Life

SpaceX set to launch new crew to ISS

Three American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut are due to blast off Sunday night from Florida for a six-month mission on the International Space Station. After an attempt was called off Saturday night due to strong winds, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is due to lift the travelers into orbit at 10:53 pm (0353 GMT Monday) from the Kennedy Space Center. If forced to abort before launch again, SpaceX will have another opportunity Monday night. […]

‘Very worried’: Scientists fret as Antarctic sea ice dwindles

By Juan BARRETO, Juan RESTREPO ON BOARD THE ARC SIMON BOLIVAR, Antártida, March 2, 2024 (AFP) – Sea ice levels in Antarctica have registered historic lows for three consecutive years, portending grave consequences for life on Earth as we know it. But looking out over the southernmost continent, scientist Miguel Angel de Pablo laments that humanity seems to be oblivious to the warnings. “We (scientists) are very worried… because we don’t see how we can […]

Japan Moon lander put to sleep after surviving lunar night

TOKYO, March 2, 2024 (AFP) – Japan’s Moon lander has been put back to sleep after it surprisingly survived the freezing, two-week lunar night, the country’s space agency said, with another operation attempt scheduled for later this month. The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down in January at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way. As the sun’s angle shifted, it came back to life for two […]

Faulty warnings, deforestation turned Philippine rains ‘deadly’: study

MANILA, March 1, 2024 (AFP) – Faulty warning systems, poverty and deforestation of mountains in the southern Philippines turned recent unseasonably heavy rains into deadly disasters, scientists said in a report Friday. More than 100 people were killed in landslides and floods in January and February on the country’s second-largest island of Mindanao as the northeast monsoon and a low pressure trough brought downpours. A study by the World Weather Attribution group found the unsually […]

Riding high on AI, Nvidia is no bubble, says Wall Street

By Thomas URBAIN The emergence of AI bots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard has fueled a massive rise in share prices of chip-making juggernaut Nvidia, with its skyrocketing stock now making it the world’s fourth biggest company by market capitalization. And for Wall Street, it’s no bubble. Between the launch of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022, for example, and the market close on February 23, Nvidia’s share price increased fivefold, lifted to investor heaven […]

To the Moon and back: NASA’s Artemis II crew rehearses splashdown

By Romain FONSEGRIVES Their mission around the Moon is not expected until September 2025 at the earliest, but the four astronauts on NASA’s Artemis II mission are already preparing for their splashdown return. Over the past week, the three Americans and one Canadian chosen for the historic Moon mission have been training at sea with the US Navy off the coast of California. “This is crazy. This is the stuff of movies, and we’re living […]

From edge of extinction to Australia’s croc ‘paradise’

By Andrew LEESON If you want a snappy death, one expert’s advice is to leap into a river near the Australian city of Darwin — within minutes, you’ll be in the jaws of one of the hundreds of crocodiles that stalk its murky waters. That’s the promise of Grahame Webb, whose conservation efforts are credited with helping wrestle Australia’s saltwater predators back from the verge of extinction. “You can’t sugarcoat crocs; these are seriously dangerous,” […]

Oranges wither, cows go hungry in drought-hit Sicily

By Ella IDE Marilina Barreca has two grim options: feed her cows tainted fodder or set them to graze on barren hillsides as Sicily battles a crop-devastating drought which is sucking reservoirs dry. Regional authorities in the southern Italian island declared a state of emergency earlier this month, after the winter rains hoped for following last year’s punishingly hot summer failed. “The situation is tragic,” Barreca told AFP as she looked out over the Madonie […]

Meningitis kills 20 Nigerian school students

KANO, Nigeria, Feb 28, 2024 (AFP) – A meningitis outbreak in Nigeria has killed at least 20 boarding school students and infected hundreds more, the education commissioner in northeastern Yobe state said on Wednesday. “We have recorded an outbreak of meningitis in six secondary schools in the state which led to the death of 20 students out of the 473 infected,” Mohammed Sani Idriss said. The epicentre of the outbreak is the city of Potiskum […]

As mission ends, US lunar lander could still ‘wake’ back up

The US spacecraft that touched down on the Moon last week and is currently running on solar power will soon be “put to sleep” once lunar night kicks in, mission officials said Wednesday. But while the mission that saw the first ever Moon landing by a private company is coming to an end, Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus told reporters that there are hopes to “wake it up” in about three weeks, when the Sun […]

Vietnam’s ‘rice bowl’ cracks in monster heatwave

HANOI, Feb 28, 2024 (AFP) – Southern Vietnam, including business hub Ho Chi Minh City and its “rice bowl” Mekong Delta region, suffered an unusually long heatwave in February, weather officials said Wednesday. Several areas of the delta are also suffering drought and farmers are struggling to transport their crops due to low water levels in the region’s canals. The intense period of heat began on February 9, meteorologists told AFP, with temperatures reaching up […]

Nissan to launch self-driving taxi service in Japan in 2027

Nissan is planning to launch a self-driving taxi service in Japan in the financial year starting April 2027, the auto giant said Wednesday. The company said it will begin trials of the commercial service in the upcoming financial year from April, using minivans in an area of Yokohama, south of Tokyo. “Local communities have been facing several mobility challenges, such as driver shortages, which are a result of an ageing population,” Nissan said in a […]