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When yesterday's agriculture feeds today's water pollution![]() Montreal, Canada (SPX) Oct 09, 2018 A study led by researchers at Universite de Montreal quantifies for the first time the maximum amount of nutrients - specifically, phosphorus - that can accumulate in a watershed before additional pollution is discharged into downriver ecosystems. That average threshold amount is 2.1 tonnes per square kilometre of land, the researchers estimate in their study published in Nature Geoscience. "Beyond this, further phosphorus inputs to watersheds cause a significant acceleration of (phosphorus) loss ... read more |
Iran risks losing 70% of farmlands: environment chiefTehran (AFP) Oct 5, 2018 Iran faces losing 70 percent of its farmlands if urgent action is not taken to overcome a litany of climate woes, the country's environment chief Isa Kalantari told AFP. ... more
Illinois research accurately predicts US end-of-season corn yieldUrbana IL (SPX) Oct 04, 2018 Crop yield predictions are a key driver of regional economy and financial markets, impacting nearly the entire agricultural supply chain. That's why economists, agricultural researchers, government ... more
Australia farmers welcome rain relief amid severe droughtSydney (AFP) Oct 5, 2018 Farmers in drought-stricken parts of Australia are celebrating after the heavens opened up this week, inundating parched lands with more than a month's rain in one day following the country's driest September on record. ... more
Conflict and drought ravage Iraq's prized date palmsBasra, Iraq (AFP) Oct 05, 2018 Sweet Iraqi dates adorn tables in homes across the country, but the fruit tree and national symbol has come under threat from conflict and crippling drought. ... more |
Philippines digs out from Typhoon Fung-wong as death toll climbs
Philippines digs out from Typhoon Fung-wong as death toll climbs to 18 Three Vietnam men survive 40 hours at sea after typhoon Typhoon Fung-wong floods Philippine towns, leaves 5 dead in its wake Typhoon Fung-wong leaves flooded Philippine towns in its wake Typhoon exposes centuries-old shipwreck off Vietnam port Weakening Typhoon Fung-wong exits Philippines after displacing 1.4 million Super Typhoon Fung-wong makes landfall in Philippines Over 1 million evacuate as deadly Super Typhoon Fung-wong nears Philippines Dam reservoir levels drop below 3% in Iran's second city: media |
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| Previous Issues | Oct 05 | Oct 04 | Oct 03 | Oct 02 | Oct 01 |
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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
How fruits got their eye-catching colorsDurham NC (SPX) Oct 01, 2018 Red plums. Green melons. Purple figs. Ripe fruits come in an array of greens, yellows, oranges, browns, reds and purples. Scientists say they have new evidence that plants owe their rainbow of fruit ... more
Ancient African herders had lasting ecological impact on grazed landsChampaign IL (SPX) Oct 01, 2018 Ancient animal herders added to the ecological richness and diversity of the African savanna thousands of years ago - an effect that persists to the present day, a new study finds. The herders' prac ... more
Down to the Kernel: NASA Space Imaging Helps Predict Crop YieldsGreenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 27, 2018 Farmers have always looked to the weather and the progress of their crops to try to predict how the harvest will go, but a new tool uses NASA satellite imagery to take the predictions to a whole new ... 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 |
![]() Austrian fruit grower jailed over bee deaths
Greenpeace 'occupies' Indonesia palm oil plant with rock bandJakarta (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. ... more |
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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 |
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ICESat-2 Laser Fires for 1st Time, Measures Antarctic Height 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 |
New Study Tracks Hurricane Harvey Stormwater with GPS 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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Secondary forests have short lifespans St Louis MO (SPX) Oct 08, 2018
Secondary forests, or forests that have regrown after agriculture use, only last an average of 20 years, according to a recently released scientific paper.
The finding presents a major problem for large-scale restoration policy, which often focuses on commitments to restore a certain number of hectares by a given year. But the benefits of restoration depend on those forests persisting. It ... more |
A biofuel for automated heat generation 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 |
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ASU researcher innovates solar energy technology in space Tempe AZ (SPX) Oct 08, 2018
Experts predict that by 2050 we're going to have global broadband internet satellite networks, in-orbit manufacturing, space tourism, asteroid mining and lunar and Mars bases.
More than a gigawatt of solar energy will be needed to power these activities, or the equivalent of 3.125 million photovoltaic panels. However, because it is currently the most expensive component on a satellite, sci ... more |
Wind turbines contribute to climate change: study Washington (AFP) Oct 4, 2018
Wind turbines, designed as an alternative to fossil fuels, still contribute to climate change due to the way they redistribute heat and moisture in the atmosphere, according to a study published Thursday.
Researchers from Harvard University found that powering the entire United States with wind energy would cause a 0.54 degree Celsius ground temperature rise in the area where the turbines we ... more |
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Thousands join German forest demo after court reprieve Buir, Germany (AFP) Oct 6, 2018
Thousands of anti-coal demonstrators descended on Germany's Hambach forest Saturday, celebrating an unexpected court victory that suspended an energy company's planned razing of the woodland for a growing open-cast mine.
The ancient forest near Cologne has been occupied by activists for the past six years, becoming a symbol of resistance against coal mining in Germany, a country that despite ... more |
China warns against foreign interference as Hong Kong bans journalist Hong Kong (AFP) Oct 6, 2018 China on Saturday warned foreign countries not to "interfere" over Hong Kong's decision to effectively blacklist a senior Financial Times journalist, after the UK and other governments expressed alarm over eroding freedoms in the former British colony.
Victor Mallet, the FT's Asia news editor and a British national, earned the ire of authorities for hosting a speech in August by Andy Chan, t ... more |
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Increasingly human-like robots spark fascination and fear Madrid (AFP) Oct 6, 2018
Sporting a trendy brown bob, a humanoid robot named Erica chats to a man in front of stunned audience members in Madrid.
She and others like her are a prime focus of robotic research, as their uncanny human form could be key to integrating such machines into our lives, said researchers gathered this week at the annual International Conference on Intelligent Robots.
"You mentioned project ... more |
On patrol with India's anti-plastic 'blue squad' Mumbai (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
Wearing matching blue Nehru jackets, the dozen inspectors fan out across Mumbai's hectic Crawford Market, each scouring for violators of an ambitious plastic ban.
It doesn't take Mahindra Wayangankar long to find one: a dry fruits seller, wrapping his wares in plastic, is hit with a hefty 5,000-rupee ($69) fine.
Wayangankar, 50, is one of 311 officials dubbed the "blue squad" and tasked ... more |
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Europe fires to worsen even if climate goals met: study 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 |
130-year-old brain coral reveals encouraging news for open ocean Princeton NJ (SPX) Oct 04, 2018
When nitrogen-based fertilizers flow into water bodies, the result can be deadly for marine life near shore, but what is the effect of nitrogen pollution far out in the open ocean?
A 130-year-old brain coral has provided the answer, at least for the North Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast of the United States. By measuring the nitrogen in the coral's skeleton, a team of researchers led by ... more |
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Tornado batters area near Canadian capital Ottawa 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 |
IMF gathers in quake-battered Indonesia to focus on global economic tremors Bali, Indonesia (AFP) Oct 7, 2018
Rising protectionism, vulnerable emerging markets and record debt levels: The IMF holds its annual meeting this week in earthquake-stricken Indonesia, as it shines a light on tremors in the global economy.
Finance ministers and central bankers from 180 nations will be among 32,000 attendees in Bali for the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which takes place ev ... more |
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Parker Solar Probe Changed the Game Before it Even Launched Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 05, 2018
On Oct. 3, 2018, Parker Solar Probe performed the first significant celestial maneuver of its seven-year mission. As the orbits of the spacecraft and Venus converged toward the same point, Parker Solar Probe slipped in front of the planet, allowing Venus' gravity - relatively small by celestial standards - to twist its path and change its speed. This maneuver, called a gravity assist, reduced Pa ... more |
India watches for deadly virus as lion deaths spike 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 |
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