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| April 29, 2012 |
 Nearly Seven million birds die each year at communication towers Washington DC (SPX) Apr 27, 2012 - More than 6 million birds die every year as they migrate from the United States and Canada to Central and South America, according to a new study published in the open access journal PLoS ONE. The birds are killed by the 84,000 communication towers that dot North America and can rise nearly 2,000 feet into the sky. "This is a tragedy that does not have to be," said lead author Travis Longc ... more |
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 Rapid tsunami warning by means of GPS Potsdam, Germany (SPX) Apr 27, 2012 - For submarine earthquakes that can generate tsunamis, the warning time for nearby coastal areas is very short. Using high-precision analysis of GPS data from the Fukushima earthquake of 11 March 2011, scientists at the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ showed that, in principle, the earthquake magnitude and the spatial distribution can be determined in just over three minutes, allowing ... more |
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 Did bone ease acid for early land crawlers? Providence RI (SPX) Apr 27, 2012 - Here's an anatomical packing list for making that historic trip from water to land circa 370 million years ago: Lungs? Check. Legs? Check. Patches of highly vascular bone in the skin? In a new paper, scientists propose why many of the earliest four-legged creatures that dared breathe on land carried bony skin features. The "dermal bones" within the skin, especially the bones covering the ... more |
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 Eight species of wild fish have been detected in aquaculture feed Madrid, Spain (SPX) Apr 27, 2012 - Researchers from the University of Oviedo have for the first time analysed a DNA fragment from commercial feed for aquarium cichlids, aquaculture salmon and marine fish in aquariums. The results show that in order to manufacture this feed, eight species of high trophic level fish have been used, some of them coming directly from extractive fisheries. Aquaculture initially came as an ecolog ... more |
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 S. Korea nuclear safety agency probes two plants Seoul (AFP) April 27, 2012 - South Korea's nuclear safety watchdog said Friday it has launched an investigation at two power plants after a corruption scandal involving locally-made copies of foreign components. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) is conducting probes at plants in Gori near the southeastern city of Ulsan and in the southwestern county of Yeonggwang, a spokeswoman said. The Korea Hydro ... more |
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 Autumn advantage for invasive plants in eastern United States Syracuse, NY (SPX) Apr 27, 2012 - Much like the fabled tortoise and the hare, the competition between native and invasive plants growing in deciduous forests in the Eastern United States is all about how the plants cross the finish line in autumn. A new study by a Syracuse University biologist has found that the leaves of invasive plants continue to function in the fall, long after their native cousins have hunkered down f ... more |
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 Australia drought-free for first time in a decade Sydney (AFP) April 27, 2012 - Australia Friday said it would be officially drought-free next week for the first time in more than a decade, providing relief for struggling farmers. The exceptional dry period, brought on by an intense El Nino weather pattern, sent many of those who work the land to the wall, but Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig said an end was in sight. When he lifts the last two Exceptional Circumstan ... more |
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Global Warming has driven Europe's Mountain Plants to Migrate 2.7 m Upwards in 7 Years Granada, Spain (SPX) Apr 27, 2012 - Researchers at the University of Granada Department of Botanic have participated in an international study that has confirmed that global warming is causing plants to migrate to higher altitudes. The study -recently published in Science- analyzed species diversity shifts in 66 summits of 17 European ranges between 2001 and 2008. In the Iberian Peninsula, two target regions were selected in ... more |
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 Do urban 'heat islands' hint at trees of future? New York NY (SPX) Apr 27, 2012 - City streets can be mean, but somewhere near Brooklyn, a tree grows far better than its country cousins, due to chronically elevated city heat levels, says a new study. The study, just published in the journal Tree Physiology, shows that common native red oak seedlings grow as much as eight times faster in New York's Central Park than in more rural, cooler settings in the Hudson Valley and Catsk ... more |
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 Northern Canada feels the heat - Climate change impact on permafrost zones Ottawa, Canada (SPX) Apr 27, 2012 - Permafrost zones extend over 50% of Canada's land area. Warming or thawing of permafrost due to climate change could significantly impact existing infrastructure and future development in Canada's north. Researchers Jennifer Throop and Antoni Lewkowicz at the University of Ottawa, along with Sharon Smith with the Geological Survey of Canada, have published a new study, part of an upcoming ... more |
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 Scientists find higher concentrations of heavy metals in post-oil spill oysters from Gulf of Mexico Los Angeles CA (SPX) Apr 27, 2012 - As the two-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico approaches, a team of scientists led by Dr. Peter Roopnarine of the California Academy of Sciences has detected evidence that pollutants from the oil have entered the ecosystem's food chain. For the past two years, the team has been studying oysters (Crassostrea virginica) collected both before and after t ... more |
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Drought-resistant Argentine soy raises hopes, concerns Santa Fe, Argentina (AFP) April 27, 2012 - Researchers in Argentina have isolated a drought-resistant sunflower gene and spliced it into soy, bolstering hopes for improved yields as the South American agricultural powerhouse grapples with global warming. Raquel Chan's team identified the HAHB4 gene that makes sunflowers resist dry conditions and implanted it in rockcress flowering plants known as arabidopsis, whose resistance to drou ... more |
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Evolution in an island, the secret for a longer life Barcelona, Spain (SPX) Apr 27, 2012 - ICP researchers published in the 'Proceedings of the Royal Society B' one of the first fossil-based evidences supporting the evolutionary theory of ageing, which predicts that species evolving in low mortality and resource-limited ecosystems tend to be more long-lived. The study shows that the tooth height of endemic insular mammals is an indicator of longevity, and questions the use of th ... more |
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Russian volcano spews ash into atmosphere Vladivostok, Russia (UPI) Apr 26, 2012 - A volcano on Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula erupted Thursday, sending an ash cloud to an altitude of almost 7 miles, officials said. The eruption of the Shiveluch volcano present no immediate threat to people in the region and no emissions of volcanic dust were monitored at ground level in neighboring villages, ITAR-Tass reported. Two earthquakes were registered at the ... more |
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 Study finds warming speeding up rainfall cycle Sydney (AFP) April 27, 2012 - An Australian study of ocean salinity over the past 50 years has revealed a "fingerprint" showing that climate change has accelerated the rainfall cycle, a researcher said Friday. The study published in the journal Science and conducted by Australian and US scientists looked at ocean data from 1950 to 2000 and found that salinity levels had changed in oceans around the world over that time. ... more |
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Green clouds over Moscow pollen, not aliens Moscow (AFP) April 26, 2012 - Russia's weather and emergency officials soothed fears of Moscow residents Thursday with statements that green-tinged clouds over the capital were not an alien invasion, but tree pollen. "Today Muscovites felt like characters in a disaster film about an alien invasion: people living in the southwest of the city saw that the sky had been coloured green," said Russia's weather service on its w ... more |
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New Yorkers bring fish farms to urban jungle New York (AFP) April 27, 2012 - So you recycle, drive a small car, and try to eat organic. But what about running an eco-sustainable fish farm combined with a naturally fertilized vegetable patch in your kitchen? Christopher Toole and Anya Pozdeeva, two former New York bankers who founded the Society for Aquaponic Values and Education (SAVE), are there to help. "We call it 'beyond organic,'" Pozdeeva, 39, said. Aqu ... more |
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India monsoon seen normal in boost to farmers New Delhi (AFP) April 27, 2012 - India's monsoon rains, crucial to the country's farmers and growth in Asia's third-largest economy, will be normal for a third straight year, the weather office has forecast. The annual rains, which sweep across the subcontinent from June to September, are key to prosperity in rural areas where two-thirds of India's 1.2 billion population live. "It will be a normal monsoon this year," Ea ... more |
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Construction of Chernobyl shelter starts on anniversary Chernobyl, Ukraine (AFP) April 26, 2012 - Ukraine launched Thursday construction of a new shelter to permanently secure the stricken Chernobyl plant as it marked the 26th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear disaster. President Viktor Yanukovych pressed a symbolic button at the construction site, watched by workers and ambassadors from countries including China and Japan that contributed to the huge project, expected to cost 1.5 ... more |
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Rousseff pressed to veto Brazil forestry law Brasilia (AFP) April 26, 2012 - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff came under enormous pressure Thursday from environmentalists to veto a new forestry bill they fear will speed up deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Brazil's powerful agribusiness sector scored a major victory with congressional approval Wednesday of the forestry code reforms, which Rousseff repeatedly promised to veto while on the campaign trail in 201 ... more |
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