Year: 2023

Earth has sweltered through its hottest Northern Hemisphere summer ever measured, with a record warm August capping a season of brutal and deadly temperatures, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Last month was not only the hottest August scientists ever recorded by far with modern equipment, it was also the second hottest month measured, behind only July 2023, WMO and the European climate service Copernicus announced Wednesday. August was about 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial averages. That is the threshold that the world is trying not to pass, though scientists are more concerned about rises in temperatures over decades, not merely a blip over a month’s time. The world’s oceans — more than 70% of the Earth’s surface — were the hottest ever recorded, nearly 21 C, and have set high temperature marks for three consecutive months, the WMO and Copernicus said. “The dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. “Climate breakdown has begun.” So far, 2023 is the second hottest year on record, behind 2016, according to Copernicus. Scientists blame ever warming human-caused climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas with an extra push from a natural El Nino, which is a temporary warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide. Usually an El Nino, which started earlier this year, adds extra heat to global temperatures but more so in its second year. Climatologist Andrew Weaver said the …

Green hydrogen is being touted around the world as a clean energy solution to take the carbon out of high-emitting sectors like transport and industrial manufacturing. The India-led International Solar Alliance launched the Green Hydrogen Innovation Centre earlier this year, and India itself approved $2.3 billion for the production, use and export of green hydrogen. Global cooperation on green hydrogen manufacturing and supply is expected to be discussed by G20 leaders at this week’s summit in New Delhi. What is green hydrogen? Hydrogen is produced by separating that element from others in molecules where hydrogen occurs. For example, water — well known by its chemical symbol of H20, or two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom — can be split into those component atoms through electrolysis. Hydrogen has been produced and used at scale for over a century, primarily to make fertilizers and plastics and to refine oil. It has mostly been produced using fossil fuels, especially natural gas. But when the production is powered by renewable energy, the resulting hydrogen is green hydrogen. The global market for green hydrogen is expected to reach $410 billion by 2030, according to analysts, which would more than double its current market size. However, critics say the fuel is not always viable at scale and its “green” credentials are determined by the source of energy used to produce it. What can green hydrogen be used for? Green hydrogen can have a variety of uses in industries such as steelmaking, concrete production and manufacturing …

Israeli archaeologists on Wednesday displayed four Roman-era swords and a javelin discovered inside a cave in the Judean desert, where they had been preserved for nearly 1,900 years. The archaeologists said the ancient weapons were believed to have been used during the Bar Kokhba revolt of Jews against the Romans in the second century. “It’s a very unique and important discovery, which is unprecedented in Israel,” Eitan Klein, director of Israel Antiquities Authority, told journalists at an event showcasing the weapons. “We suppose that Jewish rebels took the weapons as booty from Roman units or they were collected in the battlefield and they were hidden in a cave as a cache of swords to be used or reused in future battles.” The weapons were found in June, deeply wedged behind a wall of stalactites and preserved in wood and leather scabbards. Without specifying the location for fear of lootings, Klein said the discovery was made on Israeli territory in an area close to the Ein Gedi natural reserve. “We are just beginning to understand what these could be,” said Guy Stiebel, professor at the Tel Aviv University who specializes in the Roman empire. “It’s not just about the Jews: it’s about the Romans; it’s about the whole Roman empire.” Stiebel said the weapons were well preserved with their iron blades, sheaths and handles still intact. “The fact that the climate is so arid and dry in the Judean desert enables us every now and then to discover such discoveries,” he …

Bangladesh is experiencing its most severe dengue outbreak on record, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, partly blaming climate change for contributing to the spread of such mosquito-borne diseases.  Since the outbreak began in April, more than 135,000 dengue cases and 650 deaths have been recorded in the world’s eighth most populous country, the U.N. agency said.  More than 300 deaths from dengue were reported last month alone, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online news conference.  “The outbreak is putting huge pressure on the health system,” he said.  While cases were beginning to decline in the capital Dhaka, they were increasing in other parts of the country, he added.  The WHO said it has deployed experts on the ground in Bangladesh, and is supporting authorities to strengthen surveillance, boost laboratory capacity and increase communication with affected communities.  Dengue is a disease endemic to tropical areas that causes high fevers, headaches, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain and, in the most serious cases, bleeding that can lead to death.  The WHO has warned that dengue — and other diseases caused by mosquito-borne viruses such as chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika — are spreading faster and further due to climate change.  The agency’s alert and response director Abdi Mahamud told the conference that such outbreaks were a “canary in the coal mine of the climate crisis.”  He said that a combination of factors including climate change and this year’s El Nino warming weather pattern had contributed to severe dengue outbreaks in several …

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed a process that uses polluted water to produce hydrogen while purifying the water at the same time. VOA’s Julie Taboh reports on advances in the fossil fuel alternative. …

Greece is working with Israel on developing artificial intelligence technology that would help in early detection of dangerous wildfires, the Greek prime minister said Monday. After talks with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, Kyriakos Mitsotakis also said that Israel could be brought into the European Union fold when it comes to civil protection initiatives to better coordinate firefighting efforts. Israel and Cyprus are among several countries that have dispatched firefighting aircraft and crews to help battle wildfires in Greece that consumed vast tracts of forest over the last two months, including the EU’s largest such blaze on record that claimed the lives of 20 people. Mitsotakis said Greece could act as a proving ground for Israeli AI technology in the early detection of wildfires. “We are already talking to Israel about AI-based solutions that will offer us early detection capabilities,” added Mitsotakis. Netanyahu said the three leaders discussed “going well beyond” dispatching firefighting aircraft and crews by deploying AI systems for early detection. “This is really one of those areas where when we say we’ll do it better together, there’s no question that that’s the case,” Netanyahu said. The three leaders said they delved into how to harness recent natural gas discoveries in Israeli and Cypriot waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Netanyahu said decisions on how Israel and Cyprus will export natural gas to foreign markets will have to be made within the next three to six months. Israel …

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Monday a 20.7 billion yen ($141 million) emergency fund to help exporters hit by a ban on Japanese seafood imposed by China in response to the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. The discharge of the wastewater into the ocean began Aug. 24 and is expected to continue for decades. Japanese fishing associations and groups in neighboring countries have strongly opposed the release, and China immediately banned all imports of Japanese seafood. Hong Kong has banned Japanese seafood from Fukushima and nine other prefectures. Chinese trade restrictions have affected Japanese seafood exporters since even before the release began, with shipments held up at Chinese customs for weeks. Prices of scallops, sea cucumbers and other seafood popular in China have plunged. The ban has affected prices and sales of seafood from places as far away from Fukushima as the northern island of Hokkaido, home to many scallop growers. Kishida said the emergency fund is in addition to 80 billion yen ($547 million) that the government previously allocated to support fisheries and seafood processing and combat damage to the reputation of Japanese products. “We will protect the Japanese fisheries industry at all costs,” Kishida said, asking people to help by serving more seafood at dinner tables and other ways. The money will be used to find new markets for Japanese seafood to replace China and fund government purchases of seafood for temporary freezing and storage. The government will also seek …

Four astronauts returned to Earth early Monday after a six-month stay at the International Space Station. Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Atlantic off the Florida coast. Returning were NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren “Woody” Hoburg, Russia’s Andrei Fedyaev and the United Arab Emirates’ Sultan al-Neyadi, the first person from the Arab world to spend an extended time in orbit. Before departing the space station, they said they were craving hot showers, steaming cups of coffee and the ocean air since arriving in March. Their homecoming was delayed a day because of poor weather at the splashdown locations, but in the end, provided a spectacular middle-of-the-night show as the capsule streaked through the sky over Cape Canaveral toward a splashdown near Jacksonville. The astronauts said it was incredible to be back. “You’ve got a roomful of happy people here,” SpaceX Mission Control radioed. SpaceX launched their replacements over a week ago. Another crew switch will occur later this month with the long-awaited homecoming of two Russians and one American who have been up there an entire year. Their stay was doubled after their Soyuz capsule leaked all of its coolant and a new craft had to be launched. Between crew swaps, the space station is home to seven astronauts. …

Nuclear fusion has excited scientists for decades with its potential to produce abundant carbon-free energy. In the Pacific Northwest state of Washington, one startup is hoping to win the race to develop the technology that finally makes that power available to consumers. From Seattle, Phil Dierking has our story. (Camera and Produced by: Philip Dierking) …

With their outsized ears and fluffy fur, rabbits are often seen as cute and harmless. Yet the creature is behind one of the globe’s most harmful biological invasions, ravaging Australia, whose efforts to limit the problem have tended only to make things worse.  Back in 1859, a mere 24 European breeding rabbits, scientific name Oryctolagus cuniculus, disembarked from England, brought over by Thomas Austin, who enjoyed hunting parties on his Victoria estate.   But 150 years on, and according to a 2022 study by PNAS, a peer reviewed journal of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, some 200 million rabbit colonizers now roam the land of the kangaroo, devouring vegetation as they go, laying waste to native plant species, causing habitat degradation and threatening the survival of numerous native species.  With as many as seven annual litters — each with an average of five offspring who reach sexual maturity from the age of 3-4 months — the rabbit can spread its presence very quickly.  From its early years Down Under, the creature benefited from the general absence of predators and its ability to adapt to its new climate.  That enabled it to spread out by some 110 kilometers (65 miles) a year. Within 70 years, it had occupied around 70 percent of Australia’s land mass.   That made it “the fastest known invasion by a mammal anywhere in the world,” according to a report by Australia’s national science agency CSIRO.    Counting the cost    The rabbit may look small …

The news lit up the world of weed: U.S. health regulators are suggesting that the federal government loosen restrictions on marijuana. Specifically, the federal Health and Human Services Department has recommended taking marijuana out of a category of drugs deemed to have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” The agency advised moving pot from that “Schedule I” group to the less tightly regulated “Schedule III.” So what does that mean, and what are the implications? Read on. First of all, what has actually changed? What happens next? Technically, nothing yet. Any decision on reclassifying — or “rescheduling,” in government lingo — is up to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which says it will take up the issue. The review process is lengthy and involves taking public comment. Still, the HHS recommendation is “paradigm-shifting, and it’s very exciting,” said Vince Sliwoski, a Portland, Oregon-based cannabis and psychedelics attorney who runs well-known legal blogs on those topics. “I can’t emphasize enough how big of news it is,” he said. It came after President Joe Biden asked both HHS and the attorney general, who oversees the DEA, last year to review how marijuana was classified. Schedule I put it on par, legally, with heroin, LSD, quaaludes and ecstasy, among others. Biden, a Democrat, supports legalizing medical marijuana for use “where appropriate, consistent with medical and scientific evidence,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday. “That is why it is important for this independent review to go through.” So …

India’s moon rover has completed its walk on the lunar surface and been put into sleep mode less than two weeks its historic landing near the lunar south pole, India’s space mission said. “The rover completes its assignments. It is now safely parked and set into sleep mode,” with daylight on that part of the moon coming to an end, the Indian Space Research Organization said in a statement late Saturday. The rover’s payloads are turned off and the data it collected has been transmitted to the Earth via the lander, the statement said. The Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover were expected to operate only for one lunar day, which is equal to 14 days on Earth.  “Currently, the battery is fully charged. The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected Sept. 22, 2023. The receiver is kept on. Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments!” the statement said. There was no word on the outcome of the rover searches for signs of frozen water on the lunar surface that could help future astronaut missions, as a potential source of drinking water or to make rocket fuel. Earlier this week, the the space agency said the moon rover confirmed the presence of sulfur and detected several other elements. The rover’s laser-induced spectroscope instrument also detected aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen and silicon on the surface, it said. The Indian Express newspaper said the electronics on board the Indian moon mission …

A group of friends and neighbors meets for a weekly meal, choosing from a special menu of nutritious foods paid for by social programs meant to keep older adults eating healthy.   They’re all over 60, and between enjoying butternut squash soup, sandwiches, oats and eggs, they chat and poke fun about families, politics, and the news of the day.   But if you’re imagining people gathering for lunch in a senior center, think again.  Long before COVID put a pause on social gatherings, some senior centers were losing their lunch appeal. Others didn’t reopen after the pandemic.  Enter this elegant solution that’s gained popularity: Give some of the federal and state money set aside to feed seniors to struggling restaurants and have them provide balanced meals with more choices, flexible timing, and a judgment-free setting that can help seniors get together to chat and stem loneliness.  “Isolation is the new pandemic,” said Jon Eriquezzo, president of Meals on Wheels of New Hampshire’s Hillsborough County, which runs one such program, in addition to delivering meals to homebound seniors and senior centers. “Knocking on doors and seeing somebody who’s homebound is helpful. But getting people out to do this — the mutual support — you can’t beat that.”  Seniors are changing. They may still be working, taking care of grandchildren, and fitting in medical appointments, unable to show up at a set time for lunch or dinner. And after years of cooking for others, it’s nice to be able to sit …

After consulting with several doctors in the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, Aayat Hameed was advised to seek help from a mental health expert for her bouts of unspecified anxiety, random palpitation attacks and occasional but strong suicidal thoughts. A psychiatrist diagnosed her with acute depression. On a recent hot summer day, Hameed was among scores of other patients visiting a mental health clinic in Srinagar, where she had been undergoing rounds of counselling along with prescription medication. “I realized seeing a psychiatrist or reaching out to someone you trust really helps to deal with suicidal thoughts and depression,” Hameed said. She’s already recovered about 40% over the course of her one-month treatment, the young student said. For over three decades, Kashmiris have been living through multiple crises. Violent armed insurrections, brutal counterinsurgency, unparalleled militarization and securitization, and unfulfilled demands for self-determination have fueled depression and drugs in the disputed region, experts say. The stunning Himalayan region has been a flashpoint for more than 70 years for tensions and wars between rivals India and Pakistan, which both control part of it and lay claim to all of it. Despite the fierce fighting, the tight-knit Muslim families of Kashmir formed a durable safety net. That fell apart when an armed rebellion erupted in 1989. Since then, tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict that has left Kashmiris exhausted, traumatized and broken. Nearly every one of the Kashmir valley’s 7 million people has been …

Following the success of India’s moon landing, the country’s space agency launched a rocket on Saturday to study the sun in its first solar mission. The rocket left a trail of smoke and fire as scientists clapped, a live broadcast on the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) website showed. The broadcast was watched by nearly 500,000 viewers, while thousands gathered at a viewing gallery near the launch site to see the liftoff of the probe, which will aim to study solar winds, which can cause disturbance on Earth commonly seen as auroras. Named after the Hindi word for the sun, the Aditya-L1 launch follows India beating Russia late last month to become the first country to land on the south pole of the moon. While Russia had a more powerful rocket, India’s Chandrayaan-3 out-endured the Luna-25 to execute a textbook landing. The Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to travel about 1.5 million kilometers over four months to a kind of parking lot in space where objects tend to stay put because of balancing gravitational forces, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft. Those positions are called Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange. The mission has the capacity to make a “big bang in terms of science,” said Somak Raychaudhury, who was involved in the development of some components of the observatory, adding that energy particles emitted by the sun can hit satellites that control communications on Earth. “There have been episodes when major communications have gone down because a satellite …

The elephant population in southern Africa has increased by 5% since 2016 to nearly 228,000, according to results of a first ever aerial census conducted last year. However, there are concerns over the animals’ mortality rate. The elephants are mostly found in a large conservation area, the Kavango Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area, or KAZA. KAZA covers 520,000 square kilometers across Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe and contains the world’s largest elephant population. Presenting the census results Thursday, survey coordinator Darren Potgieter said the outcome shows a stable population. “Overall, across KAZA, the elephant population appears to be stable,” he said. “However, there is some variation within the different regions. Some areas have shown possible increases in elephant numbers, most remained stable while for some areas, potentially decrease in elephant numbers.” However, he raised concern about the number of dead elephants encountered during the counting exercise. More than 26,000 carcasses were reported. “That’s a high number, higher than what one would like to see, and it may be indicative of high mortality,” he said. “It is important to raise this as a red flag for the health of the population. It is important to conduct further investigation to understand the underlying reasons for this high level of mortality.” Potgieter said the reason for high mortality could be poaching, lack of habitat, an aging elephant population or diseases. In 2019, Botswana recorded more than 300 deaths due to elephants drinking water contaminated with bacteria. Malven Karidozo, representing the African Specialist Group, …

On Friday, Texas became the most populous state with a ban in effect against gender-affirming care for minors. The law was allowed to kick in after a court ruling Thursday, part of a flurry of action across the country on policies aimed at transgender people and their rights. A separate Texas ruling blocked a law that drag show performers feared would shut them down. Here’s a look at the latest developments and what’s next. Texas gender-affirming care ban takes effect In its ruling Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court allowed a law banning gender-affirming care including puberty blockers, hormones and surgery for minors. The ruling is not final, but allows enforcement of the law while courts determine whether it’s constitutional. The decision is also a reversal of a lower court from the week before, when a state judge had said the law should be put on hold while it’s sorted out. Since 2021, 22 Republican-controlled states have passed laws restricting access to gender-affirming care for minors. At least 13 states, meanwhile, have adopted measures intended to protect access. Several of the bans are so new that they haven’t taken effect yet. Missouri’s kicked in earlier this week. Enforcement of the laws in Arkansas, Georgia and Indiana are currently on hold. There are legal challenges to the policies across the country, and there isn’t a clear pattern for how courts handle them. None have reached a final court decision. Courts in three states hold hearings on care restrictions Two court hearings on …

The U.S. space agency NASA says a new 10-meter-wide crater on the moon “is likely the impact site of Russia’s Luna 25 mission.”   The Russian mission was aiming to pull off a soft landing on the moon’s south pole last month, but instead the spacecraft crashed on the moon.     NASA said, “the Russian spacecraft Luna 25 experienced an anomaly,” causing the spacecraft to crash on August 19.     NASA said Russia had pictures of the area surrounding the crash site that were taken in June 2022 and those photographs did not reveal a crater in the area.   “Since this new crater is close to the Luna 25 estimated impact point…  it is likely to be from that mission, rather than a natural impactor,” said the NASA report.     While Russia’s most recent moon mission failed, Russia was a space powerhouse in the 20th Century – launching Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the Earth, in 1957 and sending the first man – cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – into space in 1961. …

Releasing helium balloons and the use of thick shopping bags will be banned starting Friday in parts of Australia as state authorities there impose more restrictions on single-use plastic. Releasing helium balloons into the sky is now banned in the Australian state of Queensland. Research has shown that plastic balloons are a significant threat to seabirds, which can mistake them for food. There are also new bans in other parts of the country, including microbeads found in personal care and cleaning products. Western Australia is restricting the use of polystyrene packaging, while South Australia is banning single-use bowls and plates, starting Friday. There are exemptions for some businesses, including medical clinics and dental practices. The restrictions add to Australia’s existing waste laws. In 2018, the Queensland government outlawed single-use lightweight plastic shopping bags. In September 2021, the northern state expanded the ban to disposable plastic straws, cutlery, bowls and plates. Shane Cucow, plastics campaign manager at the Australian Marine Conservation Society, said more restrictions are now in place. “Across Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia a range of single-use plastics are being added to the bans,” he said. “In particular, what we are seeing is cotton bud sticks and microbeads being added to the bans. But also, in some of those jurisdictions things like expanded polystyrene loose-filled packaging, which is the highly light and easy to blow away kind of loose beads of packaging that you can sometimes find when things are being mailed out to people.” There are no …