SCIENCE

Emissions in Europe's biggest economy fell three percent in 2024, a "marked slowdown" from a 10-percent drop in 2023, according to the Agora Energiewende think tank.

The South African Weather Service (SAWS) reported that isolated showers and thundershowers are likely over the eastern and central areas of the country. In the southwest, a cold front is expected to reach the coast, bringing rain and showers to the southern coastline.

The new benchmark affirmed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service caps a year in which countries rich and poor were hammered by disasters that scientists have linked to humanity's role in Earth's rapid warming.

After two days of delays, the rocket -- crucial to Europe's autonomy in reaching space -- took off without problems, carrying the Sentinel-1C satellite for the European Union's Copernicus Earth observation program.

The new technique is intended for people with spinal cord injuries where the connection between their brain and spinal cord has not been totally severed, and who still have some movement in their legs.

Noxious smog smothering the plains of north India is not only choking the lungs of residents and killing millions, but also slowing the country's economic growth.

In the Hula Valley, home to a unique migration sanctuary for birds, a flock of common cranes and their cacophony of calls fill the air -- but smoke billows in the distance and their sounds soon compete with the whir of Israeli military helicopters overhead.

Planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from oil, gas and coal rose to a new record high this year, according to preliminary research from an international network of scientists at the Global Carbon Project.

Scientists at Kyoto University expect the wooden material to burn up when the device re-enters the atmosphere -- potentially providing a way to avoid generating metal particles when a retired satellite returns to Earth.

The new Tiangong team will carry out experiments with an eye to the space programme's ambitious goal of placing astronauts on the Moon by 2030 and eventually constructing a lunar base.

The "super heavy booster" had blasted off attached to the uncrewed Starship rocket minutes earlier, then made a picture-perfect controlled return to the same pad in Texas.

The Europa Clipper mission will allow the US space agency to uncover new details about the moon, which scientists believe could hold an ocean of liquid water beneath its icy surface.

US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun won the Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday for their discovery of microRNA and its role in how genes are regulated.

Stormy weather has threatened to delay the launch of Europe's Hera spacecraft, which is scheduled to blast off on Monday, SpaceX has said.

Europe's Hera probe is tentatively scheduled to launch Monday on a mission to inspect the damage a NASA spacecraft made when it smashed into an asteroid during the first test of Earth's planetary defences.

Developing countries will need trillions of dollars in the years ahead to deal with climate change -- but exactly how much is needed, and who is going to pay for it?

Boeing's problem-plagued Starliner is set to finally depart the International Space Station (ISS) on Friday, returning to Earth without astronauts after NASA deemed the risk too great.

The data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service followed a season of heatwaves around the world that scientists said were intensified by human-driven climate change.

The US space agency is enlisting SpaceX to rescue the astronauts because of safety concerns with Boeing's Starliner capsule, which encountered thruster malfunctions and helium leaks on its way to the orbital outpost.

The Polaris Dawn mission, organized by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, had been set to lift off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a four-hour window early Wednesday.

SpaceX on Monday pushed back the historic launch of an all-civilian crew on an orbital expedition set to mark a new chapter in space exploration with the first spacewalk by private citizens.

A final decision on whether to persist with Boeing's troubled Starliner -- which experienced worrying propulsion issues as it flew up to the orbital platform in June -- is expected later this month, officials said Wednesday in a call with reporters.

Flooding and landslides are common and cause widespread devastation during India's treacherous monsoon season, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.

Another pandemic is inevitable and could exact damage far worse than Covid-19, according to the soft-spoken scientist sometimes thought of as Hong Kong's answer to top US health expert Anthony Fauci.

The forecast comes as electricity demand is set to rise four percent this year and next, up from 2.5 percent in 2023.

The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) was intended to explore the lunar south pole in search of ice and other resources, paving the way for planned crewed missions by American astronauts under the Artemis program later this decade.

The bee hummingbird, which measures just five to six centimeters (two inches) long, is only found in Cuba. Its losses have been huge, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) saying it has disappeared from many areas due to deforestation.

The landing module of the Chang'e-6 spacecraft touched down at a predetermined site in Inner Mongolia at 2:07 pm (0607 GMT), the China National Space Administration said, hailing the mission a "complete success".

The World Weather Attribution (WWA) group of scientists also said that extreme highs witnessed over that region in May and June were four times as likely to occur today as a quarter of a century ago.