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Aquaplaning in the geological underground![]() Potsdam, Germany (SPX) Apr 05, 2018 The 2016 Mw 7.6 earthquake of Southern Chile was the first large earthquake to occur within the rupture bounds of the great 1960 Mw 9.5 Valdivia earthquake, the largest ever observed in historical times. Using GPS, InSAR, gravity, seismic reflection, and geological data, Marcos Moreno and colleagues from GFZ as well as Chile show that the 2016 earthquake occurred at the deep boundary of a persistent asperity on the interface between the subducting Nazca and overriding South American plates, where ... read more |
US soybean growers in crosshairs of US-China trade spatNew York (AFP) April 4, 2018 American soybean producers could be big losers if Beijing follows through on plans to impose tariffs on the commodity in retaliation for President Donald Trump's trade crackdown. ... more
UN food agency urges 'agroecology' to fight famineRome (AFP) April 3, 2018 Current food production methods are harming the planet while failing to provide millions of the world's poor with enough to eat, the UN food agency warned Tuesday. ... more
Predicting water storage beyond 2-5 years over global semiarid regionsBeijing, China (SPX) Apr 04, 2018 Decadal climate prediction aims to improve near-term (10-30 years) climate change projection by using the experiences of weather forecasting and seasonal climate prediction. It has raised a wi ... more
'Fog harp' increases collection capacity for clean waterBlacksburg VA (SPX) Apr 03, 2018 Fog harvesting may look like whimsical work. After all, installing giant nets along hillsides and mountaintops to catch water out of thin air sounds more like folly than science. However, the practi ... more |
Thousands evacuated as typhoon bears down on Philippines
Afghanistan quake kills 20, injures over 300: health ministry At least 9 dead in Afghanistan quake Magnitude 6.3 quake hits northern Afghanistan CORRECTED: Magnitude 6.3 quake hits northern Afghanistan: USGS Magnitude 6.3 quake hits northern Afghanistan: USGS US says sending $3 mn post-hurricane aid to foe Cuba Jamaica deaths at 28 as Caribbean reels from colossal hurricane Only two weeks of water left in Tehran's main reservoir: official Five German mountaineers killed in Italian Alps avalanche |
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| Previous Issues | Apr 04 | Apr 03 | Apr 02 | Apr 01 | Mar 31 |
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El Nino can affect up to two-thirds of the world's harvestsHelsinki, Finland (SPX) Mar 29, 2018 According to researchers at Aalto University, Finland, large-scale weather cycles, such as the one related to the El Nino phenomenon, affect two-thirds of the world's cropland. In these so called cl ... more
Water's behavioral anomalies finally explainedWashington (UPI) Mar 27, 2018 Water is one of the most peculiar liquids, but scientists are finally beginning to understand its strange behavior. ... more
Artificial bio-inspired membranes for water filtrationParis, France (SPX) Mar 27, 2018 From a desire to develop breakthrough technologies for water filtration and purification, researchers have developed membranes with artificial channels inspired by the proteins that form the pores i ... more
Most of Earth's water was likely present before the moon-forming giant impactWashington DC (SPX) Mar 29, 2018 Based on an extensive collection of lunar and terrestrial samples, a new study probing the elusive origins of the Moon - now typically thought to have formed from a collision between a proto-Earth a ... more
Breakthrough in battle against rice blastExeter UK (SPX) Mar 28, 2018 Scientists have found a way to stop the spread of rice blast, a fungus that destroys up to 30% of the world's rice crop each year. An international team led by the University of Exeter showed ... more |
![]() Agriculture initiated by indigenous peoples, not Fertile Crescent migration
Land decay to displace tens of millions, global survey warnsMedellin, Colombia (AFP) March 26, 2018 Land degradation will unleash a mass migration of at least 50 million people by 2050 - as many as 700 million unless humans stop depleting the life-giving resource, more than 100 scientists warned Monday. ... more |
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Avocado town becomes symbol of Chile's water warPetorca, Chile (AFP) March 23, 2018 Karina Torres has spent more than seven years without running water in her home in central Chile. Yet, across the road, water flows in abundance to irrigate thousands of hectares of avocados. ... more
Scientists to publish first-ever land health reportMedellin, Colombia (AFP) March 26, 2018 Scientists will publish the first-ever analysis Monday of the global state of land and its ability to sustain a fast-growing human population that relies on it for 95 percent of all food. ... more
Aussie cowboys join Sydney rally against coal and gas miningSydney (AFP) March 24, 2018 Thousands of Australians including farmers on horseback rallied in the heart of Sydney on Saturday, calling on authorities to ditch coal and gas mining developments in rural regions in favour of renewable energy projects. ... more
Revolutionary new filter can improve drinking water qualitySydney, Australia (SPX) Mar 23, 2018 Scientists have developed a world-first, graphene-based, laboratory-scale filter that can remove more than 99% of the ubiquitous natural organic matter left behind during conventional treatment of d ... more
In field tests, device harvests water from desert airBoston MA (SPX) Mar 23, 2018 It seems like getting something for nothing, but you really can get drinkable water right out of the driest of desert air. Even in the most arid places on Earth, there is some moisture in the ... more |
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China receives data from three Gaofen-1 satellites Beijing (XNA) Apr 05, 2018
China Wednesday received the first package of data from the three high-resolution Gaofen-1 satellites launched on March 31, according to the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The package of data with a total size of 166.31 gigabytes was received by the remote sensing satellite ground station in Miyun on the outskirts of Beijing.
Ground ... more |
China sends twin BeiDou-3 navigation satellites into space Xichang (XNA) Apr 03, 2018
China on Friday sent twin satellites into space with a single carrier rocket, adding two more members for its domestic BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS).
The Long March-3B carrier rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province at 1:56 a.m. The launch was the 269th mission for the Long March rocket family.
The twin satellites are co ... more |
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Palm trees are spreading northward - how far will they go? New York NY (SPX) Mar 27, 2018
What does it take for palm trees, the unofficial trademark of tropical landscapes, to expand into northern parts of the world that have long been too cold for palm trees to survive? A new study, led by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory researcher Tammo Reichgelt, attempts to answer this question. He and his colleagues analyzed a broad dataset to determine global palm tree distribution in relation ... more |
Notre Dame researchers developing renewable energy approach for producing ammonia South Bend IN (SPX) Apr 05, 2018
Researchers at the University of Notre Dame are developing a renewable energy approach for synthesizing ammonia, an essential component of fertilizers that support the world's food production needs. The Haber-Bosch process developed in the early 1900s for producing ammonia relies on non-renewable fossil fuels and has limited applications for only large, centralized chemical plants.
The new ... more |
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Photosynthetic protein structure that harvests and traps infrared light Sheffield UK (SPX) Apr 05, 2018
Scientists from the University of Sheffield have solved the structure of a photosynthetic protein to reveal how it converts near-infrared light into an electrical charge.
The new study gives a pioneering insight into the efficiency and limits of the life-giving process, photosynthesis.
Plants and algae use chlorophyll to absorb energy from the Sun to power photosynthesis at wavelengt ... more |
The Evolution of Wind Power in 2017 Gothenburg, Sweden (SPX) Mar 29, 2018
The Evolution of Wind Power is the result of a cooperation between The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and renewable energy software company Greenbyte. The interactive map reveals the cumulative installed capacity per country, continent and the world between 1981-2018. Let's take a closer look at the figures and see what has happened in the past twelve months.
China continues its incredi ... more |
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Michigan utility company to go zero coal 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 |
China cracks down on spoofs of 'Communist heroes' Beijing (AFP) April 3, 2018 China's culture watchdog has slapped fines on websites that posted parodies of "Communist classics and heroes", as the authorities further restrict what people can say - or even laugh at - online.
Major video sites iQiyi and Sina were handed undisclosed fines for "distorting or mocking" classic works, the culture ministry said, less than two weeks after new rules were issued to ban online ... more |
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Visual recognition: Seeing the world through the eyes of rodents Trieste, Italy (SPX) Apr 05, 2018 Man or woman, happy or sad. Sometimes a glance is enough to say it. Yet, the visual process that allows us to recognize the gender or emotional state of a person is very sophisticated. Until recently, only primates were deemed able to perform such complex operations as object recognition.
A new study from the International School for Advanced Studies - SISSA, published in the journal Curre ... more |
Trump's environment chief faces intensifying scrutiny Washington (AFP) April 3, 2018
Donald Trump's environment chief came under mounting criticism Tuesday, including from within his own Republican Party, over renting a lobbyist's apartment and other damaging revelations, but he appeared to have the president's backing.
Amid speculation that Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, could be the latest of Trump's cabinet members to get the axe, congressional ... more |
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Residents get first look at town devastated by Australia bushfire Sydney (AFP) March 20, 2018 Residents got their first look Tuesday at the devastation wrought by a bushfire that ravaged a town in Australia, but fears over asbestos and unstable structures mean even those with houses still standing cannot move back.
Sixty-nine homes were incinerated in Tathra on the south coast of New South Wales, and another 39 damaged, after a blaze fanned by gusty winds and hot, dry conditions swep ... more |
Bioinspired slick method improves water harvesting Dallas TX (SPX) Apr 04, 2018
By learning how water is collected by living organisms, including rice leaves and pitcher plants, scientists at The University of Texas at Dallas created and tested a combination of materials that can do the same thing, but faster.
The shells of certain desert-dwelling beetles can trap and direct water droplets, as can textures on rice leaves and pitcher plants. With that natural blueprint ... more |
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New data confirm increased frequency of extreme weather events Munich, Germany (SPX) Mar 22, 2018
New data show that extreme weather events have become more frequent over the past 36 years, with a significant uptick in floods and other hydrological events compared even with five years ago, according to a new publication, "Extreme weather events in Europe: Preparing for climate change adaptation: an update on EASAC's 2013 study" by the European Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC), a b ... more |
Will the WTO survive Trump? Geneva (AFP) March 29, 2018
An international organisation that Donald Trump demeans, undermines and then embraces when it suits his interests: probably sounds familiar within NATO, or the UN.
Now it's time to add the World Trade Organization to the list.
The early signs of the US president's intentions towards the Geneva-based trade body all pointed towards hostility.
As a candidate he called it a "disaster" an ... more |
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New 3-D measurements improve understanding of geomagnetic storm hazards Washington DC (SPX) Mar 14, 2018
Measurements of the three-dimensional structure of the earth, as opposed to the one-dimensional models typically used, can help scientists more accurately determine which areas of the United States are most vulnerable to blackouts during hazardous geomagnetic storms.
Space weather events such as geomagnetic storms can disturb the earth's magnetic field, interfering with electric power grid ... more |
First population-scale sequencing project explores platypus history Oxford UK (SPX) Apr 05, 2018
The platypus is the ultimate evolutionary mashup of birds, reptiles and mammals. The iconic, egg-laying, venom producing, duck-billed platypus first had its genome sequenced in 2008, revealing its unique genetic makeup and its divergence from the rest of the mammals around 160 million years ago.
Now, a greater effort to understand its ecological and population history has been made possibl ... more |
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