Karachi, Pakistan Nuclear plants at risk: Pakistani activists are seeking to block the construction of two nuclear power plants in an earthquake-prone, coastal area that is vulnerable to tsunamis. The Chinese are building the two reactors—using an experimental design—less than 20 miles from the sprawling city of Karachi, where 20 million people would be at risk should a reactor meltdown […]
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The city of San Francisco is praising an addition to their “311” mobile application that is supposed to help the city deal with its growing homeless population. But the app is already under heavy criticism by anti-gentrification groups who say its unnecessary to report the homeless for interacting with the public, or for simply existing. Under Mayor Ed Lee’s watch, San Francisco’s homeless population has skyrocketed, increasing […]
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Researchers have identified a new mechanism that drives the development of form and structure, through the observation of artificial materials that shape-shift through a wide variety of forms which are as complex as those seen in nature. It’s curious to observe such life-like behavior in a non-living thing – in many cases, artificial objects can look more ‘alive’ than living […]
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A wild elephant went on a rampage in a village in India’s eastern West Bengal state on Wednesday, damaging around 100 structures, villagers said. Video taken in the village of Ektiasal showed the beast wandering around and knocking over flimsy huts. The elephant strayed into the village early in the morning and woke up villagers with its roaring. “The elephant […]
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“Colony collapse disorder” the mysterious, decade-long die-off among honeybees, is getting worse. A survey of about 5,000 beekeepers in the U.S. has found that they’ve lost about 42 percent of their colonies over just the past year. Even more alarming is the fact that honeybee deaths spiked in the summer, when bees are usually healthiest. “What we’re seeing with this […]
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An enormous iceberg in Antarctica has killed off 150,000 penguins and threatens to wipe out an entire colony, which has become trapped and unable to reach food. A study by researchers from New Zealand and Australia said only about 10,000 Adélie penguins have survived after an iceberg – labelled B09B – grounded in a bay in 2010. The grounding, at […]
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GRAPHIC WARNING: The following images depict violence which some readers may find disturbing. Syria’s civil war is the worst humanitarian disaster of our time. The number of innocent civilians suffering has surpassed more than 11 million. More than four years after it began, the full-blown civil war has killed over 220,000 people, half of whom are believed to be […]
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Breathalyzers could be used to curb alcohol abuse among scientists at US bases in Antarctica following “unpredictable behavior” caused by excess drinking, including fights and indecent exposure. Officials from the National Science Foundation told an audit of healthy and safety at the two US-run bases — McMurdo Station and the South Pole — that drinking has led to “unpredictable behavior […]
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A research paper published in Nature Climate Change predicts widespread death of needleleaf evergreen trees (NET) within the Southwest United States by the year 2100 under projected global warming scenarios. The research team that conducted the study, which includes University of Delaware’s Sara Rauscher, considered both field results and a range of validated regional predictions and global simulation models of […]
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On the mountainous outskirts of Shenzhen, a fast-growing mega-city in China, the largest waste-to-energy plant in the world is on the horizon. You can bet that this disk-shaped trash-burning plant isn’t going to do any wonders for China’s notoriously bad air quality. It’s projected to burn 5,500 tons of trash per day — one-third of the waste Shenzhen produces. But the alternative […]
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