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Germany launches push to halve food waste by 2030![]() Berlin (AFP) Feb 20, 2019 Germany launched a drive Wednesday to halve food waste by 2030 as research shows every consumer on average throws away 55 kilogrammes (120 pounds) of edibles a year. The new strategy would target households, producers, retailers and the restaurant industry to get them to cut down the 11 million tons of food wasted a year. The new push would aim to help Germany meet UN and EU targets and reduce its climate footprint, said Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Minister Julia Kloeckner. "Every produ ... read more |
Cuban cigars hit record sales thanks to increasing Chinese demandHavana (AFP) Feb 18, 2019 Boosted by growing demand from China, sales of Cuban cigars reached a record $537 million in 2018, a seven percent increase over the previous year despite global laws against tobacco, the partially state-owned Habanos said Monday. ... more
The race to save Myanmar's Inle LakeNyaung Shwe, Myanmar (AFP) Feb 19, 2019 Myanmar's famed Inle Lake has enchanted tourists for decades with its floating gardens and the graceful leg-rowing style of its fisherman, but experts warn the lake is drying up and urgent action is needed to avoid disaster. ... more
Japan upgrades downpour forecasts before Tokyo 2020Tokyo (AFP) Feb 18, 2019 With an eye on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Japanese researchers are developing a new system to accurately forecast torrential downpours - known in Japan as 'guerilla rainstorms' - 30 minutes before they strike. ... more
'Urgent steps' needed to save Australia's biggest river systemSydney (AFP) Feb 18, 2019 The viability of a key river that feeds into Australia's biggest water system is under threat if poor conditions that killed millions of fish are not improved within six months, scientists warned Monday. ... more |
Weakening Typhoon Fung-wong exits Philippines after displacing 1.4 million
Super Typhoon Fung-wong makes landfall in Philippines Over 1 million evacuate as deadly Super Typhoon Fung-wong nears Philippines Dam reservoir levels drop below 3% in Iran's second city: media Philippines evacuates one million, woman dead as super typhoon nears Japan observes tiny tsunami following 6.7 magnitude quake Philippines evacuates hundreds of thousands as super typhoon nears Tornado kills six, injures 750 as it wrecks southern Brazil town Winds, rain lash Philippines as super typhoon nears Tornado kills six, wrecks town in Brazil |
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Prickly pears: 'humble' cactus brings hope to AlgeriaSidi Fredj, Algeria (AFP) Feb 15, 2019 For generations Algerians like the Gueldasmi family have barely eked out a living growing prickly pear fruits, but thanks to the cactus's new found virtues their lives are steadily improving. ... more
Prickly pears: 'humble' cactus brings hope to AlgeriaSidi Fredj, Algeria (AFP) Feb 15, 2019 For generations Algerians like the Gueldasmi family have barely eked out a living growing prickly pear fruits, but thanks to the cactus's new found virtues their lives are steadily improving. ... more
China imposes anti-dumping tariffs on Brazilian chickenBeijing (AFP) Feb 15, 2019 China announced anti-dumping duties on Brazilian chicken Friday, saying investigations had revealed that poultry imports had done "substantive damage" to the domestic broiler industry. ... more
Tracking pollen with quantum dotsStellenbosch, South Africa (SPX) Feb 15, 2019 A pollination biologist from Stellenbosch University in South Africa is using quantum dots to track the fate of individual pollen grains. This is breaking new ground in a field of research that has ... more
Carbonaceous chondrites provide clues about the delivery of water to EarthMadrid, Spain (SPX) Feb 15, 2019 An international study led by researchers from the Institute of Space Sciences, from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya has discovered tha ... more |
![]() Scientists developed a method that allows removal of antibiotic residue from waste water
NASA is Everywhere: Farming Tech with Roots in SpaceWashington DC (SPX) Feb 13, 2019 Growing plants can be tough, whether you're on a spaceship or Earth. A special fertilizer made it easier for astronauts on the International Space Station and farmers down below, resulting in just o ... more |
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Researchers provide new definition for major Indian monsoon seasonTallahassee FL (SPX) Feb 11, 2019 Toward the end of every year, the Northeast Indian Monsoon (NEM) batters southern India with torrents of driving rain, but climatologists have never precisely defined when the monsoon begins and end ... more
Australia cattle giant warns of 'extreme losses' from floodsSydney (AFP) Feb 12, 2019 Australia's largest cattle company has warned of "extreme losses" after record-breaking floods, as producers said more than 300,000 cows were drowned or washed away in the vast continent's northeast. ... more
On Lake Victoria, a green stain spreads across Africa's blue heartKisumu, Kenya (AFP) Feb 8, 2019 With nets piled onto wooden boats, a group of fishermen joke while gazing out across Lake Victoria and the vast green weed clogging up the waterway. But their laughter has a worried edge as the sun sets. ... more
'Hundreds of thousands' of cattle feared dead after Australia floodsTownsville, Australia (AFP) Feb 8, 2019 Hundreds of thousands of cattle weakened from a severe drought are feared to have died in record-breaking floods in northeastern Australia, authorities said Friday, as they stepped up efforts to feed surviving livestock. ... more
Meat consumption is pushing 150 large animal species toward extinctionWashington (UPI) Feb 6, 2019 The significant environmental costs of humans' meat consumption are becoming increasingly apparent. ... more |
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Earth's atmosphere stretches out to the Moon - and beyond Paris (ESA) Feb 21, 2019
The outermost part of our planet's atmosphere extends well beyond the lunar orbit - almost twice the distance to the Moon.
A recent discovery based on observations by the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, SOHO, shows that the gaseous layer that wraps around Earth reaches up to 630 000 km away, or 50 times the diameter of our planet.
"The Moon flies through Earth's atmosphe ... more |
Angry Norway says Russia jamming GPS signals again Oslo (AFP) Feb 11, 2019
Norway's foreign intelligence unit on Monday expressed renewed concerns that its GPS signals in the country's Far North were being jammed, as Oslo again blamed Russia for the "unacceptable" acts.
In its annual national risk assessment report, the intelligence service said that in repeated incidents since 2017, GPS signals have been blocked from Russian territory in Norwegian regions near the ... more |
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Indonesian firms owe $1.3 bn in forest damage fines: Greenpeace Jakarta (AFP) Feb 15, 2019
Indonesian firms owe at least $1.3 billion in unpaid fines for environmental damage caused by widespread forest clearing and deadly fires linked to tens of thousands of premature deaths, a Greenpeace study said Friday.
Citing government data, the environmental group said it examined 11 civil court cases between 2012 and 2018 where palm oil and pulp-and-paper companies were ordered to pay fin ... more |
New insights into radial expansion of plants can boost biomass production Gent, Belgium (SPX) Feb 11, 2019
Besides the obvious longitudinal growth, plants also enlarge in the radial sense. This thickening of plant stems and roots provides physical support to plants, provides us with wood and cork, and plays a major role in sequestering atmospheric carbon into plant biomass.
The tissues responsible for this radial expansion are the vascular tissues which transport water and nutrients around plan ... more |
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Researchers develop flags that generate energy from wind and sun Manchester UK (SPX) Feb 12, 2019
Scientists have created flags that can generate electrical energy using wind and solar power.
The novel wind and solar energy-harvesting flags have been developed using flexible piezoelectric strips and flexible photovoltaic cells.
Piezoelectric strips allow the flag to generate power through movement, whilst the photovoltaics is the best known method of harnessing electric power by ... more |
Sulzer Schmid's new technology platform slashes cost of drone-based rotor blade inspections Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Feb 07, 2019
Sulzer and Schmid Laboratories AG reports it has launched a new highly competitive inspection platform. The company's new 3DX HD product has been developed as a cost-effective solution to cope with large volumes of high definition blade inspections.
Based on the compact and flexible DJI M-210 drone, Sulzer Schmid's latest innovation delivers high performance and fully autonomous drone insp ... more |
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Glencore vows to cap coal output as profits tumble Zurich (AFP) Feb 20, 2019
Mining giant Glencore pledged Wednesday to limit coal production and instead prioritise investment in other commodities as part of a move towards cleaner energy and transportation.
The decision by the one of the world's biggest coal producers comes as activist shareholder groups try to pressure companies to cut back on the major producer of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a key driver of glo ... more |
Former Chinese military chief of staff jailed for life over graft Beijing (AFP) Feb 20, 2019
A former chief of staff of China's military was sentenced to life in prison, state media said Wednesday, after he was swept up in President Xi Jinping's ongoing anti-graft crackdown.
Appointed to the People's Liberation Army's top post in 2012, Fang Fenghui was convicted of accepting and offering bribes, and having an unclear source of a huge amount of assets, official news agency Xinhua rep ... more |
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Can we trust scientific discoveries made using machine learning? Washington DC (SPX) Feb 18, 2019
Rice University statistician Genevera Allen says scientists must keep questioning the accuracy and reproducibility of scientific discoveries made by machine-learning techniques until researchers develop new computational systems that can critique themselves.
Allen, associate professor of statistics, computer science and electrical and computer engineering at Rice and of pediatrics-neurolog ... more |
Putin says Russia must tackle waste crisis Moscow (AFP) Feb 20, 2019
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Russia needed to improve its waste management, after stinking and dangerous landfills sparked a national protest movement.
"We haven't addressed the so-called waste problems for a century, that is to say, never," Putin said during an annual speech setting out the Kremlin's policy priorities.
"We must form a civilised and safe waste-management s ... more |
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Forest fires as an opportunity for ecosystem recovery Seville, Spain (SPX) Feb 20, 2019
Great forest fires are ever more frequent globally and their consequences more severe and destructive. Climate change and human activity are influencing the capacity of ecosystems and the life forms that inhabit them to recover from forest fires. However, the actions to recover the affected environment can be an opportunity to recover lost natural values.
It is estimated that globally ther ... more |
Five teams will help DARPA detect undersea activity by analyzing behaviors of marine organisms 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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Death toll in Cuba tornado rises to six Havana (AFP) Feb 4, 2019
The number of people killed in the powerful tornado that ripped through part of Havana last week has risen to six, authorities said Sunday.
Public Health Minister Jose Angel Portal Miranda said in state media that "sadly, two people have died among the 13 who were in critical condition." The earlier death toll was four.
The storm which hit Havana area towns including Regla, Guanabacoa, ... more |
BHP posts lower profits, warns of China trade risk Sydney (AFP) Feb 19, 2019
Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP on Tuesday reported a lower-than-expected US$3.73 billion half-yearly profit, as it warned of a softening Chinese market and growing trade rows.
The underlying profit for the six months to December 31 was eight percent lower than the US$4.05 billion recorded in the previous corresponding period, missing market expectations after a series of operational probl ... more |
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LOFAR radio telescope reveals secrets of solar storms Helsinki, Finland (SPX) Feb 20, 2019
An international team of scientists led by a researcher from Trinity College Dublin and University of Helsinki announced a major discovery on the very nature of solar storms in the journal Nature Astronomy.
The team showed that solar storms can accelerate particles simultaneously in several locations by combining data from the Low Frequency Array, LOFAR, with images from NASA, NOAA and ESA ... more |
Germany moots tougher insect protections 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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