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  Jakarta (AFP) Sept 25, 2018 Greenpeace activists Tuesday scaled storage tanks at an Indonesian palm oil refinery along with a popular rock band which played pro-environment songs, protesting against a commodity found in everything from soap to biscuits. The green group said 30 activists - including several foreigners - and Indonesian metal group Boomerang had been "occupying" the site on Sulawesi island to draw attention to widespread environmental destruction caused by clearing forest for palmoil plantations. They pain ... read more |
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Indonesia halts new palm oil plantation developmentJakarta (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. ... 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 
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 |
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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 26 | Sep 25 | Sep 24 | Sep 23 | Sep 21 |
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Swiss NGO links pesticide to Indian farmer deathsGeneva (AFP) Sept 18, 2018 The Swiss NGO Public Eye called Tuesday for an export ban on the pesticide Polo, produced by agriculture giant Syngenta, implicating it in the death of 20 Indian farmers last year. ... more 
Insects, plants living in agricultural regions are surprisingly resilientWashington (UPI) Sep 18, 2018 Plants and pollinators that have survived the impacts of agriculture intensification are more likely to survive future environmental changes, new research suggests. ... more 
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 |
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 High-yield farming costs the environment less than previously thought 
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 warmingBerkeley CA (SPX) Sep 14, 2018 Low-tech ways of improving soil quality on farms and rangelands worldwide could pull significant amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and slow the pace of climate change, according to a new Unive ... more 
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  
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 |
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 Paris (ESA) Sep 24, 2018 
As part of ESA's continuing commitment to realise cutting-edge satellite missions to advance scientific understanding of our planet and to show how new technologies can be used in space, three new ideas have been chosen to compete as the tenth Earth Explorer mission.
The decision follows the release of a call for ideas in September 2017. Out of the 21 proposals submitted, ESA's Advisory Co ... 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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 Geneva (AFP) Sept 26, 2018 
Wetlands, among the world's most valuable and biodiverse ecosystems, are disappearing at alarming speed amid urbanisation and agriculture shifts, conservationists said Thursday, calling for urgent action to halt the erosion.
"We are in a crisis," Martha Rojas Urrego, head of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, told reporters in Geneva, warning of the potential devastating impact of wetland lo ... more |
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 Brisbane, Australia (SPX) Sep 26, 2018 
Researchers from The University of Queensland (UQ) and the University of Munster (WWU) have purified and visualized the 'Cyclic Electron Flow' (CEF) supercomplex, a critical part of the photosynthetic machinery in all plants, in a discovery that could help guide the development of next-generation solar biotechnologies.
The findings, made in collaboration with an international team of scien ... more |
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 Oak Ridge TN (SPX) Sep 26, 2018 
A unique combination of imaging tools and atomic-level simulations has allowed a team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory to solve a longstanding debate about the properties of a promising material that can harvest energy from light.
The researchers used multimodal imaging to "see" nanoscale interactions within a thin film of hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite, ... 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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 Fort Collins CO (SPX) Sep 27, 2018 
Mountaintop removal, a coal-mining technique used in much of Central Appalachia, is an extreme form of surface mining, that excavates ridges as deep as 600 feet - twice the length of a football field - and buries adjacent valleys and streams in bedrock and coal residue. This mining activity has long been known to have negative impacts on water quality downstream.
A new study led by watersh ... more |
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 Hong Kong (AFP) Sept 26, 2018 
Illuminated under a spotlight at London's British Museum, hand-drawn sketches of Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement are part of a new exhibition on dissent that offers a rare glimpse of the artworks produced during the pro-democracy rallies.
The months-long demonstrations, which kicked off on September 28 four years ago, brought parts of the city to a standstill as protest camps took over ar ... more |
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 Seattle (AFP) Sept 21, 2018  From the kitchen to the car, Amazon on Thursday sought to make its Alexa digital assistant and online services a bigger part of people's lives with an array of new products and partnerships.
Updates to the internet giant's Alexa-infused Echo smart speakers will allow them to tend to microwave cooking and even have "hunches" regarding what users may want or have forgotten.
When Alexa is t ... more |
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 Pasadena CA (JPL) Sep 25, 2018 
A new NASA-led study helps answer decades-old questions about the role of smoke and human-caused air pollution on clouds and rainfall. Looking specifically at deep convective clouds - tall clouds like thunderclouds, formed by warm air rising - the study shows that smoky air makes it harder for these clouds to grow. Pollution, on the other hand, energizes their growth, but only if the pollution i ... more |
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 Calci, Italy (AFP) Sept 25, 2018  A vast forest fire has forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from their houses in Tuscany, with firefighters Tuesday battling to extinguish flames fanned by fierce winds.
Around 600 hectares in total have been consumed by the blaze, chief Pisan firefighter Ugo D'Anna told a local television station, adding that while it was now contained it would take some hours to put out.
The fir ... more |
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 Paris (ESA) Sep 26, 2018 
Scientists are gathering in the Azores this week to share findings on how satellite has revealed changes in the height of the sea, ice, inland bodies of water and more. Of concern to all is the fact that global sea level has not only been rising steadily over the last 25 years, but recently it is rising at a much faster rate.
The 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry Symposium gives part ... 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 26, 2018 
As doubts grow over China's vast "Belt and Road" trade infrastructure project, the EU is launching an alternative plan for Asia that it says will not saddle countries with debt they cannot repay.
EU member countries are expected to sign off on the new "Asia connectivity strategy" - which aims to improve transport, digital and energy links while promoting environmental and labour standards - ... 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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 Tampa (AFP) Sept 19, 2018 
DNA tests on smuggled elephant tusks have identified three major ivory cartels in Africa and are helping investigators bolster the criminal cases against some of the most dangerous traffickers, researchers said Wednesday.
Around 40,000 African elephants are killed every year for their tusks, which are illegally traded as part of a multi-billion dollar industry that extends from Africa to Asi ... more |
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