Plan to build a global network of floating power stations on oceans
Early last year, just a few weeks before the pandemic brought life in the United States to a standstill, Yi Chao and a small team of researchers dropped a slender metal tube into the Pacific Ocean off the Hawaiian coast. After nearly two decades as an oceanographer at NASA’s Jet...
Mystery of beetles depending on moon, sun light for orientation
Scientists know that bees, ants and many other insects can orient themselves using polarised sunlight, but dung beetles are the first known to orient themselves using the million-times-dimmer polarised light that emanates from the moon. Neurobiologist Marie Dacke of Lund University in Sweden, entomologist Marcus Byrne at the University of...
Ancient Egyptians believed dung beetles controlled the movement of the sun
Placed over the heart in the wrappings of Egyptian mummies, archaeologists have often found carved amulets of scarab beetles, a species of dung beetle. The amulets, many with spells inscribed on them, were intended to help the dead in a final judgment by the jackal-headed god of death, Anubis, who...
Travel restrictions have no bearing on coronavirus spread – researchers
As countries in Europe rush to close their borders to the United Kingdom to prevent transmission of a new – and potentially more transmissible – variant of SARS-CoV-2, research has estimated the effect of international travel restrictions on Covid-19 spread earlier in the pandemic. Models have found that strict border...
Wikipedia’s major challenge: Reliability and sturdiness of its community of editors
Facts are stubborn things. And that stubbornness was a vital asset for Wikipedia in 2020, as it unapologetically banned from its pages disinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic and the presidential election. The contrast was sharp with global digital platforms like Facebook and YouTube, which slowly, and often ineffectually, responded to...
How govts criminalised Press Freedom in the name of ‘infodemic’ control
Citizens hungry for information turned to the media during the pandemic, but governments around the world used the crisis to restrict journalists. Malala Maiwand, a reporter for Enikass Radio and TV in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, was on her way to work on December 10 when gunmen opened fire on her car,...
How researchers are making do in the time of Covid
One of the astonishing aspects of the human response to the coronavirus pandemic has been how quickly scientists pivoted to studying every facet of the virus in order to mitigate the loss of life and plan for a return to normalcy. At the same time, a lot of non-coronavirus research...
One Free Press Coalition spotlights journalists in life threatening situations
In May 2019, Wired news organisation joined the One Free Press Coalition, a united group of preeminent editors and publishers using their global reach and social platforms to spotlight journalists under attack worldwide. Today, the coalition is issuing its 22nd monthly 10 Most Urgent list of press freedom abuses around...
How geothermal energy powers farming in the heart of Rift Valley
Erratic weather and a burgeoning population that requires food employment is an ever-ticking time bomb. Nakuru, once synonymous with commercial agriculture and industrialisation in Kenya has over the years slipped down the rung, now needs rejigging to breathe new life into the once cleanest town in East Africa. Endowed with...
Vegetal therapy still trusted antivenom in Kenya
Poor and often stashed far away from medical facilities, pastoralist communities in Kenya’s arid and semi-arid regions have over generations depended on vegetal remedies for envenomation. With decentralisation of medical services seven years ago, regional governments in the devolved units are stocking antivenom to deal with the menace that has...
