Environment news

• NASA's GPM Radar Spots Tornado Spawning Thunderstorms in Ohio Valley

  06-11-2017 23:04 via feedproxy.google.com
  Severe weather that rolled through the Ohio Valley on Nov. 5 was analyzed by NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM satellite. GPM provided forecasters at the National Weather Service with rain rates and cloud heights that showed where strongest storms were located.  
  
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• Federal climate science report for U.S. released

  06-11-2017 22:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  U.S. Global Change Research Program’s (USGCRP) Climate Science Special Report (CSSR), which serves as Volume I of the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), describes current trends in the climate globally and for the U.S., and projects trends in temperature, precipitation, sea-level rise and Arctic sea ice for the remainder of this century.
  
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• NASA Satellite Tracks Ozone Pollution by Monitoring Its Key Ingredients

  06-11-2017 20:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  Ozone pollution near Earth's surface is one of the main ingredients of summertime smog. It is also not directly measurable from space due to the abundance of ozone higher in the atmosphere, which obscures measurements of surface ozone. New NASA-funded research has devised a way to use satellite measurements of the precursor gases that contribute to ozone formation to differentiate among three different sets of conditions that lead to its production. These observations may also assist air quality
  
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• Bonn climate talks will aim to meet goals laid out in Paris, says UN

  06-11-2017 18:34 via theguardian.com
  Delegates ‘do not have the luxury of lots of philosophical discussions’ but must focus on advancing the pledges set out in the Paris agreementThe UN hopes to create an “operating manual” for implementing the Paris agreement on climate change, with talks in the next two weeks in Bonn.“We want to advance further, faster, together to meet the goals set out in the Paris agreement,” said Patricia Espinosa, the UN’s chief official on the climate, at the openin
  
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• Swapping Where Crops are Grown Could Feed an Extra 825 Million People

  06-11-2017 17:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  Redrawing the global map of crop distribution on existing farmland could help meet growing demand for food and biofuels in coming decades, while significantly reducing water stress in agricultural areas, according to a new study. Published today in Nature Geoscience, the study is the first to attempt to address both food production needs and resource sustainability simultaneously and at a global scale.
  
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• Higher Air Pollution in Cities Tied to Higher Mortality

  06-11-2017 17:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  New research presented today at APHA’s 2017 Annual Meeting and Expo examined the burden of air pollution and its association with mortality in Chinese cities. The study by researchers at Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health showed a significant correlation between higher air quality index concentrations and higher mortality rates. The study is the first to provide strong evidence of the burden of air pollution in major Chinese cities, as well as the impacts of air quality and
  
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• Bird killers are getting away with it. But there’s hope in sight | Patrick Barkham

  06-11-2017 16:54 via theguardian.com
  Against a background of zero prosecutions for bird of prey persecution, two legal changes are afoot to stop people targeting peregrines, buzzards and hen harriersWe may despair of living in an era where the powerful are getting away with it more than ever before, but hope glimmers in unexpected places.A dismal landmark was revealed last week. In 2016, there were 81 confirmed incidents of British bird of prey persecution but, for the first time in decades, there were no prosecutions for these wil
  
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• Breaking the Chain: Catalyzing a Green Future for Chemistry

  06-11-2017 16:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  The fight against climate change is a call-to-arms for industry. We currently rely on fossil fuels, a major source of the greenhouse gas CO2, not only for energy but also to create chemicals for manufacturing. To ween our economies off this dependency, we must find a new source of “green” raw materials so that factories and laboratories can run without producing and emitting CO2.
  
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• Protecting 'High Carbon' Rainforests Also Protects Threatened Wildlife

  06-11-2017 16:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  Conservation efforts focused on protecting forests using carbon-based policies also benefit mammal diversity, new research at Kent has found.
  
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• Crime-Scene Technique Used to Track Turtles

  06-11-2017 16:27 via feedproxy.google.com
  Scientists have used satellite tracking and a crime-scene technique to discover an important feeding ground for green turtles in the Mediterranean.
  
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• Briny Pool Bacteria Can Clean Up and Power Up

  06-11-2017 16:23 via feedproxy.google.com
  Warm and salty wastewater is a by-product of many industries, including oil and gas production, seafood processing and textile dyeing. KAUST researchers are exploring ways to detoxify such wastewater while simultaneously generating electricity. They are using bacteria with remarkable properties: the ability to transfer electrons outside their cells (exoelectrogenes) and the capacity to withstand extremes of temperature and salinity (extremophiles).
  
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• 'I inject myself with snake venom'

  06-11-2017 16:21 via bbc.co.uk
  Steve Ludlow has been injecting himself with venom for more than 30 years.
  
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• Saving Seagrasses From Dredging - New Research Finds Solutions

  06-11-2017 16:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  Timing of dredging is the key to helping preserve one of the world's most productive and important ecosystems - seagrass meadows.
  
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• G7 on Health, Science Suggests Global Action to Reduce the Impact of Climate on Health

  06-11-2017 16:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  Decisions that will be taken at the G7 Ministerial Meeting on Health that will be open by Minister Beatrice Lorenzin tomorrow in Milan have followed an intense dialogue with the international scientific community on the most efficient strategies to be adopted to deal with the impact of climate changes on health on a global scale in the near future.
  
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• Fracking firm to give first households £2,000 payouts

  06-11-2017 14:56 via theguardian.com
  Shale gas firm Cuadrilla says 29 Lancashire households will get payments – but one says they will refuse ‘blood money’A group of residents in Lancashire will soon receive £2,070 each for living near a fracking site, in the first payments made direct to British householders by a shale gas company. Cuadrilla said that 29 households within a 1km radius of the site would get the payment as part of a £100,000 community benefit fund for the second well it is drilling at a
  
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• The giant mass of plastic waste taking over the Caribbean

  06-11-2017 14:55 via bbc.co.uk
  The giant build-up of plastic bottles, cutlery and polystyrene plates was captured by underwater photographer Caroline Power.
  
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• COP23: What does the Bonn climate summit mean for sustainability professionals?

  06-11-2017 14:54
  As delegates from almost every nation arrive in Bonn to discuss the ways to prevent rising global temperatures from reaching catastrophic levels, edie takes a closer look at how developments at the UN climate summit could affect sustainability teams and their efforts to accelerate low-carbon, resource-efficient business models.
  
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• Weather readiness depends on more than just a good forecast

  06-11-2017 14:17 via feedproxy.google.com
  Catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Harvey that led to more than 60 deaths and thousands of rescues showed again that an accurate NOAA forecast by itself is not enough to ensure people grasp the risks and make sound decisions that save lives and property.A new report released today by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine offsite linkconcludes that realizing the greatest return on investment from significant improvements in weather information will require a better unders
  
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• Blue Planet II: The moment giant sharks attack crew submarine

  06-11-2017 14:17 via bbc.co.uk
  At a depth of 750 metres, a Blue Planet II submarine was shoved by enormous sharks.
  
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• New wildfire early warning system could prevent spring blazes

  06-11-2017 14:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  Researchers at the University of British Columbia have developed a new early warning system to predict when and where human-caused wildfires are most likely to occur in the spring.Using satellite images of vegetation, the researchers can forecast where wildfire risk peaks in boreal forests by tracking moisture in fuel sources like leaves.
  
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• Oxford Street could become 'traffic-free boulevard' next year

  06-11-2017 13:48 via theguardian.com
  Radical proposal to pedestrianise area west of Oxford Circus is aimed at improving air quality and tackling congestionA large section of London’s Oxford Street could be traffic-free by next December under a proposal unveiled by the mayor on Monday to improve the area for shoppers. A public consultation has opened into banning all forms of transport between Oxford Circus and Orchard Street to coincide with the launch of the new Elizabeth line at the end of 2018. Continue reading...
  
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• World Water Council: Water infrastructure investment must to triple to combat climate change

  06-11-2017 12:48
  As UN delegates meet in Bonn this week to commence the COP23 climate conference, the World Water Council (WWC) has reported that financial investment into water infrastructure needs to triple to €255bn annually to combat climate change and meet sanitation targets.
  
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• 2017 set to be one of top three hottest years on record

  06-11-2017 12:32 via theguardian.com
  Data so far this year points to 2017 continuing a long-term trend of record breaking temperatures around the world, says World Meteorological Organization 2017 is set to be one of the hottest three years on record, provisional data suggests, confirming yet again a warming trend that scientists say bears the fingerprints of human actions.The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said temperatures in the first nine months of this year were unlikely to have been higher than 2016, when there was a
  
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• Car giants launch pan-European electric vehicle charging venture

  06-11-2017 12:10
  A group of the world's largest car manufacturers, including Ford, BMW and Porsche, have joined forces to develop a network of high-power charging systems across Europe, to stimulate the growth of electric vehicles (EVs).
  
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• 2017 'very likely' in top three warmest years on record

  06-11-2017 12:04 via bbc.co.uk
  Scientists say that 2017 shows a continuing trend of high temperatures and extreme weather events.
  
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• We have every reason to fear Trump’s pick to head Nasa | Dana Nuccitelli

  06-11-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Republican climate science denial reared its ugly head at Bridenstine’s congressional hearingUnlike past Nasa administrators, Trump nominee Jim Bridenstine doesn’t have a scientific background. He’s a Republican Congressman from Oklahoma and former Navy pilot. He also has a history of denying basic climate science. That’s concerning because Nasa does some of the world’s best climate science research, and Bridenstine previously introduced legislation that would elimi
  
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• Coalition calls for oxo-degradable plastic ban

  06-11-2017 11:32
  A coalition of businesses, NGOs, scientists and politicians have come together to call for a ban on oxo-degradable plastic packaging, which has been linked to microplastics pollution.
  
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• HSBC pledges $100bn to sustainable finance

  06-11-2017 11:27
  As Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) releases findings showing that energy investment in emerging markets suffered its largest year-on-year decline, HSBC has pledged to provide $100bn in sustainable financing by 2025 - as part of a new batch of climate-related commitments.
  
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• Welcome, new ape relative: can you teach us not to kill you? | Jules Howard

  06-11-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  No sooner has the Tapanuli orangutan been discovered than it’s facing extinction. The indifference of humans – the one thriving great ape – is the culpritIf I could be a fly on the wall at any point in the history of science, it would be to watch the young(ish) Charles Darwin – long before his ideas on our shared ancestry with apes were published – enter the orangutan enclosure at London Zoo in 1838. Within the enclosure there resided Jenny, a young and playful oran
  
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• A new species of great ape: a family member we must urgently fight to save | Jules Howard

  06-11-2017 11:00 via theguardian.com
  No sooner has the Tapanuli orangutan been discovered than it’s facing extinction. The indifference of humans – the one thriving great ape – is the culpritIf I could be a fly on the wall at any point in the history of science, it would be to watch the young(ish) Charles Darwin – long before his ideas on our shared ancestry with apes were published – enter the orangutan enclosure at London Zoo in 1838. Within the enclosure there resided Jenny, a young and playful oran
  
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• Slump in UK car sales deepens as industry records 12% fall

  06-11-2017 10:53 via theguardian.com
  Drop for seventh month in a row driven by 30% plunge in diesel vehicle sales amid growing confusion over government’s road fuel policyNew car sales have declined for the seventh month in a row, falling more than 12% in October as worsening confidence among consumers and businesses continues to dampen the market. The figures show that the car market is on course for its first annual decline since 2011 and will continue to fall next year before stabilising in 2019, according to the Society o
  
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• Patient scans being sent from ambulances in new trial

  06-11-2017 10:30 via bbc.co.uk
  The European Space Agency has part-funded the pilot project involving five ambulances in the Highlands.
  
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• How India’s battle with climate change could determine all of our fates

  06-11-2017 09:36 via theguardian.com
  India’s population and emissions are rising fast, and its ability to tackle poverty without massive fossil fuel use will decide the fate of the planet“It’s a lucky charm,” says Rajesh, pointing to the solar-powered battery in his window that he has smeared with turmeric as a blessing. “It has changed our life.”
  He lives in Rajghat, a village on the border of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh states, and until very recently was one of the 240 million Indians who liv
  
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• Abstract art or drone photo? – in pictures

  06-11-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Brothers Mike and JP Andrews bought a drone camera, flew to Australia, and embarked on Abstract Aerial Art, a 70,000-mile global photographic odyssey Continue reading...
  
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• 'Absolutely shocking': Niger Delta oil spills linked with infant deaths

  06-11-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Babies in Nigeria at double the risk of dying before they reach a month old if mothers lived near the scene of an oil spill before conceiving, study showsBabies in Nigeria are twice as likely to die in the first month of life if their mothers were living near an oil spill before falling pregnant, researchers have found.
  A new study, the first to link environmental pollution with newborn and child mortality rates in the Niger Delta, shows that oil spills occurring within 10km of a mother’s
  
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• Trump dump: president throws entire box of fish food into precious koi carp pond

  06-11-2017 07:17 via theguardian.com
  While his host, Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe, spoons small amounts of feed, the US leader gives the fish a large feastIt was perhaps only a matter of time before Donald Trump’s brasher instincts smashed through the ring of decorum that had held fast on his gaffe-free first day in Japan.The victims: the colourful, and much loved, koi carp of Akasaka palace in Tokyo. Continue reading...
  
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• It's time to put children's health before pesticides | Baskut Tuncak

  06-11-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  A pending decision on Monsanto’s ubiquitous weedkiller is a crucial opportunity to protect our children from the toxic cocktail of pesticides polluting their food, water and play areasOur children are growing up exposed to a toxic cocktail of weedkillers, insecticides, and fungicides. It’s on their food and in their water, and it’s even doused over their parks and playgrounds. Many governments insist that our standards of protection from these pesticides are strong enough. But
  
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• Bonn climate talks must go further than Paris pledges to succeed

  06-11-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Hosts Fiji will be aiming to build transparency and constructive dialogue – and this will be crucial to successfully ratcheting up the tough climate targets sidestepped at ParisTalanoa is a Fijian term for discussions aimed at building consensus, airing differences constructively, and finding ways to overcome difficulties or embark on new projects. It is one of the building blocks of Fijian society, used for centuries to foster greater understanding among a people distributed over many sma
  
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• Country diary: insects still find sanctuary in the priory ruins

  06-11-2017 06:30 via theguardian.com
  Kirkham Priory, Malton, North Yorkshire The skeleton of a building offers respite from a biting wind and a final home for the last of the summer’s waspsIt is one of those season-hinge days when the slightest atmospheric whim might swing it either way. There is some warmth in the intermittent sunshine and autumn’s colours are still bright, but the wind is pure north and it carries smatters of cold rain. The river is swollen, with violet reflections in oxtail-brown water – an omi
  
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• Trailblazing women

  06-11-2017 02:53 via bbc.co.uk
  More than half of people in the UK can't name a famous woman in science - this week, BBC 100 Women aims to change that number.
  
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• Relocated squirrels moving to new areas, says charity

  06-11-2017 01:05 via bbc.co.uk
  More than 80 had been stuck and were moved to other Highland areas with no red squirrels.
  
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• Red squirrels successfully reintroduced to Scottish Highlands

  06-11-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  New population naturally expanded since reintroduction to north-west Scotland in 2016Red squirrels, a species previously lost from their native woodlands, have been successfully returned to the Highlands, early results of a reintroduction project show.The new population has naturally expanded since they were reintroduced to north-west Scotland last year. The species had disappeared due to the reduction of forests to just isolated remnants, as well as disease and competition from the introduced n
  
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• Red squirrels successfully reintroduced to north-west Scottish Highlands

  06-11-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  New population naturally expanded since reintroduction to north-west Scotland in 2016Red squirrels, a species previously lost from their native woodlands, have been successfully returned to the north-west Highlands, early results of a reintroduction project show.The new population has naturally expanded since they were reintroduced to north-west Scotland last year. The species had disappeared due to the reduction of forests to just isolated remnants, as well as disease and competition from the i
  
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• Joining in the fungi: black truffle grown in UK for first time

  06-11-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Dog unearths Périgord black truffle successfully grown in Wales, the furthest north the delicacy has ever been foundAn expensive Mediterranean black truffle has been cultivated in the UK for the first time, the farthest north that the species has been found.Researchers believe the truffle, mostly found in northern Spain, southern France and northern Italy, was able to grow in Wales due to climate change. Continue reading...
  
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