Environment news

• Gravity Waves Influence Weather and Climate

  20-09-2017 23:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  Gravity waves form in the atmosphere as a result of destabilizing processes, for example at weather fronts, during storms or when air masses stroke over mountain ranges. They can occasionally be seen in the sky as bands of cloud. For weather forecast and climate models, however, they are mostly “invisible” due to their short wavelength. The effects of gravity waves can only be taken into consideration by including additional special components in the models. The “MS-GWaves&rdqu
  
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• Bio-inspired approach to RNA delivery

  20-09-2017 22:56 via feedproxy.google.com
  By delivering strands of genetic material known as messenger RNA (mRNA) into cells, researchers can induce the cells to produce any protein encoded by the mRNA. This technique holds great potential for administering vaccines or treating diseases such as cancer, but achieving efficient delivery of mRNA has proven challenging.
  
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• Protected Waters Foster Resurgence of West Coast Rockfish

  20-09-2017 22:50 via feedproxy.google.com
  West Coast rockfish species in deep collapse only 20 years ago have multiplied rapidly in large marine protected areas off Southern California, likely seeding surrounding waters with enough offspring to offer promise of renewed fishing, a new study has found.
  
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• New Study Pushes Back Deadline to Act to Limit Warming to 1.5 Degrees

  20-09-2017 22:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new study suggests that nations have a bit more time than previously thought if they want to cut greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). The research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, finds that the world’s economies can emit an additional 700 billion tons of carbon dioxide before exceeding 1.5 degrees — more than twice previous estimates.
  
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• Fly away home? Ice age may have clipped bird migration

  20-09-2017 22:29 via feedproxy.google.com
  The onset of the last ice age may have forced some bird species to abandon their northerly migrations for thousands of years, says new research led by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln ornithologist.
  
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• Could Condors Return to Northern California?

  20-09-2017 22:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  A study of lead exposure indicates condors could one day return to Northern California.
  
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• NASA Finds Very Heavy Rainfall in Hurricane Maria

  20-09-2017 22:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA looked into Hurricane Maria and found that powerful convective storms within the hurricane were dropping heavy rainfall. Maria brought that heavy rainfall to Puerto Rico and made landfall on Sept. 20 at 6:15 a.m. EDT.
  
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• Wave Glider surfs across stormy Drake Passage in Antarctica

  20-09-2017 22:05 via feedproxy.google.com
  The Southern Ocean is key to Earth’s climate, but the same gusting winds, big waves and strong currents that are important to ocean physics make it perilous for oceanographers.
  
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• WSU researchers see popular herbicide affecting health across generations

  20-09-2017 22:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  First, the good news. Washington State University researchers have found that a rat exposed to a popular herbicide while in the womb developed no diseases and showed no apparent health effects aside from lower weight.
  
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• UK strikes research deal with US in run-up to Brexit

  20-09-2017 21:58 via bbc.co.uk
  The UK and US reach an agreement that aims to allow freer movement of research equipment and scientists
  
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• Mathematics predicts a sixth mass extinction

  20-09-2017 21:44 via feedproxy.google.com
  In the past 540 million years, the Earth has endured five mass extinction events, each involving processes that upended the normal cycling of carbon through the atmosphere and oceans. These globally fatal perturbations in carbon each unfolded over thousands to millions of years, and are coincident with the widespread extermination of marine species around the world. 
  
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• Theresa May speaks out against Trump climate change stance at UN

  20-09-2017 21:01 via theguardian.com
  PM ranks US plan to withdraw from Paris treaty alongside North Korean nuclear tests as threat to global securityTheresa May has issued a veiled warning to Donald Trump, arguing that his plan to withdraw from the Paris climate change treaty ranks alongside North Korea’s nuclear missile tests as a threat to global prosperity and security.In a speech to the United Nations general assembly, the prime minister, whose authority at home has been severely tested since June’s general election
  
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• Nuclear is not the way to a clean energy future | Letters

  20-09-2017 20:38 via theguardian.com
  We should be worried about the flood-proofing of our nuclear power plants, says Sue Roaf, while David Bridgewater argues for nuclear fusion, rather than fission. Plus letters from Dr Kevin Purdy, Dr John Doherty and John StarbuckIn Agneta Rising’s defence of nuclear generation (Letters, 19 September), she claims that nuclear plants have to occasionally stop for repair and maintenance. But jellyfish also get into seawater inlets, as at Torness in 2011, causing week-long shutdowns. Seaweed c
  
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• NASA Gets an Infrared View of Large Tropical Storm Jose

  20-09-2017 19:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  Satellite imagery shows that Jose is a large storm, with a large reach. NASA’s Aqua satellite captured cloud top temperatures of Tropical Storm Jose that revealed the strongest storms were in the northeastern part of the tropical cyclone but the storm is so large that it is causing dangerous ocean conditions from Bermuda to the U.S. East coast.
  
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• Forest Fire Pollution Wreaks Havoc on Wildlife

  20-09-2017 19:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  Forest fires in Southeast Asia during the El Niño droughts of 2015 caused considerable disruption to the biodiversity of the region due to the smoke-induced ‘haze’ they created, according to new research led by Benjamin Lee at the University of Kent and the National Parks Board in Singapore.
  
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• UK scientists edit DNA of human embryos

  20-09-2017 19:01 via bbc.co.uk
  Understanding the first moments of life could lead to better IVF and explain why women miscarry.
  
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• Watch Out! Summer Rainfall Over the Yangtze River Valley After Similar El Nino Events Can Be Different

  20-09-2017 18:47 via feedproxy.google.com
  It is widely recognized that rainfall over the Yangtze River valley (YRV) strengthens considerably during the decaying summer of El Niño, as demonstrated by the catastrophic flooding suffered in the summer of 1998. Nevertheless, the rainfall over the YRV in the summer of 2016 was much weaker than that in 1998, despite the intensity of the 2016 El Niño having been as strong as that in 1998. A group of scientists from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
  
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• Researchers take on atmospheric effects of Arctic snowmelt

  20-09-2017 17:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute are exploring the changing chemistry of the Arctic’s atmosphere to help answer the question of what happens as snow and ice begin to melt.
  
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• Channel Islands' buried porpoise is not the first such mysterious find

  20-09-2017 15:23 via theguardian.com
  A porpoise jawbone, discovered in the Hebrides by a 1950s schoolboy as part of an ancient treasure hoard, raises similar questions about the significance these animals held for earlier peopleThe strange discovery of a porpoise skeleton interred in a medieval religious grave in the Channel Islands is evocative of a deep cultural connection between humans and cetaceans which we are only just beginning to understand.
  It speaks to a different, historical relationship to the natural world – one
  
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• Are cashiers at risk of dangerous chemical exposure through paper?

  20-09-2017 15:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  People who handle paper receipts regularly may be at increased risk for exposure to a chemical linked to breast and prostate cancers, according to new UAlberta research.“We found that people who handled receipts printed on thermal paper containing the chemical had it lingering in their body for a week or more,” said Jiaying Liu, a PhD candidate in UAlberta’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology.
  
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• Wearable art and Antarctic airdrops: Wednesday's best images

  20-09-2017 14:38 via theguardian.com
  A selection of the best photographs from around the world including wearable art, an Antarctic breakthrough and William Shatner Continue reading...
  
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• How animals birds manage in hurricanes? | Notes and queries

  20-09-2017 13:48 via theguardian.com
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific conceptsAfter Harvey, Irma and now Maria, I wonder how wild animals and birds manage in hurricanes? Do they “migrate” temporarily at the first signs of the impending storm or have other ways of surviving? Or do they simply perish in huge numbers?Jo Macdonald, Dorset Continue reading...
  
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• Campers in Israel warned after series of wolf attacks

  20-09-2017 13:29 via theguardian.com
  Ten incidents involving wolf bites have been reported over summer in Judean desertIsraeli authorities are warning families with young children to take extra care after a series of wolf attacks on campers in the Judean desert.Ten incidents involving wolf bites were reported over the summer around the historic site of Masada and the popular spring at Ein Gedi. A number of the incidents involved young children, leading to fears that an Arabian wolf or wolves may be exhibiting predatory behaviour. C
  
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• How animals birds manage in hurricanes? I Notes and queries

  20-09-2017 13:15 via theguardian.com
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific conceptsAfter Harvey, Irma and now Maria, I wonder how wild animals and birds manage in hurricanes? Do they “migrate” temporarily at the first signs of the impending storm or have other ways of surviving? Or do they simply perish in huge numbers?Jo Macdonald, Dorset Continue reading...
  
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• A million tons of feces and an unbearable stench: life near industrial pig farms

  20-09-2017 13:00 via theguardian.com
  North Carolina’s hog industry has been the subject of litigation, investigation, legislation and regulation. But are its health and environmental risks finally getting too much?Rene Miller pokes a lavender-frocked leg out of her front door and grimaces. It’s a bright April afternoon, and the 66-year-old Miller, with a stoic expression and a dark crop of curls, braces herself for the walk ahead.
  Her destination isn’t far away – just a half-mile down a narrow country road,
  
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• Melting Arctic ice cap falls to well below average

  20-09-2017 12:23 via theguardian.com
  • This summer’s minimum is the eighth lowest on record Shrinking ice cap increasingly linked to extreme weather events around the world, say scientists
  The Arctic ice cap melted to hundreds of thousands of square miles below average this summer, according to data released late on Tuesday.
  Climate change is pushing temperatures up most rapidly in the polar regions and left the extent of Arctic sea ice at 1.79m sq miles at the end of the summer melt season.Continue reading...
  
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• It takes just 4 years to detect human warming of the oceans | John Abraham

  20-09-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Our new paper illustrates the rapid, consistent warming of Earth’s oceans
  We’ve known for decades that the Earth is warming, but a key question is, how fast? Another key question is whether the warming is primarily caused by human activities. If we can more precisely measure the rate of warming and the natural component, it would be useful for decision makers, legislators, and others to help us adapt and cope. Indeed, added ocean heat content underlies the potential for dangerous int
  
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• Demand for biofuels is increasing global food prices, says study

  20-09-2017 10:52 via theguardian.com
  Using crops for fuel is putting pressure on food prices markets says a new analysis, which calls for an end to food-based biofuelsDemand for biofuels made from food crops, such as palm and rapeseed oil, has led to an increase in global food prices and needs to be curbed, according to a new analysis.There has been a surge in the production of biofuels in Europe and the US since the early 2000s, backed by policies designed to cut use of fossil fuels, such as the first EU biofuel directive in 2003.
  
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• Owls hold secret to ageless ears

  20-09-2017 09:18 via bbc.co.uk
  Barn owls keep their acute sense of hearing into old age, scientists have discovered.
  
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• Exotic pet owners of Beijing – in pictures

  20-09-2017 08:05 via theguardian.com
  A dramatic rise in owning exotic pets in China is fuelling global demand for threatened species. The growing trade in alligators, snakes, monkeys, crocodiles and spiders is directly linked to species loss in some of the world’s most threatened ecosystems Continue reading...
  
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• Barn owls don't lose their hearing with age, scientists find

  20-09-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Findings leave researchers hopeful that understanding hearing preservation in birds could lead to new treatment possibilities for deaf humans If ageing humans had ears like those of barn owls they would never need hearing aids, scientists have shown. The birds, whose sensitivity to sound helps them locate prey, suffer no hearing loss as they get older. Like other birds – but unlike mammals, including humans – they are able to regenerate cells in their inner ears. Continue reading...
  
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• 'River lorries' float us back on the tide of history

  20-09-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Cotehele Quay, Tamar Valley Songs and shanties celebrate Cornwall’s fishers and farmers and raise funds to restore the barge ShamrockTide floods between mud banks and wind-blown purple reed flowers as the audience carry chairs into Shamrock’s shed. Earlier, high water washed debris across the quay and into the gig club’s yard, and the possibility of more rain precludes the outdoor venue of tonight’s concert by the Polperro Fishermen’s Choir. Inside the lofty slate-r
  
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• A clean energy target is not 'unconscionable', Tony Abbott. Wrecking climate policy is | Katharine Murphy

  20-09-2017 04:10 via theguardian.com
  Abbott wants to lead an insurgency to sink Turnbull’s climate and energy policy, which has always been a proxy for his leadership. It’s pure political expediencyTony Abbott has been an implacable force against rational climate action in this country for the best part of a decade, and nothing has changed.
  Having destroyed one set of energy policies designed to achieve orderly economic transformation and emissions reduction, and created a monumental policy botch-up as a consequence, he
  
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• Neolithic Orkney rivalries detailed in new study

  20-09-2017 01:11 via bbc.co.uk
  Rivalries in Orkney more than 4,500 years ago led to competition between communities, according to new research.
  
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• Tony Abbott warns against 'unconscionable' renewable target

  20-09-2017 01:00 via theguardian.com
  Former PM reissues demand for new coal power stations: ‘If we can have Snowy 2.0, let’s have Hazelwood 2.0’Tony Abbott is reportedly threatening to cross the floor to vote against a clean energy target, warning Malcolm Turnbull it would be “unconscionable” for the government to do anything to further encourage investment in renewable energy.Abbott told Sky News on Tuesday evening the government had to address market failure by providing base-load power and building
  
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