What did South Korea learn from COP2022? The United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention in New Delhi, the UK and other countries voted to reject the treaty

Negotiators in Busan, South Korea, were unable to thrash out a United Nations treaty to drastically cut plastic pollution. Some nations aim to reduce production of non-essential plastic, while others want to focus on waste management. Next year participants are expected to try again. The United Kingdom, European Union, African Group and many South American nations that pushed for a legally binding pledge to reduce production should go ahead and forge their own agreement despite the fact that they are not legally binding.

The meeting’s outcome was not a surprise. International agreements can take years to finalize. This is particularly true of complex accords that involve the regulation of individual chemicals and chemical products. Talks on the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention took more than a decade, from start to finish, before the agreement opened for signatures in 1993.

There have been five rounds of negotiations since talks on an agreement got the green light at the UN Environment Assembly in March 2022. Microplastics and particles less than five millimetres long are covered in the proposed agreement.

Scientists have not found it easy to get access to talks on the treaty. There are 2000 accredited observers who can attend the talks, out of a total of 3000 participants, and meeting rooms cannot accommodate these numbers. The Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi believes that some decisions were made in closed groups of countries that did not allow observers to attend. This is a bad development because it might undermine trust in what should be transparent.

It will include a list of named products to be regulated. There will also be provision for chemicals and products to be exempt from the treaty, but the criteria for these are yet to be defined.

The treaty will have a “financial mechanism” — that is, some form of funding attached. What amount of money is needed to be contributed, what the fund should be used for, and what is intended to be used for all remain to be agreed. The treaty text is supposed to be finalized by the first conference of the parties. We know from COP meetings on other topics that it is extremely difficult for participants to reach an agreement when there are too many issues in contention.

Homo erectus, I presume? Footprints show ancient hominins crossed paths on a lake shore in Kenya

This is an area in which a role for scientists will be key, both to help define terms according to a consensus of the evidence and to undertake research to bridge any knowledge gaps.

Some 1.5 million years ago, two ancient hominin species crossed paths on a lake shore in Kenya. Their footprints in the mud were frozen in time and lay undiscovered until 2021. Now, analysis of the impressions reveals that they belonged to Homo erectus, a forebear of modern humans, and the more distant relative Paranthropus boisei. The two individuals walked through the lake area within hours or days of each other — leaving the first direct record of different archaic hominin species coexisting in the same place.

Political deal-making has pressed pause on Norway’s controversial plan to allow seabed mining for valuable minerals. SV, a small environmentalist party, demanded the move in return for its support of the governing party’s budget. The government is also in the midst of a court case brought by the environmental group WWF Norway. Proponents say that deep-sea mining is essential to power the green transition and maintain energy security; opponents say that it could irreversibly damage biodiversity and ecosystems.

Source: Daily briefing: Homo erectus, I presume? Footprints show ancient hominins crossed paths

Penrose’s The Impossible Man: Physics, Chemistry, and the Cosmic Origins of Space-Time: Muon Colliders as a New Frontier for Physics and Molecular Physics

The first book-length biography of mathematical physicist Roger Penrose, TheImpossible Man, was written by Patchen Barss, who had access to the personal life of the man who helped to establish the theory of black holes. The mathematician is portrayed in equal parts influential and contentious in the book. The book is also a meditation on the human costs of being a genius, and how other people tend to bear those costs.

Criminal groups in Mexico are recruiting chemistry students to upgrade their production of drugs. The gangs are under pressure due to the trade Crackdowns in China and want to develop the ability to make their own raw materials. Students enroll in chemistry classes to improve their skills related to the trade in drugs. “Sometimes when I am teaching them synthesis of pharmaceutical drugs, they openly ask me, ‘Hey, professor, when are you teaching us how to synthesize cocaine and other things?’” says one anonymous chemist.

How do you figure out what the problem is? Or explain why the Universe is built the way it is? For physicists, there’s been one answer that has worked for nearly one hundred years: take two particles and smash them together as hard as you can. Some scientists were expecting a big rush of new particles from current generation of colliders. So attention is turning to a new variant on the collider theme, using particles that have never been smashed together before: muons.