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Half of the world's annual precipitation falls in just 12 days, new study finds![]() Boulder CO (SPX) Nov 19, 2018 Currently, half of the world's measured precipitation that falls in a year falls in just 12 days, according to a new analysis of data collected at weather stations across the globe. By century's end, climate models project that this lopsided distribution of rain and snow is likely to become even more skewed, with half of annual precipitation falling in 11 days. These results are published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. Previous studies hav ... read more |
Drought-hit Cape Town should cut down 'alien' trees: studyCape Town (AFP) Nov 16, 2018 The South African city of Cape Town, which nearly ran out of water this year, could beat future droughts by cutting down non-native trees including pine, acacia and eucalyptus, according to a study released Friday. ... more
Activists board ship off Spain in palm oil protest: GreenpeaceMadrid (AFP) Nov 17, 2018 Greenpeace said Saturday six of its activists boarded a tanker off Spain loaded with "dirty" palm oil to protest against a Nature-damaging commodity found in everything from soap to biscuits. ... more
US paves way to get 'lab meat' on platesNew York (AFP) Nov 17, 2018 US authorities on Friday agreed on how to regulate food products cultured from animal cells - paving the way to get so-called "lab meat" on American plates. ... more
Competition for shrinking groundwaterSanta Barbara CA (SPX) Nov 16, 2018 Groundwater, which has been used to irrigate crops, satiate livestock and quench thirst in general for thousands of years, continues to be a vital resource around the world. But according to r ... more |
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 Philippines evacuates one million, woman dead as super typhoon nears Japan observes tiny tsunami following 6.7 magnitude quake |
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| Previous Issues | Nov 16 | Nov 15 | Nov 14 | Nov 13 | Nov 12 |
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Scientists debunk potential link to crop cold toleranceUrbana IL (SPX) Nov 15, 2018 When temperatures drop, the enzyme Rubisco that fuels plant growth and yield gets sluggish. Many crops compensate by producing more Rubisco; however, scientists speculated that some crops may lack s ... more
The dawn of a new era for genebanksLeipzig, Germany (SPX) Nov 15, 2018 Biodiversity goes beyond species diversity. Another important aspect of biodiversity is genetic variation within species. A notable example is the immense variety of cultivars and landraces of crop ... more
Wolves at the door, Alpine shepherd can't imagine any other lifeSaint-Colomban-Des-Villards, France (AFP) Nov 14, 2018 He sleeps fully dressed, dreading a midnight wolf attack on the flock of sheep penned in close by his hut, high up in the French Alps. ... more
'Scaring' soybeans into defensive mode yields better plants a generation laterUniversity Park (SPX) Nov 15, 2018 By temporarily silencing the expression of a critical gene, researchers fooled soybean plants into sensing they were under siege, encountering a wide range of stresses. Then, after selectively cross ... more
In China's Himalayas, a wine 'flying above the clouds'Adong, China (AFP) Nov 12, 2018 A $300 bottle of wine sold in the United States and Europe is made in the unlikeliest of places: at the foot of the Himalayas in China, where farmers sing traditional songs while picking grapes. ... more |
![]() Scientists theorize new origin story for Earth's water
New tool to predict which plants will become invasiveBurlington VT (SPX) Nov 12, 2018 Around the world, over 13,000 plant species have embedded themselves in new environments - some of them integrate with the native plants, but others spread aggressively. Understanding why some plant ... more |
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Exposure to pesticides makes bees less social, reduces colony sizeWashington (UPI) Nov 9, 2018 Exposure to pesticides can reduce the size of bee colonies and cause the insect to become less social. ... more
Shrinking Sea of Galilee has some hoping for a miracleEin Gev, Israel (AFP) Nov 13, 2018 It was not so long ago when swimmers at Ein Gev would lay out their towels in the grass at the edge of the Sea of Galilee. ... more
Fruit, vegetable shapes controlled by newly discovered genetic mechanismWashington (UPI) Nov 12, 2018 The diversity of morphologies available at the farmers market is impressive. Fruits and vegetables come in infinite shapes and sizes. But how? ... more
One million years of precipitation history of the monsoon reconstructedKiel, Germany (SPX) Nov 09, 2018 Months of heavy rainfall followed by half a year of drought - the South Asian Monsoon with its seasonally changing rainfall and wind directions has always strongly influenced the lives of people aro ... more
Tommorow's population will be larger, heavier and eat moreOslo, Norway (SPX) Nov 12, 2018 "It will be harder to feed 9 billion people in 2050 than it would be today," says Gibran Vita, a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology 's Industrial Ecology Programme. ... more |
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Satellites encounter magnetic reconnection in Earth's magnetotail Uppsala, Sweden (SPX) Nov 16, 2018
Research published in the respected journal Science presents observations made by NASA's four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) satellites in the Earth's magnetotail. Two scientists from the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) in Uppsala are co-authors of the article. The lead author is from the University of New Hampshire in USA.
Magnetic reconnection is an energy conversion process im ... more |
Russia blocked GPS data during NATO exercises: Norway Oslo (AFP) Nov 13, 2018
Oslo on Tuesday pointed a finger squarely at Russia, accusing it of jamming GPS signals in Norway's Far North when it hosted NATO's massive exercises in October and early November.
"We know that jamming was observed between October 19 and November 7, originating from Russian ground forces in (the) Kola" peninsula, a region of northwestern Russia close to Norway, the Norwegian defence ministr ... more |
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Large areas of the Brazilian rainforest at risk of losing protection Gothenburg, Sweden (SPX) Nov 16, 2018
Up to 15 million hectares of the Brazilian Amazon is at risk of losing its legal protection, according to a new study from researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, and the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. This is equivalent to more than 4 times the entire forest area of the UK.
"Brazil has favourable conditions for increasing productio ... more |
Affordable catalyst for CO2 recycling Bochum, Germany (SPX) Nov 19, 2018
A catalyst for carbon dioxide recycling, Mineral pentlandite may also be a conceivable alternative to expensive precious metal catalysts. This is the result of a study conducted by researchers from Ruhr-Universitat Bochum (RUB), Fritz-Haber Institute Berlin and Fraunhofer Umsicht in Oberhausen.
Pentlandite had previously been known as a catalyst for hydrogen production. By adding a suitabl ... more |
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Solar panels for yeast cell biofactories Boston MA (SPX) Nov 16, 2018
Genetically engineered microbes such as bacteria and yeasts have long been used as living factories to produce drugs and fine chemicals. More recently, researchers have started to combine bacteria with semiconductor technology that, similar to solar panels on the roof of a house, harvests energy from light and, when coupled to the microbes' surface, can boost their biosynthetic potential.
... more |
Roadmap to accelerate offshore wind industry in the United States Albany, NY (SPX) Nov 16, 2018
The National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium (Consortium), the first federally funded public-private partnership focused on advancing research and development to accelerate the offshore wind industry in the United States, has announced the release of its first Research and Development Roadmap (Roadmap) to advance offshore wind technology, drive wind innovation and combat climat ... more |
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Trump to nominate ex-coal lobbyist to head environment agency Washington (AFP) Nov 16, 2018
US President Donald Trump said Friday he intended to nominate a former coal and energy industry lobbyist to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
Andrew Wheeler has been acting head of the EPA since Scott Pruitt resigned in July amid a flurry of ethics scandals over his spending and conduct in office.
During an informal moment at a medal ceremony in the White House, Trump commended W ... more |
Pelt and road: Tribal welcome for Xi in PNG Port Moresby (AFP) Nov 16, 2018
Sporting parrot feathers, possum pelts and seashell necklaces, dozens of people from various tribes in Papua New Guinea serenaded China's president on Friday as he opened a new Chinese-funded road in the poor Pacific Island nation.
Xi Jinping unveiled a plaque marking the new "Independence Boulevard" outside Papua New Guinea's parliament, a symbolic show of the Asian giant's growing influenc ... more |
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How to make AI less biased Boston MA (SPX) Nov 19, 2018
With machine learning systems now being used to determine everything from stock prices to medical diagnoses, it's never been more important to look at how they arrive at decisions.
A new approach out of MIT demonstrates that the main culprit is not just the algorithms themselves, but how the data itself is collected.
"Computer scientists are often quick to say that the way to make th ... more |
Delhi 'lungs' turn sickly brown in days New Delhi (AFP) Nov 13, 2018
A pair of artificial lungs put up in New Delhi to demonstrate the lethal effects of smog have turned a sickly dark brown within 10 days of their installation, underscoring the city's pollution crisis.
Delhi, the world's most polluted major city, has been covered in a toxic grey haze since the onset of winter last month, with pollution levels several times higher than the World Health Organiz ... more |
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'Sad' Trump visits fire-wracked California, blames mismanagement Paradise, United States (AFP) Nov 18, 2018
President Donald Trump expressed sadness Saturday at the devastation caused by fires in a California town, but persisted in his controversial claim that forest mismanagement was responsible for the tragedy, which has killed 76 and left more than 1,200 listed as missing.
"This is very sad," Trump said after surveying the remains of Paradise, where nearly the only people out on the road were e ... more |
Seismic study reveals huge amount of water dragged into Earth's interior Saint Louis MO (SPX) Nov 15, 2018
Slow-motion collisions of tectonic plates under the ocean drag about three times more water down into the deep Earth than previously estimated, according to a first-of-its-kind seismic study that spans the Mariana Trench.
The observations from the deepest ocean trench in the world have important implications for the global water cycle, according to researchers in Arts and Sciences at Washi ... more |
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Raindrops keep falling: Climate change makes storms worse - study Tokyo (AFP) Nov 14, 2018
Climate change is increasing the amount of rain that hurricanes produce, and as warming picks up storms will become increasingly wetter and windier, according to new research.
The findings are based on extensive modelling that involved millions of computing hours on a supercomputer, and they show that climate change is already affecting the intensity of storms.
"Climate change so far - ... more |
APEC summit: the Xi show by the sea shore Port Moresby (AFP) Nov 14, 2018 Hundreds of fluttering red flags, buses emblazoned with "China Aid" logos and even a purpose-built pagoda: driving around Port Moresby, you could be forgiven for thinking that Xi Jinping is hosting this week's APEC summit of Asia-Pacific leaders.
US President Donald Trump's decision to skip the summit in Papua New Guinea has allowed the Chinese leader to take centre stage, an opportunity tha ... more |
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Auroras Unlock the Physics of Energetic Processes in Space London UK (SPX) Nov 16, 2018
A close study of auroras has revealed new ways of understanding the physics of explosive energy releases in space, according to new UCL-led research.
Auroras are an incredible light show caused by electrically charged particles in near-Earth space spiraling down Earth's magnetic field and colliding with gases in the atmosphere, causing them to glow.
They are also a tell-tale sign of ... more |
UK supermarket's viral orangutan ad slammed by palm oil giant Kuala Lumpur (AFP) Nov 16, 2018
A British supermarket chain's viral commercial about an orangutan left homeless because of deforestation from palm oil planting was slammed as a cheap publicity stunt by a major industry body on Friday.
The Christmas ad - which features a cartoon orangutan telling a little girl that its jungle home had been destroyed - has racked up millions of views on social media and sparked the trendin ... more |
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