Category: Extraordinary

Even in the age of Google Earth, people still buy globes. Here’s why they remain so alluring

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An artist paints a globe at a studio in London, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. Globes in the age of Google Earth capture the imagination and serve as snapshots of how the owners see the world and their place in it. Peter Bellerby made his first globe for his father, after he could not find one accurate or attractive enough. In 2008, he founded Bellerby & Co. Globemakers in London. His team of dozens of artists and cartographers has made thousands of bespoke globes up to 50 inches in diameter. The most ornate can cost six figures. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Find a globe in your local library or classroom and try this: Close the eyes, spin it and drop a finger randomly on its curved, glossy surface.

You’re likely to pinpoint a spot in the water, which covers 71% of the planet. Maybe you’ll alight on a place you’ve never heard of — or a spot that no longer exists after a war or because of climate change. Perhaps you’ll feel inspired to find out who lives there and what it’s like. Trace the path of totality ahead of Monday’s solar eclipse. Look carefully, and you’ll find the cartouche — the globemaker’s signature — and the antipode ( look it up ) of where you’re standing right now.

In the age of Google Earth, watches that triangulate and cars with built-in GPS, there’s something about a globe — a spherical representation of the world in miniature — that somehow endures.

London globemaker Peter Bellerby thinks the human yearning to “find our place in the cosmos” has helped globes survive their original purpose — navigation — and the internet. He says it’s part of the reason he went into debt making a globe for his father’s 80th birthday in 2008. The experience helped inspire his company, and 16 years later is keeping his team of about two dozen artists, cartographers and woodworkers employed. Continue reading

$1B donation makes New York medical school tuition free and transforms students’ lives

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The campus of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine is seen, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in the Bronx borough of New York. The medical school will be tuition-free for all students from now on thanks to a $1 billion donation from former professor Ruth Gottesman, the widow of a Wall Street investor. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press

First year student Samuel Woo had been considering a career in cardiology so he would be able to pay off his medical school debt until the announcement this week of a generous donation that will remove tuition fees at his New York City school.

Now, without the fear of crippling student debt, the 23-year-old whose parents emigrated from South Korea said Tuesday that he can afford to pursue his dream of providing medical services to people living on the streets.

“I was definitely very emotional and it changes a lot,” said Woo, who had been working as a tutor and at a cafe to help cover his costs. Continue reading

Japan becomes the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon

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Staff of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) watch a live streaming of the pinpoint moon landing operation by the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft observe a live streaming at JAXA’s Sagamihara Campus Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, in Sagamihara near Tokyo. Japan’s space agency said early Saturday that its spacecraft is on the moon, but is still “checking its status.” More details will be given at a news conference, officials said. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japan became the fifth country in history to reach the moon when one of its spacecrafts without astronauts successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface early Saturday.

However, space officials said they needed more time to analyze whether the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, achieved its mission priority of making a pinpoint landing. They also said the craft’s solar panel had failed to generate power, which could shorten its activity on the moon.

Space officials believe that the SLIM’s small rovers were launched as planned and that data was being transmitted back to Earth, said Hitoshi Kuninaka, head of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, a unit of Japan’s space agency. Continue reading

The world could get its first trillionaire within 10 years, anti-poverty group Oxfam says

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FILE – Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, smiles as he plays bridge following the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Neb., May 5, 2019. The world could have its first trillionaire within a decade, anti-poverty organization Oxfam International said Monday Jan. 15, 2024 in its annual assessment of global inequalities timed to the gathering of political and business elites at the Swiss ski resort of Davos. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

By PAN PYLAS and MASHA MACPHERSON Associated Press

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The world could have its first trillionaire within a decade, anti-poverty organization Oxfam International said Monday in its annual assessment of global inequalities timed to the gathering of political and business elites at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

Oxfam, which for years has been trying to highlight the growing disparities between the super-rich and the bulk of the global population during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, reckons the gap has been “supercharged” since the coronavirus pandemic.

The group said the fortunes of the five richest men — Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault and his family of luxury company LVMH, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and investment guru Warren Buffett — have spiked by 114% in real terms since 2020, when the world was reeling from the pandemic. Continue reading

In early 2029, Earth will likely lock into breaching key warming threshold, scientists calculate

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Steam rises from the AES Indiana Petersburg Generating Station, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, in Petersburg, Ind. In a little more than five years – sometime in early 2029 – the world will likely be unable to stay below the internationally agreed temperature limit for global warming if it continues to burn fossil fuels at its current rate, a new study says. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer

In a little more than five years – sometime in early 2029 – the world will likely be unable to stay below the internationally agreed temperature limit for global warming if it continues to burn fossil fuels at its current rate, a new study says.

The study moves three years closer the date when the world will eventually hit a critical climate threshold, which is an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since the 1800s.

Beyond that temperature increase, the risks of catastrophes increase, as the world will likely lose most of its coral reefs, a key ice sheet could kick into irreversible melt, and water shortages, heat waves and death from extreme weather dramatically increase, according to an earlier United Nations scientific report. Continue reading

How are ancient Roman and Mayan buildings still standing? Scientists are unlocking their secrets

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The Hieroglyphic Stairway ascends at the Acropolis of Copan, an ancient Maya site in western Honduras, Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. The 20 meter-high staircase is carved with more than 2000 glyphs. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

By MADDIE BURAKOFF AP Science Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — In the quest to build better for the future, some are looking for answers in the long-ago past.

Ancient builders across the world created structures that are still standing today, thousands of years later — from Roman engineers who poured thick concrete sea barriers, to Maya masons who crafted plaster sculptures to their gods, to Chinese builders who raised walls against invaders.

Yet scores of more recent structures are already staring down their expiration dates: The concrete that makes up much of our modern world has a lifespan of around 50 to 100 years.

A growing number of scientists have been studying materials from long-ago eras — chipping off chunks of buildings, poring over historical texts, mixing up copycat recipes — hoping to uncover how they’ve held up for millennia.

This reverse engineering has turned up a surprising list of ingredients that were mixed into old buildings — materials such as tree bark, volcanic ash, rice, beer and even urine. These unexpected add-ins could be key some pretty impressive properties, like the ability to get stronger over time and “heal” cracks when they form.

Figuring out how to copy those features could have real impacts today: While our modern concrete has the strength to hold up massive skyscrapers and heavy infrastructure, it can’t compete with the endurance of these ancient materials. Continue reading

In landmark court case, 6 young activists take on 32 European nations over climate action

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Siblings Sofia Oliveira, 18, and Andre Oliveira, 15, pose for a picture at the beach in Costa da Caparica, south of Lisbon, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. They are two of the six young people from Portugal arguing on Wednesday, Sept. 27, that governments across Europe aren’t doing enough to protect people from the harms of climate change at the European Court of Human Rights. (AP Photo/Ana Brigida)

By SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press

STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Six young people from Portugal will argue that governments across Europe aren’t doing enough to protect people from the harms of climate change at the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday in the latest and largest instance of activists taking governments to court to force climate action.

The lawyers representing the young adults and children will argue that the 32 European governments they’re suing have failed to adequately address global warming and therefore violated some of their fundamental rights.

“This is truly a David and Goliath case,” said Gearóid Ó Cuinn, the director of the non-profit organization Global Legal Action Network that’s been crowdfunding to support the group.

“It is unprecedented in its scale and its consequences,” he said. “It also makes legal history. Never before have so many countries had to defend themselves in front of a court, anywhere in the world.” Continue reading

India’s moon rover completes its walk. Scientists analyzing data looking for signs of frozen water.

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This image provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shows Vikram lander as seen by the navigation camera on Pragyan Rover on Aug. 30, 2023. India’s moon rover has confirmed the presence of sulfur and detected several other elements on the surface near the lunar south pole a week after the country’s historic moon landing. ISRO says the rover’s laser-induced spectroscope instrument also has detected aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen and silicon. (Indian Space Research Organisation via AP)

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s moon rover has completed its walk on the lunar surface and been put into sleep mode less than two weeks after its historic landing near the lunar south pole, India’s space mission said.

“The rover completes its assignments. It is now safely parked and set into sleep mode,” with daylight on that part of the moon coming to an end, the Indian Space Research Organization said in a statement late Saturday.

The rover’s payloads are turned off and the data it collected has been transmitted to the Earth via the lander, the statement said.

The Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover were expected to operate only for one lunar day, which is equal to 14 days on Earth. Continue reading

With drones and webcams, volunteer hunters join a new search for the mythical Loch Ness Monster

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FILE – This undated file photo shows a shadowy shape that some people say is a the Loch Ness monster in Scotland, later debunked as a hoax. Mystery-hunters converged on a Scottish lake on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023 to hunt for signs of the mythical Loch Ness Monster. The Loch Ness Center said researchers would try to seek evidence of Nessie using thermal-imaging drones, infrared cameras and a hydrophone to detect underwater sounds in the lake’s murky waters. (AP Photo/File)

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Mystery hunters converged on a Scottish lake on Saturday to look for signs of the mythical Loch Ness Monster.

The Loch Ness Center said researchers would try to seek evidence of Nessie using thermal-imaging drones, infrared cameras and a hydrophone to detect underwater sounds in the lake’s murky waters. The two-day event is being billed as the biggest survey of the lake in 50 years, and includes volunteers scanning the water from boats and the lakeshore, with others around the world joining in with webcams.

Alan McKenna of the Loch Ness Center said the aim was “to inspire a new generation of Loch Ness enthusiasts.”

McKenna told BBC radio the searchers were “looking for breaks in the surface and asking volunteers to record all manner of natural behavior on the loch.” Continue reading

In fight against Canada fires, dancing South Africa crews are a familiar and uplifting sight

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South African firefighters gather for a safety briefing in Fox Creek, Alberta, on Tuesday, July 4, 2023. Several countries, including South Africa, deployed firefighters to Canada to help local efforts to control widespread wildfires. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

By NOAH BERGER Associated Press

FOX CREEK, Alberta (AP) — Some three dozen South African firefighters, clad in their bright yellow jackets and dark blue pants, danced, sang and cheered in a sprawling parking lot close by the majestic woods of central Alberta. The mood was light as the men and women smiled and clapped, some taking out smartphones to record video of their dancing colleagues before heading off to another day battling the fires raging through Canada.

The group gathered on an early July day in the small town of Fox Creek had traveled nearly 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) to help fight the hundreds of devastating wildfires that have burned homes and wild lands in the region, destroying an area about the size of the U.S. state of Virginia. They chanted and worked through drills before signing a Canadian flag presented to them as a token of thanks. Continue reading