Environment news

• Scientist describes life on the ice in Greenland

  24-07-2017 23:43 via bbc.co.uk
  Glacial microbiologist Dr Joe Cook is in Greenland to examine the effect of algae on melting ice.
  
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• New Jersey's biggest shark catch: fishing crew reels in 12ft, 926lb mako

  24-07-2017 23:15 via theguardian.com
  Crew was fishing 100 miles off coast in area known as Hudson Canyon
  ‘Kevin’s passion and persistence has paid off today for a fish of a lifetime’A fishing crew in New Jersey has reeled in a 12ft, 926lb shortfin mako shark, which officials say is the biggest shark catch in the history of the state. Related: Viewers angry after Michael Phelps loses race to computer-generated sharkContinue reading...
  
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• PPPL researchers perform first basic-physics simulation of the impact of recycled atoms on plasma turbulence

  24-07-2017 22:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  Turbulence, the violently unruly disturbance of plasma, can prevent plasma from growing hot enough to fuel fusion reactions. Long a puzzling concern of researchers has been the impact on turbulence of atoms recycled from the walls of tokamaks that confine the plasma. These atoms are neutral, meaning that they have no charge and are thus unaffected by the tokamak’s magnetic field or plasma turbulence, unlike the electrons and ions — or atomic nuclei — in the plasma.  Yet, e
  
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• Martin Rowson on the Tories' new energy policy – cartoon

  24-07-2017 20:49 via theguardian.com
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• Infected Insects Cause a Stink

  24-07-2017 20:48 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tiny eel-like creatures called nematodes are surrounding us. While they can be free-living (a cup of soil or seawater contains thousands), the most well-known nematodes are the parasitic kind that wreak havoc in people, animals and plants.
  
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• Researchers Find Corn Gene Conferring Resistance to Multiple Plant Leaf Diseases

  24-07-2017 20:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers at North Carolina State University have found a specific gene in corn that appears to be associated with resistance to two and possibly three different plant leaf diseases.
  
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• UK’s rail network suffering from lack of joined-up thinking | Letters

  24-07-2017 20:23 via theguardian.com
  Readers respond to news of scrapped rail electrification plans and the folly of HS2The transport secretary’s announcement (Fury as soaring cost halts electrification, 21 July) is disastrous for the UK – on economic, social and environmental grounds. It is a further sign that this government has no real interest in the economy and communities anywhere but London and the south-east.That the centre and south-west should not have an “electric spine”, when you look to the
  
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• The Coast Is Not So Clear

  24-07-2017 20:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  For nearly a century, the O’Shaughnessy seawall has held back the sand and seas of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. At work even longer: the Galveston seawall, built after America’s deadliest hurricane in 1900 killed thousands in Texas.
  
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• Satellite Shows Tropical Storm Greg Losing Shape

  24-07-2017 19:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tropical Storm Greg appears to be less-rounded and more elongated on satellite imagery from NOAA's GOES-West satellite. Greg is still over 1,500 miles east of Hawaii.
  
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• ''Hindcasting'' Study Investigates the Extreme 2013 Colorado Flood

  24-07-2017 19:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  In September 2013, severe storms struck Colorado with prolonged, heavy rainfall, resulting in at least nine deaths, 1,800 evacuations and 900 homes destroyed or damaged. The eight-day storm dumped more than 17 inches of rain, causing the Platte River to reach flood levels higher than ever recorded.
  
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• NASA Flights Gauge Summer Sea Ice Melt in the Arctic

  24-07-2017 19:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  Earlier this year Arctic sea ice sank to a record low wintertime extent for the third straight year. Now NASA is flying a set of instruments north of Greenland to observe the impact of the melt season on the Arctic's oldest and thickest sea ice.
  
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• Allowable 'carbon budget' most likely overestimated

  24-07-2017 19:32 via feedproxy.google.com
  While most climate scientists, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, implicitly define "pre-industrial" to be in the late 1800's, a true non-industrially influenced baseline is probably further in the past, according to an international team of researchers who are concerned because it affects the available carbon budget for meeting the 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warming limit agreed to in the Paris Conference of 2015.
  
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• Romans threatened with water rationing as Italy's heatwave drags on

  24-07-2017 18:11 via theguardian.com
  Half of capital’s 3 million residents could have water switched off for eight hours a day after Italy’s driest spring for 60 yearsMore than a million residents of Rome are facing water rationing for up to eight hours a day as the prolonged heatwave that has ravaged southern Europe takes its toll on the Italian capital.Some businesses are already reporting sporadic disruption to their supply, while last month mayor Virginia Raggi turned off thousands of the city’s public drinkin
  
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• Viewers angry after Michael Phelps loses race to computer-generated shark

  24-07-2017 17:18 via theguardian.com
  Olympic great loses by two seconds in man v (fake) beast contestPhelps calls for rematch in warmer contest after defeat Not for the first time in Earth’s history, humans have been found wanting.Mankind’s latest setback came on Sunday after one of the greatest Olympians ever, Michael Phelps, lost a 100m swimming race to a great white shark. To add to the ignominy, the shark wasn’t even real. Continue reading...
  
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• Study: our Paris carbon budget may be 40% smaller than thought | Dana Nuccitelli

  24-07-2017 17:06 via theguardian.com
  How we define “pre-industrial” is importantIn the Paris climate treaty, nearly every world country agreed to try and limit global warming to no more than 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures, and preferably closer to 1.5°C. But a new study published in Nature Climate Change notes that the agreement didn’t define when “pre-industrial” begins.Our instrumental measurements of the Earth’s average surface temperature begin in the late-1800s, but the Indust
  
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• New study explains moss migration across the globe

  24-07-2017 15:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new study on mosses found in the polar regions reveals when and how often they have migrated across the Equator.Mosses are the dominant flora in Antarctica, yet little is known of when and how they got there. The majority of Antarctica’s moss flora (~45% of species) has a curious distribution pattern – a pattern with species only occupying regions in the high latitudes of both hemispheres, with no or very small populations at higher elevations in the tropical regions
  
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• UK should increasingly expect record winter rains, says Met Office

  24-07-2017 15:30 via theguardian.com
  Aided by a supercomputer, meteorologists find 34% chance of record monthly rainfall being set, raising fears about major floodingFears have been raised that the UK could soon see a repeat of the sort of flooding that has hit in recent years after forecasters predicted a one-in-three chance there would be a new record set for monthly rainfall during coming winters.The Met office used a supercomputer to simulate possible extreme weather conditions to help build up a picture of what was likely to b
  
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• The spirit of collaboration aboard Gulf of Mexico cruise

  24-07-2017 15:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  This summer, NOAA and partner scientists will conduct their most collaborative ocean acidification sampling of the Gulf of Mexico yet. Set to depart today, July 18th, the Gulf of Mexico Ecosystems and Carbon Cruise (GOMECC-3) will travel through international waters with 24 scientists from the United States, Mexico and Cuba on board.
  
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• Sustainable food startup looks north through non-profit partnership

  24-07-2017 15:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  A University of Toronto startup that sells vertical hydroponic growing systems has joined forces with a Ryerson University-linked non-profit to bring down the stratospheric cost of fresh fruits and vegetables in Canada’s northernmost communities.The unique partnership was forged at this year’s OCE innovation conference after Conner Tidd, a co-founder of U of T’s Just Vertical, ran into the founders of Ryerson’s Growing North. Tidd knew Growing North had built a geodesic g
  
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• Household batteries will be key to UK's new energy strategy

  24-07-2017 15:16 via theguardian.com
  UK to pioneer energy innovation through batteries in homes as energy department announces £246m research fundingThe UK will become one of the best places in the world for energy innovation through a shakeup of industry rules paving the way for batteries in people’s homes and across power grids, ministers have pledged.Greg Clark, the business secretary, said a more flexible national electricity grid was key to going beyond the quarter of power that is supplied today by renewable sourc
  
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• Emissions scandal: VW showing 'utter contempt' for Londoners, says Khan

  24-07-2017 14:44 via theguardian.com
  London mayor accuses Volkswagen of making the UK a laughing stock over refusal to pay £2.5m in compensation while it’s paid billions to US customersSadiq Khan has accused Volkswagen of showing “utter contempt” for Londoners after it refused to pay £2.5m compensation for its role in the dieselgate scandal. The German car manufacturer has paid billions of dollars compensation in the US after admitting around 11m cars worldwide were fitted with “defeat devices&rd
  
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• Humans are losing touch with nature – it’s a tragedy with no quick fix | Deborah Orr

  24-07-2017 14:04 via theguardian.com
  British alienation with the countryside points towards the same problem as the rise in alcoholism and gambling addiction: we’ve lost our place in the world• Deborah Orr is a Guardian columnistResearch published on Monday suggests that British people are becoming increasingly detached from wildlife, the countryside and nature. Seven out of 10 people in the Jordans Cereals survey admitted they felt they were losing touch with the natural world, while a third said they did not know enoug
  
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• How climate change scepticism turned into something more dangerous – podcast

  24-07-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Doubts about the science are being replaced by doubts about the motives of scientists and their political supporters. Once this kind of cynicism takes hold, is there any hope for the truth? By David Runciman• Read the text version hereSubscribe via Audioboom, iTunes, Soundcloud, Mixcloud, Acast & Sticher and join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter Continue reading...
  
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• Bernie Sanders and Al Gore on solving the climate crisis

  24-07-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  In this excerpt of The Bernie Sanders Show, Sanders talks to Gore about his new film, An Inconvenient SequelIn this episode of the Bernie Sanders Show, Sanders talks to Al Gore about his new film, An Inconvenient Sequel. Below is an abridged transcript of their conversation.**
  Sanders: Mr Vice President, many people reach high political life and then disappear. You have not disappeared. You have chosen to tackle one of the most significant planetary crises: climate change. Now, you’re rele
  
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• High risk of 'unprecedented' winter downpours - Met Office

  24-07-2017 11:05 via bbc.co.uk
  A new analysis suggests there's a greater chance of the heavy rain that led to extensive flooding in 2014.
  
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• South African child 'virtually cured' of HIV

  24-07-2017 10:32 via bbc.co.uk
  The nine-year-old has no active HIV in the body after catching the infection at birth.
  
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• Vietnamese smallholders help end deforestation – photo essay

  24-07-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  In the foothills of Vietnam’s Annamite mountains, hundreds of small forest owners are joining forces to produce sustainable acacia used in furniture around the world. With much of the country’s plantations owned by individuals, expanding the approach may be the best chance for saving forests in the Greater MekongAll photographs: James Morgan/WWF“It all starts with the seedlings!” says Le Thi Thuy Nga (left), the manager of Tien Phong forestry company in central Vietnam&rs
  
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• A village in slow peril on the sea

  24-07-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Hallsands, South Devon New grass on old roofs, confusing ruined masonry with cliffs – this is what natural reclamation looks like
  The sound is gulls, silence, the thin chatter of house martin chicks in lintel-nests. And the sea below, though at all tides it is a breathing, rather than a pervasive growl. By day you see Start Bay arcing many miles beneath the cliff. By night the lighthouse softly lights every sou’western-facing wall with a slow, silent rhythm.
  Benign. But then, not. Th
  
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• We live in the red zone and will fight until defence department clean up their mess | Phil Blanch

  24-07-2017 04:15 via theguardian.com
  Residents kept in the dark since being told toxic chemicals used on nearby Williamtown airforce base had leached into waterways and soils Phil Blanch is a community member living and working near the Williamtown airbaseOn 4 September 2015 I received a text message that turned my life upside down. It was from the Department of Primary Industries stating that Fullerton Cove, a bay of water near Williamtown airforce base in New South Wales, where I have made my living as a third-generation fisherma
  
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• Electricity shake-up could save consumers 'up to £40bn'

  24-07-2017 01:19 via bbc.co.uk
  New rules will encourage UK consumers to generate and store their own power, ministers say.
  
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• How the body responds to stress

  24-07-2017 01:16 via bbc.co.uk
  We analysed how the body responds to stress - by making presenter Jordan Dunbar do a comedy performance.
  
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