The new findings could explain biodiversity hotspots in tectonically quiet regions. If we could rewind the tape of species evolution around the world and play it forward over hundreds of millions of years to the present day, we would see biodiversity clustering around regions of tectonic turmoil. Tectonically active regions such
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Among the approximately 2,000 known species of termites, some are ecosystem engineers. The mounds built by some genera, for example, Amitermes, Macrotermes, Nasutitermes, and Odontotermes, reach up to eight meters high, making them some of the world’s largest biological structures. Natural selection has been at work improving the ‘design’ of
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Nigeria’s broadband penetration declined in March 2023 by 0.28 percent from 48.49 percent in February to 48.21 percent in March. In February this year, President Muhammadu Buhari said the country had attained 100 percent broadband penetration. However, the latest data by the NCC contradicts the statement of the President on
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The Midwestern United States has lost 57.6 billion tons of topsoil due to farming practices over the past 160 years, and the rate of erosion, even following the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s guidelines, is still 25 times higher than the rate at which topsoil forms. Yet, we need not despair:
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With around 5,000 active satellites orbiting Earth, sattech propels modern agriculture, telecommunications, environmental monitoring and national security. Recent advancements like commercialized SAR technology, improved AI and data analytics fuel the global satellite data services market's 19.5% annual growth. However, this growth remains suboptimal for many small and medium-sized businesses, which flock
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Data centre energy consumption could be cut with new, ‘breakthrough’ photonic chips that are more efficient than today’s chips. Data centres can consume up to 50 times more energy per square foot of floor space than a typical office building and account for roughly 2 per cent of all electricity use
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The President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has said that the global shift towards electric vehicles places Africa in a good place to attract billions of dollars in private investment. Adesina said this at the ongoing 2023 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group held in Sharm El
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Greenpeace has urged carmakers to rapidly decarbonise their steel supply chains in a bid to cut rampant carbon emissions from the sector. In a report, the green charity claimed that steel production used in vehicles is responsible for an estimated 573 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, approximately equivalent to
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Speciality steels made the headlines in 2021 following a serious car accident. Normally, alloys of this type corrode very slowly, but they must not be used to construct barriers along roads that are salted in winter. At other places on the road network, the same steels offer long lifetimes and
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Growing demand for cleaner energy sources means offshore wind farms are being built all over the world. More than 5,000 turbines must be installed each year until 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5℃. But in certain regions, like California, it is difficult to build wind turbines directly on the seafloor
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