Environment

Cities may be 8 degrees Celsius hotter by 2100: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — Under a dual onslaught of global warming and localized urban heating, some of the world’s cities may be as much as eight degrees Celsius (14.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer by 2100, researchers warned Monday. Such a temperature spike can have dire consequences for the health of city-dwellers, robbing companies and industries of able workers, and putting pressure on already strained natural resources such as water. The projection is based on the worst-case-scenario […]

Electric shocks ‘improve’ dried herbs taste

LUND, Sweden (Reuters) — Giving brief electric shocks to fresh herbs before drying them could vastly improve the taste of dried herbs. So say food technologists and biologists at Sweden’s Lund University. Food technology researcher Federico Gomez has conducted experiments with basil leaves and found leaves dried after short electric shocks tasted and smelled almost as good as fresh. Basil leaf pores are naturally closed once they go through the drying process, but Gomez posited […]

Australian zoo welcomes first baby Asian elephant in seven years

SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — Sydney’s Taronga Zoo welcomed the arrival of an Asian elephant calf on Friday (May 26), the first to be born there in nearly seven years, according to a statement. The unnamed male calf weighed in at 130 kilograms and was standing within five minutes of the birth, zoo staff confirmed. The zoo said that the latest arrival will be a second for mother Pak Boon, who delivered a female calf named […]

Research shows remote island has world’s highest density of plastic trash

HENDERSON ISLAND, United Kingdom (Reuters) — One of the world’s remotest islands has been polluted with the highest density of plastic garbage, scientific research finding shows. Although located more than 5,000 kilometres (3,106 miles) from the nearest major population centre, the uninhabited Henderson Island has an estimated 37.7 million pieces of plastic, according the to the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) at the University of Tasmania. Dr. Jennifer Lavers, IMAS researcher and lead […]

Swiss vote for gradual nuclear phaseout, energy makeover

by Nina LARSON GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The Swiss voted Sunday in favor of a massive overhaul of the country’s energy system by gradually replacing the power from its ageing nuclear reactors with renewable sources. A full 58.2 percent of Swiss voters supported the shift, according to a final tally after Sunday’s referendum, with only four of the country’s 26 cantons voting “no”. The move has been in the making since shortly after Japan’s Fukushima […]

Antarctica is greening due to global warming

    MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Plant life is growing on Antarctica like never before in modern times, fueled by global warming which is melting ice and transforming the landscape from white to green, researchers said Thursday. Scientists studying moss in an area spanning 400 miles (640 kilometers) have found a sharp increase in growth over the past 50 years, said the report in the journal Current Biology. Plant life exists on only about […]

Rising seas set to double coastal flooding by 2050: study

by Marlowe Hood Agence France Pesse PARIS, France (AFP) — Rising sea levels driven by global warming are on track to dramatically boost the frequency of coastal flooding worldwide by mid-century, especially in tropical regions, researchers said Thursday. A 10-to-20 centimeter (four-to-eight inch) jump in the global ocean watermark by 2050 — a conservative forecast — would double flood risk in high-latitude regions, they reported in the journal Scientific Reports. Major cities along the North […]

Scientists discover coral that could beat climate change

(Reuters) — Coral reefs in the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba are able to tolerate rising sea temperatures, which could mean they could be used to reseed dying reefs elsewhere in the world, according to a new study. As sea temperatures rise as a result of global warming, coral reefs are deteriorating on a massive scale. When the seawater is too warm, coral expels the algae on which it depends, causing calcification and turning the […]

Kenya developers fit homes and buildings with solar technology

MACHAKOS COUNTY, Kenya (Reuters) — Greenpark, a residential estate located about 20 kilometers south of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, is one of a handful of housing developments promoting solar powered homes in the country. Founded in 2006 the 150-acre estate has 400 units all fitted with solar panels for water heating. Developers are currently working on the fifth phase of the scheme. The panels are made locally and fitted by Steelstone Kenya, which has been contracted […]

Dutch design breakthrough fast-tracks oceans clean-up plan

by Jo Biddle Agence France Presse UTRECHT, Netherlands (AFP) — A Dutch engineer aiming to clean up vast ocean “garbage patches” of plastic Thursday unveiled a radical design breakthrough, enabling his ambitious project to start two years early. Boyan Slat’s innovative scheme seeks to use ocean currents to help gather up an estimated five trillion pieces of plastic — everything from bottles, to plastic bags, flip-flops and other detritus — from the planet’s waters. After […]

Alaska’s tundra releasing more CO2 than it takes in: study

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Alaskan tundra appears to be emitting more carbon dioxide than it captures, a dynamic that could accelerate climate warming as vast stores of CO2 trapped in Arctic soils are unlocked by rising temperatures. A question scientists have had is whether a warming climate would lead to a greater intake of CO2 through photosynthesis during the summer growing season. But a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National […]

The art of filmmaking

Making a film is a test of talent, team spirit, and requires a lot of patience! The videographic is about making movies, from script to screen. AFP-VIDEOGRAPHIC https://youtu.be/DFxj470xJNQ