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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, United States, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – A US spaceship attempting a lunar landing lifted off early Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the second such private-led effort this year after the first ended in failure. Intuitive Machines, the Houston company leading mission “IM-1,” hopes to become the first non-government entity to achieve a soft touchdown on the Moon, and to land the first US robot on the surface since […]
BANGKOK, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Bangkok city employees have been told to work from home to avoid harmful air pollution, as a layer of noxious haze blanketed the Thai capital on Thursday. City authorities asked for cooperation from employers to help workers in the city of some 11 million people avoid the pollution, which is expected to last into Friday. The air monitoring website IQAir ranked Bangkok among the 10 most polluted cities in […]
An American spaceship attempting a lunar landing will aim to launch early Thursday, the second private-led effort this year after the first ended in failure. Intuitive Machines, the Houston company leading mission “IM-1,” hopes to become the first non-government entity to achieve a soft touchdown on the Moon and land the first US robot on the surface since the Apollo missions more than five decades ago. Its hexagonal-shaped Nova-C lander named “Odysseus” is set to […]
By Kelly MACNAMARA The Amazon rainforest is facing a barrage of pressures that might tip it into large-scale ecosystem collapse as soon as 2050, according to new research Wednesday warning of dire consequences for the region and the world. The Amazon, which holds more than 10 percent of the world’s biodiversity, helps stabilise the global climate by storing the equivalent of around two decades of emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide. But stress from deforestation, drought, […]
By Juan RESTREPO, Juan BARRETO In freezing Antarctic waters, amid bobbing chunks of floating ice, the hums, pitches and echoes of life in the deep are helping scientists understand the behavior and movements of marine mammals. “There are species which make impressive sounds, literally like Star Wars, they sound like spaceships,” said Colombian scientist Andrea Bonilla, who is carrying out research with underwater microphones off Antarctica’s coast. The biologist from Cornell University in New York […]
Earth-bound surgeons remotely controlled a small robot aboard the International Space Station over the weekend, conducting the first-ever such surgery in orbit — albeit on rubber bands. The experiment, deemed a “huge success” by the participants, represents a new step in the development of space surgery, which could become necessary to treat medical emergencies during multi-year manned voyages, such as to Mars. The technology could also be used to develop remote-control surgery techniques on Earth, […]
MANILA, Feb 14, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippine government said Wednesday it will file criminal charges against the owners of an oil tanker that sank off a central island nearly a year ago, causing severe marine pollution. More than half of the vessel’s 800,000-litre (211,000-gallon) oil cargo spilled into the sea over hundreds of kilometres off Mindoro island, famed for having some of the world’s most diverse marine life. A justice department statement said it […]
By Isabelle Tourne and Daniel Lawler When Lucas was diagnosed with a rare type of brain tumour at the age of six, there was no doubting the prognosis. French doctor Jacques Grill gets emotional when he remembers having to tell Lucas’s parents that their son was going to die. However, seven years later, Lucas is now 13 years old and there is no trace of the tumour left. The Belgian boy is the first child […]
By Ornella LAMBERTI PARIS, Feb 14, 2024 (AFP) – In H&M’s flagship Paris store it is hard to find clothes that do not claim to be made from “recycled materials”. Last year, 79 percent of the polyester in its collections came from recycled materials, and next year it wants it all to be recycled. The Swedish fast fashion giant told AFP that recycled material allows the “industry to reduce its dependence on virgin polyester made […]
LOS ANGELES, Feb 14, 2024 (AFP) – Officials in the US state of Oregon have said they are dealing with a rare human case of bubonic plague that was likely transmitted by a pet cat. The disease, which killed at least a third of Europe’s population in the Middle Ages during a pandemic known as the “Black Death,” is uncommon in developed countries and can now be treated, but remains potentially dangerous. The identity of […]
Massive wildfires exposing millions to toxic smoke, drought shrivelling crops and key waterways, destructive storms supercharged by record ocean temperatures — in the last year the world has had a taste of what to expect with warming of 1.5C. For the first time on record, Earth has endured 12 consecutive months of temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius hotter than the pre-industrial era, Europe’s climate monitor said Thursday. That does not signal a breach of the more […]
By Emmanuel PEUCHOT KYIV, Ukraine, Feb 12, 2024 (AFP) – Ahead of the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian army is increasingly on the defensive against more numerous and better armed Russian forces, but hoping that a recent military leadership change can make a difference. After last year’s failed counter-offensive, President Volodymyr Zelensky last week named Oleksandr Syrsky as the new military commander-in-chief with the task of setting out a “realistic and […]
