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  Washington DC (SPX) Apr 13, 2018 During rare desert rainfalls, cacti waste no time sopping up and storing a storm's precious precipitation. Inspired by this natural phenomenon, scientists report in a study appearing ACS Macro Letters that they have developed a material that mimics cactus roots' ability to rapidly absorb and retain vast amounts of water with a minimal amount of evaporation. They say this unique material could lead to new and improved cosmetics, medical devices and other everyday products. Like all living thi ... read more |
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Toxic levels of arsenic in Amazon basin well water: studyVienna (AFP) April 12, 2018 Shallow wells dug for drinking water in the Amazon basin in order to avoid polluted rivers contain up to 70 times the recommended limit of arsenic, researchers warned Tuesday. ... more  
Plants really do feed their friendsBerkeley CA (SPX) Apr 12, 2018 Researchers at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley have discovered that as plants develop they craft their root microbiome, favoring micro ... more 
Organic fertilizers are an overlooked source of microplastic pollutionWashington DC (SPX) Apr 12, 2018 Organic fertilizers from biowaste fermentation act as a vehicle for microplastic particles to enter the terrestrial environment, with the amount of microplastic particles differing based on pre-trea ... more 
Fixing soybean's need for nitrogenWashington DC (SPX) Apr 11, 2018 Soybean is rich in protein, which is great for the humans and animals eating it. But this high protein content comes at a cost. To make protein, soybean plants need a lot of nitrogen. The plan ... more |
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50 dead as Caribbean digs out from Hurricane Melissa
21 dead, 30-plus missing in Kenya landslide: minister Tanzania president wins election landslide after deadly protests Tanzania preliminary results show landslide win for President Hassan: state TV Aid headed towards hurricane-ravaged Jamaica Camels replace cows as Kenya battles drought Nearly 50 dead after Hurricane Melissa thrashes Caribbean Melissa 'killed us' say Cubans, already in storm's eye Melissa 'killed us' says Cubans, already in storm's eye Devastated Caribbean assesses damage as hurricane eyes Bermuda |
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| Previous Issues | Apr 12 | Apr 11 | Apr 10 | Apr 09 | Apr 07 |
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Hanging by a thread: Why bent fibers hold more waterLogan UT (SPX) Apr 06, 2018 On your next stroll through the woods, take a look at the dew droplets hanging from the leaves. If you see moisture on a cypress or juniper tree with their distinct bifurcated leaves, you'll likely ... 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 
Bats to blame for pig-killer virus in China: studyParis (AFP) April 4, 2018 A mystery germ that killed nearly 25,000 piglets in China in 2016/17, came from horseshoe bats, the same species that gave us the deadly human SARS virus, researchers said Wednesday. ... more 
Treating women subsistence farmers for intestinal worms will boost food productionOakbrook Terrace, IL (SPX) Apr 03, 2018 A new study in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) found that treating women subsistence farmers with just a single dose of a cheap deworming medication significantly improved their physical stam ... more |
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 Trump threatens $100 bln more tariffs on China 
Satellites, supercomputers, and machine learning provide real-time crop type dataUrbana IL (SPX) Apr 06, 2018 Corn and soybean fields look similar from space - at least they used to. But now, scientists have proven a new technique for distinguishing the two crops using satellite data and the processing powe ... more  |
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Aquaplaning in the geological undergroundPotsdam, 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 t ... more 
Bioinspired slick method improves water harvestingDallas 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 c ... 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 
'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 
Animals rights groups scent blood as fashion labels go fur-freeParis (AFP) March 31, 2018 Is this the beginning of the end for fur? ... more |
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 Washington DC (SPX) Apr 10, 2018 
For centuries, the thinking has been that all the nitrogen available for plant growth worldwide comes from the atmosphere. But a new study by National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded researchers at the University of California (UC), Davis, shows that more than a quarter of that nitrogen is derived from the weathering of Earth's bedrock.
The results, published this week in the journal Scien ... more |
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 Sriharikota, India (SPX) Apr 13, 2018 
In its forty third flight, ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C41 successfully launched the 1425 kg IRNSS-1I Navigation Satellite April 12, 2018 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.
PSLV-C41 lifted off at 0404 hrs (4:04 am) IST, as planned, from the First Launch Pad. After a flight lasting about 19 minutes, the vehicle achieved a Sub Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with ... more |
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 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 |
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 Upton NY (SPX) Apr 10, 2018 
Scientists studying plant biochemistry at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered new details about biomolecules that put the brakes on oil production. The findings suggest that disabling these biomolecular brakes could push oil production into high gear - a possible pathway toward generating abundant biofuels and plant-derived bioproducts. The study appear ... more |
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 Golden CO (SPX) Apr 11, 2018 
As perovskite solar cells set efficiency records and the nascent technology becomes more stable, another major challenge remains: the issue of scalability, according to researchers at the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
"It is scalable," said Kai Zhu, a materials science researcher at NREL. "We just need to demonstrate efficiency and yield at a large-sca ... more |
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 Washington (UPI) Apr 9, 2018 
The transformer station for a 60-turbine wind farm in the German waters of the Baltic Sea is in place, securing a 2019 start, a German utility company said.
German company E.ON said the transformer station for the Arkona wind farm has been installed on its foundation, one of the largest lift projects in the industry at more than 5,000 tons. The entire structure is about 90 feet tall. ... more |
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 Sydney (AFP) April 5, 2018 
The world's biggest miner BHP said Thursday it was following through on a decision to leave the World Coal Association over climate change policy differences, but would remain a member of the US Chamber of Commerce.
The Anglo-Australian giant announced in December it was reviewing industry group memberships to ensure they aligned with its climate and energy stance, which includes tackling gl ... more |
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 Tianjin, China (AFP) April 12, 2018 
A former top Chinese Communist Party official who was once tipped for a leadership post pleaded guilty at his bribery trial on Thursday, the latest target of President Xi Jinping's sweeping anti-corruption crusade.
Sun Zhengcai, a former Politburo member and party chief of the southwestern mega-city of Chongqing, was accused by the prosecutor of taking advantage of his position to seek profi ... more |
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 Beijing, China (SPX) Apr 13, 2018 
Scientists have developed a new way to improve how computers "see" and "understand" objects in the real world by training the computers' vision systems in a virtual environment.
The research team published their findings in IEEE/CAA Journal of Autmatica Sinica, a joint publication of the IEEE and the Chinese Association of Automation.
For computers to learn and accurately recognize o ... more |
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 Koh Phi Phi Ley, Thailand (AFP) April 11, 2018 
Hordes of tourists clamber across the white sand with selfie sticks as Thai park rangers wade into turquoise waters to direct boats charging into the cliff-ringed cove.
Made famous by the 2000 movie "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Maya Bay on the western Thai island of Koh Phi Phi Ley is now a case study in the ruinous costs of runaway tourism, swamped by up to 4,000 daily visitors. ... more |
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 New Orleans LA (SPX) Apr 11, 2018 
The recent Thomas Fire in California was the largest wildfire in the state's modern history. It scorched nearly 282,000 acres between December 2017 and January 2018, and serves as a reminder of how devastating such events can be. Now, researchers report that wildfires in forested watersheds can have a variable but predictable impact on the substances that are released from soils and flow into dr ... more |
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 Paris (AFP) April 12, 2018 
Ocean heatwaves which can have "devastating and long-term impacts" on ecosystems have become longer and more frequent over the past century, according to an international study published Tuesday.
From 1925 to 2016, the number of annual marine heatwave days globally jumped by 54 percent, with a noticeable acceleration over the last three decades, a paper in the journal Nature Communications s ... more |
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 Auckland (AFP) April 11, 2018 
Up to a quarter of homes in Auckland were without power Wednesday after a wild storm packing winds of more than 200kmh (125mph) lashed New Zealand's largest city.
The storm hit the city of 1.5 million overnight, bringing down trees and peeling roofs from houses, with emergency services saying they were "inundated" responding to calls.
Auckland international airport closed temporarily due ... more |
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 Beijing (AFP) April 12, 2018  China denied President Xi Jinping's pledge this week to further open the country's economy was related to its trade spat with the United States, insisting on Thursday there were currently no negotiations between the two sides.
Xi on Tuesday vowed ease tariffs and open the economy up more in what was seen as a conciliatory gesture to temper fears of a US trade war after Donald Trump last week ... more |
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 Washington DC (SPX) Apr 10, 2018 
NASA's Parker Solar Probe has arrived in Florida to begin final preparations for its launch to the Sun, scheduled for July 31, 2018.
In the middle of the night on April 2, the spacecraft was driven from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, to nearby Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. From there, it was flown by the United States Air Force's 436th Airlift Wing to Space Co ... more |
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 Singapore (AFP) April 12, 2018 
An elderly polar bear at Singapore zoo, one of the site's most beloved animals, may be put down after its health deteriorated markedly, the zoo operator said Thursday.
Inuka, the first polar bear born in the tropics, has reached the grand old age of 27 - well into his 70s in human years and two years older than the average lifespan of the creatures in captivity.
Zoo operator Wildlife Re ... more |
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