18 articles from SUNDAY 11.8.2019

'No need' for German Amazon subsidy: Brazil's Bolsonaro

Brasília (AFP) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday said his country has "no need" for German aid aimed at helping protect the Amazonian forest, after Berlin said it would suspend some payments because of surging deforestation. Brazil is home to more than 60 percent of the Amazon forest, which is being cleared at an increasing rate to create more cropland. The Amazon is vital to the...

Starwatch: the Perseids – our most reliable meteor shower

The annual display peaks in the early hours of Tuesday 13 August. Peak rates can reach one meteor every minuteOne astronomical event dominates all others this week. It is the annual Perseids meteor shower. This is a reliable meteor shower that can reach peak rates of one meteor every minute. The meteors are dust grains that were ejected as part of the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the...

The Guardian view on climate crisis: what can we do? | Editorial

Curbing meat and dairy consumption is critical to tackling global heating. But the issue must not be reduced to solely a question of personal choicesIt’s easy to despair. The scale of the problems we face looms as large as the shadows cast by unpalatable leaders. What stirs some into action for the first time leaves others feeling simply overwhelmed. What can any one person do?When the UN’s...

Inside the lab where Bill Gates’ TerraPower is inventing the future of nuclear energy

BELLEVUE, Wash. – Just a stone's throw away from Interstate 90's crush of traffic, a decade-old startup founded by Bill Gates is running tests aimed at building the next generation of nuclear reactors. You'll find no more than a smidgen of radioactive material at the privately funded venture, known as TerraPower. But if Microsoft's co-founder and TerraPower's other leaders...

Climate change 'getting worse faster than we are mobilizing to solve it': Al Gore

Former Vice President Al Gore called for unity and urgency in the American response to climate change, saying he was encouraged by growing climate activism around the world, but alarmed by what he said is the imminence of irreversible, continuing environmental damage. "There’s both bad news and good news," he said in an interview with ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl....

Ditch your air-conditioning. You'll be fine | Franklin Schneider

A hot room won’t usually kill you, but a hot planet will. If you feel sweaty, just imagine how your grandchildren are going to feel We think of air conditioning as a “first world” luxury, but it’s really more of an American one. In Europe, fewer than 5% of households have air conditioning, according to the International Energy Agency, and even in hot regions like Africa, Latin America and...

Myanmar troops help flood rescue after landslide kills 51

Myanmar troops deployed to flood-hit parts of the country on Sunday to help with relief efforts after rising waters left thousands stranded and the death toll from a landslide jumped to 51. Hundreds of emergency response workers were still pulling victims out of the muddy wreckage in Paung township on...

Dig in! Archaeologists serve up ancient menus for modern tables

Porridge, loaves and sauces Egyptians and Romans consumed have become today’s cookbook crazeDuring a 1954 BBC documentary about Tollund Man, the mysterious body of a hanged man discovered in a peat bog in Denmark, the noted archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler ate a reconstruction of the 2,000-year-old’s last meal. After tasting the porridge of barley, linseed and mustard seeds, he dabbed at his...

Lasers and Machine Guns: Why Russia Should Fear France’s Killer Satellites

France is arming its orbital satellites with lasers and machine guns.“If our satellites are threatened, we envisage blinding those of our enemies,” said Defense Minister Florence Parly. “We will judge the moment and the means of retaliation, but it could mean the use of powerful lasers deployed from our satellites or from patrolling nano-satellites.”“The next generation of Syracuse...

When light is lethal: Moroccans struggle with skin disorder

Determined for her 7-year-old son to attend school despite a life-threatening sensitivity to sunlight, Nadia El Rami stuck a deal with the school's director: Mustapha would be allowed in the classroom, but only if he studies inside a cardboard box. Mustapha Redouane happily accepted the arrangement. Now 8, Mustapha has already had 11 operations to remove cancerous growths on his...

The five: chimeras created by science

A chimera is an organism with genetic material from two or more sources. Experiments in the field may save lives but are ethically controversialLast week, researchers led by Spanish scientist Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte announced they had created the first human-monkey chimera embryos in China. The purpose of the experiment is to investigate ways of using animals to grow human organs for...

For women like me, postponing the menopause would be a blessing | Sonia Sodha

Scientific advances that prolong fertility can only be a benefit to many would-be mothersLet us imagine for a moment that we lived in a world where male fertility dropped off a cliff by the time men hit their mid 40s, leaving a group of men who wanted to have children but couldn’t. When would science have produced a fix?I am going to hazard a guess that it would have been quite some time ago....

The good old days? Look deeper and the myth of ideal communities fades | Jon Lawrence

As studies of kinship show, many people were glad to escape the strains of close-knit livingIn the countdown to a possible no-deal exit from the EU, there are some who cling to an optimistic narrative that our community spirit will get us through. Indeed, recent experiences in Whaley Bridge lend some support to the idea that in a crisis community is revealed. The irony is that, in part, the whole...

Archaeological dig in Jerusalem unearths evidence of biblical Babylonian conquest

One month after offering up archaeological evidence to back up a contested claim about the First Crusade, researchers say they've found traces of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in a deeper layer of their excavation on Mount Zion. The newly reported find demonstrates how the site, just outside the walls of the Old City's Tower of David citadel, serves as a "time machine"...