Espresso Knowledge

Our numbers are growing. Space is at a premium, and cities across the world are running out of land to bury their dead. Researcher Natasha Mikles is asking - how is Japan, grappling with the tension between environmental needs and Buddhist religious beliefs?

http://researchstoryteller.com/espressoknowledge/changing-burial-practices

Cities are growing - but so should urban nature for residents to access and enjoy. But across the world, urban trees and parks are not easily accessible to everyone. Cities are working to improve access to green spaces. But this may come at a cost of green gentrification - increased property values or displacing low-income, long-term residents...

http://researchstoryteller.com/espressoknowledge/diversity-in-urban-green-spaces

The US is offering economic incentives - for example, time off, free beer, college scholarships - to encourage people to get vaccinated against COVID19. Herd immunity will be crucial in ending the pandemic. But many are reluctant to get vaccines. Researchers are suggesting two other ways to encourage people to get vaccinated...

http://researchstoryteller.com/espressoknowledge/encourage-people-to-get-covid-vaccine

Canada has one of the largest non-profit sectors in the world. It relies on government funding, yet there is lack of transparency. The State Funding for Social Movements project used access to information laws and other tools to obtain government funding information to shed some light. We need to hold governments accountable and increase transparency where historically there has hardly been any...

http://researchstoryteller.com/espressoknowledge/non-profits-canada-bias

A new study has found that it costs energy to keep accurate time. Researchers built a simple clock and measured how accurate it was and how much energy it was consuming. Like any other engine, the clock released part of the energy supplied to it as heat. When the researchers supplied more energy, the clock became more accurate, but at the cost of releasing more heat...

http://researchstoryteller.com/espressoknowledge/accurate-clocks-consume-more-energy

Canada is slowly reopening amidst vaccinations and decreasing COVID19 cases. But going back to normal will be not be easy for everyone. Take people with disabilities engaged in sport or physical activities - they worry that instead of focusing on issues like accessibility, for example, recreation facilities will focus on simply surviving. Project Echo is an online platform for such people to voice their concerns...

http://researchstoryteller.com/espressoknowledge/improving-access-for-paraathletes

A new study concludes that males of some species will become sterile because of high temperatures due to global warming.

So far, researchers have focused on temperatures that could kill organisms, not temperatures at which organisms become sterile.

The study found that out of 43 fruit fly species, the males of almost half of the species became sterile at lower than lethal temperatures...

http://researchstoryteller.com/espressoknowledge/high-temperature-male-sterility-global-warming

United Kingdom plans to cut financial support for university archaeology courses by half.

Students, the government reasons, should study subjects that lead to jobs, not dead ends.

Archaeologist John Schofield tells us why the discipline is so important.

http://researchstoryteller.com/espressoknowledge/archaeology-courses-university-funding

In 2019, water researcher Sukhmani Mantel created a map of rivers in southern Africa.

It went viral.

Two years on, people still download it and use it...

http://researchstoryteller.com/espressoknowledge/river-map-environmental-awareness

Researchers compiled a global database of grass blade sizes, the climates they grow in, and their evolutionary history. One-third of Earth’s surface is covered by over 11,000 grass species — including wheat, corn, and rice, which are important crops and sources of biofuel. The work will help improve agriculture and increase our knowledge of climate change...

http://researchstoryteller.com/espressoknowledge/grass-database-climate-change