Environment

Another Kenyan Fracture

A second massive crack has ripped through the Kenyan landscape, but geologists assure nervous residents that neither means their country will break apart anytime soon.

They say both fissures were caused by heavy rains that soaked the area, causing the volcanic soil beneath to give way.

The latest “fault line” near the town of Naivasha is more than a mile long and has destroyed crops and forced at least 16 families to move to safer ground. The earlier fissure, about 20 miles to the southeast, severed a road and forced other people to flee in late March.

Scientists say a growing split in the African tectonic plate will eventually cause a slice of Africa to break away.

Coral Shield

Australian scientists have developed a “sun shield” they hope can save the Great Barrier Reef from the coral bleaching that has ravaged the reef since 2016.

The shield is an ultra-thin biodegradable film that floats on the ocean’s surface. The shield contains calcium carbonate — the same compound corals use to make their hard skeletons.

While it would be impractical to deploy the film over the entire 135,000-square-mile reef, the scientists say it could be selectively placed to protect the most precious or high-risk areas.