Giant viruses found in Greenland ice sheet, could it help alleviate global warming? | Nature Trumpet

Giant virus found in Greenland ice sheet

It actually helps alleviate global warming?

Every spring, everything comes back to life. Dormant algae on the ice also begin to multiply in large numbers, turning large areas of ice black . When the ice turns black, its ability to reflect sunlight will be weakened, and the ice will melt faster. The reflected sunlight decreases, and the heat absorbed by the earth's surface increases, which will aggravate global warming.

Blackened Ice｜Shunan Feng

However, researchers from the Department of Environmental Sciences at Aarhus University in Denmark have discovered a way to reduce ice melting - by eating the snow algae in the ice!

The research team found a giant virus on the ice where algae live. They suspect that these viruses feed on snow algae and can control the growth of algae . If there is less snow algae, the ice will be less dark and melt less.

A sample of a giant virus looks like a bag of dirty water. It is filled with all kinds of microorganisms, including snow algae that turn the ice black. | Laura Perini

Viruses are typically much smaller than bacteria. A typical virus is about 20 to 200 nanometers in size, while bacteria are about 2 to 3 micrometers in size. But giant viruses can grow up to 2.5 micrometers in size, which is larger than most bacteria.

Giant viruses were first discovered in the ocean in 1981, where they infect green algae, and have since been found on land and even in humans.

This is the first time that a giant virus has been discovered living on the surface of ice , but it is not yet certain which hosts the giant virus infects.

Are we overdoing our laundry?

The washing machine can be said to be a major invention of modern civilized life, liberating us from the heavy work of washing clothes.

However, convenience also brings waste. Even if the clothes are not necessarily dirty, we will throw them into the washing machine. Taking European households as an example, the number of households using washing machines has increased from 30% in 2010 to 80% in 2024. More laundry also means more energy and water consumption.

In addition to energy consumption, there is also the problem of microplastics. Of the global microplastic emissions, 16% to 35% are emitted after synthetic fibers are washed . Washing polyester clothes once will release 700,000 plastic fibers.

Rethinking your laundry habits | Mia Halleröd Palmgren

A recent study from Sweden found that many people would prefer to live a more environmentally friendly life, but not at the expense of cleanliness. The fear and disgust of dirtiness outweighs the desire to act in an environmentally friendly way . The more we hate dirt, the more we wash our clothes. It becomes a habit.

Some people are also beginning to re-examine their daily washing habits. The pursuit of cleanliness makes us wash clothes more often, and the wear and tear of clothes by machines makes it easier for us to buy new clothes, while washing clothes also consumes more detergent. It seems to have become a cleaning cycle.

The researchers believe that the environmental movement should focus on the psychological drivers behind people's habits, and encourage people not to buy a lot of clothes in the first place. If a piece of clothing is not visibly dirty, you can wear it several times, and if it is dirty in some places, you can try to wash it by hand.

EU plastic restriction order: bottle caps must be connected to beverage bottles

According to the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive, starting from July 3, 2024, the caps of single-use plastic containers with a capacity of less than 3 liters must be connected to the beverage bottles . Metal and glass containers are not affected by this directive.

The purpose of this directive is to increase the probability of whole bottles being recycled and reduce the number of bottle caps being discarded alone . Bottles and bottle caps are one of the most common plastic waste on European beaches. According to EU estimates, this measure can prevent 1.3 billion plastic bottle caps from being discarded into the environment each year, thereby significantly reducing coastline and beach litter.

This directive has been strongly opposed by several large multinational companies since it was first proposed in 2018. They pointed out that although such a requirement seems small, it requires redesigning molds, which will take a lot of time, effort and investment. They believe that it is better to focus on improving the existing recycling system rather than requiring one-piece bottle caps.

However, opposition from large companies was of no avail, and the directive was quickly passed in 2019.

Meeting the requirements of a one-piece bottle cap is not easy. In order for the cap to remain connected to the bottle throughout the product life cycle, the connection between the cap and the bottle must be strong enough to be opened and closed repeatedly, but at the same time not affect the customer experience .

Manufacturers have designed a variety of bottle caps, some are opened directly, and some are twisted open｜Zalkin

Swimming in the Seine? E. coli levels still exceed the limit

There are less than two months to go before the Paris Olympics swimming competition, but recent test results show that the level of E. coli in the Seine River exceeds the safe limit . This may be due to heavy rainfall, rainwater and sewage overflowing from pipes and pouring into the Seine River.

In 1900, Paris hosted the first Olympic Games, and the swimming competition was held in the Seine River. But afterwards, the water quality of the Seine River dropped sharply due to agricultural sewage and urban sewage pollution, and it became smelly. Since 1923, the Paris municipal government has banned people from swimming in the Seine River , and this ban has continued to this day.

August 2023, test swim in the Seine | AP News

The water quality of the Seine River took a turn for the better when Paris successfully bid for the 2024 Olympic Games. The triathlon, marathon swimming and paratriathlon events of the Paris Olympic Games will be held in the Seine River. To this end, the French government invested 1.4 billion euros to upgrade sewage treatment and storm runoff treatment facilities .

The mayor of Paris once expressed confidence in the water quality of the Seine River and promised to swim in the river before the Olympic Games began. He also invited French President Emmanuel Macron to swim with him. However, some French people did not buy it. But judging from the recent test results, the effect is not ideal.

Some protesters even planned to hold a " shit flash mob " in the Seine on the day the president and mayor swam. They also created a website that uses an algorithm to calculate the flow rate of the Seine, allowing people upstream to shit at precise times, so that the mayor and president can swim in the river of shit.

They even built an official website

Tropical cyclones are likely to become more frequent and stronger.

The seabird population has declined sharply

A recent study published in Communications Earth & Environment found that tropical cyclones have a deadly impact on seabirds. Affected by climate change, tropical cyclones may occur more frequently and more powerfully, leading to a sharp decline in seabird populations.

The paper studied a cyclone that occurred in April 2023. Severe Tropical Cyclone Ilsa hit Bedout Island, Australia, killing 80% to 90% of the island's native brown boobies (Sula leucogaster) and blue-faced boobies ( Sula dactylatra bedouti). It is estimated that at least 20,000 birds died in the storm, mainly adult breeding birds.

A helicopter survey of Bedeo Island four days after Hurricane Ilsa. Image b is a cropped and enlarged portion of image a. In image b, at least 98 dead seabirds can be seen. Reference [2]

Bedeo Island is about 40 kilometers from the northwest coast of Australia. It is a low-lying island with little vegetation. It is a rather desolate island and is easily affected by extreme weather. However, this island is home to tens of thousands of seabirds every year and is an internationally important seabird breeding base .

When Tropical Cyclone Ilsa hit Bedeo Island, wind speeds reached at least 218 kilometers per hour. At first, the research team thought that the seabirds might have flown away and dispersed to other islands. But a few months later, the research team returned to the island and found that the original forecast was too optimistic - this storm was a complete disaster for seabirds, and the mortality rate of seabirds was unprecedentedly high.

April, when the hurricane hit, is also the peak nesting season for many seabirds . The island seabirds have a relatively long lifespan but reproduce slowly, usually laying only one or two eggs per pair per year.

Seabird deaths due to hurricanes | References [2]

The research team believes that tropical cyclones may become more frequent and intense due to climate change, and seabirds may not have enough time to recover before the next major tropical cyclone hits, making their reproduction unsustainable.

References

[1] Unsafe levels of E. coli found in Paris' Seine River less than 2 months before Olympics https://apnews.com/article/paris-olympics-seine-river-bacteria-1861ace509cd278debfed3393980cfde

[2] Lavers, JL, Mead, TM, Fidler, AL, & Bond, AL (2024). Cyclone Ilsa in April 2023 led to significant seabird mortality on Bedout Island. Communications Earth & Environment, 5(1), 276.

[3]Perini, L., Sipes, K., Zervas, A., Bellas, C., Lutz, S., Moniruzzaman, M., ... & Anesio, AM (2024). Giant viral signatures on the Greenland ice sheet. Microbiome, 12(1), 91.

[4] Study finds yuck factor counteracts sustainable laundry habits https://phys.org/news/2024-06-yuck-factor-counteracts-sustainable-laundry.html

[5] https://www.sustainableplastics.com/news/tethered-caps-mandatory-eu-summer-2024

Author: Yellow pollock

Editor: Mai Mai