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by Mariette le Roux and Laurence Coustal Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — African Matabele ants dress the wounds of comrades injured during hunting raids and nurse them back to health, according to an “astonishing” discovery reported Wednesday. After collecting their wounded from the battlefield and carrying them back home, nestmates become medics, massing around patients for “intense licking” of open wounds, according to a study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society […]
by Marlowe Hood Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Before man-made climate change kicked in — and well before “Day Zero” in Cape Town, where taps may run dry in early May — the global water crisis was upon us. Freshwater resources were already badly stressed before heat-trapping carbon emissions from fossil fuels began to warm Earth’s surface and affect rainfall. In some countries, major rivers — diverted, dammed or over-exploited — no longer […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Sea level rise is accelerating and could reach 26 inches (66 centimeters) by century’s end, in line with United Nations estimates and enough to cause significant problems for coastal cities, a study said Monday. The past annual rate of sea level rise — about three millimeters (0.1 inches) per year — may more than triple to 10 millimeters per year by 2100, said the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy […]
by Victoria Loguinova-Yakovleva Agence France Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Weary of local officials dismissing the deadly smog that covers their city, citizens of Siberia’s industrial hub Krasnoyarsk decided to take action and monitor air quality themselves. But they quickly came up against those same authorities in the remote region 4,200 kilometers (2,600 miles) east of Moscow. Krasnoyarsk boasts dozens of factories as well as one of the world’s biggest aluminium plants. The natural resources […]
by Sandra FERRER Agence France-Presse BREST, France (AFP) — Fancy a job at the North or South Pole? A French research institute is looking for you. The Paul-Emile Victor Polar Institute in northwest France has launched a public appeal to recruit around 40 French-speaking people for a wide variety of jobs at its six bases in the Arctic and Antarctica. From chemists and carpenters to bakers and pastry chefs, the institute is stepping up its efforts […]
by Joe Freeman Agence France Presse BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — The rescue in Laos of three endangered red pandas trafficked from China has raised fears the rare animals are increasingly being coveted by exotic pet owners. Landlocked Laos, which borders China and Vietnam, is a key transit hub in the global trade in illegal wildlife, but experts say the discovery of red pandas there is virtually unheard of. Six of the cat-sized bears were found […]
by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Ants naturally produce powerful germicides against bacteria and fungi, said a study Wednesday that targeted the industrious insects as possible drug factories for humans. The discovery of ants’ pharmaceutical prowess comes as the armoury of effective antibiotics developed by humans over the last 100 years dwindles in the face of growing germ resistance. Experiments with 20 ant species found antimicrobials on 12 of them, […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Primary schools will be closed on Monday in Tehran as thick fog caused by pollution smothers the Iranian capital and most of the surrounding province, local authorities said. They also announced Sunday they would impose traffic restrictions in Tehran, home to 8.5 million inhabitants, allowing cars onto the streets in alternating shifts, depending on their number plates. Similar measures were taken in December when primary schools in Tehran and most of […]
MAJURO, Marshall Islands (AFP) — Emergency services were put on standby Saturday in Majuro, as rising king tides threatened to flood the capital of the low-lying Marshall Islands. The national weather service warned “major inundation” was possible from Saturday evening through to Tuesday at peak tide periods in the Pacific island nation, highlighting its vulnerability to rising sea levels. “We’re on stand-by through Tuesday,” Public Works Minister Tony Muller said Saturday as the 30,000 population of Majuro […]
“On January 8, Landsat 8 captured data for these natural-color images of the snow in the Sahara,” said a release from NASA that showed this image. “For the second time in three years, snow has accumulated in the desert near the northern Algerian town of Aïn Séfra,” it said. The town is sometimes called the “gateway to the desert.” Aïn Séfra is a town of 35,000 people which sits between the Sahara and the […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A plan to use satellite imagery and aerial mapping to protect Indonesia’s peatlands — a vast carbon sink and source of much of the country’s greenhouse emissions — was awarded a $1 million prize on Friday. The cutting-edge technology will be used by authorities to clamp down on illegal clearance of the land for plantations, helping to prevent a repeat of annual forest fires that plague the region while also […]
