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  Austin TX (SPX) Mar 01, 2018 Research conducted by The University of Texas at Austin and University of California, Berkeley has found that a little-studied, underground layer of rock can hold significant amounts of water that may serve as a vital reservoir for trees, especially in times of drought. The study, published in the journal PNAS looked at the water stored inside the layer of weathered bedrock that commonly lies under soils in mountainous environments. This transitional zone beneath soils and above groundwater is oft ... read more |
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Italy, China propose solution to Lake Chad's water problemAbuja (AFP) Feb 28, 2018 It sounds like something from Wakanda, the futuristic African kingdom of the hit movie "Black Panther". ... more  
EU food agency says three pesticides harm bees as ban calls growBrussels (AFP) Feb 28, 2018 The European food safety watchdog said Wednesday that three pesticides currently partly banned in the EU pose a risk to wild bees and honey bees, in a long-awaited report. ... more 
Life under extreme drought conditionsPotsdam, Germany (SPX) Feb 28, 2018 The core region of the Atacama Desert in South America is one of the most arid places on earth. Sometimes it is raining only once in a decade or even less, the annual precipitation is far less than ... more 
'Noah's Ark' seed vault chalks up a million crop varietiesLongyearbyen (AFP) Feb 26, 2018 Norway's 'doomsday' seed bank, which seeks to protect the world's crops from natural disasters, on Monday said it had gathered more than a million varieties as it marked its 10-year anniversary. ... 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 27 | Feb 26 | Feb 25 | Feb 23 | Feb 22 |
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Chinese billionaire sees baguette goldmine in French fieldsThiel-Sur-Acolin, France (AFP) Feb 25, 2018 In the peaceful French village of Thiel-sur-Acolin, retired farmer Marc Bernardet is ambivalent about having a Chinese billionaire for a neighbour. ... more 
Crop-saving soil tests now at farmers' fingertipsPullman WA (SPX) Feb 26, 2018 Soil pathogen testing - critical to farming, but painstakingly slow and expensive - will soon be done accurately, quickly, inexpensively and onsite, thanks to research that Washington State Universi ... more 
Land use change has warmed the Earth's surfaceMunich, 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' ... more 
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 |
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 Eleven missing, 14 injured in Indonesia landslide 
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  |
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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 
Pesticide traces in three-quarters of French fruit: reportParis (AFP) Feb 20, 2018 Almost three- quarters of fruit and more than two-fifths of non-organic vegetables contain traces of pesticide in France, with grapes and celery the most affected, a report said Tuesday. ... more 
Cape Town now faces dry taps by July 9Cape Town (AFP) Feb 20, 2018 Residents of drought-stricken Cape Town received good news Tuesday when city officials said they now face losing piped water to their homes by July 9 - a month later than last forecast. ... more 
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 |
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 Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 01, 2018 
Once in orbit after it launches this fall, NASA's ICESat-2 satellite will travel at speeds faster than 15,000 miles per hour. Last week, the satellite's instrument began its journey toward space riding a truck from Maryland to Arizona, never exceeding 65 mph.
ICESat-2, or the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, is slated to launch in September to measure the height of Earth's surfac ... 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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 Mainz, Germany (SPX) Mar 01, 2018 
The tropical rainforests of Central and South America are home to the largest diversity of plants on this planet. Nowhere else are there quite so many different plant species in one place. However, the entire region is increasingly threatened by human activity, which is why researchers are stepping up their efforts to record this astonishing biodiversity and find out how it developed.
In a ... more |
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 York UK (SPX) Feb 27, 2018  A study of the unusual digestive system of an ancient group of insects has provided new insights into future biofuel production.
Published in Nature Communications, the research reveals that the ability of some insects to efficiently digest cellulose could be exploited for industrial processes, such as the production of sustainable low carbon fuels to cut greenhouse gas emissions associate ... more |
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 Lucknow, India (SPX) Feb 28, 2018 
Avaada Power Pvt. Ltd, India's leading clean energy company, has signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Uttar Pradesh to invest USD 1.55 billion in the state for developing 1,600 MW Solar Projects. The projects will be developed across Mirzapur, Badun, Gorakhpur and Bundelkhand districts.
With this investment, nearly 3,700 employment opportunities will be create ... 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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 Shanghai (AFP) Feb 26, 2018 
Xi Jinping's tightening grip on China had already earned the leader comparisons to Mao Zedong, but they came into even sharper focus after the party paved the way for him to assume the presidency indefinitely.
State media said on Sunday that the ruling Communist Party had proposed abolishing rules limiting leaders to two five-year terms, a guideline imposed in Mao's wake to avoid a repeat of ... more |
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 Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 28, 2018 
Scientists at Waseda University may have come a step closer to innovating soft robots to care for people. Its material, however, is something you may have never expected.
They have developed robotic crystals that walk slowly like an inchworm and roll 20,000 times faster than its walking speed. These autonomously moving, organic crystals have great potential as material for soft robots in t ... more |
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 Libreville (AFP) Feb 27, 2018 
Gabon on Tuesday accused Veolia of pollutingthe country as the government and the French company wage an increasingly bitter dispute in public over the cancellation of a contract for water and electricity distribution.
"There is considerable environmental damage at almost all of the sites exploited by SEEG," Communication Minister Alain-Claude Bilie By Nze told journalists, referring to the ... 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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 Abuja (AFP) Feb 28, 2018 
It sounds like something from Wakanda, the futuristic African kingdom of the hit movie "Black Panther".
But "Transaqua" is a very real proposal for a very real problem - how to replenish the shrinking waters of Lake Chad.
It imagines a 2,600-km (1,600-mile) canal from the Democratic Republic of Congo across the Central African Republic to meet the Chari River that feeds into the freshw ... more |
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 Boston MA (SPX) Feb 26, 2018 
The arrangement of a city's streets and buildings plays a crucial role in the local urban heat island effect, which causes cities to be hotter than their surroundings, researchers have found. The new finding could provide city planners and officials with new ways to influence those effects.
Some cities, such as New York and Chicago, are laid out on a precise grid, like the atoms in a cryst ... more |
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 Washington (AFP) Feb 28, 2018 
The United States on Tuesday upheld tariffs imposed last year on imports of Chinese aluminum foil valued at nearly $400 million a year, angering Beijing which vowed to hit back.
The decision intensified the mounting trade confrontation between Beijing and Washington, which is considering far-reaching duties on Chinese goods in an effort to reduce the US trade deficit.
However, the move w ... more |
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 Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 26, 2018  A dramatic magnetic power struggle at the Sun's surface lies at the heart of solar eruptions, new research using NASA data shows. The work highlights the role of the Sun's magnetic landscape, or topology, in the development of solar eruptions that can trigger space weather events around Earth.
The scientists, led by Tahar Amari, an astrophysicist at the Center for Theoretical Physics at th ... more |
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 Kuala Gandah, Malaysia (AFP) Feb 25, 2018 
A herd of elephants tramp through jungle before lumbering into a river under the watchful gaze of their keepers, training at a Malaysian sanctuary for their vital work in reducing human-animal conflict.
The sanctuary in Kuala Gandah, central Malaysia, is an area of secluded rainforest where "mahouts" - as the keepers are known - care for a 26-strong group of endangered Asian elephants.
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