The Environment Institute

🌏 ☘ Yesterday the Environment Institute was delighted to host a Special Seminar by Sheldon Jordan: Global Wildlife Enforcement – Policy, Challenges, and Opportunities for Change presented to the University of Adelaide's Research Community.

Sheldon Jordan, an expert in conservation management and environmental enforcement, shared insights into the complex field of global wildlife crime during his special seminar.

As a distinguished collaborator with the Wildlife Crime Research Hub,

Sheldon Jordan brings decades of experience, including his previous role as the Director General of Wildlife Enforcement with Canada’s Department of Environment and Climate Change. He also served as the Chair of INTERPOL's Wildlife Crime Working Group and as Co-Chair of the North American Wildlife Enforcement Group.

During his week-long visit, Sheldon is engaging in collaborative research discussions and seminars aimed at increasing awareness and improving wildlife enforcement globally.

His presentation focused on:

🌏 Global wildlife enforcement policies and their effectiveness
🌏 Challenges faced by authorities in tackling wildlife crime
🌏 Opportunities for international collaboration and new enforcement strategies to curb wildlife trafficking.

Sheldon’s visit underscores the importance of collaborative research and policy innovation in the fight against wildlife crime.

Cosmic Radiation Could Degrade Medications on Long Space Missions 🌌💊

New research published in Advanced Healthcare Materials highlights a significant challenge for deep space missions: cosmic radiation may rapidly degrade medications, turning them into potentially harmful substances.
Studying ibuprofen tablets aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and in laboratory simulations, scientists found that tablets stored outside the ISS experienced over 50% degradation due to exposure to cosmic radiation. The degradation isn't just a loss of potency—some medications break down into toxic compounds that could pose health risks to astronauts.

While medication degradation occurs on Earth over time (which is why products like ibuprofen have expiration dates), researchers found that in space, this process is not only faster but also more unpredictable. According to Volker Hessel, Environment Institute, Professor of sustainable chemical engineering at the University of Adelaide, and co-author of the study, “We found in space, this process is faster and ‘wilder’, meaning more degradation products and more toxic products.”

Key findings include:
☄ Inside the ISS: Medications in aluminum blister packs were shielded from radiation.
☄ Outside the ISS: Degradation was severe, leading to the formation of harmful substances like 2-propionic acid and neurotoxic 4′-isobutyl-acetophenone.
☄ Solutions: Iron oxide coatings and certain flavorings helped protect medications from radiation.

This research underscores the need for new drug formulations and delivery methods specifically designed for space environments, especially as missions to the Moon and Mars grow longer.

As we look ahead, the development of "space medicines" could be crucial for the health and safety of astronauts during extended deep space travel.

🔗 https://tinyurl.com/2vufd97a

Cosmic radiation degrades medications on ISS, posing challenges for deep space missions - Advanced Science News Cosmic radiation degrades medications like ibuprofen, highlighting the need for new "space" medicines with modified formulations.

The extreme floods which devastated Spain are hitting more often. Is Australia ready for the next one?

The Environment Institute’s Professor Seth Westra has co-authored an article in The Conversation that reveals some startling figures about the risk of extreme flooding in Australia.

The recent catastrophic floods in the Valencia region of Spain have starkly highlighted the growing risks posed by climate change. Torrential rains, with some areas experiencing an entire year’s worth of rainfall in a single day, led to sudden and deadly floods. Over 200 lives have been lost, and the damage to infrastructure has been devastating. Scientific analysis reveals that such extreme weather events are becoming increasingly frequent, with rainfall extremes now occurring twice as often as they did 75 years ago, and the intensity of these storms has increased by around 12%.

The threat of extreme floods is not confined to Spain. Australia, for example, has already warmed by 1.5°C since records began in 1910, and in recent years, the country has faced devastating floods, including those in New South Wales and Queensland. The floods in northern New South Wales in 2022 caused widespread damage and claimed 24 lives, marking the most expensive natural disaster in Australian history, with damages totaling A$5.65 billion.

The question, then, is whether countries are adequately prepared for these more frequent and intense floods. While Australia has updated its flood design guidelines to account for climate change, current infrastructure—roads, bridges, stormwater systems—was not built to withstand the increased intensity and frequency of extreme rainfall events. Similarly, flood planning levels used to determine where buildings can be constructed have not kept pace with the evolving flood risk.

🔗 https://shorturl.at/fC7fp

📷 Spain’s extreme floods damaged vital infrastructure such as train lines. Chema Moya/EPA

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The extreme floods which devastated Spain are hitting more often. Is Australia ready for the next one? To prepare for more intense floods supercharged by climate change, we have to build infrastructure able to tolerate new extremes