The Daily Populous

Sunday July 13rd, 2025 evening edition

image for Birds thriving, breeding successfully in Germany’s solar parks

Weesow-Willmersdorf solar park in Brandenburg, Germany, may appear unremarkable, but its 164 hectares support many rare birds – especially larks, which breed frequently here.

Biologist Matthias Stoefer said the high density of breeding larks in one of Germany’s largest solar parks in Brandenburg, north of Berlin, is astonishing.

In his breeding territory mapping, he counted 178 spots within the solar park and surrounding areas.

Whether they can breed successfully there when the farmer sprays, fertilizes, and harvests throughout the summer is questionable, however.

The latest study by Bundesverbands Neue Energiewirtschaft (BNE) also shows that solar parks provide habitats for endangered animals, and better ones than the surrounding agricultural land.

The ground-mounted PV system, with its dense row spacing, also does not meet the recommendations for biodiverse solar parks.

“In the case of Weesow [solar park], sheep grazing has proven very successful, as it has transformed the solar park into a paradise for skylarks,” said Hauck. »

Wild discovery: Indian police spot Russian woman, daughters living in remote cave

Authored by firstpost.com

While patrolling through the dense forest atop Ramatirtha Hill in Karnataka’s Gokarna, police found a Russian woman and her two young daughters living in a remote and risky cave read more.

The Russian woman, identified as Nina Kutina, was in the cave that is located in a landslide prone zone.

A Russian woman and her two young daughters were recently found living in a remote and risky cave perched atop Ramatirtha Hill in Karnataka’s Gokarna. »

In a first, congenital deafness in teens and adults treated with new gene therapy

Authored by livescience.com
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But recent research my colleagues and I conducted has shown that a form of gene therapy can successfully restore hearing in toddlers and young adults born with congenital deafness.

This condition is caused by mutations in the OTOF gene that produces the otoferlin protein — a protein critical for hearing.

We're optimistic that in the future, gene therapy will be available for many different types of genetic deafness. »