Science & Tech

The University of Ibadan now has an ultra-modern subsurface research centre that will boost the development of top rate manpower for the nation’s oil and gas industry, thanks to a donation by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) operated Joint Venture. The centre has 15 fully-networked workstations, a high-end server, complete with internet facilities and a standby 45-Kva generator, among ...

The Federal Court in Brazil has declared the prohibition to use the hydraulic fracturing technology (fracking) to extract fossil fuels in the state of Alagoas. Following Piauí, Sao Paulo, Acre and Paraná, Alagoas thus became the fifth Brazilian state to prohibit fracking in its territory. This sentence is the result of the efforts of the Coalizão Não Fracking Brasil (No-Fracking Brazil Coalition) ...

With science taking centre stage, the Next Einstein Forum’s Global Gathering, Africa’s premiere global science and technology forum, wrapped up on Thursday in Dakar, Senegal with a clear path forward on how best to drive development through science, technology and innovation across the continent. The event was convened by the Next Einstein Forum (NEF), an initiative of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences ...

Commitments toward stronger global mercury controls are being hampered by illegal, unreported and unregulated mercury production and trade, an international NGO coalition revealed on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 on the eve of a UN mercury treaty meeting in Amman, Jordan. The Zero Mercury Working Group (ZMWG) said that global efforts to reduce emissions of mercury may be derailed if gaps ...

The intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) concluded its 12th Plenary session and fourth Ministerial Summit in Mexico City recently with commitments to share data on Earth observations at a time of exponential data growth, human development and climate change. Hosted by the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia (or National Institute of Geography, Statistics and Informatics) (INEGI), the week-long ...

Lead poisoning is entirely preventable yet the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates childhood lead exposure to contribute to about 600 000 new cases of children with intellectual disabilities every year. As the world marks the third international lead poisoning prevention week, the WHO and civil society groups aim to raise awareness about lead poisoning and urge further action to eliminate ...

Nigeria has initiated moves to protect the environment and restore ozone layer to pre-industrial age level, with the commencement of amendment on the national ozone layer protection regulations and demonstration project for disposal of unwanted Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) in the country. The proposed changes in the National Environmental (Ozone Layer Protection) Regulations (S.I.32 of 2009) will be a mandatory requirements for consumption and disposal of ODS ...

An International Conference on Chemicals Management has agreed on a plan that could prevent the annual deaths of more than one million people exposed to toxic chemicals. More than 800 participants, including ministers, industry and civil society leaders, have agreed on a strategy to reduce risks from chemicals at a weeklong United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) conference. Chemicals are an ...

NASA found evidence of liquid water on the Red Planet, which means there is the potential for life beyond Earth. We seem to discover water on Mars about once a year. Well, that’s not quite true: We’ve known Mars has water for quite a while. However, there are a lot of mysteries still to solve about how that water behaves ...

Bayer CropScience has agreed to pay a $975,000 fine and spend $452,000 on a series of measures to improve chemical storage facilities across the United States over allegations of serious safety violations that helped cause a massive explosion that killed two workers at the company’s Institute/WV plant. Bayer will also spend $4.23 million to improve emergency preparedness in Institute and ...