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A30 PeoPle & Arts/science
Thursday 23 april 2020
As people stay home, Earth turns wilder and cleaner

By SETH BORENSTEIN pected changes in weeds,
AP Science Writer insects, weather patterns,
An unplanned grand ex- noise and light pollution. It-
periment is changing Earth. aly's government is working
As people across the on an ocean expedition to
globe stay home to stop explore sea changes from
the spread of the new the lack of people.
coronavirus, the air has "In many ways we kind of
cleaned up, albeit tempo- whacked the Earth system
rarily. Smog stopped chok- with a sledgehammer and
ing New Delhi, one of the now we see what Earth's re-
most polluted cities in the sponse is," Field says.
world, and India's getting Researchers are tracking
views of sights not visible in dramatic drops in tradi-
decades. Nitrogen dioxide tional air pollutants, such as
pollution in the northeast- nitrogen dioxide, smog and
ern United States is down tiny particles. These types
30%. Rome air pollution lev- of pollution kill up to 7 mil-
els from mid-March to mid- lion people a year world-
wide, according to Health
Effects Institute president
Dan Greenbaum.
The air from Boston to
In this Saturday, April 11, 2020 file photo, a pack of jackals eats dog food that was left for them by Washington is its clean-
a woman at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv, Israel. est since a NASA satellite
Associated Press. started measuring nitrogen
dioxide,in 2005, says NASA
April were down 49% from a dia, already daring wildlife Pimm of Duke University. atmospheric scientist Barry
year ago. Stars seem more has become bolder with "This is giving us an oppor- Lefer. Largely caused by
visible at night. hungry monkeys entering tunity to magically see how burning of fossil fuels, this
People are also noticing homes and opening refrig- much better it can be." pollution is short-lived, so
animals in places and at erators to look for food. Chris Field, director of the the air gets cleaner quickly.
times they don't usually. When people stay home, Stanford Woods Institute Compared to the previ-
Coyotes have meandered Earth becomes cleaner for the Environment, as- ous five years, March air
along downtown Chica- and wilder. sembled scientists to assess pollution is down 46% in
go's Michigan Avenue and "It is giving us this quite ex- the ecological changes Paris, 35% in Bengaluru, In-
near San Francisco's Gold- traordinary insight into just happening with so much dia, 38% in Sydney, 29% in
en Gate Bridge. A puma how much of a mess we of humanity housebound. Los Angeles, 26% in Rio de
roamed the streets of San- humans are making of our Scientists, stuck at home Janeiro and 9% in Durban,
tiago, Chile. Goats took beautiful planet," says con- like the rest of us, say they South Africa, NASA mea-
over a town in Wales. In In- servation scientist Stuart are eager to explore unex- surements show.q

AP source: A-Rod, J-Lo retain JP Morgan in bid for Mets

By RONALD BLUM ball's drug agreement and
AP Baseball Writer labor contract.
NEW YORK (AP) — Alex A-Rod, now 44 years old,
Rodriguez, once again, earned about $448 million
wants to be like Derek as a player. The 14-time
Jeter. All-Star started his career
A-Rod and Jennifer Lopez, with Seattle, signed a re-
who are engaged, have cord contract with Texas in
retained J.P. Morgan to December 2000, and then
represent them in raising moved from shortstop to
capital for a possible bid third base when he was
for the New York Mets. The traded from the Rangers
move was first reported to the New York Yankees
by Variety and confirmed ahead of the 2004 season.
to The Associated Press Jeter, the Yankees cap- In this Dec. 13, 2019, file photo, Jennifer Lopez, left, and Alex
by a person familiar with tain and shortstop, retired Rodriguez sit courtside during an NBA basketball game
the decision who spoke after the 2014 season and between the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers in Miami.
on condition of anonym- was elected to baseball's Associated Press.
ity because it was not an- Hall of Fame in January. brother-in-law Saul Katz in 2012 for $40 million.
nounced. A three-time He became CEO of the and Jeff Wilpon's son Jeff, The deal under discussion
AL MVP, Rodriguez retired Miami Marlins as part of the team's chief operat- would have seen him ac-
in August 2016 with 698 the team's sale from Jef- ing officer. The team said quire an 80% controlling
home runs, a .295 average frey Loria to a group head- Dec. 4 it was negotiating share in a transaction that
and 2,086 RBIs in 22 years. ed by Bruce Sherman in an agreement with Steve values the team at $2.6
He was suspended for the October 2017. Cohen. The hedge fund billion, and the Wilpons
2014 season for violations The Mets' ownership is manager bought an 8% would have remained in
of Major League Base- headed by Fred Wilpon, limited partnership stake place for five years. q