Rio De Janeiro (AFP) Jan 1, 2021 Covid-19 forced Rio de Janeiro to cancel its famed New Year’s festivities this year, but there was an upside Friday for trash collectors and the environment at large: 89 percent less garbage on Copacabana beach. Municipal waste collectors in Brazil’s party capital picked up just 39 tonnes of litter from the iconic beach during and after its muted … Continue reading Upside to Rio’s low-key New Year party: less trash

La Jolla CA (SPX) Dec 31, 2020 Chemists at Scripps Research have made a discovery that supports a surprising new view of how life originated on our planet. In a study published in the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, they demonstrated that a simple compound called diamidophosphate (DAP), which was plausibly present on Earth before life arose, could have chemically knitted together tiny DNA building blocks … Continue reading Discovery boosts theory that life on Earth arose from RNA-DNA mix

Washington DC (UPI) Dec 31, 2020 Desalination membranes are used around the world to to remove salt and other chemicals from water, yielding vital water for both agriculture and human consumption. Despite their widespread deployment, scientists have struggled to identify the material characteristics that influence the efficiency of desalination membranes. The latest research, published Wednesday in the journal Shttp://dlvr.it/Rpm6Zs Continue reading Scientists figure out how to make desalination membranes more efficient

Washington DC (UPI) Dec 30, 2020 U.S. Navy personnel concluded the second of a three-part training session with the Croatian Navy on underwater mine clearance, the U.S. Navy announced this week. The three-week session in December at the Lora Naval Base in Split, Croatia, on the Adriatic Sea, involved U.S. sailors from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Eight, who facilitated Department of Defense Humanitarian Minehttp://dlvr.it/RpjXZ9 Continue reading U.S. Navy trains Croatian navy in underwater mine disposal

St. Petersburg, Russia (SPX) Jan 01, 2021 The scientists from St Petersburg University began to study the geology of Central Asia in the middle of the 20th century. Multi-year research and rich field experience have made it possible to create the world’s leading school of thought in the geology of the Tien Shan at the University. At present, work continues with active collaboration with scientists … Continue reading Scientists discover an ancient island arc in the Kyrgyz Tien Shan

Shanghai (AFP) Dec 31, 2020 China has confirmed its first case of a new coronavirus variant that was recently detected in Britain, health officials said. The new strain, which experts say potentially spreads faster than the original variant, has prompted travel restrictions on the UK by more than 50 countries – including China, where the coronavirus first emerged late last year. The first patient in … Continue reading China confirms first case of UK coronavirus variant

Taipei (AFP) Dec 28, 2020 A second Taiwan-born giant panda made her media debut on Monday, clambering over a wooden climbing frame and playing with sawdust to the sound of clicking cameras. The cub was born on June 28 to Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, who were gifted by China in 2008 to mark then warming relations between the two rivals. China usually only loans … Continue reading Second Taiwan-born panda cub makes media debut

Munster, Germany (SPX) Dec 30, 2020 DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the basis of life on earth. The function of DNA is to store all the genetic information, which an organism needs to develop, function and reproduce. It is essentially a biological instruction manual found in every cell. Biochemists at the University of Munster have now developed a strategy for controlling the biological functions of DNA … Continue reading Switching DNA functions on and off by means of light

Washington DC (UPI) Dec 28, 2020 Scientists at Texas A&M have developed a new technique for altering the genes of mosquitoes – the new technology will cause genetic changes to self-delete from the mosquitoes’ genome. Thanks to the breakthrough, described Monday in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, researchers can now test-run experimental gene edits without permanently altering a mosquito’s gehttp://dlvr.it/RpfXR3 Continue reading Self-deleting genes could control mosquito populations

Washington DC (UPI) Dec 23, 2020 The Defense Department’s $67 million in aid to bases vulnerable to weather issues and climate change lacks a method to gauge success, a report said. The 92-page report by the General Accountability Office noted that although the Pentagon maintains records of where 2020 funding was applied, it “doesn’t currently measure whether its grant programs are achieving their intended objectives.http://dlvr.it/RpbCpC Continue reading GAO: Defense Dept. needs to better track climate change protections