by Alexandra Del Peral and Eric Randolph Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Deep in the vast La Sante prison in Paris, law student Morgane is discussing the classic novel “The Outsider” by Albert Camus with one of the prisoners. Adama finds some of the language tricky, but said reading is a “lifeboat”. “It allows me to escape, to think of something else. I imagine the scenes in my head. It’s as if I was […]
Life
Australian parliament approves emissions caps on big polluters
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia will force coal mines, smelters and oil refineries to cut their emissions by about five percent each year after passing breakthrough climate laws Thursday targeting the nation’s worst polluters. “It’s the first time greenhouse gas emissions reduction has been written into Australian law,” University of New South Wales sustainability expert Tommy Wiedmann said. The laws apply to some 215 major industrial facilities — each producing more than 100,000 tons of […]
Astronomers discover one of biggest black holes ever recorded
Paris, France | AFP | by Daniel Lawler One of the largest black holes ever recorded has been discovered using a new technique that could spot thousands more of the insatiable celestial monsters in the coming years, according to astronomers. The ultramassive black hole, one of just four ever observed, is more than 30 billion times the mass of the Sun, a new study said. It is the first black hole ever observed using […]
US approves sale of anti-overdose drug Narcan without prescription
Washington, United States | AFP | Wednesday 3/29/2023 The US drug regulator announced Wednesday that Narcan, the treatment which reverses overdoses, can be distributed without prescription, a move that comes as the country battles an acute opioid addiction crisis. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) said that four milligram nasal spray doses of naloxone hydrochloride, the generic name for Narcan, can be sold over the counter almost anywhere, from pharmacies to supermarkets to gas stations. […]
WHO says medium-risk adults don’t need extra Covid jabs
by Robin MILLARD The World Health Organization said Tuesday it is no longer recommending additional Covid-19 vaccine booster doses for regular, medium-risk adults as the benefit was marginal. For such people who have received their primary vaccination course and one booster dose, there is no risk in having further jabs but the returns are slight, the WHO’s vaccine experts said. The UN health agency’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) issued updated recommendations […]
Car battery recycling market gears up for future boom
by Léa PERNELLE Freiberg, Germany (AFP) Researcher Anna Vanderbruggen peers into a vat of dark bubbling liquid, the result of a process she has developed to recover graphite from old lithium-ion batteries. Although graphite represents up to a quarter of the weight of the batteries, no one has yet come up with a viable plan to recycle it, according to Vanderbruggen. The 29-year-old researcher is still fine-tuning her method but has already received an award […]
Meatball from extinct mammoth unveiled by food tech firm
by Jan HENNOP Agence France Presse Amsterdam, Netherlands (AFP) Food scientists on Tuesday unveiled a giant meatball made from lab-grown flesh of an extinct woolly mammoth, saying the protein from the past showed the way for future foods. The glistening meatball was displayed under a glass bell jar by Australian-based cultivated meat firm Vow at the NEMO science museum in the Dutch capital Amsterdam. But it is not ready to be eaten just yet, with […]
Danish artist hatches epic global troll hunt
by James BROOKS Copenhagen, Denmark (AFP) A Danish artist famous for his towering wooden trolls sent fans on a worldwide quest Monday to find his latest creation. Thomas Dambo has created a complex treasure hunt to find “Moon Mother”, his 100th troll sculpture, who he said has “crawled into the most secret spot in the forest” to give birth. His giant figures inspired by Scandinavian folk tales are often located off the beaten track to […]
‘Don’t blame women’: Japan birth drive sparks online debate
by Natsuko FUKUE Tokyo, Japan (AFP) Japan’s government has made tackling its falling birth rate a top priority, but with few women involved in official debate on the issue, some are making themselves heard on social media. Japan recorded fewer than 800,000 births last year, the lowest in the country of 125 million since records began. The prime minister has warned the trend threatens “whether we can continue to function as a society”, and fresh […]
UK’s Queen consort Camilla: from palace margins to royal limelight
by Helen ROWE London, United Kingdom (AFP) Queen Consort Camilla is taking her first steps on the international stage as wife of the British monarch, marking the end of a long and sometimes bumpy journey from palace margins to royal limelight. Camilla, 75, will be at King Charles III’s side when he makes the first state visit of his reign to Germany on Wednesday. In the turbulent 1990s, Camilla was vilified as “the other woman” […]
Mexico sanctioned for not protecting endangered porpoise
Geneva, Switzerland (AFP) — Mexico was sanctioned on Monday by an international wildlife body for not doing enough to protect the vaquita porpoise, the world’s most endangered marine mammal. The trade sanctions issued by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) prevent Mexico from exporting millions of dollars worth of regulated animal and plant products around the globe. The population of Pacific porpoises — nicknamed “vaquita” or little cow in Mexico — has […]
Scientists find water inside glass beads on the Moon
Paris, France (AFP) — Scientists said Monday they have discovered water inside tiny beads of glass scattered across the Moon, suggesting that one day it could be extracted and used by the “explorers of tomorrow”. The Moon was long believed to be dry, but over the last few decades several missions have shown there is water both on the surface and trapped inside minerals. Mahesh Anand, a professor of planetary science and exploration at the […]