The world may be seriously underestimating the amount of plastic waste along its coastlines, researchers said Thursday as they unveiled findings showing hundreds of millions of plastic fragments on a remote Indian Ocean archipelago. A team of experts travelled to the Cocos Islands, a group of 27 small atolls 2,100
Scientists seeking to unlock the mysteries of human evolution have in recent years relied on increasingly sophisticated DNA techniques that provide “molecular clocks” to date the remains of our ancient ancestors. But a new analysis that instead examines fossil teeth provides an alternative approach — and one which yields a
Scientists on Wednesday said they could be a step closer to solving the riddle behind the Moon’s formation, unveiling the most detailed survey yet of the far side of Earth’s satellite. In January, the Chinese spacecraft Chang’e-4 — named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology — became the first
On December 11, 2017, US President Donald Trump signed a directive ordering NASA to prepare to return astronauts to the Moon “followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations.” The dates fixed by the space agency are 2024 for the Moon and Mars in 2033, but according to experts
Anyone who’s experienced a mother pushing them to get a move on and produce grandkids might just sympathise with this. A new study has described the outsized role bonobo moms play in their sons’ sex lives: from pulling rank to ensure their male offspring get to meet attractive ovulating females,
China has developed an app that allows conservationists to identify individual pandas using facial recognition technology, state-run Xinhua news agency reported Friday. Researchers have also built a database with over 120,000 images and 10,000 video clips of giant pandas that would allow them to correctly identify individual animals. “The app
Animal activists urged Kenya Thursday to ban the slaughter of donkeys for use in Chinese medicine, a practice which has soared in recent years and decimated African populations of the animal. Donkey skins are exported to China to make a traditional medicine known as ejiao, which is believed to improve
FOCUS By MUSSA HATTAR For more than a year after being moved to a Jordanian wildlife reserve from war-hit Syria, two bears, Loz and Sukkar, would cower whenever planes flew by, traumatised by past bombardments. They are among dozens of animals that have been rescued from regional war zones, including
FOCUS By FLORIAN SOENEN Headline-grabbing PR stunts have become the main tool of environmental pressure groups to turn up the heat on the companies behind the products that cause climate change and devastate the Earth’s natural resources. But campaigners are also diversifying their tactics, sometimes becoming active shareholders in corporations
FOCUS By JOSHUA MELVIN When Mary Ann San Jose moved to Sitio Pariahan more than two decades ago, she could walk to the local chapel. Today, reaching it requires a swim. The main culprit is catastrophic subsidence caused by groundwater being pumped out from below, often via unregulated wells for
