A video captured a thief in London stealing a total of 21 manhole covers from a single private street in the middle of the night. Ring doorbell footage shows a man in what appears to be a camouflage hoodie making off with the covers, which residents discovered were mysteriously gone the following morning.
Locals suspect the man is stealing the heavy metal for its scrap value. The residents of the private road now fear they will be forced to pay the substantial replacement costs themselves.
Pharmaceutical 'Cocktails' in Waterways May Promote Antibiotic Resistance
New research has demonstrated that common non-antibiotic medications found in waterways can increase the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria when mixed with antibiotics. While antibiotic concentrations can cause bacteria to evolve resistance, scientists from the University of Exeter investigated the effect of common drug mixtures.
The research team exposed wastewater bacteria to low, environmentally realistic concentrations of the common antibiotic ciprofloxacin combined with other non-antibiotic drugs including pain relief, diabetes medication and hormone replacement treatments. Although these non-antibiotic drugs did not increase bacterial resistance on their own, when mixed with ciprofloxacin, the bacteria were more likely to develop specific antibiotic resistance genes.
American Water and Essential Utilities to Merge
American Water Works and Essential Utilities have agreed to an all-stock merger that will create a combined public water utility valued at approximately $40 billion. The new company, which will operate under the American Water name, will become a major player in the utility sector, serving about 4.7 million water connections across 17 states and 18 military installations, spanning from Hawaii to Pennsylvania.
Under the terms of the merger, Essential Utilities shareholders will receive 0.305 shares of American Water for each of their shares, resulting in American Water shareholders owning 69% of the combined company, and Essential shareholders owning 31%.
