Environment

A chemical explosion at a cargo warehouse located in the Guaruja area near Santos, spread toxic gas over Brazil’s biggest port on Friday. A series of fires and explosions broke out after water reacted with the chemicals, causing a large toxic cloud to spread through the port area. The BBC reports: The company owners said the containers in Santos were full of acid and a disinfectant which came into contact with rainwater, causing a reaction. The area’s mayor said at least 66 people were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties.

Scientists say that the first genetically-modified human embryos ‘could be created in Britain within weeks’ A team of Scientists at the Francis Crick Institute in London are about to learn whether their research proposal has been approved by the fertility watchdog.

The U.S. government have admitted for the first time that bees are dying in record numbers due to pesticide poisoning, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) say they have known this for at least 20 years.  Despite a decade of pressure from environmentalists and beekeepers to deal with the bee crisis and curb the use a harmful insecticide causing the bee deaths, the EPA has fought against the public pressure until recently.

Kenya’s ban on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is on the verge of being reversed. The African country may soon allow the use of genetically modified cotton and maize seeds following pressure from agribusiness giant Monsanto, USAID, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Kenya banned GMO imports in 2012 and the upcoming approval has been met with heavy protests by opponents. Last year activists rallied in Nairobi against the lifting of the GMO ban, citing health concerns.

A canyon system potentially bigger than the Grand Canyon in the U.S. could be hiding beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, measuring 1,000km long and as much as 1km deep.  Researchers from Durham University and Imperial College London – along with American, Australian, Indian, and Chinese scientists studying satellite data, think that a massive canyon system could be hidden underneath a largely unexplored region of the Antarctic, called Princess Elizabeth Land. The study is being verified by a geological survey, which is now under way.