Month: June 2022
The war in Ukraine will not prolong coal reliance
The US envoy on climate change John Kerry has warned that the war in Ukraine must not be used as an excuse to prolong global reliance on coal. Climate diplomats meet again today in Bonn amid new, energy security worries. The fragile unity shown in Glasgow last November is likely to be tested in Bonn
China to go beyond Moon and Mars
Three Chinese astronauts have begun a six-month mission, to work on the country’s new space station. It is China’s latest step towards making itself a leading space power for the decades ahead. China is only the third country in history to have put both astronauts into space and to build a space station, after the
Central African Republic adopted Bitcoin
The Central African Republic’s decision to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender came as a surprise to many, but the government argues that it will secure an independent financial future for the country. The mineral-rich nation is ranked as one of the poorest in the world – a situation complicated by a near-decade-long civil war which
Making money from just surfing the internet
The level to which we are being tracked online in this way is somewhat unnerving. The average European has data about his or her internet usage shared 376 times a day, according to one recent study. For US surfers this almost doubles to 747.The tracked data helps the likes of Google and Facebook earn billions
Online Child Abuse
Digital fingerprints of a million images of child sexual abuse have been created. The Internet Watch Foundation charity, which is responsible for finding and removing such material online, said the fingerprints, known as hashes, would help companies and police find copies of the images. The database contains some of the most extreme content that appears online.
Coffee growing in DRC
The Democratic Republic of Congo is better known for the brutality of its many rebel groups than the quality of its coffee, but one project is trying to change that, writes Moses Sawasawa. An ideal climate and hilly terrain has seen generations of farmers grow Arabica coffee on Idjwi island in Lake Kivu, located between
Floods in Brazil
Severe flooding and mudslides have killed hundreds of people in Brazil over the past year. In February, more than 200 people died in and around Petrópolis, in the mountains north of Rio de Janeiro, when flash flooding destroyed hillside neighbourhoods. Residents of Brazil’s Pernambuco state fear that heavy rains forecast could cause fresh landslides. The
Breast Cancer Treatment
Breast cancer cells have receptors, which hormones attach to and which allow the tumour to grow. Cancer involving the hormone oestrogen is called oestrogen-receptor positive, or ER positive breast cancer. For patients who are diagnosed with incurable cancer, hormone treatment can help, but often patients become resistant to it. Millions could benefit after research into
COP26 pledges
In Glasgow, countries agreed to submit more ambitious climate plans, including cuts to emissions of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which causes climate change. Reducing emissions is needed to help keep temperature rises within 1.5C. Above this could cause “climate catastrophe. COP26 included a plan to reduce use of coal – which
Drought in Western part of US
A once-in-a-lifetime drought in the western part of the US is turning up dead bodies – but that’s the least of people’s worries. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States and provides water to 25 million people across three states and Mexico. Here, the stunning scale of a drought in the American