The UK government has allocated £290m for new international science projects. The Science Minister David Willetts will earmark £165m to join a project to build a “super-microscope” in Sweden He will also pledge up to £100m to build the largest telescope ever built in South Africa and Australia. Critics warn that spending on projects that bring economic benefits to the UK must not be at the expense of basic […]
A new report from researchers at Oxford University argues that large dams are a risky investment – soaring past projected budgets, drowning emerging economies in debt and failing to deliver promised benefits. Do they ever really make sense? A peek over the edge of the Hoover Dam’s 60-storey wall is enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine. Constructed from enough concrete to pave a motorway from New York to […]
Red pandas may be known for their solitary nature but these fluffy red animals proved that they were happy to play with friends too. The animals typically live alone, only looking for a fellow panda to mate with. They spend most of their time climbing trees. Red pandas are expert climbers and leap distances of up to 5ft. The hair on the bottom of their feet stops them from slipping […]
While the West can do little to control Putin now, it could at least stop helping him Sudden moves bring out deep-seated insecurities. Vladimir Putin’s adventure in Crimea was a Rorschach moment in international affairs: Everybody read into it what they wanted to see. In Canada, retired diplomats lined up to tell reporters that Stephen Harper’s response proved he’s a lousy diplomat. Around the world, armchair generals decided Putin had […]
There are now 40 ships and 34 aircraft from nine different nations taking part in the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane in the seas off Vietnam and Malaysia. Cmdr William Marks from the US Seventh Fleet, which is taking part in the search, said the difficulty was in covering such a large area, spanning hundreds of kilometres. “Just from the air we can see things as small […]
How a Greenland glacier passed its tipping point — and what that means for a billion of the world’s coastal dwellers. Around the village of Ilulissat, Greenland are icebergs that broke off from the Jakobshavn Glacier. As sea levels around the globe rise, researchers affiliated with the National Science Foundation and other organizations are studying the melting glaciers and long-term ramifications. (Joe Raedle, AFP/Getty Images) A hundred years after it […]
The heart-warming first encounter shows six-month-old cubs Kamali, Zalika and Angalia as they attempt to play with their father, Zawadi Mungu ‘At first he was surprised but as time passed he grew more patient,‘ said senior zoo keeper Laura Weiner Lions may be one of the world’s deadliest predators – but this male quickly assumed the role of caring father when meeting his cubs for the first time. The heart-warming […]
An Ontario woman will soon take home a brand-new car thanks to a knock on her daughter’s head. Deborah Armstrong of Caledon, Ont., recently won a 2014 Toyota Corolla Sport in the annual Tim Hortons’ Roll Up the Rim to Win contest while waiting in a hospital emergency room. Armstrong had taken her 28-year-old daughter to a Brampton hospital after she’d fallen and hit her head and got a coffee while […]
Stuart Hutchinson, now 19, started suffering from headaches in 2011 Doctors repeatedly failed to notice he had brain cancer He was just 24 hours from death when medics discovered a giant growth It took two operations and 33 session of radiation to get rid of the tumour Recently Stuart discovered another growth but was told it was a cyst After seeking more advice he was told it was another tumour […]
The boxy white and grey factory of this rainy northern town makes fewer than half the washing machines it did when Italy joined the euro. It is one of the many symbols of Southern Europe’s industrial decline. Today, however, the Porcia plant is also a testing ground for the region’s industrial future. Home appliance maker Electrolux, which owns the factory, wants to cut the salaries of some 5,000 workers at […]
