SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian cotton producers in the state of Mato Grosso on Thursday sued Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE), seeking to cancel the chemical company’s patent protection for its Bollgard II RR Flex genetically modified cotton seed, according to a statement sent to Reuters. Logo of Bayer AG is pictured at the annual results news
WASHINGTON — After years of delays, PlanetiQ says its constellation of commercial weather satellites will be ready to start launching in January thanks to $18.7 million in new capital. A redesign that right-sized its satellites while increasing the overall constellation number from 12 to 20 helped make the system more affordable, PlanetiQ Founder and Chairman
Recently, GDP has come under scrutiny as a planning tool, with some decision-makers turning instead to the Happiness Index, a marker that focuses on the wellbeing of the citizens rather than an economic bottom line. This Index would help governments use their budgets with the aim to increase the welfare of its citizens instead of
A weird-looking foot preserved in 99 million-year-old Burmese amber has revealed a new species of ancient bird with one insanely long middle toe. The newly-named Elektorornis chenguangi is a small bird distinct from all others, either extinct or living – simply because of its hindlimb. The third digit on its foot, researchers say, is twice
Congratulations Mauna Loa, on the island of Hawaii: you are once more the biggest shield volcano on the planet, without even having done anything. New research suggests the previous record holder, Tamu Massif in the northwest Pacific Ocean, should be disqualified on a technicality. It all comes down to what you count as a single shield
Gen. Mark Milley said he fully supports the establishment of a Space Force and rejects the criticism that the new branch is just an “added layer of bureaucracy.” WASHINGTON — In his confirmation hearing as President Trump’s pick to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Mark Milley said he
When did Homo sapiens first leave Africa? This is a topic that has been undergoing many revisions in recent years, as new fossils and genetic evidence have been piling up that contradict longstanding models. That’s a feature, not a bug, of the scientific process, and it makes it very exciting time to be a biological
More often than not, today’s academic writing is full of dry and serious jargon-heavy language. So when you find a paper that breaks all the rules and makes you laugh, you’ll want to shout it from the top of a mountain. That’s essentially what University of Western Australia obstetrics and microbiology researcher Lisa Stinson did
Thanks to gravitational wave astronomy, we are getting a better understanding of what happens when black holes collide. But the closely orbiting black holes only generate ripples in space-time strong enough to be detected from just before they smash. What happens before then? We can only extrapolate. But a new discovery could change all that.
The world is about to undergo a drastic transformation that will see cities around the globe inherit the disparate climates of places hundreds of miles away, new research shows. By 2050, scientists say over three-quarters of the world’s cities will have had their climate systems rearranged as part of this rapid metamorphosis. Most concerning of
WASHINGTON — In a move that took most people in the space industry by surprise, NASA has reassigned two top officials in its exploration program, including Bill Gerstenmaier, the longtime head of NASA’s human spaceflight programs. In a memo to NASA employees issued late July 10, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator
Luminar engineers install the latest generation of the company’s laser lidar sensors on a test vehicle. Luminar Luminar, a Silicon Valley-based maker of laser lidar sensors for self-driving vehicles, raised an additional $100 million and is marketing a new sensing and perception platform for automated passenger vehicles and commercial trucks see their surroundings more accurately.
Earth’s magnetic field protects and makes our planet habitable by stopping harmful high-energy particles from space, including from the Sun. The source of this magnetic field is the core at the centre of our planet. But the core is very difficult to study, partly because it starts at a depth of about 2,900 kilometres (1,800
It’s been half a century since the magnificent Apollo 11 Moon landing, yet many people still don’t believe it actually happened. Conspiracy theories about the event dating back to the 1970s are in fact more popular than ever. A common theory is that film director Stanley Kubrick helped NASA fake the historic footage of its
India is getting ready to launch its first-ever lunar lander on Sunday 14 July. As part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, the lander will be riding on top of the country’s most powerful rocket, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III. The plan is to both launch an orbiter module and a 56-pound (25 kilogram) mobile
ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) – As NASA scrambles to meet U.S. President Donald Trump’s mandate to return humans to the moon by 2024, two longtime heads of NASA’s human exploration wing were demoted Wednesday in a slew of administrative shakeups, officials said in an internal memo. FILE PHOTO: Bill Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator, NASA’s Human Exploration and
WASHINGTON — The fifteenth launch of a European Vega rocket ended in failure July 10, resulting in the loss of an imaging satellite for the United Arab Emirates. The Vega rocket, built by Italian manufacturer Avio, lifted off at 9:53 p.m. Eastern from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on the northern coast of South
Wave20 deployment to North Carolina Courtesy of Olivier Ceberio Using the power of ocean waves, innovators from Boston, U.S., have developed a technology that can produce fresh water off-grid and without the costly infrastructure of desalination plants. This invention could help many of the 2.1 billion people around the world who struggle to access safe
A skull fragment found in Greece has inspired a startling hypothesis about when our species first arrived in Europe and immediately generated excitement and skepticism among experts who study how and when Homo sapiens dispersed from Africa. Researchers say the fossilized skull, found in the late 1970s in a cave in southeast Greece and stored
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit on Wednesday released a rocket from the wing of a modified Boeing 747 jetliner in mid-air in a key test of its high-altitude launch system for satellites, the company said. Virgin Orbit’s chief engineer Kevin Sagis kisses the tip of a test rocket underneath the wing of a