Latest news with #ElNiño
GMA Network
a day ago
- Entertainment
- GMA Network
GMA Integrated News Wins Silver, Finalist Honors at Prestigious US International Awards
GMA Integrated News continues to raise the bar in journalism excellence as it brings honor to the Philippines anew at the prestigious 2025 US International Awards. The flagship newscast '24 Oras' won Silver in the Documentaries & Reports – Social Issues category for its compelling coverage and in-depth reporting on the societal impact of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) industry. The winning stories, reported by Saleema Refran and Sandra Aguinaldo, shed light on the far-reaching consequences of POGO-related crimes and their aftereffects on communities. Meanwhile, 'Unang Balita: Pinsala ng El Niño', a report by Darlene Cay, was named a Finalist in the Documentaries & Reports – Environment, Ecology & Sustainability category for its timely and powerful coverage of the devastating effects of the El Niño phenomenon on Filipino livelihoods and the environment. Senior Vice President for GMA Integrated News and Head of Regional TV and Synergy Oliver Victor B. Amoroso expressed pride in the recognition: 'It is such an honor for GMA Integrated News to be recognized at this year's U.S. International Awards—and a Silver award at that. This is both a testament to and validation of our teams' hard work, integrity, and relentless pursuit of excellence in journalism. We are equally proud of Unang Balita's Finalist citation for its strong entry on El Niño's impact.' These accolades reaffirm GMA Integrated News' commitment to delivering truthful, relevant, and impactful storytelling that resonates not just with Filipinos but with global audiences as well. The recognitions are especially timely as GMA Network celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, marking decades of commitment to delivering impactful news. The U.S. International Awards, which honor outstanding content in film, television, and new media from around the world, are widely regarded as one of the most prestigious honors in global media and journalism. –GMA Integrated News
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Science
- The Hindu
Science for all: New research opens doors to upcycling plastic waste into paracetamol
(This article forms a part of the Science for All newsletter that takes the jargon out of science and puts the fun in! Subscribe now!) Scientists at the University of Edinburgh have found a way to make a classic lab reaction, called the Lossen rearrangement, happen safely inside living Escherichia coli cells — thus opening a potential new path to recycling plastic waste into valuable products. The team started with a bacterium that couldn't make para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), a small molecule every cell needs to build DNA. When the mutant strain was given PABA, it grew. Without it, the strain was stalled. Researchers fed the cells a synthetic compound, simply called 1, that would release PABA only if a Lossen rearrangement reaction took place. After 72 hours at 37 degrees C, the bacteria cultures turned cloudy, proving the reaction, and therefore PABA production, had taken place inside the flask. The cloudiness test allowed the authors to track chemistry and cell health at the same time. The reaction worked even when the researchers added no metal catalyst. They were able to figure out with more tests that ordinary phosphate ions, which are present in most cell media and inside cells themselves, quietly catalysed the rearrangement reaction. High-performance liquid-chromatography measurements revealed that active, growing cells sped up the reaction up even more. The team also found that none of the tested substrates harmed cell growth at realistic concentrations, meaning they were not toxic to the bacteria. Compound 1 was easy to make from terephthalic acid, which is the basic unit of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) soda bottles. This means the Lossen rearrangement reaction happening inside the bacteria could consume (a form of) plastic to produce a different, newly useful compound. The researchers shredded a used bottle, hydrolysed it to terephthalic acid, and converted that into PET-1. The mutant E. coli strain grew just as well on PET-1 as on the lab-grade material, directly linking plastic-waste upcycling to biomass production and hinting at future bioremediation strategies. Because the rescued cells stayed healthy, the team next checked whether they could perform additional tasks while the Lossen rearrangement reaction ticked on in the background. Indeed, cultures containing Compound 1 smoothly reduced dimethyl maleate and keto-acrylates to their saturated products using native bacterial enzymes — proof that abiotic and biotic chemistries could cooperate in one setting. Finally, the authors built a two-enzyme genetic pathway: a fungal hydroxylase turned PABA into 4-aminophenol while a bacterial N-acetyl-transferase capped it with an acetyl group to yield paracetamol, the highly popular pain-relieving drug. In fact, the researchers were able to convert up to 92% of PET-1 into paracetamol in one simple brew. From the Science pages Question Corner Why is the El Niño so hard to predict? Find out here Flora and fauna
GMA Network
6 days ago
- Business
- GMA Network
Tiu confident of higher rice, corn output in Q2 of 2025
Agriculture Secretary Francisco P. Tiu Laurel Jr. on Sunday expressed confidence in a better performance for Philippine agriculture in the second quarter of 2025. Citing improved weather conditions and government interventions ordered by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the DA is expecting a significant rise in rice and corn output. 'Given the latest production forecasts from the Philippine Statistics Authority, we're hopeful this quarter will build on the momentum we saw at the start of the year,' Tiu Laurel said in a statement. 'But we must not let our guard down. We are doubling down on efforts to increase food production while boosting farmer incomes.' According to the DA, after slowing to a growth of 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2024 due to El Niño, the agriculture sector rebounded by 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2025, similar to the growth rate posted in the first quarter of 2023. The latest PSA projections estimates palay output to reach 4.36 million metric tons in the second quarter, up 13 percent from the same period in 2024. DA said this is also slightly higher than the April forecast of 4.34 million MT. The increase is driven by both expanded harvest area—up 9.2 percent to 972,730 hectares—and improved yields, projected at 4.48 MT per hectare, from 4.32 MT in 2024. The DA said rice production has benefited from 'favorable weather, increased government support through the National Rice Program (NRP), Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF), and stronger palay procurement by the National Food Authority (NFA).' The NFA currently buys palay between P18 and P24 per kilo. For corn production, based on standing crops as of May 1, the PSA projects second-quarter output at 1.487 million MT—an increase of 27 percent from 2024. Harvest area is set to expand by 16 percent to 402,690 hectares. Tiu Laurel also credited contract farming initiatives and sustained irrigation support from the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) that empowers farmers for the projected better performance. Rice and corn production as major contributors to crop production, which accounts for around 57 percent of the country's agricultural output. —RF, GMA Integrated News
20-06-2025
- Science
After the puzzling warmth of Earth in 2023 and 2024, what could 2025 have in store?
After 12 consecutive months with temperatures 1.5 C above the 1850-1900 average, Earth's temperature has now fallen — thanks in part to the end of a natural cycle. According to Berkeley Earth, a non-profit climate analysis organization, the global average temperature was 1.33 C above the pre-industrial average (new window) in the month of May, and the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (CCCS) found that the monthly average was 1.40 C (new window) above the pre-industrial average. (Climate agencies around the world use different methods to analyze global temperatures, hence the difference). While that may seem like good news, the fact is that 2025 is still on track to be one of the top three warmest years on record, according to Zeke Hausfather from Berkeley Earth. With El Niño being firmly over, it is very unlikely at this point that 2025 is going to set a new record, but I still think it's the odds-on favourite to be the second-warmest on record, and it is virtually certain to be a top three warmest year, Hausfather said. Global surface air temperature anomalies for May. Photo: C3S, ECMWF (CBC) El Niño, a natural, cyclical warming in a region of the Pacific Ocean that, coupled with the atmosphere, can cause global temperatures to rise, began in the middle of 2023 and then peaked in 2024, which could account for some of the record warmth that puzzled climate scientists (new window) . What was particularly interesting about the month of May is that land surface temperatures dropped quite a bit compared to the months prior. However, it was still the second warmest on record, after 2024. Hausfather said the sharp drop could have been some internal variability that had kept the land surface temperatures elevated and that perhaps last month was a result of the end of that variability. An important thing to also keep in mind when it comes to what we can expect in terms of 2025 making the record books, winter is when we see the greatest temperature anomalies, Hausfather said. So that could push 2025 even higher than what we're seeing now. On the road to warming trend of 1.5 C Ocean temperatures have decreased in part due the end of El Niño, but remain near record highs. In May, the average ocean temperatures were 0.99 C above the 1850-1900 average, according to Berkeley Earth. At the moment, we are seeing, or we have just seen, a significant ocean heat wave in the North Atlantic, said Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) (new window) . [Ocean temperatures are] cooler than last year and the previous one, but it's warmer than any other years we have in the record. So this is one of these things where it depends [whether] we like to see the glass half full or half empty. It's still a very warm ocean. Though Earth did hit a 12-month average of 1.5 C, that doesn't necessarily mean failure on the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global warming below a threshold of 1.5 C. That would have to happen over a longer period, though there is no set timeframe set out in the agreement. Climate is looked at over long periods, typically spanning 20 or 30 years (new window) . Carbon budget running out However, a study published on Wednesday (new window) in the journal Earth System Science Data, found that — if emissions continue at 2024 rates — we have only three years until we exhaust our carbon budget to keep warming below that 1.5 C threshold. Record-high greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly narrowing the chance of limiting warming to 1.5 C, Joeri Rogelj, professor of climate science and policy at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London and co-author of the report, said in a statement. The window to stay within 1.5°C is rapidly closing. Global warming is already affecting the lives of billions of people around the world. Though the that threshold may be breached, climate scientists like to stress that every tenth of a degree matters (new window) . Expect an above-average hurricane season, says NOAA (new window) But to keep warming below 2 C — the threshold initially set by the Paris Agreement — there needs to be a concerted effort to drastically cut CO2 emissions, as Antonio Gutteres, secretary-general of the United Nations, has continually stressed (new window) . Buontempo said that he's hopeful that the tools we have today will at least help us deal with dealing with the outcomes of rising temperatures. I'm an optimist. I've always been an optimist, and my feeling is that, you know, there are plenty of positives in this terrible situation, including the fact that we never had so much information about our planet, Buontempo said. We never had so much knowledge and tools to model the consequences of what's happening now. I mean, the decision is ours, right? Nicole Mortillaro (new window) · CBC News
Boston Globe
17-06-2025
- Climate
- Boston Globe
So far, 2025 has been the windiest year on record for Boston, statistics show
But here's the alarming stat — Boston is currently seeing the gustiest year on record and by a long shot, averaging nearly 10 miles per hour above the average dating back to when Logan Airport started recording wind data in 1936. 2025 is pacing over 2 mph stronger than the previous record set in 2010, averaging 32.64 mph. Advertisement Boston is averaging the highest wind gusts on record through the first five and a half months in 2025. IEM If you're wondering the difference between wind speed and wind gust here's a quick breakdown. Wind speed is determined by the average flow during a minimum two-minute stretch while gusts are recorded as sudden, instantaneous increases in wind that can last anywhere between a few seconds and 30 seconds. Wind gusts are a bit more accurate, and certainly more noticeable, in painting the picture of what the wind is like out there during any given day. Look at Boston's top seven gustiest years between January 1 and June 15. Notice how all of them are in the past 16 years, a hint towards a warming atmosphere that has made our weather patterns a bit more extreme. Advertisement The top seven average wind gust speed across Logan Airport from January 1 through June 15. Boston Globe As far as sustained wind speeds in Boston, this year has been above the 30-year average but below the overall average of the 89-year data set available at Logan. This year's wind speed has averaged 12.28 mph, the highest since 2000. Sustained wind speeds at Boston's Logan Airport have been the highest since 2000. Boston Globe What's the reason behind the strong wind gusts this year? The answer jumps out if you think about the above wind speed and wind gust charts, why such a dramatic jump? Well, we've simply seen more storms this year. 'Wind is essentially air moving from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure,' said the National Weather Service in Norton, Mass. It's a simple but effective reason. Storms are comprised of areas of low pressure and follow along the jet stream. This year, the jet stream has been positioned very close to Boston, mainly because there is no influence from naturally occurring weather patterns like El Niño or La Niña. Conditions have been neutral, which makes the jet steam behave a bit more erratic. This year, there has only been a handful of occasions where the jet stream was more than 200 miles away from New England. An example of the jet stream this Spring, sliding a storm close to Boston. Boston Globe With it closer to Boston, more storms are slinging across the region. Do I need to refer to the current rainy weekend streak that we're on? With more storms passing closer to the city, we see more instances of stronger winds. We also have seen a stronger North Atlantic high pressure, which naturally bows the jet stream to the north, paralleling the New England coast. A stronger high has allowed storms to strengthen as they pull away from Boston. This increases the pressure gradient and we've seen the resulting jump in stronger wind gusts. Advertisement If you increase the angle at which high pressure flows to low pressure, then you get more speed. We'll likely see the winds calm down a bit the deeper we get into summer. This tends to occur naturally as temperature differences between air masses decrease and wind speeds relax a bit. But until then, you'll want to hold onto your hats. Ken Mahan can be reached at
