Science and Technology Archives

TECHNOLOGY-CHINA: Reaching For the Moon

When a People's Liberation Army (PLA) missile in January destroyed an obsolete Chinese weather satellite, the experiment revealed China's unexpected space capabilities, long kept shrouded by the country's reflexive secrecy.

BRAZIL-US: Social Activist Declined Invitation to Meet Bush

By Mario Osava

Rodrigo Baggio, founder of one of the best social inclusion projects in Brazil, which has spread to eight other countries, turned down an invitation to meet President George W. Bush during his recent visit to Sao Paulo.

ENVIRONMENT: E-Waste Dumping Needs International Solution

By Stephen Leahy

A global public-private partnership was launched this week to reduce the toxic mountains of electronic waste and recycle increasingly valuable metals and components.

CUBA-VENEZUELA: Making Biofuels Without Wasting Food

By Patricia Grogg

The governments of Cuba and Venezuela are planning to move forward together on biofuels production, but they will rely on producing alcohol from sugarcane, in order to spare food crops.

ENVIRONMENT: Ocean Fisheries Maxed Out

By Stephen Leahy

Two-thirds of fish stocks in the world's high seas are overfished, while most of those closer to shore are failing or fished to the maximum, a new U.N. report said Monday.

ENVIRONMENT: Understanding Climate Change in Drake Passage

By Marcela Valente

Infamous for its storms and shipwrecks, Drake Passage, which separates South America from Antarctica, will now be the focus of a multidisciplinary study by scientific researchers from nine countries, with the aim of assessing the impact of climate change on the ecosystem.

ENVIRONMENT: Fighting Warming Key to Anti-Poverty Goals

By Haider Rizvi

Driven by increased concerns and mounting evidence of the threats posed by global warming, some of the world's most eminent scientists are telling policymakers to get their act together before it is too late to avoid a doomsday scenario.

SOUTH AFRICA: How Discarded Bottles Led to the ‘DNA Project’

By Moyiga Nduru

DNA profiling has rapidly proved an indispensable tool in fighting crime. The process offers a host of benefits, such as quick identification of criminals, and of innocent suspects - as well as solid evidence for presentation in court.

EDUCATION-US: Ivory Tower Still Blindingly White

By Adrianne Appel

A premier U.S. research institute has agreed to address possible racial discrimination in hiring, following a 12-day hunger fast by one of its African American scientists.

ENVIRONMENT: Melting Ice Offers Window on Polar Ecosystem

By Stephen Leahy

The collapse of Antarctic ice shelves due to climate change is providing the first views of marine life hidden deep under the polar ice for more than 5,000 years.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Converting Waste to Energy – Not So Green

By Keya Acharya

A stream of protests has hit India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for sanctioning municipal waste-to-energy (MWTE) projects that are collapsing under an avalanche of incombustible wastes.

CLIMATE CHANGE: South Pacific More Vulnerable Than Thought

By IPS Correspondents

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)'s climate coordinator in the South Pacific says that a recent United Nations report on climate change has "underestimated" the threat to millions of people in the region from sea-level rise.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Disinterring the ‘Disappeared’

By Constanza Vieira

It took Colombia 12 years to pass a law that made forced disappearance a crime and nearly seven more to launch a concrete plan to search for the victims. "This is a big stride," Gustavo Gallón, head of the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ), told IPS.

BIODIVERSITY: DNA Bar-Coding Could Rewrite Book of Life

By Stephen Leahy

Fifteen new species of birds have been discovered in North America following the first ever genetic analysis of nearly all 690 known species. A similar DNA profiling or "bar-coding" of Guyana's 87 bat species revealed an additional six genetically distinct bats.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Islands Could Fall Off the Map

By Julio Godoy

Sylt, the largest of Germany's Frisian islands, in the North Sea, lost at least 800,000 cubic metres of sand from its beaches in the last two months, because of heavy storms and flooding that have marked the northern hemisphere autumn and winter seasons.