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EPFL researchers make a key discovery on how alpine streams work![]() Lausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Mar 19, 2019 An EPFL study has prompted scientists to rethink a standard approach used to calculate the velocity of gas exchange between mountain streams and the atmosphere. Research conducted in streams in Vaud and Valais indicate that equations used to predict gas exchange based on data from lowland streams undershoots the actual gas exchange velocity in mountain streams on average by a factor of 100. This discovery - appearing in Nature Geoscience - will enable scientists to develop more accurate models of ... read more |
Millions hit in Manila's 'worst' water shortageManila (AFP) March 15, 2019 Manila has been hit by its worst water shortage in years, leaving bucket-bearing families to wait hours to fill up from tanker trucks and some hospitals to turn away less urgent cases. ... more
Fuelled by China fears, Russians protest Baikal bottling plantMoscow (AFP) March 16, 2019 A China-funded project to bottle water from Russia's Lake Baikal has caused a backlash in Siberia, where people are increasingly angry about what they see as a Chinese land-grab. ... more
In Caracas, water an obsession after days of blackoutCaracas (AFP) March 15, 2019 Plastic bottles and containers at the ready, Keisy Perez ignores the stench from the brown river as it slips slowly through the grimy San Agustin district of Venezuela's capital. ... more
Houston, we're here to help the farmersWashington DC (SPX) Mar 11, 2019 Farmers irrigating their crops may soon be getting some help from space. In 2018, scientists launched ECOSTRESS, a new instrument now attached to the International Space Station. Its mission: to gat ... more |
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 Philippines evacuates hundreds of thousands as super typhoon nears Tornado kills six, injures 750 as it wrecks southern Brazil town Winds, rain lash Philippines as super typhoon nears Tornado kills six, wrecks town in Brazil Tornado kills five, injures more than 400 in Brazil |
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| Previous Issues | Mar 18 | Mar 16 | Mar 15 | Mar 14 | Mar 13 |
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Probing water's skinThuwal, Saudi Arabia (SPX) Mar 11, 2019 From the wind-whipped surface of the open ocean, to trillions of tiny water drops in clouds, the air-water interface - water's skin - is the site for crucial natural processes, including ocean-atmos ... more
In Nigeria's polluted Ogoniland, signs of a cleanupAlode-Eleme, Nigeria (AFP) March 8, 2019 Young men in the Ogoniland area of southern Nigeria watch excitedly as engineers excavate heaps of polluted soil for treatment. ... more
Rain is important for how carbon dioxide affects grasslandsGothenburg, Sweden (SPX) Mar 07, 2019 Vegetation biomass on grasslands increases in response to elevated carbon dioxide levels, but less than expected. Vegetation on grasslands with a wet spring season has the greatest increase. This ha ... more
A faster, more accurate way to monitor droughtDurham NC (SPX) Mar 06, 2019 More than 2 billion people worldwide are affected by water shortages, wildfires, crop losses, forest diebacks or other environmental or economic woes brought on by drought. A new monitoring me ... more
Plants' drought alert system has unlikely evolutionary origin: underwater algaeGainesville FL (SPX) Mar 04, 2019 Plants' water-to-land leap marks one of the most important milestones in the evolution of life on Earth. But how plants managed this transition when faced with unfamiliar challenges such as drought ... more |
![]() Improving ecosystems with aquatic plants
Canada FM decries China halting canola shipmentsOttawa (AFP) March 5, 2019 Ottawa's foreign minister on Tuesday decried Beijing's move to block a major Canadian canola exporter's sales in China, the latest escalation in a burgeoning row between the two countries. ... more |
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Researchers discover sustainable and natural alternative to man-made chemical pesticidesCardiff UK (SPX) Mar 06, 2019 Repurposing a strain of beneficial bacteria could offer a safe, sustainable and natural alternative to man-made chemical pesticides, according to research from Cardiff University. Finding natu ... more
Trump urges China to remove tariffs on US agricultural productsWashington (AFP) March 2, 2019 US President Donald Trump on Friday urged China to abolish tariffs on agricultural products imported from the United States - adding that trade talks between the rival powers were going well. ... more
'Equine strep throat' kills 4,000 donkeys in NigerNiamey (AFP) March 1, 2019 A contagious bacterial infection known as "equine strep throat" has killed more than 4,000 donkeys in northern Niger since early December, local officials said Friday. ... more
Boost for Australian grain industryMelbourne, Australia (SPX) Feb 27, 2019 New findings from research by La Trobe University and CSIRO made possible with GRDC investment could lead to a significant increase in the Australian wheat crop yield - adding potentially around $1. ... more
French vineyards say ready to break glyphosate addictionParis (AFP) Feb 27, 2019 The vaunted terroirs of France's vineyards have for decades been saturated with the world's most widely used weedkiller, but grape growers say the day is soon coming when glyphosate will no longer be part of the fine wine process. ... more |
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Tunas, sharks and ships at sea Stanford CA (SPX) Mar 19, 2019
Maps that show where sharks and tunas roam in the eastern Pacific Ocean, and where fishing vessels travel in this vast expanse, could help ocean managers to identify regions of the high seas where vulnerable species may be at risk.
Researchers at Stanford University have created such a map by analyzing the habitats occupied by more than 800 sharks and tunas and 900 industrial fishing vesse ... more |
Earliest known Mariner's Astrolabe published in Guinness Book of Records Warwick UK (SPX) Mar 19, 2019
Guinness World Records have independently certified an astrolabe excavated from the wreck site of a Portuguese Armada Ship that was part of Vasco da Gama's second voyage to India in 1502-1503 as the oldest in the world, and have separately certified a ship's bell (dated 1498) recovered from the same wreck site also as the oldest in the world.
The scientific process of verifying the disc as ... more |
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USAID and NASA harness science, technology for Amazon sustainability Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 19, 2019
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with support from NASA have initiated activities for SERVIR-Amazonia, a five-year effort that will use NASA's unique observations of Earth to address environmental and development challenges in the Amazon Basin.
Operating as a regional hub, SERVIR-Amazonia will help people and institutions use satellite observations and geospatial tools ... more |
Malaysia plants hope for palm oil's future in dwarf trees Bukit Lawiang, Malaysia (AFP) March 15, 2019
Test tubes holding plants line shelves in a Malaysian laboratory, the heart of a breeding programme for dwarf palm oil trees which scientists hope will cut costs and limit the environmental damage caused by the controversial industry.
Palm oil has become a key ingredient in everyday goods from biofuels to chocolate, leading to a production boom in the world's top two growers, Indonesia and M ... more |
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Solar-powered moisture harvester collects and cleans water from air Austin TX (SPX) Mar 15, 2019
Access to clean water remains one of the biggest challenges facing humankind. A breakthrough by engineers at The University of Texas at Austin may offer a new solution through solar-powered technology that absorbs moisture from the air and returns it as clean, usable water.
The breakthrough, described in a recent issue of the journal Advanced Materials, could be used in disaster situations ... more |
Improved hybrid models for multi-step wind speed forecasting Beijing (SPX) Mar 14, 2019
To help mitigate global warming by reducing the emissions that are largely responsible, wind is widely expected to become an alternative source of energy. Wind power generation utilizes the surface atmosphere, where movement blows the wind turbine to generate the power output.
However, due to the turbulence in the near-surface layer, wind speeds show strong variation and disturbance charac ... more |
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China investigates officials after deadly mine accident Beijing (AFP) Feb 28, 2019
Five officials are under investigation in northern China after 22 miners were killed when their transport crashed into the side of a mine tunnel, local authorities said.
The accident, which left another 28 miners injured, happened last Saturday in the region of Inner Mongolia after the vehicle experienced brake failure.
A photo published by state-run media shows a bus-like vehicle with h ... more |
Stop harassing Swedish media, watchdog tells China Stockholm (AFP) March 18, 2019
Media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Monday urged China's embassy in Stockholm to stop harassing Swedish journalists, accusing Beijing of trying to impose censorship outside its borders.
RSF intervened following the latest in a series of statements by the Chinese embassy there, this time attacking the news website of Sweden's public broadcaster SVT.
China's ambassador ... more |
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Mathematics of sea slug movement points to future robots Washington DC (SPX) Mar 11, 2019
What do pizza slices, sea slugs and one possible design for future soft-bodied robots have in common? They all have frilly surfaces, and new insights about the surprising geometry of frilly surfaces may help a future generation of energy-efficient and extremely flexible soft-body robots move.
The complex folds of a frilly surface like coral reefs or kale leaves is a surface mathematicians ... more |
Nations agree 'significant' plastic cuts Nairobi (AFP) March 15, 2019
Nations on Friday committed to "significantly reduce" single-use plastics over the next decade, in a series of voluntary pledges that green groups warned fell short of tackling Earth's pollution crisis.
After marathon talks in Nairobi, countries appeared to have reached a deal over throwaway plastic items such as bags, cups and cutlery to reduce the more than eight million tonnes of plastics ... more |
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The day the world burned Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Mar 14, 2019
When UC Santa Barbara geology professor emeritus James Kennett and colleagues set out years ago to examine signs of a major cosmic impact that occurred toward the end of the Pleistocene epoch, little did they know just how far-reaching the projected climatic effect would be.
"It's much more extreme than I ever thought when I started this work," Kennett noted. "The more work that has been d ... more |
In Caracas, water an obsession after days of blackout Caracas (AFP) March 15, 2019
Plastic bottles and containers at the ready, Keisy Perez ignores the stench from the brown river as it slips slowly through the grimy San Agustin district of Venezuela's capital.
The quest for drinkable water has rapidly become an obsession for millions like her in Caracas days after a crippling power blackout stalled the city's pumps.
In this part of Caracas, the Guaire river is effec ... more |
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Tornadoes leave swath of destruction in Alabama, killing 23 Washington (AFP) March 4, 2019
Rescuers in Alabama were set to resume search operations Monday after at least two tornadoes killed 23 people, uprooted trees and caused "catastrophic" damage to buildings and roads in the southern US state.
"The devastation is incredible," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told the local CBS affiliate late Sunday.
"I cannot recall at least in the last 50 years... a situation where we have ha ... more |
China approves foreign investment law, possible US olive branch Beijing (AFP) March 15, 2019
China's rubber-stamp parliament approved a foreign investment law Friday that may serve as an olive branch in trade talks with the United States, but it received a lukewarm welcome from business groups.
The legislation aims to address long-running grievances from foreign firms including stronger protections for intellectual property, but the US and European chambers of commerce voiced concer ... more |
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Probability of catastrophic geomagnetic storm lower than estimated Barcelona, Spain (SPX) Mar 13, 2019
Three mathematicians and a physicist from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Mathematics Research Centre (CRM) and the Barcelona Graduate School of Mathematics (BGSMath) propose a mathematical model which allows making reliable estimations on the probability of geomagnetic storms caused by solar activity.
The researchers, who published the study in the journal Scientific Repo ... more |
Thai tycoon faces verdict in black leopard poaching case Kanchanaburi, Thailand (AFP) March 19, 2019 A Thai tycoon accused of poaching a black leopard at a wildlife sanctuary arrived in court Tuesday for the highly anticipated verdict - a case that has fuelled outrage in a country fed up with impunity and corruption.
Construction magnate Premchai Karnasuta, whose company is behind major infrastructure projects such as Bangkok's monorail and its airport, was arrested by rangers in a nationa ... more |
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