This publication provides updated statistics on a comprehensive set of economic, financial, social, and environmental measures as well as select indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This paper examines how booms and busts in peer-to-peer (P2P) lending in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) affect monetary policy transmission to inflation and output.

The project will continue the support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to Bangladesh in managing the influx of around one million displaced people from Myanmar (DPFM) since 2017. Now a protracted situation, the crisis is putting significant pressure on infrastructure and causing substantial challenges in terms of food, shelter, health, security, water, sanitation, and other services in the DPFM camps and host communities.

1. Output 1: Quality of STEM education with support of technology improved.

The project aims to establish a high-quality, climate-resilient road network in northern Armenia, which will enhance trade, and stimulate inclusive economic growth. By improving the resilience and transport connectivity, the project seeks to promote a more balanced development across the region. Additionally, it focuses on enabling the development of future roads that are sustainable, safe, inclusive, and support low-carbon mobility, ensuring long-term benefits for the environment and communities.

The project will support increased contributions of clean energy in Mongolia's energy mix while also supporting energy security, efficiency, and resilience. The project will finance the construction of a new 220 kilovolt (kV) transmission line to connect to the 90-megawatt (MW) Erdeneburen hydropower plant (HPP) to the existing grid network, which will increase supply in the Western Energy System (WES), eliminate costly and high-emission imports from the Russian Federation, and facilitate maximized utilization of wind and solar generating capacity.

The TA is proposed to develop Bhutan's overall power dispatch options and strategies for domestic electricity consumption and international power trade. It will look into strategic views to maximize power export from various potential energy sources of hydropower, solar power, and wind power while meeting growing domestic electricity consumption.

The proposed Northern China Agriculture and Food Ecosystem Net Zero Transformation Project (project) will support the PRC to achieve its climate commitment through catalyzing financing and strengthening institutional capacity for net zero transformation in agriculture and food ecosystem.

The project will reduce trans-boundary animal diseases (TAD), food safety and zoonotic disease risks and strengthen livestock value chains and COVID-19 responses through investments in infrastructure, capacity building and policy support. The project will have the following outcome: health, value chains, and formal trade of livestock and livestock products improved. The project will be aligned with the following impact: GMS vision as a leading supplier of safe and environmentally friendly agriculture products realized.

The proposed project will undertake a long-term and strategic approach to deliver climate adaptive solutions for water resources management in the Amu Darya River Basins in Uzbekistan. Predicted climate change impacts include increased temperatures, increased frequency and severity of extreme events such as floods and droughts, and a reduction of water availability and increased variability of water flows in the major river basins. Decreasing availability and increased water requirements by different sectors are leading to a growing seasonal and absolute supply-demand gap.

The TA will focus on evaluating the wind potential of various site/s for government investment in wind energy. A feasibility analysis of viable wind sites will be carried out, which will inform the government on the scale of wind projects and how best to develop this potential. The TA will also fund the equipment for measuring wind speeds and directions to confirm site selection and build capacity for wind energy development in the EA.

The Sustainable Urban Transport Project aims to support Perum DAMRI (DAMRI), the state-owned bus operator, in replacing its aging fleet of internal combustion engine (ICE) buses with battery electric buses (BEBs), and in improving the quality and resilience of its public transport facilities and services. The project is aligned with the following impact: Acceleration of electric vehicle deployment to increase energy conservation in the transportation sector, improve air quality, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Presidential Regulation No.

The proposed program is a large-scale transformative and integrated initiative addressing the constraints. It aims to bridge the financing, capacity, institutional, and technical gaps in implementing the NAP and adaptation measures mentioned in the NDC and GRID while promoting mitigation, biodiversity, air pollution, and food security as co-benefits.

For approval in 2023.

Fossils in rocks that are 3.8 billion years old have puzzled biologists as they look nothing like modern cells, but now it seems they may be an ancient precursor life form that was unable to control its structure

The graft involved in trying to bring the peregrine falcon, Hawaiian crow and California condor back from the brink in the US makes for compelling reading in Feather Trails by Sophie Osborn

Turning around and backing up out of pools found in tree hollows may help mating Charles Darwin’s frogs find a safe place to lay their eggs while fending off competitive males

Horses experience hyperflexion, or rollkur, when their necks bend far towards their chests – it could place the animal at a greater risk of physical discomfort and stress

Eight Australian sea lions were fitted with cameras and trackers to capture unprecedented insights into their behaviour and the marine habitats where they hunt

Horses that are bred to race seem to perform better on the course if they had a diverse gut microbiome as foals

An estimate of annual bird fatalities due to building collisions in the US brings the figure to more than 1 billion – it is the first to include deaths from injuries after the strike

Microwaves in homes, offices and laboratories have been found to host diverse microbiomes, highlighting the importance of regular cleaning

After the release of a shocking video showing Olympic rider Charlotte Dujardin whipping a horse, it is time for equestrians to educate themselves on the science of horse training, says Christa Lesté-Lasserre

Forget videos by gamers or influencers. For a real online thrill, watch the world's biggest flower emerging in a former web designer's greenhouse, says Annalee Newitz

Lush and vibrant cinematography plus a "cast" of real animals make Heart of an Oak an enthralling celebration of the natural world

Two nankeen kestrels have been filmed flying in a wind tunnel to learn how the raptors keep their heads in a fixed position under turbulent conditions

Invasive cane toads have decimated native freshwater crocodile populations in northern Australia, as the predators don't know they should avoid the toxic amphibians

Lab-reared German cockroaches are susceptible to consumer insecticide sprays, allowing manufacturers to pass US regulatory tests, but insects taken from real-world infestations are able to shrug off the products

The Maugean skate (Zearaja maugeana) is only found in one habitat in Australia, which is under threat from human activity. Now the species has been saved from extinction by hatching in captivity

Scientists have known for centuries that sunflowers wobble in seemingly random ways as they grow – but it seems that those movements actually optimise how much light each plant gets

All living creatures use only the left or right-handed forms of certain molecules, and now we might understand why

The noises made by organisms like ants and worms as they move around in the soil can be used to assess whether an ecosystem is in good shape

From birds and bats to horses and great apes, Bill Schutt's seriously fun history of teeth, Bite, explains their role in both shaping evolution and our understanding of it

See the incredible shots that have won this year's BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology Image Competition

Male fireflies caught in an orb-weaver spider’s web start flashing in an unusual pattern, a deadly deception that seems to attract additional victims for the spider

Up to 100,000 extraordinary species, from spiders and beetles to salamanders and fish, live in subterranean caves and cracks. They aren’t as safe down there as we thought

The Origins and Habitability Lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a testbed exploring how geological conditions could impact life in environments such as early Earth, Mars or the icy moons of Jupiter

High-speed camera recordings show that springtails spin at up to 368 rotations per second when they jump away from danger

A survey found 66 species of insects making their homes in cobbled pavements on the streets of Berlin, and greater biodiversity near insect-friendly flower gardens

Cyanobacteria exposed to shorter days are better at surviving cold conditions, showing that even simple organisms can prepare for the arrival or summer and winter

The largest pterosaurs, ancient reptiles that were the first vertebrates to master flight, may have mostly soared while smaller ones flapped their wings, a pattern that persists in today's birds

These images are taken from a new book, Seeds: Time capsules of life, which explores how plant life has flourished in the past 360 million years

The books, TV, games and more that New Scientist staff have enjoyed this week

Breaching is a common behaviour in a wide range of sharks and rays, and it is thought to have functions related to courtship, birthing and hygiene

X-ray videos of Japanese eels swallowed whole by dark sleeper fish have revealed how the eels can make a daring escape from being digested

When worker ants are exposed to a pathogenic fungus, they build nests that are more compartmentalised to reduce the risk of an epidemic

Cleaner wrasse use their reflection to build a mental image of their body size, which they use to compare themselves to rivals before picking a fight