Category: Environment

GENEVA, November 26, 2013 (AFP) – The giraffe-like Okapi and the White-winged Flufftail, one of Africa’s rarest birds, are on the verge of extinction, conversation body the IUCN warned on Tuesday. But it has been given a helping hand by the US National Park Service, via captive breeding, reintroduction, vaccination against canine diseases and relocation […]

SYDNEY, November 1, 2013 (AFP) – Plans to create two vast ocean sanctuaries in Antarctica to protect the pristine wilderness failed Friday for a third time with Russia and China blocking the bids, delegates at multi-nation talks said.The proposals for two huge Marine Protected Areas were on the table at the Commission for the Conservation […]

SYDNEY, October 28, 2013 (AFP) – An expedition to a remote part of northern Australia has uncovered three new vertebrate species isolated for millions of years, with scientists Monday calling the area a “lost world”.buy cymbalta Canada buy cymbalta Tim Laman, a National Geographic photographer and Harvard University researcher who joined Hoskin on the expedition, […]

WASHINGTON, October 18, 2013 (AFP) – A stunningly well-preserved skull from 1.8 million years ago offers new evidence that early man was a single species with a vast array of different looks, researchers said Thursday.With a tiny brain about a third the size of a modern human’s, protruding brows and jutting jaws like an ape, […]

WASHINGTON, October 9, 2013 (AFP) – Astronomers said Wednesday they have found a lonely planet outside the solar system floating alone in space and not orbiting a star.Other telescopes in Hawaii showed that the planet has similar properties to those of gas giants orbiting around young stars, but PSO J318.5-22 lacks a host star. During […]

WINNIPEG, September 27, 2013 (AFP) – As desertification creeps into parts of the world, a rare stretch of sand in Canada’s vast western plains is oddly doing the reverse — slowly sprouting with vegetation. Tufts of prairie grasses are emerging throughout Spirit Sands, a stretch of dunes steeped in local lore in a popular nature […]

NEW YORK CITY, September 24, 2013 (AFP) – Mexico’s former president Felipe Calderon said that climate action can boost both developed and emerging countries as he led a new commission bringing together government and business leaders.In an initiative being launched Tuesday on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly, Calderon will chair a report […]

TOKYO, September 18, 2013 (AFP) – Beluga whales at an aquarium near Tokyo are learning how to paint pictures as part of an autumn art programme for visitors, an official said Wednesday.The sea creatures at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama will be showing off their skills with specially adapted paintbrushes that they can […]

SYDNEY, August 22, 2013 (AFP) – Solving the mystery of how 900-year-old African coins ended up in remote Australia could not only recast the history of foreign contact Down Under, but shed light on Aboriginal rock art.What the researchers did uncover was the Aboriginal rock art and some potential evidence of shipwrecks — a not […]

PARIS, August 20, 2013 (AFP) – The larva of a Vietnamese moth has devised a unique form of transport — constructing a leaf cone and thrashing about inside to make it jump, a study showed Wednesday.Even more remarkably, the tiny caterpillar manages to steer its leafy vehicle in a clear direction along the forest floor […]

WASHINGTON, August 21, 2013 (AFP) – Human activity is almost certainly the cause of climate change and global sea levels could rise by several feet by the end of the century, according to an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report leaked to media on Tuesday.The draft summary of the report all but dismissed recent […]

SYDNEY, August 14, 2013 (AFP) – Dwarf minke whales have been tagged and tracked in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in a world-first pilot study which hopes to solve the mystery of where they spend the summer. Scientists at James Cook University in Queensland state are taking part in the project, also involving researchers from Alaska, […]