Mar 29, 2024 05:22 PM
(This post was last modified: Mar 30, 2024 05:04 AM by C C.)
The EU continues its unscientific, anti-innovation policymaking
https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/fea...icymaking/
EXCERPT: They claim that the objective is to make the food system more sustainable and resilient by developing improved plant varieties that are climate-resilient, pest-resistant, higher-yielding, or that require less fertilizers and pesticides. But excessive regulation will not achieve that, and European politics and regulatory foot-dragging will ensure these objectives are not met. The new proposal creates even more new, meaningless pseudo-categories that would be subject to disparate regulation – but we would emphasize that the various methods of modifications are distinctions without meaningful differences and are irrelevant to risk or risk-assessment... (MORE - missing details)
Long-lost bombs from the world wars are increasingly likely to blow up
https://gizmodo.com/unexploded-bombs-wor...1851371093
EXCERPTS: Live ordnance from both the First and Second World Wars are more likely to detonate as they age, according to a new study published in Royal Society Open Science.
“The munitions are continuously deteriorating, resulting in the release of hazardous materials into the environment, potentially posing environmental and societal risks,” the researchers wrote. “Moreover, as the explosives deteriorate over time, often resulting from inferior storage conditions or the presence of undesired factors such as moisture and certain metals, the munitions may become increasingly sensitive to external stimuli and susceptible to accidental detonation.”
[...] Surprisingly, the ordnance was wholesale more sensitive to detonation today than it would have been when it was dropped. In the case of one explosive combination (dubbed “substance B” in the research), the explosive was four times more sensitive than expected. The team couldn’t determine what made the munitions more sensitive some 80 years after they were dropped...
[...] Increasingly sensitive bombs in the ground are a problem all over Europe and, frankly, wherever bombs have been dropped... (MORE - missing details)
https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/fea...icymaking/
EXCERPT: They claim that the objective is to make the food system more sustainable and resilient by developing improved plant varieties that are climate-resilient, pest-resistant, higher-yielding, or that require less fertilizers and pesticides. But excessive regulation will not achieve that, and European politics and regulatory foot-dragging will ensure these objectives are not met. The new proposal creates even more new, meaningless pseudo-categories that would be subject to disparate regulation – but we would emphasize that the various methods of modifications are distinctions without meaningful differences and are irrelevant to risk or risk-assessment... (MORE - missing details)
Long-lost bombs from the world wars are increasingly likely to blow up
https://gizmodo.com/unexploded-bombs-wor...1851371093
EXCERPTS: Live ordnance from both the First and Second World Wars are more likely to detonate as they age, according to a new study published in Royal Society Open Science.
“The munitions are continuously deteriorating, resulting in the release of hazardous materials into the environment, potentially posing environmental and societal risks,” the researchers wrote. “Moreover, as the explosives deteriorate over time, often resulting from inferior storage conditions or the presence of undesired factors such as moisture and certain metals, the munitions may become increasingly sensitive to external stimuli and susceptible to accidental detonation.”
[...] Surprisingly, the ordnance was wholesale more sensitive to detonation today than it would have been when it was dropped. In the case of one explosive combination (dubbed “substance B” in the research), the explosive was four times more sensitive than expected. The team couldn’t determine what made the munitions more sensitive some 80 years after they were dropped...
[...] Increasingly sensitive bombs in the ground are a problem all over Europe and, frankly, wherever bombs have been dropped... (MORE - missing details)