WEC Articles

Debate about face masks has raged for much of the pandemic, with conflicting advice circulating on what types of mask to wear and how effective they are at stopping the spread. Studies have found that wearing N95, KN95 or KF94 masks (the thicker, origami-style ones) offers more protection, with a spring 2021 study revealing that it would take 2.5 hours for a person with Covid-19 who wasn’t wearing a mask to pass it on to someone wearing a N95 mask, compared with just 30 minutes for someone wearing a surgical mask. The issue is, unlike cloth coverings N95 masks aren’t machine-washable, and unlike the three-layer surgical masks, they’re not necessarily single-use either. Alamy As a result, there’s been some confusion over just how long you can keep using the same higher-quality mask. Should you throw them away after a couple of days, or are you okay to keep it until it’s visibly worn out? According to scientists… it varies. It doesn’t sound like helpful advice, but ultimately health expe...

Farmers in India are desperate. Trucks in South Korea had to be idled. Food prices, already high, could rise even further.This is a story about one of those unsung forces that quietly keep the world running. It is a story about the clockwork interconnectedness of modern civilization, about how disturbances in one part of the planet can kick up storms in another. This is a story, naturally, about urea. Prices for the humble chemical — yes, the stuff in urine — are soaring to levels not seen in over a decade. In this time of everything shortages and inflation worries, that alone might not sound too surprising.  But urea links up several disparate-looking strands of global economic disruption, showing how easily extreme weather and shipping turmoil can cause supply shortfalls to radiate. People and industries of all kinds are feeling the shocks. In India, a lack of urea has made farmers fear for their livelihoods. In South Korea, it meant truck drivers couldn’t start their engines. U...

  The Team That Races to Save the Past Romania   | The architect Eugen Vaida grew up during a tumultuous time in Romania: after decades of communist dictatorship, a bumpy transition to a free market society left citizens economically desperate. When he was 16 in the mid-’90s, he witnessed fleets of cars, filled with antique furniture, ceramics and traditional costumes, leaving the country to be sold in the West. Outraged at this pillaging of the country’s heritage, he and his brother later began to collect or purchase whatever valuable objects they could find. Now, Vaida has greatly expanded this mission, turning it into his life’s work. In 2016, he founded the Ambulance for Monuments, starting with a truck, loaded with tools, that roamed Romania repairing neglected historical buildings and monuments with the help of volunteers. Five years later, Vaida has seven trucks, 500 volunteers and has saved 60 structures, including medieval churches, ancient windmills and castles. Vari...