Science news

• Google offers downloadable maps for offline use

  27-11-2015 23:00 via cbc.ca
  
  Going off the beaten path just got a little easier — and in many cases, cheaper — for anyone who uses Google Maps.
  
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• Amazon deforestation leaps 16 percent in 2015

  27-11-2015 22:56
  
  Illegal logging and clearing of Brazil's Amazon rainforest increased 16 percent in the last year, the government said, in a setback to the aim of stopping destruction of the world's greatest forest by 2030.
  
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• Commonwealth sets up $1 billion green finance facility

  27-11-2015 22:43
  
  Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat unveiled Friday a new $1 billion Commonwealth Green Finance Facility to support environmental projects within the 53-nation bloc as the race against climate change intensifies.
  
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• Hollande fears handful could block climate summit

  27-11-2015 22:37
  
  French President Francois Hollande called on all countries to back a UN climate deal at talks opening in Paris on Monday, but said he feared "a few" nations could derail the process.
  
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• Arsenic, other contaminants found in Brazilian mine river: Vale

  27-11-2015 22:27
  
  Brazilian mining giant Vale said Friday that small amounts of arsenic and other potential poisons have been detected in a river polluted by an iron ore mine accident, but that the mining companies are not to blame.
  
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• Double-dipping a chip is officially disgusting, science confirms

  27-11-2015 22:20 via cbc.ca
  
  Scientists confirm that double-dipping a chip is not OK, not cool and not very healthy for anyone involved.
  
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• Screen time seems positive for children in small doses, depression study suggests

  27-11-2015 21:14 via cbc.ca
  
  Youngsters who spend too much time staring at televisions and computers may be more depressed than those who abstain completely, but kids who enjoy screen time in moderation may be the happiest of all, a recent analysis suggests.
  
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• Climate pledges, mass marches ahead of UN summit

  27-11-2015 20:58
  
  Billions of dollars in environmental aid were announced Friday as cities worldwide prepared for marches to pressure leaders heading for Paris to negotiate a historic pact to tame global warming.
  
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• France puts 24 climate activists under house arrest ahead of UN talks

  27-11-2015 20:18
  
  French authorities have placed 24 activists under house arrest ahead of major UN climate warming talks starting near Paris next week, using the state of emergency powers declared after the Paris attacks.
  
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• Snakes evolved from burrowing ancestor, new data suggest

  27-11-2015 20:00
  
  A new X-ray analysis of inner ears is the latest to weigh in on whether modern snakes descended from a burrowing or a swimming reptile.
  
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• Mystery deepens for what made tarantulas blue

  27-11-2015 20:00
  
  Blue hair on tarantulas shows what evolution does with iridescence that females probably don’t care about.
  
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• The players who can make or break a Paris climate deal

  27-11-2015 19:33
  
  Negotiators from 195 nations gather in Paris on Monday to try to broker a universal climate pact to rein in global warming and keep Earth liveable for humanity.
  
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• Huge, dark Martian sand dunes captured by Curiosity rover

  27-11-2015 19:05 via cbc.ca
  
  The Mars rover Curiosity has moved in for a closer look at giant sand dunes on the Red Planet — sending back fresh images of their dark, rippled surface along with a few partial selfies.
  
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• We don't have to give up our lifestyle to lower emissions: Bob McDonald

  27-11-2015 18:55 via cbc.ca
  
  People fear that weaning ourselves off fossil fuels means giving up the very comfortable lifestyles we have enjoyed for the last century. Not true, writes Bob McDonald.
  
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• Canada to contribute $2.65B to international climate change fund

  27-11-2015 17:28 via cbc.ca
  
  Canada will contribute $2.65 billion over the next five years to help developing countries fight climate change.
  
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• Jets believed to be Russian hit Syrian town near Turkish border - monitor

  27-11-2015 16:39
  
  Warplanes believed to be Russian carried out several air strikes on a Syrian town near the Turkish border on Friday, a monitoring group said, one of several reported close to the boundary this week. The bombardments came days after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet it said had entered its air space, raising tensions between the two countries which back opposing sides in Syria's civil war. Three air strikes hit the town of Azaz, about 5 km (3 miles) from the Turkish border in northern Aleppo
  
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• Best Buy Canada site malfunctions on Black Friday, frustrating shoppers

  27-11-2015 16:37 via cbc.ca
  
  One of Canada's largest tech retailers has incurred the wrath of Black Friday shoppers who say a website malfunction prevented them from taking advantage of the annual markdowns.
  
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• Debris from U.S. rocket recovered off coast of southwest England

  27-11-2015 16:18
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - Debris from a U.S. rocket, most likely the doomed SpaceX Falcon 9, has been recovered near the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of southwest England, the UK coastguard has said on Friday.
  
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• Thousands rally for climate action ahead of UN summit

  27-11-2015 15:18
  
  Tens of thousands rallied in Melbourne on Friday to launch a global campaign for climate action ahead of a key summit in Paris, where marches were cancelled amid security fears.
  
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• Remains of doomed SpaceX rocket likely found

  27-11-2015 15:18 via cbc.ca
  
  A floating object mistaken for a dead whale has been retrieved by the UK Coast Guard, and turns out to be part of a U.S. rocket - likely one that exploded on launch earlier this year.
  
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• Muslims use hashtags to reclaim their voices online

  27-11-2015 14:56 via cbc.ca
  
  There has been a rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric from users of social media in the two weeks since the Paris attacks. One interesting trend arising from media coverage of Muslims is the satirical hashtags emerging online after these stories spread.
  
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• Turkey's Erdogan warns Russia not to 'play with fire'

  27-11-2015 14:42
  
  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan warned Russia not to "play with fire" on Friday, but added he did not want to harm relations with Moscow, comments that look more likely to inflame than quell the dispute over a downed Russian bomber this week. Relations between the former Cold War antagonists are at their worst in recent memory after Turkey shot down the jet near the Syrian border on Monday. Russia has threatened economic retaliation against Ankara, which Erdogan has dismissed as "emotional" and
  
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• A defenseless Mars is losing its atmosphere

  27-11-2015 14:00
  
  Measurements of Mars’ atmosphere leaking into space could help scientists explain how the Red Planet lost its once life-friendly climate.
  
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• Governments take rose-tinted view of climate projections before summit

  27-11-2015 12:40
  
  By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Before a summit on climate change in Paris next week, many governments are citing scientific studies indicating that their plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions until 2030 will come within 0.7 degrees Celsius of an agreed 2C (3.6 Fahrenheit) target for limiting global warming this century. To avoid the worst of these effects, a ceiling of 2C has been agreed, and about 170 governments have submitted national plans before the Nov. 30-Dec. 11 summit to curb emissi
  
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• New type of ‘flow battery’ can store 10 times the energy of the next best device

  27-11-2015 12:30
  
  Lithium flow batteries could be key to the widespread adoption of renewable energy
  
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• Parched, famished Niger hard hit by climate change

  27-11-2015 11:53
  
  When yet another drought wiped out his flock five years ago, Toro, a Fulani shepherd in Niger, decided to migrate to the capital Niamey, where he found work selling cell phones instead.
  
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• Climate disasters may double without emissions cut: ADB

  27-11-2015 10:57
  
  Climate disasters may double in the next two decades unless the world cuts its carbon dioxide emissions, the Asian Development Bank said Friday, with "high risk" nations in Asia set to be hard hit.
  
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• Volkswagen scandal 'marks new climate mindset': 2014 summit head

  27-11-2015 10:48
  
  Outrage over Volkswagen's emissions cheating scandal has revealed that the public will no longer settle when it comes to environmental protections, the president of last year's UN climate conference told AFP.
  
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• Beijing to toughen car emission standards by 2017 to cut pollution

  27-11-2015 10:30
  
  Beijing plans to ramp up its already tough car emission standards by 2017 in a bid by one of the world's most polluted cities to improve its often hazardous air quality. Beijing's environment protection bureau, in a document published late on Thursday, said the new standards would be the toughest in the world, and more stringent than the current standards which are equivalent of those used in Europe. The environment bureau said Beijing currently has more than 5.5 million vehicles, with 600,000 n
  
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• Crimea starts receiving electricity from Russia - RIA

  27-11-2015 09:31
  
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Crimea has started to receive electricity supply from the southern Russian Krasnodar region, RIA news agency quoted Crimean First Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Sheremet as saying on Friday. Sheremet said the first 22 megawatts had been transmitted through the energy bridge to Crimea which was hit by power blackout after pro-Ukrainian activists blew up the electricity lines in Ukraine which supply the peninsula. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly and Maria Kiselyova; writing by Maria Ki
  
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• Four pre-Inca tombs found in Peru's Lima

  27-11-2015 07:58
  
  Archaeologists in Peru have found four tombs that are more than 1,000 years old in a pyramid-shaped cemetery that now sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood in Lima, experts said.
  
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• Climate crunch to dominate Commonwealth summit

  27-11-2015 07:36
  
  The 2015 Commonwealth Summit kicks off on Friday to a grand opening ceremony with Queen Elizabeth, followed by intense working sessions where world leaders will grapple with climate change.
  
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• Obama eyes chance to make mark, at last, on climate change

  27-11-2015 06:06
  
  Six years after a fiasco in Copenhagen and a year before he leaves office, a Paris summit offers Barack Obama the chance to make his mark in the fight against climate change.
  
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• Conservatives at odds with Obama, and science, on climate

  27-11-2015 06:03
  
  US conservatives backed by the powerful gas and coal lobbies are at loggerheads with both the scientific world and President Barack Obama on the environment -- but have failed to block his path on climate change.
  
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• Synapse discovery could lead to new treatments for Alzheimer's disease

  27-11-2015 06:00
  
  (University of New South Wales) A team of researchers led by UNSW Australia scientists has discovered how connections between brain cells are destroyed in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease -- work that opens up a new avenue for research on possible treatments for the degenerative brain condition.
  
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• New research exploits extraordinary properties of graphene

  27-11-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Exeter) Innovative new research led by the University of Exeter has demonstrated how the extraordinary properties of graphene can be exploited to create artificial structures that can be used to control and manipulate electromagnetic radiation over a wide range of wavelengths.
  
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• Latest major Eastern Pacific hurricane on record headed for landfall in Western Mexico

  27-11-2015 06:00
  
  (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) Hurricane Sandra broke a record in the hurricane history books as the latest major hurricane on record in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. On Nov. 26, 2015 at 0706 UTC (2:06 a.m. EST). Sandra had winds of 125 knots (144 mph) at that time making it a category three on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.On Nov. 27 NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured an image of Sandra, although now a Category 2 hurricane continues its approach to landfall in Western Mexico.
  
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• Even the elderly can recover from a severe traumatic brain injury

  27-11-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Helsinki) According to a study completed at the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Finland, even patients over the age of 75 may recover from severe traumatic brain injury. This is the first study to describe the results of surgically treated elderly patients with acute subdural hematomas.
  
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• A common mechanism for human and bird sound production

  27-11-2015 06:00
  
  (University of Southern Denmark) When birds and humans sing it sounds completely different, but now new research reported in the journal Nature Communication shows that the very same physical mechanisms are at play when a bird sings and a human speaks.
  
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• 'Dangerous' lakes in Everest glacier

  27-11-2015 05:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Lakes that have been forming near Mount Everest could threaten settlements downstream if they overflow.
  
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• Paris climate pledges can avert extreme warming: study

  27-11-2015 05:23
  
  Pledges made in the lead-up to next week's major Paris climate change conference could limit severe warming, but only if countries turn their words into long-term action, a study said.
  
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• Facebook envy fuels cycle of self promotion, study finds

  27-11-2015 04:47 via cbc.ca
  
  A new study shows as young Facebook users click and scroll through their friends’ best selves, the more dissatisfied they may become with their own lives.
  
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• Support for climate deal 'declines'

  27-11-2015 01:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A public opinion survey suggests that support for strong action on climate change has declined since 2009.
  
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• Calgary researcher scours old ship logbooks for climate change clues

  27-11-2015 01:30 via cbc.ca
  
  A Calgary researcher hopes to find clues to today's changing climate by searching through three centuries of records kept by whaling captains and fur traders, a trove of information on everything from weather and wind to sea ice and animals.
  
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• U.S. opens door to space mining but spurs international-law worries

  27-11-2015 01:12 via cbc.ca
  
  U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation on Wednesday providing a framework for space companies to mine ore from asteroids and other bodies, but legal critics are worried the measure could lead to violations of international law.
  
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• U.S. opens door to space mining, but it could lead to international law violations

  27-11-2015 01:12 via cbc.ca
  
  U.S. President Barack Obama signed legislation on Wednesday providing a framework for space companies to mine ore from asteroids and other bodies, but legal critics are worried the measure could lead to violations of international law.
  
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