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CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — A brainless, spineless, pulsating organism has a key behavior in common with humans: sleep. While sleep has been confirmed in other invertebrates such as worms and fruit flies, the jellyfish is the most evolutionarily ancient animal that has been shown to slumber. Jellyfish have thrived in the seas for at least 600 million years, longer than nearly any other animal. By comparison, dinosaurs appeared roughly 230 million years ago […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — With sheet metal roofs, concrete floors, poor ventilation and spotty electricity, crowded urban slums in Africa can expect to get even hotter and deadlier due to global warming, US researchers said Monday. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University analyzed three informal settlements in Nairobi, including the largest, Kibera, home to nearly a million people. Along the settlements’ narrow alleyways, mud-walled homes and metal roofs, they found stifling temperatures, “between five and […]
by Marlowe Hood Agence France Presse BONN, Germany (AFP) — 2017 is on track to be the hottest year on record except for two warmed by El Nino phenomena, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said Monday. Even if the cyclical weather events — which bump up global temperatures every three to seven years — are included, this year will still be one of the three warmest ever, the WMO said as it issued its […]
MEXICO City, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico’s efforts to save the critically endangered vaquita, the world’s smallest porpoise, has suffered a major blow after one of just 30 creatures thought left in the wild died soon after being captured by authorities. The vaquita marina, known as the “panda of the sea” for the distinctive markings circling its eyes, has been pushed to the brink of extinction by illegal gillnet fishing. The Mexican government and conservation groups […]
by Sebastian Smith Agence France-Presse Waiãpi, Brazil (AFP) — When Japarupi Waiapi looks into the dense foliage of the Amazon rainforest, he sees the equivalent of a supermarket, pharmacy, furniture store — and that’s just the beginning. Food like coconuts, roots and bananas grows plentifully. Animals and fish are readily available for hunting, and the bark of many trees has medicinal uses. Just in terms of different wood types, “we see thatch for our roofs, we see […]
YUNNAN, China (CCTV) — Hundreds of red-breasted parakeets, a species of parrot, have flocked to the city of Ruili in southwest China recently, attracting photographers across the country to capture the spectacular sights. Red-breasted parakeets would come in droves to Ruili in Yunnan Province’s Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture every autumn when the corn on the farmland by the Ruili River is ripe. Thanks to the sound local ecological environment, more and more red-breasted parakeets are coming […]
Though it is rare, tsunami is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the world which can kill thousands of lives in just a spur of the moment. The deadliest tsunami in history happened on December 26, 2004 in Indonesia when the 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Sumatra with an estimated depth of 30 kilometers and height of 50 meters, reaching 5 km inland. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the […]
https://youtu.be/66jNt5KLWqI JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A new species of orangutan has been discovered in the remote jungles of Indonesia, immediately becoming the world’s most endangered great ape, researchers said Thursday. “It’s the first declaration of a new great ape species in about 100 years,” Ian Singleton, co-author of the study and director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, told AFP. The species, called ‘Tapanuli orangutan’, lives in the Batang Toru forest on Sumatra island, and […]
by Julie Carnis Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Since early September, the denizens of this normally hushed burg in central France have been serenaded by an industrial drill poking holes around town and pulling up cylinders of rock. That’s because Rochechouart, population 3,800, and its medieval castle are built on top of an astrobleme. “An astrobleme — which literally means ‘star scar’ — is the name given to traces left by a major […]
by Ben Simon Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has hit a new high, the UN said Monday, warning that drastic action is needed to achieve targets set by the Paris climate agreement. “Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surged at a record-breaking speed in 2016 to the highest level in 800,000 years,” the World Meteorological Organization said. “Globally averaged concentrations of CO2 reached […]
by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse Extreme weather caused some $129 billion (111 billion euros) in economic losses last year, said a report Tuesday that warned the bill will keep climbing as climate change boosts droughts, storms and floods. There was a 46-percent increase in weather disasters from 2010 to 2016, with 797 “extreme” events recorded last year, according to research published in The Lancet medical journal. These “resulted in $129 billion in overall […]
APOYO LAGOON, Nicaragua (AFP) — The Apoyo Lagoon in Nicaragua is one of the 12 lagoons of volcanic origin that run parallel to the Central American country’s Pacific coast, which the government will nominate to become a UNESCO World Heritage site for their astonishing biodiversity. https://youtu.be/c-JMVVQM-Jk
