Amazon community files lawsuit against Chinese firm over gas flaring

Indigenous Waorani from Ecuador's Amazon filed a lawsuit Thursday against state-owned Chinese oil company PetroOriental, accusing it of contaminating their ancestral lands by burning off natural gas from oil wells in a process known as flaring.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-amazon-lawsuit-chinese-firm-gas.html

Mass extinctions of land-dwelling animals occur in 27-million-year cycle

Mass extinctions of land-dwelling animals—including amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds—follow a cycle of about 27 million years, coinciding with previously reported mass extinctions of ocean life, according to a new analysis published in the journal Historical Biology.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-mass-extinctions-land-dwelling-animals-million-year.html

EU leaders spar over climate in marathon summit

EU leaders debated through the night into Friday trying to agree more ambitious climate targets, despite earlier winning a victory for unity in unblocking the bloc's two trillion euro budget and recovery fund.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-eu-leaders-struggle-deadlock-climate.html

Window opens for Virgin Galactic test flight from spaceport

The window opens Friday for Virgin Galactic's first rocket-powered test flight from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico as the company prepares for commercial flights next year.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-window-virgin-galactic-flight-spaceport.html

Disney unveils plans to stream a galaxy of new series, films

The Walt Disney Co.'s streaming plans shifted into hyper speed Thursday, as the studio unveiled a galaxy's worth of new streaming offerings including plans for 10 "Star Wars" series spinoffs and 10 Marvel series that will debut on Disney+.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-disney-unveils-stream-galaxy-series.html

Disney unveils plans to stream a galaxy of new series, films

The Walt Disney Co.'s streaming plans shifted into hyper speed Thursday, as the studio unveiled a galaxy's worth of new streaming offerings including plans for 10 "Star Wars" series spinoffs and 10 Marvel series that will debut on Disney+.

COVID lockdown causes record drop in CO2 emissions for 2020

The global COVID-19 lockdowns caused fossil carbon dioxide emissions to decline by an estimated 2.4 billion tonnes in 2020—a record drop according to researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA), University of Exeter and the Global Carbon Project.

COVID lockdown causes record drop in CO2 emissions for 2020

The global COVID-19 lockdowns caused fossil carbon dioxide emissions to decline by an estimated 2.4 billion tonnes in 2020—a record drop according to researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA), University of Exeter and the Global Carbon Project.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-covid-lockdown-co2-emissions.html

Patient death rates higher on surgeons' birthdays

Patients who undergo surgery on the surgeon's birthday experience higher mortality compared with patients who undergo surgery on other days of the year, finds a US study in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.

Soothing words and music during surgery might reduce postoperative pain

Listening to soothing words and music during surgery appears to reduce pain levels and the need for pain relieving drugs after surgery, finds a trial published in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.

Who is the girl behind the face of CPR?

She is the face that many have kissed during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training and she has saved millions of lives, but who is she and what is her story?

Dogs and their owners share a risk of developing diabetes

Owners of a dog with diabetes are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes themselves than owners of a dog without diabetes, finds a study published in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.

New treatment could spare early-stage rectal cancer patients life-altering side effects

A new and less invasive treatment developed by Cancer Research UK researchers is safer than standard major surgery for early-stage rectal cancer, giving patients a better quality of life with fewer life-altering side effects, results from a pilot study show.

Is George's 'Marvellous Medicine' medically useful, dangerous, or both?

Increased time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic may inspire budding scientists to search for a cure, but researchers in the Christmas issue of The BMJ warn of the potential toxicity of homemade potions.

Masked education: Which face coverings are best for student comprehension?

With the ubiquity of masks due to the coronavirus pandemic, understanding speech has become difficult. This especially applies to speech in classroom settings, where the presence of a mask and the acoustics of the room have an impact on students' comprehension.

Johns Hopkins: Census records show founder owned slaves

Johns Hopkins University, whose researchers have been at the forefront of the global response to COVID-19, announced on Wednesday that its founder owned slaves during the 19th century, a revelation for the Baltimore-based school that had taken pride in the man purportedly being a staunch abolitionist.

Delta asks more workers to take leave as travel slump widens

Delta Air Lines has managed to avoid furloughs but is now asking more employees to take unpaid leaves of absence, a sign of the deepening slump in air travel as coronavirus cases increase across the United States.

Kids gain weight when new convenience stores open nearby

A new study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that changes in the food environment around low-income and high-ethnic/racial minority populations over time impact childhood obesity. Increased availability of small grocery stores selling a selection of healthy items in close proximity to children's homes improves their weight status over time, whereas increased availability of convenience stores selling predominantly unhealthy foods is likely to be detrimental.

Increased social media use linked to developing depression, research finds

Young adults who increased their use of social media were significantly more likely to develop depression within six months, according to a new national study authored by Dr. Brian Primack, dean of the College of Education and Health Professions and professor of public health at the University of Arkansas.

Examining psychiatric consequences of COVID-19

COVID-19 may complicate mental illness and substance abuse, while the related social isolation can trigger adverse psychiatric effects associated with loneliness.

Insufficient screening for heart damage after noncardiac surgery puts patients at risk

About five percent of patients experience heart muscle injury around the time of their surgery for a noncardiac condition, yet guideline recommendations to identify patients at risk using biomarkers are not being followed. A five-year study in Alberta, Canada appearing in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, determined that the recommended biomarker screening is very much underutilized.

US experts debate Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in live event

Britain and Canada have already approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine—will the United States be next?

Can I stop wearing a mask after getting a COVID-19 vaccine?

Can I stop wearing a mask after getting a COVID-19 vaccine?

Airbnb, resilient in pandemic, goes forward with IPO

Airbnb proved its resilience in a year that has upended global travel. Now it needs to prove to investors that it sees more growth ahead.

Google CEO says company will review AI scholar's abrupt exit

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has apologized for how a prominent artificial intelligence researcher's abrupt departure last week has "seeded doubts" in the company.

Researchers say new species of beaked whale found off Mexico

Researchers looking for an elusive species of beaked whale said Wednesday they think they have found another new, previously unknown species off Mexico's western Pacific coast.

SpaceX launches Starship on highest test flight, crash-lands

SpaceX launched its shiny, bullet-shaped, straight-out-of-science fiction Starship several miles into the air from a remote corner of Texas on Wednesday, but the 6 1/2-minute test flight ended in an explosive fireball at touchdown.

First woman, next man on moon will come from these NASA 18

NASA has named the 18 astronauts—half of them women—who will train for its Artemis moon-landing program.

France imposes 135 mn euros in fines on Google, Amazon

France's CNIL data privacy watchdog said Thursday it had fined two Google units a total of 100 million euros and an Amazon subsidiary 35 million euros over advertising cookies.

Airbnb, resilient in pandemic, goes forward with IPO

Airbnb proved its resilience in a year that has upended global travel. Now it needs to prove to investors that it sees more growth ahead.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-airbnb-resilient-pandemic-ipo.html

Google CEO says company will review AI scholar's abrupt exit

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has apologized for how a prominent artificial intelligence researcher's abrupt departure last week has "seeded doubts" in the company.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-google-ceo-company-ai-scholar.html

Researchers say new species of beaked whale found off Mexico

Researchers looking for an elusive species of beaked whale said Wednesday they think they have found another new, previously unknown species off Mexico's western Pacific coast.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-species-beaked-whale-mexico.html

SpaceX launches Starship on highest test flight, crash-lands

SpaceX launched its shiny, bullet-shaped, straight-out-of-science fiction Starship several miles into the air from a remote corner of Texas on Wednesday, but the 6 1/2-minute test flight ended in an explosive fireball at touchdown.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-spacex-starship-highest-flight-crash-lands.html

First woman, next man on moon will come from these NASA 18

NASA has named the 18 astronauts—half of them women—who will train for its Artemis moon-landing program.

source https://phys.org/news/2020-12-woman-moon-nasa.html

France imposes 135 mn euros in fines on Google, Amazon

France's CNIL data privacy watchdog said Thursday it had fined two Google units a total of 100 million euros and an Amazon subsidiary 35 million euros over advertising cookies.

source https://techxplore.com/news/2020-12-france-imposes-mn-euros-fines.html