China delivers first floating LNG storage, regasification unit to Cyprus

China delivered the country’s first floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) vessel for liquefied natural gas (LNG) on Tuesday, according to China Ship News. The vessel will serve China-EU energy cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative in Cyprus, marking another breakthrough for China’s shipbuilding industry. The vessel was built by COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry […]

Can budget deficit and coming elections in US contribute to mitigation in Ukraine?

As a result of their economic shocks and social and political unrest, the US and the EU have drastically reduced financial support for Ukraine. Washington and Brussels fearlessly restate their commitments to Kiev and declare belief in the earliest possible victory over Russia, despite the obvious circumstances. Moscow calls for negotiations, but the fundamental objectives […]

Exclusive: Mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and core interests is key to steady China-Belgium relations: Chinese ambassador

Even if there are differences between China and Belgium, as long as the two sides mutually respect each other's sovereignty, territorial integrity and core interests, they can overcome differences and engage in effective cooperation, which is the key principle underpinning the sound and steady development of China-Belgium relations, Chinese Ambassador to Belgium Cao Zhongming told […]

Sharp stones found in India signal surprisingly early toolmaking advances

Stone-tool makers in what’s now India redesigned their products in a revolutionary way much earlier than previously thought. Excavated stone artifacts document a gradual shift from larger, handheld cutting implements to smaller pieces of sharpened stone, known as Middle Paleolithic tools, by around 385,000 years ago, researchers say. That shift mirrors a similar change seen […]

New laser emits a more stable, energy-efficient light beam

A new type of laser is modeled after an exotic class of materials called topological insulators. And it’s proving more reliable and energy-efficient than its conventional counterparts, paving the way for possible use in quantum communication and next-generation electronics. The device, described online February 1 in Science, is composed of a grid of semiconductor rings […]

Why cracking your knuckles can be so noisy

“Pop” goes the knuckle — but why? Scientists disagree over why cracking your knuckles makes noise. Now, a new mathematical explanation suggests the sound results from the partial collapse of tiny gas bubbles in the joints’ fluid. Most explanations of knuckle noise involve bubbles, which form under the low pressures induced by finger manipulations that […]

Comb jellies have a bizarre nervous system unlike any other animal

Shimmering, gelatinous comb jellies wouldn’t appear to have much to hide. But their mostly see-through bodies cloak a nervous system unlike that of any other known animal, researchers report in the April 21 Science. In the nervous systems of everything from anemones to aardvarks, electrical impulses pass between nerve cells, allowing for signals to move […]

Northern elephant seals sleep just two hours a day at sea

Northern elephant seals are the true masters of the power nap. On long trips out to sea, the seals snooze less than 20 minutes at a time, researchers report in the April 21 Science. The animals average just two hours of shut-eye per day while swimming offshore for months — rivaling African elephants for the […]

Cosmic antimatter hints at origins of huge bubbles in our galaxy’s center

MINNEAPOLIS — Bubbles of radiation billowing from the galactic center may have started as a stream of electrons and their antimatter counterparts, positrons, new observations suggest. An excess of positrons zipping past Earth suggests that the bubbles are the result of a burp from our galaxy’s supermassive black hole after a meal millions of years […]

Urchins are dying off across the Caribbean. Scientists now know why

Since early 2022, sea urchins have been mysteriously dying off across the Caribbean. Now scientists say they have identified the main culprit: a type of relatively large, single-celled marine microorganism called a scuticociliate. The discovery is a little surprising given that “ciliates are not normally seen as agents of mass mortality,” says Ian Hewson, a […]