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by Kerry SHERIDAN Agence France-Presse TAMPA, United States (APF) – Researchers have found a new way that global warming is bad for the planet: more hungry bugs. Rising temperatures will stimulate insects’ appetites — and make some prone to reproducing more quickly — spelling danger for key staples like wheat, corn and rice which feed billions of people, researchers said Thursday. And since these three crops account for 42 percent of the calories people eat […]
by Elizabeth Law and Danni Zhu Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — The Chinese kindergarten children giggled as they worked to solve puzzles assigned by their new teaching assistant: a roundish, short educator with a screen for a face. Just under 60 centimeters (two feet) high, the autonomous robot named Keeko has been a hit in several kindergartens, telling stories and challenging children with logic problems. Round and white with a tubby body, the […]
by Pascale Mollard Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The longest “blood moon” eclipse this century dazzled skygazers across the globe Friday, coinciding with Mars’ closest approach in 15 years in a thrilling celestial spectacle. As Earth’s constant companion slowly sailed across the skies, crowds gathered around the world to catch a glimpse of the rare phenomenon. Beside Lake Magadi, 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, young members of […]
by Mariette le Roux and Pascale Mollard Agence France-Presse The longest “blood moon” eclipse this century will coincide with Mars’ closest approach in 15 years to offer skygazers a thrilling astronomical double bill on Friday, astronomers say. For about half the world, the moon will be partly or fully in Earth’s shadow from 1714 to 2328 GMT — six hours and 14 minutes in all. The period of complete eclipse — known as “totality”, when […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP)–More than 80 percent of a dengue fever-spreading mosquito has been wiped out in an Australian town during a landmark trial scientists said Tuesday offered hope for combating the dangerous pest globally. Researchers from Australia’s national science body CSIRO bred millions of non-biting male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in laboratory conditions at James Cook University (JCU) in a project funded by Google parent company Alphabet. The insects were infected with the Wolbachia bacteria, which […]
by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The near 40-year quest for an AIDS vaccine received a hopeful boost Saturday when scientists announced that a trial drug triggered an immune response in humans and shielded monkeys from infection. Shown to be safe in humans, the candidate vaccine has now advanced to the next phase of the pre-approval trial process, and will be tested in 2,600 women in southern Africa to see […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Cloudy with a chance of… spiders? The phenomenon of “flying” spiders gliding into the air and traveling like balloons for hundreds of miles (kilometers) has a new possible explanation: the air’s natural electric charge. Aerial spider journeys — often known as “ballooning” — have long been observed, notably by biologist Charles Darwin, who documented the spectacle in his diary in the 19th century. One closely studied hypothesis suggested that spiders […]
by Mariëtte Le Roux © Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – Australia’s iconic koala, its very existence imperilled by disease, bushfires, car strikes, and dog attacks, faces a more hopeful future thanks to scientists cracking its genetic code, a study said Monday. A mammoth effort by more than 50 researchers in seven countries uncovered 26,558 koala genes, yielding vital DNA clues for vaccines against diseases such as sexually transmitted chlamydia, which blinds the cuddly critters […]
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP)– First of its kind trial over whether Monsanto herbicide Roundup caused a groundskeeper’s lethal cancer is scheduled to begin here on July 9 with opening remarks by attorneys. The stakes are high for Monsanto, which could face massive losses should it have to pay out damages over the product, whose main ingredient is glyphosate, a substance which some say is dangerously carcinogenic. Dewayne Johnson, a 46-year-old father of two, says […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – It has played football with former US president Barack Obama and danced for German leader Angela Merkel, but Honda’s ASIMO robot may have reached the end of the line. Launched in 2000, the humanoid machine resembling a shrunken spaceman has become arguably Japan’s most famous robot, wheeled out to impress visiting politicians over the years. But Honda said Thursday it may scrap future generations of ASIMO, now on its seventh […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — An inspirational new version of Barbie will encourage young girls to embark on careers in engineering and the sciences, the iconic doll’s manufacturer Mattel said on Tuesday. Barbie, who first hit the shelves in 1959, prides herself on trying out jobs where women aren’t strongly represented, to add to her more traditional skill set of dancing with Ken and looking fabulous. The company has announced a “Career of the […]
by Marlowe Hood Agence France-Presse A bacterial infection ravaging olive orchards in southern Europe can be detected from small planes or drones well before symptoms appear, offering panicky growers the prospect of an early warning system, scientists said Monday. Using high-tech cameras that detect heat and the electromagnetic spectrum from X-ray to radio waves, researchers were able to spot diseased trees that, on the ground, still seemed healthy, they reported in the journal Nature […]
