The Daily Populous

Wednesday December 17th, 2025 evening edition

image for EPA eliminates mention of fossil fuels in website on warming’s causes. Scientists call it misleading

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency has removed any mention of fossil fuels — the main driver of global warming — from its popular online page explaining the causes of climate change.

Sometime in the past few days or weeks, EPA altered some but not all of its climate change webpages, de-emphasizing and even deleting references to the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, which scientists say is the overwhelming cause of climate change.

The website’s causes of climate page mentions changes in Earth’s orbit, solar activity, Earth’s reflectivity, volcanoes and natural carbon dioxide changes, but not the burning of fossil fuels.

Seven scientists and three former EPA officials tell The Associated Press that this is misleading and harmful.

“Now it is completely wrong,” said University of California climate scientist Daniel Swain, who also noted that impacts, risks and indicators of climate change on the EPA site are now broken links.

It was actually one of the best designed easy access climate change information websites for the U.S.”.

That now reads: “Natural processes are always influencing the earth’s climate and can explain climate changes prior to the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s. »

After Trump Cuts to Kenya Food Aid, Children Died of Starvation — ProPublica

Authored by propublica.org
image for

When the U.S. embassy in Nairobi learned of the visit, officials there arranged the dinner with a goal in mind.

It would be their last opportunity to explain, face-to-face, the catastrophic impact of Trump’s drastic cuts to foreign aid.

“What has come with Trump, I’ve never experienced anything like it,” said one aid worker who has been in Kakuma for decades. »

Couple scoop second lottery win, beating 24 trillion-to-1 odds

Authored by cnn.com
image for

Theirs is a 24-trillion-to-one tale – a Welsh couple who defied astronomical odds to become million-dollar winners not just once, but twice.

Even after their win, the pair continued to buy lottery tickets, nursing a hope that another scoop might be in the cards.

In their own Christmas miracle, the duo scooped another £1 million, astonishing experts who estimate odds of a double win to be one in 24 trillion. »

‘The More I’m Around Young People, the More Panicked I Am’

Authored by theatlantic.com
image for

In late 2024, the Democratic data scientist David Shor surveyed nearly 130,000 voters at the behest of Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.

In other words, the research collectively suggests that America is becoming more anti-Semitic because its young people are becoming more anti-Semitic.

Survey after survey shows that anti-Semitism remains a minority prejudice even among young people, who are a minority of Americans. »

The perfect plastic? Plant-based, fully saltwater degradable, zero microplastics

Authored by eurekalert.org

Last year, Aida and his team developed a plastic that could quickly degrade in salt water within several hours, without leaving any microplastics behind.

In the presence of salt water, the bonds holding the two polymers together came apart and the plastic decomposed.

“From this abundant natural substance, we have created a flexible yet tough plastic material that safely decomposes in the ocean. »