— According to the study, published in The Lancet, the frequency of new cancer cases in Lebanon has increased by an astounding 162% from 1990 to 2023, with cancer-related deaths increasing by 80% over that same period. In 2023, for every 100,000 people in the country, there were 233.5 new cancer cases.
— One of the highlights of the summit was a discussion on the rapid development of neurotechnologies generally, and the brain computer interface (BCI) technologies in particular. GESDA decided to start gathering a core group of philanthropic foundations, banks, medical institutions and interested companies, as well international organizations, to help ensure that BCI technologies will be beneficial to all.
— The two projects had set new standards in sustainable construction and climate-friendly mobility, said the Swiss Solar Agency in a press release. Alte Schmitte produces around 400% of its own energy needs,the first positive-energy site in Switzerland to successfully integrate heritage-friendly solar architecture. The Stanserhorn funicular was singled out for its innovative energy concept and its systematic use of solar energy in public transport. The Stanserhorn funicular has an energy surplus of 131%.
— Researchers from the monitoring group GLAMOS and the Swiss Academy of Sciences say that Switzerland's glaciers lost 3% of their total volume this year. As ABC News reports, that means Switzerland, home to more glaciers than any other European country, has now lost one-quarter of its ice mass over the past decade. "Glacial melting in Switzerland was once again enormous in 2025," the scientists said in a statement. Switzerland has already lost more than 1,000 small glaciers, scientists say, and that melting ice has a major impact on tourism, hydropower, agriculture, and more throughout Europe.
— Time: "Scientists have found as many as 25 major tipping points, including the Amazon rain forest transforming from a lush forest that stores carbon emissions to a dry savannah, and the permanent melting of polar sea ice whereby the dark open water absorbs more heat compared to white snow, encouraging further melting."
— "Climate models that predict collapses are less accurate when forecasting interactions between multiple tipping points. Some interactions can push systems out of balance, while others pull an ecosystem closer to equilibrium. Other changes driven by rising global temperatures, like melting permafrost, likely don't meet the criteria for tipping points because they aren’t self-sustaining. Permafrost could refreeze if temperatures drop again."
— Climate scientist Timothy Lenton first identified climate tipping points in 2008. In 2022, he and his team revisited temperature collapse ranges, integrating over a decade of additional data and more sophisticated computer models.
— The University of Zurich said that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, known for their work in development economics, will move from the US to Switzerland, amid Donald Trump's attacks on universities. Now at MIT, they will establish a new center for development economics.
— The couple will each have an endowed professorship at UZH funded by the Lemann Foundation, the university said. They will also establish and co-lead the new Lemann Center for Development, Education and Public Policy, with an aim to foster policy-relevant research and connect researchers and education policymakers around the world, it added. "We are delighted that two of the world's most influential economists are joining UZH," university president Michael Schaepman said. Duflo said the new Lemann Center would enable the couple, who will retain part-time positions at MIT, to "build on and expand our work, which bridges academic research, student mentorship and real-world policy impact."
— Luis Vayas Valdivieso, Ecuador's ambassador to Britain who chaired the last three of six negotiation rounds, has announced he is stepping down, leaving the process rudderless. The Guardian reported that staff from Andersen's UNEP team held a covert meeting on the last night in Geneva, aimed at coaxing members of civil society groups into pressuring Vayas to quit. Andersen: "I did not know and obviously had not asked anyone to do something of this sort."
— AP: From capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or sucking water out of dry desert air, the trio's new form of molecular architecture can absorb and contain gases inside stable metal organic frameworks.The frameworks can be compared to the timber framework of a house, and Hermione's famous beaded handbag, in that they are small on the outside but very large on the inside, according to Olof Ramström, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. "Metal-organic frameworks have enormous potential, bringing previously unforeseen opportunities for custom-made materials with new functions," according to Nobel Chemistry chair. The committee cited the potential for using the frameworks to separating so-called "forever chemicals" from water.
— Scientists timed Earth's early formation using a short-lived radioactive marker, manganese-53, which decays into chromium-53. Using this chronometer, the team reached age estimates with an accuracy better than one million years – razor sharp for the dawn of planet-building. Without the delivery of a crucial payload of water and other ingredients, Earth could have remained a rocky world with little water, even while orbiting within the Sun’s so-called habitable zone. Publication in Science Advances, 1 August 2025.
— In the space of one woman's lifetime, the study of animal tool use has grown from a single blade of straw to a bouquet of functional objects — used by monkeys, crows, dolphins, orcas, humpback whales, and even bees and other insects. Tool use is no longer considered a defining human trait. Nor is cultural transmission.
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