During the 50 years since the first meeting of the group that would become today’s 77 plus China (which now comprises 133 countries plus China), the participating nations have moved past a trade group that advances collective interests toward “a new world economic order, a responsible approach to climate change, and economic relations based on preferential treatment,” within … Read more
Two weeks ago, US President Barack Obama used executive authority to propose rules to cut carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants, in an attempt to lower carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2030. Now the president has announced plans to use that same authority to create rules protecting the Pacific Ocean. A broad section of the … Read more
At least 20,000 African elephants were poached last year–hunted for their tusks, which are still in high demand on the Asian ivory market. The statistics were published last Friday the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a group which observes 35,000 world species, including 30-40 … Read more
Global education aid has fallen significantly. It fell six percent between 2010 and 2011, and another 3 percent in 2012. The drop has brought funding levels back to par with 2008 funding. The figures were released recently by UNESCO’s Education For All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report. This is the first time aid funding for education … Read more
Scientists at Northwestern University have found evidence that four times the amount of water commonly thought to exist on Earth actually exists. The study, based on years of seismographical data, shows the existence of massive amounts of water located 255-400 miles (410-660 kilometers) under the surface of the Earth–equivalent to three times Earth’s oceans–and has … Read more
Pollution-plagued Bangladesh has passed an extra “green tax” in an attempt to force polluting factories to clean up their act. The factories will have to pay extra levies if they are found to have polluted “air, soil and water.” The green tax is part of Bangladesh’s $32 billion budget for 2014-2015, announced Thursday. Announcing the … Read more
Seeking “a cheap and effective way to eliminate malaria from entire regions,” a team at Imperial College London’s Department of Life Sciences have modified mosquitos to produce sperm that creates 95 percent male offspring, leading to hopes that Malaria–which still kills 627,000 people per year, according to World Health Organization estimates–will be completely eradicated. The … Read more
Researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center have found evidence that sleep promotes memory by strengthening dendritic spines that grow during learning tasks. The study, published this month, was led by Guang Yang, Cora Sau Wan Lai, Joseph Cichon, Lei Ma, Wei Li and Wen-Biao Ga set out to discover the means by which sleep helps … Read more
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, challenged stake-holding fence-sitters at a climate conference in Abu Dhabi which the secretary-general hosted with the United Arab Emirates government, at which over 1,000 international participants gathered. Ki-moon’s Climate Summit is set to begin September 23 in New York. Ki-moon encouraged national leaders to be “at the head of the race,” … Read more