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The novel coronavirus, since its first outbreak in December, has, up till now, affected approximately 114,542 people across 115 countries. Many international agencies are devoting efforts to enhance the understanding of the evolving COVID-19 outbreak on an international level, its influences, and preparedness. At present, COVID-19 appears to affect individuals through person-to-person means, like other commonly found cold or influenza viruses. It is widely known and acknowledged that viruses causing influenza peak during cold temperatures and gradually subside in the warmer temperature, owing to their seasonality. Thus, COVID-19, due to its regular flu-like symptoms, is also expected to show similar seasonality and subside as the global temperatures rise in the northern hemisphere with the onset of spring. Despite these speculations, however, the systematic analysis in the global perspective of the relation between COVID-19 spread and meteorological parameters is unavailable. Here, by analyzing the region- and city-specific affected global data and corresponding meteorological parameters, we show that there is an optimum range of temperature and UV index strongly affecting the spread and survival of the virus, whereas precipitation, relative humidity, cloud cover, etc. have no effect on the virus. Unavailability of pharmaceutical interventions would require greater preparedness and alert for the effective control of COVID-19. Under these conditions, the information provided here could be very helpful for the global community struggling to fight this global crisis. It is, however, important to note that the information presented here clearly lacks any physiological evidences, which may merit further investigation. Thus, any attempt for management, implementation, and evaluation strategies responding to the crisis arising due to the COVID-19 outbreak must not consider the evaluation presented here as the foremost factor.

The rise in surface air temperature (SAT) in Venezuela, leading to the loss of all its glaciers, underscores the urgency of understanding human contributions to this phenomenon. This study investigates the impact of anthropogenic climate forcings on SAT across Venezuela, employing observational data, multi-model simulations, and optimal fingerprinting method. Anthropogenic forcings have driven a 0.40–0.85 ∘ C SAT rise during the industrial era, with land use (LU) emerging as a significant driver (0.36–0.68 ∘ C), surpassing greenhouse gases (GHGs) (0.10–0.62 ∘ C). Conversely, anthropogenic aerosols (Aaer) exhibit a cooling effect (− 0.93 to − 0.25 ∘ C) on SAT. Projections under Representative Concentration Pathways 4.5 indicate substantial SAT increases by the 21st century’s end, underscoring human-induced SAT rise. Effective management of regional Aaer and LU changes in Venezuela holds the potential for mitigating current and future warming and its subsequent impacts on the fragile ecosystem of this region.

Atmospheric bioaerosols, which contain a diverse group of various biological materials, also include pathogenic microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria, and fungal spores. The dispersal of various pathogens negatively impacts the human and ecosystem health. While the impact of pathogenic bacteria and viruses on human and ecosystem health is well documented, the impact of fungal spores on crop, however, is poorly characterized. An unprecedented increase in number of fungal and fungal-like diseases (emerging fungal diseases (EFDs)) in plants is threatening the food security and endangering the biodiversity. In present communication, we show an increasing trend in the fungal bioaerosol attacks on crops over India outstripping bacteria and viruses. We further argue about the complex interactions between the fungal species, and crop impact over India is unique and highly interconnected with the topography, meteorological variables, and season of the year. Under constantly warming scenario, the fungal attacks on plants are expected to rise and, in all likelihood, extend to the sensitive and fragile ecosystems like the Himalayan region and the Western Ghats. An increasing trend in EFDs calls for immediate coordinated efforts towards understanding the type and diversity of pathogenic fungal bioaerosols. There is, however, a lack over Indian region about biogeography of pathogenic fungi. The detailed biogeography would help in improving public and political awareness to formulate the effective policy decisions. Any further disregard and delay in recognizing the importance of EFDs to crop and sensitive ecosystems can have severe societal and ecological repercussions over Indian region.

The significant increase of surface air temperature in Africa during the recent industrial period has been previously attributed to emissions from rapidly growing urbanization and industrial emissions. This study highlights the rapid growth of rice cultivation as another major influencing factor. We estimate that a 436% (14 million hectares) surge in rice cultivation area during the industrial period (1960-2018) in the sub-Saharan African region is associated with an increase of 603 million tons of agricultural methane emissions, making it the largest source of methane among all sectoral contributors, including energy, industrial processes, waste, land-use change, and forestry. These changes are further associated with an increase in the total surface air temperature anomaly to 1.3 C, with greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing alone accounting for a rise from 0.47 C to 0.92 C throughout the industrial era compared to pre-industrial baseline (1850–1900), as estimated using the Regular Optimal Fingerprinting (ROF) method. Continued rice cultivation expansion to feed Africa’s rapidly growing population holds the potential for further intensifying current and future warming conditions. However, adopting more sustainable rice farming practices can help to reduce emissions and mitigate these effects.

Progressively and projected integration of rare earth metals (REMs) in modern technologies, especially in the clean energy, consumer electronics, aerospace, automotive, and defense sectors, place REMs as critical raw materials in the supply chain and strategic metal from the fourth industrial revolution perspective. Current REM production from the primary mineral resources in the supply chain versus industrial demand is at a bottleneck. Alternatively, REM-bearing anthropogenic wastes are pertinent and potent to addressing the critical supply chain bottleneck. Although secondary REM resources are prudent to address the critical supply chain bottleneck, the absence of effective and efficient technologies to recover these REMs from anthropogenic waste imposes challenges and provides opportunities. Hence, this review analyses and discusses the significance of anthropogenic wastes for REM recovery, the status of recycling technologies for sustainable valorization of REMs, challenges, and opportunities. The current review covers the potential quantitative REM wealth locked in various anthropogenic waste like (i) spent rare earth permanent magnets, (ii) spent batteries, (iii) spent tri-band REM phosphors, (iv) bauxite industry residue red mud, (v) blast furnace slag and (v) coal mines, and coal byproducts and status of valorization technologies for circularizing the REMs. In industrial waste like red mud, steelmaking slag, blast furnace slag, and coal fly ash typically 109,000, 2000, 39,000, and 354,000 tons of REM get scrapped, respectively, in a conservative estimation. In the years 2020 and 2021, respectively, 240,000 and 280,000 tons of REM were produced by mine production in contrast to 504,000 tons of REM that were scrapped with REM-bearing industrial waste. This review revealed that total REM currently getting scrapped with anthropogenic waste versus projected REM demand for the years 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 could be standing at 2.66, 2.51, 2.37, and 2.23, respectively. Our investigation revealed that efficient recovery of REMs from anthropogenic waste is significant and promising but associated with challenges like lack of industrial-scale valorization process, lack of a clear strategy, road map, policy, effort, funding, and diversified research.

This study focuses on the role of human activities in shaping climate forcings and their impact on surface air temperature (SAT) and drought intensification over Africa, emphasizing the human contributions to these phenomena. Through the analysis of observations, various model experiments, and Regularized Optimal Fingerprinting detection technique, our findings indicate that human-induced factors have contributed to an increase in surface air temperatures ranging from 0.8 to C above pre-industrial benchmarks. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) emerge as the primary driver of this rise (0.47 to C), followed by land use (LU) changes (0.47 to C). In contrast, anthropogenic aerosols (Aaer) exert a cooling effect (-1.82 to C) on SAT. The analysis reveals that SAT anomalies, particularly during the industrial period, have significantly contributed to the intensification of drought-prone climatic conditions. During the pre-industrial period, the absence of anthropogenic warming kept SAT stable, resulting in mildly wet conditions (Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI)=0.54). However, in the industrial period, the sharp rise in SAT due to GHG and LU forcings led towards significantly drought-prone climatic conditions (SPEI=-0.73), while the cooling effect of Aaer was insufficient to offset the warming trend. Estimates based on Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 suggest that the SAT over Africa could rise by around C and C, respectively, by the end of the century, highlighting the significant influence of human-driven factors in driving temperature rise. Strategic oversight of GHG emissions, LU changes, and aerosol concentrations in Africa offers the possibility potential to mitigate further warming and consequent drought intensification in this region.

The Arctic is heating far more rapidly than the global mean, and clarifying the influence of aerosols in this intensification demands accurate and reliable observational records. The Arctic exhibits a distinct seasonal aerosol cycle, springtime ”Arctic Haze” with elevated AOD and summertime “Clean Air” with low AOD. Thus, it is critical to evaluate how well various datasets capture this seasonality relative to ground-based observations. This study analyzes spring and summer AOD variability using CAMSRA and MERRA-2 reanalyses, MODIS Terra and Aqua satellite observations, AERONET measurements, AEROSNOW retrievals, and GEOS-Chem model simulations. Results show that satellite-derived and satellite-assimilated reanalyses are far from capturing the expected seasonal Arctic Haze and Clean Air pattern, except at Bonanza Creek and Yakutsk, where anthropogenic pollution alters it. The inability of reanalyses to capture Arctic aerosol seasonality likely stems from the assimilation of satellite retrievals influenced by cloud contamination and surface reflection from snow and ice, as well as inherent biases in the underlying models used to generate these datasets. In contrast, AERONET observations and GEOS-Chem simulations consistently capture Arctic Haze in spring, driven by long-range transport, and Clean Air in summer, associated with efficient wet removal of aerosols. CAMSRA further underestimates emissions from Arctic forest fires and inadequately represents long-range pollution transport. These findings suggest that independent model simulations align more closely with ground-based observations than satellite products or reanalyses, and that adjusting wet-scavenging parameters to fit such reanalyses may misrepresent aerosol processes and their contribution to Arctic warming. Incorporating advanced retrieval algorithms like AEROSNOW into reanalyses offers a pathway to reduce these biases and improve representation of Arctic aerosol seasonality.

Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries contain a significant amount of rare earth metals (REMs) such as Ce, La, and Nd, which are critical to the supply chain. Recovery of these metals from waste NiMH batteries can be a potential secondary resource for REMs. In our current REM recovery process, REM oxide from waste NiMH batteries was recovered by a simple wet chemical valorization process. The process followed the chemical metallurgy process to recover REM oxides and included the following stages: (1) H2SO4 leaching; (2) selective separation of REM as sulfate salt from Ni/Co sulfate solution; (3) metathesis purification reaction process for the conversion REM sulfate to REM carbonate; and (4) recovery of REM oxide from REM carbonate by heat treatment. Through H2SO4 leaching optimization, almost all the metal from the electrode active material of waste NiMH batteries was leached out. From the filtered leach liquor managing pH (at pH 1.8) with 10 M NaOH, REM was precipitated as hydrated NaREE(SO4)2·H2O, which was then further valorized through the metathesis reaction process. From NaREE(SO4)2·H2O through carbocation, REM was purified as hydrated (REM)2CO3·H2O precipitate. From (REM)2CO3·H2O through calcination at 800 °C, (REM)2O3 could be recovered.

The Arctic is experiencing heightened precipitation, affected by aerosols impacting rainfall and snowfall. However, sparse aerosol observations in the central Arctic cryosphere contribute to uncertainties in simulating aerosol-precipitation two-way interaction. This study examines aerosol-precipitation co-variation in various climate models during the Arctic spring and summer seasons from 2003 to 2011, leveraging satellite-based aerosol data and various CMIP6 climate models. Findings reveal significant spatio-temporal biases between models and observations. Snowfall dominance occurs in models where total AOD surpasses the observation by 121% (57–186%, confidence interval), intensifying simulated snowfall by two times compared to rainfall during summer. Consequently, climate models tend to underestimate central Arctic rainfall to the total precipitation ratio, suggesting a positive bias towards snowfall dominance. This highlights the importance of constraining total AOD and associated aerosol schemes in climate models using satellite measurements, which potentially could lead to a substantial reduction in snowfall contribution to the total precipitation ratio in the central Arctic, contrary to current multi-model simulations across various spatiotemporal scales.

In the current investigation, we synthesize zeolite using two different waste streams, such as aluminum dross and waste glass powder, for its potential application in indium and tin recovery from the leach liquor of waste liquid crystal display (LCD) glass. The aluminum dross (Al resource) and waste glass powder (Si resource) were used as raw materials for the synthesis of zeolite. Zeolite was synthesized using different weight ratios of Al dross and waste LCD glass by hydrothermal synthesis route using NaOH. The weight ratio variations of Al dross and waste LCD glass in this study are 0.3:1, 0.5:1, 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, and 4:1 using 2 M NaOH hydroxide by the hydrothermal technique. The synthesized zeolite was analyzed by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) followed by the possible application for recovery/extraction of indium and tin from leach liquor of waste LCD glasses. The indium extraction of average 93.66%, and tin extraction of 93.10% could be achieved from mixed solution indium and tin chloride. The significant achievement of the current investigation is that it can address two environment problems simultaneously, i.e., waste LCD glass and Al dross, and can be used for value recovery from waste LCD, LCD etching waste like secondary resources.