helping answer key questions about the planet's climate and composition.
If successful, the newly announced spacecraft will soar at speeds reaching 33,000 kilometers (20,500 miles) per hour on a seven-year journey to explore six asteroids. It will culminate in the deployment of a landing craft onto a seventh, rare “red” asteroid that scientists say may hold insight into the building blocks of life on Earth.
Organic compounds like water are crucial constituents of life and have been found on some asteroids, potentially delivered through collisions with other organic-rich bodies or via the creation of complex organic molecules in space. Investigating the origins of these compounds, along with the possible presence of water on red asteroids, could shed light on the origin of Earth’s water, thereby offering valuable insights into the genesis of life on our planet.
The endeavor is a significant milestone for the burgeoning UAE Space Agency, established in 2014, as it follows up on its success in sending the Amal, or "Hope," probe to Mars. The new journey would span a distance over ten times greater than the Mars mission.
The explorer is named MBR after Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who also serves as the vice president and prime minister of the hereditarily ruled UAE. It will first make its way toward Venus, where the planet’s gravitational pull will slingshot it back past the Earth and then Mars.
The craft will eventually reach the asteroid belt, flying as close as 150 kilometers (93 miles) to the celestial boulders and covering a total distance of 5 billion kilometers (around 3 billion miles).
In October 2034, the craft is expected to make its final thrust to the seventh and last asteroid, named Justitia, before deploying a lander over a year later. Justitia, believed to be one of only two known red asteroids, is thought to potentially have a surface laden with organic substances.
“It’s one of the two reddest objects in the asteroid belt, and scientists don’t really understand why it’s so red," said Hoor AlMaazmi, a space science researcher at the UAE space agency. "There are theories about it being originally from the Kuiper Belt and where there’s much more red objects there. So that’s one thing that we can study because it has the potential for it to be water rich as well.”
The MBR Explorer will deploy a landing craft to study the surface of Justitia that will be fully developed by private UAE start-up companies. It may lay the groundwork for possible future resource extraction from asteroids to eventually support extended human missions in space — and maybe even the UAE’s ambitious goal of building a colony on Mars by 2117.
“We have identified different key areas that we want startups in the private sector to be part of, and we will engage with them through that," said Al Awadhi. "We understand that the knowledge we have in the UAE is you know still being built. We will provide these startups with the knowledge they need.”
The harness-wearing beluga whale believed to be a Russian spy has popped up in Sweden, puzzling scientists who noted he's traveling 'very quickly away from his natural environment'
The beluga whale first appeared in Norway in 2019 wearing a harness that had the words "Equipment St. Petersburg," leading to the Russian spy theory.
A beluga whale wearing a harness that read "Equipment St. Petersburg" appeared in Norway in 2019.
Officials said they believed the trained whale was a Russian navy asset that may have escaped.
On Sunday, the whale appeared in Sweden, moving further away from its natural habitat.
The whale was nicknamed Hvaldimir, a play on the Norwegian word for "whale" and Russian President Vladimir Putin's first name, and the harness was removed by Norwegian officials.
The closest beluga whales live farther north, in the Arctic Ocean and the frigid waters north of Norway and around Greenland.
"It could be hormones driving him to find a mate. Or it could be loneliness, as belugas are a very social species – it could be that he's searching for other beluga whales," Strand said.
Russia has never addressed reports that the beluga could be a Kremlin spy.
What to do if you see an alligator and how to survive an attack, according to a wildlife expert who keeps pet gators
Alligators can be very fast with powerful jaws. If you see one, try to get away from them as fast as possible. If one attacks, fight for your life.
If an alligator charges you, run away as fast as you can in a straight line. Don't zig-zag.
If an alligator bites you, don't try to pry its jaws open. Instead, smack its snout or go for its eyes.
Whatever you do, don't play dead or you might end up dead.
For years, Hollywood movies have shown humans at war with alligators and their crocodilian cousins. Either they're attacking us, or we're attacking them.
American alligators have been around for as long as the dinosaurs — over 150 million years. But unlike dinosaurs, alligators stuck around.
Sure, alligators can be vicious, technically they're apex predators, albeit very patient ones.
Alligators are usually pretty chill, as long as you respect their space.
"There are rare instances, of course, where females might be guarding a nest, and if you're in Florida, or you're in an area where alligators are found, and you come across a nest with a female, she is going to be angry, and she will come after you," Maxey said.
Alligators are quick and can run up to a speed of 11 mph, but they can't sustain that very long.
But what if it's too late? And that gator sinks its teeth into you? Fight back!
"You want to fight back, you want to give it your all, because that will more than likely allow the alligator to release you — they're going to realize, oh gosh, I don't want to deal with this," Maxey said.
Don't try to pry open the jaws. You're dealing with a bite force of 3,000 pounds.
Some experts say that while fighting back, you should smack the gator's sensitive snout, and also try to gouge the gator's eyes.
"I feel like that's easier said than done. When you have something sudden happen to you, it's going to be very hard to be like, 'Oh wait, where are the eyes?' you know?" Maxey said. "So I think the best thing to do would be to fight back, put up a fight, definitely don't play dead. If you play dead, you might become dead," Maxey added.
But perhaps most important, stay out of their territory.
"When alligators do attack humans or bite them, it's mainly by mistake, and then usually they'll let go, 'cause they'll realize, ah, this isn't a deer, this isn't a raccoon, this is foreign object, this is not something that I would want to eat," Maxey said.
Lucky us.
Watch the original video here:
Mars bar plastic wrapper swapped for paper
Mars trials environmentally friendly paper wrappers for some of its chocolate bars.
Mars bars have been given a new look with recyclable paper wrappers instead of plastic.
It is part of a pilot, trialling more environmentally friendly materials for Mars Food's chocolate bars.
The new packaging will be rolled out at 500 Tesco stores in the UK from Monday.
The move follows chocolate rivals, Nestle, which has been using paper packaging for Smarties since January 2021 and on some Quality Street sweets since December 2022.
Nine of the 11 Quality Street traditional sweets moved to paper-based packaging.
The Orange Crunch and the Green Triangle remained in their foil wrappers as these are recyclable already.
Mars say it's a challenge to find the right paper packaging solution with an "adequate level of barrier properties to protect the chocolate".
Mars's current plastic wrappings are not recyclable, as is the case for many items including crisp packets and many chocolate bar wrappers. This leads to them accumulating in landfill and polluting waters.
Plastic straws were banned in the UK in 2020, with India following suit in 2022.
Meanwhile, France banned the use of single-use plastics in takeaway food venues in January.
Mars Incorporated said the change will make "200 million bars per year carbon neutral in the UK, Ireland and Canada".
Andrew Flood, Tesco packaging development manager, said he was "delighted to partner with Mars", adding that the initiative aligned with Tesco's "own strategy of removing plastic and packaging" in its business.
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