Montreal, Canada (SPX) Dec 17, 2020 It’s known that the primary cause of the mass extinction of dinosaurs, about 66 million years ago, was a meteorite impact. But the exact mechanisms that linked the meteorite impact to mass extinction remain unclear, though climactic changes are thought to have played a part. To understand how the mass extinction and associated climate changes affected specific ecosystems, a … Continue reading When dinosaurs disappeared, forests thrived

London (AFP) Dec 16, 2020 The mother of a nine-year-old British girl who died after a severe asthma attack called on Wednesday for a public health campaign warning of the dangers of air pollution, after a coroner ruled it contributed to her death. In a legal first, coroner Philip Barlow said poor air quality from vehicle emissions made a “material contribution” to the death of … Continue reading Poor air quality contributed to London girl’s death

Washington DC (SPX) Dec 17, 2020 NASA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening their longstanding partnership on space-based assets benefitting life on Earth. The agreement brings together NASA’s experience with technology development and space-borne Earth science measurements and USDA’s scientific experience and knowledge of agricultural production, resourcehttp://dlvr.it/Rnpg72 Continue reading NASA, USDA sign agreement to improve agricultural, Earth science research

Lincoln UK (SPX) Dec 16, 2020 A new study challenges the long-held view that the destruction of Central Asia’s medieval river civilizations was a direct result of the Mongol invasion in the early 13th century CE. The Aral Sea basin in Central Asia and the major rivers flowing through the region were once home to advanced river civilizations which used floodwater irrigation to farm. The … Continue reading Climate change caused the demise of Central Asia’s river civilizations, not Genghis Khan

Ann Arbor MI (SPX) Dec 16, 2020 Diverting urine away from municipal wastewater treatment plants and recycling the nutrient-rich liquid to make crop fertilizer would result in multiple environmental benefits when used at city scale, according to a new University of Michigan-led study. The study, published online Dec. 15 in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, modeled large-scale, centralized urine-diversion ahttp://dlvr.it/Rnkvdr Continue reading Urine diversion shows multiple environmental benefits when used at city scale

Zhongba Island, China (AFP) Dec 15, 2020 Yang Zeqiang’s boat chugs across the Yangtze ferrying a few people and sacks of grain – his new source of income after all fishing was halted along China’s longest river in the name of environmental protection. As a boy, Yang remembers seeing his father and grandfather head out in the early morning dark to earn a living fishing … Continue reading China’s Yangtze fishing communities adapt to life on land

Brasilia (AFP) Dec 15, 2020 The Brazilian health regulator Anvisa on Monday accused China of using criteria that “are not transparent” to win emergency approval of its coronavirus vaccine CoronaVac, which is in the final phase of trials in Brazil. “The Chinese criteria applied to grant the authorization of emergency use in China are not transparent,” Anvisa said in a statement. The regulator, which sent … Continue reading Brazil drug agency questions ‘transparency’ of China vaccine

Paris (AFP) Dec 15, 2020 When the world celebrated the dawn of a new decade with a blaze of firework parties and revelry on January 1, few could have imagined what 2020 had in store. In the last 12 months, the novel coronavirus has paralysed economies, devastated communities and confined nearly four billion people to their homes. It has been a year that changed the … Continue reading Covid, pandemic and lockdown: how 2020 changed the world

Suva, Fiji (AFP) Dec 15, 2020 Fiji and Tonga issued severe weather warnings Tuesday as twin cyclones intensified near the Pacific island nations. The Tonga Metservice said Tropical Cyclone Zazu was a category one system, currently packing winds of up to 90 kilometres an hour (56 miles an hour), and expected to reach category two on Wednesday. Meanwhile, forecasters in Fiji said Tropical Cyclone Yasa … Continue reading Fiji, Tonga batten down as cyclones gather pace

Puerto Francisco De Orellana, Ecuador (AFP) Dec 10, 2020 Indigenous Waorani from Ecuador’s Amazon filed a lawsuit Thursday against state-owned Chinese oil company PetroOriental, accusing it of contaminating their ancestral lands by burning off natural gas from oil wells in a process known as flaring. Leaders of the Waorani village of Miwaguno went to a court in Francisco de Orellana, the main town of Orellana … Continue reading Amazon community files lawsuit against Chinese firm over gas flaring