Environment

Race against time to rescue Argentina wine grapes

In Argentina's Valle de Uco wine region, at the foot of the Andes, frantic picking is under way to try and save what remains of what is predicted to be the worst grape harvest in decades. . - Worst harvest -  For Argentina as a whole, the 2023 harvest will not exceed 15.4 million tons of grapes, according to projections by the National Institute of Vitiviniculture (INV). 

Brazil's Lula irks foreign oil companies with new tax

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has not even been in power for 100 days but has already provoked the wrath of foreign oil companies with the creation of a new tax on crude exports.. It has attracted scorn not just from foreign oil companies, with newspaper O Globo calling it "a very bad idea" in a recent editorial.

Tornado hits southern California as wild weather continues

A tornado tore through a southern California city Wednesday, ripping roofs off buildings and throwing cars around, as the state's ongoing winter weather drama turned even wilder.. "I was driving... and I saw this tornado in front of me and had to reverse out," one local business owner told broadcaster KTLA. "The tornado took off the roof of the building.

Reagan's 'Star Wars' at 40: Battle of the satellites

Forty years after US president Ronald Reagan stunned the nation and world with his "Star Wars" plan to take nuclear competition into outer space, a new battle of the satellites has emerged in the stratosphere.. Nevertheless space ultimately has become a major theater of strategic competition -- just not the way Reagan envisioned.

Relativity Space to make third bid to launch 3D-printed rocket

The world's first 3D printed rocket is scheduled to make its third attempt to lift off on Wednesday for the maiden flight of an innovative spacecraft billed as being less costly to produce and fly.. - Built in 60 days - Relativity's goal is to produce a rocket that is 95 percent 3D printed.

DNA analysis of Beethoven's hair provides clues to his death

Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna nearly 200 years ago after a lifetime of composing some of the most influential works in classical music.. - Family secret - Beethoven, who was born in Bonn in 1770 and died in 1827, battled gastrointestinal problems at various times of his life as well as jaundice.

Scientists offer 'non-alien explanation' for interstellar visitor

When the first object ever known to have visited the Earth's Solar System from outer space zoomed past in 2017, it was so strange that at least one leading astronomer was convinced it was an alien vessel.. Astronomers had long been searching for comet-like objects entering the Solar System from the vastness of interstellar space, but had never before observed one. 

DNA analysis of Beethoven's hair provides clues to his death

Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna nearly 200 years ago after a lifetime of composing some of the most influential works in classical music.. - 'Acute illness' - Beethoven, who was born in Bonn in 1770 and died in 1827, battled gastrointestinal problems at various times of his life as well as jaundice.

Vienna museum tilts paintings to illustrate climate change threat

Gustav Klimt's well-known Attersee lake painting tilted by two degrees, Egon Schiele's painting of a tree in late autumn rotated by five degrees.. As part of the initiative "A Few Degrees More", Vienna's Leopold Museum has tilted 15 paintings by the number of degrees unchecked climate change could affect the landscapes depicted.