By utilizing two types of stem cells, scientists from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) have developed a multi-pronged approach for concurrently rejuvenating both the muscle cells and vascular systems of the heart. This came about as a medical emergency caused by severe cardiovascular disease, Myocardial Infarction (MI) can inflict permanent and life-threatening damage to the heart. The findings by a joint research team has given hope to develop a new treatment for repairing MI heart, as an alternative to the existing complex and risky heart transplant for seriously-ill patients. A Rael-Science post however says MI is a fatal disorder…
Author: Akanimo Sampson
Besides the legal battle between President Muhammadu Buhari and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, at the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, the epic political conflict appears to be playing out in other unknown frontiers. Some of the nocturnal witches and wizards in Nigeria have stepped into the political dispute between the two Fulani political giants, and their seeming partisan interest has left their association polarised. While some of these nocturnal creatures are applying their crafts to ensure that President Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) keeps calling the shots at Aso Rock, the country’s seat of…
President Muhammadu Buhari has again come under a sledge hammer on his nominees for the position of ministers. The Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-cultural body of the Igbo people has literally accused him of patronising corrupt politicians. President General of the Igbo group, Chief Nnia Nwodo, is flaying President Buhari for allegedly recycling some members of his cabinet, ‘’especially those that have corruption cases pending in the court as well those under the investigation of the anti-graft agencies’’. Before now, a strategic and political risk consultancy, Menas Associates, had taken a critical look at President Buhari’s ministerial nominees, and returned an…
The governorship battle in Kogi State between the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is currently taking a turn for the worse with the key opposition figures being targeted. In Kogi, it is becoming a common feature for opposition politicians to ‘’disappear’’ be abducted or assassinated. With the bloodletting by the Fulani herdsmen, and bandits in parts of the country yet to settle, the emerging nasty politics in Kogi is adding to dent the image of Nigeria the more and also provide critics the ammunition to fire at President Muhammadu Buhari. Already, the PDP…
Mr. John Maiyaki, an ex-aide to Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki, has taken the governor and his deputy, Phillip Shuaibu, to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). He accused them of misconduct and abuse of office through issuance of a proclamation for the inauguration of the House of Assembly, which excluded some members. Maiyaki also wants CCB to investigate the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Osatodion Ogie, for alleged breach of Paragraphs 1 and 9 of part 1 of the 5th schedule to the 1999 Constitution, as amended. In a petition submitted to CCB, Maiyaki said the governor, his…
The government of Nigeria under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari might have okayed the foreign medical trip of the detained leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky and his wife following intense backstage pressure from a group of Muslim medical doctors. The Shi’ites leader and his wife, Zeenat finally traveled out of the country on Monday. They reportedly departed Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, to India for medical treatment at about 6:30 pm Nigerian time, aboard a commercial airliner, Emirates. They were moved from Kaduna, where they had been in government detention since December 2015, to…
Some top political functionaries in Akwa Ibom State including retired military top shots who are making good fortunes from cattle business in the big oil and gas state are currently disturbed as the Special Assistant to the President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters, (Senate) Senator Ita Enang, has exposed their links with the Fulani herdsmen, Enang in a private radio station interview programme in Uyo, the state capital, justified the presence of Fulani herdsmen in the state on the ground that cows allegedly flooding state are owned by big men in the state who employed the Fulani herders to…
Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State in Western Nigeria, has sparked off a seeming bitter revolt of the top traditional rulers of the state with his unacceptable appointment of a Chairman for the Council of Traditional Rulers in the state. In a letter to Fayemi on August 2, signed by 15 Pelupelu Obas with the exception of Oore of Otun, Oba Adedapo Popoola, who traveled abroad, the monarchs requested the All Progressives Congress (APC) governor to reverse the action, pointing out that a court had earlier struck out a suit filed by five monarchs who were promoted to Pelupelu and…
Naval chiefs in West Africa have upheld their commitment to the ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Strategy (EIMS as part of measures to secure the region’s maritime space and sections which provides for the establishment of Maritime Zones E, F and G as well as all the adopted Acts on maritime security. Chiefs of Naval Staff of Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone as well as the Chief of Coast Guard of Liberia and the High Commander of the National Gendarmerie of Burkina Faso have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for joint maritime operations in the ECOWAS maritime zone, on July…
Apparently disturbed by the festering boundary conflict between Ikot Offiong community in Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State and Oku Iboku communities in Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State that has continued to take the lives of citizens in the conflict area, the two states are currently blaming the Federal Government for the protracted crisis. Governments of the two states are finding it hard to understand why Abuja was delaying in demarcating the boundary between the two bloodletting areas by the National Boundary Commission (NBC). Akwa Ibom Deputy Governor, Moses Ekpo and his Cross River counterpart,…
For coastal communities like those of the Niger Delta, largely abandoned by development planners and executors, the ‘invention’ of a blue energy might just be all they need to rapidly transform their social and economic conditions. But, with around 800 million people worldwide still lacking even a basic drinking-water service, and with the global population expected to hit 10 billion soon, prospects for such happier days are not appearing very bright. However, a post-doctoral scholar in civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University in California, USA, Kristian Dubrawski, says blue energy is an immense and untapped source of renewable energy.…
Thousands of years after people have been chalking up mysterious phenomena to religious miracles, a Rael-Science post has debunked some of the miracles humans regarded as the work of deities. According to the post, in 1953, a statue of the Virgin Mary in a couple’s house in Syracuse, Sicily allegedly started shedding human tears. The Roman Catholic Church later recognised the weeping as a genuine miracle, swiftly endowing the statue with celebrity status. Thousands flocked to see it. This fame persisted relatively unquestioned until 1995, when Dr. Luigi Garlaschelli, a chemistry researcher at the University of Pavia, debunked the miracle.…
A strategic and political risk consultancy, Menas Associates, has taken a critical look at President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministerial nominees, and returned an uninspiring verdict. The political risk consultants also chided President Buhari for wasting the opportunity to pass sound economic policy through the National Assembly because of the perceived overriding need to maintain peace among the All Progressives Congress (APC) big wigs. According to Menas Associates, ‘’around 84% of the nominees are men and most will be anti-reformist with the notable exception of Pantami among several others. While only seven nominees are female they include some of the most impressive…
In West African cuisine, there is a common ingredient that imparts both pungency and a spicy aroma to soups and stews. It is alligator pepper, also known as mbongo spice or hepper pepper. In Yoruba culture, when babies are born, according to Wikipedia, they are given a small taste of alligator pepper, atare, shortly after birth as part of the routine baby-welcoming process, and it is also used as an ingredient at traditional meet-and-greets. In Igboland, alligator pepper, ósè ọ́jị́ with kola nuts are used in naming ceremonies, as presentation to visiting guests, and for other social events with the kola nut rite. The Igbo present and eat the alligator pepper together with…
An agency of the United Nations in Ieaq has sealed a Memorandum of Understanding with telecommunications company, Asiacell, to support innovation under the Enterprise Development Fund (EDF), a livelihoods programme that contributes to economic recovery and private sector revitalisation through tailored support to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The innovation component (EDFi) supports early-stage tech businesses and tech start-ups in Iraq that can contribute to the local economy and create jobs for young people in the tech sector. This is coming as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) officially…
With the first half of this 2019 plagued by increased net tanker fleet growth, and a higher than expected refinery maintenance, it appears things are not going to be all that rosy for tanker owners. It seems, the tanker fleet is set for a period of much lower fleet growth over the next two years due to a relatively small orderbook. Currently, the tanker orderbook totals 53 mdwt, or 8.7 percent of the existing fleet size, which is the lowest tanker fleet-to-orderbook ratio since early-1997. Some analysts are of the view that fleet growth could be further offset by an…
To mitigate her own carbon footprint, the Panama Canal Authority, the agency of the Government of Panama that is responsible for the operation and management of the Panama Canal is implementing a series of innovative measures for conserving water and fostering sustainable energy. One example includes the introduction of 18 innovative water-saving basins that recycle 60 percent of the water used per lockage at the Expanded Canal, thus saving seven percent more water than in the Panamax locks. Another involves the installation of 88 state-of-the art floating solar panels with photovoltaic cells as part of a pioneering pilot programme. All these are coming ahead…
The international child sponsorship civil society group, Humanium, that is dedicated to stopping violations of children’s rights around the world has given an explanation why human trafficking is thriving around the globe with a yearly profit profile of $150 billion. A functionary of the group, Giulla Welge, said on their web site that human trafficking occurs in every country throughout the world, pointing out that traffickers take advantage of the vulnerability of their victims ‘’which is why refugees and migrants, minorities, and people from other disadvantaged groups are more commonly trafficked. People in poverty, as well as those in conflict…
In the last week of July in Ethiopia, 353 million trees were planted in one day in a seeming patriotic response to their Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed’s call to break the Guinness World Record in a nationwide reforestation initiative. The feat came as Hijrah Talk, a talk show using digital platforms to challenge misconceptions around migration, was launched on July 29 by IOM’s Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Its production aims to spread fact-based dialogue around migration across 22 Arab countries and throughout the Mediterranean region. The format consists mainly of short video interviews with…
Former Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) cum Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, and the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Local Content, Legor Idagbo, are currently at logger heads over the 2023 zoning deal in Cross River State. Ndoma-Egba is locked in a backstage political battle with stakeholders in the state to jettison the formula of rotating the governorship of the state. The governorship of the state is rotating on Senatorial District basis. Former Governor Donald Duke (1999-2007) of Cross River South flagged off the power rotation deal, followed by Liyel Imoke from Cross River Central…
At the no-nonsense rate the Benue State Government is going in arresting cattle, enormous public funds would be required in building prisons for the valued Fulani animal. The arrested cattle and their convicted nomadic herders need to enjoy the same prison space. After all, both jointly committed the crime. For a better understanding of this theme, the Encyclopedia Britannica defines prison as ‘’an institution for the confinement of persons who have been remanded (held) in custody by a judicial authority or who have been deprived of their liberty following conviction for a crime. A person found guilty of a felony or a misdemeanour may be required to serve a…
The defiant global rights group some suspected sponsored demonstrators last week demanded its exit from Nigeria, Amnesty International, has alleged that three Shi’ites have died in Police custody. According to the rights group, the police are also holding some minors among other members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) incommunicado. The damning allegations from Amnesty International came as some 60 protesters are also alleged to have so far been arrested in the #RevolutionNow protest across the country. Counsel to the detained Omoyele Sowore, the lead organiser of the protest, Inibehe Effiong, who made this known said the figure includes…
The enduring civil rule, not yet democracy, in Nigeria came about as a result of the heroic struggle or if you like, the revolution of the popular masses against the military dictatorship of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha. Omoyele Sowore, who the Buhari administration is presently detaining, was one of the front foot soldiers of the pro-democracy revolt on the side of the United Action for Democracy (UAD) that was then led by the iconic Olisa Agbakoba, SAN. As a Political Correspondent of The Punch at the time, Sowore was the link between the UAD and I. The detained…
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says multinational corporations are monopolising the green markets of the world. UNCTAD Deputy Secretary-General,Isabelle Durant, said at a meeting on green markets at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland early this July: ‘’Today’s green markets are monopolised by large-scale farms and multinational corporations.’’ Markets for sustainably produced goods- green markets- are booming as more consumers across the globe reach for products that pay producers a fair price or are made in an environmentally friendly manner. In the United States, for example, sales of such products grew by 3.5% between…
Low European gas prices and rising carbon prices have incentivised coal-to-gas switching in power generation, with Platts reporting that Germany’s and Italy’s gas-fired power generation has increased 54% and 37%, respectively, in 2019 to date. Analysts had estimated the global Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) demand for 2019 at 351 metric tonnes (mt), an increase of over 37 mt, or 12%, over 2018. In the second quarter of this year, global LNG supply totaled 87 mt, an increase of 13 mt or 17% over the second quarter of 2018, principally driven by new supply additions in the US, Australia and Russia.…
A likely cheery news for those with visual disability from a Rael-Science post is that scientists have partially restored sight to blind people using a paradigm-shifting implant that wires images directly to the brain. The new method, known as Orion, uses a video camera attached to a pair of glasses that sends information to electrodes implanted directly into the visual cortex of the brain, totally bypassing broken optical nerves that no longer work. A team of neurosurgeons from Baylor Medical College in Texas and the University of California, Los Angeles has carried out the surgical produce on six people with…
There is a high risk of Ebola outbreak in Uganda as hundreds of citizens crossed the Congolese-Ugandan border last July to engage in economic opportunities. The Ebola scare is coming one year after the beginning of its outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where the disease continues to affect highly mobile communities along the Ugandan border at major transit hubs. International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Uganda EVD Health Coordinator, Dr. Patrick Kaliika, said “there is a risk Ebola may cross into Uganda, but efforts at entry points are helping us to prevent the spread of the disease. Despite the…
A new research from the University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering could be the key to our understanding of how the aging process works, a Rael-Science post has said. The findings potentially pave the way for better cancer treatments and revolutionary new drugs that could vastly improve human health in the twilight years. The work, from Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Nick Graham and his team in collaboration with Scott Fraser, Provost Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, and Pin Wang, Zohrab A. Kaprielian Fellow in Engineering, was recently published in the Journal of…
While West Africa is busy turning into the world’s piracy hotspot according to One Earth Future, which produces an annual State of Maritime Piracy report, maritime incidents in Asia are on the downward slide. The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre (ISC) has released its half-yearly (January to June 2019) Report. Highlights of the report, whose information is verified by the respective government agencies, also known as Focal Points, and regional authorities, include: Total of 28 incidents reported from January to June 2019, of which 25 were actual incidents…
Obviously, the Nigerian Presidency is scared of any form popular resistance that would ultimately culminate in the abortion of the Muhammadu Buhari administration that has been profiting a few, and tilted towards the continued dominance of the Fulani ethnic nationality. In spite of this widely perceived flaw of the administration, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, does not appear to be helping matters at the moment. It seems, he is unwittingly stocking the fire in a dangerously polarized country with his desperate bid to re-introduce a controversial bill, which was rejected by the 8th Senate. The rattled Buhari administration is busy sermonizing to…
