Tag: landmark
The El Ali Meteorite’s Journey from Landmark to Loot
How a Space Rock Became a Scientific Breakthrough—And a Black Market Commodity A massive Somali meteorite containing never-before-seen-on-Earth minerals vanished into the black market, raising ethical questions about science and ownership. By Rachel Feltman, Dan Vergano, Jeffery DelViscio, Fonda Mwangi & Alex Sugiura Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. For generations…
China makes landmark pledge to cut its climate emissions
China, the world’s biggest source of planet-warming gases, has for the first time committed to an absolute target to cut its emissions. In a video statement to the UN in New York, President Xi Jinping said that China would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions across the economy by 7-10% by 2035, while “striving to do…
Landmark high seas treaty crosses finish line
After decades of negotiation, the high seas treaty is finally reality. First adopted by the United Nations in 2023, the treaty was officially ratified by the required 60 countries on Friday. This historic agreement will pave the way to protect international waters — Earth’s least-governed ecosystems — which face numerous threats from overfishing, deep sea…
Secrets of Chinese AI Model DeepSeek Revealed in Landmark Paper
Secrets of DeepSeek AI Model Revealed in Landmark Paper The first peer-reviewed study of the DeepSeek AI model shows how a Chinese start-up firm made the market-shaking LLM for $300,000 By Elizabeth Gibney & Nature magazine DeepSeek says its R1 model did not learn by copying examples generated by other LLMs. The success of DeepSeek’s…
Landmark Langlands Proof Advances Grand Unified Theory of Math
Breakthrough Proof Brings Mathematics Closer to a Grand Unified Theory after More Than 50 Years of Work The Langlands program has inspired and befuddled mathematicians for more than 50 years. A major advance has now opened up new worlds for them to explore By Ananyo Bhattacharya & Nature magazine One of the biggest stories in…
Hawai‘i passes landmark tourist fee to fight climate change
A small fee stands to make a big impact in Hawai‘i. Hawai‘i lawmakers passed a groundbreaking bill that will impose a small tax on visitors in an effort to protect the islands from the growing risks of a warming planet. Funds generated by this “green fee,” as it is being called, will be used to…
Jubilant Brazilians hail I’m Still Here’s Oscar as landmark in fight for justice
Walter Salles’s dictatorship-era movie turns focus on dark time in country’s history and more recent coup attempt Ahead of the Oscars ceremony, Brazil’s Fernanda Torres – star of Walter Salles’s dictatorship-era movie I’m Still Here – had warned her compatriots not to get into a “World Cup fever” over the Academy Awards. Her plea went…
Landmark debt swap to protect Indonesia’s coral reefs
Editor’s note: Conservation International announced on Jan. 15, 2025, that the debt-for-nature swap between the United States, Indonesia and several non-governmental organizations has officially been finalized. This means that US$ 35 million will begin to flow toward the protection and restoration of Indonesia’s highest-priority coral reef ecosystems, including Raja Ampat, where Conservation International has worked…