|
|
|
  Adzope, Ivory Coast (AFP) Sept 26, 2018 In Ivory Coast, cocoa once guaranteed farmers a sweet life. Then the world's number one producer was whacked, as oversupply and falling demand from health-conscious consumers hit prices. But some producers proudly say they are not only weathering the cocoa storm but even flourishing. The thanks, they say, are due to fair-trade deals that demand higher environmental and social standards from producers in exchange for training and a tempting financial bonus. "Fair trade changed my life," e ... read more |
 |
 
Satellites safeguard Europe's potato industryParis (ESA) Sep 26, 2018 The drought that swept through Europe this year has hit European farmers hard. Sustained high temperatures and the lack of rain have badly affected the agrofood industry, including the important pot ... more 
Soil holds the secret to mitigating climate changeEast Lansing MI (SPX) Oct 01, 2018 Food production doesn't have to be a victim of climate change. New research from Michigan State University suggests that crop yields and the global food supply chain can be preserved by harnessing t ... more 
Sunflower pollen protects bees from disease, study findsWashington (UPI) Sep 26, 2018 Great access to sunflowers and their pollen could help keep vulnerable bee populations pathogen-free. ... more 
Soil health on the menu with retrieved coffee beansWashington DC (SPX) Oct 01, 2018 Coffee is one of Brazil's biggest crops. Brazil's favorable climate helps coffee beans ripen and be ready for picking during a concentrated period of weeks. This makes mechanical harvesting an econo ... more |
|
Second deadly avalanche hits Spanish Pyrenees
Avalanche in Spanish Pyrenees kills three skiers Death toll from Spain flooding rises to three Body found in Spain flooding takes death toll to two Ivory Coast ruling party set for election landslide: early results One dead, two missing in southern Spain after flooding Three missing in southern Spain after flooding Two dead as storm batters Nordics 6.6-magnitude earthquake hits off Taiwan One dead as storm batters Nordics |
|
|
| Previous Issues | Oct 03 | Oct 02 | Oct 01 | Sep 28 | Sep 27 |
|
|
 
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 
Hit-and-Run Heist of Water by Terrestrial Planets in the Early Solar SystemBerlin, 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 gre ... 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 |
|
 Indonesia halts new palm oil plantation development 
Chinese actress has high hopes for her Bordeaux vineyardSaint-Emilion, France (AFP) Sept 18, 2018 A Chinese film star got her hands dirty Tuesday to kick off the harvest at her Bordeaux vineyard, which she aims to propel into the ranks of top estates as demand for French wines grows back home. ... more  |
|
|
|
Earliest Mediterranean cheese production revealed by pottery over 7,000 years oldWashington DC (SPX) Sep 20, 2018 Fatty acids detected on potsherds from Croatian archaeological sites contain evidence of the earliest known cheese production in the Mediterranean region, according to a study published September 5, ... more 
Multiple facets of biodiversity reduce variability of grassland biomass productionLeipzig, Germany (SPX) Sep 20, 2018 A new study shows that, in addition to species richness, plant evolutionary history plays a critical role in regulating year-to-year variation of biomass production in grasslands. In the face of cli ... more 
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 |
|
|
|
|
 Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 04, 2018 
The laser instrument that launched into orbit last month aboard NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) fired for the first time Sept. 30. With each of its 10,000 pulses per second, the instrument is sending 300 trillion green photons of light to the ground and measuring the travel time of the few that return: the method behind ICESat-2's mission to monitor Earth's changing i ... more |
|
 Washington (UPI) Sep 27, 2018 
Lockheed Martin has received a contract for the first two GPS IIIF satellites, Space Vehicles 11 and 12, which are follow-ons to the initial 10-satellites of the new GPS III constellation.
The contract, announced Wednesday by the Department of Defese, provides for engineering, space vehicle test bed and simulators, and production of GPS IIIF Space Vehicles 11 and 12. It also includes op ... more |
|
|
 Libreville (AFP) Sept 26, 2018 
Gabon will pull forestry permits from firms that have not embraced an international standard on responsible logging by 2022, President Ali Bongo Ondimba said Wednesday.
Ondimba made the statement in support of a certification process run by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international NGO devoted to better forestry management.
By 2022, all loggers have to be "committed" to FSC ... more |
|
 Tomsk, Russia (SPX) Oct 04, 2018 
Pyrolysis - a process of biomass decomposition - can be organized automatically for heat generation out of the most common type of biomass such as peat and straw. That is, it is sufficient to heat biomass to a certain temperature and then the process proceeds in the autothermal mode due to its own heat release. This technology was studied by scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University in the ar ... more |
|
|
 Gothenburg, Sweden (SPX) Oct 04, 2018 
A research group from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, has made great, rapid strides towards the development of a specially designed molecule which can store solar energy for later use. These advances have been presented in four scientific articles this year, with the most recent being published in the highly ranked journal Energy and Environmental Science.
Around a year ago, the ... more |
|
 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 |
|
|
 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 |
|
 Hong Kong (AFP) Sept 28, 2018  Hundreds gathered in Hong Kong Friday to mark the fourth anniversary of the mass pro-democracy Umbrella Movement rallies as concerns grow that freedoms are disappearing under an assertive Beijing.
The subdued gathering comes days after the Hong Kong government banned a political party which promotes independence, calling it a threat to national security.
Britain and the United States exp ... more |
|
|
 Boston MA (SPX) Oct 04, 2018 
The human arm can perform a wide range of extremely delicate and coordinated movements, from turning a key in a lock to gently stroking a puppy's fur. The robotic "arms" on underwater research submarines, however, are hard, jerky, and lack the finesse to be able to reach and interact with creatures like jellyfish or octopuses without damaging them.
Previously, the Wyss Institute for Biolog ... more |
|
 Exeter UK (SPX) Oct 04, 2018 
Microplastics have been found deep in the sand on beaches where sea turtles lay their eggs.
University of Exeter scientists found an average of 5,300 particles of plastic per cubic metre at depths of 60cm (2ft) on beaches in Cyprus used by green turtles and loggerheads.
At the surface, up to 130,000 fragments of plastic were found per cubic metre - the second-worst level ever recorde ... more |
|
|
 Paris (AFP) Oct 2, 2018 
Even reaching the most optimistic goals in the Paris climate treaty will still increase the area of southern Europe devastated by forest fires each year by at least 40 percent, researchers warned Tuesday.
Following two years of often deadly blazes across Portugal, Spain, southern France and Greece, scientists at the University of Barcelona said more woodland areas could be lost to the fla ... more |
|
 Paris (AFP) Sept 28, 2018 
Dozens of nations with commercial fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean will grapple next week with a new finding that bigeye tuna, the backbone of a billion dollar business, is severely depleted and overfished.
Unless catch levels are sharply reduced, scientists warned, stocks of the fatty, fast-swimming predator could crash within a decade or two.
Less iconic than Atlantic bluefin but more v ... more |
|
|
 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 |
|
 Tehran (AFP) Oct 3, 2018 
Tehran welcomed on Wednesday a ruling by the UN's top court ordering Washington to suspend sanctions on humanitarian goods, as a "clear sign" that "Iran is in the right".
The ruling by the International Court of Justice "once again shows that the US government... is day by day becoming more isolated," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The US "must...change into a responsible and ... more |
|
|
 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 |
|
 Ahmedabad, India (AFP) Oct 2, 2018 
Ten endangered Asiatic lions have died in the last two weeks in India, authorities confirmed Tuesday, four of them from a virus that killed around 1,000 lions in Tanzania in the 1990s.
The new deaths take the toll at the Gir sanctuary in the western Gujarat state, home to India's entire population of around 500 wild Asiatic lions, to 21 since September.
India's National Institute of Viro ... more |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Buy Advertising | Media Advertising Kit | Editorial & Other Enquiries | Privacy statement |
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2018 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement |
