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  Jakarta (AFP) Sept 20, 2018 Indonesia's president has signed a moratorium on all new palm oil plantation development, an official said Thursday, in a move hailed by environmentalists. The moratorium effectively halts any new land being made available for plantations in the world's top producer of the edible vegetable oil, a key ingredient in many everyday goods, from biscuits to shampoo and make-up. President Joko Widodo signed the instruction, which will last three years, on Wednesday, Prabianto Mukti Wibowo, a deputy min ... read more |
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South African villagers tap into trend for 'superfood' baobabMutale, South Africa (AFP) Sept 24, 2018 From before dawn, 54-year-old grandmother Annah Muvhali weaves between baobab trees that loom over her rural South African home, collecting fruit that enthusiasts worldwide hail as a "superfood". ... more  
3D electron microscopy uncovers the complex guts of desalination membranesUniversity Park PA (SPX) Sep 24, 2018 Careful sample preparation, electron tomography and quantitative analysis of 3D models provides unique insights into the inner structure of reverse osmosis membranes widely used for salt water desal ... more 
EU palm oil ban sows bitter seeds for Southeast Asian farmersLangkat/Ijok, Indonesia (AFP) Sept 24, 2018 Indonesian palm oil farmer Kawal Surbakti says his livelihood is under attack, but the threat is not from insects or hungry orangutans eating his prized crop. ... more 
Farmers fume as France stands firm on more Pyrenees bearsPau, France (AFP) Sept 20, 2018 Dozens of farmers and local officials stormed out of a meeting with France's new environment minister on Friday as he confirmed two more bears would soon be released into the Pyrenees mountains. ... more |
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Philippines commission to probe widening flood project scandal
Magnitude 7.4 quake strikes off Russian Far East, tsunami warning lifted Magnitude 7.4 quake strikes off Russian Far East, tsunami warning issued S.Sudan flooding displaces 100,000 in matter of weeks: UN Afghan deputy PM visits earthquake hit area Death toll from Indonesia flooding rises to 23 Death toll from Indonesia flash floods rises to 19 Deadly floods inundate Indonesia's Bali and Flores islands Surveillance camera captures tornado in eastern Australia Deadly floods inundate Indonesia's Bali and Flores |
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| Previous Issues | Sep 24 | Sep 21 | Sep 20 | Sep 19 | Sep 18 |
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Philippine farmers risk death to save crops from killer typhoonBaggao, Philippines (AFP) Sept 17, 2018 As Typhoon Manghkut hurtled toward the Philippines, those in its firing line had a stark choice: stay or flee. Many chose to remain in order to protect their most precious possessions - their food and livestock. ... more 
Wild animals were routinely captured and traded in ancient MesoamericaWashington DC (SPX) Sep 18, 2018 New evidence from the Maya city of Copan, in Honduras, reveals that ancient Mesoamericans routinely captured and traded wild animals for symbolic and ritual purposes, according to a study published ... more 
Czech Republic to restrict use of glyphosate weedkillerPrague (AFP) Sept 17, 2018 The Czech Republic will limit the use of substances containing the controversial glyphosate weedkiller as of next year, the agriculture ministry said on Monday. ... more 
High-yield farming costs the environment less than previously thoughtCambridge UK (SPX) Sep 17, 2018 Agriculture that appears to be more eco-friendly but uses more land may actually have greater environmental costs per unit of food than "high-yield" farming that uses less land, a new study has foun ... more 
Spanish farmers go nuts for almonds as global demand boomsSanta Cruz, Spain (AFP) Sept 16, 2018 Surging worldwide demand for almonds is pushing Spanish farmers to replace traditional wheat and sunflower fields with almond orchards, transforming the landscape in the south of the country. ... more |
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 Improving soil quality can slow global warming 
Farmers on the front lines of marine aquacultureSanta Barbara CA (SPX) Sep 13, 2018 Many of the world's future farmers will likely be farming oceans, as aquaculture - the cultivation of fish and other aquatic species - continues its expansion as the fastest growing food sector. New ... more  |
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Drought, conflict and migration in KenyaSalt Lake City UT (SPX) Sep 13, 2018 As droughts worsen across the globe, more people who earn their living through farming and owning livestock are forced to leave their homes. Many academics and policymakers predict that the rise in ... more  
Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but profoundly changed Earth's climateMadison WI (SPX) Sep 07, 2018 Millenia ago, ancient farmers cleared land to plant wheat and maize, potatoes and squash. They flooded fields to grow rice. They began to raise livestock. And unknowingly, they may have been fundame ... more 
Water in small dust grains can explain large amounts of water on EarthAmsterdam, Netherlands (SPX) Sep 12, 2018 Water trapped in dust grains from which the Earth formed can explain the current large amount of water on Earth. This is suggested by scientists from the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom, ... more 
Drought, groundwater loss sinks California land at alarming rateIthaca NY (SPX) Sep 11, 2018 The San Joaquin Valley in central California, like many other regions in the western United States, faces drought and ongoing groundwater extraction, happening faster than it can be replenished. And ... more 
Nitrous oxide emissions from rice farms are a cause for concern for global climateWashington DC (SPX) Sep 12, 2018 Intermittently flooded rice farms can emit 45 times more nitrous oxide as compared to the maximum from continuously flooded farms that predominantly emit methane, according to a new study published ... more |
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 Beijing, China (SPX) Sep 25, 2018 
Thunderstorms can generate various forms of transient luminous events, such as red sprites, gigantic jets, and blue jets, through the charge transfer involved in the lightning forged inside thunderclouds.
Based on the Lightning Effects Research Platform (LERP), a research team from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported the location results for the ... more |
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 Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 24, 2018 
Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) of water on southeast Texas in late August 2017, making it the wettest recorded hurricane in U.S. history. But after the storm passed, where did all that water go?
In a new, NASA-led study, scientists used Global Positioning System (GPS) data to answer that question and to track not just where Harvey's stormwater ended up on land, but a ... more |
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 Gloucester Point VA (SPX) Sep 24, 2018 
When Florence slogged ashore in North Carolina last week, coastal wetlands offered one of the best lines of defense against the hurricane's waves and surge.
A new study predicts such wetlands will survive rising seas to buffer the world's coastlines against future storms and provide their many other ecological and economic benefits, but only if humans preserve the room needed for the wetla ... more |
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 New York NY (SPX) Sep 21, 2018 
Scientists have long sought ways to convert abundant CO2 to useful products such as chemicals and fuel. As early as in 1869, they were able to electrocatalytically convert CO2 to formic acid. Over the past two decades, the rise of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere has significantly accelerated research in CO2 conversion using renewable energy resources, including solar, wind, and tidal. Because thes ... more |
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 Washington DC (SPX) Sep 21, 2018 
Water covers most of the globe, yet many regions still suffer from a lack of clean drinking water. If scientists could efficiently and sustainably turn seawater into clean water, a looming global water crisis might be averted.
Now, inspired by origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, researchers have devised a solar steam generator that approaches 100 percent efficiency for the producti ... more |
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 Freiburg, Germany (SPX) Sep 06, 2018 
Wind power is an important pillar in Germany's energy policy turnaround: According to the German government, the resource should cover 65 percent of German electricity needs by 2030, along with solar, hydropower and biomass. In a recent study, Dr. Christopher Jung and Dr. Dirk Schindler from the University of Freiburg show that it will be possible to cover 40 percent of the current electricity c ... more |
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 Berlin (AFP) Sept 19, 2018 
The German authorities on Wednesday suspended an operation to evict protesters, holed up in forest treehouses to block the expansion of an open-pit coal mine, after the death of a journalist.
The man, "most likely a journalist" according to the police, died on Wednesday after falling from a bridge that connected two of the treehouses.
"We simply cannot continue as if nothing has happened ... more |
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 Hong Kong (AFP) Sept 24, 2018 
Hong Kong on Monday banned a political party which promotes independence, calling it a threat to national security, as Beijing clamps down on challenges to its sovereignty.
It was the first ban on a political party since the city was handed back to China by Britain 21 years ago. The foreign ministry in London expressed concern at the move.
Semi-autonomous Hong Kong enjoys freedoms unse ... more |
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 Moscow (Sputnik) Sep 21, 2018 
The demonstration model of Russia's humanoid robot FEDOR will be transferred to the Roscosmos state space corporation, which plans to send it into space on the new Federation spacecraft, Russia's Foundation for Advanced Research (FPI) said Wednesday.
"The board of trustees decided to transfer scientific and technical products created within the framework of the fund's projects for their fu ... more |
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 Montreal (AFP) Sept 20, 2018  Coca-Cola, Walmart and other big multinationals pledged on Thursday to help reduce plastic pollution in the world's oceans in support of a campaign by five of the G7 industrialized nations.
Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy, along with the European Union, signed the Ocean Plastics Charter at a leaders' summit in Canada's Charlevoix region in June.
The United States and Japan ab ... more |
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 Ottawa (AFP) Sept 19, 2018 
Firefighters trying to put out a record number of wildfires in westernmost Canada recently found themselves in an unexpected tug-o-war with a fire devil for control of their hose.
In a terrifying moment, the vortex made up of smoke and ash sucked the hose into an orange-red cloud along a dirt road near Vanderhoof, British Columbia, and melted the nozzle.
A member of the crew battling the ... more |
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 Berlin, Germany (SPX) Sep 20, 2018 
A study simulating the final stages of terrestrial planet formation shows that 'hit-and-run' encounters play a significant role in the acquisition of water by large protoplanets, like those that grew into Mars and Earth. The results will be presented by Christoph Burger at the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) 2018 in Berlin.
Four and a half billion years ago, the inner solar syst ... more |
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 Ottawa (AFP) Sept 22, 2018 
More than 200,000 people in Canada's capital region of Ottawa were without power on Saturday and two people were critically injured after a powerful tornado ripped apart dozens of homes and threw cars into the air.
After visiting the hard-hit Dunrobin area, in the city's west, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson likened it to an aerial bombing, adding that Friday's tornado was among "the top two or thre ... more |
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 Brussels (AFP) Sept 24, 2018 
The EU on Monday gave Britain two months to recover 2.7 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in lost customs duties or risk referral to the EU's top court after London allegedly ignored a scam by Chinese importers.
The demand, part of a so-called infringement action launched by Brussels, threatens to further inflame tensions amid fraught Brexit negotiations just days after an EU summit in Austria en ... more |
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 Greenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 20, 2018 
Just over a month into its mission, Parker Solar Probe has returned first-light data from each of its four instrument suites. These early observations - while not yet examples of the key science observations Parker Solar Probe will take closer to the Sun - show that each of the instruments is working well. The instruments work in tandem to measure the Sun's electric and magnetic fields, particle ... more |
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 New Brunswick NJ (SPX) Sep 24, 2018 
A Rutgers-led team has discovered how plants harness microbes in soil to get nutrients, a process that could be exploited to boost crop growth, fight weeds and slash the use of polluting fertilizers and herbicides.
In a process the team has named the "rhizophagy cycle" (rhizophagy means root eating), bacteria and fungi cycle between a free-living phase in the soil and a plant-dependent pha ... more |
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