Friday, Sep 4

Welcome to Your Daily Dot where Dot will share tips, advice, and stories on how we can make our world better.

All Dear Dot illustrations by Elissa Turnbull.

Dear Reader,

Last week we learned about the canopy bridge crossings in Brazil, but this week we turn to the undeveloped part of Brazil — yep, I’m talking about the Amazon Rainforest. Hundreds of scientists have collaborated on a megaproject to map every species of insect in the Amazon.

Preliminary research shows it’s likely that more than 40,000 species will be found in just a small patch of rainforest. José Rafael, an entomologist at the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA) in Manaus, Brazil, and one of the leaders of the project, told Nature “If we start sampling other parts of the forest, the number of new species will likely increase almost exponentially.” (Of course, they will have to come up with names for these tens of thousands of newly-discovered species, which begs the question: how can we get a bug named after Dot?) 

Now let's turn our attention from the rainforest to the earth’s subterranean ecosystems, where, according to the New York Times, scientists have mapped expansive fungi networks that span a total of 68 quadrillion miles (that’s a lot of zeroes), and hold roughly 300 megatons of carbon. These fungi, called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, extend from the roots of plants, taking carbon from plants and returning water and nutrients to the soil — a sort of extended root system that circulates carbon through its networks, sequestering it from the atmosphere. This complex, hidden ecosystem supports over 70% of plants that grow on land (as opposed to aquatic species). 

Moving from the underground to the airborne: flying cars have long been an archetype of a futuristic, utopian world. Although the world is far from a utopia, flying cars are nonetheless in the cards for us — and they’re electric. On a trip to China, journalist Sam Matey visited a property in Guangzhou, China, where he suspected that the startup company EHol was testing its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. His suspicions were correct, and as he traversed the parking lot, a car flew into the air right before his eyes. Watch his wild video of the encounter, and learn more about what makes these eVTOLs so innovative. 

Speaking of cars … some people are still not convinced an EV can work in the cold! To prove the naysayers wrong, Chinese car company BYD froze their new Denza Z9GT to -22ºF (-30ºC). When plugged in under these conditions, the car’s charge climbed to 97% from 20% in just twelve minutes. And, as dedicated readers know, Dot lives in a cold climate and has been delighted with the Mach-E I bought two years ago. Yes, range goes down in the cold months, but I have had zero problems with my battery and have delighted in zipping past gas stations. (And by the way, gas powered cars get lower miles per gallon in colder weather, too.)

Positively,

Dot

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