Environment news

• Gravitational waves from a binary black hole merger observed by LIGO and Virgo

  27-09-2017 23:56 via feedproxy.google.com
  The following news article is adapted from a press release issued by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Laboratory, in partnership with the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and Virgo Collaboration. LIGO is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and operated by MIT and Caltech, which conceived and built the project.
  
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• India Aims to Electrify All Households by End of 2018

  27-09-2017 23:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  India has launched a new $2.5 billion initiative to provide power to the 40 million households in the country that still don’t have electricity. The project aims to electrify the homes — which represent about a quarter of India’s households — by the end of 2018, Reuters reported.
  
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• NASA Satellites Peer into a Lop-sided Hurricane Maria

  27-09-2017 23:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA’s Aqua satellite and Global Precipitation Measurement mission, or GPM, satellites have been peering into what appears to be a somewhat lop-sided Hurricane Maria. The storm appears asymmetric because vertical wind shear is pushing clouds and showers to the eastern side of the storm.On Sept. 27, NHC forecaster Daniel Brown noted, “Deep convection and banding has increased over the eastern and northeastern portion of the large circulation of Maria since yesterday.”
  
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• A First Look at Geographic Variation in Gentoo Penguin Calls

  27-09-2017 22:41 via feedproxy.google.com
  Vocal communication is central to the lives of many birds, which use sound to attract mates and defend territories.
  
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• Removing nitrate for healthier ecosystems

  27-09-2017 22:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  Nitrogen can present a dilemma for farmers and land managers.
  
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• Climate Change: Some Lessons From the Vikings

  27-09-2017 20:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  One June day in the year 793, men in ships landed on Lindisfarne, an island off eastern England occupied by a monastery. The men, apparently from the north, plundered treasures, overthrew altars and set fire to buildings. They killed some monks and carried others off in chains; others, they stripped naked and left behind to the mercies of the weather. The attack shocked European Christian society. They came to mark it as the official start of the Viking Age, when No
  
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• Could techno-fixes and gene therapies really save the world’s coral?

  27-09-2017 20:00 via theguardian.com
  A team of scientists and reef managers say it’s time to consider ‘riskier’ and unconventional ways to save the world’s coral habitats.As the metaphorical canary in the global warming coalmine goes, the planet’s coral reefs are hard to beat. Swathes of corals in all tropical basins have been hit by the longest mass bleaching event yet recorded that kicked off in 2014 and ended, at least officially, in June.Continue reading...
  
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• Gravitational wave hunters bag fourth black-hole detection

  27-09-2017 18:34 via bbc.co.uk
  Ripples in the fabric of space-time are sensed again - this time using three different laser systems.
  
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• Kristi McCluer's best photograph: playing golf while America burns

  27-09-2017 17:37 via theguardian.com
  ‘I wanted to capture the beauty and horror of the fire. But then these golfers turned up and got in the way of my picture’I noticed the Eagle Creek fire when I was 14,000 feet in the air above Oregon. I was preparing for my third skydive of the day and, through the plane door, I spotted a vertical plume of smoke that hadn’t been there on my previous jump. A lot of fires pop up at this time of year, so it wasn’t surprising – but I didn’t realise how big it woul
  
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• How diamonds and a bitter feud led to the destruction of an Amazon reserve

  27-09-2017 17:24 via theguardian.com
  Family rivalry and Brazil’s Catholic church helped miners devastate an indigenous territory that was once a leader in the fight against deforestation. Climate Home reportsThe Paiter-Suruí are a tribe of roughly 1,400 people, uncontacted until 1969, who live in the Amazon forest on the border between the Brazilian states of Rondônia and Mato Grosso.In 2013, they became the first indigenous population in the world to sell carbon credits under the UN’s major anti-deforestat
  
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• Blue Planet 2 producer promises a 'real life Pixar' from underwater sequel

  27-09-2017 17:03 via bbc.co.uk
  The BBC is going under the waves with David Attenborough in a second series of Blue Planet, which was first shown in 2001.
  
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• Large iceberg breaks off Pine Island Glacier

  27-09-2017 15:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Latest satellite images reveal a new 100-square-mile iceberg emerging from Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier. The calving event did not come as a complete surprise, but is a troubling sign with regards to future sea level rise.
  
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• 'Giant wombats made annual migration'

  27-09-2017 15:14 via bbc.co.uk
  Diprotodon, an extinct Ice Age marsupial of Australia, would trek long distances each year for food.
  
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• Long-term weather forecasting a guessing game

  27-09-2017 15:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  Famous for its weather forecasts, the Old Farmer’s Almanac has published its predictions for the coming year—but don’t believe everything you read.The folksy pocket-sized magazine has been a regular go-to for farmers and other fans during fall harvest season since it first began publishing in 1792. As cosy and comforting as pumpkin pie, it offers everything from home remedies to food recipes—but the long-range weather predictions that fill many of its pages are nothing bu
  
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• Epileptic seizure event leads professor down new path of discovery

  27-09-2017 15:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  The majority of people who are touched by an epileptic seizure event can only endure the terrifying moments and put their faith in doctors to help their loved one. The University of Lethbridge’s Dr. Artur Luczak, however, was in a position to do much more when his infant son suffered a seizure, and what he’s learned about seizures since has flipped the script on understanding how the brain functions during these traumatic events.
  
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• Do more to help poor nations cope with climate change, IMF tells rich countries

  27-09-2017 15:00 via theguardian.com
  World faces disaster if those who contributed ‘lion’s share’ to global warming don’t aid low-income countries, IMF saysThe International Monetary Fund has told rich countries they must do more to help poor nations cope with climate change or suffer from the weaker global growth and higher migration flows that will inevitably result.In a chapter released ahead of the publication of next month’s World Economic Outlook, the Washington-based IMF said low-income countrie
  
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• Best photos of the day: Durga Puja and the Rohingya refugees crisis

  27-09-2017 13:47 via theguardian.com
  A selection of the best photographs from around the world including the Durga Puja festival, the Rohingya refugee crisis and a huge ammunition explosion Continue reading...
  
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• Best photos of the day: Durga Puja and the Rohingya refugee crisis

  27-09-2017 13:47 via theguardian.com
  A selection of the best photographs from around the world including the Durga Puja festival, the Rohingya refugee crisis and a huge ammunition explosion Continue reading...
  
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• Sadiq Khan triggers alert for high air pollution in London

  27-09-2017 12:29 via theguardian.com
  Capital is given emergency warning as polluted air from the continent combines with toxic air at homeThe mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has triggered the capital’s emergency air quality alert as polluted air from the continent combines with toxic air in London to create dangerous levels of pollution.The alerts will see warnings displayed at bus stops, road signs and on the underground. Khan has also asked TV and radio stations across the capital to warn their viewers and listeners in news bu
  
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• Right-wing media could not be more wrong about the 1.5°C carbon budget paper | Dana Nuccitelli

  27-09-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  As usual, conservative media outlets distorted a climate science paper to advance the denialist agenda
  Last week, Nature Geoscience published a study suggesting that we have a bigger remaining carbon budget than previously thought to keep global warming below the 1.5°C aggressive Paris climate target. Many scientists quickly commented that the paper’s conclusion was based on some questionable assumptions, and this single study shouldn’t be blindly accepted as gospel truth.Conserv
  
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• Giant Solomon Islands rat believed to eat coconuts discovered

  27-09-2017 08:57 via theguardian.com
  Study of skull, as well as DNA analysis, confirms new species in genus of mosaic tailed rats or Uromys
  A mysterious and elusive species of giant rat that lives in the dense rainforest canopy of the Solomon Islands, and is reputed to open coconuts with its teeth, has been discovered by scientists and is likely to be quickly listed as critically endangered.
  For decades, the rat’s existence had been suspected, with traditional knowledge of the rat’s ecology noted in a publications. For
  
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• EasyJet says it could be flying electric planes within a decade

  27-09-2017 08:51 via theguardian.com
  UK-based airline has linked up with US firm Wright Electric to build battery-powered aircraft for flights under two hoursEasyJet could be flying electric planes within a decade, the airline said on Wednesday.The UK carrier has formed a partnership with US firm Wright Electric, which is developing a battery-propelled aircraft for flights under two hours. Continue reading...
  
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• Climate change: Ministers should be 'sued' over targets

  27-09-2017 07:58 via bbc.co.uk
  The ex-chief scientist says the government should be made to enshrine a zero-emissions target in law.
  
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• Government strikes deal with exporters to fill Australia's gas shortfall

  27-09-2017 06:31 via theguardian.com
  Agreement means Coalition does not have to trigger export controls to keep sufficient gas supplies in place for 2018Major gas companies have agreed to fill the domestic shortfall in Australia’s gas market next year, saving the government from having to enact its export control trigger.In a move being hailed as a win by the government, Santos, Origin Energy and Shell have agreed to quarantine additional supply from the gas market following a meeting between the companies and the prime minis
  
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• Country diary: a butterfly in the wind

  27-09-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Stamford, LincolnshireA little ashy triangle in the grass, the red admiral looked oddly serene amid the gathering tempestAutumn arrives, as . storms suddenly acquire names. Over there, Hurricanes Irma, Jose, Maria. Over here, Storms Aileen, Brian, Caroline: a queue of peculiarly civilian namings – a quiz team of meteorological terror – due before Christmas, the news says.A drop in temperature, a greying of the light and a whine of wind through cracks sent me into the garden to disman
  
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• Climate change made Lucifer heatwave far more likely, scientists find

  27-09-2017 06:01 via theguardian.com
  Without action to tackle global warming, deadly summer temperatures of 40C in Europe could be normal by 2050The scorching temperatures across Europe’s Mediterranean nations this summer were made at least 10 times more likely by climate change, according to scientists. Furthermore, without action to tackle global warming, such summer heatwaves with temperatures soaring over 40C will become normal by 2050. Continue reading...
  
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• Nasa's mission to 'touch the Sun'

  27-09-2017 04:50 via bbc.co.uk
  The Parker Solar Probe is going to be the first spacecraft to journey deep into the Sun's atmosphere.
  
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• Zealandia drilling reveals secrets of sunken lost continent

  27-09-2017 03:01 via theguardian.com
  South Pacific landmass may have been closer to land level than once thought, providing pathways for animals and plantsThe mostly submerged continent of Zealandia may have been much closer to land level than previously thought, providing pathways for animals and plants to cross continents from 80m years ago, an expedition has revealed.Zealandia, a for the most part underwater landmass in the South Pacific, was declared the Earth’s newest continent this year in a paper in the journal of the
  
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• UK could rescue energy efficient homes policy with few key steps

  27-09-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  ‘Clean growth’ report steps into scrapping of green deal void and reinstates all new homes be zero carbon by 2020Progress in making Britain’s homes more energy efficient has stalled, but the government could salvage billions in wastage by taking a few key steps, a new report with wide backing has found.Ministers are preparing a new “clean growth” plan after the scrapping of the green deal, which left the UK without a government policy on making homes more energy eff
  
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• Energy technologies get a boost toward commercial use

  27-09-2017 00:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  Six energy technologies that do everything from protect fish to monitor the health of flow batteries are getting a boost at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.DOE is awarding PNNL nearly $1.5 million to bring six technologies closer to commercial use. The projects were announced today by DOE's Office of Technology Transitions, which selected them for funding from its Technology Commercialization Fund. The technologies show great promise, but need further d
  
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• Brain cancer growth halted by absence of protein

  27-09-2017 00:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  The growth of certain aggressive brain tumors can be halted by cutting off their access to a signaling molecule produced by the brain’s nerve cells, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
  
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• Arctic sea ice at minimum extent for 2017

  27-09-2017 00:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  Arctic sea ice extent has likely reached its minimum extent for the year, at 4.64 million square kilometers (1.79 million square miles) on September 13, 2017, according to a team of international scientists. The 2017 minimum is the eighth lowest in the 38-year satellite record. The Arctic sea ice minimum marks the day – typically in mid-September – when sea ice reaches its smallest extent at the end of the summer melt season.
  
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• Deep waters spiral upward around Antarctica

  27-09-2017 00:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  Since Captain James Cook’s discovery in the 1770s that water encompassed the Earth’s southern latitudes, oceanographers have been studying the Southern Ocean, its physics, and how it interacts with global water circulation and the climate.
  
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• Biochemists discover mechanism that helps flu viruses evolve

  27-09-2017 00:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  Influenza viruses mutate rapidly, which is why flu vaccines have to be redesigned every year. A new study from MIT sheds light on just how these viruses evolve so quickly, and offers a potential way to slow them down.
  
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• Satellite Shows Pilar Reduced to Remnants

  27-09-2017 00:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  Tropical Depression Pilar weakened to a remnant low pressure area as it continued to crawl north along the west coast of Mexico. Satellite data revealed no circulation center.
  
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• NASA Satellite Temperatures Reveal a Stronger Hurricane Lee

  27-09-2017 00:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA's Aqua satellite peered into Hurricane Lee with infrared light to determine if the storm was intensifying. Infrared data showed cloud top temperatures were getting colder, indicating stronger storms.
  
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