Paris (AFP) Jan 17, 2023 French food giant Danone said Tuesday it would slash planet-warming methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030, vowing to change the way the cows it uses are raised and milked. Methane is responsible for roughly 30 percent of the global rise in temperatures to date. It is released from the oil and gas, waste and agriculture sectors as well as … Continue reading Dairy giant Danone vows to slash planet-warming methane

Paris (AFP) Jan 17, 2023 Nearly two thirds of the sharks and rays that live among the world’s corals are threatened with extinction, according to new research published Tuesday, with a warning this could further imperil precious reefs. Coral reefs, which harbour at least a quarter of all marine animals and plants, are gravely menaced by an array of human threats, including overfishing, pollution and … Continue reading Two thirds of reef sharks and rays risk extinction: study

Washington DC (SPX) Jan 15, 2023 According to recent studies cited in Science Magazine, many vaccines – including those for flu, mumps and other diseases – may lose their effectiveness faster than official immunization recommendations suggest1. DARPA has selected teams of researchers to support the Assessing Immune Memory (AIM) program, which seeks to develop a research and evaluation tool that can predict early on whether … Continue reading Teams selected to develop vaccine durability prediction tools

Paris (AFP) Jan 16, 2023 The runaway collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet – which would trigger catastrophic sea level rise – is not “inevitable”, scientists said Monday following research that tracked the region’s recent response to climate change. As global temperatures rise, there is mounting concern that warming could trigger so-called tipping points that set off irreversible melting of the world’s massivehttp://dlvr.it/Sh14Cr Continue reading Runaway W. Antarctic ice sheet collapse not ‘inevitable’: study

Lima (AFP) Jan 17, 2023 Scientists have discovered a new species of lizard in a protected natural area in Cusco, southeastern Peru, national park officials said Monday. “Otishi National Park reveals a new species of lizard to science,” the National Service of State-Protected Natural Areas said in a statement. The new species, named “Proctoporus titans,” was found high in the Andes mountains at an altitude … Continue reading New species of lizard discovered in Peru national park

Beijing (AFP) Jan 16, 2023 A chemical plant explosion in China has left at least five people dead and eight missing, state media reported Monday. The blast happened on Sunday afternoon at a factory in northeastern Liaoning province’s Panshan County, according to state broadcaster CCTV, which reported the fire at the facility was under control. An earlier tally put the number of dead and missing … Continue reading Five dead in China chemical plant explosion

Austin TX (SPX) Jan 13, 2023 A study led by The University of Texas at Austin is providing a glimpse into dinosaur and bird diversity in Patagonia during the Late Cretaceous, just before the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct. The fossils represent the first record of theropods – a dinosaur group that includes both modern birds and their closest non-avian dinosaur relatives – from the Chilean … Continue reading Fossils reveal dinosaurs of prehistoric Patagonia

Broomfield CO (SPX) Jan 11, 2023 Ball Aerospace completed the spacecraft bus for the Weather System Follow-on-Microwave (WSF-M) satellite, the U.S. Space Force’s next-generation operational environmental satellite system. Ball also finalized environmental testing on the Microwave Imager (MWI) instrument and has started final space vehicle assembly, integration and testing. Upon delivery, WSF-M will provide mission data tohttp://dlvr.it/SgyGM5 Continue reading Ball Aerospace enters final stages of building Space Force’s next-gen weather satellite

Addis Ababa (AFP) Jan 11, 2023 Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said Wednesday that Africa should have a greater voice in the UN Security Council and other international bodies, long a demand of the continent’s leaders. Qin made the call in a statement issued as he met the head of the African Union Commission who voiced frustration at what he said was the exclusion of … Continue reading China FM urges greater African voice in global governance

Toronto, Canada (SPX) Jan 13, 2023 Vital winter ice road infrastructure may be cracking and sinking under the load of an unseasonably warm start to the new year across Europe and North America, a trend York University Associate Professor Sapna Sharma and team have detailed in a recent study. The research warns that ice roads, essential for moving people, food, medicine and fuel in remote … Continue reading That sinking feeling: Are ice roads holding up under January’s unseasonable warmth?