Tag Archives: oceania

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Bus overturns on Chinese highway killing 27 people, injuring dozens

A bus overturned on an expressway in southwestern China on Sunday, leaving 27 people dead and injuring 20 others, police said.

The early morning accident was in Sandu county, which is southeast of the city of Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, a brief police statement said.

The bus had 47 people on board and the injured were being treated. No other information was immediately released.

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Perseverance rover makes most exciting find on Mars to date

If you love space and exploring the cosmos, there is no shortage of wonder right now.

Scientists identified mysterious diamonds that likely originated from a dwarf planet that once existed in our solar system – until it collided with a large asteroid 4.5 billion years ago.

The rare space diamonds aren't the only find mesmerizing researchers.

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A "breathtaking" image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope is revealing the secrets of star birth in the Orion Nebula.

Expect to see more unprecedented Webb images in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the Artemis I mission has a new launch date scheduled for September 27, with a 70-minute window that opens at 1.30am.

And on Mars, inspiring discoveries are afoot as the Perseverance rover investigates an intriguing site.

Other worlds

The Perseverance rover has made its most exciting find on the red planet to date.

Perseverance has finally collected samples from the site of an ancient river delta, which is full of rock layers that serve as a geological record of the Martian past.

Some of the rocks include the highest concentration of organic matter found by the rover to date, according to NASA scientists.

Among the organic matter are minerals that correlate with sulfates, which could preserve evidence of once potentially habitable sites on Mars and the microbial life that may have existed there.

New photos show the promising rocks amid the delta's alien landscape.

These important samples could answer the ultimate cosmic question: Are we alone in the universe?

We are family

Modern humans and Neanderthals lived in tandem until our ancient relatives went extinct about 40,000 years ago.

Now, researchers think they may have pinpointed something that gave Homo sapiens a cognitive edge over the Stone Age hominins.

Scientists discovered a genetic mutation that may have allowed neurons to form faster in the modern human brain.

"We've identified a gene that contributes to making us human," said study author Wieland Huttner, professor and director emeritus at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany.

But some experts think more research is needed to ascertain the gene's true impact.

Trailblazers

What's good for the goose is good for the gander and these golden geese have provided some pretty significant benefits.

Three teams of scientists won the 2022 Golden Goose Awards, prizes organised by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, for pioneering breakthroughs.

One of those includes the Foldscope, a microscope made from paper that costs $1.75 to make.

Stanford University bioengineer Manu Prakash came up with the idea on a research trip in the Thai jungle more than a decade ago.

The scientific instrument has traveled around the world, and researchers have even used it to identify a new type of cyanobacteria.

Defying gravity

Mark your calendars: A NASA spacecraft will intentionally crash into a tiny asteroid on September 26.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft, or DART, launched in November and is on its way to a rendezvous with Dimorphos, a small moon orbiting an asteroid called Didymos.

The mission will nudge the asteroid, which poses no threat to Earth, to change its speed and path in a first-of-its-kind test of kinetic impact.

If DART is successful, the mission could demonstrate future ways to protect Earth from space debris.

The spacecraft recently got its first glimpse of Didymos from about 32.2 million kilometres away.

On the day of the encounter, we'll see Dimorphos for the first time before DART collides with the space rock.

Consequences

The Xerces blue butterfly, Floreana giant tortoise and Tasmanian tiger are just some of the species that the world has lost due to human-driven threats.

Environmental and travel photographer Marc Schlossman has spent 15 years documenting extinct and endangered animal specimens in Chicago's Field Museum collection for his new book, "Extinction: Our Fragile Relationship With Life on Earth."

Schlossman provides a glimmer of hope at a time when biodiversity loss is accelerating. Of the 82 species photographed for the book, 23 are extinct, he said.

Thanks to conservation efforts, the rest have been brought back from the brink of disappearing or, as in the case of the New Zealand kākāpo, can recover with "robust" conservation work.

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Typhoon forces millions to evacuate in Japan

About two million people in southwestern Japan have been ordered to evacuate ahead of a powerful typhoon forecast to hit the region on Sunday, according to public broadcaster NHK-World Japan.

The typhoon is forecast to hit southern Kyushu, one of Japan's southwest islands, specifically within Kagoshima Prefecture.

"Weather officials have issued an emergency warning for violent winds, high waves and a storm surge for Kagoshima Prefecture," NHK reported.

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Residents in 965,000 households have been ordered to evacuate across the seaside cities of Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and Amakusa.

A level five alert, the highest on Japan's disaster warning scale, was issued to more than 14,000 people in the city of Nishinoomote on Kyushu island, NHK reported.

"There is a possibility that it will be record heavy rain and an emergency heavy rain warning will be announced," said Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA).

"The highest level of vigilance is required for rising water levels and flooding of rivers, landslide disasters, and flooding of lowlands."

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Ryuta Kurora, a JMA official, warned on Saturday that strong winds could cause houses to collapse. Kurora urged residents to evacuate before the storm hit to escape the risk of landslides and flooding.

Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways have already cancelled at least 335 flights that were scheduled to depart from or arrive at airports in Japan on Sunday, according to NHK.

"The eye of Typhoon Nanmadol is clearly visible in satellite images. The typhoon has developed rapidly since Friday night," NHK reported.

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Moment car crashes into petrol station, flips multiple times

Dramatic footage has captured the moment a speeding car lost control and smashed into a Melbourne petrol station overnight.

The driver, a man in his 20s, was turning a corner on Coora Road in Oakleigh South at 4.35am this morning when he lost control of the vehicle, crashed into the station and flipped multiple times.

CCTV shows the vehicle tearing around the bend, before mounting the sidewalk and slamming into a petrol bowser, completely smashing everything in its path.

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Victoria Police say the man – who is lucky to be alive – suffered multiple upper-body injuries and was treated at the scene by paramedics.

READ MORE: Fourth man charged over fatal Brisbane stabbing

He was later transported in a stable condition to the Alfred Hospital.

An investigation into the cause of the incident has been launched.