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More than 100 nations take action to save oceans from human harm

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  More than 100 nations take action to save oceans from human harm Envoys at Brest summit sign up to measures to tackle fight against illegal fishing and cut pollution France's president, Emmanuel Macron, talks with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, at the One Ocean summit in France.  Photograph: Ludovic Marin/EPA Representatives from more than 100 countries have committed to measures aimed at preserving the ocean from human harm, including stepping up the fight against illegal fishing, cutting plastic pollution and better protecting international waters. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, hosting the high-level session  of the One Ocean summit  on Friday, said 2022 was “a decisive year, and we should take here, in Brest, clear and firm commitments.” The US climate envoy, John Kerry, said it was “the ocean that makes life on Earth possible, produces more than half of the oxygen we breathe – and even that is at risk. The ocean and climate are inextricab...

Customs intercepts N3.1bn pangolin scales, elephant tusks enrooted Asia

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  Customs intercepts N3.1bn pangolin scales, elephant tusks enrooted Asia [FILES] Pangolin. Photo: JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/GETTY<br /> The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), in collaboration with the Wildlife Justice Commission, has intercepted pangolin scales and elephant tusks worth N3.1billion being transported through Nigeria to Asia. The Controller General of Customs, Hameed Ali, who disclosed this yesterday while displaying the seized items to journalists at the Customs Training College, Ikeja, Lagos, said 15 sacks of pangolin scales (839.4kg) and four sacks of elephant tusks (145kg) were intercepted in a Toyota Sienna bus with registration number KRD 541 HH at Lekki on February 2, 2022. Ali, who was represented by the National Public Relations Officer, Joseph Attah, said the CGC Strike Force team, upon intelligence, along with the Wildlife Justice Commission, conducted the operation in which Nigeria was used as a transit route for illegal wildlife trade from Africa to Asia. He ...

France defends its ‘big nuclear adventure,’ says it is influenced by geopolitics

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  France defends its ‘big nuclear adventure,’ says it is influenced by geopolitics Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email KEY POINTS French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told CNBC on Friday that the country’s decision to bet big on nuclear power was driven by geopolitical concerns and the desire to achieve “total energy independence. The move controversially places atomic power at the center of France’s bid to achieve carbon neutrality by the middle of the century. His comments come shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to build at least six new nuclear reactors in the decades to come, with the option for another eight. WATCH NOW VIDEO 05:58 Watch CNBC’s full interview with Bruno Le Maire on France’s ‘nuclear renaissance’ plan French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told CNBC on Friday that the country’s decision to bet big on nuclear power was driven by geopolitical concerns and the desire to achiev...

Life on Mars? How humans can generate oxygen in future bases

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  Life on Mars? How humans can generate oxygen in future bases In order for humans to live comfortably on the surface of Mars, the Moon, or another suitable planetary object a way of generating oxygen will be required. Scientists have undertaken the process of predicting the efficiency of oxygen-evolving electrolysis on the Moon and Mars as means of creating living conditions that will obviate the need for space suits. The study comes from the University of Manchester and it considers the means of establishing a pathway to generate oxygen for humans to potentially call the Moon or Mars ‘home’ for extended periods of time. The  proposed method is electrolysis . This well-established technique involves passing electricity through a chemical system to drive a reaction. The process is carried out in an electrolytic cell, which is an apparatus consisting of positive and negative electrodes held apart and dipped into a solution containing positively and negatively charged ions. New ...

Illuminating research sheds new light on the evolution of light-response systems

  Illuminating research sheds new light on the evolution of light-response systems University of Tsukuba : Researchers found that sea urchin larvae exhibited ciliary responses to strong photoirradiation by swimming backward. As ciliary responses are difficult to detect in deuterostomes because they may be masked by more obvious muscular activities, identifying cilia-based responses to light in sea urchins provides key information on the evolution and diversification of light-response systems in macroscopic animals.         Light is essential for most life on Earth, and single-celled or small multicellular organisms were most likely first to develop the ability to respond to light. But now, researchers from Japan have identified interesting behavior in sea urchin larvae that may provide insights into the evolution of light-responsive tissues/organelles in macroscopic animals. In a study published this month in  PLOS Genetics , researchers from the University...

NASA announces two new missions to study the sun

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  NASA announces two new missions to study the sun The sun affects the space environment in more ways than just being a source of heat and light. It also gives off radiation and charged particles which interact with Earth’s magnetic fields in a complex phenomenon called space weather. This can affect both the health of astronauts traveling beyond the protection of Earth’s magnetosphere and electronics like satellites in high orbits. To learn more about the sun and how it affects the space environment, NASA has recently announced two new space missions: The Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) and HelioSwarm. “MUSE and HelioSwarm will provide new and deeper insight into the solar atmosphere and space weather,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science, in a  statement . “These missions not only extend the science of our other heliophysics missions — but they also provide a unique perspective and a novel approach to understanding the mysteries of our star.” A...

Global sea level rise: All roads lead to one conclusion

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Global sea level rise: All roads lead to one conclusion Oceans have risen up 3 cm per decade since 1990s Scientists can measure a change in the height of the sea surface, via satellites. And they can use satellites to notice that glaciers have less ice now than decades ago. So they can estimate how much ice-melt has gone into the ocean. Plus satellites show that the oceans themselves are warming. And with that warming comes an expansion of seawater and more sea level rise. But do the estimates for the  amount  of sea level rise – based on the different sorts of studies – agree? On February 10, 2022, the European Space Agency ( ESA ) released the results of a new comprehensive comparison. Yes, the estimates do agree, these scientists said, adding that mean global sea level has risen by more than an inch (3 cm) per decade since precise satellite measurements began in the 1990s. The peer-reviewed journal  Earth System Science Data  published  the new comparison stu...