The first stunning images from the James Webb Space Telescope were revealed this week, but its journey of cosmic discovery has only just begun. . While today's galaxies are shaped like spirals or ellipticals, the earliest building blocks were "clumpy and irregular," and Webb should reveal older redder stars in them, more like our Sun, that were invisible to the Hubble Space Telescope.
A baby elephant was dramatically rescued from a manhole in central Thailand after his mother was sedated to allow the operation to proceed, wildlife officials said.. Would-be rescuers were initially unable to help the baby elephant due to the presence of its worried mother, and were forced to tranquilise the older creature.
Vulnerable Pacific islands demanded "urgent, immediate" global action on climate change Thursday, while stressing a commitment to democracy and the "rules-based" international order in the face of growing Chinese regional influence.. "Urgent robust and transformative action" is needed "globally, regionally and nationally," they said.
Germany will on Thursday remember more than 180 people killed in severe floods a year ago, as concerns mount over climate change and the country looks to overhaul its planning for future disasters.. "I say that some areas should not be resettled due to climate change and the acute threat of severe weather disasters and floods," he said.
In a remote part of the Brazilian Amazon, a scientific expedition is cataloguing species.. - 'Science denialism' - "Most plant species in the Amazon are to be found in encroached areas," said Alberto Vicentini, another member of the expedition launched by Greenpeace.
Most of Spain was put on high alert Wednesday as temperatures rose above 45 degrees Celsius with swathes of western Europe hit by a second heatwave in a matter of weeks.. The highest temperature in Spain on Wednesday was recorded in the Andalusian city of Almonte where the mercury hit 45.6 degrees Celsius (114.1 Fahrenheit) at 5:30 pm (1530 GMT).
Mexico has declared a drought emergency to enable authorities to take special measures to guarantee water supplies in hard-hit areas.. The steps are designed to deal with the effects of a "severe, extreme or exceptional" drought, the national water authority Conagua said in a statement Tuesday.
The European Space Agency has officially terminated cooperation with Russia on a mission to put a rover on Mars, with Russia's space chief furiously responding by banning cosmonauts on the ISS from using a Europe-made robotic arm.. "Has the head of the European Space Agency thought about the work of thousands of scientists and engineers in Europe and Russia which has been ended by this decision?
France and Britain suffered soaring temperatures Wednesday, edging closer to the blistering heat already engulfing Spain and Portugal as wildfires destroyed vast stretches of Western European forestland.. The previous such phenomenon to blight France, Portugal and Spain occurred in mid-June.
Climate-threatened Pacific islands are pushing for the International Court of Justice to throw its weight behind efforts to arrest climate change, with the initiative gaining support at a key regional summit in Fiji Wednesday.. Pacific expert Wesley Morgan of the Climate Council said there is still a "robust discussion" about the exact question that would be put to the International Court of Justice.
