Good News Headlines 3/11/2024
Photo©Yuriy Nedopekin/123rf
Boiling Tap Water May Be Solution To Microplastics
by Saul Elbein, The Hill
Worried about plastic pollution in your tap water? Try boiling in it, a new study suggests. Boiling tap water can destroy at least 80 percent of three of the most common plastic compounds that can be found in your water, according to findings published Wednesday in Environmental Research Letters. This means drinking tap water that has been boiled, something commonly done in East Asian kitchens already, may be a safer bet than drinking bottled water. Columbia researchers found last month that bottled water can contain up to a quarter-million fragments of nanoplastics per liter.
The U.S. Sharply Limits How Much Credit Cards Can Charge You In Late Fees
by Scott Horsley, NPR
The cost of a late payment on your credit card could soon be going down. Federal regulators issued a new rule capping credit card late fees at $8, down from the current average of $32. Consumer advocates praised the measure as providing welcome relief for millions of credit card users, but business interests accused regulators of overstepping their authority and promised legal action to prevent the rule from going into effect. “For over a decade, credit card giants have been exploiting a loophole to harvest billions of dollars in junk fees from American consumers,” said Rohit Chopra, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in a statement.
Rare Gray Whale Extinct In The Atlantic For 200 Years, Spotted Off Nantucket
by Emily DeLetter, USA Today
In a rare event, a gray whale has been spotted off the coast of Massachusetts. It’s a species that has been extinct from the Atlantic for more than 200 years. The whale was spotted last Friday by the New England Aquarium’s aerial survey team about 30 miles off Nantucket, a tiny island off Cape Cod and a popular summer tourist destination. As the aerial survey plane circled for 45 minutes, the whale repeatedly dived and resurfaced and appeared to be feeding, according to a release from the aquarium. Afterward, researchers reviewed their photos and confirmed that it was indeed a gray whale.
New Giant Anaconda Species Found On Waorani Indigenous Land In Ecuador
by Liz Kimbrough, Mongabay
A new species of giant anaconda has been found in the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador, scientists announced. The snake, named the northern green anaconda (Eunectes akayima), is genetically distinct from its close relative, the green anaconda (E. murinus) and may be the largest snake species in the world. For 20 years, researchers collected blood and tissue samples from green anacondas across South America. But it was samples collected in 2022 from the Bameno region of Baihuaeri Waorani Territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon that would prove most crucial to the discovery.
‘All It Takes Is A Quick Walk’: How A Few Minutes’ Exercise Can Unleash Creativity – Even If You Hate It
by Sam Pyrah, The Guardian
Need to get your creative juices flowing? Get moving. A long line of influential thinkers have instinctively moved their bodies to open their minds, from Darwin, who advanced his theory of evolution while accumulating laps of his “thinking path”, to Nietzsche, who in 1888 warned: “Do not believe any idea that was not born in the open air and of free movement.” And now scientists are not just confirming the link between exercise and creativity, but unpicking precisely how it works. What’s interesting about creativity is that it appears to be enhanced through the very act of moving the body.
