Our daily journey around the world

🇷🇺 Russia’s military continues to bombard a strategic Ukrainian town called Soledar. This comes after weeks of heavy fighting led by the Russia-aligned Wagner mercenary group, who previously claimed to have captured the whole town, though both Ukrainian officials and Russia's defense ministry say the battle is still going on. The town of Soledar is seen as a crucial part of Russia’s plan to seize the nearby city of Bakhmut, which Wagner's troops have been trying to capture since last summer. Separately, Russia named its top military officer, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, as the new overall leader of the Ukraine invasion yesterday.

🌾 UK scientists announced the creation of a new “climate-proof wheat” this week. In field trials in Mexico’s Sonoran Desert, the new species produced yields up to 50% higher than other wheat strands in hotter temperatures. Previous studies have shown that without more resilient plants, global annual wheat yields will fall by 6% for each 1°C increase in average temps. Fun fact: Wheat accounts for ~20% of all calories consumed by humans worldwide.

🇪🇸 And in other plant-based news: Spanish scientists have produced the first large cocoa crop in European history. A team of scientists at the Institute of Subtropical and Mediterranean Horticulture said they recently harvested around 100 kg of cocoa beans from some 80 trees, which were planted back in 2019. It marks the continent’s first successful large cocoa crop, following centuries of attempts dating back to the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Europe is the world’s largest chocolate manufacturer, consumer, and exporter.