As night fell in Mexico's Yucatan jungle, veterinarian Omar Garcia extracted blood and fluids from a bat as part of an investigation aimed at preventing the next potential pandemic.. Once caught, blood, fluid and ectoparasite samples -- if they carry them -- are taken.
An ice storm that battered eastern Canada left two dead and some million people without electricity on Thursday, as fallen trees blocked roads and downed power lines.. A few yards away, workers toiled with saws in hand to cut fallen trees blocking roads.
A supertanker bought by the United Nations to remove oil from a ship abandoned off war-ravaged Yemen's coast departed China on Thursday, the UN announced, calling it a "significant" step in efforts to prevent a major spill.. It was an unusual move for the agency, and was hailed as a breakthrough in efforts to avert a potentially catastrophic oil spill.
Walmart announced Thursday plans to add electric vehicle (EV) chargers to thousands of US stores in a sign of further mainstreaming of emission-free autos.. The US retail giant, which has EV chargers at a fraction of its US stores, plans to "build our own EV fast-charging network at thousands of Walmart and Sam's Club locations coast-to-coast," said a Walmart news release, noting that approximately 90 percent of the US population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart.
Protected Indigenous reservations in the Amazon rainforest absorb thousands of tonnes of airborne pollution each year, saving around $2 billion annually in healthcare costs for treating respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, according to a study published Thursday.. By protecting their own lands against such fires -- often set by land-grabbers, cattle ranchers and others encroaching on the forest -- and instead saving pollution-absorbing trees, Amazon Indigenous peoples help prevent thousands of cases of potentially deadly diseases, found the study, published in the journal Communications, Earth & Environment.
Rainforests on Indigenous lands in Brazil's Amazon protect millions of people from heart and lung diseases by absorbing pollution and save $2 billion a year in healthcare costs, researchers said in a study published Thursday, urging increased protection against deforestation.. Combined analysis of 10 years of data on disease, forest cover and pollution found that each hectare of forest burned generates health costs of $2 million (1.8 million euros) a year due to lung and heart infections, they said.
Antarctic ice-sheets risk breaking into the sea faster than previously thought in stretches of up to 600 metres a day, speeding up the rise in sea levels, new research indicates.. Global warming due to human-caused carbon emissions is reducing ice, raising warnings that dangerous "tipping points" could be reached, with sudden major melting driving sharp rises in sea level.
A thick layer of dust from the construction of a huge airport in Vietnam has been blanketing nearby neighbourhoods for months, staining everything from trees to homes to schoolchildren's uniforms a sickly shade of red.. A thick coating of dust could be seen in the yard of local schools, while pictures on state media showed textbooks, classrooms and children's uniforms had turned red after a school day.
Indonesian animal experts were preparing Thursday to conduct an autopsy on an 18-metre (59-foot) whale that died after washing up on a beach in Bali, conservation officials said.. But after swimming away it became stranded again just hours later on a different beach and died on the shore with no visible wounds, local marine and fisheries official Permana Yudiarso told AFP. "We are still investigating the cause of death.
Forget the Hollywood thriller "Snakes on a Plane", two commuters in Australia have dished up a platypus on a train. . The man and his female companion then wrapped it in a towel, "patting it and showing it to fellow commuters", police said.
