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Dustin Destree shares a report from Phys.org: Although plastic particles in the air are increasingly coming into focus, knowledge about their distribution and effects is still limited. Chemical analyses from Leipzig now provide details from Germany for the first time: Around 4% of the particulate matter consists of plastic. Around two-thirds of this comes from tire abrasion. Extrapolated, this means that people in a city like Leipzig inhale approximately 2.1 micrograms of plastic per day through the air, which increases the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 9% and from lung cancer by 13%. These findings underscore the need to take global action against plastic pollution and to examine air quality and health at the regional level, write researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) and Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in the journal Communications Earth & Environment. "With around two-thirds of microplastics coming from tire abrasion, this shows that action is needed and that the fine dust problem cannot be solved by switching to electric mobility alone. To protect health, it would be important to also take tire abrasion into account when regulating air quality and to set limits for microplastics in the air," demands Prof. Hartmut Herrmann from TROPOS, who led the study. The study has been published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

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NASA is eyeing an April launch window for the upcoming Artemis II mission after it repaired a helium-flow issue on the Space Launch System upper stage rocket. "Work on the rocket and spacecraft will continue in the coming weeks as NASA prepares for rolling the rocket out to the launch pad again later this month ahead of a potential launch in April," NASA wrote in an update on Tuesday. Space.com reports: The repair work occurred inside the huge Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Artemis 2's SLS and Orion crew capsule have been in the VAB since Feb. 25, when they rolled back to the hangar from KSC's Launch Pad 39B. Just a few days earlier, the Artemis 2 stack successfully completed a wet dress rehearsal, a two-day-long practice run of the procedures leading up to launch. In the wake of that test, however, NASA noticed an interruption in helium flow in the SLS' upper stage. That was a significant issue, because helium pressurizes the rocket's propellant tanks. Rollback was the only option, as the affected area in the upper stage was not accessible at the pad. The problem took a potential March launch out of play for Artemis 2, which will send four astronauts on a roughly 10-day flight around the moon. It will be the first crewed flight to the lunar neighborhood since Apollo 17 in 1972. The next Artemis 2 launch window opens in April, with liftoff opportunities on April 1, April 3-6 and April 30. And those options apparently remain in play, thanks to recent work in the VAB. That work centered on a seal in an interface through which helium flows from ground equipment into the SLS upper stage. That seal was obstructing the interface, which is known as a quick disconnect.

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It has been used for decades as a community hub

Today's snippet from Rich D is short and sweet, and admittedly, not the most TFs of WTFs out there. But it made me chuckle, and sometimes that's all we need. This Java snippet shows us how to delete a file:

if (Files.exists(filePath)) { Files.deleteIfExists(filePath); }

If the file exists, then if it exists, delete it.

This commit was clearly submitted by the Department of Redundancy Department. One might be tempted to hypothesize that there's some race condition or something that they're trying to route around, but if they are, this isn't the way to do it, per the docs: "Consequently this method may not be atomic with respect to other file system operations." But also, I fail to see how this would do that anyway.

The only thing we can say for certain about using deleteIfExists instead of delete is that deleteIfExists will never throw a NoSuchFileException.

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Easter Sunday falls on April 5th - just four weeks' away. Today, Good Housekeeping reveals the winners of its annual taste test, with an expert panel scoring seasonal foodie products out of 100.

There will also be a new community space and landscaped public areas

LIVE UPDATES: Follow the latest on the Iran war as fighting enters its fourth day. Donald Trump has warned the 'big wave' of airstrikes are yet to come as Israel and Iran continue to trade blows.

Buckley and Gyllenhaal were truly the women of the hour, co-hosting the film festivities for their $80 million-budget gothic romance held at Lincoln Center

Court documents filed in support of a claim issued by the TV presenters said they believe there is a 'good arguable case' that they are the victims of wrongdoing.

The hearse carrying the drug kingpin's body was guarded by military trucks and dozens of mourners accompanied the procession.

Golfers on the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour are currently stranded in the Middle East ahead of this week's event in Hong Kong. The Daily Mail has sought comment with tour spokespeople.

A TikTok trend left a teenager with severe burns after she attempted to 'breathe fire' with isopropyl alcohol.

A suspected Iranian drone struck the CIA station in Riyadh on Monday, just two days after the spy agency pinpointed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's location in the strike that killed him.

Slow disclosure and odd reassurance that exposing names and contact details won't be a problem isn't going down well

Gamers are ready to unleash their mightiest virtual weapons and point them at independent games studio Cloud Imperium, after it sat on news of a data breach for weeks and then announced it without fanfare.…

A severed head and body parts have been discovered in the search for the son of a Ukrainian businessman in Bali, just days after he begged for help in a 'chilling' video.

Members of Parliament across the area have had their say about the Iranian Conflict as strikes continue

The duo behind Towntickers, a TikTok and Instagram account on a quest to "poetically" review towns across the country, have paid a visit to Chelmsford.

Members of Parliament across the area have had their say about the Iranian Conflict as strikes continue

Witham MP Priti Patel visited Bellway's new housing development in Silver End to learn about sustainable construction methods.

JJR Care Ltd in Witham rated 'good' by CQC in first inspection. as domiciliary care praised for safety, staff training, leadership, and person-centred support.