A ferry collapsed a few hundred meters from its destination on Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and at least twenty dead have been discovered. The boat capsized on Thursday morning as it approached the shore of Goma from the South Kivu village of Minova. The boat is seen swaying to one side and finally sinking in a video that has gone viral. It is currently unclear how many people were on board, although some survivors told Reuters news agency it may have been carrying at least 200 people. Nigerian boat capsizes, thought to have killed dozens of people. Aaron Ashuza, a local activist who is near the coast, told the BBC that he witnessed the removal of remains from the river and that the injured had been sent to a hospital. According to AFP, at least two kids passed away after being brought to the hospital following the incident. These kinds of incidents happen a lot in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where boats are usually packed full of people who do not always have life jackets on and can not swim. Because some ships hardly ever have passenger manifests, rescue attempts are made more challenging.
How a mega dam has caused a mega power crisis for Zambia
Even with the enormous hydroelectric Kariba Dam and the powerful Zambezi River, Zambia is currently experiencing the worst power outages in recorded history. The situation is so bad that people consider themselves fortunate if the lights come on for an hour or two in cities and towns across the nation that occasionally go without power for three days in a row. The power cuts have come as a shock to the 43% of Zambians who are connected to the grid and have taken electricity for granted all their lives. However, the El Niño weather pattern has led to one of the worst droughts in decades, which has completely destroyed Zambia’s ability to generate electricity. These days, when I visit pubs and restaurants, I occasionally see individuals there only to charge their phones amidst the loud roar of generators, not to dine or drink. Another lucrative industry is that of persons charging the phones of the unpowered. Zambia sources up to 84% of its electricity from water reservoirs such as lakes…
The ‘mind bomb’ images that sparked an international ban on whaling
A tiny group of Greenpeace activists came up with a novel proposal in the 1970s for ending commercial whaling. A massive Soviet ship with a ready-to-fire harpoon cannon towers over a whale just below the bow, the whale’s massive open wound seeping blood into the chilly Pacific Ocean. According to the photographer of the iconic 1975 photo, Rex Weyler, it is an image that altered the world and launched Greenpeace’s “mind bomb” campaign (scroll down to see the snap below). Weyler was one of the original Greenpeace activists that got together in Canada in the 1970s. Weyler was among the many who had fled the US to avoid being inducted into the Vietnam War. He recalls, “It is so hard to understand today, but there was no ecological movement at that time.” “We felt there should be a conservation movement on the same scale as other movements—there was the peace movement, the women’s movement, and the civil rights movement.” We were ripped up inside. I recall being on the deck of the…
How climate change is rewriting the rules of extreme storms
The most potent storms in the globe are changing in behavior. We must understand how hurricanes, typhoons, and tropical cyclones are evolving if we are to prepare for increasingly severe storms. Typhoons, tropical cyclones, and hurricanes are commonly referred to as nature’s steam engines because of the heat they generate from the ocean. As they barrel across the oceans, they transmute its heat into devastating kinetic energy that flattens islands and inundates coastal cities, necessitating months of urgent restoration work to mend. These “engines” are responding to the record-breaking ocean temperatures by slowing down, changing their course, and becoming less predictable and more hazardous. In an attempt to figure out how to adapt, scientists are currently racing to figure out exactly how hurricanes are rewriting the norms and patterns we have observed in the past. An extended season Hurricane activity in the Atlantic follows a clear seasonal pattern, peaking in September and occurring very rarely or not at all in the winter. As a result of climate change, a robust and early hurricane season is to be expected, according to James Kossin, a retired US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) climate and atmospheric scientist. According to Kossin, hurricanes “simply respond to the environment that they are sitting in.” “Therefore, the hurricanes will act as though it is August or September if the environment in June is made to resemble the environment that would typically be in those months. They are without a calendar. Climate warming is the primary cause of the abnormally warm ocean conditions we are currently seeing, but other factors, like the current El Nino to La Nina transition, which tends to increase storm activity, have also contributed to this season’s activity. “We would expect the waters to be at the warmth that we need for hurricane sooner in the year in a warming climate,” says Kristen Corbosiero, an associate professor at the University at Albany in New York, who specializes in atmospheric and environmental sciences. Therefore, it is plausible that in the future, hurricane seasons will be longer and earlier. It is too early to see a regular shift in the season, even though the extreme early start to the 2024 season brought on by Hurricane Beryl is consistent with what climate scientists could anticipate to see with climate change. According to Columbia University ocean and climate physics professor Suzana Camargo, “[It’s] not something that appears clearly in the data yet.” ‘Shear is death’…
Earth to briefly receive a ‘second moon’, scientists say
Get ready for a cosmic surprise this autumn—Earth is going to gain a second moon, according to astronomers. Earth’s gravitational pull will snare a small asteroid, turning it into a temporary “mini-moon.” Beginning on September 29, this space tourist will be in orbit for a few months before once more evading Earth’s gravitational pull. Sadly, without a professional telescope, the second moon will be too faint and dull to observe. On August 7, NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) detected the asteroid for the first time. In a study that was published in the American Astronomical Society’s Research Notes, scientists calculated its trajectory. The asteroid, known to scientists as 2024 PT5, is a member of the Arjuna asteroid belt, which is home to rocks with orbits that resemble Earth’s. Sometimes, a few of these asteroids approach Earth rather closely—by as much as 2.8 million miles (4.5 million kilometers). The study’s researchers found that Earth’s gravitational field can have a significant impact and briefly confine an asteroid of this size if it is traveling at a modest speed of about 2,200 mph (3,540 km/h). Which is precisely what is about to occur; this little asteroid will begin orbiting Earth this weekend and will take roughly two months to complete. Dr Jennifer Millard, astronomer and host of the Awesome Astronomy podcast, told the BBC’s Today show that the asteroid would enter orbit on the 29th of September and then was scheduled to exit on 25 November. “It’s not going to complete a full revolution of our planet, it’s just going to kind of have its orbit disrupted, just twisted little by our own planet and then it’ll continue on its merry way,” she said. The asteroid is just around 32 feet (10 meters) long, which is very small compared to the moon of Earth, which is about 3,474 kilometers in diameter. Even with binoculars or a home telescope, humans on Earth will not be able to see it because it is small and composed of boring rock. Expert-grade telescopes will be able to detect it. Therefore, keep an eye out for a ton of amazing images of this tiny dot rapidly passing by the stars on the internet,” Dr. Millard added. Although there have been reports of mini-moon sightings, it is believed that many more have gone unreported. Some even come back for repeat visits, the 2022 NX1 asteroid became a mini-moon in 1981 and again in 2022. So don’t worry if you miss this one – astronomers believe 2024 PT5 will also return to Earth’s orbit again in 2055. “Because this asteroid was only found this year, this story serves as a reminder of just how active our solar system is and how much remains undiscovered.…
The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was not alone
Scientists have confirmed that the massive asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs was not the only one. Around the same time, another, smaller space rock crashed into the ocean off the coast of West Africa, leaving behind a sizable crater. According to the scientists, it would have been a “catastrophic event,” tearing over the Atlantic Ocean with a tsunami at least 800 meters high. Heriot-Watt University’s Dr. Uisdean Nicholson made the initial discovery of the Nadir crater in 2022, but there was some doubt as to how it was actually formed. Currently, Dr. Nicholson and his associates are certain that an asteroid crashing into the seafloor is…