Science news

• No special status for east Ukraine without ceasefire - president

  24-01-2016 20:34
  By Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine will not give its eastern regions greater autonomy until a lasting ceasefire with pro-Russian separatist rebels is in place, President Petro Poroshenko said on Sunday, in comments that could antagonise the rebels and the Kremlin. Ukraine's parliament had been due to vote this week on legislation to devolve more power to its regions, including the disputed Luhansk and Donetsk areas, as part of a ceasefire agreed between Moscow and Kiev last year. Both Uk
  
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• Four dead sperm whales wash up on British beaches

  24-01-2016 17:56
  
  Four dead sperm whales have washed up on beaches in eastern England, coastguard authorities said Sunday, a week after similar deaths across the North Sea in Germany and the Netherlands.
  
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• Sperm whales found dead on Skegness beach as 16 found ashore in northern Europe

  24-01-2016 17:36
  Three sperm whales found washed ashore on a beach in Skegness are thought to have been from the same pod as a whale who was found on a beach in Norfolk on Friday. The whales, found across the world but ordinarily in open ocean, are thought to belong to a pod that became disorientated and were later found washed up on beaches in Norfolk, Germany and Holland. On Friday, 22 January, a 50ft sperm whale, also known as cachalots, was found dead on the beach in Hunstanton, Norfolk – apparently on
  
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• ‘The Cosmic Web’ weaves tale of universe’s architecture

  24-01-2016 15:00
  
  A new book chronicles the quest over the last century to understand how the universe is pieced together and how it came to be this way.
  
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• To catch a meal, a Venus flytrap counts to five

  24-01-2016 14:00
  
  It takes two taps to trigger a Venus flytrap to close. Another three, a new study finds, are needed to turn on genes for producing enzymes.
  
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• Alaska hit by 6.8-magnitude earthquake: USGS 

  24-01-2016 13:47
  
  A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Alaska early Sunday, US seismologists said.
  
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• Matt Damon brings call for clean water for all to Sundance

  24-01-2016 11:30
  
  PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, is something millions of people across the globe experience every day.
  
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• Microbes can't survive most Mars-like place on Earth

  24-01-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Here's some bad news for anyone still hoping life exists on Mars: Antarctic permafrost very similar to the permafrost on Mars seems to be too cold and dry for microbes to live in.
  
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• Bad news for life on Mars: Microbes can't survive most Mars-like place on Earth

  24-01-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Here's some bad news for anyone still hoping life exists on Mars: Antarctic permafrost very similar to the permafrost on Mars seems to be too cold and dry for microbes to live in.
  
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• Antarctic permafrost may not be habitable for microbes – so is Mars?

  24-01-2016 11:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Here's some bad news for anyone still hoping life exists on Mars: Antarctic permafrost very similar to the permafrost on Mars seems to be too cold and dry for microbes to live in.
  
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• Hong Kong hit by coldest temperatures in nearly 60 years

  24-01-2016 08:44
  
  A cold snap gripped Hong Kong on Sunday, with residents shivering as temperatures plunged to the lowest point in nearly 60 years and frost dusted the mountaintops of a city accustomed to a subtropical climate.
  
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• NASA sees dawn and records breaking as major winter storm departs

  24-01-2016 06:00
  
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) NASA and NOAA gathered night-time and daytime views of the Blizzard of 2016 from the Suomi NPP and the GOES-East satellites. NASA's GPM satellite provided a look at the moisture wrapping into the storm from the Atlantic Ocean. The 2016 blizzard occurred just 4 days before 2015's major northeast blizzard.
  
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• Kerry to press China over North Korea, urge ASEAN unity over South China Sea

  24-01-2016 03:03
  By David Brunnstrom RIYADH (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry begins a visit to East Asia on Sunday in which he plans to press China to put more curbs on North Korea after its nuclear test and to urge Southeast Asia to show unity in response to China's claims in the South China Sea. Kerry starts what will be a three-day stay in the region in Laos, the 2016 chair the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), after attending the Davos summit in Switzerland and a stop in
  
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• VIDEO: Scientists set up penguin CCTV

  24-01-2016 01:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A team of researchers led by Dr Tom Hart at Oxford University has set up a network of penguin-monitoring cameras throughout the Antarctic Peninsula.
  
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• White House raises concerns about harm to civilians in Yemen

  24-01-2016 00:55
  The White House on Saturday said it was deeply concerned about reports of harm to civilians amid escalating violence in Yemen, and called on all sides involved in the conflict to resume peace talks. "The United States takes all credible accounts of civilian deaths seriously and we again call on all sides of the conflict in Yemen to do their utmost to avoid harm to civilians," said National Security Council spokesman Ned Price in a statement. Price noted recent attacks that killed an ambulance dr
  
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