Life

Scientists solve weighty matter of Milky Way mass

PARIS, France (AFP) — Astronomers said Thursday they had accurately calculated the mass of the Milky Way for the first time, using new data sets that include the weight of dark matter. In a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency’s Gaia observation craft, a team of experts calculated our galaxy to be around 1.5 trillion solar masses. Previous estimates put the mass of the Milky Way ranging between 500 billion and 3 trillion […]

Facebook launches offensive to combat misinformation on vaccines

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Facebook launched an offensive Thursday to suppress the spread of misinformation about vaccines on the 2.3-billion-member social network. The company has faced pressure in recent weeks to tackle the problem, amid outbreaks of measles around the United States attributed to growing numbers of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. US lawmakers have decried the higher incidences of preventable diseases in the wake of a movement against child vaccination, in […]

#EBCphotography: Nature’s own “emoji”

  This photo by Eagle News photo correspondent Alvin “Zaijian Chu” Melitante shows how nature can create its own “emoji.”  This emoji is made from dried coconut found on the shores of Dancalan Beach in Donsol, Sorsogon, a municipality known for whale shark sightings.   (Eagle News Service)

11 PHL cities among those with cleanest air in Southeast Asia — report

Two PHL cities among those with most polluted air in Asian region (Eagle News) — Eleven cities in the Philippines were among the cities with the cleanest air in Southeast Asia, a Greenpeace report said. The 2018 World Air Quality Report, which based its ranking from cleanest to dirtiest city on air quality data derived from “public monitoring sources” that include government monitoring networks and private individuals and organizations, listed Calamba, Laguna as the cleanest city in the […]

India dominates list of world’s most polluted cities

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India dominated a list of the world’s most polluted cities in 2018, taking 22 of the top 30 spots, according to a Greenpeace report. Air pollution is estimated to contribute to 7 million premature deaths every year and is considered by the United Nations to be the single biggest environmental health risk. While Delhi was again named the capital with the dirtiest air, in tenth place, neighbouring business city Gurugram, […]

Waymo to sell its self-driving tech to outside firms

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — The sudden death last year of millions of Iraqi carp, used in the country’s signature dish, was caused by a strain of herpes harmless to humans, the United Nations said Wednesday. Iraqi fish farmers south of Baghdad were left reeling in late 2018 after piles of dead carp were found washed up on the banks of the Euphrates River or floating in their cages. Rumours swirled over whether the […]

UN finds herpes killed millions of Iraqi carp

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — The sudden death last year of millions of Iraqi carp, used in the country’s signature dish, was caused by a strain of herpes harmless to humans, the United Nations said Wednesday. Iraqi fish farmers south of Baghdad were left reeling in late 2018 after piles of dead carp were found washed up on the banks of the Euphrates River or floating in their cages. Rumours swirled over whether the fish were […]

Zuckerberg sees Facebook future in private, small-scale messaging

by Julie CHARPENTRAT / with Rob LEVER in Washington SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook is moving away from being a “digital town square” to meet growing demands for secure, private messaging on a smaller scale, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday as he outlined a broad vision for transforming the world’s biggest social network. Zuckerberg’s announcement signals a strategic shift for Facebook as it seeks to navigate a drawn-out crisis over privacy and […]

Canadian couple builds world’s largest snow maze

ST. ADOLPHE, Canada (AFP) — A-maze-ing: a snow labyrinth in the frigid, windswept prairies of Western Canada has broken the record for the world’s biggest. According to Guinness World Records, the whopping 2,789.11 square meters (30,0021.73 square feet) of terrain dwarfs the previous Canadian record holder at the Fort William Historical Park in Thunder Bay, Ontario. For years, farmers Clint and Angie Masse would ring in the fall harvest by building a corn maze on […]

Large study again confirms MMR vaccine doesn’t cause autism

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A study following more than 650,000 Danish children for over a decade has led researchers to the same conclusion as previous efforts: the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine does not increase a child’s risk of autism. The study, which followed all Danish children born between 1999 and 2010 until 2013, compared the number of vaccinated and unvaccinated kids who were diagnosed with autism, and found no difference “We found no […]

Climate change forces Arctic animals to shift feeding habits: study

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Seals and whales in the Arctic are shifting their feeding patterns as climate change alters their habitats, and the way they do so may determine whether they survive, a new study has found. Researchers harnessed datasets spanning two decades to examine how two species of Arctic wildlife — white whales and ringed seals — are adapting to their changing homes. Both species traditionally hunt for food in areas with sea ice […]