Environment news

• Silicon Valley billionaire loses bid to prevent access to public beach

  10-08-2017 23:39 via theguardian.com
  Court decision is blow to Vinod Khosla and other wealthy landowners seeking to buy renowned beaches, making public land privateA California court has ordered a Silicon Valley billionaire to restore access to a beloved beach that he closed off for his private use, a major victory for public lands advocates who have been fighting the venture capitalist for years. An appeals court ruled Thursday that Vinod Khosla, who runs the venture capital firm Khosla Ventures and co-founded the tech company Sun
  
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• NASA Analyzed Intensifying Franklin's Rains Before Landfall

  10-08-2017 20:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  Before Tropical Storm Franklin made landfall in east-central Mexico, the storm was intensifying. Two NASA satellites provided a look at the storm's cloud heights and extent and rainfall within.
  
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• Tourism industry funds research trip to most damaged part of Great Barrier Reef

  10-08-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  EXCLUSIVE: Unprecedented scientific expedition funded by private tourism company is designed to unlock secrets of surviving coral A scientific research expedition funded by the tourism industry will undertake the first significant underwater study of remote northern sections of the Great Barrier Reef, which were severely damaged by recent coral bleaching. Nonprofit organisation Great Barrier Reef Legacy will launch a 21-day research trip on a 32-metre charter boat, offering at least 10 free spac
  
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• Australia faces potentially disastrous consequences of climate change, inquiry told

  10-08-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Former defence force chief decries Australia’s response to climate challenge as a ‘manifest failure of leadership’Military and climate experts, including a former chief of the defence force have warned that Australia faces potential “disastrous consequences” from climate change, including “revolving” natural disasters and the forced migration of tens of millions of people across the region, overwhelming security forces and government.Former defence force
  
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• Portland State laser mapping project shows global warming effects in Antarctica

  10-08-2017 19:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  Portland State University researchers and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have publically released high-resolution maps of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, a globally unique Antarctic polar desert.
  
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• Plants Love Microbes – And So Do Farmers

  10-08-2017 19:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Sunshine Coast’s plant diversity has helped University of Queensland researchers confirm that nurture has the upper hand – at least when it comes to plant microbes.
  
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• Pennsylvania Hospital Neurosurgeon Performs the First Endoscopic Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery in Pennsylvania

  10-08-2017 19:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  Spine disc related low back and leg pain is a major challenge and is the second most common reason that patients visit the doctor in the United States—outnumbered only be respiratory infections—and is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Compression of the spinal nerves is one of the most common diagnoses and is frequently reversible with surgery.
  
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• Human-Caused Warming Likely Led to Recent Streak of Record-Breaking Temperatures, New Study Finds

  10-08-2017 19:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  It is “extremely unlikely” 2014, 2015 and 2016 would have been the warmest consecutive years on record without the influence of human-caused climate change, according to the authors of a new study.
  
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• OSC helps researchers unveil most accurate map of the invisible universe

  10-08-2017 19:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Ohio Supercomputer Center played a critical role in helping researchers reach a milestone mapping the growth of the universe from its infancy to present day.
  
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• UNH Researcher Develops Innovative Way to Understand Nature of an Entire Tiny Particle

  10-08-2017 19:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  New research from the University of New Hampshire has led to the development of a novel technique to determine the surface area and volume of small particles, the size of a grain of sand or smaller. Due to their tiny size, irregular shape and limited viewing angle, commonly used microscopic imaging techniques cannot always capture the whole object’s shape often leaving out valuable information that can be important in numerous areas of science, engineering and medicine.
  
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• NASA Airborne Mission Returns to Africa to Study Smoke, Clouds

  10-08-2017 19:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA's P-3 research plane begins flights this month through both clouds and smoke over the South Atlantic Ocean to understand how tiny airborne particles called aerosols change the properties of clouds and how they influence the amount of incoming sunlight the clouds reflect or absorb.
  
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• What it takes to recover from drought

  10-08-2017 17:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  Drought-stricken areas anxiously await the arrival of rain. Full recovery of the ecosystem, however, can extend long past the first rain drops on thirsty ground.According to a study published August 10 in Nature, the length of drought recovery depends on several factors, including the region of the world and the post-drought weather conditions. The authors, including William Anderegg of the University of Utah, warn that more frequent droughts in the future may not allow time for ecosystems
  
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• East Coast's rapidly rising seas explained

  10-08-2017 17:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  University of Florida scientists discover cause of Atlantic coastline’s sea level rise hot spots.
  
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• Underwater noise pollution stresses and confuses fish

  10-08-2017 16:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers at Newcastle University found that European sea bass experienced higher stress levels when exposed to the types of piling and drilling sounds made during the construction of offshore structures.The fish also showed signs of being confused when they encountered a potential predator while exposed to these underwater noises. When researchers played recordings of piling sounds and mimicked an approaching predator, the seabass made more turns and failed to move away from the predator. &nb
  
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• Pesticides Prevalent in Midwestern Streams

  10-08-2017 15:10 via feedproxy.google.com
  One hundred small streams in the Midwest were tested for pesticides during the 2013 growing season and found to contain, on average, 52 pesticides per streamMore than 180 pesticides and their by-products were detected in small streams throughout 11 Midwestern states, some at concentrations likely to harm aquatic insects, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
  
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• Giant dinosaur slims down... a bit

  10-08-2017 14:11 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists revise their estimate of the bulk of a colossal titanosaur, but not by much.
  
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• Al Gore on the Paris agreement, Trump and climate change

  10-08-2017 14:01 via bbc.co.uk
  The former US vice president says the US will meet its targets "in spite of Donald Trump."
  
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• Monsanto sold banned chemicals for years despite known health risks, archives reveal

  10-08-2017 12:41 via theguardian.com
  Company refutes legal analysis of documents suggesting it ignored risk to human health and environment long after pollutants’ lethal effects were knownMonsanto continued to produce and sell toxic industrial chemicals known as PCBs for eight years after learning that they posed hazards to public health and the environment, according to legal analysis of documents put online in a vast searchable archive. More than 20,000 internal memos, minuted meetings, letters and other documents have been
  
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• Norway's push for Arctic oil and gas threatens Paris climate goals – study

  10-08-2017 12:37 via theguardian.com
  Noway’s role as the world’s biggest fossil fuel exporter undermines its efforts to cut emissions at home, says NGO reportNorway’s plan to ramp up oil and gas production in the Arctic threatens global efforts to tackle climate change, according to a new study. The research says 12 gigatonnes of carbon could be added by exploration sites in the Barents Sea and elsewhere over the next 50 years, which is 1.5 times more than the Norwegian fields currently being tapped or under const
  
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• Cannibals engraved bones of the dead

  10-08-2017 11:25 via bbc.co.uk
  The prehistoric cannibals of southern England marked up the bones of the people they ate.
  
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• Seals given iron oxide orange 'makeover' in Essex coastal mud

  10-08-2017 11:12 via bbc.co.uk
  The animals were filmed by the Essex Wildlife Trust which says the rust is harmless to them.
  
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• Alaskan towns at risk from rising seas sound alarm as Trump pulls federal help

  10-08-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Communities at risk of falling into the sea say assistance from Washington has dried up: ‘It feels like a complete abdication of responsibility on climate change’The US government’s withdrawal from dealing with, or even acknowledging, climate change may have provoked widespread opprobrium, but for Alaskan communities at risk of toppling into the sea, the risks are rather more personal.The Trump administration has moved to dismantle climate adaptation programs including the Dena
  
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• The rise of electric cars could leave us with a big battery waste problem

  10-08-2017 10:15 via theguardian.com
  Carmakers, recyclers and tech start ups are working to solve the question of how to deal with lithium-ion batteries when they wear out
  The drive to replace polluting petrol and diesel cars with a new breed of electric vehicles has gathered momentum in recent weeks. But there is an unanswered environmental question at the heart of the electric car movement: what on earth to do with their half-tonne lithium-ion batteries when they wear out?
  British and French governments last month committed to ou
  
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• First 'winged' mammals flew over dinosaurs

  10-08-2017 09:49 via bbc.co.uk
  Fossils of the first "winged" mammals, from 160 million years ago, are discovered in China.
  
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• Exposure to oil sends birds off course

  10-08-2017 09:47 via bbc.co.uk
  Even light exposure to oil from disasters like the Deep Water Horizon oil spill makes flying more difficult for birds.
  
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• Scientists hope to breed Asian ‘unicorns’ – if they can find them

  10-08-2017 09:42 via theguardian.com
  Conservationists see only one hope for the saola: a risky captive breeding programmeIn 1996, William Robichaud spent three weeks with Martha before she died. Robichaud studied Martha – a beautiful, enigmatic, shy saola – with a scientist’s eye but also fell under the gracile animal’s spell as she ate out of his hand and allowed herself to be stroked. Captured by local hunters, Martha spent those final days in a Laotian village, doted on by Robichaud. Since losing Martha,
  
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• 'It's absurd': new gas import terminal for one of world's biggest gas exporters

  10-08-2017 08:53 via theguardian.com
  Skyrocketing Australian gas prices are behind AGL plans to build a $250m LNG import terminal south of MelbourneAs Australia ramps up to become one of the world’s biggest gas exporters, skyrocketing local gas prices are driving one company to build a new gas import terminal, highlighting an apparently absurd situation for local gas users.On Thursday AGL announced it had come closer to realising its plans to build a $250m LNG import terminal, nominating a port 80km south of Melbourne as its
  
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• As the skylarks fall silent, an ultrasonic din begins

  10-08-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Sandy, Bedfordshire As the birdsongs of day fade out, the bat detector stirs into unheard actionThe sun had risen over fields of oats and gone down on a prairie of stubble, yet still the skylarks sang. Though the world beneath their wings had been transformed, they continued exulting or lamenting in twilight overtime. I listened to two, three, or many voices intermingling at the fading of the day, but whether they sang in the sky or gave their evening show from the ground, I could not tell.Other
  
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• Firefighting foam blood test should be given to Katherine residents, mayor says

  10-08-2017 04:55 via theguardian.com
  NT town’s drinking water is contaminated by foam from air force base but federal government is resisting calls to fund testsThe Northern Territory government and the Katherine mayor have called for locals to be given the same blood testing and support provided to other communities impacted by Defence’s firefighting foam contamination scandal.Drinking water in the town of Katherine, in the territory’s top end, has been contaminated by the decades-long use of toxic firefighting f
  
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• UK named as world's largest legal ivory exporter

  10-08-2017 01:31 via theguardian.com
  A new trade analysis reveals the scale of Britain’s role in the international ivory trade
  Britain was the world’s largest exporter of legal ivory between 2010 and 2015, a breakdown of records held by the Convention on international trade in endangered species (Cites) has revealed.Not only did the UK export more ivory than anyone else to Hong Kong and China – which are considered smuggling hubs for “blood ivory” - it also sold on 370% more ivory than the next highest
  
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• Electrofishing: Saviour of the sea or fracking of the oceans?

  10-08-2017 01:11 via bbc.co.uk
  A controversial new fishing technique is being tested in the Netherlands using electric pulses.
  
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