Environment

Climate change, rampant urbanization fuel Brazil storm disasters

Climate change and unchecked construction in flood- and landslide-prone areas are making disasters like the violent storm that killed at least 48 people in southeastern Brazil ever more frequent, according to a leading expert.. Francis Lacerda, a researcher at Brazil's IPA Climate Change Laboratory, spoke with AFP about the forces driving disasters like the one that hit the coast of Sao Paulo state last weekend, and what can be done to stop them.

Thu, Feb 23, 2023 2 mins read

Environment

Canada's First Quantum suspends Panama mine operations

Canadian mining giant First Quantum Minerals announced Thursday the suspension of its operations at a major mine in Panama, saying it was being blocked from exporting copper abroad.. Those talks are continuing, First Quantum Minerals said Thursday. amc/mlm

Thu, Feb 23, 2023 1 mins read

Environment

From his farm to Alaska, Jimmy Carter leaves environmental legacy

Several thousand solar panels bake under an unseasonably warm February sun in Plains, Georgia, one of the many projects that bolster the environmental record of local icon and former US president Jimmy Carter.. Today, the solar offtake from the Carter farm, which connects to Georgia Power's grid, is enough to power 40 to 50 percent of Plains on a partly sunny day, Stuckey said.

Thu, Feb 23, 2023 3 mins read

Environment

When men won't 'get dirty', Nicaraguan women dig for cockles

From a young age, Elena Martinez and other female residents of Aserradores, a small fishing community in eastern Nicaragua, learn to navigate the dense mangrove forest to extract a black mollusc from deep under the mud.. Every few days, they leave home at dawn to row about two kilometers (1.2 miles) in a fishing boat to the mangroves, where they crawl through gnarly branches knee-deep in mud, digging for the delicacy by hand.

Thu, Feb 23, 2023 2 mins read

Environment

Lake Garda tourists flock to island reconnected by drought

On foot or by bike, visitors stream across the narrow path connecting the small island to the edge of Lake Garda, a symbol of the winter drought hitting northern Italy.. - Warning signs - After a record drought last summer which devastated harvests, the north of Italy is once again showing warning signs, with water levels low in the River Po, Lake Maggiore and Lake Como.

Wed, Feb 22, 2023 2 mins read

Environment

Heavy snow snarls travel as winter storms hit US

Powerful winter storms lashed the United States on Wednesday, with heavy snow snarling travel across wide areas, even as unusual warmth was expected in others.. But while the West and some northern parts of the United States are shivering, eastern areas will be unusually warm.

Wed, Feb 22, 2023 2 mins read

Environment

Homo sapiens in Europe used bow-and-arrow 54,000 years ago: study

A cave in southern France has revealed evidence of the first use of bows and arrows in Europe by modern humans some 54,000 years ago, far earlier than previously known.. But the oldest previous evidence of archery in Europe was the discovery of bows and arrows in peat bogs of Northern Europe, notably Stellmoor in Germany, dating back 10,000 to 12,000 years.

Wed, Feb 22, 2023 2 mins read

Environment

Google hails 'key milestone' in quantum computing

Google scientists said Wednesday they have passed a major milestone in their quest to develop effective quantum computing, with a new study showing they reduced the rate of errors -- long an obstacle for the much-hyped technology.. Julian Kelly, another study co-author, hailed the development as "a key scientific milestone", saying that "quantum error correction is the single most important technology for the future of quantum computing".

Wed, Feb 22, 2023 2 mins read

Environment

Paris protest against TotalEnergies East Africa oil pipeline

Activists in Paris Wednesday called out two banks involved in the financing of a controversial fossil fuel project in East Africa, part of a coordinated protest across a dozen cities worldwide. . The Equator Principles are a set of guidelines requiring banks to take into account the social and environmental impact of projects they finance.

Wed, Feb 22, 2023 2 mins read

Environment

Webb spots surprisingly massive galaxies in early universe

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted six massive galaxies that emerged not long after the Big Bang, a study said Wednesday, surprising scientists by forming at a speed that contradicts our current understanding of the universe.. For there to be such massive galaxies so soon after the Big Bang goes against the current cosmological model which represents science's best understanding of how the universe works.

Wed, Feb 22, 2023 3 mins read