Environment news

• Can Environmental Toxins Disrupt the Biological ''Clock''?

  03-11-2017 20:38 via feedproxy.google.com
  Can environmental toxins disrupt circadian rhythms – the biological “clock” whose disturbance is linked to chronic inflammation and a host of human disorders? Research showing a link between circadian disruption and plankton that have adapted to road salt pollution puts the question squarely on the table.
  
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• US report finds climate change 90% manmade, contradicting Trump officials

  03-11-2017 20:31 via theguardian.com
  Major report by government agencies goes against senior members of Trump administration and finds evidence of global warming stronger than ever
  A comprehensive review by 13 US federal agencies concludes that evidence of global warming is stronger than ever and that more than 90% of it has been caused by humans. The conclusion contradicts a favorite talking point of senior members of the Trump administration.Continue reading...
  
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• New engine optics to fuel future research

  03-11-2017 20:18 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new optical device at Sandia National Laboratories that helps researchers image pollutants in combusting fuel sprays might lead to clearer skies in the future.
  
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• MIPT scientists enlist lichens to monitor air pollution

  03-11-2017 20:07 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers have shown free radical concentrations in lichens to be directly related to air pollution.
  
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• Worrying declines in newsagents and wasps | Letters

  03-11-2017 19:47 via theguardian.com
  Digital pressure on newsagents |Macron’s poem | Decline in the wasp population | Fake news | The Rose theatre | Carles PuigdemontTomorrow, sadly, our village post office/newsagent is closing after being there longer than I care to remember. One of the reasons cited is obvious, “with the age of digital technology, sale of newspapers is slowing down”. Thankfully an “outside source” has been arranged to deliver. The Guardian faces many challenges ahead (Open door, 30 O
  
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• NASA Sees Damrey Strengthen into a Typhoon

  03-11-2017 17:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  NASA’s Aqua satellite and the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite provided imagery of Damrey as it strengthened into a typhoon in the South China Sea.
  
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• Rare spectacle

  03-11-2017 17:42 via bbc.co.uk
  The Norwegian island of Kvaløya is now one of the few places in Europe to see a pod of killer whales.
  
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• A last refuge for Europe's blighted killer whales

  03-11-2017 17:42 via bbc.co.uk
  The Norwegian island of Kvaløya is now one of the few places in Europe to see a pod of killer whales.
  
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• Agricultural Productivity Drove Euro-American Settlement of Utah

  03-11-2017 17:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  On July 22, 1847, a scouting party from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stood above the Great Salt Lake Valley in modern-day Utah; by 1870, more than 18,000 followers had colonized the valley and surrounding region, displacing Native American populations to establish dispersed farming communities. While historians continue to debate the drivers of this colonization event, a new study from the University of Utah proposes that agricultural productivity drove dispersal patterns in a
  
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• In Pursuit of a Universal Flu Vaccine

  03-11-2017 17:13 via feedproxy.google.com
  Flu shot season is here. But as you head to the doctor’s office or pharmacy to get vaccinated, scientists are working to make this yearly ritual a thing of the past. Researchers around the world, including at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), are pursuing a “universal” flu vaccine, one that would protect against most or all seasonal and pandemic strains of the flu virus.
  
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• Return of the Comet: 96P Spotted by ESA, NASA Satellites

  03-11-2017 16:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  The ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA mission SOHO — short for Solar and Heliospheric Observatory — got a visit from an old friend this week when comet 96P entered its field of view on Oct. 25, 2017. The comet entered the lower right corner of SOHO’s view, and skirted up and around the right edge before leaving on Oct. 30. SOHO also spotted comet 96P in 1996, 2002, 2007 and 2012, making it the spacecraft’s most frequent cometary visitor.
  
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• Science Confirms You Should Stop and Smell the Roses

  03-11-2017 16:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  Is it any wonder that most happiness idioms are associated with nature? Happy as a pig in muck, happy as a clam, happy camper.
  
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• ALMA Discovers Cold Dust Around Nearest Star

  03-11-2017 16:49 via feedproxy.google.com
  Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun. It is a faint red dwarf lying just four light-years away in the southern constellation of Centaurus (The Centaur). It is orbited by the Earth-sized temperate world Proxima b, discovered in 2016 and the closest planet to the Solar System. But there is more to this system than just a single planet. The new ALMA observations reveal emission from clouds of cold cosmic dust surrounding the star.
  
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• Protecting the Wild: Baylor Professor Helps to Minimize Recreation Disturbance to Wildlife

  03-11-2017 16:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  Nature and outdoor enthusiasts seek to enjoy recreational activities such as hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding and camping. However, sometimes appreciating nature’s beauty comes at a cost to wildlife.
  
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• Ahead of Bonn we look at a 3C world, plus climate change and a new species of ape – green news roundup

  03-11-2017 16:43 via theguardian.com
  The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...
  
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• Furniture retailer becomes first UK company to be fined under illegal logging laws

  03-11-2017 15:48
  Designer furniture retailer Lombok has become the first UK business to be fined for breaching restrictions on the importing and sale of illegally harvested timber.
  
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• TCFD's scenario analysis a 'storytelling' opportunity for sustainability professionals, says WRI

  03-11-2017 12:52
  EXCLUSIVE: The recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) provide sustainability professionals with a chance to strengthen relationships with board members and the finance department, by utilising the "storytelling" aspects of scenario analysis.
  
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• London ULEZ to start in April 2019, Mayor confirms

  03-11-2017 12:47
  The world's first Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) will be introduced across central London in April 2019, Sadiq Khan confirmed today (3 November).
  
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• US withdraws from anti-corruption fossil fuel transparency initiative

  03-11-2017 11:44
  The US has taken further steps to strengthen fossil fuel businesses, by withdrawing from an international initiative that monitors transparency and corruption in the revenues from mineral extraction and the oil and gas sector.
  
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• What do Jellyfish teach us about climate change? | John Abraham

  03-11-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  A new study shows that the biological effects of two ecosystem changes can be greater than their individual impacts
  What do Jellyfish teach us about climate change?A lot. At least that’s what I learned after reading a very recent paper out in the journal Global Climate Change. The article, “Ocean acidification alters zooplankton communities and increases top-down pressure of a cubazoan predator,” was authored by an international team of scientists – the paper looks at imp
  
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• High street banks still financing fossil fuel growth

  03-11-2017 08:16
  The UK's high street banks are profiting from some of the world's dirtiest fossil fuel projects despite committing to deliver the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming to below 2C.
  
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• Palaszczuk says she will veto federal Adani loan as she accuses LNP of 'smear'

  03-11-2017 07:58 via theguardian.com
  Queensland premier says the LNP ‘intends to smear me and my partner’ over his work for PwC on Adani’s application for funding through Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility The Queensland government will veto Adani’s application for a $1bn commonwealth loan to build a rail line for its massive Carmichael mine, Annastacia Palaszczuk has said.Palaszczuk said the dramatic move, amid her campaign for re-election, came in response to what she believed was a federal Coaliti
  
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• From Miami to Shanghai: 3C of warming will leave world cities underwater

  03-11-2017 07:48 via theguardian.com
  An elevated level of climate change would lock in irreversible sea-level rises affecting hundreds of millions of people, Guardian data analysis showsHundreds of millions of urban dwellers around the world face their cities being inundated by rising seawaters if latest UN warnings that the world is on course for 3C of global warming come true, according to a Guardian data analysis. Related: The three-degree world: the cities that will be drowned by global warmingContinue reading...
  
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• From Miami to Shanghai: 3C of warming will leave world cities below sea level

  03-11-2017 07:48 via theguardian.com
  An elevated level of climate change would lock in irreversible sea-level rises affecting hundreds of millions of people, Guardian data analysis showsHundreds of millions of urban dwellers around the world face their cities being inundated by rising seawaters if latest UN warnings that the world is on course for 3C of global warming come true, according to a Guardian data analysis. Related: The three-degree world: the cities that will be drowned by global warmingContinue reading...
  
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• Lincolnshire's coast and farms will sink with 3C of warming

  03-11-2017 07:46 via theguardian.com
  As sea levels rise, the county’s low-lying farm plains and coastline would flood, changing the entire shape of eastern England foreverLincolnshire’s flat, low-lying agricultural plains, which stretch north from the fens, curling around the Wash to Skegness and Grimsby, have long been a frontline of mankind’s battle to claim and protect food-producing land from the sea.
  But with sea levels rising, a managed retreat is underway that threatens to become a full-scale rout if global
  
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• The three-degree world: cities that will be drowned by global warming

  03-11-2017 07:45 via theguardian.com
  The UN is warning that we are now on course for 3C of global warming. This will ultimately redraw the map of the worldWhen UN climate negotiators meet for summit talks this month, there will be a new figure on the table: 3C. Until now, global efforts such as the Paris climate agreement have tried to limit global warming to 2C above pre-industrial levels. However, with latest projections pointing to an increase of 3.2C by 2100, these goals seem to be slipping out of reach. Continue reading...
  
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• Dramatic rise in plastic seabed litter around UK

  03-11-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  Average of 358 items per square kilometre found in 2016, of which more than three-quarters were plasticThere has been a dramatic rise in the amount of litter found on the seabed around Britain, according to new government data.An average of 358 litter items were found per square kilometre of seabed in 2016, a 158% rise on the previous year, and 222% higher than the average for 1992-94. Continue reading...
  
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• Country diary: ancient associations surface in church by the Wharfe

  03-11-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Ilkley, Wharfedale, West Yorkshire It is tempting to see the outward beauty and lethal potential of the river in the oversized eyes of a weathered stone relicOn this darkening evening, the sky above Wharfedale is wild and oceanic, and the river Wharfe is its turbulent likeness, swollen with rain and surging urgently eastwards. An excoriating wind, the kind that makes you grimace, whips brass, bronze, and copper foliage into the water for the current to swallow, hastening winter’s approach
  
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• More coral bleaching feared for Great Barrier Reef in coming months

  03-11-2017 03:54 via theguardian.com
  The next event, if it occurs, may not be as damaging as the previous two, but could ruin the chances of coral recoveryThe Great Barrier Reef could face more bleaching in the coming months, following unprecedented mass bleaching events in 2016 and 2017, which are believed to have killed half the coral.Forecasts stretching to February are pushing the science to its limits, leaving significant uncertainty. But scientists say there is reason to be concerned, and some bleaching is very likely, althou
  
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• Climate visas and smart trains: the best green innovations of the week

  03-11-2017 01:01
  In a week of COP23 preparations and global reports, edie rounds up the low-carbon and resource-efficient innovations that could shape the future.
  
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