Life

Bleeding risks may offset aspirin’s benefit vs heart disease

by Kerry SHERIDAN Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — Should healthy people take aspirin to ward off heart disease? The notion has been controversial, and the medical advice mixed. But a review of scientific data on the topic Tuesday showed that any benefits are slight, and are counterbalanced by a matching rise in bleeding risks. Aspirin is a blood thinner and can help prevent clots that may lead to heart attack or stroke. […]

Tokyo airport tests driverless bus to shuttle visitors

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Visitors pouring into Japan’s Haneda airport for the Tokyo Olympics next year may find themselves ferried to and from planes on driverless buses, currently being tested at the major hub. Six Japanese firms, including national carrier ANA, jointly started a 10-day experiment with a self-driving prototype minibus last week. On Tuesday, officials allowed a sneak peak at the automated transportation, which is being tested with a safety driver in the front […]

Greenland ice melts four times faster in a decade: study

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Greenland’s melting ice, which causes sea levels to rise, disappeared four times faster in 2013 than in 2003 and is noticeable across the Arctic island, not just on glaciers, researchers warned on Tuesday. “While 111 cubic kilometers of ice disappeared per year in 2003, 10 years later this figure had almost quadrupled to 428 cubic kilometers,” the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) Space Lab said in a statement. Its researchers contributed […]

Blue Origin to make 10th flight test of space tourist rocket

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Blue Origin, the rocket company headed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is poised to launch the 10th test flight of its unmanned New Shepard rocket on Wednesday as it competes with Virgin Galactic to become the first to carry tourists on brief visits to space. The liftoff is scheduled for 8:50 am Central time (1450 GMT) from a Texas launchpad. The rocket will be carrying several science experiments for NASA. […]

Construction without coordination: how ants build megaprojects

by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Leaf-cutter ants build superhighways to transfer food and building materials hundreds of meters without communicating with each other, scientists claimed Wednesday, in findings that could prompt a rethink about how some insect communities organize themselves. Each leaf-cutter colony can carve out nearly three kilometers of trails from the forest floor every year, investing an average of 11,000 hours into constructing and maintaining them. It had […]

Scientists warn of climate ‘time bomb’ for world’s groundwater

by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Future generations face an environmental “time bomb” as the world’s groundwater systems take decades to respond to the present day impact of climate change, scientists warned on Monday. Found underground in cracks in soil, sand and rock, groundwater is the largest usable source of freshwater on the planet and more than two billion people rely on it to drink or irrigate crops. It is slowly replenished […]

World to miss 2020 climate ‘turning point’: analysis

by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The world is on course to miss its “best chance” of preventing runaway climate change by ensuring global greenhouse gas emissions peak in 2020, researchers warned Tuesday. Even as Earth is buffeted by super-storms, droughts and flooding made worse by rising seas, and as greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise globally, an analysis by the World Resources Institute showed that current efforts to limit temperature increases […]

China’s ageing elite live golden years in style

by Eva XIAO Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — At a gated community for Chinese senior citizens, retired military personnel, film-makers, and top university professors settle into a new routine: ballet lessons, weightlifting and catered dining. As China’s population ages rapidly and the one-child policy left parents with only a single child to help them in their old age, the upper crust of Chinese society are spending the last years of their lives in […]

In China, unhappiness tracks poor air quality

by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Eye-watering, throat-scratching air pollution is a major driver of big city blues in China, according to a study published Monday that matched social network chatter with fine-particle pollution levels. “The take-away is simple,” lead author Siqi Zheng, an associate professor at MIT and director of the University’s China Future City Lab, told AFP. “Higher levels of air pollution lower people’s happiness in the world’s most […]

LOOK: Total lunar eclipse as seen from Paris

PARIS, France (AFP) — An unusual set of celestial circumstances came together over Sunday night and the wee hours of Monday for sky watchers in Europe, Africa and the Americas, where the moon was fully obscured before lighting up again with a faint red glow. Footages of the lunar eclipse over Paris. https://youtu.be/jsx9GNNsa1c

Hong Kong failing to tackle wildlife smuggling epidemic: study

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong must do more to crack down on illegal wildlife smuggling by ending legal loopholes and lenient sentences, conservation groups said Monday, as they detailed the city’s role in the lucrative trade. Despite its comparatively small size, the bustling southern Chinese transport hub plays a “disproportionate” role in wildlife crime, researchers said, accounting for around a fifth of all global ivory seizures and nearly half of all pangolins seized […]