If you are the kind of person who heroically eats a few pounds of salmon every week, chases it with sardines, and lectures your friends about the virtues of oily fish, congratulations: you are doing the best thing for your body. 

In the modern nutrition universe, that level of commitment deserves an applause. But for those who don’t live in a Nordic fishing village, the nutrition company Zinzino has built its omega-3 research and formulations around these principles, combining biomarker testing, antioxidant protection and traceable sourcing across both sustainably harvested small-fish oils and a vegan marine-microalgae alternative. It’s biohacking at the next level. 

They explain why: Because omega-3 fatty acids, the famous EPA and DHA found in marine foods, remain among the most important structural fats in the human body. They support brain signaling, heart health, immune balance and cellular communication. Unlike trendy nutrients that cycle through wellness blogs, omega-3 has survived decades of scientific scrutiny.

But here is the catch: most people are not eating enough of the right seafood. And supplement companies may be giving you confusing information.

Walk into any health store and you’ll see shelves lined with omega-3 oils promising brain health, heart health, joint support and more. Yet not all omega-3s are created equal, and the differences go far beyond price or flavor. You might assume the best oils are the ones that taste the strongest or come from the coldest waters on Earth. But before you shop, it helps to understand what you’re actually getting. Where does the oil come from? Is fishing sustainable? Can vegan sources really replace fish? And does the body actually absorb what’s written on the label?

These questions sit at the intersection of environmental integrity, science-backed innovation and sustainability and we ask these questions today to a company that makes the gold standard omega-3 for pescetarians and vegans. 

Founded in Norway and headquartered in Sweden, Zinzino approaches omega-3 as both a nutritional and biochemical challenge. Rather than simply sourcing oil and labeling it, the company focuses on how to deliver EPA and DHA in a form the body can actually use while protecting fragile fatty acids from oxidation.

Think Mediterranean oil-pressing traditions adapted to modern nutrition science.

Its BalanceOil+ blends purified oil from small wild-caught fish such as sardines, mackerel and anchovies with cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil rich in early-harvest polyphenols. Small fish, they say,  are less likely to accumulate heavy metals from the food chain. The olive oil antioxidants come from Picual olives grown in Spain and Koroneiki olives from Cyprus, creating a protective environment for the omega-3 while supporting absorption. 

Recently Emmalee Gisslevik, PhD, Senior Research & Development Specialist – BalanceOil, spoke to Green Prophet to talk about environmental integrity, science-backed innovation and sustainability, and how omega-3 supplements are evolving alongside these priorities.

Omega-3 science, algae versus fish, and why quality, source and oxidation protection may matter more than most people realize. Below is our conversation.

Let’s start simple: why are omega-3s still such a big deal nutritionally today?

Because omega-3s are not just fashionable nutrients—they are structurally important fats that are incorporated into cell membranes throughout the body to facilitate key functions in the body such as heart, brain and immune health. The long-chain marine omega-3s, EPA and DHA, are especially relevant because they are the biologically active forms most closely linked to established physiological functions, while the body converts only limited amounts from plant omega-3 (ALA). They also remain highly relevant today because many people do not eat oily fish regularly, even though marine foods are still the main dietary source of EPA and DHA. So from a practical nutrition perspective, omega-3 remains important because intake is often inconsistent, while the physiological need does not disappear.

Many people assume eating fish once in a while is enough. From your research, when does supplementation actually make sense?

Eating fish is a very good strategy—but ‘once in a while’ is not the same as consistently reaching the usual target of about two servings of fish per week. Supplementation makes the most sense when seafood intake is low or irregular, when someone avoids fish, follows a vegan diet, wants a more standardized daily intake, or wants to check whether their actual omega-3 status matches what they think they are getting from food. In practice, this is where testing becomes useful: it moves the conversation from assumptions to actual biological status.

Zinzino offers both fish-derived and vegan omega-3. From a biological perspective, do they deliver comparable EPA and DHA? And what’s the price point compared to other oils?

From a biological perspective, the key question is how much EPA and DHA the product delivers—not whether the source is fish or microalgae. In Zinzino’s standard 12 ml serving, BalanceOil+ provides about 2.0 g EPA+DHA (approximately 1.3 g EPA + 0.7 g DHA), while BalanceOil+ Vegan provides about 1.9 g EPA+DHA (approximately 0.8 g EPA + 1.1 g DHA), and with SDA for endogenous production of EPA. So the total long-chain omega-3 delivery is broadly comparable, although the profile differs. The fish-based version is more EPA-forward, while the vegan version is more DHA-forward. That distinction can matter depending on what aspect of omega-3 nutrition you want to emphasize, but both are designed to deliver meaningful amounts of long-chain marine-type omega-3. One challenge with vegan formulations is achieving robust EPA delivery, because many algae oils are naturally more DHA-rich than EPA-rich. 

Our vegan formulation addresses that by combining microalgal oil with Ahiflower® oil, which contains SDA—an omega-3 fatty acid that converts to EPA more efficiently than ALA does. Combined with olive oil, this creates a broader fatty acid strategy than a simple single-source algae oil. From a pricing perspective, vegan omega-3 oils are typically more expensive than standard fish-based omega-3 oils, largely because microalgal EPA/DHA production is still costlier and more technologically controlled. In practice, that means the vegan option is usually positioned as a premium product.

Sustainability is a major concern for our readers. How do you ensure your fish oil sourcing doesn’t contribute to overfishing or marine damage?

Using sustainably sourced, natural ingredients is an essential part of our brand’s core values. We strongly believe that to maintain balance in our body, we also have to respect the balance of the planet and its resources. Our omega-3 supplement is certified by Friend of the Sea, the global certification standard for upholding a sustainable marine environment, Zinzino was first certified by Friend of the Sea in 2018 and we have since maintained our commitment towards sustainability. The fish oils used by Zinzino are derived from short-lived, wild-caught fish, harvested by sustainable fisheries in authorized areas, and following the Friend of the Sea criteria.   

Vegan omega-3 often comes from algae, essentially the original source of marine omega-3. What makes microalgae oil effective compared to plant oils like flax or chia? How do we know that the algae is clean and free from microplastics and PFASs?

Microalgae oil is effective because it provides preformed EPA and DHA directly. By contrast, flax and chia mainly provide ALA, which is nutritionally valuable, but the body converts only a limited amount of ALA into EPA—and very little into DHA. So if the goal is specifically to increase long-chain omega-3 status, microalgae offers a more direct and efficient route. In terms of purity, one important advantage is that microalgae is cultivated in controlled production systems rather than harvested from open marine ecosystems. That gives much tighter control over sourcing, consistency, and raw material quality.

Your formulations combine omega-3 with early-harvest olive polyphenols. This isn’t common in most supplements? What problem does this solve? Or how do you stand out in this regard. 

This solves a real formulation problem: Omega-3s are delicate—they can break down and go rancid pretty easily. So instead of just putting omega-3 into a capsule on its own, we pair it with extra-virgin olive oil that’s rich in natural antioxidants; polyphenols. That way, we’re not simply adding “another oil”—we’re building extra protection right into the blend.

Those olive polyphenols help defend the omega-3s against oxidation, and the olive oil also changes the overall fat environment in a way that’s more supportive than a basic fish oil or algae oil by itself. The goal is simple: help keep these sensitive fatty acids more stable, both in the product and once you’ve taken it. That’s one of the ways our formula stands out. We don’t treat omega-3 as a standalone ingredient—we build it into a more complete fat system designed for stability, function, and context.

Third-party certifications: Friend of the Sea, Informed Sport, Cologne List, The Vegan Society, Halal, GMP, EU and EFSA. Tell us how difficult it is to get some of these certifications. 

Some third-party certifications are relatively straightforward if your documentation is solid and your suppliers are well organized — while others are genuinely demanding because they require ongoing testing, deep traceability, or even regulatory-level scientific evidence. The toughest ones tend to be “continuous-control” programs. Informed Sport is a great example: it’s considered difficult because it typically involves rigorous quality requirements and regular batch testing for banned substances, not just a one-time audit. Cologne List can also be demanding in practice because products are often tested and listed by batch, which means you need consistency and repeat testing to stay current.

Audit- and traceability-based certifications sit in the middle — but can become hard with complex supply chains. Friend of the Sea usually requires strong sourcing transparency and traceability (sometimes through multiple suppliers). GMP can be smooth if your manufacturer already runs a mature quality system — but if not, it can take real work to build the documentation, procedures, training, and audit readiness needed. Ingredient- and process-driven labels are very achievable — as long as you can prove what’s in (and not in) the product. The Vegan Society and Halal typically hinge on ingredient verification, supplier declarations, and preventing cross-contact in production (especially if lines are shared with non-vegan or non-halal materials). They’re very doable, but they get more complex when you have lots of raw materials or shared facilities.

And a quick nuance: “EU and EFSA” aren’t really certifications like the others — they’re regulatory frameworks. If you mean getting an EFSA-backed health claim approved in the EU, that’s usually one of the hardest routes because it requires a formal scientific dossier and a high standard of evidence.

 Fun but honest question: if someone says, “I hate fish and I don’t trust supplements,” – I get my nutrition from eating a kilo of salmon a week. And I buy sardines. Real food is the best. What would you tell them?

If you hate fish but are still heroically eating a kilo of salmon a week and buying sardines, then you are already doing the hard part. Regular intake of oily fish is the gold-standard way to get preformed marine omega-3. That is the ideal, and it is the most natural and biologically complete way to obtain EPA and DHA. So to me, this is not really an argument about food versus supplements. 

The real question is whether a person’s life and habits actually allow them to eat enough quality fish, consistently enough, to reach the blood levels they want. If that works, that is the superior option. If not, a well-designed supplement can help close that gap. And if your relationship with fish is a little on-and-off, it is good to know there are well-designed alternatives— and if you are skeptical, there are blood tests that can tell you whether they are truly effective for you.

How and where do we find your products in America, Canada, Europe and the rest of the world? 

Zinzino’s products are not available for sale in retail stores because better health is personal, and all bodies are unique. Getting individual guidance is critical for a successful outcome. We want to connect with customers directly, build trust, understanding and mutual respect, and offer personalized solutions tailored to meet their specific needs and goals. 

To this end, all our products are sold exclusively through a Zinzino Independent Partner who will join the customers on their health journey. We currently have at least 50 000 working at markets across the globe, and you may find the one nearest you on zinzino.com

Tell us more about the blood sampling and how and if biohackers can get involved? I know people who’d like to share that data. 

The blood sampling is a finger-prick dried blood spot test that can be done at home. The current BalanceTest measures 11 fatty acids, does not require fasting, and you register it online using an anonymous test code. That makes it practical for repeat use and for before-and-after comparisons over time to monitor your body’s response to changes in diet and lifestyle. What makes it interesting to data-driven users is that it does not only report absolute omega-3-related values.

 It also looks at the relationship between different fatty acid groups—for example, the balance between long-chain omega-3s and other fats—and includes calculated markers that help summarize different aspects of fatty acid status. For biohackers, that means it can be used as a structured feedback tool: test, adjust diet or supplementation, and retest after a meaningful interval. If people want to share their data, the important part is that this should be done through a clear, consent-based framework, with appropriate respect for privacy and data handling. That is where personal experimentation can become genuinely useful rather than just anecdotal.

::Zinzino

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War and conflict makes people do things they don’t like. In some cases, and it’s not the best solution, loved pets are abandoned when people need to vacate a country or region due to conflict and war. When Israel disengaged from Gaza 20 years ago, a large number of pets were left behind. Same is true now in Dubai, where influencers have left dogs and cats to fend for themselves. Iranian missiles are targeting the UAE and people are trying to leave. It’s difficult getting out with pets, so they remain.

The city of Dubai has taken a step to protect the pets and have created a smart feeding station for cats. While it’s cold and not excessively dry in the UAE right now, cities like Dubai are not know for their cat street culture, unlike Istanbul and Tel Aviv.

According to municipality rules in Dubai is not permitted to feed stray animals, with fines of around AED 500 given for unauthorized feeding in public or residential areas to manage population and hygiene.

Instead, Dubai Municipality has set up 12 AI-powered “Ehsan Stations” to safely and officially feed strays. The city also officially supports Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs. 

Dr. Naseem Mohammed Rafee, Acting CEO of the Environment, Health and Safety Agency at Dubai Municipality, said: “The launch of ‘Ehsan Stations’ for feeding stray animals, including cats and others, reflects Dubai Municipality’s commitment to promoting humane and civilised values across the emirate, foremost among them compassion and animal welfare.

“The initiative also supports efforts to preserve ecological balance and advance sustainable practices that reinforce Dubai’s position as one of the world’s most attractive, progressive, and liveable cities.

“Through these stations, Dubai Municipality is introducing an innovative approach that  combines provision of food with more effective management of stray animal populations, while also addressing random feeding practices that can lead to environmental, health, and community-related challenges.”

Now what about the dogs being abandoned? And can the owners be found and fined? You can file a report through this link.

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After a sold-out London debut in 2024, the acclaimed immersive audio experience “in the dark” returns to the capital in January 2026, with performances scheduled for January 22, 23, 29 and 30 at St Andrew’s Church in Holborn.

The 60-minute performance places 30 musicians around the audience in complete darkness. Audience members wear sleep masks while the musicians perform fully live and acoustically, without amplification, speakers, or a conductor. Sound moves around the space in a choreographed 360-degree journey, allowing listeners to experience music purely through hearing.

A similar concept in dining exists in the Jaffa Port, where diners eat in a blacked out dining hall. There are no masks to wear and servers are already blind. You need to have faith and trust in the people around you.

The concept of listening in the dark, first developed in Cambridge in 2017, has grown into an international phenomenon. Its London season in 2024 received the Offies Assessors Choice award and strong critical and audience response. Since its launch, in the dark has staged more than 60 performances for over 8,000 people in venues across the UK.

Musicians are drawn from leading institutions including the Royal College of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and West End productions. Each performance is shaped by the natural acoustics of the venue, making every show distinct.

Founder Andrea Cockerton describes the philosophy behind the project: “In a world obsessed with being seen, we’re asking people to disappear for an hour. in the dark is a quiet, sound rebellion. No phones, no spectacle, no distractions… just the rare chance to actually feel music again.”

Related: Supper trains and no-pants day train in London

Cockerton, an award-winning arts entrepreneur, is known for her ethical approach to the arts and has received recognition including the NESTA / Observer New Radicals award and the SheSaidSo Alternative Music Power 100 honour.

While not positioned as a wellness event, in the dark mirrors the way nature restores attention and awareness: by removing visual dominance, the experience encourages deep listening, stillness, and presence — the same mental state many people seek in forests, deserts, or by the sea.

The absence of spectacle becomes the point. Each seat offers a different sound perspective. Each listener becomes an active participant in shaping their own experience.

Often described as the “Cirque du Soleil of the senses,” in the dark is now planning future performances across the UK, Europe, Australia and North America.

Tickets for the January performances at St Andrew’s Church, Holborn are now on sale.

::In The Dark

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Body hair is a big issue especially for those who have it. Some cultures adore body hair on women and men, others deny that women actually grow body hair on their arms, legs, face, and even chest. Muslims have a haram and halal guide to body hair, and Jewish women remove theirs every month before they go to the mikva when relations with their husband can resume.

Middle Eastern women can be hairy and those not wanting it use threading and sugar wax or sugaring to remove it. Removing hair, as men who shave daily, know, is a big hassle. Some get it removed permanently but that could be a big mistake as Januhairy and a new body hair trend is coming back stronger than Brooke Shield’s eyebrows in the 80s.

What’s a woman to do? Like Movember when men started growing moustaches for a cause, a new movement called Januhairy is encouraging women to stop removing their body hair. Look at Cypriot-American model Sophia Hadjipanteli and her unibrow. And the TikToker Unibrow Girl. Will you join the movement?

If you look to Takijistan a woman’s beauty is measured by the size of eyebrows. Traditional Tajikistan songs including Bukaran songs by Jewish Tajikis extol women and their large eyebrows. Tajikistan women paint their eyebrows a la Frida Kahlo to appear more attractive.

Egyptians are credited with inventing sugaring, believed to predate shaving. It’s similar to waxing, but uses a sugar-syrup paste that gets spread onto skin. When the mixture cools, it’s quickly peeled off, yanking hair out at the roots. You can eat the sweet pre-product if you use our recipe.

But why bother shaving? Women leading the Januhairy movement like Queen Esie believe that body hair can help a woman reclaim her body and redefine what is beautiful.

She offers some tips, “Most women have shaved and removed their body hair all their life that they don’t know what they look like natural, and feel shame when they body hair slowly starts growing back. If you want to stop be afraid or ashamed of your body hair and slowly start embracing it, here are a few tips:

Tip 1: Accept that you’re a hairy woman & that’s ok ?
Tip 2: Wear clothes that reveal your body hair in the comfort of your home?
Tip 3: Compliment your hairy body in the mirror ☀️
Tip 4: Let your body hair grow during the winter

“Once you get use to seeing body hair on your body you will slowly stop feeling shame.”

If you lived past the 90s and notice some women have bald eyebrows, that’s because women over-removed their eyebrows and they never grew back. Some women, already back then and it’s always been more common in Europe, have stopped removing armpit hair, leg hair, nipple hair and all hair down there.

Say no to a Brazil body wax

What is a Brazilian wax? In a Brazilian wax common in the west pubic hair is removed from around the external genitals, between the upper thighs, and around the anus. Some women can choose to remove all hair in the area or leave a small strip of hair in the front.

For the last 15 years or the Brazil body wax has made it common for women to remove their pubic hair as though they are pre-pubescent women. The Januhairy movement is encouraging women to keep all their growth, personal and down their intact and to embrace one’s body as it is: hairy and beautiful. It starts with a few women but if women of the world unite, you can stop shaving forever. The other option: get married and save yourself the hassle.

“Female body hair challenges not only the world’s status quo on a superficial, visual level but also our deeper stigmas and beliefs surrounding female pleasure and sex,” says Caley Draws, who discusses sex and hair.

Thinking about growing out your hair?

Follow the Januhairy movement.

Thinking, no way, help me out. I got to this page for the wrong reasons: Start here with a simple sugar wax DIY recipe.

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Pope Leo XIV left Rome for a tour of Turkey and Lebanon and prayed Tuesday at the ruins of the 2020 Beirut port explosion, a site that has become a stark symbol of Lebanon’s dysfunction, impunity, and unresolved trauma. His visit marks the final day of his trip to the country.

Relatives of some of the 218 people killed in the blast stood silently as Leo arrived, holding photos of their loved ones. They gathered beside the skeletal remains of the last surviving grain silo and the charred piles of cars ignited by the explosion. Pope Leo stood in silent prayer amid the wreckage.

The August 4, 2020 blast, one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in the history of the world — occurred when hundreds of tons of improperly stored ammonium nitrate detonated in a port warehouse. The explosion tore through Beirut, caused billions of dollars in damage, and devastated entire neighborhoods. The explosion generated a seismic event measuring 3.3 in magnitude, as reported by the United States Geological Survey. Its effects were felt in Lebanon and neighbouring regions, including Syria, Israel, and Cyprus, over 240 km (150 mi) away.

Five years later, families of the victims are still demanding justice. No officials have been convicted, and the judicial investigation has faced years of obstruction. Locals say that the Hezbollah, a terror state, within a state is to blame. Of course it’s hard for people to say that publicly or they will be assassinated in Lebanon.

Later, the pope celebrated Mass along the Beirut waterfront, calling for Lebanon to be a “home of justice and fraternity” and a “prophetic sign of peace” in the region.

In his homily, Leo acknowledged the many layers of crisis that have scarred Lebanon, referencing the port blast, economic collapse, and “the violence and conflicts that have reawakened ancient fears.”

He said it is natural for people to feel “paralyzed by powerlessness in the face of evil and oppressed by so many difficult situations.”

But the pope urged the Lebanese not to surrender to despair, insisting that hope and justice are essential parts of the country’s future.

“Let us cast off the armor of our ethnic and political divisions, open our religious confessions to mutual encounter and reawaken in our hearts the dream of a united Lebanon,” he said. “A Lebanon where peace and justice reign, where all recognize each other as brothers and sisters.”

“Lebanon, stand up,” he added. “Be a home of justice and fraternity! Be a prophetic sign of peace for the whole of the Levant!”

Lebanon was never meant to be a Catholic country, but it was designed as a multi-confessional state with political power shared between Christians and Muslims. Under the 1943 National Pact, the president must be a Maronite Christian, giving Christians a guaranteed leadership role. Decades of civil war, demographic shifts seeing Christians flee, and regional conflicts have since eroded that balance, leaving the system strained and often paralyzed.

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A dead shark that washed ashore this week at Beit Yanai beach in Israel has renewed concerns about the health of Israel’s marine ecosystems — and the growing risks humans face as climate and coastal pressures intensify.

Beachgoers reported the shark early in the morning, one of several unusual strandings seen along Israel’s coast this year. Marine biologists are investigating the cause of death, but early theories point to two escalating stressors: over-fishing, warming waters and desalination impacts.

Israel’s coastal waters are warming faster than the global average, drawing larger predators like sharks closer to shore in search of cooler currents and shifting prey. Earlier this year a man was fatally attacked by a shark while diving off the coast — a rare but stark reminder that marine behavior is changing.

At the same time, scientists warn that intensive desalination, now underpinning Israel’s national water supply, is subtly reshaping coastal ecosystems. While water is being pumped to replenish a shrinking Sea of Galilee, desalinated water is energy intense.

Brine discharge alters salinity and temperature gradients, influencing fish distribution and potentially disorienting species highly sensitive to environmental change, including sharks and sea turtles.

This is part of a wider pattern of marine disruption in the region. A whale was recently found and dragged to Gaza, where desperate residents butchered and consumed it — a grim indicator of ecological collapse intersecting with humanitarian crisis. Meanwhile, Israel’s sea turtles, already struggling against plastic pollution and beach development, face these shifting conditions on multiple fronts. This man is protecting sea turtles in the Mediterranean Sea. Find out how. 

The dead shark at Beit Yanai may be just one animal, but it reflects a system under stress. Israel’s Mediterranean coastline — once a relative refuge — is becoming hotter, more crowded, and more industrially burdened. Without serious regional cooperation on marine protection, more strandings, more unpredictability, and more human–wildlife conflict are likely on the horizon. And consider just up the sea, in Lebanon, people are fishing with dynamite. 

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Talk about an amazing science fair opportunity! A multidisciplinary team of undergraduate students led by the University of New Hampshire designed and built a mini satellite, known as a CubeSat, that will launch into space to gather data in collaboration with NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission. Satellites, power grids, GPS, and communication systems can be ruined by solar storm damage. The orbiting “loaf” will help collect data for better predictions.

The small-but-mighty satellite is set to launch on a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California no earlier than Nov. 10, 2025 at 10:19 a.m. PST. It will head to the outer reaches of the atmosphere to study the solar wind which will help scientists in their quest to improve space weather forecasting and better protect technology in space and on Earth—such as communication networks, power grids and GPS—from potentially damaging large solar flare events.

Selected as part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative, once it is launched, the satellite will travel to the Earth’s upper atmosphere, known as thermosphere, which is the same region where many other satellites and the International Space Station orbit around Earth. It will take measurements of the atmosphere density (single oxygen at this altitude) and electron precipitation from space onto the upper atmosphere, which can cause disturbances in communication signals and lead to changes in the ozone.

Data from the mission will be collected by the students and analyzed in combination with data from IMAP and will help advance the understanding of how the thermosphere in the auroral and cusp regions responds to particle precipitation and varying conditions associated with solar wind.

CubeSats are a specific subset of satellites that are small and standardized and provide a cost-effective way to study space science. It is about the size of a loaf of bread and offers a simpler way to start building and operating than larger satellites, making it an ideal piece of equipment for students to hone their skills outside of the classroom.

The 3UCubed satellite was fully assembled at UNH and the two payload instruments that are a part of its structure were built, tested and calibrated at UNH. The students worked for five years on the satellite, performing a variety of tasks ranging from creating the software code that controls the 3UCubed to soldering the wires during the physical build. Students with mentorship from professors and staff engineers, performed trade studies, orbit analyses, selected vendors for different subsystems, oversaw budgets for various mass, power, link and telemetry jobs and developed the framework for the flight software and operations.

“At the time, I had a keen interest for the aerospace industry and saw this as a great opportunity to get valuable experience working with industry professionals,” said Alex Chesley ’22, who studied mechanical engineering at UNH and was a part of the 3UCubed mission team. “It was fascinating to learn about so many new subjects about space science and instrumentation that I had never studied before.”

The hands-on experience is meant to introduce, inspire and prepare students for a successful career in a related field like space science, computer science, engineering or science education. Chesley designed the initial CAD model of the satellite and also helped create the detailed specification list for the CubeSat’s altitude control system. He now works as a configuration engineer at STS Aerospace in Laconia, N.H., where he helps develop fluid distribution systems for customers in the space, aeronautics and defense industries.

“The experience with the 3UCubed mission helped with my professional growth, and it was definitely valuable to have, no matter what industry you end up working in,” said Chesley.

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Iran’s second-largest city, Mashhad, is facing an acute water emergency after dam reservoirs feeding the city fell below three percent capacity, according to Iranian state and local media. Officials warn that without rainfall or improved inflows from neighboring Afghanistan, the city’s supply could soon collapse. It’s happened before that Iranian generals have accused Israel for stealing their clouds.

Iranians on X are talking about murdered bodies showing up in the dried sediment. “Reports that at least 74 bodies have been found in the Karaj Dam in Iran, all thought to be executed anti-regime dissidents,” says X commentator Nioh Berg.

“Because of the drought and lack of rain, this dam has dried up almost completely and revealed a MASS GRAVE. The victims had their hands and feet tied, and they were rolled into rugs, as well as wrapped in plastic. Their murderers didn’t account for the drought, and thought the bodies would never be found. This news story was published and then quickly deleted by regime media, after they realised it’s probably their own doing.”

“The water storage in Mashhad’s dams has now fallen to less than three percent,” Hossein Esmaeilian, the chief executive of the water company in Iran’s second largest city by population, tells ISNA news agency. He adds that “the current situation shows that managing water use is no longer merely a recommendation — it has become a necessity.”

Mashhad lies in Razavi Khorasan Province in northeastern Iran, a semi-arid region dependent on a small network of dams for drinking water, agriculture, and limited power generation. The most critical of these are the Doosti (Friendship) Dam, built jointly by Iran and Turkmenistan on the Hari (Harirud) River; and the smaller Kardeh and Torogh dams that directly supply the urban network.

The Doosti Dam, completed in 2004 near the Turkmen border, was designed to provide up to 60 % of Mashhad’s potable water. But its inflows have plummeted after Afghanistan’s Taliban government inaugurated the Pashdan Dam upstream on the Hari River near Herat earlier this year. Iranian officials accuse Kabul of violating cross-border water agreements and cutting off critical flows. The Iranian daily Jomhouri-e Eslami warned this week that the new Afghan dam “threatens the very survival” of Mashhad’s reservoirs.

The Hari River — about 1,000 kilometers long — originates in Afghanistan’s central highlands, flows west through Herat into Iran, and ends in Turkmenistan’s Karakum Desert. Historically, its seasonal floods recharged aquifers and sustained farming along the Iranian border. But with multiple new Afghan dams under Taliban control, less water is reaching Iran’s northeastern provinces, even as rising temperatures and a prolonged regional drought accelerate evaporation.

Related: The Taliban kills Japanese water hero

Within Iran, years of poor water management compound the crisis. Kardeh and Torogh dams, both built in the 1970s, are now near “dead storage,” with barely enough volume for municipal use. Over-extraction of groundwater around Mashhad — home to more than three million people and millions of pilgrims annually — has further destabilized the system, causing land subsidence and salinization of wells.

Iran has also been spending billions normalizing terror by finding Palestinians to join Hamas, Lebanese to join the Hezbollah and for the Yemenites to become Houthis. Paying for conflict and not supporting your own people, comes with a high cost. The Iranian regime hates Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel so much that it will sacrifice anything in its global jihad.

Experts say the situation underscores both climate vulnerability and political risk in transboundary basins. Iran’s government is pressing for negotiations with the Taliban over shared water rights, as Afghanistan pulls the plug on its water by creating its own dams, but cooperation remains uncertain amid border skirmishes and mistrust.

If inflows from Afghanistan remain restricted and rainfall fails again this winter, Mashhad could face mandatory rationing and long-term aquifer collapse — a warning sign for the entire region as climate change and geopolitics converge in Iran’s drying east. Could we see a bigger conflict between Iran and Afghanistan? A good possibility. Similar tensions have been brewing for years between Ethiopia building the GERD dam and Egypt which is being denied water upstream.

If you’ve ever travelled to cities like Amman, Jordan, the water-stressed city shows how life goes on with water stress. Some city folks get water piped in once a week, but because municipal supply is so limited, many households, businesses, and institutions buy extra water from private tanker trucks and store this in private reservoirs so they never run out.

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As the 28th edition of Ecomondo opens in Rimini, Italy it comes with a quiet truth that feels almost subversive in the era of climate mega-summits and scripted ministerial statements: this trade fair — full of waste-sorting robotics, composting technology, soil-remediation systems, and industrial biogas machinery — may now matter more to the planet’s future than the COP conferences that dominate global climate headlines.

COP has always been about diplomacy, negotiation, and political signaling. It is the global stage where nations gather to pledge emissions targets, debate loss-and-damage financing, and reaffirm their commitment to a shared climate agenda. It’s a place where people meet when the previous work has already been done.

But we are no longer living in a decade where promises are the substance of climate action. We are living in the decade of execution.

And execution does not happen in marble plenaries or UN press tents. It happens in exhibition halls like those in Rimini — in the sight of shredder lines turning textile waste into new feedstock, water-recycling systems being stress-tested, algae vats bubbling quietly, and biofertilizer reactors feeding regenerative agriculture.

In other words: COP is where the world talks about climate action. Ecomondo is where the world actually builds it.

This year Ecomondo brings together more than 1,700 exhibiting companies, 30 halls, 166,000 square meters of circular-economy innovation, 380 hosted buyers from 66 countries, and over 200 conferences led by industrial, academic, and regulatory experts. It’s a demonstration of scale — but not the theatrical scale of global diplomacy. It’s the scale of supply chains, of business models, of industrial ecosystems.

Walk through Rimini and the difference is instant: instead of panels debating ambition levels, you see companies demonstrating anaerobic digesters, next-gen composting infrastructure, optical sorters for plastic waste, textile-recycling machinery, aquifer-restoration systems, AI-enabled climate monitoring tools, lithium battery shredders, and sludge-to-fertilizer technology.

Europe’s emissions goals will not be met by pledges, but by infrastructure. The circular economy will not scale through slogans, but through procurement, factories, and financing models. And Ecomondo understands this.

The 2025 programme leans into the hardest industrial questions of the decade:

• How do we close the loop on textiles under new EU rules?
• What happens to 2030’s waste solar panels and wind turbines?
• Can biogas and biomethane scale fast enough to displace fossil gas?
• How do cities transform waste streams into economic resources?
• How do we regenerate degraded soils at continental scale?
• How do we secure critical minerals without opening new wounds?

COP’s theater vs. Ecomondo’s workshop

COP is necessary — it forces nations to face each other and acknowledge a shared emergency. But it is also a place of gesture politics, where governments announce recycled commitments, fossil fuel lobbyists measure influence, and energy companies pose as climate champions while expanding extraction.

In Rimini, the performance drops away. Nobody wins Ecomondo with a pledge or a photo op. You win if your system works, if your process scales, if a municipal department or multinational buyer signs a deal to decarbonize their operations.

Italy is not always positioned as a climate-policy powerhouse. Yet in circularity, water treatment, bioeconomy, and industrial ecology, it is quietly one of the most advanced economies in the world that knows how to dream –– and work.

In a global conversation often dominated by the U.S.–China technology rivalry, Ecomondo is a reminder: Europe’s strength is systems thinking. Decarbonization here looks like integration — circular supply chains, wastewater reuse, biobased feedstocks, land restoration, local manufacturing, and policy synchronized with industry.

The post Ecomondo vs. COP: Where the Climate Transition Actually Happens appeared first on Green Prophet.

New research from UCLA Health reveals that women continue to face barriers in accessing lung transplants compared to men, despite recent national policy changes aimed at making organ distribution more equitable.

“Female lung transplant candidates have historically faced unique challenges in organ allocation due to a combination of biological and social factors,” said Dr. Abbas Ardehali,  director of the UCLA Heart, Lung, and Heart-Lung Transplant Programs at UCLA Health and senior author of the study, published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

Women often have a smaller body size, which limits the number of donor lungs that are physically compatible. They are also more likely to develop antibodies from prior pregnancies, blood transfusions, or autoimmune conditions, making it harder for their bodies to accept many potential donor organs. Together, these factors significantly narrow the pool of compatible donors, Ardehali said.

Efforts to reduce these disparities have been ongoing. The Lung Allocation Score (LAS) system, introduced in 2005, prioritized transplants based on medical urgency but did not fully account for biological differences that affect women. To improve fairness, the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) implemented the Composite Allocation Score (CAS) system in March 2023. The new system added variables such as height, blood type, and immune sensitivity to better match donors and recipients.

However, researchers found that even with this improved system, inequities remain. Before CAS was implemented, women were 32% less likely than men to receive a lung transplant. After CAS went into effect, women were 16% less likely to undergo transplantation.

“There was a modest improvement in narrowing the gap, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Ardehali said. “Further refinements to the scoring system are needed to ensure a fair and effective organ allocation system for all patients, regardless of gender.”

Green Prophet’s transplant-related coverage (including womb transplant):

• World’s First Turkish Womb Transplant Is A Success
• Fecal transplants “poop pills” safe for recovery after stem cell transplant
• Poo beats pills? Norway backs poop transplant as safer treatment for gut-wrecking infection
• Fecal Transplant “Crapsule” kills super bugs better than antibiotics
• 💩 Who Has the Healthiest Donor Poo? Maybe You Do.
• First pig kidney transplant in a person (xenotransplant)
• Rebuilding a life, one hand at a time: a medical first at Penn Medicine
• First whole eye transplant successful

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