Deep freeze survivors
Multicelled animals may have withstood Snowball Earth – the global ice age which ended 635 million years ago. While no animal fossils have ever been found from this time, a team led by Gordon Love of the University of California, Riverside, has detected the remains of steroids found only in sponges, implying they survived the freeze.
Iranian satellite launch
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Iran has launched a communications satellite into orbit. The Iranian Space Agency says it launched the Omid satellite into low Earth orbit on 2 February using a homegrown Safir-2 liquid-fuelled rocket, a variant of the Shahab-3 ballistic missile.
Cisco quake risk
San Francisco may not be as ready for a big earthquake as it thinks. A report issued by the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association on 3 February estimates that 30,000 buildings would be damaged beyond repair by an earthquake of magnitude 6.9. As a start, the report recommends strengthening the 2800 weakest residential buildings.
AIDS or bonus?
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the main funding body for tackling these diseases, will be $5 billion short in 2009. Some development economists have contrasted this with the $18 billion worth of bonuses taken in 2008 by officials at US banks now receiving public funds to bail them out of the banking crisis.
US energy gets greener
The US is continuing to bump up its green credentials. Analysts at the Global Wind Energy Council say that in 2008 it doubled its wind-power capacity to 25 gigawatts, overtaking Germany to become the world’s largest producer of electricity from wind. It is expected to take the lead in solar power this year.