Farmers are starting to take their government to court over climate change

Climate change and the livelihood of farmers in Europe: the impact of extreme weather, droughts and droughts on climate, soil, water and soil

Farmers suing their government for failing to act on climate change might sound surprising — we’re more used to seeing convoys of tractors in the streets with farmers protesting the imposition of climate and sustainability policies. In Switzerland, the average temperature has already risen to a point where it is almost double what it was preindustrial times.

Agriculture is exempt from the strictest regulations on climate and environmental protection because of its economic and cultural importance. For example, the Global Methane Pledge, launched in 2021 at the COP26 United Nations Climate Change Conference, focuses mainly on cutting emissions of this potent greenhouse gas from the oil, gas and waste sectors rather than from food systems. In 2023 at COP28, parties to the Paris climate agreement signed a non-binding pledge on sustainable agriculture, but only in relation to adapting current practices, not mitigating climate change.

At the same time, agriculture is greatly affected by rising temperatures and extreme weather, including droughts, heatwaves, frosts and heavy rainfall, as well as changes in pests6. The effects are different from region to region, from crop to field, from farm to farm, depending on terrain, climate, access to water and the type of farming.

Climate change can cause millions of deaths in Europe without rapid action. Plus, the tireless polymath who “couldn’t stop dreaming up ways to make the world better”.

An extra 2.3 million people in European cities could die as a result of extreme temperatures — both hot and cold — by the end of the century if decision makers don’t act to mitigate climate change. Researchers analysed temperature and mortality data from urban areas in 30 European countries to model various warming scenarios and the possible temperature-related deaths associated with them between 2015 and 2099. The results show that heat-related deaths would surpass those from cold conditions even in the most positive scenarios, and that temperature-related deaths could increase by 50%.

Toca do Tatu, the ancient mark of a giant sloth and the H5N1 vaccine: an Italian team to optimize cacio e pepe

The H5N1 avian vaccine has made a lot of people sick and one person has died. Most of these illnesses were mild, but emerging data indicate that variants of the virus can cause severe disease and death, especially when passed directly to people from birds. Researchers are monitoring two main variants – one carried mainly by birds and one carried mainly by cows – but the numbers of human infections are too small to determine whether one is more dangerous than the other. The evolution of the virus is a factor when it comes to going into human cells. This is a first step for the virus and has increased the risk of it jumping to humans.

It is possible that giant sloths carved Toca do Tatu, the amazing cave in southern Brazil. The megafauna went extinct thousands of years ago. Scientists believe that the cave is the largest known example of an ancient mark left by organisms, because of the large scratches on the walls and ceiling.

Inventions including versions of calculus and binary digits were made by Gottfried Leibniz, a polymath who covered everything from philosophy to geology. The best of all possible parodies were taken out of his religious philosophy. The historian says that the boffin couldn’t stop dreaming up ways to make the world better.

Statistical physicist Ivan Di Terlizzi and an all-Italian team set out to ‘scientifically optimize’ the recipe for cacio e pepe. Their solution involves adding only one ingredient to the traditional combination of pasta, black pepper and pecorino cheese: cornstarch. 3 min read from The New York Times.