When scientists caught the aye-aye on video using its strangely thin, eight-centimetre-long middle finger to deeply pick its nose, it pointed towards a larger mystery: why exactly do some animals eat their own snot?. The middle fingers of aye-ayes are not only long and thin, but also have a unique ball and socket joint they use to knock on wood to locate grubs.
Whether they realised it or not, some 7.6 billion people -- 96 percent of humanity -- felt global warming's impact on temperatures over the last 12 months, researchers have said.. People in tropical regions and on small islands surrounded by heat-absorbing oceans were disproportionately impacted by human-induced temperature increases to which they barely contributed.
Cash is king in Italy, and the debate over limiting payments in notes and coins is heating up again under the country's new right-wing government.. However, an October 2021 Bank of Italy research paper found a direct correlation between the use of cash and the shadow economy, noting that restrictions on cash use "are an effective instrument to tackle tax evasion".
A minister in Scotland's devolved government resigned on Thursday over planned gender recognition legislation which has pitted First Minister Nicola Sturgeon against Harry Potter author JK Rowling.. Earlier this month Rowling, the author of the best-selling Harry Potter books, tweeted a picture of herself wearing a t-shirt reading: "Nicola Sturgeon: Destroyer of women's rights".
Tuberculosis has rebounded after years of decline, killing an estimated 1.6 million people in 2021, up 14 percent in two years, new World Health Organization figures showed Thursday.. An estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with TB in 2021 -- a 4.5 percent increase on 2020, the WHO said.
Country climate pledges leave the world on track to heat by as much as 2.6 degrees Celsius this century, according to a United Nations assessment Wednesday warning that emissions must fall 45 percent this decade to limit disastrous heating.. Last year the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change said that the world was likely to reach and even exceed the 1.5C Paris goal within decades, no matter how quickly emissions fall in the short term.
The world's top brewer AB InBev said Thursday that it enjoyed its best quarter of the year as sales volumes rose, triggering a jump in profits.. While surging inflation has been putting pressure on consumers everywhere, the maker of Budweiser and Corona beers still managed to boost its sales volumes in the July-September quarter.
A Thai media mogul and transgender rights campaigner has bought the firm that runs Miss Universe pageants for $20 million, according to a company announcement.. The next Miss Universe pageant is scheduled for the US city of New Orleans next January.
AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine has been linked to a 30-percent higher risk of getting a very rare blood clotting condition compared to the Pfizer jab, a large international study said Thursday.. That meant AstraZeneca's vaccine had a 30-percent higher risk of thrombocytopenia than Pfizer.
The United Nations is using before-and-after satellite imagery to monitor the cultural destruction inflicted by Russia's war in Ukraine, announcing Wednesday it will launch its tracking platform publicly within days.. UNESCO -- the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization -- has joined forces with the UN Satellite Centre UNOSAT. Based on reports on the ground, UNESCO sends a list of potentially damaged sites to UNOSAT. It then asks for satellite images from commercial suppliers and a small team of experts studies the difference in before-and-after pictures.
