Floating offshore farms should increase production of seaweed
Sep 29th 2021IN MANY PLACES where seaweed used to thrive, often growing in vast “forests”, it is disappearing. The cause is global warming, which, by heating the ocean’s upper layer, reduces its density through thermal expansion—thus making it more buoyant. That extra buoyancy means it is less likely to mix with cooler, denser and more…
Tyrannosaurs may have nibbled each other when mating
Sep 29th 2021HOW DO PORCUPINES mate? Very carefully! An old joke, but one that applies even more forcefully to creatures with big, sharp teeth than it does to those with big, sharp spines. And few creatures have had teeth bigger and sharper than those of Tyrannosaurus rex.How tyrannosaurs mated will never be known for sure.…
How a housing downturn could wreck China’s growth model
ADD “MALICIOUS price-cutting” to the growing lexicon of Xi Jinping’s China. The phrase has cropped up in the past but is being increasingly used by provincial authorities to decry property developers’ attempts to slash home prices. Some developers, desperate to bring in revenue, are offering discounts of as much as 30%. Officials, fearing that the…
Kishida Fumio will become Japan’s new prime minister
KISHIDA FUMIO, a former foreign minister, won the election today to become president of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Given the party’s dominance in parliament, the victory will also make him Japan’s new prime minister. Mr Kishida (pictured, right) defeated Kono Taro, another former foreign minister, in a second round run-off, after none of…