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| February 03, 2012 |
 Homeless go underground to survive deep freeze Warsaw (AFP) Feb 3, 2012 - Stanislaw clutches a soup pot as he sticks his head up above the rim of a manhole just long enough for police to fill it with steaming stew before he ducks back into the heating duct he calls home on the outskirts of Warsaw. Night-time temperatures have plunged to a bone-chilling minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit) here this week. But five metres underground, in this huge concrete ... more |
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 NASA's GCPEX Mission: What We Don't Know about Snow Greenbelt MD (SPX) Feb 03, 2012 - Predicting the future is always a tricky business - just watch a TV weather report. Weather forecasts have come a long way, but almost every season there's a snowstorm that seems to come out of nowhere, or one that's forecast as 'the big one' that turns out to be a total bust. In the last ten years, scientists have shown that it is possible to detect falling snow and measure surface snowpa ... more |
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 Correlation between summer Arctic sea ice cover and winter weather in Central Europe Potsdam, Germany (SPX) Feb 03, 2012 - Even if the current weather situation may seem to speak against it, the probability of cold winters with much snow in Central Europe rises when the Arctic is covered by less sea ice in summer. Scientists of the Research Unit Potsdam of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association have decrypted a mechanism in which a shrinking summertime sea ice c ... more |
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 India's air the worst, says study New Delhi (AFP) Feb 2, 2012 - India has the worst air quality in the world, beating even its neighbour China, according to an annual survey based at Yale and Columbia universities in the United States. Of all the countries surveyed in the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), which measures the effects of polluted air on human health, India ranked the lowest at 132. The study used satellite data to measure air pollu ... more |
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164 dead as cold snap grips Europe Warsaw (AFP) Feb 3, 2012 - Europe's cold snap has claimed 164 lives, as countries from Ukraine to Italy struggle with temperatures that plunged to record lows in some places and with more cold weather forecast. Entire villages were cut off in parts of eastern Europe on Thursday, trapping thousands, while road, air and rail links were severed and gas consumption shot up during what has been the severest winter in decad ... more |
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 Livestock, not Mongolian gazelles, drive foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks London, UK (SPX) Feb 03, 2012 - Wildlife health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society have published evidence which supports the conclusion that Mongolian gazelles-one of the most populous large land mammals on the planet-are not a reservoir of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious viral disease that threatens both wildlife and livestock in Asia. Outbreaks of FMD in Mongolia affect domestic sheep, go ... more |
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 Floods create 'inland sea' in Australia Sydney (AFP) Feb 3, 2012 - Major flooding hit parts of Australia's east Friday, stranding thousands of residents, prompting a military airlift and leaving some communities only accessible by helicopter. The deluge, which has sparked dozens of rescues and left about 7,275 people isolated in various parts of New South Wales state has also impacted Queensland to the north where some regions have been declared a natural d ... more |
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 Temperate Freshwater Wetlands Are 'Forgotten' Carbon Sinks Columbus OH (SPX) Feb 03, 2012 - A new study comparing the carbon-holding power of freshwater wetlands has produced measurements suggesting that wetlands in temperate regions are more valuable as carbon sinks than current policies imply, according to researchers. The study compared several wetlands at two Ohio wetland sites: one composed of mostly stagnant water and one characterized by water regularly flowing through it. ... more |
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 New technology allows scientists to watch cancer cells in action at unprecedented resolution Richmond VA (SPX) Feb 03, 2012 - A photograph of a polar bear in captivity, no matter how sharp the resolution, can never reveal as much about behavior as footage of that polar bear in its natural habitat. The behavior of cells and molecules can prove even more elusive. Limitations in biomedical imaging technologies have hampered attempts to understand cellular and molecular behavior, with biologists trying to envision dynamic ... more |
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 Voyage to the most isolated base on Earth Paris (ESA) Feb 03, 2012 - Alexander Kumar, the next ESA-sponsored crewmember to stay in Concordia, has arrived safely at the research base in Antarctica. The voyage to one of the remotest places on Earth takes even longer than the voyage to the International Space Station. The international outpost's programme of research includes glaciology, human biology and the atmosphere. ESA uses the base to prepare for future ... more |
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 Satellite study reveals critical habitat and corridors for world's rarest gorilla Bronx NY (SPX) Feb 03, 2012 - Conservationists working in Central Africa to save the world's rarest gorilla have good news: the Cross River gorilla has more suitable habitat than previously thought, including vital corridors that, if protected, can help the great apes move between sites in search of mates, according to the North Carolina Zoo, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and other groups. The newly published habi ... more |
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 Are Nuisance Jellyfish Really Taking Over the World's Oceans? Washington DC (SPX) Feb 03, 2012 - In recent years, media reports of jellyfish blooms and some scientific publications have fueled the idea that jellyfish and other gelatinous floating creatures are becoming more common and may dominate the seas in coming decades. The growing impacts of humans on the oceans, including overfishing and climate change, have been suggested as possible causes of this apparently alarming trend. A ... more |
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Cattle outbreak hitting Paraguay exports Asuncion, Paraguay (UPI) Feb 2, 2012 - Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease have hit Paraguay hard, forcing a drop in beef exports that may top 30 percent this year, latest trade data indicated. Paraguay declared a partial emergency after the outbreaks began last year. It launched extensive cattle vaccination campaigns and organized relief handouts for affected communities but the problem persists, the reports said. La ... more |
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 New study shows millions risk losing lands in Africa London, UK (SPX) Feb 03, 2012 - New studies released in London suggest that the frenzied sell-off of forests and other prime lands to buyers hungry for the developing world's natural resources risk sparking widespread civil unrest-unless national leaders and investors recognize the customary rights of millions of poor people who have lived on and worked these lands for centuries. "Controversial land acquisitions were a k ... more |
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Scavengers face tough times as Mexico dump closes Mexico City (AFP) Feb 3, 2012 - Roadside trash is piling up here and thousands who make a living picking through other people's garbage are staring at a bleak future after Mexico's largest open waste dump was shut down. Authorities have been scrambling to find a permanent replacement for Bordo Poniente on the outskirts of Mexico City - the main landfill site for nine million of the urban area's 20 million inhabitants. ... more |
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Groundhogs clash over US weather prognosis New York (AFP) Feb 2, 2012 - Hollywood star and weather seer Punxsutawney Phil used to be the only groundhog that mattered in weather predicting, but Phil's shock decision Thursday that spring is still six weeks away put him out on a limb. As the eastern United States enjoys an exceptionally mild winter, most would have guessed that spring is around the corner. But when Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his burrow Thursday ... more |
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Deforestation threatens Brazil's wetland sanctuary Cuiaba, Brazil (AFP) Feb 2, 2012 - The Pantanal, a stunning biodiversity sanctuary in central-western Brazil, is threatened by intensive farming and deforestation, a leading environmental group warned as the world marked World Wetlands Day on Thursday. Often referred to as the worlds largest freshwater wetland system, the Pantanal extends through millions of hectares of Brazil, eastern Bolivia and eastern Paraguay. It inc ... more |
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Mali instals new defence minister after Tuareg raids Bamako (AFP) Feb 2, 2012 - Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure Thursday swapped his defence and security ministers after a series of Tuareg rebel raids and warned against attacks on civilian members of the nomadic tribe. General Sadio Gassama was shifted from the security portfolio to defence while Natie Plea became the the new security minister, according to a presidential decree read out on state television. ... more |
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China considers Google Maps request Beijing (UPI) Feb 2, 2012 - Chinese authorities say an application by Google for an online maps license, required for operating such services in China, is under official examination. The application was submitted in November by Beijing Guxiang Information Technology Co. Ltd, a joint venture with Google, officials said. Under Chinese law foreign companies are banned from providing Internet mapping services i ... more |
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 China police stop rights lawyer meeting Merkel Beijing (AFP) Feb 3, 2012 - A rights lawyer who has defended some of China's most prominent dissidents said Friday police prevented him from meeting the visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Mo Shaoping, whose clients include jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, said he was invited to a reception at the German embassy to be attended by Merkel Thursday, but police arrived at his office and stopped him going. ... more |
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