AFP UK

An animal market in China’s Wuhan really was the epicenter of the Covid pandemic, according to a pair of new studies in the journal Science published Tuesday that claimed to have tipped the balance in the debate about the virus’ origins.

Answering the question of whether the disease spilled over naturally from animals to humans, or was the result of a lab accident, is viewed as vital to averting the next pandemic and saving millions of lives.

The first paper analyzed the geographic pattern of Covid cases in the outbreak’s first month, December 2019, showing the first cases were tightly clustered around the Huanan Market. 

The second examined genomic data from the earliest cases to study the virus’ early evolution, concluding it was unlikely the coronavirus circulated widely in humans prior to November 2019.

Both were previously posted as “preprints” but have now been vetted by scientific peer review and appear in a prestigious journal.

Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona, who co-authored both papers, had previously called on the scientific community in a letter to be more open to the idea that the virus was the result of a lab leak.

But the findings moved him “to the point where now I also think it’s just not plausible that this virus was introduced any other way than through the wildlife trade at the Wuhan market,” he told reporters on a call about the findings.

Though previous investigation had centered on the live animal market, researchers wanted more evidence to determine it was really the progenitor of the outbreak, as opposed to an amplifier.

This required neighborhood-level study within Wuhan to be more certain the virus was “zoonotic” — that it jumped from animals to people.

The first study’s team used mapping tools to determine the location of the first 174 cases identified by the World Health Organization, finding 155 of them were in Wuhan.

Further, these cases clustered tightly around the market — and some early patients with no recent history of visiting the market lived very close to it.

Mammals now known to be infectable with the virus — including red foxes, hog badgers and raccoon dogs, were all sold live in the market, the team showed.

– Two introductions to humans –

They also tied positive samples from patients in early 2020 to the western portion of the market, which sold live or freshly butchered animals in late 2019.

The tightly confined early cases contrasted with how it radiated throughout the rest of the city by January and February, which the researchers confirmed by drilling into social media check-in data from the Weibo app.

“This tells us the virus was not circulating cryptically,” Worobey said in a statement. “It really originated at that market and spread out from there.”

The second study focused on resolving an apparent discrepancy in the virus’ early evolution.

Two lineages, A and B, marked the early pandemic. 

But while A was closer to the virus found in bats, suggesting the coronavirus in humans came from this source and that A gave rise to B, it was B that was found to be far more present around the market.

The researchers used a technique called “molecular clock analysis,” which relies on the rate at which genetic mutations occur over time to reconstruct a timeline of evolution — and found it unlikely that A gave rise to B.

“Otherwise, lineage A would have had to have been evolving in slow motion compared to the lineage B virus, which just doesn’t make biological sense,” said Worobey.

Instead, the probable scenario was both jumped from animals at the market to humans on separate occasions, in November and December 2019. The researchers concluded it was unlikely that there was human circulation prior to November 2019.

Under this scenario, there were probably other animal-to-human transmissions at the market that failed to manifest as Covid cases.

“Have we disproven the lab leak theory? No, we have not. Will we ever be able to know? No,” said co-author Kristian Anderson of The Scripps Research Institute.

“But I think what’s really important here is that there are possible scenarios and they’re plausible scenarios and it’s really important to understand that possible does not mean equally likely.”

More human remains have been found at a lake near Las Vegas, officials said, months after the rapidly receding waters of drought-hit Lake Mead revealed the corpse of a long-submerged mob victim.

Park rangers responded Monday afternoon to a witness report of a body at Swim Beach and have begun efforts to recover the remains, the National Park Service said.

No details were immediately provided about the age or identity of the most recent discovery, with the local county coroner set to conduct an autopsy.

The giant man-made reservoir drew global attention in May when the decades-old skeleton of a man shot in the head were found stuffed in a barrel that had been dumped in the lake.

Police believe that murder occurred in the late 1970s or early 1980s, when the Las Vegas criminal underworld was particularly active in the desert gambling capital.

Another body was found days later, with no evidence of foul play, and authorities had predicted more bodies would be found as water levels drop in the country’s biggest reservoir.

A historic drought that is gripping much of the western United States is putting a strain on water sources, with reservoirs and lakes falling to unprecedently low levels.

Lake Mead once sat 1,200 feet above sea level. But after more than two decades of drought, it was at only 1,040 feet above sea level Tuesday — its lowest level since filling in the 1930s.

It is currently falling about 12 inches every week.

Moscow said Tuesday it was leaving the International Space Station “after 2024” amid tensions with the West, in a move analysts warned could lead to a halt of Russian-crewed flights.

The confirmation of the long-mooted move comes as ties unravel between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine and several rounds of devastating sanctions against Russia, including its space sector.

Space experts said Russia’s departure from the International Space Station would seriously affect the country’s space sector and deal a significant blow to its programme of crewed flights, a major source of Russian pride.

“Of course, we will fulfil all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,” Yury Borisov, the new head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, told President Vladimir Putin, according to a Kremlin account of their meeting.

“I think that by this time we will start putting together a Russian orbital station,” Borisov added, calling it the domestic space programme’s main “priority”.

“Good,” Putin replied.

The ISS is due to be retired after 2024, although US space agency NASA says it can remain operational until at least 2030.

The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of hope for US-Russia cooperation following their Space Race competition during the Cold War.

The United States said it was taken by surprise by the announcement.

“It’s an unfortunate development given the critical scientific work performed at the ISS, the valuable professional collaboration our space agencies have had over the years,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. 

In a statement to AFP, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the agency “has not been made aware of decisions from any of the partners, though we are continuing to build future capabilities to assure our major presence in low-Earth orbit”.

Until now, space exploration has been one of the few areas where cooperation between Russia and the United States and its allies had not been wrecked by tensions over Ukraine and elsewhere.

– ‘Like an old woman’s flat’-

Russia is heavily reliant on imports of everything from manufacturing equipment to consumer goods, and the effects of Western sanctions are expected to wreak havoc on the country’s economy in the long term.

Space expert Vadim Lukashevich said space science cannot flourish in a heavily sanctioned country.

“If the ISS ceases to exist in 2024, we will have nowhere to fly,” Lukashevich told AFP. “At stake is the very preservation of manned flights in Russia, the birthplace of cosmonautics.”

Pointing to Russia’s growing scientific and technological isolation, Lukashevich said the authorities could not plan more than several months in advance and added that even if Russia builds an orbiting station, it would be a throwback to the 1980s.

“It will be archaic, like an old woman’s flat, with a push-button telephone and a record player,” he said.

Space analyst Vitaly Yegorov struck a similar note, saying it was next to impossible to build a new orbiting station from scratch in a few years.

“Neither in 2024, nor in 2025, nor in 2026 will there be a Russian orbital station,” Yegorov told AFP.

He added that creating a fully-fledged space station would take at least a decade of “the most generous funding”.

Yegorov said Russia’s departure from the ISS meant Moscow might have to put on ice its programme of manned flights “for several years” or even “indefinitely”.

The move could also see Russia abandon its chief spaceport, Baikonur, which it is renting from Kazakhstan, Yegorov said.

Russian Soyuz rockets were the only way to reach the International Space Station until SpaceX, run by billionaire Elon Musk, debuted a capsule in 2020.

– ‘Difficult to restore’ –

The Soviet space programme can boast of a number of key accomplishments, including sending the first man into space in 1961 and launching the first satellite four years earlier. These feats remain a major source of national pride in Russia.

But experts say Roscosmos is now a shadow of its former self and has in recent years suffered a series of setbacks, including corruption scandals and the loss of a number of satellites and other spacecraft.

Borisov, appointed in mid-July, replaced Dmitry Rogozin, a firebrand politician known for his bombastic statements.

Rogozin had previously warned that without cooperation from Moscow, the ISS could de-orbit and fall on US or European territory.

In a possible sign of disagreement with Borisov, Vladimir Solovyov, chief designer at spacecraft manufacturer Energia, said Russia should not rush to quit the ISS.

“If we halt manned flights for several years, then it will be very difficult to restore what has been achieved,” he was quoted as telling the Russky Cosmos magazine.

Moscow said Tuesday it was leaving the International Space Station “after 2024” amid tensions with the West, in a move analysts warned could lead to a halt to Russian manned flights.

The confirmation of the long-mooted move comes as ties unravel between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine and several rounds of devastating sanctions against Russia, including its space sector.

Space experts said Russia’s departure from the International Space Station would seriously affect the country’s space sector and deal a significant blow to its programme of manned flights, a major source of Russian pride.

“Of course, we will fulfil all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,” Yury Borisov, the new head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, told President Vladimir Putin, according to a Kremlin account of their meeting.

“I think that by this time we will start putting together a Russian orbital station,” Borisov added, calling it the domestic space programme’s main “priority”.

“Good,” Putin replied.

The ISS is due to be retired after 2024, although US space agency NASA says it can remain operational until 2030.

The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of hope for US-Russia cooperation following their Space Race competition during the Cold War.

The United States said it was taken by surprise by the announcement.

“It’s an unfortunate development given the critical scientific work performed at the ISS, the valuable professional collaboration our space agencies have had over the years,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said. 

Asked whether the United States wanted to end the space relationship with Russia, Robyn Gatens, director of the ISS for NASA, said: “No, absolutely not.”

Until now, space exploration has been one of the few areas where cooperation between Russia and the United States and its allies had not been wrecked by tensions over Ukraine and elsewhere.

– ‘Like an old woman’s flat’-

Russia is heavily reliant on imports of everything from manufacturing equipment to consumer goods, and the effects of Western sanctions are expected to wreak havoc on the country’s economy in the long term.

Space expert Vadim Lukashevich said space science cannot flourish in a heavily sanctioned country.

“If the ISS ceases to exist in 2024, we will have nowhere to fly,” Lukashevich told AFP. “At stake is the very preservation of manned flights in Russia, the birthplace of cosmonautics.”

Pointing to Russia’s growing scientific and technological isolation, Lukashevich said the authorities could not plan more than several months in advance and added that even if Russia builds an orbiting station, it would be a throwback to the 1980s.

“It will be archaic, like an old woman’s flat, with a push-button telephone and a record player,” he said.

Space analyst Vitaly Yegorov struck a similar note, saying it was next to impossible to build a new orbiting station from scratch in a few years.

“Neither in 2024, nor in 2025, nor in 2026 will there be a Russian orbital station,” Yegorov told AFP.

He added that creating a fully-fledged space station would take at least a decade of “the most generous funding”.

Yegorov said Russia’s departure from the ISS meant Moscow might have to put on ice its programme of manned flights “for several years” or even “indefinitely”.

The move could also see Russia abandon its chief spaceport, Baikonur, which it is renting from Kazakhstan, Yegorov said.

Russian Soyuz rockets were the only way to reach the International Space Station until SpaceX, run by billionaire Elon Musk, debuted a capsule in 2020.

– ‘Difficult to restore’ –

The Soviet space programme can boast of a number of key accomplishments, including sending the first man into space in 1961 and launching the first satellite four years earlier. These feats remain a major source of national pride in Russia.

But experts say Roscosmos is now a shadow of its former self and has in recent years suffered a series of setbacks, including corruption scandals and the loss of a number of satellites and other spacecraft.

Borisov, appointed in mid-July, replaced Dmitry Rogozin, a firebrand politician known for his bombastic statements.

Rogozin had previously warned that without cooperation from Moscow, the ISS could de-orbit and fall on US or European territory.

In a possible sign of disagreement with Borisov, Vladimir Solovyov, chief designer at spacecraft manufacturer Energia, said Russia should not rush to quit the ISS.

“If we halt manned flights for several years, then it will be very difficult to restore what has been achieved,” he was quoted as telling the Russky Cosmos magazine.

Firefighters made progress battling California’s largest wildfire of the summer on Tuesday, with more than one-quarter of the blaze near Yosemite National Park contained.

The Oak Fire in central California broke out on Friday and spread rapidly, destroying 41 buildings and forcing thousands to evacuate.

By Tuesday, nearly 3,000 firefighters and 24 helicopters at the scene had achieved some success containing the blaze, aided by slightly higher humidity levels, which are forecasted to increase further in the coming days.

Jonathan Pierce, a California fire department spokesman, told AFP that efforts to curtail the spread of the blaze could soon be aided as it approaches areas already ravaged by wildfires from recent years.

“If this fire hits the Ferguson fire scar, it will slow down a little bit because there is less fuel there,” he said.

“That fire was as recent as 2018, so all the vegetation that has come back will be more thin than a lot of the vegetation that has not been burnt.”

So far, the Oak Fire has burnt 18,000 acres — the largest by area this year, but relatively minor compared to the mega-blazes that have engulfed hundreds of thousands of acres in recent years.

Its spread has been driven by an abundance of combustible fuel following years of drought and hot, dry weather conditions.

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday declared a “state of emergency” in Mariposa County, citing “conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property.”

The Oak Fire is burning just a few miles from the smaller Washburn Fire, which briefly threatened Yosemite’s rare giant sequoia trees earlier this month. 

In recent years, California and other parts of the western United States have been ravaged by huge and fast-moving wildfires, driven by a warming climate.

The fire comes as the usually cooler Pacific Northwest is in the grip of extreme temperatures, forecast to top 100 degrees F (38C) in parts of Oregon.

Parts of the South-Central United States including Texas are also experiencing sweltering heatwaves.

But the Southwest is seeing monsoonal moisture, bringing heavy showers and thunderstorms to parts of the region, including sections of Arizona and Utah. 

Moscow said on Tuesday it was leaving the International Space Station “after 2024”, amid tensions with the West, in a move analysts warned could lead to a halt to Russian manned flights.

The confirmation of the long-mooted move comes as ties unravel between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine and several rounds of devastating sanctions against Russia, including its space sector.

Space experts said Russia’s departure from the International Space Station would seriously affect the country’s space sector and deal a major blow to its programme of manned flights, a major source of Russian pride.

“Of course, we will fulfil all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,” Yury Borisov, the new head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, told President Vladimir Putin, according to a Kremlin account of their meeting.

“I think that by this time we will start putting together a Russian orbital station,” Borisov added, calling it the domestic space programme’s main “priority”.

“Good,” Putin replied.

The ISS is due to be retired after 2024, although US space agency NASA says it can remain operational until 2030.

The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of hope for US-Russia cooperation following their Space Race competition during the Cold War.

Washington has not received “any official word” from Russia yet, said Robyn Gatens, director of the ISS for NASA.

Asked whether she wanted the US-Russia space relationship to end, she replied: “No, absolutely not.”

Until now, space exploration has been one of the few areas where cooperation between Russia and the United States and its allies had not been wrecked by tensions over Ukraine and elsewhere.

– ‘Like an old woman’s flat’-

Russia is heavily reliant on imports of everything from manufacturing equipment to consumer goods, and the effects of Western sanctions are expected to wreak havoc on the country’s economy in the long term.

Space expert Vadim Lukashevich said space science cannot flourish in a heavily sanctioned country.

“If the ISS ceases to exist in 2024, we will have nowhere to fly,” Lukashevich told AFP. “At stake is the very preservation of manned flights in Russia, the birthplace of cosmonautics.”

Pointing to Russia’s growing scientific and technological isolation, Lukashevich said the authorities could not plan more than several months in advance and added that even if Russia builds an orbiting station, it would be a throwback to the 1980s.

“It will be archaic, like an old woman’s flat, with a push-button telephone and a record-player,” he said.

Space analyst Vitaly Yegorov struck a similar note, saying it was next to impossible to build a new orbiting station from scratch in a few years.

“Neither in 2024, nor in 2025, nor in 2026 will there be a Russian orbital station,” Yegorov told AFP.

He added that creating a fully-fledged space station would take at least a decade of “the most generous funding”.

Yegorov said Russia’s departure from the ISS meant Moscow might have to put on ice its programme of manned flights “for several years” or even “indefinitely”.

The move could also see Russia abandon its chief spaceport, Baikonur, which it is renting from Kazakhstan, Yegorov said.

Russian Soyuz rockets were the only way to reach the International Space Station until SpaceX, run by the billionaire Elon Musk, debuted a capsule in 2020.

– ‘Difficult to restore’ –

The Soviet space programme can boast of a number of key accomplishments, including sending the first man into space in 1961 and launching the first satellite four years earlier. These feats remain a major source of national pride in Russia.

But experts say Roscosmos is now a shadow of its former self and has in recent years suffered a series of setbacks, including corruption scandals and the loss of a number of satellites and other spacecraft.

Borisov, appointed in mid-July, replaced Dmitry Rogozin, a firebrand politician known for his bombastic statements.

Rogozin had previously warned that without cooperation from Moscow, the ISS could de-orbit and fall on US or European territory.

In a possible sign of disagreement with Borisov, Vladimir Solovyov, chief designer at spacecraft manufacturer Energia, said Russia should not rush to quit the ISS.

“If we halt manned flights for several years, then it will be very difficult to restore what has been achieved,” he was quoted as telling the Russky Cosmos magazine.

From farmers to fishermen, boat owners to ordinary households, communities across France are struggling with a severe drought that has seen an unprecedented number of regions affected by water restrictions this summer.

Like much of western Europe, the country is going through a punishing hot season of record temperatures and forest fires that have led to renewed focus on climate change.

After the third-driest spring on record and drought-like conditions since, rivers and reservoirs are running low nationwide, leading to increasingly severe water restrictions.

“We have a record number of departments with restrictions,” the environment ministry said in a statement, saying that 90 of the 96 administrative regions known as departments were affected.

The most severe water-saving measures — including a ban on irrigation for farmland — are in place in the northwest in the Loire river basin, as well as the southeast around the Rhone.

Areas in the southwest around the Tarn and Lot rivers are also in the highest red category used by the government’s drought website Propluvia.

Since the start of the year, 151 days out of 204 have had an average temperature above the long-term average, a record since 1947, according to the national weather service Meteo France.

– Consequences –

From the normally verdant Alps to the most famous wine-growing areas in Bourgogne and Bordeaux, the consequences of months of almost rain-free weather are being felt.

In the Franche-Comte area in eastern France, water shortages have become so severe that several villages in the Doubs area are now dependent on water trucks delivering supplies.

The problem is felt acutely by the local dairy farmers whose cows need more than 100 litres of water a day.

“The price of water has double or even tripled compared to a few years ago,” local farmer Aurelie Binet told France 3 television. “As farmers, whatever happens, we use large amounts of water.” 

The picturesque southern village of Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer near the mouth of the Rhone on the Mediterranean coast is also struggling to draw drinking water from its usual sources.

“It hasn’t rained for eight months and as the Rhone is very low, salt water is flowing up to 20 kilometres (12 miles) inland,” mayor Christelle Aillet told AFP. “We’ve got a problem with the water and of volumes.”

On the Rhine river, commercial canal boats are having to run at a third of their carrying capacity in order to avoid hitting the bottom because the water level is so low.

Even in the far north in the Calais region, which is reliably cooler and wetter than most parts of France, farmers are worried about parched grasslands that are not providing for their animals.

“Some colleagues are saying it’s worse than in 1976 (a record drought year),” Jean-Pierre Clipet from the FDSEA farmers’ union told AFP. “They don’t know how their going to feed their animals this winter.”

– Fishing off limits – 

In red-zone drought areas with the most severe water restrictions, washing cars and watering gardens is prohibited, while golf courses are also unable to keep their fairways green.

Low river levels also mean fishing is restricted, while rescue operations are being carried out for species stranded in some waterways, including around Belfort in eastern France.

Eric Vincent, a fishing guide who takes clients in the Alsace region and the Vosges in the east, told AFP he had had to cancel clients last week.

“The fisherman knows about the condition of the river and knows when to stop,” said the 55-year-old. “I’m not going to be able to accompany clients this summer. It wasn’t like this 10-15 years ago.”  

In the famed vineyards of Bourgogne meanwhile, wine makers expect this year’s harvest to be small and early, perhaps beating the 2020 record when grape pickers began their work in August. 

– Forest fires –

France has endured two severe heatwaves in May and latterly in July — when temperatures soared above 40 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).

Two huge blazes near Bordeaux in southwest France over the last fortnight have destroyed more than 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) of tinder-dry forest and required around 2,000 firefighters to bring them under control.

Local authorities are restricting access to many wooded areas as a precaution, including the Calanques National Park along the Mediterranean coast near Marseille which is popular with tourists.

Experts say more severe hot periods and water shortages will become more common as global warming linked to greenhouse gas emissions takes a toll on the planet. 

burs-adp/sjw/raz

Russia said on Tuesday it was leaving the International Space Station “after 2024”, amid tensions with the West, in a move analysts warned could lead to a halt to manned flights.

The confirmation of the long-mooted move comes as ties unravel between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine and several rounds of devastating sanctions against Russia, including its space sector.

Space experts said the departure from the International Space Station would seriously affect the country’s space sector and deal a major blow to the programme of manned flights, a major source of Russian pride.

“Of course we will fulfil all our obligations to our partners but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,” Yury Borisov, the new head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, told President Vladimir Putin, according to a Kremlin account of their meeting.

“I think that by this time we will start putting together a Russian orbital station,” Borisov added, calling it the domestic space programme’s main “priority”.

“Good,” Putin replied.

The ISS is due to be retired after 2024, although US space agency NASA says it can remain operational until 2030.

The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of hope for US-Russia cooperation following their Space Race competition during the Cold War.

Washington has not received “any official word” from Russia yet, Robyn Gatens, director of the ISS for NASA, said during a conference on the outpost.

Asked whether she wanted the US-Russia space relationship to end, she replied: “No, absolutely not.”

Until now, space exploration has been one of the few areas where cooperation between Russia and the United States and its allies had not been wrecked by tensions over Ukraine and elsewhere.

– ‘Like an old woman’s flat’-

Russia is heavily reliant on imports of everything from manufacturing equipment to consumer goods and the effects of Western sanctions are expected to wreak havoc on the country’s economy in the long term.

Space expert Vadim Lukashevich said space science cannot flourish in a heavily-sanctioned country.

“If the ISS ceases to exist in 2024, we will have nowhere to fly,” Lukashevich told AFP. “At stake is the very preservation of manned flights in Russia, the birthplace of cosmonautics.”

Pointing to Russia’s growing scientific and technological isolation amid the offensive in Ukraine, Lukashevich said the authorities could not plan more than several months in advance and added that even if Russia builds an orbiting station, it would be a throwback to the 1980s.

“It will be archaic, like an old woman’s flat, with a push-button telephone and a record-player,” he said.

Space analyst Vitaly Yegorov struck a similar note, saying it was next to impossible to build a new orbiting station from scratch in a few years.

“Neither in 2024, nor in 2025, nor in 2026 will there be a Russian orbital station,” Yegorov told AFP.

He added that creating a full-fledged space station would take at least a decade of “the most generous funding”.

Yegorov said Russia’s departure from the ISS meant Moscow might have to put on ice its programme of manned flights “for several years” or even “indefinitely”.

The move could also see Russia abandon its chief spaceport, Baikonur, which it is renting from Kazakhstan, Yegorov said.

– ‘Difficult to restore’ –

The Soviet space programme can boast of several key accomplishments, including sending the first man into space in 1961 and launching the first satellite four years earlier. These feats remain a major source of national pride in Russia.

But experts say Roscosmos is now a shadow of its former self and has in recent years suffered a series of setbacks, including corruption scandals and the loss of a number of satellites and other spacecraft.

Borisov, appointed in mid-July, replaced Dmitry Rogozin, a firebrand politician known for his bombastic statements.

Rogozin had previously warned that without cooperation from Moscow, the ISS could de-orbit and fall on US or European territory.

In a possible sign of disagreement with Borisov, Vladimir Solovyov, chief designer at spacecraft manufacturer Energia, said Russia should not rush to quit the ISS.

“If we halt manned flights for several years, then it will be very difficult to restore what has been achieved,” he was quoted as telling the Russky Cosmos magazine.

bur/raz

Chemicals leaking from plastic waste make bacteria grow faster in European lakes, according to research published Tuesday that authors said could provide a natural way to remove plastic pollution from freshwater ecosystems.

Microplastics have been found in virtually every corner of the globe — from the highest glaciers to the bottom of the deepest sea trench — but the impact of plastic pollution in lakes is less well researched than in oceans. 

When plastic materials such as carrier bags break down in water, they release simple carbon compounds slightly different to those produced when organic matter such as twigs and leaves disintegrate. 

Researchers from the University of Cambridge wanted to see what effect these compounds had on bacteria populations in 29 lakes across Scandinavia. 

They cut up plastic bags from four major British shopping chains and mixed them with water until the carbon compounds were released.

They then filled glass bottles with water from each lake, mixing a small amount of the plastic water into half of these samples.

In the water with plastic-derived compounds, the bacteria had doubled in mass within 72 hours and already absorbed around half of the carbon present in the samples. 

Overall, they found that the bacteria in the plastic water samples grew nearly twice as easily (1.72 times) as the lake bacteria with no plastic water added. 

Andrew Tanentzap, from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences, said the study showed the profound impact plastic pollution is likely having on bodies of freshwater where the waste is present. 

“It’s almost like the plastic pollution is getting the bacteria’s appetite going,” he said. 

“This suggests that plastic pollution is stimulating the whole food web in lakes, because more bacteria means more food for the bigger organisms like ducks and fish.”

The study examined how bacteria react to plastic carbon compounds in lakes with different depths, locations, surface temperatures and organic matter content.

It showed that bacteria were better at removing plastic pollution in lakes with fewer unique natural carbon compounds because there were fewer natural food sources.

The results suggested that in some places, specific types of bacteria could be harnessed to help break down plastic waste.

“But you’d want to know more about the ecosystem balance before committing to doing that,” first study author Eleanor Sheridan told AFP.

She also cautioned against assuming that bacteria alone could solve the growing ecological disaster posed by plastic waste.

Plastics are “not only damaging to ecosystems on a macro level, they also contain chemicals that leach out and last beyond when a plastic bag is fished out of the water,” Sheridan said. 

“I hope that this increases awareness of the multitude of different effects that just one type of pollution can have on the environment.”

Shazad Akbar carried his four-year-old daughter on his shoulders Tuesday as he and his wife waded through knee-high water flooding a street in Surjani, a poor part of Pakistan’s port city of Karachi.

His wife fell sick overnight, but Akbar couldn’t take her to a doctor as heavy monsoon rains fell until morning, causing misery for the city of 15 million.

“I can only manage to come out now,” Shazad told AFP as his burqa-clad wife hid behind him.

The monsoon, which usually lasts from June to September, is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but also brings a wave of destruction each year.

This year’s monsoon is being felt hardest in cities, where poor infrastructure and services lead to clogged drains and culverts — and the collapse of the sewage system.

The result is widespread flooding, particularly in low-lying areas, and usually in poor neighbourhoods.

In Rahim Goth, a slum in the west of the city, locals were attempting to bail water from their shacks and dwellings using buckets, pots and jugs.

But their efforts appeared futile as they tipped the contents into streets already several feet deep.

– Climate change –

Sardar Sarfaraz, director of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, told AFP an “unprecedented” 568 millimetres (22.3 inches) of rain had fallen in the city this month — nearly triple Karachi’s recent averages and more than four times that of two decades ago.

Environmentalist Arif Zubair conceded monsoons can regularly cause natural havoc, but is clear what is to blame for the worsening situation — climate change.

“(It) has engulfed all of South and Southeast Asia,” he told AFP Tuesday.

“The recent (heavy) rains have certainly been an indicator of global climate change.”

Pakistan ranks eighth on a list of countries most vulnerable to extreme weather caused by climate change, according to the environment NGO Germwatch.

But the effects of climate change are also exacerbated by the mismanagement and negligence of authorities and policymakers, who critics accuse of being oblivious to the problems ahead.

Coastal Karachi is particularly prone to flooding because the city has expanded with scant planning on a landscape ill-suited to urban development.

“We are sitting on a climate bomb,” Arif said.

Over 300 people have died as a result of the heavy monsoon rains this year, which have also washed away more than 600 kilometres (375 miles) of roads and 50 bridges, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

It said more than 10,000 homes had been damaged — with Baluchistan province the worst hit.

In Rahim Goth, many residents have moved to rooftops to escape the flooding, stretching tarpaulin between poles to give them shelter from the incessant rain.

“People (officials) come every year to inquire about us, but every year we are doomed,” Afsari Bano told AFP as she tried to cook a family meal.

She said most of the family’s belongings — furniture, bedding and other possessions — were destroyed by flooding two years ago, and they were only just recovering.

Now she was surrounded by water in which floated soiled nappies and other garbage.

“Swarms of flies and mosquitos will follow now,” the 50-year housewife said.

“If someone dies — Allah forbid as life and death is in his hand — it is next to impossible to hold a funeral.”