Science

Landmark Nepal Survey Estimates Nearly 400 Elusive Snow Leopards

This is Beirut 23/04 14:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Snow leopards Conservation Climate change Habitat Nepal

Nepal's first nationwide survey of the threatened snow leopard estimated nearly 400 of the elusive big cats in the Himalayan nation, wildlife officials said Tuesday. Habitat loss, climate change, and poaching have greatly impacted snow leopard populations across Asia, listed as a "vulnerable" species by the International Union for ...

Coral Reefs on the Verge of Collapse as Bleaching Crisis Escalates

This is Beirut 23/04 13:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Oceans Climate Environment Corals

An unprecedented coral bleaching episode has spread to 84 percent of the world's reefs in an unfolding human-caused crisis that could kill off swathes of the essential ecosystems, scientists warned Wednesday. Since it began in early 2023, the global coral bleaching event has mushroomed into the biggest and most intense on record, with reefs ...

SpotlightSandstorm Sweeps Across Lebanon: Dusty Skies and Health Warnings Issued

This is Beirut 22/04 16:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Meteo Liban lebanon Bekaa Beirut Tripoli Saïda

A powerful sandstorm is sweeping across Lebanon, turning skies hazy and covering major regions—including the Bekaa, Tripoli, Beirut, and Saida—in a dense layer of dust. Visibility has dropped dramatically, and the entire country feels cloaked in a golden fog. Where’s It Coming From? This storm is the result of a collision between a ...

SpotlightGlobal Warming Is a Security Threat and Armies Must Adapt

This is Beirut 22/04 11:50 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Donald Trump Europe Global warming

From responding to weather disasters to facing rising competition in the fast-warming Arctic, militaries are increasingly exposed to climate change and cannot afford to let it become a strategic "blind spot," security experts say. Concerns have grown recently that climate action is being sidelined, as Europe bolsters its defense and the United ...

ReportHumanoid Robots Stride into the Future with World's First Half-Marathon

This is Beirut 21/04 13:50 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

China Technology Athletics Robots

Step by mechanical step, dozens of humanoid robots took to the streets of Beijing early on Saturday, joining thousands of their flesh-and-blood counterparts in a world-first half marathon showcasing China's drive to lead the global race in cutting-edge technology. The 21-kilometre (13-mile) event held in the Chinese capital's E-Town, a ...

Himalayan Snow at 23-Year Low, Threatening 2 Billion People

This is Beirut 21/04 13:25 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Climate Environment Water Himalaya

Snowfall in Asia's Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountain range has reached a 23-year low, threatening nearly two billion people dependent on snowmelt for water, scientists warned in a report on Monday. The Hindu Kush-Himalayan range, which stretches from Afghanistan to Myanmar, holds the largest reserves of ice and snow outside the Arctic and ...

NASA's Oldest Active Astronaut Returns to Earth on 70th Birthday

This is Beirut 20/04 15:21 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

NASA Kazakhstan Soyuz MS-26

Cake, gifts, and a low-key family celebration may be how many senior citizens picture their 70th birthday. But NASA's oldest serving astronaut, Don Pettit, became a septuagenarian while hurtling towards the Earth in a spacecraft to wrap up a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). A Soyuz capsule carrying the American ...

From Messi to Trump: AI Action Figures Take Over Social Media!

This is Beirut 19/04 16:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Artificial Intelligence Donald Trump Lionel Messi

The latest internet obsession is one impossible to escape on social media: images of well-known figures in plastic toy packaging, alongside evocative props... welcome to the meme of AI action figures. The figurines aren't real, but thanks to ChatGPT's new image generator, they look genuine, and they are flooding platforms from TikTok to ...

Einstein, 70 Years On: The Man Who Redefined the Universe and Human Consciousness

Karl Hajj Moussa 18/04 09:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

United States Albert Einstein Science Germany Nazis physics

In 1905, a young and relatively unknown physicist was quietly working in a patent office in Bern, unaware that he would forever alter the course of science. That year, Albert Einstein, born in 1879 in Ulm, Germany, without prestigious titles or academic acclaim, published a series of scientific papers that would gradually challenge everything ...

SpotlightWebb Spots Strongest 'Hints' Yet of Life on Distant Planet

This is Beirut 17/04 11:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Astronomers Telescopes Earth

Astronomers announced Thursday that they had detected the most promising "hints" of potential life on a planet beyond our solar system, though other scientists expressed scepticism. There has been vigorous debate in scientific circles about whether the planet K2-18b, which is 124 light years away in the Leo constellation, could be an ocean world ...

SpotlightWhen AI Meets Therapy: The Promise and Pitfalls of Digital Healing

David Sahyoun 16/04 18:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Therapy Artificial Intelligence AI Culture

AI (artificial intelligence) is a computer system designed to replicate human thought and behavior. It can reason, process information, and search for answers across vast pools of relevant content available online. A chatbot, by contrast, is a conversational tool designed to simulate human interaction. It runs on pre-scripted responses, ...

WHO Countries Reach Landmark Agreement on Tackling Future Pandemics

This is Beirut 16/04 09:05 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Donald Trump Covid-19 United Nations WHO Pandemic

Years of negotiations culminated early Wednesday with countries agreeing the text of a landmark accord on how to tackle future pandemics, aimed at avoiding a repeat of the mistakes made during the Covid-19 crisis. After more than three years of talks and one last marathon session, weary delegates at the World Health Organization's headquarters ...