1. Global oil markets are expected to face a major surplus by the end of this decade, with spare capacity hitting levels only seen during the initial stages of the pandemic as demand growth slows and supply surges, the International Energy Agency said. Oil-demand growth is forecast to slow down in the coming years, reaching 105.4 million barrels a day in 2030, as the rollout of clean-energy technologies accelerates, according to the Paris-based organization. Meanwhile, oil-production capacity is set to ramp up to nearly 113.8 million barrels a day, driven by producers in the U.S. and the Americas. “This would result in levels of spare capacity never seen before other than at the height of the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020,” the IEA said on Wednesday. (Source: iea.org, wsj.com)
2. For the first time, researchers have detected a significant dip in atmospheric levels of hydrochlorofluorocarbons — harmful gases that deplete the ozone layer and warm the planet. Almost 30 years after nations first agreed to phase out these chemicals, which were widely used for air conditioning and refrigeration, scientists say global concentrations peaked in 2021. Since then, the ozone-depleting potential of HCFCs in the atmosphere has fallen by about three-quarters of a percentage point, according to findings published yesterday in the journal Nature Climate Change. Though small, that decline comes sooner than expected, scientists say — and it represents a significant milestone for the international effort to preserve the layer of Earth’s stratosphere that blocks dangerous ultraviolet sunlight. As humanity struggles to control greenhouse gas pollution that has already pushed global temperatures to unprecedented highs, scientists said the progress on HCFCs is a hopeful sign. (Source: washingtonpost.com)
3. Diagnosing dementia early gives us more time to put precautions in place and to study exactly how the condition progresses – and a new method for predicting conditions such as Alzheimer's disease is promising up to nine years of advance warning. The method, developed by a team from the Queen Mary University of London in the UK and Monash University in Australia, involves a neurobiological model that analyzes brain scans captured by functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI. In tests, the model was more than 80 percent accurate at predicting the development of dementia. That has huge potential in terms of early diagnosis, and it also addresses another challenge: the large number of people with dementia who don't get diagnosed at all. (Sources: sciencealert.com, nature.com)
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