This week’s Telescope reaches you under the editor’s Eskişehir Odunpazarı Modern Museum visit and the intense impact it created. You will find two explanations about two works of art in our sustainability and science columns. This proves to us that art is universal and related to every aspect of life. If there are readers who haven’t been or seen it, we recommend that they go to Eskişehir, Odun Pazarı and visit this exhibition. We guarantee that you will be speechless in the face of the magnificence of the striking and mind-opening works.
SUSTAINABILITY
In a significant breakthrough, researchers from The Ohio State University have developed a technology to transform materials like plastics and agricultural waste into syngas, a substance most often used to create chemicals and fuels like formaldehyde and methanol. Turning environmental waste into useful chemical resources could solve many of the inevitable challenges of our growing amounts of discarded plastics, paper and food waste, according to new research. DETAIL
In September 2015, the U.S. set an ambitious target of reducing its food loss and waste by 50 percent. The idea was to reduce the amount of food that ends up in landfills, where it emits greenhouse gases as it decomposes, a major factor contributing to climate change. Researchers at UC Davis looked at state policies across the country and estimated how much food waste each state was likely reducing in 2022. They found that, without more work being done at the federal level, no state is on track to achieve the national waste reduction goal. DETAIL
Carbon Brief analysis shows that expansion at Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton could result in cumulative emissions of around 92m tonnes of extra carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) by 2050. Offsetting these emissions would require more than 300,000 hectares of trees to be planted within just a few years, amounting to a forest twice the size of Greater London. DETAIL
The president of France's far-right National Rally party and chair of the far-right Patriots for Europe grouping in the European Parliament, Jordan Bardella, is leading an effort to “tear down the European green deal”, reports Politico. DETAIL
China could “eliminate” 20,000 petrol stations by 2030 based on the projected decline in refined oil consumption, according to a new report released by the CNPC Economics & Technology Research Institute (ETRI), economic newspaper Caijing reports. DETAIL
The UK’s nationally determined contribution (NDC) will confirm a target of cutting emissions by 81% by 2035, reports the Times. Farmers, carmakers, energy firms and companies in other sectors will not be set individual targets for reducing emissions, however, it continues. DETAIL
Stockholm based Studlo EO, founded by Elk Olovsson In 2013, speclalizes In furnlture and object design. Olovsson's highly Intultive and experlmental Dril Vases serles brings together smooth glass and natural marble, confronting opposing sensIbllitles and propertles such as transparency and opacity, durabllity and fragility, crudeness and glossIness. Discarded marbles collected In Italy's Carrara reglon comprise the base of these oblects. Olovsson uses a hammer and chisel to treat them before drilling the openlngs that hold the hand blown, cylindrical glass vases The stone and glass convey sentlments of chaos vs order, observed In the romantic Interactlon between the mineral's rough texture and the vulnerabllity of the fraglle hand blown glass.
Source: OMM Museum
HEALTH
Artificial intelligence is able to identify women who have an elevated risk of developing breast cancer several years before it is diagnosed, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) said on Tuesday. DETAIL
Scientists at University College London in the UK conducted the study, which compared the health records of similar people with and without ADHD. They found that people who had ADHD tended to be sicker and die sooner than their counterparts. The findings indicate that those with the condition are often not getting the support they need, the researchers say. DETAIL
Researchers found that drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy might help protect against dementia and reduce addiction risk. But the same study also uncovered increased risks of kidney stones, stomach problems, and arthritis. By comparing 175 different health outcomes between 215,000 GLP-1 users and those taking traditional diabetes medications, researchers have painted the most comprehensive picture yet of these drugs’ effects on our bodies. DETAIL
Someone dies of heart disease about every 34 seconds in the US, according to a new report, confirming the often preventable condition as the nation's leading cause of death. DETAIL
A daily dose of creatine – alongside talking therapy – seems to ease depression with minimal side effects. Creatine is a compound that is naturally produced by our bodies and is found in protein-rich animal products. It helps to supply energy to cells, so it is best known as a bodybuilding supplement, but it is increasingly being linked to multiple health benefits. DETAIL
DIGITAL / TECHNOLOGY / SCIENCE / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
A mouse with no biological mother has survived to adulthood in China – a major scientific achievement that's been years in the making. The feat was pulled off by a team of researchers in China, led by molecular biologist Zhi-kun Li from the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), using precise stem cell engineering. DETAIL
Scientists have discovered cannabidiol, a compound in cannabis known as CBD, in a common Brazilian plant, opening potential new avenues to produce the increasingly popular substance. The team found CBD in the fruits and flowers of a plant known as Trema micrantha blume, a shrub which grows across much of the South American country and is often considered a weed, molecular biologist Rodrigo Moura Neto of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro told AFP in 2023. CBD, increasingly used by some to treat conditions including epilepsy, chronic pain and anxiety, is one of the main active compounds in cannabis, along with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC – the substance that makes users feel high. DETAIL
An international team of researchers has uncovered new evidence supporting the Zanclean megaflood, a theorized event that refilled the Mediterranean Sea after the Messinian Salinity Crisis had transformed it into a dry, salty landscape. As detailed in a December 28 study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, the researchers combined newly identified geological features in Sicily with geophysical data and computer models to potentially provide the most extensive look into the ancient megaflood known to date. DETAIL
Chinese AI lab DeepSeek’s eponymous large language model (LLM) has become one of the biggest competitors to US firm OpenAI’s ChatGPT, surprising Silicon Valley. Released this month, DeepSeek is both extremely fast and inexpensive. ChatGPT is thought to have required 10,000 Nvidia GPUs to process training data. DeepSeek engineers say they achieved similar results with just 2,000 GPUs. To do this, the Chinese engineers adjusted the training process to reduce the load on the graphics processing units (GPUs) they purchased from Nvidia, and created smarter, more energy-efficient algorithms. Dimitris Papailiopoulos, principal researcher at Microsoft’s AI Frontiers research lab, says that what surprised him most about R1 was “the simplicity of the engineering.” DETAIL
Dutch designers Eric Klarenbeek and Maartje Dros, working collaboratively as Studio Klarenbeek & Dros aka .Unusual search for the unseen connections between material, production process, producers and users. They ve developed the Mycelium Chair, in close collaboration with scientists at the University of Wageningen, mushroom farmers, and building their own labs at their studio which resulted in self developed 3D Mycelium Printers combining 3D-printing technology with living mycelium. Mycelium is a filamentous, rhizomic network system also known as the brain of the fungi, and can be cultivated in controlled conditions and forms, once the organism is stabilised the result is ecological lightweight structures By integrating their bio-receptive printing technologies as scaffolding with living mycelium infill, they developed a stronger structural material than regular mycelium materials. Klarenbeek and Dros implement and merge these biological and technological processes, rendering their final design not only as a visual representation of the digital, but also for organic growth, as it's formed by fusing the digital with the living. The pair have explored the application of mycelium in several ways, from products to interior (tiles) to architecture (Growing Pavilion).
Source: OMM Museum
According to the statement made by Karabük University (KBÜ), a study was carried out to develop environmentally friendly and innovative building materials within the scope of the TÜBİTAK-supported project. Environmentally friendly brick and tile covering materials were produced using by-products and waste materials from Karabük Iron and Steel Factories. These materials, which can be produced with low heat, stand out with their environmentally friendly features. The building materials in question, produced with special techniques, also provide protection against electromagnetic waves. DETAIL
Comcast has introduced L4S technology, which reduces latency on the internet by 78%. L4S, which stands for "Low Latency, Low Loss, Scalable Throughput," is a technology that assigns markings to packets of internet traffic. These markings indicate when traffic is congested from point A to point B, allowing devices on both ends to adapt to the problem. DETAIL
Vodafone said it had made the world's first video call via satellite using a standard smartphone from a remote location, and it plans to roll out the technology for its users across Europe later this year and in 2026. DETAIL
ENERGY / TRANSPORTATION
Tesla robotaxis could be on the road in Austin, Texas, as early as June, CEO Elon Musk said in an earnings call on Wednesday. "We're going to be launching unsupervised Full Self Driving [FSD] as a paid service in Austin in June," Musk said. DETAIL
CYBERSECURITY
1 in 12 children worldwide experience 'pervasive' online sexual exploitation or abuse. DETAIL
The US tech giant Apple has always advertised security assurances alongside ever faster processor performance for its products. Now an international team of cybersecurity researchers, including Yuval Yarom, principal investigator at the cluster of excellence CASA and Professor of Computer Security at the Faculty of Computer Science and the Horst Görtz Institute for IT Security at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, has discovered at least two security vulnerabilities. DETAIL
CURIOSITY
After signing an executive order demanding all federal employees return to in-person work last week, President Trump has now given them an ultimatum: obey or quit. It's an unusual proposal, but those in the tech space immediately noticed that it has Elon Musk's fingerprints all over it. DETAIL
Google has confirmed it will rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America on Google Maps in the US, after an executive order from Donald Trump. DETAIL