 |
|
|
|||||
Meta’s Messenger has a new logo set in Facebook blue. The instant messaging app dropped the multicolor gradient used in its previous logo for a solid blue that matches the shade used by Meta’s flagship app. Some small, subtle refinements were also made to the lightning-bolt shape inside the Messenger logo’s word-bubble mark. Secondary versions of the logo appear in black or white. We often refine our designs to enhance the look and feel of our products, a Meta spokesperson tells Fast Company. In this spirit, youll find that weve updated the Messenger color palette. Online, some suggested the change was made because of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s comment that his company needed more masculine energy, or his hopes to get back to the feeling of OG Facebook. Regardless, the color change just so happens to be a delayed reflection of the app’s diminished cross-platform communications capabilities. [Images: Meta] Messenger was originally known as Facebook Chat, but Facebook spun its instant messaging services into a stand-alone app in 2014. The light-to-dark-blue gradient of the Messenger logo when it launched matched the gradient of Facebook’s logo at the time. In 2020, Messenger rebranded to the multicolor gradient that it used up until last month. The Messenger app’s colorful gradient went from blue to purple to orange and pink, colors that seemed to suggest a bridge from Facebook to Instagram; for a time, Messenger did allow users to chat across both platforms. That integration came as some speculated that Meta’s portfolio of apps were more tightly integrating to avoid being broken up. But by 2023, Meta killed Messenger’s cross-platform instant messaging capabilities. That change came just as Meta was arguing that certain European antitrust rules didn’t apply to Messenger because it was a Facebook feature instead of a stand-alone messaging app. Though Meta eventually did announce last year it would acquiesce to the EUs Digital Markets Act and open up Messenger as well as its other messaging app, WhatsApp, to third-party chats for users in the European Union, the new Messenger logo suggests the company is still set on linking Messenger to Facebook. Messenger is a messaging app from Facebook, Messenger’s brand guide says. That connection is now made crystal clear with color.
Category:
E-Commerce
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency faces a legal challenge after approving a controversial plan to include radioactive waste in a road project late last year. The Center for Biological Diversity filed the challenge last month in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals under the Clean Air Act. The advocacy group says the federal agency has prohibited the use of phosphogypsum, a radioactive, carcinogenic, and toxic waste generated by the fertilizer industry, in road construction since 1992, citing an unacceptable level of risk to public health. The legal challenge is centered on a road project proposed at the New Wales facility of Mosaic Fertilizer, a subsidiary of the Mosaic Co., some 40 miles east of Tampa. The EPA approved the project in December 2024, noting the authorization applied only to the single project and included conditions meant to ensure the project would remain within the scope of the application. But Ragan Whitlock, Florida staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, feared the project could lead to more roadways built with the toxic waste. Part of what makes this process so alarming, its not just a one-off science experiment, he said. Its being billed as the intermediate step between laboratory testing and full-scale implementation of the idea. So our concern is that whatever methodology is used for this project will be used for national approval down the road. Phosphogypsum contains radium, which as it decays forms radon gas. Both radium and radon are radioactive and can cause cancer. Normally, phosphogypsum is disposed of in engineered piles called stacks to limit public exposure to emissions of radon. The stacks can be expanded as they reach capacity or closed, which involves draining and capping. More than 1 billion tons of the waste is stored in stacks in Florida, with the fertilizer industry adding some 40 million tons every year, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. Mosaic aims to construct a test road near its Florida stack with four sections, each made with varying mixtures of phosphogypsum. The waste would be used in the road base, which would be paved over with asphalt. University of Florida researchers would be involved in the study. Most of the comments the EPA received in response to the proposal opposed the use of phosphogypsum in road construction in general and criticized the current methods for managing the waste, but the federal agency said these comments were outside the scope of its review. The agency declined to comment on pending litigation. The review found that Mosaics risk assessment is technically acceptable, and that the potential radiological risks from the proposed project meet the regulatory requirements, the EPA stated in the Federal Register dated December 23, 2024. The project is at least as protective of public health as maintaining the phosphogypsum in a stack. Mosaic has faced scrutiny in the past after a pond at its Piney Point site leaked and threatened to collapse in 2021, forcing the release of 215 million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay. Mosaic did not respond to a request for comment on the new litigation. By Amy Green, Inside Climate News This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for its newsletter here.
Category:
E-Commerce
Were exposed to microplastics in myriad ways: Those tiny, degraded bits of plastic are in our soil, our water, even in our air. They then get into our bodies, lodging themselves in our organsincluding our brains. An adult human brain can contain about a spoons worth of microplastics and nanoplastics, recent research foundnot a spoonful, but the same weight as a disposable plastic spoon. That amount was higherby seven to 30 timesthan the amount of microplastics found in other organs, such as livers or kidneys. The concentrations were even higher (by three to five times) in individuals diagnosed with dementia. And even more concerning, experts say, is how these levels have increased over time: Between 2016 and 2024, the concentration of microplastics in human brains increased by about 50%. Those findings came from a study by University of New Mexico researchers that was recently published in the journal Nature Medicine. A new commentary, published today in the journal Brain Medicine, builds on that research by looking at a few big questions that arise when we learn we have lots of microplastics in our brains: How can we limit our exposure, and is there any way to remove these microplastics? How to reduce microplastics exposure The microplastics found in human brains included nanoplasticsparticles smaller than 200 nanometers (a human hair, for contrast, is about 80,000 nanometers wide). They were also mostly made up of polyethylene, a commonly produced plastic used in everything from food packaging to drink bottles to plastic bags. That helps give an idea of what sorts of exposure could lead to these particles ending up in the brain, says Nicholas Fabiano from the University of Ottawa’s psychiatry department, and lead author of the commentary; Fabianos research focuses on the overlap between mental and physical health. Bottled water is a particular source of these kinds of microplastics. Switching from that to filtered tap water could reduce your intake of microplastics from 90,000 particles per year to 4,000. (Though its not clear, the commentary authors note, if that would translate to a measurable drop in the amount of microplastics accumulated in our body tissues.) Plastic tea bags have also been found to release millions of microplastic particles when brewed, so avoiding those could also limit exposure. There are also microplastics in ultra-processed foods like chicken nuggets. Storing and heating food in plastic containers can release lots of micro- and nanoplastics. Switching to glass or stainless steel might be safer, Fabiano says. Canned soup could also be a source of exposure, as cans are often lined with plastic. The authors also noted a 2011 study that found that after five days of eating canned soup, participants saw the levels of BPA (a chemical used to make plastic) in their urine increase more than 1,000%. (There has since been a decline in cans with BPA in the lining, but some new linings instead contain polystyrene.) Because microplastics are even in our airmore than 60,000 such particles are inhaled by male adults per year, previous research has foundthe authors also recommend using HEPA air filters. Can we remove microplastics that are already in our brain? The original study on microplastics in human brains had an interesting finding: There was no correlation between someones age and their microplastic levels. “That suggests peoples bodies are able to get rid of these microplastics in various different ways, Fabiano says. (If there were a correlation, there would be a cumulative effect: The older someone is, the more microplastics in their brain.) How exactly that happens, though, we still dont know. Is it through sweat? Is it through feces? Is it through urine? Fabiano says. Prior research has found BPA in peoples sweat, suggesting that induced sweating could potentially remove those particles, but more research needs to be done, he says. The commentary is a call for more research. For all the research identifying microplastics in the environment or in our bodies, theres little on the health impacts of this debris. And what exists on that front focuses mostly on physical health. If you have a spoons worth of plastic in your brain, surely there must be impact to your mental health, Fabiano notes. The original Nature Medicine article was a step in the right direction, he adds, for even looking at dementia patients and shedding light on the possible connection for diagnoses and microplastics. But it also raises more questions that researchers need to answernot just on the impacts, but also if scientists should establish microplastics-exposure limits, and how else we could reduce or remove the microplastics already inside us. Right now, the microplastic-and-health research is still in its early days, Fabiano says. But so far, what the research has shown is that it’s certainly not a good thing to have microplastics. The best thing for people to do in the meantime, he says, is to try to limit their exposure.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||