Russia launched a Progress 57 Cargo Ship from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan Wednesday, bound for the International Space Station. The ship was launched just three hours after the failed launch of the American rocket Antares, which exploded over Wallops Island, Virginia. The Russian ship is expected to rendezvous with the International Space Station later Wednesday. The Russian ship, a Progress M-25M … Read more
A team of researchers from Washington University School of Medicine has converted human skin cells directly into brain cells. This breakthrough research is complimented by other landmark findings within the study–including that the cells were able to form neurological connections, both axonal and dendritic. The research holds promise for sufferers of neurodegenerative diseases such as … Read more
The third Orbital Sciences cargo mission to the International Space Station was set to launch Monday, but was prevented by a stray boat which had entered restricted waters southeast of the launch pad in Wallops Island, Virginia. The launch was postponed until Tuesday due to public safety concerns, according to officials. The Monday launch window … Read more
A letter, penned by former-Beatle John Lennon to radio and television host Joe Franklin and praising the music of Yoko Ono, has sold for $28,171. The two-page handwritten letter was dated December 13, 1971, and was written in an attempt to get Ono onto Franklin’s New York TV show. “I know you’re a musician at … Read more
The Western African nation of Niger is experiencing an outbreak of cholera. To date, 51 people have died of the disease this year–deaths are on the rise, with 38 deaths taking place in September alone. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reported that 1,300 people have been infected with cholera so … Read more
The Ebola Virus and the related Marburgvirus have been diverging for over 16 million years, according to a recent study by the University of Buffalo. Although filoviruses were once thought to date back only 10,000 years, new research using more reliable dating methods has shown that the origins of the virus go much deeper than … Read more
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Florida have filed suit against Miami-Dade County and the Florida Department of Corrections, seeking a permanent injunction against a housing ordinance that, the ACLU alleges, makes normal life extraordinarily difficult for former sex offenders, and actually causes the former offenders to become and remain homeless, a … Read more
China is expected to send 100,000 troops into its restless western province of Xinjiang to reinforce the People’s Armed Police force already there, according to a Hong Kong based rights group. Hundreds of people have died in recent months in Xinjiang’s ethnic unrest. The Chinese Communist Party’s 18th Congress discussed a number of problems facing the … Read more
Enclosures of water are being dispossessed from small-scale markets in a rising trend of so-called “ocean grabbing,” according to a recent report by Transnational Institute (TNI) and Afrika Kontakt. Claiming that seas and shores must be taken from common fisher people in order to preserve sustainability, the World Bank is backing corporate interests and a rise in large-scale aqua-industry market-based … Read more
Tuberculosis is a disease that is seldom heard about these days, but the WHO and MSF have said that forms of TB known as multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have risen to the level of a global threat. TB is already carried in a latent form in approximately one-third of the global population, and MDR-TB is increasingly the form … Read more
Cambodian land-grabbing constitutes a “crime against humanity,” British lawyer Richard Rogers has told the International Criminal Court (ICC). The lawyer is officially representing 10 Cambodian victims of the alleged abuse in the suit. “I am confident,” said Rogers, who is a member of the Global Diligence LLP as well as the Cambodian Nation Rescue Party’s … Read more
The nature of deforestation has changed dramatically in recent years, according to a new study by Chalmers University Scientists. Deforestation today is driven by globalization and commercialization to a large and increasing degree–international trade is contributing to deforestation through a demand for beef, soy, palm oil and timber. “From having been caused mainly by smallholders … Read more