Quito (AFP) June 10, 2020 Six little vermilion flycatcher chicks have hatched in the Galapagos Islands, officials said Tuesday, in a boost to the dwindling numbers of the brilliantly coloured songbird. Just 40 breeding pairs remain on the upper part of Santa Cruz island in the archipelago, located 620 miles (1,000 kilometres) off the coast of Ecuador and made famous by Charles Darwin’s studies of … Continue reading Galapagos welcomes six new ‘Darwin’s flycatcher’ chicks

Jena, Germany (SPX) Jun 15, 2020 The origins of human innovation have traditionally been sought in the grasslands and coasts of Africa or the temperate environments of Europe. More extreme environments, such as the tropical rainforests of Asia, have been largely overlooked, despite their deep history of human occupation. A new study provides the earliest evidence for bow-and-arrow use, and perhaps the making of clothes, … Continue reading Discovery of oldest bow and arrow technology in Eurasia

Washington DC (UPI) Jun 11, 2020 New research suggests crop pathogens are exceptionally adaptive – perhaps, alarmingly so. Scientists found a large percentage of known crop pathogens can adapt to a variety of climate conditions and infect a diversity of crop hosts. For the study, published Thursday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers surveyed the documented ranges of fungi and oomycetes known to infect chttp://dlvr.it/RYTV8x Continue reading Plant pathogens can adapt to a variety of climates, hosts

Moscow (AFP) June 9, 2020 Best known as a vast, cold tundra, Russia’s sprawling Siberia region is being transformed by climate change that has brought with it warmer temperatures, forest fires and growing swarms of hungry moth larvae. Spanning millions of square kilometres east of the Urals to the Pacific Ocean, the area has been particularly hard hit this year by extreme weather, which scientists … Continue reading Climate change brings fires, floods and moths to Siberia

Beijing (AFP) June 10, 2020 A vaccine developed in China for African swine fever, which devastated the country’s pig herd and caused pork prices to soar, is progressing smoothly, according to results reported on Wednesday. The widespread outbreak of swine fever since August 2018 has disrupted the supply of pork in China, where it is a staple meat, with millions of animals culled. The disease … Continue reading China reports progress in swine fever vaccine trials

Verint has announced new capabilities within its workforce management solution that automate compliance with CDC guidelines to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection as employees transition back to the workplace. New workflows automatically create a comprehensive schedule that is prescriptive, while including traditional workforce management criteria such as skill level, channels and peak hours.http://dlvr.it/RYNmVd Continue reading Verint Automates Management of Return-to-Work Health Practices

The COVID-19 pandemic will be one of the defining events of our lifetime. The economic consequences will last years and forever change consumer behavior. Over the last 30 years, experts have been studying the slow burn of consumer adoption of new technologies. Never have we witnessed adoption rates accelerate to the degree we saw in the last 60 days in e-commerce and video-conferencing.http://dlvr.it/RYMkgY Continue reading How Will Retailers Survive This Time of Crisis?

Potsdam, Germany (SPX) Jun 10, 2020 The East African Rift System (EARS) is a newly forming plate tectonic boundary at which the African continent is being separated into several plates. This is not a clean break. The system includes several rift arms and one or more smaller so-called microplates. According to GPS data, the Victoria microplate is moving in a counterclockwise rotation relative to Africa … Continue reading Why the Victoria Plate in Africa rotates

Tokyo (AFP) June 9, 2020 When Julie Sergent’s father died, she faced an agonising decision: if she travelled from her home in Japan to attend the funeral in France, she wouldn’t be allowed back. Across Asia, domestic lockdowns imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus are easing, but international travel restrictions in the region remain tight. Many countries have banned non-citizens from entry or … Continue reading Virus travel bans separate families even as lockdowns ease

Birmingham UK (SPX) Jun 09, 2020 Scientists are launching a key study to help African nations prepare for the sustainable distribution of an eventual COVID-19 vaccine. Mass, rapid COVID-19 vaccination will be an immense challenge for sub-Saharan Africa countries with significant rural populations and existing cold-chain infrastructure will need to be significantly improved if a vaccine is to reach the people who need it.http://dlvr.it/RYGqNP Continue reading Clean cold experts explore how people in Africa can access COVID-19 vaccine