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Instead a clump of her cells were grown in a lab to create what’s known as “cultivated meat”, a product touted as far better for the climate – as well as the mortal concerns of pigs and cows – and is set for takeoff in the US.

“A harmless sample from one pig can produce many millions of tons of product without requiring us to raise and slaughter an animal each time,” said Eitan Fischer, founder of Mission Barns, a maker of cultivated meat that invited the Guardian to a taste test in an upscale Manhattan hotel. The meatball was succulent, the bacon was crisp and, even to a vegetarian, both had the undeniable quality of meat.

“We got that sample from Dawn and she’s living freely and happily,” said Fischer, whose company has identified a “donor” cow, chicken and duck for future cultivated meat ranges. “This industry will absolutely be transformative to our food system as people move toward consuming these types of products.”

Changes in the rotation might occur on a decadal scale and could aid our understanding of how processes deep in the Earth affect its surface.


Rost-9D/iStock.

Researchers Yi Yang and Xiaodong Song analyzed the difference in the waveform and travel time of seismic waves from near-identical earthquakes that have passed through the Earth’s inner core along similar paths since the 1960s. They found that since around 2009, paths that previously showed significant temporal variation have exhibited little change, suggesting that the inner core rotation has paused. They also identified that this might be associated with a reversal of the inner core rotation as part of a seven-decade oscillation with a previous turning point occurring in the early 1970s. The authors indicate that this variation correlates with changes in geophysical observations at the Earth’s surface, such as the magnetic field and the length of day.

Ok, just let me off this decade already.


Our understanding of Earth’s inner core doesn’t have a strong history. Ancient days, of course, had folks believing in a hollow core. Then came the understanding of iron and a molten mixture making up Earth’s middle, coupled with the theory of spinning happening separate from the rest of Earth. Song confirmed the spinning theory in 1996.

The Polar Vortex is starting to weaken as a strong Stratospheric Warming event is about to unfold. As the forecast indicates, the Polar Vortex will be heavily deformed but will not fully collapse. These important events can have a significant impact on the rest of Winter in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Weather and the stratospheric Polar Vortex are strongly connected, especially in Winter. So it matters greatly in what shape or form the Polar Vortex is as we go through the cold weather season.

We will look at the important role of the Polar Vortex during the Winter season and how it can shape our weather when it is strong or weak. But more importantly, we will look closely at the latest forecasts and how the Polar Vortex disruption events might be a major player for the rest of Winter.