Category: Environment

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, […]

Aug 03, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Dipped Products Plc, a top glove exporter says its factory is not polluting groundwater but production has been halted until further tests are carried out by authorities.The Industrial Technology Institute, National Water Supply and Drainage Board, Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, University of Moratuwa and the University of […]

Aug 02, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Dipped Products, a unit of Hayleys group which exports gloves said it hoped to resume production which stopped Wednesday following protests over claims that it was polluting ground water.The firm did not specify a date to resume operations but said it was working towards an “early settlement”. Dipped […]

Aug 02, 2013 (LBO) – Elected representatives of Sri Lanka’s Gampaha district met Friday and decided to increase the distribution of water by bowser to villagers who were protesting about tainted water, one whom was shot dead by security forces. Sri Lanka’s economic development minister Basil Rajapaksa had convened a meeting of factions of elected […]