Have a good weekend all30 Apr 2021 20:29
Love these. I registered to read the full article but wouldn't bother. The audio option is a must for your kids tonight.
https://www.economist.com/britain/2021/05/01/testing-sewage-for-covid-19
The sound is that of an Alpine stream. The smell is not. On a bright spring day, Davey Jones, professor of environmental science at Bangor University, stands above a surging torrent of sewage. He holds a bucket on a stick which he lowers into the torrent then, as rich gusts of smell drift past, gingerly lifts it out. He holds the bucket up to the light and examines his catch, as a child might when pond-dipping. “Some identifiable bits of object in there.” He peers closer. “Looks like some sweetcorn floating around.”Civilisation, it has been said, is the distance humanity has placed between itself and its faeces. But civilisation now needs to get a lot closer to its faeces. Because as well as sweetcorn, sewage also contains coronavirus. In every litre of wastewater that flows through Britain there are currently around 1,000 coronavirus particles. At the peak of the January wave, each litre contained between 100,000 and 10m. Take data like these, plot them on a map, and you have a snapshot of a nation’s infection. ......
There's more but not as fun