Hello everyone! It's time for another episode of News Bites!

I'm Paz Bueno…

And I'm Nancy Sun.

In today's news:

The CECC disbands, no more nuclear energy in Germany, and plastic-eating fungi.

Stay tuned for more on those stories, coming up next.

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疫情指揮中心 走入歷史

CECC Goes Down in History

Since January 2020, COVID-19 has been a big part of our lives.

Wearing face masks every day, social distancing, taking rapid tests, and getting vaccines…

每天戴口罩、保持社交距離、做快篩和接種疫苗…

Home quarantines, travel bans, and most importantly, paying attention to the CECC news conferences.

居家隔離、旅行禁令，最重要的是關注指揮中心的記者會。

Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (疾病管制署) set up the Central Epidemic Command Center, or CECC, early in the pandemic (疫情).

Every day around 2PM, people would tune in (收看) to the news to see how many new cases there were.

The CECC would tell us about the rules we had to follow to keep everyone safe and healthy.

Now, COVID-19 is normalized (正常化), and there are fewer and fewer case numbers.

After May 1st, COVID-19 is reclassified (降級) from a very serious, or Category 5 disease, to a less serious Category 4 disease.

That means the CECC isn't needed anymore.

The CECC already had its last meeting on April 27th.

And after nearly 1,200 days, it has disbanded (解散).

Starting this month, any news about COVID-19 will be shared once a week with information about other diseases.

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德國告別核能發電

Germany Says Goodbye to Nuclear Power

Germany has closed its last three nuclear power plants (核電廠).

Nuclear power is a type of energy (能源) made from tiny things called atoms (原子).

When atoms are split (分裂), they release a lot of energy.

This energy is used to make electricity for our homes and schools.

But sometimes, nuclear power can be dangerous.

So, Germany decided to stop using it to make the country safer.

所以，德國決定停止使用核能，讓國家更安全。

In the past, many people in Germany didn't like nuclear power and protested against it (抗議).

After the accidents at Chernobyl (車諾比) and Fukushima (福島), Germany knew it was time to stop using nuclear power.

But recently, Germany had a problem with getting enough energy because of the Russia-Ukraine war.

但是最近，因為俄羅斯跟烏克蘭打仗，德國在能源方面遇到了問題。

They thought about using nuclear power for a little longer (多用一段時間), but finally decided to close the plants on April 15th.

Now, Germany will have to find a safe place to store the waste (核廢料) from the nuclear power plants.

Some people think it's a bad idea to stop using nuclear power, because it's better for the environment than burning coal.

But building new nuclear power plants is very expensive and takes a long time.

That's why some people in Germany don't think nuclear power will become popular again.

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吃塑膠的神奇真菌

Fungi: The Plastic-Eating Heroes of the Recycling Crisis!

Fungi are a type of living organism (生物) that are similar to plants.

But they don't make their own food like plants do.

Instead, they absorb nutrients (吸收養分) from other living things or things that have died.

We can find fungi in many places, like in the soil (土壤), on trees, and even in some foods we eat, such as mushrooms (蘑菇)!

Scientists in Australia have found that certain types of fungi can help break down plastic.

澳洲的科學家發現，某些種類的真菌可以分解塑膠。

This is great news because it could be a solution to the recycling crisis (回收危機) happening all around the world.

However, this doesn't mean we should keep using plastic.

It's important to remember that we should still try to reduce our plastic waste as much as possible.

我們要記住，盡量減少塑膠垃圾仍然很重要。

That's because plastic is already harming the environment and filling up landfills (垃圾掩埋場).

The scientists believe that this fungi could be used on a larger scale (更大的規模).

We could use it to process thousands of tons (好幾千噸) of plastic per year in the future.

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So, in today's News Bites:

Starting this month, COVID-19 is reclassified to a less serious Category 4 disease.

That means the Central Epidemic Command Center isn't needed anymore.

So after nearly 1,200 days, the CECC has been disbanded.

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And,

Germany has closed its last three nuclear power plants.

Germany decided to stop using nuclear power to make the country safer.

Now, Germany will have to find a safe place to store the waste from the nuclear power plants.

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And,

Scientists in Australia have found that certain types of fungi can help break down plastic.

This is great news because it could be a solution to the recycling crisis happening all around the world.

We could use it to process thousands of tons of plastic per year in the future.

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And that's today's episode of News Bites!