The world’s population is set to decrease for the first time

Dec 8 2021

For the first time in hundreds of years, the world population is set to start declining in a few decades.

There are currently around 7.8 billion humans running around on Earth right now – a number expected to peak in 2064.

Despite most reading this article being quite older by then, a new study published by Lancet shows that the peak will be roughly at 9.7 billion.

This will supposedly drop to 8.8 billion by 2100 – so some of us won’t be here to witness this. Lead study author and professor Stein Emil Vollset details more of this interesting study.

The last time the global population decreased was during the 14th century due to the Black Plague. This time however, the upcoming decrease is set to be due to infertility rather than pandemics or famine.

Around 23 countries will also experience a shocking decline of over 50% – some of these including Italy, Spain, South Korea, Portugal, Japan and Thailand.

Two main factors could contribute to this decline – improvements in access to modern contraception and the rates of women and girls seeking higher education, says the researcher.

These are factors which drive the fertility rate as the average number of children a woman delivers over a lifetime is the largest determinant of population.

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Eilish and Omicron among 2021’s most mispronounced words

Dec 8 2021

You’re not alone if you’ve been corrected as to how to actually say Billie Eilish’s last name or the new COVID-19 variant title.

Both have made it to a list of 2021’s most mispronounced words, with a survey amassing which words and names were trickiest for anyone to utter.

The list was compiled by the US Captioning Company, whose job is to provide subtitles for live events on TV and courtrooms. So they know a thing or two about pronunciation.

The COVID variant, for instance, is supposed to be pronounced ‘OH-mee-kraan’ or ‘AH-muh-kran’ (try it!) and depends on whether you’re in the UK and US.

As for the pop star’s name, it’s supposed to be uttered as ‘EYE-lish’, as many were attempting to twist the surname according to what they deemed more probable.

Other words which suffered the wrath of mispronunciation were Dogecoin (DOHJ-coin), the cryptocurrency made popular by Elon Musk, Glasgow (GLAHZ-go), which was mispronounced by both Biden and Obama, and Yassify (YEAH-sih-fai) a popular beauty filter trend.

2020’s batch of mispronounced words included Anthony Fauci’s last name (spelled FOW-chee) and US Vice President’s first name (CAW-ma-la).

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Photo Source: World Meteorological Organisation, Medium

Mixing vaccines for boosters backed up by EU authorities

Dec 8 2021

Health authorities from the European Union have backed up the mixing of COVID-19 vaccines for the booster.

This, they say, could in some cases produce a better response than a single jab. The best results come from what is called a viral vector shot, such as AstraZeneca or Johnson&Johnson shot, followed by Moderna or Pfizer after (mRNA).

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in a joint statement that the so-called mix and match approach can be used for both initial jabs and boosters.

This approach may also lend countries some flexibility as they deal with a resurgence in cases, especially they are short in stock of a particular jab.

Many European countries have started giving the follow up booster six months after the first immunisation. With the EU currently approving four vaccines, some studies suggest that despite some minor side effects being stronger with this approach, they are inconsistent.

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Photo Source: Yale Medicine

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