Archive for January 2024
The Marshall Star for January 31, 2024
Marshall Commemorates NASA’s Day of Remembrance By Celine Smith Team members across NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center congregated Jan. 25 in the lobby of Building 4221 to observe NASA’s Day of Remembrance. Each January, the agency pauses to honor members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and […]
Read MoreDiscovery Alert: A ‘Super-Earth’ in the Habitable Zone
A newly discovered ‘super-Earth’ dwells in the habitable zone of its parent star – and might have a roughly Earth-sized companion.
Read MoreLabor abuse and work accidents on plantations of Cameroon’s largest sugar producer
NKOTENG, Cameroon — At the Cameroon Sugar Corporation (Société Sucriere du Cameroun, SOSUCAM), the year 2023 came to a close on a grim note: the death of a man named Mballa Olomo. The temporary worker lost his life as a result of burns suffered in a work accident that occurred in December at one of […]
Read MoreIn Argentina, scientists scramble to study seal colonies hit hard by avian flu
A powerful strain of the avian flu has swept through seal colonies in southern Argentina, wiping out many juveniles and raising concern about a spread to other species. The flu, also known as H5N1, appeared in South America in 2022 and made its way to Patagonian Argentina by August 2023, resulting in extreme mortality among […]
Read MoreNepal’s gharial population rises, but threats to the crocs persist
KATHMANDU — The start of 2024 has brought some good news, tempered with warnings, for Nepal’s critically endangered gharials, the fish-eating crocodiles with the comically bulbous snouts. Officials at Chitwan National Park, the country’s prime habitat for gharials (Gavialis gangeticus), one of two crocodile species found in Nepal, say their population increased by around 11% […]
Read MoreCambodia’s Indigenous communities renounce communal land titles for microloans
TA HEUY, Cambodia — Cambodian farmers Nuoy and Nangkek were both in their late 20s when they took out their first microloan in 2018 for around $600 to help grow their crops. Today, the couple owe more than $10,000 to two financial institutions charging 18% annual interest. Like many borrowers in a country with one […]
Read MoreCritics push for more transparency at RFMOs that govern high seas fishing
The organization responsible for managing the catch of more than half the world’s tuna holds a key section of its annual compliance meeting in secret. For three days, a committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) assesses how well member states are following fishing rules, without any outside observers present. The WCPFC says […]
Read MoreIn Bangladesh, sunflower grows where other crops don’t amid increasing salinity
Bangladesh is primarily an agro-based country where rice, wheat, maize, jute and various vegetables are considered significant and popular crops for farmers — in terms of ensuring both food security and economic benefits. Unfortunately, changing climate, rising sea levels and other anthropogenic factors are forcing a vast area of Bangladesh’s coastal zone to remain barren […]
Read MoreTropical forests share similar mix of common and rare tree species, study shows
A new study has for the first time identified the most common tree species in the tropical forests of Africa, the Amazon and Southeast Asia — and their similarities have surprised scientists. “The [study] shows some uncanny similarities among the world’s great tropical rainforests,” said tropical ecologist Bill Laurance, a co-author of the study published […]
Read MoreHow Parking Reform Is Helping Transform American Cities
In cities across the U.S., planners are pushing to eliminate mandates requiring parking spaces in new buildings. The reforms — along with banning street parking or adding meters — help to reduce car dependency, create public and green spaces, and lower housing costs.
Read More