REUTERS: NASA is set to launch an ambitious mission to Mars on Thursday (Jul 30) with the liftoff of its next-generation Perseverance rover, a six-wheeled robot tasked with deploying a mini helicopter, testing out equipment for future human missions and searching for traces of past Martian life. The US$2.4 billion […]
Science & Technology
SAO PAULO: The US ambassador in Brasilia warned of “consequences” if Brazil chooses Chinese telecoms company Huawei to develop its 5G network, in an interview published Wednesday (Jul 29). “I wouldn’t say there would be retaliation, but there would be consequences” if Brazil goes against US advice and picks the […]
Airbus-France will build the huge satellite that brings the first Martian rock samples back to Earth. This material will be drilled on the Red Planet by the US space agency’s next rover, Perseverance, before being blasted into orbit by a rocket. It’ll be the Airbus satellite’s job to grab the […]
BEIJING: China’s first Mars probe has beamed back a photo of the Earth and the Moon as it heads toward its destination, the country’s space agency said on Tuesday (Jul 28). The image, which shows the two celestial bodies as small crescents in the empty darkness of space, was taken […]
An independent review of UK food policy is calling for “a gold standard level of scrutiny” to ensure new trade deals do not undermine the environment. Verification schemes should address concerns such as imports of beef reared on land recently cleared of rainforest. And the government should press on with […]
Scientists have discovered kelp off the coast of Scotland, Ireland and France that has survived since the last ice age, around 16,000 years ago. Experts from Heriot-Watt University’s Orkney campus analysed the genetic composition of oarweed from 14 areas across the northern Atlantic ocean. The team found three distinct genetic […]
France’s government has announced new environmental measures, including a ban on heated terraces for cafes and bars. Ecology Minister Barbara Pompili said outside heating or air conditioning was an “ecological aberration”. The ban will not come into force until after the winter as restaurants have been hard hit by Covid-19, […]
A pet cat has tested positive in the UK for the strain of coronavirus that is causing the current pandemic. Experts say it is the first confirmed case of infection in an animal in the UK but does not mean the disease is being spread to people by their pets. […]
MAUI, Hawaii: Hurricane Douglas bore down on Hawaii on Sunday (Jul 26) packing torrential rains and damaging winds as it churned just east of the islands in the central Pacific, forecasters said, with one local leader urging residents to be prepared for the worst. Douglas was expected to make landfall […]
MOSCOW: Moscow rejected criticism from the United States and the United Kingdom of Russia’s activities in space on Friday (Jul 24), after the two nations expressed concern at a Russian satellite test conducted on Jul 15. Britain on Thursday said Russia had launched a projectile with the “characteristics of a […]