Circa 2017
Scientists in the Netherlands say they are close to a breakthrough which will allow crops to be grown in deserts. Many say this could completely alter life on the African continent and even end hunger.
Continue reading “Dutch scientists close to ‘breakthrough’ method of growing crops in deserts” »
https://youtube.com/watch?v=vgGi3a84fwM
But the above-ground structure of the Baekdu-daegan Seed Vault belies the true size of this sprawling underground structure.
The idea of building a Seed Vault in South Korea initially began with the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing in 2010. Officially launched in 2016 and designated a national security facility since 2019, the Baekdu-daegan Seed Vault’s main purpose is to secure biodiversity from threats such as natural disasters, climate change and war, to support sustainable life for human beings.
Continue reading “[Video] Inside Asia’s first underground seed vault” »
Two missions will study the hellish planet to piece together its climate past, look for volcanoes, and see if it was ever habitable.
NASA Administrator and former astronaut Senator Bill Nelson announced today that the agency would be sending two missions to Venus. The two missions, called DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, will respectively study the planet’s atmosphere and geological history.
Continue reading “NASA is going back to Venus after 30 years for an apocalyptic reason” »
5. Mars meteorite ALH 84001
These space “mushrooms” were not the first claim of alien life. On August 7, 1996, the then-President Bill Clinton stood on the White House lawn and announced the possibility that scientists had discovered the ancient, fossilized remains of micro-organisms in a meteorite that had been recovered from Antarctica in 1984.
Continue reading “Five times we thought we found aliens but probably didn’t” »
Germany will invest more than 8 billion euros ($9.74 billion) to fund large-scale hydrogen projects, the Economy and Transport ministries said on Friday, in a step to scale up hydrogen as an alternative to fossil fuels to meet climate targets.
The 62 German projects, supporting chemical, steel and transport industries, are part of a joint European hydrogen project called Hydrogen-IPCEI, the ministries added.
“The fact is: we must and WANT to urgently promote the switch to climate-friendly mobility,” said Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer in a statement.
Rift Valley fever used to mostly affect livestock in Africa. But the virus that causes it is also spread by mosquitoes whose habitats are expanding because of climate change. If it were to make its way to the rest of the world, it would decimate livestock causing agricultural collapse as well as affecting human health.
In 2015 the Zika virus triggered a global health crisis that left thousands of parents devastated. The virus can cause serious problems in pregnancy, leading to babies with birth defects called microcephaly and other neurological problems. But Zika is not the only virus that can be devastating to pregnant women and their babies; there is another with pandemic potential that could be even more deadly – Rift Valley fever.
The placenta that encases the baby acts as a fortress against many pathogens, but a few can evade its defences. Rift Valley fever is one of them – a 2019 study shows that the virus has the ability to infect a specialised layer of placental cells that carry nutrients to the baby, something that even Zika may not be capable of. In cattle and other livestock, in which the virus spreads, infection can cause more than 90% of pregnant cows to miscarry or deliver stillborn calves. Although the virus kills fewer than 1% of people it infects, it is the risk to babies, and the lasting neurological effects in adults, that is of great concern.
Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, is an innovative conservation biologist, who is Founder and President of the non-profit Amazon Biodiversity Center, the renowned Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, and the person who coined the term “biological diversity”.
Dr. Lovejoy currently serves as Professor in the department of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University, and as a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation based in Washington, DC.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=3iS5f716oYQ
Here’s what we already know about Ford’s electric F-150.
Ford is set to unveil its next major electric vehicle, the F-150 Lightning, at 9:30PM ET on Wednesday, May 19th. But this isn’t just another EV event. An electric version of the automaker’s iconic F-series pickup truck is a very big deal for Ford, for the auto world, for car buyers, and even for the US economy.
As climate change fuels more intense storms, Deltec and other companies build hurricane-proof homes.
A lava flow from Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano enters the ocean near Isaac Hale Beach Park on August 5, 2018. The volcano’s 2018 eruption was its largest in over 200 years. Credit: USGS
Scientists have figured out what triggers large-scale volcanic eruptions and what conditions likely lead to them.
Hawaii’s Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Because of this and its relative ease of accessibility, it is also among the most heavily outfitted with monitoring equipment – instruments that measure and record everything from earthquakes and ground movement to lava volume and advancement.
