Author: Sellheal

Mystery hunters converged on a Scottish lake on Saturday to look for signs of the mythical Loch Ness Monster. The Loch Ness Center said researchers would seek evidence of Nessie using thermal-imaging drones, infrared cameras and a hydrophone to detect underwater sounds in the lake’s murky waters. The two-day event is being billed as the biggest survey of the lake in 50 years and includes volunteers scanning the water from boats and the lakeshore, with others around the world joining in with webcams. Alan McKenna of the Loch Ness Center said the aim was “to inspire a new generation of Loch Ness enthusiasts.” McKenna told BBC radio the searchers were “looking for breaks in the surface and asking volunteers to record all manner of natural behavior on the loch.” “Not every ripple or wave is a beastie. Some of those can be explained, but there are a handful that cannot,” he said. The Loch Ness Center is at the former Drumnadrochit Hotel, where the modern-day Nessie legend began. In 1933, manager Aldie Mackay reported spotting a “water beast” in the mountain-fringed loch, the largest body of freshwater by volume in the United Kingdom and at up to 750 feet (230 meters) one of the deepest. The story kicked off an enduring worldwide fascination with finding the elusive monster, spawning hoaxes and hundreds of eyewitness accounts. Numerous theories have been put forward over the years, including that the creature may have been a prehistoric marine reptile, giant eels, a sturgeon or …

In a desperate measure to stop students from taking their own lives, authorities in the western Indian city of Kota — the country’s famous academic coaching hub — have directed all local hostels, guest houses and other accommodation facilities to install specially designed spring-fitted ceiling fans in rooms. The directive from the authorities came on Aug. 16, a day after an 18-year-old student at a test training school in Kota hanged himself from a ceiling fan in his room. It was the 22nd such suicide by a student in the city this year — the highest yearly toll since 2015. The chief minister of Rajasthan, where Kota is located, held an emergency meeting this week and set up a committee comprising senior government officials, representatives from coaching schools, parents and doctors to address the issue of suicide by the students in Kota. “We cannot allow the suicide cases to spike further. We do not want to see young students commit suicide,” said Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister. “The committee will investigate why the suicides are taking place and suggest ways to put a halt to these suicides.” In the past decade in Kota, more than 150 students who were preparing to sit for entrance exams for engineering and medical colleges died by suicide. In most cases, they hanged themselves from the ceiling fans. The spring-fitted fans that authorities have ordered to be fitted in the accommodations of students are designed to uncoil and lower the moment a load of more …

Four astronauts from four countries rocketed toward the International Space Station on Saturday. They should reach the orbiting lab in their SpaceX capsule Sunday, replacing four astronauts who have been living up there since March. A NASA astronaut was joined on the predawn liftoff from Kennedy Space Center by fliers from Denmark, Japan and Russia. They clasped one another’s gloved hands upon reaching orbit. It was the first U.S. launch in which every spacecraft seat was occupied by a different country — until now, NASA had always included two or three of its own on its SpaceX taxi flights. A fluke in timing led to the assignments, officials said. “We’re a united team with a common mission,” NASA’s Jasmin Moghbeli radioed from orbit. Added NASA’s Ken Bowersox, space operations mission chief: “Boy, what a beautiful launch … and with four international crew members, really an exciting thing to see.” Moghbeli, a Marine pilot serving as commander, is joined on the six-month mission by the European Space Agency’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan’s Satoshi Furukawa and Russia’s Konstantin Borisov. “To explore space, we need to do it together,” the European Space Agency’s director general, Josef Aschbacher, said minutes before liftoff. “Space is really global, and international cooperation is key.” The astronauts’ paths to space couldn’t be more different. Moghbeli’s parents fled Iran during the 1979 revolution. Born in Germany and raised on New York’s Long Island, she joined the Marines and flew attack helicopters in Afghanistan. The first-time space traveler hopes to show …

When members of the marine mammal team from the International Fund for Animal Welfare rush to a Cape Cod beach to help a stranded dolphin or porpoise, they have no choice but to treat the endangered animal on site and then immediately release it. That is about to change. The organization, which protects animals worldwide, is opening a first-of-its-kind short-term dolphin hospital on Cape Cod this month that it hopes will not only improve survivability rates, but also enhance the research it has developed over 25 years. Stranded marine mammals are stressed, in shock and dehydrated, said Brian Sharp, director of the rescue team. Simply caring for them at the scene is often not enough. They need additional diagnostics, treatment and recovery time. “With this ICU for dolphins, we’ll be able to get them treatment that’s needed, then be able to release them quickly,” he said. While there are marine mammal rehabilitation centers that can take care of animals for months or even years, the goal of this facility is to release them back into the ocean within four days, he said. “This is the first time that this has been attempted before,” Sharp said. There are more live marine mammal strandings on Cape Cod than anywhere else in the world, Sharp said. The welfare fund has responded to more than 400 live stranded dolphins, whales and porpoises in the region in the past five years alone, the organization said in a news release. Cape Cod is a good habitat …

Health authorities in Bangladesh are wrestling with a surge in dengue fever cases as monsoon rains batter the densely populated country. According to a World Health Organization report issued this month, “The higher incidence of dengue is taking place in the context of an unusual episodic amount of rainfall, combined with high temperatures and high humidity, which have resulted in an increased mosquito population throughout Bangladesh.” Almost 90,000 cases of the mosquito-borne viral illness had been reported his year through Aug. 15, according to government figures. Researchers and public health experts say  the true numbers are much higher. By mid-August, at least 426 people – 81 of whom were age 18 or younger – had died of the fever, according to the Directorate General of Health Services, making this the deadliest year since the first recorded epidemic in 2000. There are four strains of dengue, including the most life-threatening, hemorrhagic dengue. However, only patients with severe symptoms end up in hospitals, where the government collects data. Last year, 62,098 dengue cases were recorded in Bangladesh, with 281 deaths. The dengue virus is transmitted through the bite of infected female Aedes mosquitoes, which also transmit chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika infection and is a recurring problem in Bangladesh during the monsoon season. However, this year’s outbreak has been particularly severe, with the number of cases skyrocketing across urban and rural areas alike. “We have noticed the disease has changed its characteristics, and so do the mosquitos too. They’ve adapted and become …

U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday that he is planning to request more money from Congress to develop another new coronavirus vaccine, as scientists track new waves and hospitalizations rise, though not like before.  Officials are already expecting updated COVID-19 vaccines that contain one version of the omicron strain, called XBB.1.5. It’s an important change from today’s combination shots, which mix the original coronavirus strain with last year’s most common omicron variants. But there will always be a need for updated vaccines as the virus continues to mutate.  People should be able to start rolling up their sleeves next month for what officials hope is an annual fall COVID-19 shot. Pfizer, Moderna and smaller manufacturer Novavax all are brewing doses of the XBB update but the Food and Drug Administration will have to sign off on each, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must then issue recommendations for their use.  “I signed off this morning on a proposal we have to present to the Congress, a request for additional funding for a new vaccine that is necessary, that works,” Biden, who is vacationing in the Lake Tahoe area, told reporters on Friday.  He added that it’s “tentatively” recommended “that everybody get it,” once the shots are ready.  The White House’s $40 billion funding request to Congress on August 11 did not mention COVID-19. It included funding requests for Ukraine, to replenish U.S. federal disaster funds at home after a deadly climate season of heat and storms, and …

Operators of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant said Friday that initial ocean water samples taken since the discharge of wastewater from the plant were well within the acceptable range for radioactive material.  At a news conference near the plant in Fukushima prefecture, officials from the Tokyo Electric Power Company — TEPCO — told reporters they took samples Thursday of water from 10 locations within three kilometers of the power plant.   They reported all the samples showed the concentration of tritium — a radioactive material that is the biproduct of nuclear reactors — was below TEPCO’s self-imposed limit of 700 becquerels per liter. The World Health Organization has set a limit of 10,000 becquerels for drinking water. A becquerel is an internationally recognized unit of measure for radioactivity.  The testing and reports are part of Japan’s efforts to be transparent about the discharge of the treated radioactive water. TEPCO officials say the discharge is necessary to continue with the cleanup and decommissioning of the plant, which was damaged by a powerful earthquake and resulting tsunami in 2011.  Earlier Friday, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi held an online meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Chief Rafael Grossi to discuss the discharge of the water. The United Nations agency last month approved the planned discharge and Grossi reiterated on Friday that it was safe.  Nonetheless, the plan has been met with protests in Japan and abroad. China customs officials announced a ban on Japanese seafood, and South Korean political and civic …

Ukrainian soldier Ilya Mikhalchuk was wounded near Bakhmut and captured by Wagner Group mercenaries in February. He had both arms amputated while in captivity and was released in April. Thanks to volunteers, he is now in the U.S. getting prostheses. Iryna Shynkarenko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Kostiantyn Golubchyk. …

When Reed Cammack hears the first meadowlark of spring, he knows his family has made it through another cold, snowy winter on the western South Dakota prairie. Nothing’s better, he says, than getting up at sunrise as the birds light up the area with song. “It’s part of the flora and fauna of our Great Plains, and it’s beautiful to hear,” says Cammack, 42, a sixth-generation rancher who raises cattle on 4,047 hectares (10,000 acres) of mostly unaltered native grasslands. But the number of returning birds has dropped steeply, despite seemingly ideal habitat. “There are quite a few I don’t see any more, and I don’t know for sure why,” says Cammack’s 92-year-old grandfather, Floyd, whose family has allowed conservation groups to install a high-tech tracking tower and conduct bird surveys. North America’s grassland birds are deeply in trouble 50 years after adoption of the Endangered Species Act, with numbers plunging as habitat loss, land degradation and climate change threaten what remains of a once-vast ecosystem. Over half the grassland bird population has been lost since 1970 — more than any other type of bird. Some species have declined 75% or more, and a quarter are in extreme peril. And the 38% — 760,000 square kilometers (293,000 square miles) — of historic North American grasslands that remain are threatened by intensive farming and urbanization, and as trees once held at bay by periodic fires spread rapidly, consuming vital rangeland and grassland bird habitat. Biologists, conservation groups, government agencies and, increasingly, …

China’s biggest salt producer urged people against panic buying after Japan began discharging treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant on Thursday, despite firm opposition from Beijing. The state-run National Salt Industry Group, the world’s biggest common salt producer, said in a statement issued hours later that it was ramping up supplies as people in some parts of China had rushed to stock up. Salt shelves were emptied in supermarkets and sold out in online sales platforms in some places, including Beijing and Shanghai. China has opposed Japan’s action, saying the Japanese government had not proved that the water discharged would be safe and has banned the import of all aquatic products from Japan. “We are working overtime to produce, distribute and making all efforts to guarantee market supply,” the National Salt Industry Group said in its statement. “Please purchase rationally and do not panic buy blindly,” it said. The national salt group said sea salt only accounts for 10% of the salt people consume, the rest are well and late salt, which are safe from contamination. The group said its salt supply is ample and the stock shortfall would be temporary. Japan has criticized China for spreading “scientifically unfounded claims” and maintains the water release is safe, noting that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also concluded that the impact it would have on people and the environment was “negligible.” …

The death toll from an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Rzeszow, southeast Poland, has risen to five, local authorities said Thursday as they tried to detect the contamination source.  The fifth victim was a woman, 79, admitted to the hospital a few days ago.  “She was a patient with multiple long-term conditions, including cancer, and had been in the anesthesiology and intensive care ward,” the director of the Rzeszow municipal hospital, Grzegorz Materna, told state news agency PAP.  In all, at least 71 people have been hospitalized in the outbreak. Legionnaires’ disease, caused by Legionella bacteria, is not contagious and cannot be spread directly from person to person, but can multiply in water and air-conditioning systems. It causes pulmonary issues, especially for people with weak immune systems.  “The hypothesis of the municipal water supply network as the source of infection is being verified,” the Polish health ministry said Thursday on X, the app formerly known as Twitter, after an overnight emergency meeting in Rzeszow.  But the test results of samples taken from the water system are not expected until Monday.  In the meantime, the authorities in Rzeszow, a city of nearly 200,000 residents, vowed to carry out additional disinfection work.  According to the local authorities, all five victims in the Rzeszow outbreak were elderly people. …

The U.S. Justice Department is suing Elon Musk’s SpaceX for refusing to hire refugees and asylum-seekers at the rocket company. In a lawsuit filed on Thursday, the Justice Department said SpaceX routinely discriminated against these job applicants between 2018 and 2022, in violation of U.S. immigration laws. The lawsuit says that Musk and other SpaceX officials falsely claimed the company was allowed to hire only U.S. citizens and permanent residents due to export control laws that regulate the transfer of sensitive technology. “U.S. law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are advanced weapons technology,” Musk wrote in a June 16, 2020, tweet cited in the lawsuit. In fact, U.S. export control laws impose no such restrictions, according to the Justice Department. Those laws limit the transfer of sensitive technology to foreign entities, but they do not prevent high-tech companies such as SpaceX from hiring job applicants who have been granted refugee or asylum status in the U.S. (Foreign nationals, however, need a special permit.) “Under these laws, companies like SpaceX can hire asylees and refugees for the same positions they would hire U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents,” the Department said in a statement. “And once hired, asylees and refugees can access export-controlled information and materials without additional government approval, just like U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.” The company did not respond to a VOA request for comment on the lawsuit and whether it had changed its hiring policy. Recruiters discouraged refugees, …

On Wednesday, India became the first country to put an unmanned lander and robotic probe on the moon’s south pole. Experts say the mission marks a major milestone in the country’s efforts to emerge on the front lines of space exploration. Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi. …

The operator of the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant says it has begun releasing its first batch of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. In a live video from a control room at the plant Thursday, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings showed a staff member turn on a seawater pump, marking the beginning of the controversial project that is expected to last for decades. “Seawater pump A activated,” the main operator said, confirming the release was under way. Japanese fisher groups have opposed the plan out of worry of further damage to the reputation of their seafood. Groups in China and South Korea have also raised concern, making it a political and diplomatic issue. But the Japanese government and TEPCO say the water must be released to make room for the plant’s decommissioning and to prevent accidental leaks. They say the treatment and dilution will make the wastewater safer than international standards and its environmental impact will be negligibly small. But some scientists say long-term impact of the low-dose radioactivity that remains in the water needs attention. The water release begins more than 12 years after the March 2011 nuclear meltdowns, caused by a massive earthquake and tsunami. It marks a milestone for the plant’s battle with an ever-growing radioactive water stockpile that TEPCO and the government say have hampered the daunting task of removing the fatally toxic melted debris from the reactors. The pump activated Thursday afternoon would send the first batch of the diluted, treated water …

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the new BA.2.86 lineage of coronavirus may be more capable than older variants in causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received vaccines.  The CDC said it was too soon to know whether this might cause more severe illness compared with previous variants.  But because of the high number of mutations detected in this lineage, there are concerns about its impact on immunity from vaccines and previous infections, the agency said.  Scientists are keeping an eye on the BA.2.86 lineage because it has 36 mutations that distinguish it from the currently dominant XBB.1.5 variant.  The CDC, however, said virus samples are not yet broadly available for more reliable laboratory testing of antibodies.  The agency had earlier this month said it was tracking the highly mutated BA.2.86 lineage, which has been detected in the United States, Denmark and Israel.  CDC said Wednesday that the current increase in hospitalizations in the United States was not likely driven by the BA.2.86 lineage. …

The U.S. State Department, in coordination with other agencies from President Joe Biden’s administration, is seeking a six-month extension of the U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement (STA) that is due to expire on August 27. The short-term extension comes as several Republican congressional members voiced concerns that China has previously leveraged the agreement to advance its military objectives and may continue to do so. The State Department said the brief extension will keep the STA in force while the United States negotiates with China to amend and strengthen the agreement. It does not commit the U.S. to a longer-term extension. “We are clear-eyed to the challenges posed by the PRC’s national strategies on science and technology, Beijing’s actions in this space, and the threat they pose to U.S. national security and intellectual property, and are dedicated to protecting the interests of the American people,” a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday. But congressional critics worry that research partnerships organized under the STA could have developed technologies that could later be used against the United States. “In 2018, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) organized a project with China’s Meteorological Administration — under the STA — to launch instrumented balloons to study the atmosphere,” said Republican Representatives Mike Gallagher, Elise Stefanik and others in a June 27 letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “As you know, a few years later, the PRC used similar balloon technology to surveil U.S. military sites on U.S. territory — a clear violation of …

An Indian spacecraft has landed on the moon, becoming the first craft to touch down on the lunar surface’s south pole, the country’s space agency said. India’s attempt to land on the moon Wednesday came days after Russia’s Luna-25 lander, also headed for the unexplored south pole, crashed into the moon.   It was India’s second attempt to reach the south pole — four years ago, India’s lander crashed during its final approach.   India has become the fourth country to achieve what is called a “soft-landing” on the moon – a feat accomplished by the United States, China and the former Soviet Union.   However, none of those lunar missions landed at the south pole.  The south side, where the terrain is rough and rugged, has never been explored.   The current mission, called Chandrayaan-3, blasted into space on July 14. …

The World Meteorological Organization reports scorching heat waves that are causing deaths and discomfort for millions of people around the world will likely peak in certain regions by the end of the week. “It is the end of the meteorological summer at the end of August … the projections that we have got at the moment, certainly for central parts of Europe, is that these extreme temperatures should peak later this week,” said Clare Nullis, WMO spokesperson.  “But I do not have a crystal ball for what is happening in the rest of the season,” she said Tuesday. In the meantime, a forecast of extreme weather patterns gripping some parts of the world show that the heat waves, which have had a devastating impact this summer, principally in Greece, Italy, and Spain, have caught up with Switzerland with a vengeance. WMO reports that heat in Switzerland has reached new heights with much of the country under a level-three amber alert or “the top-level red alert — as with the case of Geneva — until Thursday.”  On Monday, Meteo-Suisse reported that Switzerland has a new altitude record for the freezing point of 5,298 meters or 17,381 feet. That means ice will not form on mountains below that altitude.  WMO glacier expert Matthius Huss said Monday that the expected altitude rise in the Alps during this ferocious heat wave is another blow for glaciers that have already strongly suffered this year. “Snow coverage is only present on the highest elevations,” he added. …

Indian scientists are aiming to put a lander on the moon Wednesday, hoping that the country will become the first to touch down on the lunar surface’s south pole.    India’s attempt will be made days after Russia’s Luna-25 lander, also headed for the unexplored south pole, crashed into the moon.   The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) expressed optimism about its moon mission on Tuesday. “The mission is on schedule. Systems are undergoing regular checks.  Smooth sailing is continuing. The Mission Operations Complex (MOX) is buzzed with energy & excitement!,” it said on X. It is India’s second attempt to reach the south pole — four years ago, India’s lander crashed during its final approach.   If the mission is successful, India would become the fourth country to achieve what is called a “soft-landing” on the moon – a feat accomplished by the United States, China and the former Soviet Union.   However, none of those lunar missions landed at the south pole. “If you look at the spacecrafts that went to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s, they all landed in latitudes somewhere around the equator or the center of the moon as we view it from the earth, because those are relatively easy to access,” explained Chaitanya Giri, Associate Professor, Environmental Sciences at Flame University, Pune.   The south side, where the terrain is rough and rugged, has never been explored.   The current mission, called Chandrayaan-3, that blasted into space on July 14 follows the earlier one that could not put …

Ecuadorians voted against drilling for oil in a protected area of the Amazon, an important decision that will require the state oil company to end its operations in a region that’s home to isolated tribes and is a hotspot of biodiversity. With over 90% of the ballots counted by early Monday, around six in 10 Ecuadorians rejected the oil exploration in Block 43, situated within Yasuni National Park. The referendum took place along with the presidential election, which will be decided in a runoff between leftist candidate Luisa González and right-wing contender Daniel Noboa. The country is experiencing political turmoil following the assassination of one of the candidates, Fernando Villavicencio. Yasuni National Park is inhabited by the Tagaeri and Taromenani, who live in voluntary isolation, and other Indigenous groups. In 1989, it was designated, along with neighboring areas, a world biosphere reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, also known as UNESCO. Encompassing a surface area of around 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres), the area boasts 610 species of birds, 139 species of amphibians and 121 species of reptiles. At least three species are endemic. “Ecuadorians have come together for this cause to provide a life opportunity for our Indigenous brothers and sisters and also to show the entire world, amidst these challenging times of climate change, that we stand in support of the rainforest,” Nemo Guiquita, a leader of the Waorani tribe, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. The referendum is the result …

U.S. regulators on Monday approved the first RSV vaccine for pregnant women so their babies will be born with protection against the respiratory infection. RSV is notorious for filling hospitals with wheezing babies every fall and winter. The Food and Drug Administration cleared Pfizer’s maternal vaccination to guard against a severe case of RSV when babies are most vulnerable — from birth through 6 months of age. The next step: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must issue recommendations for using the vaccine, named Abrysvo, during pregnancy. (Vaccinations for older adults, also at high risk, are getting underway this fall using the same Pfizer shot plus another from competitor GSK.) “Maternal vaccination is an incredible way to protect the infants,” said Dr. Elizabeth Schlaudecker of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, a researcher in Pfizer’s international study of the vaccine. If shots begin soon, “I do think we could see an impact for this RSV season.” RSV is a cold-like nuisance for most healthy people but it can be life-threatening for the very young. It inflames babies’ tiny airways so it’s hard to breathe or causes pneumonia. In the U.S. alone, between 58,000 and 80,000 children younger than 5 are hospitalized each year, and several hundred die, from the respiratory syncytial virus. Last year’s RSV season was extremely harsh in the U.S., and it began sickening tots in the summer, far earlier than usual. Babies are born with an immature immune system, dependent for their first few months on protection from mom. …

Practioners of traditional Chinese medicine use earthworms — dried to a powder or distilled in liquid — to treat fevers, arthritis, asthma and bronchitis. But overharvesting in China has nearly wiped out the country’s earthworm population. Now, hunters are poaching and purchasing earthworms unearthed in Vietnam, upsetting Vietnamese farmers who depend on them to keep their fields fertile and environment balanced. The earthworm rush has plagued Vietnam’s northern provinces, as poachers, driven by bounty offered by Chinese merchants, trespass private fields or fruit orchards to catch the invertebrate, the online VnExpress news outlet reported. Most of the hunters are Vietnamese, eager to cash in on the Chinese demand. The rush is yet another marker in the sometimes fraught, centuries-long relationship between China and Vietnam, its largest trading partner. The two nations have long been locked in a territorial dispute over islands, fishing grounds, and drilling rights for oil and gas in the South China Sea. Now, orange farmers in Hoa Binh province are on 24-hour alert to stop earthworm poachers, according to a VTC News report. The farmers have asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to help. VOA Vietnamese contacted the ministry but received no response. Catching earthworms is “easy money” for poachers, Vietnamnet newspaper reported, with each kilogram of wet earthworms fetching between $3 to $3.30. Some poachers can capture up to 100 to 120 kilograms of earthworms per night, earning hundreds of dollars, according to Vietnamnet. Using a battery-powered device, the hunters use electric pulses to …

Public utility regulators in Iowa will begin a hearing Tuesday on a proposed carbon dioxide pipeline for transporting emissions of the climate-warming greenhouse gas for storage underground that has been met by resistant landowners who fear the taking of their land and dangers of a pipeline rupture. Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed $5.5 billion, 3,219-kilometer pipeline network would carry CO2 from 34 ethanol plants in five states to North Dakota for storage deep underground — a project involving carbon capture technology, which has attracted both interest and scrutiny in the U.S. North Dakota regulators earlier this month denied a siting permit for Summit’s proposed route in the state, citing myriad issues they say Summit didn’t appropriately address, such as cultural resource impacts, geologic instability and landowner concerns. On Friday, Summit petitioned regulators to reconsider. Other similar projects are proposed around the country, including ones by Navigator CO2 Ventures and Wolf Carbon Solutions, which would also have routes in Iowa. Here is what to know about Summit’s project as more proceedings begin. What is carbon capture? Carbon capture entails the gathering and removal of planet-warming CO2 emissions from industrial plants to be pumped deep underground for permanent storage. Supporters view the technology as a combatant of climate change. But opponents say carbon capture and storage isn’t proven at scale and could require huge investments at the expense of cheaper alternatives such as solar and wind power, all at a time when there is an urgent need to phase out all fossil fuels. …

Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon. “The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon,” Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said Sunday. On Saturday, the agency said it had a problem with the craft and lost contact with it. The unmanned robot lander was set to land on the moon’s south pole Monday, ahead of an Indian craft scheduled to land on the south pole later this week. Scientists are eager to explore the south pole because they believe water may be there and that the water could be transformed by future astronauts into air and rocket fuel. Russia’s last moon launch was in 1976, during the Soviet era. Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. …