2024 Disasters in Numbers
<p>In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95
United States Of America (US)
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Caffeine bad for foetus
IS CAFFEINE, which is present in tea, coffee and coke, harmful to pregnant women and foetuses? Although there have been indications to the contrary, a recent Canadian study has found evidence that
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Rats!
Rats and mice used for cancer tests in the US may soon have a diet regimen. Studies show that modern lab rats are about 25 per cent heavier than their ancestors were 20 years ago, which has caused a
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Unbending veins
Scientists have now been able to reason why black Americans suffer higher rates of hypertension, heart disease and stroke than their white counterparts. The new findings of Randall Tackett and his
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Diamond film from fullerenes
Scientists at the US's Argonne National Laboratory have found a cheap and quick method to produce diamond films by using soccer ball-shaped carbon molecules called fullerenes (Science, Vol 265, No
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Fungi disarmed
US scientists have found what makes fruits such as bananas, avocados and tomatoes, vulnerable to fungal diseases that destroy up to 50 per cent of the produce post-harvest. Moshe Flaishman and
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New dinosaur species
For creatures that were supposed to have dominated the entire planet, dinosaur fossils have been singularly missing from Africa. But now palaeontologist Paul Sereno from the University of Chicago
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Love links
Romantic behaviour has more to do with environmental influences than heredity, according to a study by behavioural geneticists at the University of California, Davis, US. The finding comes as a
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Nitrogen's role rediscovered
A recent study conducted by ocean scientists from Florida State University, USA, provides evidence of the greater role of atmospheric nitrogen, rather than of ground sources, in controlling the
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Blocking out bioterrorism
Biological agents, which can be used to harm crops or livestock, pose a potential threat to the agriculture sector in the us. The country needs a comprehensive plan to shore up its defences
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Checking Emissions
For the first time, the US senate has taken a step towards regulating carbon dioxide emissions