August 2023

📩 Subscribe to get a summary of the latest science and tech news delivered straight to your inbox every month!

Big News
Wildfires continue to cause global devastation. As warmer weather takes its toll, the threat of wildfires continues to grow and have worldwide impact. Wildfires are currently ravaging parts of Hawaii's Maui Island, and have thus far resulted in the tragic loss of 96 lives and the destruction of over 2,000 structures.  The main reason for these fires is the scorching, dry conditions, typical in the summer dry season. The relentless heat and lack of moisture dry vegetation to the point that it becomes like tinder, making it liable to catch light. Unfortunately, Maui isn’t the only place dealing with wildfires. Canada is also grappling with an ongoing blaze, and officials in the province of British Columbia have issued warnings to tens of thousands of residents, urging them to evacuate. The picture is similar in Europe as tens of thousands of residents from the Greek islands Rhodes and Corfu have been forced to abandon their homes due to the relentless spread of fires throughout the region. Wildfires like these are becoming alarmingly frequent, a direct and worrying consequence of climate change.

India’s national space agency makes a historic landing. In a moment of triumph, India has successfully landed a spacecraft near the moon's south pole. This achievement places India in the prestigious ranks of just four nations that have managed to land an intact craft on the moon. This triumph, of being the first to reach the south pole and the fourth to land on the moon, was celebrated with street parties across India. India's groundbreaking mission makes it the first nation to explore the potentially water-rich southern-polar region of the moon. The spacecraft, named Chandrayaan-3, derived from the Sanskrit term for "mooncraft," set off on its journey from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on July 14th. After covering an impressive 380,000 kilometers over six weeks the lunar craft achieved touchdown near the lunar south pole on August 23rd at 12:32 GMT. Following the successful landing a rover named Pragyaan, which translates to "wisdom", has set off to explore the moon's surface for two weeks. While there the rover will capture images, conduct geological experiments, and carry out an investigation to find ice. The latter of these goals could have significant implications, extraction of water from ice on the moon could offer a source of water for future crewed missions to space.

Littles News
Water voles brought back to Lake District. In positive ecology and environment news, this month the Lake District witnessed the release of over 300 water voles as they were reintroduced to an area near Haweswater. The captive-bred water voles were released as part of an attempt to build a population of the endangered species in Cumbria. The number of water voles in the wild has dwindled dramatically over the last century, from eight million to just 132,000. This rapid decline has been caused by a combination of habitat loss, pollution, and the encroachment of the American mink. To battle this on-going decline a collaborative project was launched by Eden Rivers Trust, Cumbria Connect, Environment Agency, local landowners and volunteers. The hope is that by identifying suitable habitats, implementing habitat enhancements, and developing effective methods to control the American mink population this reintroduction effort will stop the decline in water vole population. Hopefully these adorable creatures will be around to stay and represent a promising step forward for conservation efforts in the UK.

What I’ve been enjoying
Oppenheimer- what a blast. For the majority of movies I prefer to avoid hype because I don’t want too many expectations going in. For Oppenheimer this was a difficult task. Almost everyone I know was talking about it (either that or Barbie). Despite the hype and high expectations I had going in, I have to say - Christopher Nolan knocked it out of the park (as usual). I knew that the run time was roughly 3 hours, so I was nervous that it would drag. Thankfully, for the most part that time passes quickly, although the third act does lose a little momentum. And under normal circumstances I am sceptical about biographic movies because they have a habit of exaggerating real-life events. But Oppenheimer manages to tell a story that feels grounded and is surprisingly deep, and is sold by an outstanding cast. I can now see why people were hyping it up, although I look forward to watching it at home when I will be able to take a half-time break.

P.S: If you want to read more content from me then check out my recent fiction work available now for free on Medium.