Category: Feature Stories

For the first time in three years, the Netherlands has celebrated the traditional arrival of St. Nicholas, which was previously canceled due to the Corona epidemic. According to broadcaster NOS, thousands of people turned out Saturday in Hellevoetsluis, near Rotterdam, for the welcoming ceremony for Sinterklaas, as the saint with the rakish white beard and red bishop’s coat is known in the Netherlands.From there, the arrival of St. Nicholas was televised this year and staged in numerous other cities. According to legend, Sinterklaas travels by steamship every November from Spain…

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It is true that mosquitoes like certain people better than others. Researchers have repeatedly proven this in controlled experiments, says Swedish mosquito researcher Marcus Stensmyr from Lund University in an interview with #Faktenfuchs. But which people does it hit particularly often? Not all mosquitoes bite peopleFirst of all, it’s essential to know that only a handful of mosquito species bite humans. And even among the human-biting varieties, only the females bite. This is because they need human blood – or, more precisely, specific proteins in it – to produce eggs.…

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Global warming is causing weather extremes to become more frequent. Moreover, the 1.5-degree target needed to avoid reaching dangerous tipping points is barely within reach. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has given a preliminary overview of the state of the global climate in a report at the start of the UN World Climate Conference COP27 in Egypt. Global warming causes temperatures to rise to record levels.According to the assessment, the past eight years are shaping up to be the warmest on record. The global average temperature was recently estimated to…

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Have you ever been able to observe the following phenomenon? The alarm clock is set in the morning – after all, you can’t miss the plane or the important meeting the next day under any circumstances. But even before the alarm sounds, your eyes are open. How can this be? There is a scientific reason for this phenomenon. It has something to do with our sleep-wake rhythm. Since the beginning of time, this has helped humans to survive. During darkness, when our eyesight diminishes, and the environment becomes more dangerous,…

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In the fight against growing hunger in the world, development organizations have immediately called for more significant financial pledges from the group of leading economic powers (G20). “We urgently need more emergency aid to curb the worst effects of hunger and malnutrition,” said Fiona Uellendahl, an expert with the children’s charity World Vision, ahead of the G20 summit early next week in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian island of Bali. More than 800 million people already have problems getting enough to eat. Almost 26 million children under the age of…

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According to the latest weather forecasts, December is expected to be unusually cold this year. While energy costs continue to rise and many are already wondering how best to survive the winter months, the latest forecasts are causing further concern among the public. Although the winter weather forecast is still uncertain, most weather experts agree that the likelihood of an extreme cold snap next December is very high. It could get nastyAlthough the autumn months are above average this year and more reminiscent of late summer, this could end as…

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The climate crisis poses increasing health risks for people in Europe and already hard-hit other regions of the world. Without further action on climate change, more Europeans are expected to fall ill or die due to heatwaves or infectious diseases, for example, the EU’s Environment Agency (EEA) warned in a new report on Wednesday. The aid organization Doctors Without Borders called for climate change to also be perceived as a “real health crisis.” For its report, the Copenhagen-based EEA examined the extent to which climate change threatens European health and…

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Many allergy sufferers hope that the winter months will be a time of respite. They then wonder why their nose still runs and their eyes water. According to information from the German Allergy and Asthma Association (Deutscher Allergie- und Asthmabund e.V.), the cold season can also cause problems for many allergy sufferers. The worldwide temperature rise has a worrying influence on the course of allergies and asthma diseases: Since the flowering period of early-flowering plants is brought forward and that of late-flowering plants is shifted to the later months, the…

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Archaeologists discovered something estimated to be 7,000 years old. So it’s even older than the pyramids and Stonehenge! Every day there are discoveries, and we keep finding evidence of life before our generation. Now another discovery has come to light. Researchers in Prague have come across a massive round structure called a rondel, which is fascinating. Massive round architectureAlthough construction workers have uncovered the site since the 1980s, scientists have only recently excavated the entire 55 meters (180 feet) of the structure. Live Science reports that the system is a…

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