Earth News, Earth Science, Energy Technology, Environment News

September 02, 2014

Nature's tiny engineers
Boston MA (SPX) Sep 02, 2014
Conventional wisdom has long held that corals - whose calcium-carbonate skeletons form the foundation of coral reefs - are passive organisms that rely entirely on ocean currents to deliver dissolved substances, such as nutrients and oxygen. But now scientists at MIT and the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Israel have found that they are far from passive, engineering their environment to sweep water into turbulent patterns that greatly enhance their ability to exchange nutrients and dissolve ... read more

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Sierra Nevada freshwater runoff could drop 26 percent by 2100 Freshwater runoff from the Sierra Nevada may decrease by as much as one-quarter by 2100 due to climate warming on the high slopes, according to scientists at UC Irvine and UC Merced. Accelerated pla ... more		Zooming in for a safe flight As nocturnal animals, bats are perfectly adapted to a life without light. They emit echolocation sounds and use the delay between the reflected echoes to measure distance to obstacles or prey. In th ... more		Likely near-simultaneous earthquakes complicate seismic hazard planning for Italy Before the shaking from one earthquake ends, shaking from another might begin, amplifying the effect of ground motion. Such sequences of closely timed, nearly overlapping, consecutive earthquakes ac ... more
				Experts defend operational earthquake forecasting, counter critiques Experts defend operational earthquake forecasting (OEF) in an editorial published in the Seismological Research Letters (SRL), arguing the importance of public communication as part of a suite of ac ... more		Hong Kong activists in fightback after China vote decision Hong Kong pro-democracy activists heckled a top Chinese official Monday, setting the stage for disruptive protests against the mainland's landmark decision to limit voting reforms, but Beijing insisted that there would be no turning back. ... more

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

Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison & Memory Foam Mattress Review

Fukushima workers to sue TEPCO for danger pay Workers employed in decommissioning the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant are to sue operator Tokyo Electric Power and some subcontractors, demanding millions of yen in unpaid danger money, their lawyer said Tuesday. ... more		Macedonia detains 100 Syrian, Iraqi immigrants Macedonian police said Monday they have detained more than 100 Syrian and Iraqi immigrants, among them women and children, hiding in a train transporting coal from the Greek port of Thessaloniki. ... 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		Hong Kong police arrest 22 pro-democracy protesters Hong Kong police have arrested at least 22 people during a series of protests targeting a senior Chinese official visiting the city, authorities said Tuesday. ... more
				New Zealand police investigate quake building failure New Zealand police said Tuesday they will proceed with a criminal investigation into the catastrophic collapse of an office block in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake which claimed 115 lives. ... more		Japan holds nationwide disaster drill About 2.35 million people took part in a government disaster drill in Japan on Monday, hoping to prevent a catastrophe when the quake-prone country is hit by another natural disaster. ... more

Great Barrier Reef dredge dumping plan could be shelved An India-backed mining consortium could shelve controversial plans to dump dredging waste in the Great Barrier Reef, with alternative sites on land being considered amid growing environmental concerns, Australia said Tuesday. ... more		Mexico investigates huge fish kill in lagoon Fishermen used shovels, wheel-carts and trucks in western Mexico on Monday to pull tons of dead fish out of a lagoon that has been the scene of four fish kills this year. ... 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		UN climate chief says 'door closing' on warming fix UN climate change chief Christiana Figueres on Tuesday warned time was running out for meaningful action on global warming, citing the plight of low-lying Pacific nations facing ever rising seas. ... more
Four killed in Chinese school stabbing spree A man stabbed three children and a teacher to death and wounded several others on Monday in a rampage at a Chinese primary school that refused to enrol his daughter, state media said. ... more		Dolphin hunting season kicks off in Japan The controversial six-month dolphin hunting season began on Monday in the infamous town of Taiji, but bad weather would delay any killing, a local official told AFP. ... more		Mexico closes part of a huge copper mine over acid spill Authorities in Mexico said Monday they have closed part of a huge copper mine at the heart of a major chemical spill last month which prompted officials to turn off the water supply in several towns and forced dozens of schools to shut. ... more		Leading Ebola researcher says there's an effective treatment for Ebola A leading U.S. Ebola researcher from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has gone on record stating that a blend of three monoclonal antibodies can completely protect monkeys against ... more

	Reducing water scarcity possible by 2050 Water scarcity is not a problem just for the developing world. In California, legislators are currently proposing a $7.5 billion emergency water plan to their voters; and U.S. federal officials last ... more		Snails Tell of the Rise and Fall of the Tibetan Plateau The rise of the Tibetan plateau - the largest topographic anomaly above sea level on Earth - is important for both its profound effect on climate and its reflection of continental dynamics. In ... 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

Marine protected areas inadequate for protecting fish and ocean ecology		Together, humans and computers can figure out the plant world		Antarctic sea-level rising faster than global rate		Not all phytoplankton in the ocean need to take their vitamins		Sentinel-1 poised to monitor motion
New Earth-Observing Instrument Makes Successful Balloon Flight		Panasonic, Tata join hands in water treatment: report		Dramatic Papua New Guinea volcano quietens		Climate focus at UN small islands summit in Samoa		Thailand totters towards waste crisis

Activists held after trying to halt Faroe Island dolphin hunt

Water police on patrol in drought-scarred Los Angeles

Kenyan commandos on frontline of poaching war

DNA shows Arctic group's isolation lasted 4,000 years

Top Chinese official heckled by Hong Kong protesters

Unchallenged Macau leader elected for a second term

Ebola epidemic decimating health workers in Guinea

Japan gov't calls on citizens to stockpile toilet paper

Yellowstone supereruption would send ash across North America

Pacific plate shrinking as it cools

Snowfall in a warmer world

The roots of human altruism

Southwest may face 'megadrought' this century

Stone-tipped spears lethal, may indicate early cognitive and social skills

Therapy for Sudan strain of Ebola may help contain some outbreaks

Water 'thermostat' could help engineer drought-resistant crops

Evolution used similar toolkits to shape flies, worms, and humans

Fukushima accepts 'temporary' radioactive waste storage

VIASPACE Establishes Giant King Grass Research Collaboration With California

Ceres to Expand Product Development in Sorghum and Sugarcane

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