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Showing posts from May, 2019

It's a Boy!

Meghan and Prince Harry have had a baby son! The news came out this morning, and you can read all about it in this report from the Daily Mail, you can also watch a short video where Prince Harry announces the birth of their first child. Both the report and the video can be accessible to B2 students.

Six Weird Ways Nature Loves or Hates Music

Scientists have carried out research to find out how different animals can be positively or negatively influenced by music:  from cheese bacteria, to sharks, mosquitoes or cows, they all have proven to show preferences for some music genres over others.  This BBC text can be read by B2 students and above. In the video below, you can watch Snowball, a cockatoo, dancing to the music of Backstreet Boys.

Belinda Gates, a Female Philantropist

Belinda Gates, the co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, has published a book where she talks about how empowering women can bring about positive changes in society all over the world.  In this NPR interview, she talks about gender equality in the US and in her own relationship with Bill Gates, about philantropy and a fair tax system within the capitalist society and more. This short interview (6':52'') with a script can be accessible to B2 students.

Greenhouse Gas Levels Keep Accelerating

Carbon Dioxide Weekly CO₂ (carbon dioxide) levels at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, in May, 2019, reached 415.39 ppm, as above image shows. An ominous trendline points at 420 ppm in 2020. The daily average CO₂ level recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, on May 15, 2019, was 415.64 ppm, as above image shows. The image below also shows hourly average levels from April 15, 2019, to May 15, 2019. Current CO₂ levels far exceed levels that were common during the past 800,000 years, as the image below shows. CO₂ levels moved between roughly 180 and 280 ppm, while the temperature went up and down by some 10°C or 18°F. The daily average CO₂ level recorded by scripps.ucsd.edu at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, on May 13, 2019, was 415.5 ppm and the May 15, 2019, level was 415.7 ppm. On May 14, 2019, one hourly average exceeded 417 ppm. The situation is dire This level of 417 ppm is 139 ppm above the CO₂ level in the year 1750 and more than 157 ppm above what the CO₂ level would have been if levels had followed a natu