Environment

Venezuela have declared that every Friday in the months of April and May will be a public holiday, in a bid to save electricity amid a prolonged drought in the country.  President Nicolas Maduro unveiled the 60-day plan on Thursday, urging large shopping malls and hotels to generate their own electricity for nine hours each day. Bloomberg.com reports: Heavy industries operating in the country will be asked to cut consumption by 20 percent, he said.

When Mars was being bombarded with giant asteroids and comets over four billion years ago, the giant space rocks were enhancing the climate. A new study from the University of Colorado Boulder says that the comets and asteroids actually enhanced the climate enough to make Mars’ environment more conductive to life for a time. According to NBC News: The bombardment occurred during a period known as the Late Heavy Bombardment, which was about 3.9 billion years ago when the solar system was developing.

A new virus that attacks both farmed and wild tilapia has been identified by a team of international researchers. Tilapia is one of the most widely consumed inexpensive proteins globally. The virus, called the Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV), is said by the researchers to be the cause of the mass die-offs of the fish which occurred in Israel and Ecuador in the last few years. A paper produced on the virus by the research team lays out a plan for developing a vaccine to protect the global tilapia supplies from contracting TiLV.

The tensions between China and the world continued to escalate this week when China began operation the of a lighthouse on its recently-built island in the South China Sea. The man-made islands have caused tensions between China and the US and her allies to grow increasingly in the past few months. According to Asia Times: China claims most of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. But neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover captures a one of a kind photo of a ‘dust devil’ whirling on the surface of the Red Planet. The rover was perched on a ridge overlooking a valley when the opportunity was presented and the image was then sent home to NASA. abc News: Mars Dust Devil Photobombs NASA Rover Photo The Mars Opportunity rover snapped a photo of the dusty vortex while exploring the crater Endeavour.