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  Washington (AFP) Feb 21, 2019 Every school child knows the dinosaurs were killed off by an asteroid smashing into the Earth some 66 million years ago. But scientists say the story may not be quite that simple, and that massive volcanic eruptions over hundreds of thousands of years may have contributed to the dinosaurs' demise at the end of the Cretaceous period. Two studies published Thursday in the journal Science contributed to a longstanding scientific debate about what exactly finished off the mighty reptiles. Befo ... read more |
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Going greener: Finland's new gas-fuelled icebreakerAboard The Icebreaker Polaris, Finland (AFP) Feb 22, 2019 The steel behemoth pushes ahead, crunching the ice as it navigates the northernmost tip of the Baltic, considered one of the most polluted seas in the world. But unlike other icebreakers spewing diesel, this state-of-the-art ship boasts cleaner fuel. ... more  
Worms help scientists understand memory formation and recallWashington (UPI) Feb 21, 2019 The 302 nerve cells inside roundworms are helping scientists understand why some events or associations can't be remembered. ... more 
World's biggest bee, thought extinct, rediscovered in IndonesiaWashington (UPI) Feb 21, 2019 The world's largest bee species, missing for 38 years, was presumed extinct, but scientists have discovered a female specimen of Wallace's giant bee inside a termite nest on one of Indonesia's Maluku Islands. ... more 
Botswana mulls proposal to lift hunting banGaborone, Botswana (AFP) Feb 21, 2019 Botswana's government on Thursday proposed ending a strict ban on hunting, which was introduced to protect wildlife in this game-rich southern African country, prompting conservationists to warn it could harm tourism. ... more |
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| Previous Issues | Feb 21 | Feb 20 | Feb 19 | Feb 18 | Feb 15 |
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Nine countries at UN seek to override China to raise MyanmarUnited Nations, United States (AFP) Feb 20, 2019 The United States, France, Britain and six other countries on the UN Security Council have called for a meeting on Myanmar that is expected to face opposition from China, diplomats said Wednesday. ... more  
Scientists discovered where black carbon comes from in the Arctic in winter and summerTomsk, Russia (SPX) Feb 18, 2019 Scientists from seven countries, including Austria, the Netherlands and five key Arctic states (Russia, USA, Canada, Norway, and Sweden) - participants of the International Arctic Science Committee ... more  
Hundreds attend funeral of Mao's secretary-turned-criticBeijing (AFP) Feb 20, 2019 Hundreds of mourners paid their last respects to Mao's former secretary Li Rui on Wednesday at a funeral that went against the final wishes of a man who became a bold critic of the ruling Communist Party. ... more  
FAO warns food supply threatened by declining biodiversityRome (AFP) Feb 21, 2019 The UN food agency on Friday warned about the threat to the future of the world's food production from a lack of biodiversity in the environment. ... more 
Saudi sisters stopped in Hong Kong while fleeing kingdomHong Kong (AFP) Feb 21, 2019 Two young Saudi sisters in Hong Kong said Thursday they had been intercepted by kingdom officials at the city's airport while attempting to escape to Australia, in the latest case of women fleeing the ultra-conservative country. ... more |
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 In Russia, a battle to free nearly 100 captured whales  
$400 billion climate investment plan for Sahel regionNiamey (AFP) Feb 20, 2019 Heads of state of 17 countries in the Sahel region of Africa will hold a summit on Monday in Niamey to approve a climate investment plan worth $400 billion over 12 years, the Niger government said Wednesday. ... more  |
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5 killed, several seized in Boko Haram attacks in Chad: officialN'Djamena (AFP) Feb 21, 2019 Boko Haram jihadists killed five people, wounded five others, and kidnapped nine - including six women - in attacks on two villages in western Chad, an official source told AFP Thursday. ... more  
Singaporean fined over Skype forum with Hong Kong activistSingapore (AFP) Feb 21, 2019 A Singaporean activist was Thursday fined for organising an illegal public discussion in the tightly-controlled city-state that featured a prominent Hong Kong democracy campaigner speaking via Skype. ... more 
Diversity on land is not higher today than in the pastBirmingham UK (SPX) Feb 20, 2019 The rich levels of biodiversity on land seen across the globe today are not a recent phenomenon: diversity on land has been similar for at least the last 60 million years, since soon after the extin ... more  
Astronaut photography benefiting the planetParis (ESA) Feb 18, 2019 When astronauts take photographs of our planet while orbiting 400 km above our heads, they are doing much more than just taking pretty pictures. They are looking after the health of our planet and, ... more 
exactEarth's real-time maritime tracking system now fully-deployedCambridge UK (SPX) Feb 15, 2019 exactEarth Ltd. reports that the final six payloads for its second-generation constellation, exactView RT, are now operational, which completes the roll-out of world's first global, real-time Satell ... more |
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 San Francisco (AFP) Feb 19, 2019  Sixteen US states sued President Donald Trump's administration Monday over his decision to declare a national emergency to fund a wall on the southern border with Mexico, saying the move violated the constitution.
Trump announced the emergency Friday in order to bypass Congress, which approved only a quarter of the $5.6 billion he wanted for the wall in a spending bill.
But the lawsuit, ... more |
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 Moffett Field CA (SPX) Feb 22, 2019 
In a research breakthrough funded by NASA, scientists have synthesized a molecular system that, like DNA, can store and transmit information. This unprecedented feat suggests there could be an alternative to DNA-based life, as we know it on Earth - a genetic system for life that may be possible on other worlds.
This new molecular system, which is not a new life form, suggests scientists lo ... more |
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 Washington DC (SPX) Feb 18, 2019 
Goliath grouper, black sea bass, and snapping shrimp, along with bioluminescent plankton and other microorganisms, are set to be the unlikely heroes of DARPA's Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors (PALS) program.
Five teams of researchers are developing new types of sensor systems that detect and record the behaviors of these marine organisms and interpret them to identify, characterize, and ... more |
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 Moscow (AFP) Feb 19, 2019 
Diving into a long hole cut in the ice, Viktoria Tsuranova swims a few strokes and flashes a smile at the photographer capturing the moment for her Instagram account.
She is one of a new generation of Russian "Walruses" - hardy swimmers who plunge into frozen rivers and lakes all through the winter.
They swear it wards off not just colds but also cellulite, as well as giving them a rus ... more |
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 Washington (UPI) Feb 18, 2019 
Australia is bleeding mammal species. The island continent's mammal extinction rate is the largest on Earth. But in Australia's desert, the return of indigenous hunters has helped restore ecological balance and slowed the loss of mammals.
According new research by Rebecca Bliege Bird, a professor of anthropology at Penn State University, the removal of humans from the landscape precipit ... more |
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 Sydney (AFP) Feb 15, 2019 
Runoff from recent floods in northern Australia is flowing onto parts of the Barrier Reef, scientists said Friday, starving coral of light and providing fodder for the predatory crown-of-thorns starfish.
Parts of northern Queensland are still reeling after nearly two weeks of unprecedented rainfall that turned roads into rivers and inundated hundreds of homes with floodwater.
Scientists ... more |
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 Niamey (AFP) Feb 20, 2019 
Heads of state of 17 countries in the Sahel region of Africa will hold a summit on Monday in Niamey to approve a climate investment plan worth $400 billion over 12 years, the Niger government said Wednesday.
The "ambitious" plan for the period 2018-30 will involve "17 nations from the Atlantic Ocean to the Horn of Africa" and will represent the "translation (into actions) of our nations' com ... more |
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 New York (AFP) Feb 22, 2019 
US biotechnology manufacturer Thermo Fisher on Thursday announced it would stop selling to China equipment used to create a DNA database of the country's Uighur minority.
Since 2016, there have been regular reports of Chinese authorities taking blood samples in the Xinjiang region.
Xinjiang is home to most of China's Uighur ethnic minority and has been under heavy police surveillance in ... more |
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 Paris (AFP) Feb 19, 2019 
The Extinction Rebellion, a network of climate activists who use civil disobedience to spotlight inaction on global warming, is rooted in the conviction that humanity has dug its own grave and has one foot dangling over the edge.
The fledging movement's growing ranks, already spread across several dozen countries, believe that homo sapiens - perhaps not so "wise" after all - is doomed to t ... more |
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 Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 22, 2019 
Work has begun on a new CubeSat mission that will demonstrate for the first time a new, highly promising technique for measuring soil moisture from space - data important for early flood and drought warnings as well as crop-yield forecasts.
The technology-demonstration mission, SigNals of Opportunity: P-band Investigation, will validate a remote-sensing technique called signals of opportun ... more |
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 Washington (AFP) Feb 21, 2019 
Every school child knows the dinosaurs were killed off by an asteroid smashing into the Earth some 66 million years ago.
But scientists say the story may not be quite that simple, and that massive volcanic eruptions over hundreds of thousands of years may have contributed to the dinosaurs' demise at the end of the Cretaceous period.
Two studies published Thursday in the journal Science ... more |
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 Johannesburg (AFP) Feb 11, 2019 
South Africa on Monday introduced its most severe electricity rationing in nearly five years, presenting President Cyril Ramaphosa with a major political challenge just months ahead of a May general election.
The debt-laden state power utility Eskom is at the centre of the country's economic troubles and has been hit by allegations of government graft.
Ramaphosa who last week admitted th ... more |
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 Sao Paulo, Brazil (SPX) Feb 18, 2019 
Current lithium ion battery technology will probably not be able to handle the coming decades' huge demand for energy. It is estimated that by 2050, electricity will make up 50% of the world's energy mix. Today that rate is 18%. But installed capacity for renewable energy production is expected to increase fourfold. This will require batteries that are more efficient, cheaper and environmentally ... more |
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 Frankfurt Am Main (AFP) Feb 17, 2019 
Germany plans an insect protection law to slash use of pesticides and pump tens of millions of euros (dollars) into research, a minister said Sunday, as global concern grows over mankind's impact on the crucial invertebrates.
"We human beings need insects, they deserve to be protected with their own law," Environment Minister Svenja Schulze told weekly Bild am Sonntag.
Her "action plan f ... more |
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 Beijing (AFP) Feb 20, 2019 
Hundreds of mourners paid their last respects to Mao's former secretary Li Rui on Wednesday at a funeral that went against the final wishes of a man who became a bold critic of the ruling Communist Party.
Despite the dearth of public information on the time and place of the funeral, crowds lined up to see Li's casket, which was draped under the red Communist hammer-and-sickle flag at the Bao ... more |
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 Birmingham UK (SPX) Feb 20, 2019 
More than half of the carbon sink in the world's forests is in areas where the trees are relatively young - under 140 years old - rather than in tropical rainforests, research at the University of Birmingham shows.
These trees have typically 'regrown' on land previously used for agriculture, or cleared by fire or harvest and it is their young age that is one of the main drivers of this car ... more |
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