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  Munich, Germany (SPX) Feb 21, 2018 Natural ecosystems play a crucial role in helping combat climate change, air pollution and soil erosion. A new study by a team of researchers from the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission's science and knowledge service, sheds light on another, less well-known aspect of how these ecosystems, and forests in particular, can protect our planet against global warming. The research team used satellite data to analyse changes in global vegetation cover from 2000 to 2015 and link these to chang ... read more |
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Macron eyes action against Chinese farm buyersParis (AFP) Feb 22, 2018 President Emmanuel Macron promised measures Thursday to help prevent foreign investors buying French farms amid concern that Chinese businesses are taking advantage of low land prices and distressed rural communities. ... more  
Five dead, 15 missing in Indonesia landslideJakarta (AFP) Feb 22, 2018 At least five people have been killed and 15 are still missing after a landslide cascaded down the terraced slopes of a rice field on the Indonesian island of Java on Thursday, officials said. ... more 
Global grazing lands increasingly vulnerable to a changing climateMinneapolis MN (SPX) Feb 21, 2018 Some 800 million people around the world depend on livestock that graze on natural vegetation for their livelihoods and food security. In a good season, grasses and other plants flourish, supporting ... more 
Farming crops with rocks to reduce CO2 and improve global food securitySheffield UK (SPX) Feb 21, 2018 Farming crops with crushed rocks could help to improve global food security and reduce the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere, a new study has found. The pioneering research by scientists a ... more |
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Reeling from earthquakes, Afghans fear coming winter
Typhoon flooding kills over 40, strands thousands in central Philippines Indonesia floods kill 15 Afghan govt says quake death toll rises to 27 Fierce mountain storms kill nine in Nepal Typhoon flooding kills 26, strands thousands in central Philippines Vietnam flood death toll hits 40 as Typhoon Kalmaegi looms Fierce mountain storms kill 9 in Nepal Indonesia rescuers search for 23 missing after floods Nepal avalanche kills seven |
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| Previous Issues | Feb 21 | Feb 20 | Feb 19 | Feb 16 |
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Giant London glasshouse to reopen with world's rarest plantsLondon (AFP) Feb 14, 2018 A gleaming monument to the ambition and creativity of its age, the world's largest Victorian glasshouse will once again welcome visitors to see some of the world's rarest plants following a lengthy facelift. ... more 
Growing crops with crushed rocks could reduce CO2 emissionsWashington (UPI) Feb 19, 2018 Just add rocks. In a recent study, scientists at the University of Sheffield showed the addition of reactive silicate rocks to agricultural soil can boost crop production while limiting the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere. ... more  
India's top court steps in to help thirsty tech hubNew Delhi (AFP) Feb 16, 2018 India's water-starved tech hub Bangalore received a much-needed boost on Friday when the country's top court altered a river-sharing arrangement in its favour, ruling on a bitter dispute that dates back more than a century. ... more 
Myanmar farmers going against the grain with appsAye Ywar , Myanmar (AFP) Feb 18, 2018 A free app on farmer San San Hla's smartphone is her new weapon in the war against the dreaded stem borer moth that blighted her rice paddy in southern Myanmar for the last two years. ... more 
Cover crops in nitrogen's circle of lifeWashington DC (SPX) Feb 15, 2018 A circle of life-and nitrogen-is playing out in farms across the United States. And researchers are trying to get the timing right. Some cover crops, such as hairy vetch or cereal rye, are not ... more |
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 Intensive agriculture influences US regional summer climate, study finds 
Rapid decompression key to making low-density liquid waterWashington DC (SPX) Feb 15, 2018 Water makes up more than 70 percent of our planet and up to 60 percent of our bodies. Water is so common that we take it for granted. Yet water also has very strange properties compared to most othe ... more  |
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Tiny membrane key to safe drinking waterCanberra, Australia (SPX) Feb 15, 2018 Sydney's iconic harbour has played a starring role in the development of new CSIRO technology that could save lives around the world. Using their own specially designed form of graphene, 'Grap ... more 
Drought forces Mozambique capital to ration waterMaputo (AFP) Feb 14, 2018 Mozambique authorities on Wednesday introduced water rationing to more than a million residents in the capital Maputo due to a severe drought. ... more 
New model for evaluating rangeland systems launchesFort Collins CO (SPX) Feb 15, 2018 Rangelands are the dominant land type across the planet and millions of people rely on the natural goods and services and food security the lands provide. A recently released model, G-Range, allows ... more 
App delivery boom shakes up China food sectorShanghai (AFP) Feb 14, 2018 Guo Bonan has opened several new branches of his "8Peppers" spicy Sichuan-style restaurants across Shanghai since last year, and not one has a dining room. ... more 
A lightning-based approach to immediate short-duration rainfall predictionsBeijing, China (SPX) Feb 13, 2018 Previous studies have indicated a worldwide increasing trend of intense precipitation events under the influence of global warming. Heavy precipitation events increase the risk of flooding, exerting ... more |
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 Paris (ESA) Feb 23, 2018 
With the aim of making the best possible use of existing satellites, ESA and Canada have made a deal that turns Swarm into a four-satellite mission to shed even more light on space weather and features such as the aurora borealis.
In orbit since 2013, ESA's three identical Swarm satellites have been returning a wealth of information about how our magnetic field is generated and how it prot ... more |
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 Moscow (Sputnik) Feb 12, 2018 
The Pentagon and Israel's Defense Ministry have launched 'Urban Navigation Challenge', a startup competition to create advanced 'counter-terror' navigation systems which don't use GPS. The project makes no mention of officially designated US "rivals" like Russia or China, but according to Russian experts, it would make no difference even if it did.
The project, officially dubbed the Combat ... more |
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 Luxembourg (AFP) Feb 20, 2018 
Poland's rightwing government broke the law by logging in one of Europe's last primeval forests, the legal advisor to the EU's top court said Tuesday, setting up a new clash between Brussels and Warsaw.
Logging in the Bialowieza Forest began in May 2016 but the European Commission took Poland to court last year arguing that it was destroying a forest that boasts unique plant and animal life. ... more |
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 York UK (SPX) Feb 20, 2018 
An international team of researchers, including scientists from the University of York, has discovered a set of enzymes found in fungi that are capable of breaking down one of the main components of wood. The enzymes could now potentially be used to sustainably convert wood biomass into valuable chemical commodities such as biofuels.
As an alternative to coal and oil, wood is increasingly ... more |
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 Brussels (AFP) Feb 20, 2018  EU member states should take advantage of falling costs for renewable energy to invest more in the sector and make it account for a third of total energy output by 2030, an new report said Tuesday.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) study said the European Union could make renewables account for 34 percent of total production by 2030, up from the current target of 27 percent a ... more |
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 Washington (UPI) Feb 15, 2018 
Put to the test with high winds and strong seas, Norway's Statoil said a floating wind farm in Scottish waters shows promise for deepwater installations.
During its first three months in service, the company's Hywind Scotland floating wind farm, the first of its kind, was put to the test and performed better than expected. Hurricane Ophelia in October pummeled the wind farm with 80 mile ... more |
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 Washington (UPI) Feb 20, 2018 
Coal will no longer be used as an energy source for Michigan residents as more renewables come on stream in the decades ahead, a utility company said.
Public utility company Consumers Energy, which provides gas and electricity to about 60 percent of the state population, said it would no longer be using coal as a power source by 2040. By then, the company said it expects more than 40 pe ... more |
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 Beijing (AFP) Feb 22, 2018 
Chinese authorities have ruled out arson as the cause of a recent fire at Tibetan Buddhism's holiest temple, state media reported Thursday, adding an important Buddha statue had emerged "intact" from the blaze.
The report is the first official account of Saturday's fire at the more than 1,300-year-old Jokhang Temple, after authorities suppressed social media accounts of the incident, leadin ... more |
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 Washington (AFP) Feb 18, 2018 
Artificial intelligence and its impact on weapons of the future has made US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis doubt his own theories on warfare.
A question on the subject prompted the retired Marine general to give an impromptu seminar on his theory of war Saturday to reporters returning with him from a week-long tour of Europe.
Recalling his own writings, he differentiated between the essent ... more |
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 Gothenburg, Sweden (SPX) Feb 21, 2018 
The problem of plastic pellets in marine environments has been reported since the 1970s and the first recommendations for legislation were introduced in the USA back in the 1990s. However, in Sweden, these spills have only received attention in recent years.
Small plastic pellets are used as raw materials. The pellets are shipped from the manufacturing site to different plants where they a ... more |
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 Pekanbaru, Indonesia (AFP) Feb 21, 2018 
Indonesia was battling a rash of forest fires Wednesday as it raised an alert over the blazes which occur every year and emit choking smog that can envelop neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.
Fires have broken out in four provinces - South Sumatra, Riau, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan - prompting them to declare "alert emergency" status, one notch below the most severe warning. ... more |
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 Paris (AFP) Feb 20, 2018 
How quickly humanity draws down the greenhouse gases driving global warming will determine whether sea levels rise half-a-metre or six times that, even if Paris climate pact goals are fully met, researchers reported Tuesday in a study.
"The trajectory of emissions in the next few decades will shape our coastlines in the centuries to come," lead author Matthias Mengel, a scientist at the Pots ... more |
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 New York (AFP) Feb 21, 2018 
New York residents on Wednesday enjoyed record heat for the month of February, with the thermometer reaching 24 degrees Celsius (76 Farenheit) in the early afternoon, the National Weather Service reported.
The previous record for February 21 was 20 Celsius (68 degrees Farenheit) set in 1930, said Faye Morrone, meteorologist at the NWS's New York office.
Wednesday's temperature, taken in ... more |
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 London (AFP) Feb 20, 2018  Profits at HSBC surged during 2017, in part thanks to a strong Asian performance, the global banking giant said Tuesday as it looks to the future without long-serving chief executive Stuart Gulliver.
Net profit ballooned to $9.7 billion (7.9 billion euros) last year, from $1.3 billion in 2016 when the Asia-focused bank was hit by huge restructuring charges and writedowns.
London-headquar ... more |
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 Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 21, 2018 
Sometimes on a dark night near the poles, the sky pulses a diffuse glow of green, purple and red. Unlike the long, shimmering veils of typical auroral displays, these pulsating auroras are much dimmer and less common. While scientists have long known auroras to be associated with solar activity, the precise mechanism of pulsating auroras was unknown.
Now, new research, using data from NASA ... more |
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 Washington (UPI) Feb 20, 2018  Scientists have designed a new model to identify which organisms are capable of consuming other cells through a process called phagocytosis.
The research, detailed this week in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, could help scientists more accurately simulate the evolution of early complex lifeforms.
The earliest life forms on Earth were made up of prokaryotes, simple, sing ... more |
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