Environment news

• Low-Cost Preventive Care May Help Heart Health for People with Serious Mental Illness

  01-09-2017 21:58 via feedproxy.google.com
  People with serious mental illness, such as bipolar disease and schizophrenia, die on average 25 years earlier than their peers. A common cause of death is heart disease that frequently develops unchecked due to lack of preventive care.
  
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• Nearly 1 Million Pounds of Seven Deadly Air Pollutants Released by Texas Refineries During Harvey Floods

  01-09-2017 21:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  Refineries and petrochemical plants in south Texas released nearly 1 million pounds of seven especially dangerous air pollutants during flaring and chemical spills triggered by Hurricane Harvey, according to a new Center for Biological Diversity analysis of industry data.
  
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• Breast Cancer Patients on Opioids Less Likely to Stick to Vital Treatment

  01-09-2017 21:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new study has found a troubling lack of adherence to a potentially lifesaving treatment regimen among breast cancer patients who take opioids to manage their pain.
  
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• NASA Examines Hurricane Lidia's Eye on the Baja

  01-09-2017 21:02 via feedproxy.google.com
  Hurricane Lidia’s eye was visible in NASA satellite imagery as it approached Baja California, Mexico’s southernmost tip. Hurricane Lidia was making landfall on the Baja on Sept. 1 at 5 a.m. PDT and continued to bring soaking rains to the region.
  
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• Shipwreck investigated as potential cause of Sussex coast toxic plume

  01-09-2017 20:47 via theguardian.com
  Maritime and Coastguard Agency considering theories, including whether chemical haze came from a wreckInvestigators trying to find the source of last Sunday’s mysterious chemical plume on the Sussex coast say they are looking into possible emissions from disturbed shipwrecks in the Channel.Almost a week after the plume caused 150 people to seek medical treatment prompting the closure of Birling Gap beach, the source of the gas is still baffling experts.Continue reading...
  
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• Hurricane Harvey is a billion-dollar disaster – America's 10th in 2017

  01-09-2017 20:29 via theguardian.com
  Despite a ‘rapid succession of disaster events’, the agency tracking changes in climate faces severe budget cuts under Donald TrumpA timeline of $1bn extreme weather damage in the US
  Even before Hurricane Harvey began to form, out in the north Atlantic, federal climate experts signalled that 2017 was going to be a bad year for weather and climate catastrophes in America. According to scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), there had already been ni
  
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• Multiple waterspouts spotted in Sochi

  01-09-2017 19:06 via bbc.co.uk
  Footage of a number of waterspouts in Russia has emerged.
  
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• Fisherman catches 225kg tuna off Welsh coast

  01-09-2017 18:47 via theguardian.com
  Andrew Alsop takes two hours to land Atlantic bluefin on self-designed rod, before throwing endangered species back
  A fisherman has taken two hours to reel in a large tuna he hooked while hunting for shark off the British coast.Using a rod he designed himself, Andrew Alsop caught the 225kg (500lb) Atlantic bluefin tuna about 20 miles (32km) off the Welsh coast. Continue reading...
  
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• 2017 could see the most billion-dollar weather disasters in US history

  01-09-2017 17:51 via theguardian.com
  Hurricane Harvey will be the 10th such event this year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, but the agency tracking changes in climate faces severe budget cuts under Donald TrumpEven before Hurricane Harvey began to form, out in the north Atlantic, federal climate experts signalled that 2017 was going to be a bad year for weather and climate catastrophes in America. According to scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), there had al
  
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• Equatorial jet in Venusian atmosphere discovered by Akatsuki

  01-09-2017 17:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  Observations by Japan’s Venus climate orbiter Akatsuki have revealed an equatorial jet in the lower to middle cloud layer of the planet’s atmosphere, a finding that could be pivotal to unraveling a phenomenon called superrotation.
  
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• XFEL: Brilliant X-ray laser comes online

  01-09-2017 17:04 via bbc.co.uk
  A powerful machine opens in Germany to probe the structure of matter to help make new drugs and materials.
  
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• Will European supermarkets act over Paraguay forest destruction?

  01-09-2017 16:48 via theguardian.com
  NGO Earthsight reports charcoal from the Chaco region has been sold in Aldi, Lidl and Carrefour in Spain and GermanyNo tropical forests anywhere in the world are being destroyed more rapidly than the Chaco stretching across Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. Not the Amazon in Brazil, nor in Indonesia, Malaysia or the Democratic Republic of Congo. At least, that is according to a University of Maryland-led study published in 2013. And the carnage continues today. In July British NGO Earthsight rele
  
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• ASU team shines new light on photosynthesis

  01-09-2017 16:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  A team of scientists from ASU’s School of Molecular Sciences and Pennsylvania State University has taken us a step closer to unlocking the secrets of photosynthesis, and possibly to cleaner fuels.
  
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• Can corals survive climate change?

  01-09-2017 16:09 via feedproxy.google.com
  A group of international scientists, including scientists from Australia, have issued advice that more research is urgently required to determine whether corals can acclimatise* and adapt to the rapid pace of climate change.
  
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• Harvey Evacuees Leave Their Blongings - And Health Records - Behind

  01-09-2017 16:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  Digitizing the world's medical records was supposed to make doctors' lives easier, and patients' lives longer. But unlike banking and shopping, medicine has had a rough time transitioning to the new digital order. Because health care providers use different systems for their electronic health care records, it’s still difficult for a patient’s data to follow them through the medical ecosystem.
  
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• NASA SMAP Creates Surface Flooding Maps from Hurricane Harvey

  01-09-2017 15:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new series of images generated with data from NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite illustrate the surface flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey from before its initial landfall through August 27, 2017. Harvey is now a depression spreading heavy rainfall through the south central and southeastern U.S.The SMAP observations detect the proportion of the ground covered by surface water within the satellite's field of view. The sequence of images depicts successive satellite orbital sw
  
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• Researchers develop technique to reuse carbon dioxide and methane

  01-09-2017 15:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  CO2 and methane are the most significant greenhouse gases resulting from human activity, said Hui Wang, professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan.Capturing CO2 and methane emissions from industrial sources and reusing them could reduce the threat on the world’s ecosystem by slowing climate change, said Wang, the principal researcher of a paper published in Catalyst Today.
  
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• NOAA Announces $2.2 Million in Marine Debris Grants

  01-09-2017 15:03 via feedproxy.google.com
  On Aug. 29, NOAA announced 15 new marine debris projects that will support marine debris removal and research received nearly $2.2 million in fiscal year 2017 funding through the NOAA Marine Debris Program. These projects support efforts to address the pervasive global problem of marine debris that can impact wildlife, navigation safety, human health, and the economy. Shown here: In an earlier NOAA-funded project, derelict fishing gear and other large marine debris were removed from remote Alask
  
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• UK citizens are taking air pollution monitoring into their own hands

  01-09-2017 14:25 via theguardian.com
  Thousands of people are using home air quality monitoring kits due to fears official figures are not capturing dangerous pollution levels, say Friends of the EarthA growing number of citizens are monitoring local air quality because of fears official figures are not capturing “dangerous” levels of pollution.The environmental charity Friends of the Earth has said 70 local groups are now using their testing kits and noted a “surprising” increase in people taking monitoring
  
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• Rutting deer and the world's highest sand castle: today's unmissable photos

  01-09-2017 14:25 via theguardian.com
  A selection today’s best images, including school cadets in Russia and hundreds of pairs of shoes in New Zealand Continue reading...
  
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• Suffolk Wildlife Trust launches Lackford Lakes appeal

  01-09-2017 12:04 via bbc.co.uk
  Suffolk Wildlife Trust says species including the stone curlew will benefit from the purchase.
  
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• Florence: Largest asteroid in century to safely fly by Earth

  01-09-2017 11:57 via bbc.co.uk
  Florence will pass by at a relatively close distance but scientists say there is nothing to worry about.
  
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• Houston pastor plays piano in flooded Texas home – video

  01-09-2017 10:59 via theguardian.com
  When Aric Harding, a Houston pastor and musician, returned to fetch some belongings from his home after it was flooded by Harvey, he wanted to show his son that their piano still worked. So Harding sat in the knee-deep water and played a few chords as a friend recorded the moment.Texas flooding: 100,000 homes damaged by Harvey – as it happenedContinue reading...
  
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• Popsicles of pollution: ice lollies highlight Taiwan's contaminated waterways

  01-09-2017 08:15 via theguardian.com
  Students from New Taipei City collected samples from urban rivers, creeks and ports which they then froze in moulds and preserved in resin. ‘We hope when more people see this they can change their lifestyles,’ said one of the group Continue reading...
  
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• Meet the UK energy company that will give profits back to customers

  01-09-2017 08:04 via theguardian.com
  People’s Energy seeks ‘fairer, simpler’ way to supply energy while undermining dominance of big six suppliers
  It’s a common grumble: lured in by a big energy supplier offering a low tariff, you find your bills skyrocketing a year later when the agreement expires and the standard variable rate kicks in.For one couple, David Pike and Karin Sode, the irritation became so great that they decided to start their own energy company. Continue reading...
  
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• Malcolm Turnbull often talks about wicked problems. Right now, he's waist-deep in them | Katharine Murphy

  01-09-2017 07:19 via theguardian.com
  Government battling difficulties on multiple fronts needs to keep its nerve and produce sensible policy, not more internal squabblingMalcolm Turnbull likes to talk about wicked problems. Right now, the prime minister is waist-deep in them.
  Next week, the high court will hear a challenge to the same-sex marriage postal plebiscite, and determine whether that proposal lives or dies. If it dies, and constitutional law experts such as George Williams suspect it will, marriage equality will fly back i
  
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• Summer washout drowns hopes of UK wildlife bonanza

  01-09-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  August rains wiped out the promise of a long-awaited bumper summer for birds, insects and plants, say experts, though autumn will be good for fungiThe summer holiday washout wiped out a much needed bumper season for wildlife across the UK, according to wildlife experts at the National Trust.A normal winter and balmy spring provided ideal conditions for birds, insects and plants but the heavy rains that rolled in during August dampened the promised bonanza. However, the weather patterns should se
  
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• Tough little plants surface briefly on the lake's retreating edge

  01-09-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Chew Valley Lake, Somerset Redshank, mud-wort, cudweed and crowfoot – their names are peasant-simple – rise from the mud like miniature GrendelsThe lake in late summer is brimming with life. Swallows and martins sweep through rafts of duck, coot and gulls, sometimes dipping to sip flies from the surface. The shoreline is lush with plants and wet with drizzle. We push through shoulder-high bushes of water mint and spires of gypsywort and golden dock. This is the seasonal outburst of t
  
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• Young tagged hen harrier goes missing in 'suspicious' circumstances

  01-09-2017 01:41 via bbc.co.uk
  Calluna, a female harrier fitted with a satellite tag, has not been tracked for more than a fortnight.
  
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• Sales of inefficient vacuum cleaners banned

  01-09-2017 01:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Those using more than 900 watts and emitting more than 80 decibels are now banned in Europe's shops.
  
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• American pika disappears from large area of California's Sierra Nevada mountains

  01-09-2017 00:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  Study documents local extinction of pikas from the largest area yet reported and projects climate change will cause drastic decline for the charismatic mammal within decades.
  
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