Earth News, Earth Science, Energy Technology, Environment News

July 02, 2014

Oil palm plantations threaten water quality
Stanford CA (SPX) Jul 02, 2014
If you've gone grocery shopping lately, you've probably bought palm oil. Found in thousands of products, from peanut butter and packaged bread to shampoo and shaving cream, palm oil is a booming multibillion-dollar industry. While it isn't always clearly labeled in supermarket staples, the unintended consequences of producing this ubiquitous ingredient have been widely publicized. The clearing of tropical forests to plant oil palm trees releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas ... read more

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Scientists chart a baby boom - in southwestern Native Americans from 500 to 1300 A.D. Scientists have sketched out one of the greatest baby booms in North American history, a centuries-long "growth blip" among southwestern Native Americans between 500 and 1300 A.D. It was a tim ... more		New NASA Images Highlight US Air Quality Improvement Anyone living in a major U.S. city for the past decade may have noticed a change in the air. The change is apparent in new NASA satellite images unveiled this week that demonstrate the reduction of ... more		Comparison study of planting methods shows drilling favorable for organic farming In the fertile growing regions of the central coast of California, scientists are looking for ways to increase organic production of strawberry and other crops. Because cover crops can provide weed ... more
				Ancient Arctic sharks tolerated brackish water 50 million years ago Sharks were a tolerant bunch some 50 million years ago, cruising an Arctic Ocean that contained about the same percentage of freshwater as Louisiana's Lake Ponchatrain does today, says a new study i ... more		Sequencing electric eel genome unlocks shocking secrets For the first time, the genome of the electric eel has been sequenced. This discovery has revealed the secret of how fishes with electric organs have evolved six times in the history of life to prod ... more

CubeSats, SmallSats and MicroSats

William Cress Corporation - We Build To Last

Startup in the Land of the Rising Sun; A Japanese Solar Venture - by Bradley L. Bartz

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Organic agriculture boosts biodiversity on farmlands Does organic farming foster biodiversity? The answer is yes, however, the number of habitats on the land plays an important role alongside the type and intensity of farming practices. These are the ... more		The ENSO Signal and The Noise The Signal and the Noise is often mentioned in reference to ENSO forecasting and not just in reference to Nate Silver's bestselling book. In fact, understanding what is signal and what is noise is c ... more		AALTO plans Zephyr stratospheric hub in northern Australia and seeks local payload partners Ancient guano drove Chincha coastal power UAH lands first DARPA award for biological sciences department		Pollution blamed for drop in Beijing tourism: Xinhua The number of overseas tourists visiting China's capital fell by 10 percent last year compared to 2012, state media reported, with air pollution blamed for the decline. ... more
				One-well program in arctic waters starts for Gazprom division A subsidiary of Russian energy company Gazprom Neft said it started drilling its single-well program in the arctic waters of the Pechora Sea. ... more		Ocean plastic pollution worryingly less than expected The ocean is littered with plastic. A new study suggests some 88 percent of the open ocean features tiny pieces of plastic debris called microplastics. But surprisingly - and problematically - during a massive survey and study of Earth's oceans, scientists found fewer and smaller large accumulations of trash than they expected. ... more

Monkeys' facial features evolved to prevent crossbreeding Why do monkey populations and species living in close proximity to each other look so distinct? A new scientific study - published this week in the journal Nature Communications - suggests it is to "strengthen reproductive isolation between populations." ... more		Double tropical storms dump heavy rains in Mexico Tropical Storm Elida swirled off Mexico's Pacific coast Tuesday while Douglas pulled away - but the double hit was dumping heavy rains in much of Mexico, the national weather service reported. ... more		Sidekick autonomy software guides YFQ-42A test mission for CCA program Infleqtion lists shares on NYSE as neutral atom quantum firm Top Chinese gaming companies continue to challenge		Police swoop on protesters at Hong Kong sit-in Scores of protesters at a Hong Kong sit-in were forcibly removed by police in the early hours of Wednesday following a massive pro-democracy rally which organisers said saw a turnout of over half a million. ... more
Tens of thousands stage Hong Kong pro-democracy march Clutching banners and chanting slogans, tens of thousands of protesters Tuesday began a pro-democracy rally in Hong Kong that organisers say could be the largest since the city was handed back to China. ... more		Chinese race for artist Xu Beihong's heroic horses Galloping with the vigour of strong and simple brush strokes, the horses painted by late Chinese master Xu Beihong inspired his countrymen in wartime - and now to pay huge sums to treasure them. ... more		'Slavery' driving apes to extinction: experts Thousands of great apes are killed or trafficked into "slavery" each year in a multi-million dollar illegal trade that is driving some of man's closest relatives towards extinction, conservationists said Tuesday. ... more		Five years after failed attempt, NASA launching another CO2-measuring satellite To help NOAA keep more precise tabs on exactly how much carbon is being released into the atmosphere, NASA is launching a satellite dedicated solely to measuring CO2. ... more

	A breakthrough for organic reactions in water Green-chemistry researchers at McGill University have discovered a way to use water as a solvent in one of the reactions most widely used to synthesize chemical products and pharmaceuticals. The fin ... more		To address climate change, nothing substitutes for reducing CO2 emissions The politically expedient way to mitigate climate change is essentially no way at all, according to a comprehensive new study by University of Chicago climatologist Raymond Pierrehumbert. Amon ... more

Rover discovers more building blocks of life on Mars

Blue Origin probing rocket's failure to deliver satellite

CACI Wins 231 Million Dollar Task Order for Tactical Satellite Communications to US Special Operations Command

Victoria's volcano count rises		Scandlines hybrid electric ferries largest hybrid ferry fleet in the world		'Land grabbing' could help feed at least 300 million people		New report evaluates progress of comprehensive everglades restoration plan		Climate change and the ecology of fear
Capturing CO2 emissions needed to meet climate targets		Abandoned children fear as US troops eye Philippines		Syria inks Russian deal for Tigris irrigation project		Spanish activists remove part of fake reef from Gibraltan waters		China slams 'illegal' Hong Kong democracy poll

New study shows Indonesia's disastrous deforestation

China Communist Party expels four top officials over graft

Are Fish Near Extinction?

Straw albedo mitigates extreme heat

We Can Eliminate the Major Tornado Threat in Tornado Alley

Natural resources worth more than US$40 trillion must be accounted for

Bizarre parasite from the Jurassic

Incentives as effective as penalties for slowing Amazon deforestation

Can Coral Save Our Oceans?

Reorganization of crop production and trade could save China's water supply

Familiar yet strange: Water's 'split personality' revealed by computer model

Scientists discover oldest reef constructed by animals

Moths and other pollinators have trouble finding food amid vehicle exhaust

UNDP and Iran team to save Asiatic cheetah

US begins 'unprecedented' auction of Silk Road bitcoins

New heat stroke guidelines: cool first then transport

Latvia orders pig cull to stem African swine fever

Mideast crisis exposes failure to build democracy: official

Paid holidays for Chinese dissidents -- with minders

Cambridge team breaks superconductor world record

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