Environment news

• 3D imaging of surface chemistry in confinement

  20-07-2017 22:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  EPFL researchers have developed an optical imaging tool to visualize surface chemistry in real time. They imaged the interfacial chemistry in the microscopically confined geometry of a simple glass micro-capillary. The glass is covered with hydroxyl (-OH) groups that can lose a proton – a much-studied chemical reaction that is important in geology, chemistry and technology. A 100-micron long capillary displayed a remarkable spread in surface OH bond dissociation constant of a factor of a b
  
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• All hell breaks loose as the tundra thaws

  20-07-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  A recent heatwave in Siberia’s frozen wastes has resulted in outbreaks of deadly anthrax and a series of violent explosionsStrange things have been happening in the frozen tundra of northern Siberia. Last August a boy died of anthrax in the remote Yamal Peninsula, and 20 other infected people were treated and survived. Anthrax hadn’t been seen in the region for 75 years, and it’s thought the recent outbreak followed an intense heatwave in Siberia, temperatures reaching over 30C
  
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• Ancient Italian Fossils Reveal Risk of Parasitic Infections Due to Climate Change

  20-07-2017 22:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  In 2014, a team of researchers led by a paleobiologist from the University of Missouri found that clams from the Holocene Epoch (that began 11,700 years ago) contained clues about how sea level rise due to climate change could foreshadow a rise in parasitic trematodes, or flatworms. The team cautioned that the rise could lead to outbreaks in human infections if left unchecked. Now, an international team from Mizzou and the Universities of Bologna and Florida has found that rising seas
  
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• NASA Looks to Solar Eclipse to Help Understand Earth's Energy System

  20-07-2017 22:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  It was midafternoon, but it was dark in an area in Boulder, Colorado on Aug. 3, 1998. A thick cloud appeared overhead and dimmed the land below for more than 30 minutes. Well-calibrated radiometers showed that there were very low levels of light reaching the ground, sufficiently low that researchers decided to simulate this interesting event with computer models. Now in 2017, inspired by the event in Boulder, NASA scientists will explore the moon’s eclipse of the sun&nb
  
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• Shale gas development spurring spread of invasive plants in Pa. forests

  20-07-2017 21:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  Vast swaths of Pennsylvania forests were clear-cut circa 1900 and regrowth has largely been from local native plant communities, but a team of researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has found that invasive, non-native plants are making significant inroads with unconventional natural gas development.The spread of invasive non-native plants could have long-term negative consequences for the forest ecosystem in a region where the ubiquitous woods provide timbering revenue, wil
  
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• Shading and Lighting Retrofits Slash Energy Use in New York ''Living Lab'' Office Demonstration

  20-07-2017 21:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  By using advanced lighting and automated shades, scientists from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) found that occupants on one floor of a high-rise office building in New York City were able to reduce lighting energy usage by nearly 80 percent in some areas.The dramatic results emerged at a “living laboratory” set up to test four sets of technologies on one 40,000 square-foot floor of a building.
  
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• Berkeley Lab to Lead Multimillion-Dollar Geothermal Energy Project

  20-07-2017 21:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) will lead a new $9 million project aimed at removing technical barriers to commercialization of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), a clean energy technology with the potential to power 100 million American homes.Berkeley Lab will partner with seven other DOE national labs and six universities to develop field experiments focused on understanding and modeling rock fractures, an essential element of geothermal sy
  
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• Cash for carbon: A cost-effective way to reduce deforestation

  20-07-2017 21:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new Northwestern University study suggests that paying people to conserve their trees could be a highly cost-effective way to reduce deforestation and carbon emissions and should be a key part of the global strategy to fight climate change.The study, led by Seema Jayachandran, associate professor of economics in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern, sought to evaluate how effective “Payments for Ecosystems” (PES) is at reducing deforestation. PES is a prog
  
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• New Mexico boy trips over 1.2 million year old fossil

  20-07-2017 21:07 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A 10-year-old boy's stumble unearthed a prehistoric skull, which he then got the chance to help excavate.
  
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• United States' Electric Grid Remains Vulnerable to Natural Disasters, Cyber and Physical Attacks; Actions Needed to Improve Resiliency of the Power System

  20-07-2017 21:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  With growing risks to the nation’s electrical grid from natural disasters and as a potential target for malicious attacks, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should work closely with utility operators and other stakeholders to improve cyber and physical security and resilience, says a new congressionally mandated report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.  The grid remains vulnerable to diverse
  
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• Dirty coal to dirty politics: everything is connected through a malformed political economy | David Ritter

  20-07-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The life of our reef is intimately linked to the health of our politics and the future of our communities. Coal has no role to play David Ritter is chief executive of Greenpeace Australia PacificTen years ago, David Simon’s iconic TV series The Wire portrayed contemporary Baltimore as wracked by illegal drug use, violent crime and failing institutions. But underneath the symptoms were the structures of political economy. As the show’s tagline had it, “everything is connected&rd
  
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• Black-winged stilts: Record year for UK breeding

  20-07-2017 18:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The number fledging from the UK in 2017 is more than the total number for the previous 30 years.
  
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• Elephant seals 'recognise vocal rhythm'

  20-07-2017 18:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Male elephant seals recognise the rhythm of one another's voices, researchers say.
  
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• US Republican asks Nasa if civilisation on Mars existed

  20-07-2017 17:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A US congressman asked scientists if the Red Planet could have been occupied "thousands of years ago".
  
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• Scientists calculate total amount of plastics ever produced

  20-07-2017 17:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  Humans have created 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics since large-scale production of the synthetic materials began in the early 1950s, and most of it now resides in landfills or the natural environment according to a study published today in the journal Science Advances.
  
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• UK-built pollution monitoring satellite ready for launch

  20-07-2017 17:29 via theguardian.com
  
  The Sentinel-5P spacecraft is designed to monitor the pollution that causes a reported tens of thousands of deaths every year in the UK Last year, the European Space Agency launched the Trace Gas Orbiter to Mars. It is designed to look for methane – a key tracer of life – to determine if Martian microbes are present on the red planet.Now, ESA is preparing to launch another spacecraft to look at methane on another planet: our own.Continue reading...
  
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• Mexico launches pioneering scheme to insure its coral reef

  20-07-2017 17:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Hotels and local government in Cancún will pay premiums, and insurance industry will pay out if the reef is damaged by stormsA stretch of coral reef off Mexico is the testing ground for a new idea that could protect fragile environments around the world: insurance.The reef, off the coast of Cancún, is the first to be protected under an insurance scheme by which the premiums will be paid by local hotels and government, and money to pay for the repair of the reef will be released if
  
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• Thawing permafrost releases old greenhouse gas

  20-07-2017 17:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  The thawing permafrost soils in the Arctic regions might contribute to the greenhouse effect in two ways: On the one hand rising temperatures lead to higher microbial methane production close to the surface. On the other hand deeper thawing opens new pathways for old, geologic methane. This is shown in a study in the Mackenzie Delta (Canada), conducted by scientists from the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ, the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (
  
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• Tensions rise at fracking site in UK after police and activists clashes

  20-07-2017 17:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Scuffles and accusations of aggression increase at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road shale gas exploration siteTensions at Britain’s most high-profile fracking site have risen following an increase in violent clashes between protesters, security guards and police. One demonstrator said she had been left unconscious following a “pretty brutal” scuffle with security officers on Wednesday, and another activist fell from his wheelchair, the same day, when police officers pulled hi
  
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• Russia's use of the 'energy weapon' against Western European countries still a strategic threat

  20-07-2017 17:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  Although it has not been widely successful to date in the former Soviet zone, Russia’s use of the “energy weapon” against Western European countries in various forms still constitutes a strategic threat that warrants close attention from policymakers in Washington and throughout Europe, according to an issue brief by an expert in the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
  
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• Son of Cecil the lion killed by trophy hunter

  20-07-2017 16:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Six-year-old Xanda was shot and killed by hunters when he roamed outside the protected area of the Hwange National Park in ZimbabweA son of Cecil the lion has been killed by trophy hunters in Zimbabwe, meeting the same fate as his father whose death in 2015 caused a global outcry.Xanda, who was six years old and believed to have fathered a number of cubs himself, was shot just outside the Hwange National Park, not far from where Cecil died. Continue reading...
  
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• Lawsuit aims to force EPA to crack down on air polluters in Texas

  20-07-2017 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Environmental groups accuse agency of turning blind eye as Texas ‘renders useless’ pollution controls by issuing lax permits for oil and gas facilitiesCampaign groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency in a bid to force it to clamp down on industrial air pollution in Texas. Related: Texas companies penalized in less than 3% of illegal air pollution cases – reportContinue reading...
  
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• University-led study looks to reduce methane gas emissions in cattle

  20-07-2017 15:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  Seeking to mitigate the greenhouse gas contributions of the region’s agricultural sector, a University of Lethbridge-led study has been granted $1.1 million by the federal government’s Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Program.“Canadian farmers are great stewards of the land and the environment. These new investments are part of the government’s commitment to addressing climate change and ensuring our farmers are world leaders in the use and development of clean and sustainab
  
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• Poaching pushes pangolin closer to extinction

  20-07-2017 14:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Pangolins in the forests of Africa are at risk of being pushed to extinction like their Asian relatives.
  
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• Scale of pangolin slaughter revealed – millions hunted in central Africa alone

  20-07-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Pangolins are the world’s most trafficked wild mammal and decimated Asian populations have sharply shifted the focus of exploitation to AfricaThe true scale of the slaughter of pangolins in Africa has been revealed by new research showing that millions of the scaly mammals are being hunted and killed.
  Pangolins were already known to be the world’s most trafficked wild mammal, with at least a million being traded in the last decade to supply the demand for its meat and scales in Asian
  
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• Australia human history 'rewritten by rock find'

  20-07-2017 11:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Research shows Aboriginal people entered Australia up to 18,000 years earlier than thought.
  
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• Building new coal-fired power stations should be market's decision, Turnbull says

  20-07-2017 09:13 via theguardian.com
  
  PM says there is a role for government but ‘the goal should always be for investment decisions to be made by the market’Malcolm Turnbull says it is better the market decides whether or not to build a new coal-fired power station in Australia rather than delivering that outcome through government intervention.The prime minister was asked at an economic forum in Melbourne on Thursday whether the government would intervene to see new coal plants constructed, or whether it would leave th
  
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• Torrential rain batters north-east China again – video

  20-07-2017 08:05 via theguardian.com
  
  A torrential rainstorm has battered Yongji county in China’s Jilin province for the second time in a matter of days. The local meteorological department issued a red alert before dawn as the downpour threatened to bring more flooding to an area where eight people died earlier in ther week Continue reading...
  
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• Wasteland: plastics campaign calls for grassroots action on pollution – video

  20-07-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In a film released by Surfers Against Sewage, narrated by the actor Imelda Staunton, the scale of the plastic waste that circulates on the currents of the world’s oceans is compared to a global nuclear security threat. The group is calling for people to adopt a five-point plan to reduce plastic pollutionPlastics campaign calls for grassroots action to cut pollution across the UK
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• Plastics campaign calls for grassroots action to cut pollution across the UK

  20-07-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Individuals, schools and businesses are urged to adopt a five point plan to help make their towns and cities free of single-use plastic Plastic pollution threatens ‘near permanent contamination of the natural environment’ Communities across the UK are being urged to spread grass roots resistance to single-use plastic to reduce the millions of tonnes of it seeping into the oceans.Local councils, schools and businesses will be targeted in the Plastic Free Coastlines campaign that aims
  
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• Bees under the macro lens – in pictures

  20-07-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Summer’s here, and so are bees. These new macro images by Alejandro Santillana are being showcased in the Insects Unlocked project at the University of Texas at Austin Continue reading...
  
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• Rock find 'rewrites' Australian human history

  20-07-2017 07:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists unearth evidence that Aboriginal people may have entered Australia 65,000 years ago.
  
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• Asia's coal-fired power boom 'bankrolled by foreign governments and banks'

  20-07-2017 07:28 via theguardian.com
  
  The vast majority of newly built stations in Indonesia relied on export credits agencies or development banks, says study by Market Forces The much-discussed boom in coal-fired power in south-east Asia is being bankrolled by foreign governments and banks, with the vast majority of projects apparently too risky for the private sector. Environmental analysts at activist group Market Forces examined 22 deals involving 13.1 gigawatts of coal-fired power in Indonesia and found that 91% of the project
  
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• House of horrors: inside the US wildlife repository – photo essay

  20-07-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Photographer Matthew Staver and writer Oliver Milman visited the US National Wildlife Property Repository, where illegal wildlife products, from stuffed tigers to worked ivory, are stored and countedIf the US had a national house of horrors, it would probably be the federal government compound that lies on the fringes of Denver, Colorado, incongruously set within a wildlife reserve where bison languorously dawdle against a backdrop of the snow-crowned Rockies. The National Wildlife Property Repo
  
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• Hot dogs: rising heat makes it too hot for Africa’s wild dogs to hunt

  20-07-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The endangered wild dogs are well adapted to high temperatures but a warming world means pup survival is plummeting, study showsRising temperatures are making it too hot for African wild dogs to hunt and the number of their pups that survive is plummeting, according to a new study. The research is among the first to show a direct impact of increased heat on wildlife that appears well adapted to high temperatures. There are only 7,000 African wild dogs left in the wild and they have lost 93% of t
  
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• Chirrup and rattle of the courting grasshoppers

  20-07-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wolsingham, Weardale The grasshoppers are singing, dragging the little pegs on their hind femurs across the edges of their long membranous wingsIn the 40 years that I have followed this steep, stony, path leading down to Tunstall reservoir, one moorland edge bank of fescues, betony and bell heather has always been a reliable spot for grasshoppers. Facing south-west, sheltered from wind by a larch plantation it’s a perfect place to sit on a sunny afternoon and listen to their soundtrack of
  
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• Mick Fanning pulled out of surf again after another shark sighting at J-Bay – video

  20-07-2017 03:07 via theguardian.com
  
  The Australian surfing champion Mick Fanning, who was attacked by a shark two years ago at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa, was at the same spot to compete against Brazilian Gabriel Medina on Wednesday when they were called from the surf and their quarter-final was put on hold after a three-metre shark joined the line-up. Surfing was called also off on Tuesday when a two-metre mako shark was spotted breaching about 90 metres from competitors.Continue reading...
  
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• Why dogs are friendly - it's written in their genes

  20-07-2017 02:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Being friendly is in dogs' nature and could be key to how they were domesticated from wolves.
  
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