Environment news

• Frogs That Adapt to Pesticides Are More Vulnerable to Parasites

  15-08-2017 21:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  Amphibians can evolve increased tolerance to pesticides, but the adaptation can make them more susceptible to parasites, according to a team that includes researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The research, led by Binghamton University, showed that wood frogs that evolved increased tolerance to pesticides showed greater susceptibility to a dangerous virus, although they also demonstrated reduced susceptibility to a parasitic worm.“We have only recently begun to understand t
  
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• Balloons and drones and clouds; oh, my!

  15-08-2017 21:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Last week, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories flew a tethered balloon and an unmanned aerial system, colloquially known as a drone, together for the first time to get Arctic atmospheric temperatures with better location control than ever before. In addition to providing more precise data for weather and climate models, being able to effectively operate UASs in the Arctic is important for national security.“Operating UASs in the remote, harsh environments of the Arctic will pr
  
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• Researchers clarify mystery about proposed battery material

  15-08-2017 21:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  Battery researchers agree that one of the most promising possibilities for future battery technology is the lithium-air (or lithium-oxygen) battery, which could provide three times as much power for a given weight as today’s leading technology, lithium-ion batteries. But tests of various approaches to creating such batteries have produced conflicting and confusing results, as well as controversies over how to explain them.Now, a team at MIT has carried out detailed tests that seem to resol
  
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• University of Sydney charges ahead on zinc-air batteries

  15-08-2017 21:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  University of Sydney researchers have found a solution for one of the biggest stumbling blocks preventing zinc-air batteries from overtaking conventional lithium-ion batteries as the power source of choice in electronic devices.Zinc-air batteries are batteries powered by zinc metal and oxygen from the air. Due to the global abundance of zinc metal, these batteries are much cheaper to produce than lithium-ion batteries, and they can also store more energy (theoretically five times
  
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• A new method of 3D printing living tissues

  15-08-2017 20:54 via feedproxy.google.com
  The approach could revolutionise regenerative medicine, enabling the production of complex tissues and cartilage that would potentially support, repair or augment diseased and damaged areas of the body.Printing high-resolution living tissues is hard to do, as the cells often move within printed structures and can collapse on themselves. But, led by Professor Hagan Bayley, Professor of Chemical Biology in Oxford’s Department of Chemistry, the team devised a way to produce tissues in self-co
  
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• University of Delaware look at adding silicon to soil to strengthen plant defenses

  15-08-2017 20:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  To help plants better fend off insect pests, researchers are considering arming them with stones.The University of Delaware’s Ivan Hiltpold and researchers from the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University in Australia are examining the addition of silicon to the soil in which plants are grown to help strengthen plants against potential predators.The research was published recently in the journal Soil Biology and Biochemistry and was funded by Sugar R
  
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• NASA, ESA Spacecraft Track Solar Storm Through Space

  15-08-2017 20:36 via feedproxy.google.com
  Our Sun is active: Not only does it release a constant stream of material, called the solar wind, but it also lets out occasional bursts of faster-moving material, known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. NASA researchers wish to improve our understanding of CMEs and how they move through space because they can interact with the magnetic field around Earth, affecting satellites, interfering with GPS signals, triggering auroras, and — in extreme cases — straining power grids.
  
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• Rare Canadian oriole to fly thousands of miles back home – on passenger jet

  15-08-2017 20:25 via theguardian.com
  Bullock’s oriole who ended up in Ottawa to fly home on Air Canada flightSmall orange-plumed female first spotted in capital in late 2015Nearly two years ago, she was spotted perched on an apple tree in Ontario – thousands of miles from her natural habitat – capturing the attention of birdwatchers across Canada.Now a Bullock’s oriole who ended up in the Ottawa area is set to finally fly home to western North America – in the passenger cabin of an Air Canada flight. C
  
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• Climate change projected to significantly increase harmful algal blooms in U.S. freshwaters

  15-08-2017 20:24 via feedproxy.google.com
  Harmful algal blooms known to pose risks to human and environmental health in large freshwater reservoirs and lakes are projected to increase because of climate change, according to a team of researchers led by a Tufts University scientist.The team developed a modeling framework that predicts that the largest increase in cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) would occur in the Northeast region of the United States, but the biggest economic harm would be felt by recreation areas in the
  
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• NASA's GPM Found Gert Strengthening into a Hurricane

  15-08-2017 20:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA looked at the rainfall rates within Tropical Storm Gert as it continued to strengthen and found the most intense rainfall on the tropical cyclone's eastern side. Just over 12 hours later, Gert would strengthen into a hurricane. As Gert has strengthened, the storm began generating dangerous surf along the U.S. East coast.The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core observatory satellite passed above tropical storm Gert on August 14, 2017 at 9:36 a.m. EDT (1336 UTC) when winds had
  
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• Adani mining giant faces financial fraud claims as it bids for Australian coal loan

  15-08-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Allegations by Indian customs of huge sums being siphoned off to tax havens from projects are contained in legal documents but denied by companySupport our independent journalism by giving a one-off or monthly contribution
  A global mining giant seeking public funds to develop one of the world’s largest coal mines in Australia has been accused of fraudulently siphoning hundreds of millions of dollars of borrowed money into overseas tax havens.Indian conglomerate the Adani Group i
  
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• Mercury is altering gene expression

  15-08-2017 19:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  The mercury found at very low concentrations in water is concentrated along the entire food chain, from algae via zooplankton to small fish and on to the largest fish — the ones we eat. Mercury causes severe and irreversible neurological disorders in people who have consumed highly contaminated fish. Whereas we know about the element’s extreme toxicity, what happens further down the food chain, all the way down to those microalgae that are the first level and the gateway for mercury?
  
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• Pen Hadow sets sail for North Pole as Arctic ice melts

  15-08-2017 17:28 via bbc.co.uk
  Can 10 men and a dog, led by British explorer Pen Hadow, become the first to sail to the North Pole?
  
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• Hundreds feared dead in Sierra Leone after mudslides – video report

  15-08-2017 16:02 via theguardian.com
  Sierra Leonean emergency services and aid agencies are working to find victims of the heavy mudslides and flooding which devastated areas around the country’s capital Freetown on Monday. Thousands of people are still missingSierra Leone’s deadly mudslide: thousands missing as search continues
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• There's a way to save hedgehogs – and all of us can help | Hugh Warwick

  15-08-2017 15:54 via theguardian.com
  By taking part in projects such as counting hedgehog homes, ordinary people enable scientists to understand and protect Britain’s much-loved wildlife Today sees the launch of the “hedgehog housing census”. All over the country, thousands of people are going to the trouble and expense of building or buying hedgehog homes. We want to know how important this is to the lives of one of our most loved animals – and how we can improve the way we help hedgehogs in the future.For
  
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• Ordinary people are doing vital wildlife work. How? Counting hedgehog homes | Hugh Warwick

  15-08-2017 15:54 via theguardian.com
  The census is one way in which citizen scientists are adding to the store of data about our environment. It can also be the start of an amazing virtuous circleToday sees the launch of the “hedgehog housing census”. All over the country, thousands of people are going to the trouble and expense of building or buying hedgehog homes. We want to know how important this is to the lives of one of our most loved animals – and how we can improve the way we help hedgehogs in the future.F
  
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• Preserving one of world's most endangered primate species

  15-08-2017 15:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  All day long, for five straight months, Sheila Holmes slipped through the Madagascar rainforest, 16,000 kilometres away from her Calgary university classes, eyes and feet following black-and-white ruffed lemurs as they flew through the trees.Holmes was not your average tourist on this Indian Ocean island off the eastern coast of Africa. Instead, this University of Calgary student, who is now working on her anthropology doctorate, became a crucial part of what is the longest continuous monitoring
  
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• Bolivia approves highway through Amazon biodiversity hotspot

  15-08-2017 14:26 via theguardian.com
  National park which is home to thousands of indigenous people loses protected status to allow for construction of 190-mile road
  Bolivia has given the go ahead to a controversial highway which would cut through an Amazon biodiversity hotspot almost the size of Jamaica and home to 14,000 mostly indigenous people.President Evo Morales enacted the new law opening the way for the 190-mile (300km) road through the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park, known as Tipnis, its Spani
  
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• Bolivia approves controversial highway in Amazon biodiversity hotspot

  15-08-2017 14:26 via theguardian.com
  Major 190-mile road will strip national park and home to thousands of indigenous people of its protected status, making it vulnerable to deforestation
  Bolivia has given the go ahead to a controversial highway which would cut through an Amazon biodiversity hotspot almost the size of Jamaica and home to 14,000 mostly indigenous people. President Evo Morales enacted the new law opening the way for the 190-mile (300km) road through the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park, kn
  
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• Sheffield tree-felling opponents vow to fight on after court setback

  15-08-2017 13:44 via theguardian.com
  Judge imposes orders barring councillor and others from taking unlawful direct action against tree-felling programmeCampaigners trying to halt a “politically controversial” tree-felling programme in Sheffield have vowed to continue their fight despite losing a high court battle with council bosses. A judge on Tuesday made orders barring residents from taking “unlawful direct action” to prevent the lawful felling of roadside trees. It is the latest development in a long-ru
  
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• 'Donald Trump forest' climate change project gains momentum

  15-08-2017 12:57 via bbc.co.uk
  Campaigners plan to plant enough trees to counteract the climate impact of the US President.
  
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• Plants 'hijacked' to make polio vaccine

  15-08-2017 11:14 via bbc.co.uk
  A breakthrough could lead to easier, faster and cheaper vaccines.
  
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• Wildfires across southern European amid scorching heatwave – in pictures

  15-08-2017 09:05 via theguardian.com
  Extreme weather across southern Europe has spawned and fanned numerous wildfires, including at the beach resort of Kalamos near Athens and in central Portugal Continue reading...
  
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• Wildfires across southern Europe amid scorching heatwave – in pictures

  15-08-2017 09:05 via theguardian.com
  Extreme weather across southern Europe has spawned and fanned numerous wildfires, including at the beach resort of Kalamos near Athens and in central Portugal Continue reading...
  
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• Sci-fi nightmares play out beneath the flowers

  15-08-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Dunwich Heath, Suffolk Brilliantly coloured jewel wasps use the living bodies of other insects to nourish their larvaeMuch of the basic storybook that supplies the raw materials for horror films and novels seems to me to be derived from entomology. And here, at this place of autumn purple and gold, scattered thinly all along the sandy paths that bisect the billowing tides of flowering heather, was a particular inspiration.It was a tiny 1cm-long creature that looked as brilliant an insect as I ha
  
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• Australia's gas export industry sheds value while tightening local supply

  15-08-2017 06:05 via theguardian.com
  Santos wipes more than $1bn from its LNG plant in Queensland – just a week after Origin announced a similar devaluationAustralia’s natural gas export boom, which is causing soaring gas prices and pushing up carbon emissions, appears to be rapidly shedding value. Santos wiped more than $1bn off the value of its liquefied natural gas plant in Queensland on Tuesday, just a week after Origin announced a similar devaluation. Continue reading...
  
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• Majestic archipelago

  15-08-2017 01:56 via bbc.co.uk
  The Galapagos Conservation Trust has announced the winners in its annual photographic competition.
  
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• Record-sized data centre planned inside Arctic Circle

  15-08-2017 01:08 via bbc.co.uk
  The facility in the north of Norway will take advantage of cheap energy and the cool air.
  
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• NASA Sees Tropical Storm Jova Being Ripped Apart

  15-08-2017 00:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  Satellite imagery from NOAA's GOES-West satellite showed vertical wind shear was already tearing Tropical Storm Jova apart just two days after it formed. By August 14, the storm weakened into a post-tropical cyclone.Tropical Storm Jova formed around 11 p.m. EDT on Friday, August 11. Now, wind shear it tearing the storm apart.At 12:45 p.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on Sunday, August 13, NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Depression Jova that showed wind shear was pushing most of
  
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• Study Finds Drought Recoveries Taking Longer

  15-08-2017 00:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  As global temperatures continue to rise, droughts are expected to become more frequent and severe in many regions during this century. A new study with NASA participation finds that land ecosystems took progressively longer to recover from droughts in the 20th century, and incomplete drought recovery may become the new normal in some areas, possibly leading to tree death and increased emissions of greenhouse gases.In results published Aug. 10 in the journal Nature, a research team led by Christo
  
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• Air pollution linked to cardiovascular disease; air purifiers may lessen impact

  15-08-2017 00:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  Exposure to high levels of air pollution increased stress hormone levels and negative metabolic changes in otherwise healthy, young adults in a recent study conducted in China. Air purifiers appeared to lessen the negative effects, according to new research published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.Researchers focused on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) – a component of air pollution emitted from vehicles, factories, power plants, fires and smoki
  
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