Earth News, Earth Science, Energy Technology, Environment News

August 19, 2014

World's primary forests on the brink
Brisbane, Australia (SPX) Aug 19, 2014
An international team of conservationist scientists and practitioners has published new research showing the precarious state of the world's primary forests. The global analysis and map are featured in a paper appearing in the esteemed journal Conservation Letters and reveals that only five percent of the world's pre-agricultural primary forest cover is now found in protected areas. Led by Professor Brendan Mackey, Director of the Climate Change Response Program at Griffith University in Queenslan ... read more

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8,000-year-old mutation key to human life at high altitudes In an environment where others struggle to survive, Tibetans thrive in the thin air on the Tibetan Plateau, with an average elevation of 14,800 feet. A University of Utah led discovery that hinged a ... more		Sun's activity influences natural climate change For the first time, a research team has been able to reconstruct the solar activity at the end of the last ice age, around 20,000-10,000 years ago, by analysing trace elements in ice cores in Greenl ... more		Trees and shrubs invading critical grasslands, diminish cattle production Half of the Earth's land mass is made up of rangelands, which include grasslands and savannas, yet they are being transformed at an alarming rate. Woody plants, such as trees and shrubs, are moving ... more
				CHIKV Challenge Asks Teams to Forecast the Spread of Infectious Disease The Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is on the move. Spread among humans by mosquitoes, and spread across geographic boundaries by humans who travel, the virus-which causes a debilitating illness-is now ex ... more		New analysis links tree height to climate What limits the height of trees? Is it the fraction of their photosynthetic energy they devote to productive new leaves? Or is it their ability to hoist water hundreds of feet into the air, supplyin ... more

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Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Make your mobile device live up to its true potential - as a data collection tool Leaf measurements are often critical in plant physiological and ecological studies, but traditional methods have been time consuming and sometimes destructive to plant samples. Researchers at the Un ... more		NASA to Investigate Climate Impacts of Arctic Sea Ice Loss A new NASA field campaign will begin flights over the Arctic this summer to study the effect of sea ice retreat on Arctic climate. The Arctic Radiation IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment (ARISE) will ... 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		Fossilized marine plankton tell the tale of the end Permian mass extinction The worst mass extinction the Earth has ever seen occurred 252 million years ago. The boundary of the Permian and Triassic geological periods marked the demise of around 90 percent of marine species ... more
				DigitalGlobe Announces Launch of WorldView-3 DigitalGlobe has announced the successful launch of WorldView-3, the company's sixth and most advanced super-spectral, high-resolution commercial satellite. The satellite launched on a Lockheed Mart ... more		Toothless 'dragon' pterosaurs filled late Cretaceous skies At some point during the late Cretaceous period, an epoch stretching from 100 to 66 million years ago, pterosaurs gave up their teeth. New research suggests these toothless winged dinosaurs came to dominate the ancient skies - specifically Azhdarchidan pterosaurs. ... more

Nepal floods kill at least 97 as cholera fears rise Rescuers Sunday found 12 more bodies buried under mud and debris to bring the death toll from landslides and flooding in Nepal to 97, sparking fears of a cholera outbreak. ... more		Mosul dam: A life source in northern Iraq The Mosul dam is the biggest in Iraq and a strategic site that provides water and electricity to more than a million people in the north of the country. ... 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		Microscopic lense captures first ever video of a jellyfish sting It only takes a light brush for one to be stung by a jellyfish, but a new viral video recorded for the first time the dozens of microscopic needles that shoot from jellyfish into their victims. ... more
Strong quake in west Iran 'leaves 40 hurt' A strong 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck the province of Ilam in western Iran on Monday, causing injuries and damage, Iranian state television said, but there were no immediate reports of fatalities. ... more		Elephant killings in Africa outpace births: study More elephants in Africa are being killed by poachers than are born each year, and the problem may be worse than previously understood, according to the most detailed assessment yet, released on Monday. ... more		The East is wed: China seeks brides for richer, for poorer Their marriages were arranged for cash, but some of the Vietnamese women who have found unlikely Prince Charmings in remote Chinese villages say they are living happily ever after. ... more		Donetsk queues for water as fighting shuts off supply Anastasiya clutches two empty five-litre bottles as she joins a queue of Donetsk residents buying water in the rebel-held east Ukrainian city where supplies were abruptly cut off by shelling damage. ... more

	Shipwreck yields 200-year-old bottle of drinkable booze Divers exploring a 200-year-old shipwreck - the F53.31 shipwreck - in the Baltic Sea's Gulf of Gdańsk, off the coast of Poland, surfaced with a sealed stoneware bottle earlier this summer. Now, scientists at J.S. Hamilton Poland, a lab testing facility, have confirmed that the bottle contains alcohol. ... more		Statistical model predicts performance of hybrid rice Genomic prediction, a new field of quantitative genetics, is a statistical approach to predicting the value of an economically important trait in a plant, such as yield or disease resistance. The me ... 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

Minke whales lunge 100 times/hour to feed under sea ice		Bypass commands from the brain to legs through a computer		Glaciers on Tibetan plateau warmest in 2,000 years		Turkey calls for help with Syria refugees as tensions rise		Mexico acid leak leaves orange river, toxic water
Ultra-rare crocs survive in Philippine 'Noah's Ark'		Fishermen try to rid Maine's Frenchman Bay of green crabs		China fishes for growth with world's largest aquarium		Landslides, floods kill 109, displace thousands in Nepal, India		Showers dry up as water shortages add to Gaza misery

Displaced Iraq Yazidis left hungry and desperate

HK pro-government activists rally against Occupy protest

Suffering and song in Sierra Leone's Ebola 'hot zone'

Beer shortage and heatwave spells misery for Cubans

Ebola epidemic "vastly" underestimated: WHO

Ebola highlights growing global virus threat: experts

Ecuador quake death toll lowered to three

China issues draft property registration rules

El Nino Fizzle or Sizzle

Antarctica could raise sea level faster than previously thought

Snow has thinned on Arctic sea ice

Foreshock series controls earthquake rupture

Australia makes its first airdrop to stranded Yazidis in Iraq

Gulf of California's vaquita porpoise nears extinction

Older people should get high dose flu shot: study

Dolphins squeal with delight: study

Girl, 4, survives 11-day ordeal in bear-infested Siberian forest

Bionic Liquids from Lignin

Westinghouse to Provide Finland's TVO with Advanced Reactor Internal Pumps

Foreign investment in China slumps in July: govt

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