A US Geological Survey image shows green farmland marking a distinct boundary between the Nile floodplain and the surrounding harsh desert (USGS) 17 OCT 2021  Amid an increasingly bitter war and an impending famine in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray, there is still, perhaps, one issue that unites Ethiopians, no matter their political views: …

16 OCT 2021  My grandfather was born before the Wright brothers first took to the air, and men had landed on the moon within his lifetime. I started studying mathematics at school using a slide-rule and log tables, and we are now entering an age of artificial intelligence and robotics. …

15 OCT 2021 As winter looms and hospitals across the US continue to be deluged with severe cases of COVID-19, flu season presents a particularly ominous threat this year. We are researchers with expertise in vaccination policy and mathematical modeling of infectious disease. Our group, the Public Health Dynamics Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh, has been …

14 OCT 2021  Shipping consultancy Drewry has repeatedly upped its estimates for total ocean carrier earnings this year, and its latest number is staggering. Record-setting congestion and consumer demand have driven freight rates ever higher, and profits have followed suit: Drewry says that it now predicts that the liner industry …

13 OCT 2021  Power shortage showcases Beijing’s powerful resolve to decarbonize its economy – and the potential cost As the world prepares to discuss more aggressive cuts to carbon emissions at the UN’s COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, China has just sent out the worst possible advance signal. It is going to …

12 OCT 2021  Maersk has become the latest large shipping company to plan a trial using air lubrication as a tool to help improve vessel efficiency and reduce emissions. An established technology that has been deployed in other segments of the shipping industry, including cruise ships, it is becoming of …

11 OCT 2021  Engineers of the Mayan Empire built rock dams far upstream along the tributaries of rivers to reduce downstream flooding, as a sudden deluge could destroy a rock dam built further downstream. An innovation developed in 1963 in South Africa and first deployed in 1964 at a breakwater …

10 OCT 2021  Sales of tankers for demolition reached a 39-month high during September. Yet, with the sector notorious for holding on to tonnage and oil prices on the rise, the long-expected rebalancing of supply and demand among the tanker operators appears still to be delayed. Industry trade group BIMCO …

09 OCT 2021 Depression can be a frighteningly relentless condition. Luckily, researchers around the world are constantly working on new treatment options, such as a newly designed brain implant for resistant depression. Altogether, up to a third of people with depression don’t respond or become resistant to treatment. No medication or therapy …

08 OCT 2021  The massive volcanic eruption on the southern end of La Palma is actually expanding the island’s landmass. A molten lava flow has reached the land’s end and is pouring over a cliff edge, hardening as it hits the water. About 80 new acres have been formed so …