Environment

Study eyes US cooperation with Pakistan amid China rise

The United States needs to keep engaging Pakistan despite lingering distrust over Afghanistan, with investment and climate cooperation key to reducing the South Asian nation's growing reliance on China, a study group recommended Tuesday.. Instead, the United States can "help build Pakistan's capacity for transparency and compliance" on Chinese loans and can reduce reliance on China by encouraging investment by US companies and others, it said.

Tue, Oct 4, 2022 2 mins read

Environment

Alain Aspect, Nobel-winning father of quantum entanglement

Alain Aspect, who won a long-expected Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday, not only helped prove the strange theory of quantum entanglement but also inspired a generation of physicists in his native France, according to former students and colleagues.. Aspect had been expected to win the Nobel for years, with Chris Phillips, a physicist at Imperial College London, saying "the prize was long overdue".

Tue, Oct 4, 2022 3 mins read

Environment

The Nobel winners who helped prove quantum 'spooky action'

Physicists Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger developed experimental tools that helped prove quantum entanglement -- a phenomenon Albert Einstein famously dismissed as "spooky action at a distance" -- is real, paving the way for its use in powerful computers.. - Anton Zeilinger -  Nicknamed the "quantum pope", the physicist Anton Zeilinger, born in 1945 in Ried im Innkreis in Austria, became one of the most famous scientists in his country by succeeding for the first time in 1997 in quantum teleportation of light particles.

Tue, Oct 4, 2022 3 mins read

Environment

Plastic gobbling enzymes in worm spit may help ease pollution

Enzymes found in the saliva of wax worms can degrade one of the most common forms of plastic waste, according to research published Tuesday that could open up new ways of dealing with plastic pollution.. But those contained in the saliva the wax worm moth (Galleria mellonella) can act in only a few hours, Tuesday's research showed. 

Tue, Oct 4, 2022 2 mins read

Environment

Rubbish reform: changes to waste management could slash emissions

Reforms to the way that societies collect and treat their waste could slash global emissions of planet-heating methane, a new report said Monday, noting that simple measures like composting were a climate solution "staring us in the face". . "Better waste management is a climate change solution staring us in the face," said report co-author Neil Tangri of GAIA.   "It doesn't require flashy or expensive new technology -- it's just about paying more attention to what we produce and consume, and how we deal with it when it is no longer needed."

Mon, Oct 3, 2022 2 mins read

Environment

Chile's distant paradise where scientists study climate change

Hidden inside pristine forests in Chile's deep south, known as the end of the world, lie potential early warning signs of climate change.. - Moss and lichen on the move - At this latitude -- 55 degrees south -- climate change has an exponential effect on flora that react by seeking out low temperatures, said Rozzi, 61.

Mon, Oct 3, 2022 3 mins read

Environment

Why crypto's big 'merge' is causing big headaches

The biggest software upgrade in the short history of crypto has fulfilled its promise to wipe out more than 99 percent of the electricity used by the second-biggest cryptocurrency, experts have told AFP. That is no mean feat, given that the Ethereum blockchain was burning through about as much electricity as New Zealand.. Moritz Platt, a researcher specialising in crypto at King's College London, said the 99 percent estimates were realistic and heralded a positive step towards "cryptocurrency sustainability".

Mon, Oct 3, 2022 3 mins read

Environment

Nobel Physics Prize could focus on light

Bending and manipulating light to make objects invisible or harnessing it more efficiently to produce electricity are among the discoveries tipped to win the Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday.. So I don't think that's on the table this year," he told AFP. He said a likely pick could be Britain's John B. Pendry, who has become famous for his "invisibility cloak," where he uses materials to bend light to make objects invisible.

Mon, Oct 3, 2022 3 mins read

Environment

Australia lists small wallaby among new endangered species

Australia listed a small wallaby and the grey snake among 15 new threatened species on Tuesday as it launched a zero-extinction plan for its unique wildlife.. Among the 15 plants and animals listed as threatened are the vulnerable small parma wallaby, which faces danger from bushfires and predators, the endangered mildly venomous grey snake of Queensland, and the endangered small wingless matchstick grasshopper, which is sensitive to drought and frequent bushfires.

Mon, Oct 3, 2022 2 mins read

Environment

As Iraq concrete jungle swelters, ancient stone houses stay cool

As the sun beats down on Iraq, most people swelter in their concrete homes -- but not the inhabitants of one mountain town known for its ancient and cool stone houses. . But inside the house, the rooms are nice and cool thanks to its limestone walls.

Mon, Oct 3, 2022 3 mins read