Authorities in New Zealand have been playing Barry Manilow's greatest hits in an attempt to dislodge protesters camped outside the parliament building.
Songs by the U.S. singer are being played on a 15-minute loop, along with the Spanish dance tune, Macarena.
The demonstrators, who are protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates, responded by playing songs such as Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It.
The protests began on Tuesday when a convoy of vehicles drove to parliament. Inspired by large...
More than a dozen countries have urged their citizens to leave Ukraine amid warnings from Western powers that an invasion by Russia could be imminent, the BBC reports.
The U.S., U.K., and Germany are among those who told their nationals to leave.
Moscow has amassed an estimated 100,000 troops along Ukraine's border but denies any intent to invade.
In a phone call, U.S. President Joe Biden again warned Russian leader Vladimir Putin of the costs of any...
A particularly powerful eruption of Mount Etna created a volcanic storm that sent bolts of lightning dramatically across the sky over eastern Sicily.
A volcano expert with Italy's National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology, said today that such volcanic storms are rare but can happen in particularly violent eruptions or with volcanoes located near the sea.
Volcanologist Boris Behnke told The Associated Press that volcanic lightning was observed over Etna in 2021, and in 2015.
The eruption...
By Maria Rose, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All through history, humans have created and shared stories that ponder the creation of stars – what they are and how the first stars came to be. Now, with new results from the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), a radio telescope located at the South Africa Karoo Astronomy Reserve, Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists are one small, but significant, step closer to understanding that history.
HERA researchers are looking for...
By Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Calorie restriction improves metabolic and immune responses that help determine both how long a person lives and how many years of good health they enjoy, a new study shows.
"Two years of modest calorie restriction reprogrammed the pathways in fat cells that help regulate the way mitochondria generate energy, the body's anti-inflammatory responses, and potentially longevity," said Eric Ravussin, PhD, associate executive director for clinical science at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. "In other words, calorie...
A U.S. company is speeding up the path to practical fusion energy by using Google's vast computing power.
By applying software that can improve on its own, TAE Technologies has cut down tasks that once took two months to just a few hours.
Google has lent the firm its expertise in "machine learning" in order to help accelerate the timeline for fusion. Nuclear fusion promises a plentiful supply of low-carbon energy, using the same process that powers...
By Stephen D'angelo, Cornell University
Employees or managers who view themselves as professional are more vulnerable to unethical behaviour such as conflicts of interest, a new Cornell study finds.
Safeguards from bias are more likely to fail in people with a high self-concept of professionalism, according to the study, "The Professionalism Paradox: Professionalism Increases Vulnerability to Conflicts of Interest," published in the journal Academy of Management Perspectives.
"I noticed that many professional advisors, such as financial advisors and physicians, claim that...
"The Enigma", the world's largest known cut diamond at 555 carats, went under the hammer in London today for US$4.3 million, having recently gone on display for the first time.
The rare black, or carbanado, diamond is believed to have been created when a meteorite or an asteroid hit Earth more than 2.6 billion years ago, reports Phys.org.
The 555.55 carat, 55-faced diamond reached $4.3 million, excluding the buyer's premium, at an online sale held by...
By Brad Smith, University of California, Los Angeles
A new study by UCLA researchers and colleagues demonstrates that the Ebola vaccine known as rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP results in a robust and enduring antibody response among vaccinated individuals in areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo that are experiencing outbreaks of the disease. Among the more than 600 study participants, 95.6% demonstrated antibody persistence six months after they received the vaccine.
The study is the first published research examining post–Ebola-vaccination...
Could a laser send a spacecraft to Mars? That's a proposed mission from a group at McGill University, designed to meet a solicitation from NASA, reports Phys.org.
The laser, a 10-metre-wide array on Earth, would heat hydrogen plasma in a chamber behind the spacecraft, producing thrust from hydrogen gas and sending it to Mars in only 45 days. There, it would aerobrake in Mars's atmosphere, shuttling supplies to human colonists or, someday perhaps, even humans themselves.
In...
