- Is it Okay to Kiss Your Pet? The Risk of Animal-Borne Diseases is Small, But Real
- 'Erratic And Impulsive Behaviour': What is The Drug Known As Monkey Dust in The UK?
- Britain’s Second-Largest City Effectively Declares Itself Bankrupt Amid $950 Million Equal Pay Claims
- German Government Tightens Belt in New Budget
- Adult Corals Have Been Safely Frozen And Revived for the First Time
- What We Can Learn From California's Surfing Sea Otter
Is it Okay to Kiss Your Pet? The Risk of Animal-Borne Diseases is Small, But Real
親吻你的寵物無妨嗎？動物傳播疾病的風險很小，但確實存在
Health
Our relationship with pets has changed drastically in recent decades, pet ownership is at an all-time high. While owning a pet is linked to numerous mental and physical health benefits, our pets can also harbour infectious diseases that can sometimes be passed on to us. Infectious diseases that move from animals to humans are called zoonotic diseases or zoonoses. More than 70 pathogens of companion animals are known to be transmissible to people. Zoonoses can be transmitted directly from pets to humans, such as through contact with saliva, bodily fluids and faeces, or indirectly through contact with things like contaminated bedding, soil, food or water. It is best to not let your dog or cat lick your face – and always wash your hands after playing with your pet or cleaning up their poo.
--from The Guardian
我們與寵物的關係在近數十年發生了巨大變化，寵物擁有量為有史以來最高。雖然擁有寵物對身心健康有許多好處，但我們的寵物也可能攜帶傳染病，有時會傳染給我們。從動物傳播到人類的傳染病稱為人畜共通疾病或人畜共同傳染病。陪伴動物的病原體已知有超過70種可傳播給人類。人畜共通疾病可以自寵物直接傳播給人類，例如經由接觸唾液、體液和糞便，或者透過接觸受污染的寢具、土壤、食物或水等間接傳播。最好不要讓你的狗或貓舔你的臉，且在與你的寵物玩耍或清理他們的糞便後，一定要洗手。
--摘錄翻譯自The Guardian
'Erratic And Impulsive Behaviour': What is The Drug Known As Monkey Dust in The UK?
導致喜怒無常和衝動的行為：在英國被稱為猴塵的藥物是什麼？
Health
Monkey dust, also referred to as "zombie dust", is a slang term used in the UK for the stimulant drug. It is made of different synthetic cathinones (similar to amphetamines), which speed up messages between the brain and the body. Sold in the form of a white powder, users snort, smoke or inject the drug. Each batch of the drug is different, making it difficult to know what it actually contains. "It is a myth that monkey dust makes people into zombies, however, it can cause them to become impulsive and erratic,” Nuno Albuquerque, an addictions counsellor at the UK Addictions Treatment Centre, told Euronews Next. One local media outlet in the UK reported that the drug is believed to be imported from China. Monkey dust users are also reported to experience side effects of paranoia and increased agitation, which can lead to violent behaviour.
--from Euronews
「猴塵」也稱為「殭屍塵」，在英國是一種興奮劑藥物的俗稱。它由不同的合成卡西酮（類似安非他明）製成，可加速大腦和身體間的訊息傳遞。該藥物以白色粉末形式出售，使用者以鼻吸、煙吸或注射。每批藥物都不同，因此其實際成分難以得知。英國成癮治療中心的成癮諮商師Nuno Albuquerque告訴《歐洲新聞台》：「猴塵會使人變成殭屍，這是個錯誤觀念，但它會使人變得衝動且喜怒無常。」英國當地一家媒體報導稱該藥物據信是從中國進口的。根據報導，猴塵使用者還會出現妄想和躁動等副作用，可能會導致暴力行為。
--摘錄翻譯自Euronews
Britain’s Second-Largest City Effectively Declares Itself Bankrupt Amid $950 Million Equal Pay Claims
英國第二大城市已事實上因同工同酬索賠高達 9.5 億美元宣告破產
Culture
Britain’s second-biggest city effectively declared itself bankrupt on Tuesday, shutting down all nonessential spending after being issued with equal pay claims totaling up to £760 million ($954 million). Birmingham City Council, which provides services for more than one million people, filed a Section 114 notice on Tuesday, halting all spending except on essential services. The deficit arose due to difficulties paying between £650 million (around $816 million) and £760 million (around $954 million) in equal pay claims, the notice report says. The city now expects to have a deficit of £87 million ($109 million) for the 2023-24 financial year. Sharon Thompson, deputy leader of the council, told councilors on Tuesday it faces “longstanding issues, including the council’s historic equal pay liability concerns,” according to the United Kingdom’s PA Media news agency. Thompson also blamed in part the UK’s ruling Conservative Party, saying Birmingham “had £1 billion of funding taken away by successive Conservative governments.”
--from CNN
事實上，本週二這座英國第二大城市已宣告破產，該市在收到總額高達7.6億英鎊（9.54億美元）的同工同酬索賠後，關閉了所有非必要支出。 為100多萬人提供服務的伯明翰市議會於週二提交了第 114 條通知，暫停了除基本服務以外的所有支出。 通知報告說，赤字產生的原因是難以支付同工同酬索賠，金額在6.5億英鎊（約合8.16億美元）至 7.6億英鎊（約合9.54億美元）之間。 該市預計在2023-24年將出現8700萬英鎊（1.09億美元）的財政年度赤字。 據英國 PA Media 通訊社報導，該市議會副主席莎倫·湯普森 (Sharon Thompson) 週二向議員們表示，該委員會面臨「長期存在的問題，包括該委員會歷史性同工同酬責任問題」。 湯普森也部分歸咎於英國執政的保守黨，稱伯明翰市被「歷屆的保守黨政府拿走了10億英鎊的資金」。
--摘錄翻譯自CNN
German Government Tightens Belt in New Budget
德國政府在新預算中勒緊褲腰帶
Culture
After three years of big spending to cope with the COVID and Ukraine crises, Germany is imposing wide-ranging cuts in its new budget to reduce debt. The German government presented its 2024 budget to the parliament on Tuesday, with Finance Minister Christian Lindner, of the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), hoping to end several years of government spending to manage a series of crises: COVID-19, war in Ukraine, and a rise in energy costs. "Today, the issue is a return to the debt brake — or, more precisely, to sustainable public finances in the long term," Lindner told the Bundestag. Lindner's draft budget comprises €445 billion ($480 billion) next year, around €30 billion less than in 2023 but still around €90 billion more than in 2019, the last budget before the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, almost all departments will have to make savings compared to this year. Defending his plans during a lively debate on Tuesday, Lindner pointed to the rapidly rising expenditure on servicing debt. Next year, he said, interest payments alone would cost the state €37 billion. "The interest costs in the budget are now twice as high as the budget of the education and research minister," he said. "We simply cannot afford new rampant debts. They simply would not be financeable."
--from Deutsche Welle
在為應對新冠疫情和烏克蘭危機而投入了三年的巨額支出後，德國正在大幅削減新預算以減少債務。 德國政府週二向議會提交了 2024 年度預算，新自由主義自由民主黨（FDP）財政部長克里斯蒂安·林德納 （Christian Lindner）希望結束幾年來政府為應對一系列危機的局面，包含新冠肺炎 （COVID-19）、烏克蘭戰爭及德國能源成本上漲。 林德納對德國聯邦議院表示：「目前的問題是回歸債務剎車機制，或者更準確地說，回歸可長期持續的公共財政」。 林德納明年的預算草案為4450億歐元（4800億美元），比2023年減少約300億歐元，但仍比 2019年（新冠病毒大流行前的最後一個預算年度）多900億歐元左右。儘管如此，與今年相比，幾乎所有部門都必須節省開支。 林德納在週二的一場激烈辯論中為自己的計劃辯護，他指出償還債務的支出迅速增加。他說，明年僅利息一項支出就將花費國家370億歐元。「預算中的利息成本，是目前教育和研究部長預算的兩倍，」他說「我們的財務根本承擔不起這些新的高利率債務。」
--摘錄翻譯自Deutsche Welle
Adult Corals Have Been Safely Frozen And Revived for the First Time
成年珊瑚首次透過冷凍保存技術安全的被復活
Sciences
Like something out of science fiction, small colonies of mature corals have been safely frozen and revived for the first time, though more work will be needed to ensure their long-term survival, researchers report on August 23 in Nature Communications. Freezing chunks of living corals for safekeeping — or cryopreserving them — could save them from extinction as the oceans heat up and acidify from human-caused climate change. With larvae collection becoming more difficult, one solution is to cryopreserve mature coral colonies, which are available year-round. If humans can reverse climate warming, preserved adult corals could help rebuild reef ecosystems in more hospitable seas. But larger specimens are harder to cryopreserve; it’s more difficult to prevent ice formation, which damages tissues somewhat like pipes cracking in the winter.
--節錄自Science News
8 月23 日研究人員於《自然-通訊》雜誌中報導，一些成年珊瑚群首次透過冷凍保存技術安全的被復活了。這就宛如科幻小說中的場景一樣。不過，這些珊瑚仍舊需要更進一步的照顧才能使它們繼續存活下去。人類造成的氣候變遷正在促成海水的溫度上升與酸化，而將大塊活珊瑚冷凍保存起來可以避免它們因上述變化而滅絕。因應珊瑚幼蟲的採集已變得越來越困難，一種解決方式是將成熟的珊瑚群（一年四季皆有）冷凍保存起來。如果人類能夠成功扭轉氣候變遷，被保存下來的成年珊瑚將有助於重建位於更適宜的海洋中的珊瑚礁生態系統。但是較大的標本更難被冷凍保存，要防止標本結冰更加的困難。結冰會損害珊瑚組織，就如冬天時管線容易因低溫破裂一樣。
--節錄翻譯自Science News
What We Can Learn From California's Surfing Sea Otter
我們可以從會衝浪的加州海獺身上學到的事情
Sciences
Like all beginner surfers, it took her a few attempts to hop aboard her craft. But now she's up, with her signature surfing gait, flopped across the board's width as you might ride a lilo. This is the notorious surfing pirate of Monterey Bay – sea otter 841, sometimes known as Laverna. For the past two years, but particularly the last six weeks, this swashbuckling buccaneer has achieved international infamy for her regular raids on humans, in which she steals their boards and cruises along on them. But the captivating story of 841 is at odds with the challenges she may have faced in her short life so far – and the dramatic daily struggles of other sea otters in the wild. Though southern sea otter populations have rebounded from a historic low in the 1930s, their recovery has been tepid – and despite intensive conservation efforts, their geographic range in California is not getting any bigger.
--節錄自BBC Future
和所有衝浪新手一樣，她試了幾次才終於跳上自己的衝浪板。而現在她以其獨特又具代表性的衝浪姿勢站了起來。她在衝浪板上坐著，就如同人們坐在水上充氣床時的姿勢一樣。這是蒙特利灣惡名昭彰的衝浪海盜——海獺 841，有時也被稱為 Laverna。在過去的兩年裡，特別是在過去的六周內，這隻勇猛的海盜因為會固定偷襲人類、偷走他們的衝浪板，並用偷來的板子衝浪而在國際上聲名狼藉。但 841 引人入勝的故事，與她及其他同伴們充滿挑戰的短暫生命經歷，有著顯著的對比。儘管加州南部的海獺數量已從1930 年代的歷史低點反彈，但牠們的恢復速度一直不溫不火。而且即便採取了大量的保護措施，牠們在加州的地域範圍並沒有因此擴大。
--節錄翻譯自 BBC Future