The Know Daily - Thursday 4 April 2024

_{Read in 5m 36s ∙ Listening to Billie Holiday ∙}

The “untold stories” of roller skating in Birmingham and pigeon racing in North Yorkshire are among the projects chosen for funding by Historic England, as it looks to celebrate working class histories. Over the next two years, 56 community-led projects will benefit from the Everyday Heritage Grant programme.

🪵 Forest figures

New analysis has revealed “dramatic” falls in the number of trees lost in the Brazilian and Colombian Amazon, but the global picture is decidedly mixed.

What’s behind the drop in Brazil and Colombia?
“Political action,” according to the BBC. In Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva came to power last year pledging to end deforestation by 2030. As a result, primary forest losses fell by 36% in 2023, compared to the year before. Colombia saw a huge 49% reduction in forest losses, under the leadership of President Gustavo Petro Urrego.

What’s the picture like elsewhere?
Not great, according to the data from the University of Maryland's GLAD lab and the World Resources Institute (WRI). An area nearly the size of Switzerland was cleared from previously undisturbed rainforests last year, with notable upticks in felling in Laos and Nicaragua.

“The world took two steps forward, two steps back when it comes to this past year’s forest loss,” summarised the WRI’s Mikaela Weisse.

What’s the takeaway?
At the COP28 climate summit last November, governments agreed on the need to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030 - but these new figures show the world is a “long way” from meeting that target, said The Guardian. 

Falls in Brazil and Colombia show that “progress is possible”, argued Weisse, adding: “we must learn from the countries that are successfully slowing deforestation”.

🌝 Moon time

NASA has been instructed to create a unified standard of time for the moon, as more countries look to launch lunar missions in the near future.

What’s the story?
According to a memo seen by Reuters, the White House has directed NASA to develop a plan for setting what it calls Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) by the end of 2026.

The task may prove trickier than it initially sounds, given that the same clock on Earth would work differently on the moon. That’s because there’s less gravity on the moon, so time moves slightly faster - by 58.7 microseconds every day. 

What’s behind the move?
LTC would provide a “time-keeping benchmark” for spacecraft and satellites, making sure communications are synchronised and data transfers in space are secure, explained Sky News. The creation of standardised time would also help avoid errors in mapping when landing on or orbiting the moon, experts say.

What else is going on?
The White House directive comes as “the modern space race heats up”, noted The Times. In September 2026, NASA plans to land an astronaut on the moon for the first time since the 1970s - and other countries including China and India have declared their ambitions for lunar landings. Private companies are also joining the race, with the first ever privately-owned craft landing on the moon in February. 

According to the US government memo, deciding how to implement LTC would require international agreements - with officials saying a standard lunar time would benefit “all spacefaring nations”. 

✈️ Air travel PSA: A planned scrapping of the 100ml rule for liquids in hand luggage has been delayed by a year, as many airports reportedly struggle to install the new scanners.

📮 Post proposals: Royal Mail has suggested reducing second-class letter deliveries to every other weekday, under wider plans to reform the struggling company. 

💰 Compensation calls: Energy suppliers have been urged to speed up compensation for customers affected by the forced installation of prepayment meters.

🩸 Trailblazing trial: Volunteers across the UK will begin trialling blood tests that could accurately diagnose dementia, as researchers look to improve access to care and treatments.

🍻 Cheers to that: A new study has revealed the cheapest and priciest pints across Europe.

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Trivia answer: A) Amsterdam Centraal tops the list - although London doesn’t fare too badly.

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