There's new information about the world's oldest flying reptile, which was discovered in Australia. The giant creature is known as a pterosaur and lived about 107 million years ago. According to a study published today in the journal History Biology, the animal had a wingspan that was 6.5 feet long and was the first vertebrate able to fly. It lived alongside dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era, which began 252 million years ago.
SHARK SPOTTING
Meanwhile, this shark was recently spotted circling around a man and his son who were taking a dip at Orange Beach, Alabama. The footage was captured on a drone by a 15-year-old who was monitoring sharks in the Gulf of Mexico. The gulf is home to 50 species of sharks, only about half of which are known to have encounters with people.
BEE SWARM
Finally, a huge swarm of bees was filmed over a crowd of spectators at the Indianapolis 500 Race over the weekend. The video shows the bees hovering above spectators. The man who shot the video says the crowd was unfazed by the bees and was mostly focused on the race. There was even a beekeeper sitting a few rows away from the swarm who helped remove the bees after the race. He said there were an estimated 12,000 to 16,000 bees in the stands.
Heila Technologies, a startup that develops hardware and software to integrate renewables and batteries on a microgrid, is helping to power the first clean energy microgrid for Auto Mercado, a top supermarket chain in Costa Rica. The plant will reduce 20 tons of CO2 emissions per year. Heila Technologies CEO Francisco Morocz joins Cheddar Climate to discuss.
The U.S. has a million-ton problem: each year, hundreds of pounds of plastic waste are produced per person, and that leads to close to 2 million tons of that waste leaking into the environment. Eight million tons end up in the ocean, where it hinders marine life, damages ecosystems, and impacts industry. But in recent years, Congress has introduced measures including the Save our Seas act to try to mitigate the issue and turn our plastic problem around. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) joins Cheddar Climate to discuss why the U.S. is the top global polluter of plastic, what Congress is doing to try to fix the issue, and more.
Daniel Huppmann, researcher at International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, joins Cheddar Climate, where he explains how the global economy could be 2% bigger by 2100 if the world can hold global warming below 1.5°C.
While the World Health Organization strongly advises against a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, national and local governments are moving to make inoculations compulsory. Cheddar News speaks with Dr. Joel Zinberg of the Competitive Enterprise Institute on the issue.
Cheddar breaks down the challenges of plastic recycling and what one company is doing to help offset the negative environmental impact of single-use plastics.
Earlier this year, JetBlue flew its inaugural flight into the United Kingdom. It was a game changer — not only did the airline enter the transatlantic market, but the plane that completed the flight was a single-aisle jet. For decades, flying the distance was synonymous with jumbo jets, but today narrow-body aircraft are now proving they are up for the task — and maybe even the best option. In this episode, Cheddar examines why airlines are betting on narrow-body aircraft.
Carlo and Baker discuss the sweeping new vaccine mandate in NYC that will target all private businesses. Plus, Trump's media venture gets its CEO and more.
Humans are scientifically the most successful species in the history of planet earth. And for this we can thank our opposable thumbs, proportionally large brains, and our upright posture. But for all our anatomical wonders, we still have some pretty major flaws.
