Tag: science

Duterte in Thailand:  Bilateral agreements on agriculture, science and technology and tourism signed

The Philippines and Thailand have agreed to strengthen their collaboration in several fields including agriculture, science and technology,  and tourism. President Rodrigo Duterte and Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-O-Cha witnessed the signing of documents between their two countries at the Santi Maitri Building, Government House in Bangkok on Tuesday, March 21. The signing ceremony is for the following documents: Agreement between the DOST of the republic of the Philippines and Kingdom of Thailand for cooperation in the […]

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Chimney mounted anti-pollution device for Poles

GLIWICE, Poland (Reuters) — Engineers from the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice are testing a cost-effective electrostatic precipitator for households which use coal or other polluting fuels for heating. The system developed by the scientists can be mounted directly onto the chimney of a house or apartment building and uses electrostatic charges to stop dust particles. Dust carrying pollutants are deposited on the precipitator walls and does not escape alongside the smoke into the […]

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No money for space tourism? Try astro-tourism instead

by Marie JULIEN Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — With urbanization gaining pace and air pollution clouding the view in major cities, contemplating the stars in a pitch-black sky is fast becoming a rarity that tour operators are banking on as a new selling-point. From a total solar eclipse to the Milky Way to the Northern Lights, many experts at Berlin’s ITB, marketed as the world’s leading travel trade show, were making the case for […]

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NASA Mars satellite moves to avoid hitting planet’s moon

Reuters — A NASA science satellite circling Mars had to maneuver this week to avoid crashing into one of the planet’s two small moons, the U.S. space agency said on Thursday (March 2). The MAVEN spacecraft, which is studying Mars’ vanishing atmosphere, fired up its engine on Tuesday to boost its speed by about 1.3 feet per second (0.4 meters per second) so it could steer clear of the Martian moon Phobos, the National Aeronautics […]

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Moon tourists in for a rough ride, experts say

by Laurence COUSTAL / Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Non-stop vomiting, a puffy face and the constant need to pee: Volunteers for a week-long loop around the Moon may be in for a rough ride even if all goes to plan. In the week that SpaceX announced it would launch two tourists to skirt Earth’s satellite in 2018, experts agreed the health effects would chiefly be minor and short-lived. These […]

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‘Ring of fire’ eclipse delights Africa, South America

by Leo RAMIREZ Agence France Presse SARMIENTO, Argentina (AFP) — Stargazers applauded as they were plunged into darkness Sunday when the moon passed in front of the sun in a spectacular “ring of fire” eclipse. Astronomers and enthusiasts in Argentina were among the first to see the so-called annular eclipse as it crossed South America shortly after 1200 GMT, on course for Africa. Staring up through special telescopes, protective glasses or homemade cardboard pinhole devices, […]

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Anti-collision tech helps planes, drones ‘see and avoid’

CHESEAUX-LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) — The potentially catastrophic dangers of a drone striking an airplane have long been feared by aviation experts. The increasing commercial availability of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), allied with the current gaps in sharing of flight operation data between UAV operators and aviators, amplifies the risks. Now senseFly, a commercial drone subsidiary of the Parrot Group, has joined forces with Swiss-based air navigation app makers to develop what the two firms call […]

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French pedestrians see green light, even when it’s red: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — French pedestrians have the reputation of being a law unto themselves — but an unusual study has provided some scientific backing for the stereotype. Four times out of 10, French pedestrians cross the road when the lights are against them, according to a paper published on Wednesday. In disciplined Japan, though, the rate is 20 times lower. Cedric Sueur of Strasbourg University in eastern France led a team that analysed behaviour […]

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Pollution even in Earth’s farthest reaches: ocean study

by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Banned chemicals are tainting tiny crustaceans that inhabit the deepest ocean, a study said Monday — the first evidence that humans are polluting even the farthest reaches of our planet. Even at depths of nearly 11 kilometres (seven miles) these scavengers could not escape “extraordinary” levels of contamination with chemicals used in coolants and insulating fluids, researchers said. The pollutants likely came from plastic waste […]

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Astronomers zoom in on megastar’s juvenile outburst

by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, a supergiant red star ended its life in a spectacular explosion known as a supernova. The light from that event took 160 million years to reach Earth where, in a stroke of luck, robot telescopes scanning the night sky happened upon it on October 6, 2013. On Monday, astronomers said the chance discovery allowed them […]

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Record-breaking solar panels could slash power costs

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND (Reuters) — Solar panels designed by a start-up offshoot of Switzerland’s EPFL institute have achieved the highest efficiency ever recorded, in independent tests. In tests conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, Insolight’s panels scored a yield of 36.4 percent, almost double what current solutions on the market achieve. “Our key innovation is that you do not need to rotate the panel in order to follow the sun,” explained Insolight co-founder and chief […]

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Climate science bedeviled by ‘tipping points’

by Marlowe HOOD Agence Presse France PARIS, France (AFP) — Of the many things that keep climate scientists awake at night, tipping points may be the scariest. To start with, these thresholds for deep, sometimes catastrophic change in the complex web of Earth’s natural forces, caused by man-made global warming, are largely invisible. You can’t see them on the horizon, and could easily cross one without noticing. Also, there is no turning back — at […]

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