Environment news

• Mosses used to evaluate atmospheric conditions in urban areas

  17-08-2017 23:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers have developed a method to evaluate atmospheric conditions using mosses (bryophytes) in urban areas, a development that could facilitate broader evaluations of atmospheric environments.Many urban areas face atmospheric problems such as pollution and the heat island effect. With the need to evaluate atmospheric conditions, bioindicators—organisms whose response to environmental changes indicates the health of an ecosystem—have attracted considerable attention. Their merits
  
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• Renewable Energy Prevented 12,700 Premature Deaths Over Nine-Year Period, Study Says

  17-08-2017 23:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  The expansion of wind and solar energy, and the resulting avoided emissions from fossil fuels, helped prevent up to 12,700 premature deaths in the U.S. from 2007 to 2015, according a new study in the journal Nature Energy.
  
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• New study validates East Antarctic ice sheet should remain stable even if western ice sheet melts

  17-08-2017 23:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new study from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis validates that the central core of the East Antarctic ice sheet should remain stable even if the West Antarctic ice sheet melts.The study's findings are significant, given that some predict the West Antarctic ice sheet could melt quickly due to global warming.
  
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• NASA Sees Potential Tropical Depression 9 Form East of Lesser Antilles

  17-08-2017 23:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  NOAA's GOES-East Satellite spotted potential Tropical Depression 9 organizing east of the Lesser Antilles.At 10:45 a.m. EDT (1445 UTC) on Aug. 13 NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured a visible image of potential Tropical Depression 9. The satellite imagery showed the circulation of the low pressure area was becoming better defined and that a cluster of strong convection has formed west of the center.NOAA manages the GOES series of satellites, and NASA uses the satellite data to create images and
  
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• Discovery could lead to new catalyst design to reduce nitrogen oxides in diesel exhaust

  17-08-2017 23:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers have discovered a new reaction mechanism that could be used to improve catalyst designs for pollution-control systems to further reduce emissions of smog-causing nitrogen oxides in diesel exhaust.
  
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• Potato waste processing may be the road to enhanced food waste conversion

  17-08-2017 23:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  With more than two dozen companies in Pennsylvania manufacturing potato chips, it is no wonder that researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have developed a novel approach to more efficiently convert potato waste into ethanol. This process may lead to reduced production costs for biofuel in the future and add extra value for chip makers.
  
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• Satellites Show Hurricane Gert Being Affected by Wind Shear

  17-08-2017 23:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA’s Aqua satellite and NOAA's GOES-East satellite provided an infrared and visible look at Atlantic Hurricane Gert. Both images showed the storm was being affected by wind shear and had become elongated.  
  
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• Climate change a risk to survival of long-lived Norway spruce

  17-08-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  The mainstay of the Swiss forestry industry is in danger of dying out this century because of warmer temperaturesThe Swiss, who are more aware of climate change than the average Briton because of their disappearing glaciers and snow cover, are also worried about their trees, particularly the Norway spruce. The Norway spruce is the mainstay of the Swiss forestry industry but is in danger of dying out this century because of warmer temperatures. Continue reading...
  
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• How future volcanic eruptions will impact Earth's ozone layer

  17-08-2017 21:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  CFCs, greenhouse gases, and naturally occurring emissions of halogens will shape how volcanoes impact the ozone layer into the next century 
  
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• Leading elephant conservationist shot dead in Tanzania

  17-08-2017 18:56 via theguardian.com
  Wayne Lotter had received numerous death threats while battling international ivory-trafficking networksThe head of an animal conservation NGO who had received numerous death threats has been shot and killed by an unknown gunman in Tanzania. Wayne Lotter, 51, was shot on Wednesday evening in the Masaki district of the city of Dar es Salaam. The wildlife conservationist was being driven from the airport to his hotel when his taxi was stopped by another vehicle. Two men, one armed with a gun opene
  
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• Rare butterfly spotted in Scotland for the first time since 1884

  17-08-2017 17:40 via theguardian.com
  Elusive and endangered white-letter hairstreak discovered in a field in the Scottish borders could become the 34th species to live and breed in the countryScotland has a new species of butterfly: the elusive and endangered white-letter hairstreak has been discovered in a field in Berwickshire, 100 metres from the English border. Continue reading...
  
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• All work, no pay: the plight of young conservationists

  17-08-2017 17:39 via theguardian.com
  Qualified graduates are struggling to find paid jobs and many give up to pursue a different career. The result is a net loss for conservation work, reports MongabayNika Levikov swore she would never work as a waitress again. But, today — with a master’s degree in conservation science from Imperial College London — she’s taking orders, delivering drinks, and cleaning tables to support herself. Continue reading...
  
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• Investigating the Enigma of Clouds and Climate Change

  17-08-2017 15:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  Clouds perform an important function in cooling the planet as they reflect solar energy back into space. Yet clouds also intensify warming by trapping the planet’s heat and radiating it back to earth. As fossil fuel emissions continue to warm the planet, how will this dual role played by clouds change, and will clouds ultimately exacerbate or moderate global warming?
  
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• Neonics Put Bumblebees at Risk of Extinction, Study Reveals

  17-08-2017 14:58 via feedproxy.google.com
  Bumblebees are less able to start colonies when exposed to a common neonicotinoid pesticide, according to a new University of Guelph study.Prof. Nigel Raine has discovered that exposure to thiamethoxam reduces the chances of a bumblebee queen starting a new colony by more than one-quarter.
  
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• I’ve seen how perilous life in Sierra Leone can be. We cannot ignore this disaster | Hannah Mitchell

  17-08-2017 14:51 via theguardian.com
  As the weather gets more extreme, the poorest suffer the most. As well as helping the mudslide’s survivors, we must face up to the effects of climate change
  • Hannah Mitchell is a doctor who has been working in Sierra Leone“We have lost everything,” my friend cried as we talked on the phone. I had last seen her the week before, after returning home after a year working as a doctor in Sierra Leone. She described water suddenly rushing through her house in the early hours of
  
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• How Norway is selling out-of-date food to help tackle waste

  17-08-2017 13:07 via theguardian.com
  Supermarkets selling out-of-date produce and apps that identify food at risk of being binned are part of an ambitious plan to slash the nation’s food waste“They might not taste quite the same,” says Naeeh Ahmed, 37, holding up for inspection a pack of Old El Paso soft tacos. The tower of boxes in front of him are three weeks past their best before date but Ahmed, operations manager at the Best Før supermarket in Oslo, says they’ll stay on display for a good few wee
  
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• The algae that terraformed Earth

  17-08-2017 12:02 via bbc.co.uk
  A planetary takeover by ocean algae 650 million years ago was the kick that transformed life on Earth.
  
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• Terraforming Earth

  17-08-2017 12:02 via bbc.co.uk
  A planetary takeover by ocean algae 650 million years ago was the kick that transformed life on Earth.
  
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• Brexit is a chance for farming reform – but we must get the policy right | Ngaire Woods

  17-08-2017 09:21 via theguardian.com
  Brexiteers argue UK agriculture will be more competitive once freed from the CAP, but the sector needs political supportThe United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union no doubt carries many risks. But, if British politicians and business leaders are right, it also creates an important opportunity: the possibility of building a safer, greener, more efficient, and more innovative farming sector. If the UK manages to seize this opportunity, the EU, the United States and other economie
  
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• Carrots and communism: the allotments plotting a food revolution

  17-08-2017 08:42 via theguardian.com
  Our workers’ co-operative community market garden partners with the council to ensure that locally grown, healthy food is affordable and accessible to allRu Litherland works at OrganicLeaOne cold grey February morning, back in 2001, we turned the key and opened the creaking gate on to a world that could not have been further from the built-up street just strides away. As far as the eye could see, scattered sheds teetered on the edge of a tidal wave of dense bramble. Halfway down the hill,
  
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• Hardcore cycling in almost guaranteed rain: Scotland's no-frills 'anti-sportive'

  17-08-2017 07:45 via theguardian.com
  The Ride of the Falling Rain on the Hebridean island of Islay has no entry fee, route card or medals, but its laidback, friendly vibe keeps riders coming back despite the weatherThe Ride of the Falling Rain is an annual cycling event on the Hebridean island of Islay that proudly describes itself as “anti-sportive”.Held on the first Sunday in August, there is no entry fee, no feed stations, no timing chips and no medal or certificate at the end. Yet in its 14-year history, it has attr
  
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• UK fracking may produce less fuel than claimed, says geologist

  17-08-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Prof John Underhill argues that geology is fundamental but has been forgotten in assessments of UK’s shale gas capabilityFracking for oil and gas in the UK may produce much less fuel – and profits – than has been mooted, according to research based on seismic imaging of the country’s underlying geology.Most of the areas in which deposits of onshore “unconventional” gas and oil are likely to be found were affected by tectonic activity along the Atlantic plate a
  
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• A harebell grapples with a freeloading furrow bee

  17-08-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Daddry Shield, Weardale The architecture of the flower choreographs the insects’ movements, making pollination likelyThe footpath to St John’s Chapel, through hay meadows long since cut, follows the south bank of the Wear. Today the water was shallow and clear. But after heavy rain in the upper dale the river becomes a torrent and it has eroded small terraces so stony and steep they are never cut at hay time. These places are refuges for a late-summer flora of Campanula rotundifolia,
  
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• Weather bureau says Australia set for a dry spring with above average temperatures

  17-08-2017 05:07 via theguardian.com
  Bureau of Meteorology climate outlook says higher temperatures most likely in the north and south-eastAustralia is set for a warm and dry spring with above average temperatures expected for most parts of the country.After a string of balmy winter weeks, the chance of higher spring daytime temperatures are greater in the north and south-east of the country, the Bureau of Meteorology’s climate outlook for September to November said on Thursday.Continue reading...
  
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• Radioactive 'pooh sticks' trace carbon's ocean journey

  17-08-2017 01:07 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists trace nuclear waste from Sellafield over 15,000km to Bermuda to see how the ocean transports carbon.
  
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• A licence to kill bear cubs?

  17-08-2017 01:05 via bbc.co.uk
  Trump is once again allowing hunters in Alaska to shoot bear cubs and hibernating bears, but is this as bad as it sounds?
  
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• Freeze-dried dung gives clue to Asian elephant stress

  17-08-2017 01:04 via bbc.co.uk
  Indian scientists say they can monitor the physiological health of elephants by analysing their dung.
  
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• Fracking: Shale rock professor says UK gas reserves 'hyped'

  17-08-2017 01:01 via bbc.co.uk
  UK shale deposits were formed 55 million years too late to trap large amounts of gas, a professor warns.
  
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