Potsdam, Germany (SPX) Jan 20, 2023 People around the world are seeing fewer and fewer stars in the night sky. The change in star visibility can be explained by an increase in the sky brightness of 7-10 percent per year. The rate of change is faster than satellite measurements of artificial light emissions on Earth would at first suggest. This is the finding of a … Continue reading Visibility of stars in the night sky declines faster than previously thought

Paris (ESA) Jan 20, 2023 With diminishing ice one of the biggest casualties of our warming world, it’s imperative that accurate measurements continue to be made for scientific research and climate policy, as well as for practical applications such as ship routing. To ensure that ESA and NASA are getting the best out of their ice-measuring satellites and to help prepare for Europe’s new CRISTAL … Continue reading Future-proofing ice measurements from space

Hangzhou, China (SPX) Jan 18, 2023 Human society on the verge of transforming from an information society to an intelligent society, where optimized computing can autonomously solve practical, real-world problems. Critically, this transition is dependent on the continued development of advanced computing theories and algorithms that impart varying degrees of intelligence to computing systems through autonomous perception, informahttp://dlvr.it/ShJJW9 Continue reading Intelligent Computing: The state of the art

Beijing (AFP) Jan 22, 2023 China reported nearly 13,000 Covid-related deaths in hospitals between January 13 and 19, after a top health official said the vast majority of the population had already been infected. The death toll came a week after China said nearly 60,000 people had died with Covid in hospitals in just over a month – but there has been widespread scepticism over … Continue reading China logs nearly 13,000 Covid deaths in a week

Wuhan, China (AFP) Jan 23, 2023 Residents of China’s Wuhan said Monday they were hopeful for the future and no longer afraid of Covid-19, three years after the city was locked down over what was then a mysterious virus. Since Beijing ordered Wuhan sealed off in a bid to suffocate the outbreak in January 2020, Covid has devastated the planet, killing millions and plunging the … Continue reading ‘Not afraid of the virus’: Wuhan turns page on Covid, three years on

London (AFP) Jan 20, 2023 What caused the mass death of crustaceans off the coast of northeast England in late 2021? A new finding on Friday brought relief to the government, which is developing a flagship new “freeport” in the region. The customs-free zone in Teesside is one of several planned that are aimed at showing off Britain’s “post-Brexit freedoms” in trade, according to the … Continue reading New pathogen likely culprit for mass crab deaths: UK study

Davos, Switzerland (AFP) Jan 20, 2023 US climate envoy John Kerry bluntly summed up in one word what the planet needs to avoid a global warming catastrophe at the World Economic Forum this week: money. The annual meeting of the global elite in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos was a chance for top government officials, CEOs, academics and campaigners to debate how to tackle … Continue reading After Davos, a race for money to stop climate change

Beijing (AFP) Jan 21, 2023 Search and rescue operations after a devastating avalanche that engulfed travellers on a Tibetan highway have ended, Chinese state media reported, with the death toll now at 28. The snowslide occurred Tuesday evening at the exit of a mountain tunnel in southeastern Tibet, trapping a number of people in their vehicles. China’s Ministry of Emergency Management sent a disaster response … Continue reading Search for Tibet avalanche survivors ends

Hereford, United States (AFP) Jan 21, 2023 A wall of shipping containers installed just a few months ago by the then-governor of Arizona at a $100 million cost to US taxpayers was being dismantled Friday. Republican Doug Ducey ordered the huge line of shipping containers to be placed at the frontier between the United States and Mexico, during the final months of his administration, in … Continue reading Arizona dismantles shipping container wall on US-Mexico border

Wuhan, China (AFP) Jan 21, 2023 Three years after a once-mysterious virus plunged the Chinese city of Wuhan into a terrifying lockdown, residents are celebrating the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit with fireworks, flowers and offerings to the loved ones they have lost to Covid-19. But while many stocked up Saturday on colourful blooms at the bustling flower market to welcome the Lunar … Continue reading Fireworks, flowers in Wuhan for Lunar New Year but grief lingers