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Millions hit in Manila's 'worst' water shortage![]() Manila (AFP) March 15, 2019 Manila has been hit by its worst water shortage in years, leaving bucket-bearing families to wait hours to fill up from tanker trucks and some hospitals to turn away less urgent cases. Taps are dry from four to 20 hours per day in the homes of about half of the Philippine capital's roughly 12 million people due to rolling outages driven by a dearth of rain and inadequate infrastructure. "I have learned to take a bath using only seven pitchers of water," Ricardo Bergado told AFP as he lined up wi ... read more |
Fuelled by China fears, Russians protest Baikal bottling plantMoscow (AFP) March 16, 2019 A China-funded project to bottle water from Russia's Lake Baikal has caused a backlash in Siberia, where people are increasingly angry about what they see as a Chinese land-grab. ... more
In Caracas, water an obsession after days of blackoutCaracas (AFP) March 15, 2019 Plastic bottles and containers at the ready, Keisy Perez ignores the stench from the brown river as it slips slowly through the grimy San Agustin district of Venezuela's capital. ... more
Houston, we're here to help the farmersWashington DC (SPX) Mar 11, 2019 Farmers irrigating their crops may soon be getting some help from space. In 2018, scientists launched ECOSTRESS, a new instrument now attached to the International Space Station. Its mission: to gat ... more
'Meatless Mondays' on horizon for New York City schoolsNew York (AFP) March 12, 2019 Starting in September, New York city's 1.1 million school students will eat vegetarian meals on "Meatless Mondays," Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday. ... more |
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 Tornado kills five, injures more than 400 in Brazil |
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| Previous Issues | Mar 16 | Mar 15 | Mar 14 | Mar 13 | Mar 12 |
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In Nigeria's polluted Ogoniland, signs of a cleanupAlode-Eleme, Nigeria (AFP) March 8, 2019 Young men in the Ogoniland area of southern Nigeria watch excitedly as engineers excavate heaps of polluted soil for treatment. ... more
Rain is important for how carbon dioxide affects grasslandsGothenburg, Sweden (SPX) Mar 07, 2019 Vegetation biomass on grasslands increases in response to elevated carbon dioxide levels, but less than expected. Vegetation on grasslands with a wet spring season has the greatest increase. This ha ... more
A faster, more accurate way to monitor droughtDurham NC (SPX) Mar 06, 2019 More than 2 billion people worldwide are affected by water shortages, wildfires, crop losses, forest diebacks or other environmental or economic woes brought on by drought. A new monitoring me ... more
Plants' drought alert system has unlikely evolutionary origin: underwater algaeGainesville FL (SPX) Mar 04, 2019 Plants' water-to-land leap marks one of the most important milestones in the evolution of life on Earth. But how plants managed this transition when faced with unfamiliar challenges such as drought ... more
Improving ecosystems with aquatic plantsDavie FL (SPX) Mar 06, 2019 Researchers Lyn Gettys and Kimberly Moore conducted a study and a series of experiments at the University of Florida to determine whether littoral aquatic plants could be grown effectively using a v ... more |
![]() Canada FM decries China halting canola shipments
Researchers discover sustainable and natural alternative to man-made chemical pesticidesCardiff UK (SPX) Mar 06, 2019 Repurposing a strain of beneficial bacteria could offer a safe, sustainable and natural alternative to man-made chemical pesticides, according to research from Cardiff University. Finding natu ... more |
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Trump urges China to remove tariffs on US agricultural productsWashington (AFP) March 2, 2019 US President Donald Trump on Friday urged China to abolish tariffs on agricultural products imported from the United States - adding that trade talks between the rival powers were going well. ... more
'Equine strep throat' kills 4,000 donkeys in NigerNiamey (AFP) March 1, 2019 A contagious bacterial infection known as "equine strep throat" has killed more than 4,000 donkeys in northern Niger since early December, local officials said Friday. ... more
Boost for Australian grain industryMelbourne, Australia (SPX) Feb 27, 2019 New findings from research by La Trobe University and CSIRO made possible with GRDC investment could lead to a significant increase in the Australian wheat crop yield - adding potentially around $1. ... more
French vineyards say ready to break glyphosate addictionParis (AFP) Feb 27, 2019 The vaunted terroirs of France's vineyards have for decades been saturated with the world's most widely used weedkiller, but grape growers say the day is soon coming when glyphosate will no longer be part of the fine wine process. ... more
Discovery of sour genes in citrus may pave way for sweeter lemons, limesWashington (UPI) Feb 27, 2019 Using gene expression experiments, scientists have identified the genes responsible for giving citrus fruits their sour taste. ... more |
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Nitrogen dioxide pollution mapped Paris (ESA) Mar 13, 2019
New maps that use information from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite reveal nitrogen dioxide emission being released into the atmosphere in cities and towns across the globe.
Air pollution is a global environmental health problem that is responsible for millions of people dying prematurely every year. With air quality a serious concern, the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite was launched ... more |
Earliest known mariner's astrolabe described in new study Washington (UPI) Mar 18, 2019
Guinness World Records has verified that a mariner's astrolabe recovered from the wreckage of a sunken Portuguese armada ship is indeed the earliest of its kind.
Researchers with the Warwick Manufacturing Group, WMG, part of the University of Warwick, used laser imaging technology to confirm the stone disk as a mariner's astrolabe, or sea astrolabe, a device used to measure a ship's lat ... more |
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Billions pledged to halt Africa's forest loss Nairobi (AFP) March 14, 2019
With the world's forests increasingly under threat from climate change and logging, leaders and top bank chiefs pledged billions on Thursday to help reverse the steep decline in Africa's woodland areas.
So far this century East Africa alone has lost around 6 million hectares of forest, swathes of which contain plants and wildlife found nowhere else on Earth.
"Our forests are the lungs t ... more |
Malaysia plants hope for palm oil's future in dwarf trees Bukit Lawiang, Malaysia (AFP) March 15, 2019
Test tubes holding plants line shelves in a Malaysian laboratory, the heart of a breeding programme for dwarf palm oil trees which scientists hope will cut costs and limit the environmental damage caused by the controversial industry.
Palm oil has become a key ingredient in everyday goods from biofuels to chocolate, leading to a production boom in the world's top two growers, Indonesia and M ... more |
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Mixed-cation perovskite solar cells in space Beijing, China (SPX) Mar 13, 2019
With the continuous improvement of efficiency and stability, perovskite solar cells are gradually approaching practical applications. PSCs may show the special application in space where oxygen and moisture (two major stressors for the stability) barely exist.
Publishing in Sci. China-Phys. Mech. Astron., a group of researchers at Peking University in China, led by Dr. Rui Zhu and Prof. Qi ... more |
Improved hybrid models for multi-step wind speed forecasting Beijing (SPX) Mar 14, 2019
To help mitigate global warming by reducing the emissions that are largely responsible, wind is widely expected to become an alternative source of energy. Wind power generation utilizes the surface atmosphere, where movement blows the wind turbine to generate the power output.
However, due to the turbulence in the near-surface layer, wind speeds show strong variation and disturbance charac ... more |
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China investigates officials after deadly mine accident Beijing (AFP) Feb 28, 2019
Five officials are under investigation in northern China after 22 miners were killed when their transport crashed into the side of a mine tunnel, local authorities said.
The accident, which left another 28 miners injured, happened last Saturday in the region of Inner Mongolia after the vehicle experienced brake failure.
A photo published by state-run media shows a bus-like vehicle with h ... more |
West using Christianity to subvert Chinese state: official Beijing (AFP) March 12, 2019
A Chinese official accused "anti-China forces" in the West of using Christianity to subvert the country's political power and said worshippers must follow a Chinese form of religion.
China's officially atheist government, which oversees religious groups through state-sponsored institutions, has tightened its grip on all faiths in recent years.
"Anti-China forces in the West are attemptin ... more |
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How intelligent is artificial intelligence? Singapore (SPX) Mar 13, 2019
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms such as Deep Learning have become integral parts of our daily lives: they enable digital speech assistants or translation services, improve medical diagnostics and are an indispensable part of future technologies such as autonomous driving. Based on an ever increasing amount of data and powerful novel computer architectures, learning a ... more |
Nations agree 'significant' plastic cuts Nairobi (AFP) March 15, 2019
Nations on Friday committed to "significantly reduce" single-use plastics over the next decade, in a series of voluntary pledges that green groups warned fell short of tackling Earth's pollution crisis.
After marathon talks in Nairobi, countries appeared to have reached a deal over throwaway plastic items such as bags, cups and cutlery to reduce the more than eight million tonnes of plastics ... more |
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The day the world burned Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Mar 14, 2019
When UC Santa Barbara geology professor emeritus James Kennett and colleagues set out years ago to examine signs of a major cosmic impact that occurred toward the end of the Pleistocene epoch, little did they know just how far-reaching the projected climatic effect would be.
"It's much more extreme than I ever thought when I started this work," Kennett noted. "The more work that has been d ... more |
How marine snow cools the planet Sydney, Australia (SPX) Mar 14, 2019
University of Sydney scientists have modelled how carbonate accumulation from 'marine snow' in oceans has absorbed carbon dioxide over millennia and been a key driver in keeping the planet cool for millions of years.
The study, published in Geology, also helps our understanding of the ocean's future capacity to store carbon dioxide, which is vital given warming-ocean acidity has increased ... more |
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Tornadoes leave swath of destruction in Alabama, killing 23 Washington (AFP) March 4, 2019
Rescuers in Alabama were set to resume search operations Monday after at least two tornadoes killed 23 people, uprooted trees and caused "catastrophic" damage to buildings and roads in the southern US state.
"The devastation is incredible," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told the local CBS affiliate late Sunday.
"I cannot recall at least in the last 50 years... a situation where we have ha ... more |
China approves foreign investment law, possible US olive branch Beijing (AFP) March 15, 2019
China's rubber-stamp parliament approved a foreign investment law Friday that may serve as an olive branch in trade talks with the United States, but it received a lukewarm welcome from business groups.
The legislation aims to address long-running grievances from foreign firms including stronger protections for intellectual property, but the US and European chambers of commerce voiced concer ... more |
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Tied in knots: New insights into plasma behavior focus on twists and turns Plainsboro NJ (SPX) Mar 13, 2019
Whether zipping through a star or a fusion device on Earth, the electrically charged particles that make up the fourth state of matter better known as plasma are bound to magnetic field lines like beads on a string.
Unfortunately for plasma physicists who study this phenomenon, the magnetic field lines often lack simple shapes that equations can easily model. Often they twist and knot like ... more |
Hungry moose are more tolerant of wolves Washington (UPI) Mar 14, 2019
A new study of moose behavior found the mammals become more tolerant of the presence of wolves late in winter.
The findings, published this week in the journal Ecology, further complicate scientists' understanding of predator-prey relationships between wolves and big-game species. The research also makes it more difficult to determine the role fear plays in shaping ecosystem dynamics. / ... more |
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