Science News Roundup: Harvard's modern-day Darwin warns against humanity's downward slope; Blue Origin, Boeing chart course for 'business park' in space and more

Wilson, a 92-year old naturalist hailed as the Darwin of the 21st century, said humankind is not too polarized to save the planet, even as some of the world's biggest polluters drag their feet on cutting carbon emissions and arresting global warming. Remote-sensing reveals details of ancient Olmec site in Mexico Aerial remote-sensing of a large region of Mexico has revealed hundreds of ancient Mesoamerican ceremonial centers, including a large one at an important site for the ancient Olmec culture that is known for its colossal stone heads.


Reuters | Updated: 27-10-2021 18:57 IST | Created: 27-10-2021 18:29 IST
Science News Roundup: Harvard's modern-day Darwin warns against humanity's downward slope; Blue Origin, Boeing chart course for 'business park' in space and more
Representative Image Image Credit: Twitter(@blueorigin)

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Harvard's modern-day Darwin warns against humanity's downward slope

The Harvard University scientist who has called for setting aside half the planet as a nature preserve says the slope of human history will always be downward unless there is global cooperation to save existing species. Edward O. Wilson, a 92-year old naturalist hailed as the Darwin of the 21st century, said humankind is not too polarized to save the planet, even as some of the world's biggest polluters drag their feet on cutting carbon emissions and arresting global warming.

Blue Origin, Boeing chart course for 'business park' in space

Billionaire Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin on Monday unveiled plans to develop a commercial space station called "Orbital Reef" with Boeing, aiming to launch the spacecraft in the second half of this decade. The venture will be built in partnership with Sierra Space, the spaceflight wing of defense contractor Sierra Nevada Corp, and will be backed by Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions and Arizona State University.

Remote-sensing reveals details of ancient Olmec site in Mexico

Aerial remote-sensing of a large region of Mexico has revealed hundreds of ancient Mesoamerican ceremonial centers, including a large one at an important site for the ancient Olmec culture that is known for its colossal stone heads. The remote-sensing method, called lidar, pinpointed 478 ceremonial centers in areas that were home to the ancient Olmec and Maya cultures dating to roughly 1100-400 BC, researchers said on Monday. The study was the largest such survey involving ancient Mesoamerica, covering all of the state of Tabasco, southern Veracruz and bits of Chiapas, Campeche and Oaxaca.

German dogs to sniff out wildlife at building sites to speed up work

Sniffer dogs are being trained by Germany's Deutsche Bahn (DB) to find protected wildlife at planned major building sites to speed up projects, the railway group said on Tuesday. Humans have so far been responsible for finding animals that need to be moved to a safer place while construction goes ahead, but the dogs are set to take over the job in 2022 following training that should finish by the end of this year, DB said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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