Slashdot

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Nearly Half of US Children Are Breathing Dangerous Levels of Air Pollution

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Guardian: Nearly half of children in the United States are breathing dangerous levels of air pollution, according to a new report, as experts warned Donald Trump's expansive rollback of protections will make the situation worse. The 27th annual air quality report from the American Lung Association (ALA) released on Wednesday evaluates pollution across the country by grading levels of ground-level ozone -- also known as smog -- as well as year-round and short-term spikes in particle pollution, commonly referred to as soot. The report analyzed quality-assured data collected between 2022 and 2024. It found that 33.5 million children in the US -- 46% of those under 18 -- live in areas that received a failing grade for at least one measure of air pollution. The report also found that 7 million children, or 10% of all children in the US, live in communities that failed all three measures.

The report further found that communities of color are disproportionately exposed to unhealthy air. As a result, they are more likely to live with one or more chronic health conditions that make them more vulnerable to pollution, including asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. Although people of color make up 42.1% of the US population, they represent 54.2% of those living in counties with at least one failing grade, the report noted. It also found that a person of color is 2.42 times more likely than a white person to live in a community that fails all three pollution measures. Smog remains the most widespread pollutant affecting Americans' health. Between 2022 and 2024, 38% of the US population -- approximately 129.1 million people -- were exposed to ozone levels that put their health at risk. This marks the highest number recorded in the ALA's report in six years, and a 3.9 million increase from the previous year.

Several factors contributed to these unhealthy pollution levels, including extreme heat, drought and wildfires which have exposed a growing share of the population to harmful ozone, the report said. The regions most affected by high ozone levels include south-western states from California to Texas, as well as much of the midwest. This is mainly driven by smoke from Canada's 2023 wildfires crossing into the US, along with high temperatures and weather patterns that favored ozone formation in 2023 and 2024 -- particularly in southern states. More broadly, the report found that climate change is intensifying ozone pollution by boosting precursor emissions and creating atmospheric conditions such as higher temperatures and lower wind speeds that allow pollutants to build up and ozone to form. Another growing source of pollution: datacenters. The report notes how they rely on regional electricity grids where fossil fuels like methane gas and coal still account for a large portion of generation. Many datacenters also use dozens of large diesel-powered backup generators, which emit carcinogenic particulate matter.

"Children's lungs are still developing," said Will Barrett, assistant vice-president of the ALA's Nationwide Clean Air Policy. "For their body size, they're breathing more air. And also, kids play outdoors, they're more active, they're breathing in more outdoor air [...]. So, air pollution exposure in children can contribute to long-term developmental harm to their lungs, new cases of asthma, increased risks of respiratory illness and other health considerations later in life."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wat hébben we nu eigenlijk aan een menselijke maanlanding?

Over twee jaar moeten er weer mensen op de maan landen. Spectaculair, maar wat heeft de wetenschap eraan? „Je kunt de samenstelling van maanstenen simpelweg niet op afstand bestuderen.”


Waarom hooikoorts steeds heftiger wordt

Niesbuien, een loopneus en brandende ogen. Voor veel mensen met hooikoorts is dit meer dan hinderlijk: het heeft een impact op hoe zij hun leven inrichten.

Israëlische organisatie brengt ngo’s via De Telegraaf in het nauw – en blijkt niet ‘onafhankelijk’

NGO Monitor presenteert zich als een onafhankelijke organisatie die ngo’s controleert. Uit gehackte Israëlische overheidsmails blijkt dat het een instrument van de Israëlische overheid is. Telegraaf-artikelen op basis van rapporten van NGO Monitor beschadigen hulpclubs zoals Oxfam Novib.

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Iran 'volledig voorbereid' om deel te nemen aan WK

TEHERAN (ANP/RTR) - Ondanks de oorlog is het Iraanse nationale voetbalteam "volledig voorbereid" om deze zomer deel te nemen aan het WK. Dat zei regeringswoordvoerder Fatemeh Mohajerani, meldt Al Jazeera.

Eerder op woensdag meldde de Financial Times dat een topgezant van de Amerikaanse president de FIFA heeft gevraagd Iran te vervangen door Italië op het WK.

Deelname van Iran aan het toernooi staat ter discussie sinds de luchtaanvallen van de VS en Israël op Iran in februari. Het WK wordt gezamenlijk georganiseerd door de VS, Mexico en Canada, maar alle groepswedstrijden van Iran staan gepland in de Verenigde Staten.

Mohajerani zei dat het Iraanse ministerie van Jeugd en Sport de voorbereidingen voor deelname in de VS heeft getroffen. Eerder liet de Iraanse sportminister nog weten dat Iran "onder geen enkele omstandigheid kan deelnemen aan het WK".

Daarop zei de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump dat het Iraanse team welkom is op het WK, maar dat hij niet gelooft dat het "gepast is als ze daar zijn".

FIFA-president Gianni Infantino zei vorige week: "Het Iraanse team komt zeker, ja. We hopen natuurlijk dat de situatie tegen die tijd vreedzaam zal zijn. Dat zou zeker helpen. Maar Iran moet komen."


Iran 'volledig voorbereid' om deel te nemen aan WK

Ondanks de oorlog is het Iraanse nationale voetbalteam "volledig voorbereid" om deze zomer deel te nemen aan het WK. Dat zei regeringswoordvoerder Fatemeh Mohajerani, meldt Al Jazeera.

Eerder op woensdag meldde de Financial Times dat een topgezant van de Amerikaanse president de FIFA heeft gevraagd Iran te vervangen door Italië op het WK.

Deelname van Iran aan het toernooi staat ter discussie sinds de luchtaanvallen van de VS en Israël op Iran in februari. Het WK wordt gezamenlijk georganiseerd door de VS, Mexico en Canada, maar alle groepswedstrijden van Iran staan gepland in de Verenigde Staten.

Mohajerani zei dat het Iraanse ministerie van Jeugd en Sport de voorbereidingen voor deelname in de VS heeft getroffen. Eerder liet de Iraanse sportminister nog weten dat Iran "onder geen enkele omstandigheid kan deelnemen aan het WK".

Daarop zei de Amerikaanse president Donald Trump dat het Iraanse team welkom is op het WK, maar dat hij niet gelooft dat het "gepast is als ze daar zijn".

FIFA-president Gianni Infantino zei vorige week: "Het Iraanse team komt zeker, ja. We hopen natuurlijk dat de situatie tegen die tijd vreedzaam zal zijn. Dat zou zeker helpen. Maar Iran moet komen."


The Guardian

Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice

Christopher Luxon shoots the messenger as nightmare New Zealand election scenario hangs over him | Claire Robinson

An increasingly unpopular prime minister scolded the media after surviving a tense caucus vote. It was a masterclass – just not in the art of leadership

Being prime minister is the hardest job in New Zealand. It requires presence, vision and the willingness to be publicly answerable for everything – to parliament, citizens, the party, business, the media. You can’t be accountable to one and not the other. Yet that’s what Christoper Luxon chose this week when he scolded the media and told them he would no longer engage with them on questions about his leadership.

For most of the last year, National, the lead party in a three-way coalition government, has been trailing the opposition Labour party in the polls. In January 2026 the gap was just 0.67% of a percentage point on average. Three months later, it widened to a 5.86% average with no signs of bottoming out.

Continue reading...

Beaches review – 80s weepie makes for soggy Broadway musical

Majestic theatre, New York

A standout turn from Jessica Vosk, taking on the Bette Midler role, isn’t enough to turn a much-loved movie into a legitimate stage show

Garry Marshall’s 1988 film Beaches is no testament to subtlety. But in its gauzy, hustling way it is an effective tear-jerker, poignantly tracing decades of a friendship as it unwittingly approaches tragedy. Because Bette Midler is one of its stars, Beaches is also full of music, mostly old standards but a few more modern tunes, too, most notably the radio hit Wind Beneath My Wings, which was not original to the film but was made famous by Midler’s recording.

There is music baked into the story; there are two female lead roles; and there is a passionate fanbase that has, by now, perhaps aged into their theatergoing years. All of which would suggest that Beaches is the perfect candidate for a Broadway adaptation. Indeed, a musical was conceived in 2014, but the show stalled out of town and it would take another 12 years for a (heavily revamped) version to reach New York City. Despite all that time and effort, the show is, alas, still not ready for primetime.

Continue reading...

What the new Michael Jackson biopic leaves out – podcast

A new blockbuster film about the controversial singer could make $1bn worldwide. Owen Myers and Lanre Bakare explain what it says about Jackson’s legacy

If it’s a big year for Michael Jackson fans, it’s a mammoth one for his estate. This canny operation has turned the $500m debt owed by Jackson when he was alive into a business generating hundreds of millions of dollars following his death in 2009.

There has been a jukebox musical and a Cirque du Soleil extravaganza – not to mention dozens of themed events, shows and bottomless brunches memorialising him as “the greatest star ever to be born”.

Continue reading...

VK: Voorpagina

Volkskrant.nl biedt het laatste nieuws, opinie en achtergronden

VS verschoten zo veel precisiewapens in Iran dat er nu grote zorgen leven over eventuele oorlog met China

Found Negative, The Mendelsohn Collection

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Found Negative, The Mendelsohn Collection

Yaquina Bay Bridge

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Yaquina Bay Bridge

Hard Rain

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Hard Rain

Monroe Street Bridge

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Monroe Street Bridge

default

Found Photo Booth photograph

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Found Photo Booth photograph

ajpscs posted a photo:

the SQUARE
東京 ALLEY
© ajpscs

Gordo Taqueria, San Francisco, California

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Gordo Taqueria, San Francisco, California

ajpscs has added a photo to the pool:

the SQUARE
東京 ALLEY
© ajpscs

MetaFilter

The past 24 hours of MetaFilter

Batiste on Beethoven

Pianist Jon Batiste re-imagines Für Elise (from Beethoven Blues)

Fokke & Sukke

F & S