Science & Tech

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 ...

The drilling programme confirmed extensions of mineralisation in the West pit area and has delineated the higher grade zones at Beta and Gamma The firm of Endeavour Mining Corporation in a recent report on its drilling results from several areas at Agbaou Gold Mine located in Côte d’Ivoire has confirmed extensions of mineralisation in the West pit area and has ...

China will prohibit the use of six hazardous substances in passenger vehicles from 1 January 2016. A mandatory standard is being implemented as part of a 10-year national sustainability plan, which includes improving the environmental record of car manufacturers. The standard, GB/T 30512-2014: Requirements for prohibited substances in automobiles, will apply to car parts for passenger cars containing fewer than ...

Addis Summit creates a Technology Facilitation Mechanism including a multi-stakeholder forum to discuss technology issues, including risks and opportunities of emerging technologies for the UN’s 2015–30 Sustainable Development Goals. UN Member-States meeting in Addis July 13-16 in the third conference on Financing for Development have agreed to establish a UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism that will include an interagency task team ...

The Technical Task Force on the African Regional Space Programme (TTF-ARSP) . This was declared at the end of its meeting held on 10 June 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland on the margins of the 17th Congress of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The Task Force is an initiative coordinated by the African Union (AU), the African Ministerial Conference on Science ...