Prince William calls to strengthen wildlife protection

By Chatham House (Chatham House Prize 2014) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons0

Hanoi: Prince William on Thursday called on the governments of the world to strengthen efforts to curb wildlife trafficking, warning that the current situation makes extinction imminent for endangered species. Speaking at the Hanoi Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, inaugurated in the Vietnamese capital, Prince William lauded global achievements to tackle the illegal wildlife trade, but warned that poachers and traffickers continue to decimate the planet’s endangered animals including rhinos, elephants, tigers and pangolins, Efe news reported. Prince William, the president of the United for Wildlife advocacy network, is in Hanoi for a two-day visit and ahead of the conference visited a local school to teach children about rhino conservation. “So while we’ve made progress, the truth is we are still falling behind. A betting man would still bet on extinction,” said the Duke of Cambridge at the Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference hosted in Hanoi by the Vietnamese forestry administration in conjunction with the British embassy, as tweeted by Kensington Royal Palace. The conference, attended by representatives of more than 50 countries and 10 international organisations, aims to set out an agenda to step up efforts to eradicate the market for wildlife products in Vietnam, where demand has burgeoned with the growth of the e-commerce market, according to international wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC. The Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) notes that wildlife trafficking remains the fourth largest illegal trade globally, generating some 20 billion euros ($21 billion) per year. IANS. Source: http://www.navhindtimes.in/

Read More........→November 19, 2016

First element discovered in Asia named ‘nihonium’, after Japan

Kyushu University professor Kosuke Morita, head of a team of scientists who discovered element 113, points to the superheavy synthetic element on a periodic table at a news conference at the RIKEN institute''s research centre in Wako, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo on June 9, 2016. Reuters

TOKYO: Japanese scientists behind the discovery of element 113, the first atomic element found in Asia — indeed, the first found outside Europe or the United States — have dubbed it "nihonium" after the Japanese-language name for their country.

"I believe the fact that we, in Japan, found one of only 118 known atomic elements gives this discovery great meaning," said Kosuke Morita, a university professor who led the discovery team from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science.

"Another important meaning is that until now, all the elements in the periodic table have been discovered in Europe and the United States," he told a news conference on Thursday.

"There has not been a single atomic element found in Asia, Oceania or Africa."

Element 113 was first found in 2004, and the number refers to its atomic number, or the number of protons in the nucleus of the atom. It does not exist naturally and has had to be synthesised.

Though the element was publicly recognised by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) in December 2015, the name was not announced by IUPAC until Wednesday. It will become permanent after a five-month public review.

If approved, it will join other newly announced elements: moscovium for element 116, tennessine for element 117 and oganesson for element 118.

It will also not be the only element to be named after a country, having been preceded by polonium and francium after the places they were discovered. — Reuters Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/

Read More........→November 18, 2016