Earth News, Earth Science, Energy Technology, Environment News

January 22, 2018

Philippine volcano rains ash, violent eruption feared

Legazpi, Philippines (AFP) Jan 22, 2018
A giant mushroom-shaped cloud shot up from the Philippines' most active volcano on Monday, turning day into night as it rained ash on communities where tens of thousands have fled after warnings of an impending eruption. "Hazardous eruption imminent," the state volcanology agency concluded in its latest bulletin, saying Mayon volcano could blow up within days after two weeks of activity. Fine ash and sand fell on Legazpi, a city of about 200,000 people, and nearby areas after the midday explosi ... read more

Hong Kong engulfed in smog as fears grow over air
Hong Kong (AFP) Jan 22, 2018
Hong Kong's famous skyline was engulfed in smog Monday, with residents urged to stay indoors. ... more

Tokyo gets first 'heavy snow' alert in four years
Tokyo (AFP) Jan 22, 2018
Japan's weather agency Monday issued a heavy snow warning for Tokyo for the first time in four years, urging people to go home early amid fears of public transport chaos. ... more

Trashy literature? No such thing for Turkish refuse collectors
Ankara (AFP) Jan 19, 2018
Many would prefer probably not to dwell on what becomes of books thrown into the rubbish bin when their onetime reader declutters their shelves. ... more

Coca-Cola sets 100% recycling goal for 2030
Washington (AFP) Jan 19, 2018
Coca-Cola is launching a campaign to collect and recycle 100 percent of its packaging by 2030, part of a drive to reduce consumer waste globally, the company announced Friday. ... more

Previous Issues

Jan 19

Jan 18

Jan 17

Jan 16

Jan 15

China sees births fall despite push for second child
Beijing (AFP) Jan 19, 2018
The number of births in China fell last year even though the world's most populous country has relaxed its one-child policy to allow all couples to have two children. ... more

China to enshrine Xi's name in state constitution
Beijing (AFP) Jan 19, 2018
China's Communist Party proposed on Friday to engrave President Xi Jinping's guiding philosophy in the country's constitution, further cementing his status as its most powerful leader in decades. ... more

China says air quality 'improved' in 2017
Beijing (AFP) Jan 18, 2018
China's air quality improved across the country in 2017, the environmental protection ministry said Thursday, after the problem was so dire in previous years that some periods were dubbed an "airpocalypse". ... more

Pentagon strategy drops climate change as a security threat
Washington (AFP) Jan 19, 2018
Climate change and the impact it has on national and international security was not included in the US national defense strategy, unveiled by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Friday. ... more

Senegal to revamp logging laws after massacre linked to timber trade
Dakar (AFP) Jan 18, 2018
President Macky Sall on Thursday suspended all authorisations for logging and ordered an overhaul of Senegal's forestry laws after a massacre connected to the illegal trade in timber. ... more

Microwave ovens are cooking the environment: study
Paris (AFP) Jan 18, 2018
Small electrical appliances such as microwave ovens, kettles and hair dryers harm the environment in a dozen different ways, and consumers can do far more to reduce the impacts, researchers said Thursday. ... more

Facebook top choice for Philippines wildlife traders: monitor
Manila (AFP) Jan 19, 2018
Facebook has emerged as the top site for wildlife trafficking in the Philippines, a watchdog said Friday, with thousands of endangered crocodiles, snakes and turtles illegally traded in just three months. ... more

Dutch shocked by call to ban EU electric pulse fishing

Scientists discover planet's oldest oxygen oasis
Washington (UPI) Jan 18, 2018
Researchers have discovered the oldest evidence of a dramatic uptick in oxygen on early Earth - the oldest oxygen oasis yet unearthed. ... more

Feeding patterns among coastal, deep ocean sharks differ, study shows
Washington (UPI) Jan 18, 2018
New analysis of carbon isotopes in shark tissue samples have revealed different feeding patterns among coastal and deep ocean sharks. ... more

On volcanic islands, landslides can trigger giant eruptions
Washington (UPI) Jan 19, 2018
New analysis of Mount Teide, the volcano on the island of Tenerife, suggests a strong link between submarine landslides and catastrophic eruptions. In fact, scientists hypothesize the collapse of island flanks could trigger massive eruptions. ... more

10 Syrians die of cold trying to flee into Lebanon: officials
Beirut (AFP) Jan 19, 2018
Ten Syrians have died trying to flee their war-torn country into neighbouring Lebanon after they were caught in a fierce snowstorm, the Lebanese army and civil defence said Friday. ... more

Assad regime promotes Syria as a 'tourist' destination
Madrid (AFP) Jan 20, 2018
It is over a year since Bashar al-Assad's regime, with the help of Russian air strikes and barrel bombs, pounded the rebel-held east of Aleppo into submission. ... more

Storm damage to cost Germany 500 mln euros as death toll rises
Berlin (AFP) Jan 19, 2018
German insurers estimated Friday that ferocious gales that battered Germany caused 500 million euros ($614 million) in damages, as the number of dead across the country rose to eight. ... more

Fukushima operator releases fresh images of reactor wreckage
Tokyo (AFP) Jan 20, 2018
The operator of Fukushima's crippled nuclear power plant has released fresh images of the wreckage inside a damaged reactor, showing broken metal parts and debris that could be melted fuel. ... more

Mexico shaken by 6.3 magnitude earthquake
Mexico City (AFP) Jan 19, 2018
Tourist hotspots in Mexico's Baja California Peninsula were shaken Friday by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake - but no injuries or damage were reported, authorities said. ... more

Seven Niger troops killed in Boko Haram attack
Niamey (AFP) Jan 20, 2018
At least seven Niger soldiers were killed and more than a dozen others wounded this week in an attack by suspected Boko Haram militants in the country's southeast, the government said on Friday. ... more

Chinese human rights lawyer's detention 'absurd': attorney
Beijing (AFP) Jan 20, 2018
The lawyer of a prominent Chinese human rights attorney detained in Beijing said Saturday that the allegations against his client, who has been charged with disrupting public service, were "absurd". ... more

New details emerge on temperature, mobility of Earth's lower crust in Rocky Mountains

Scale-eating fish adopt clever parasitic methods to survive
Seattle WA (SPX) Jan 19, 2018
Think of them as extra-large parasites. A small group of fishes - possibly the world's cleverest carnivorous grazers - feeds on the scales of other fish in the tropics. The different species' approa ... more

Clean and green: A moss that removes lead from water
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 19, 2018
Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan have demonstrated that that moss can be a green alternative for decontaminating polluted water and soil. Published in ... more

Release of ancient methane due to changing climate kept in check by ocean waters
Rochester NY (SPX) Jan 19, 2018
Ocean sediments are a massive storehouse for the potent greenhouse gas methane. Trapped in ocean sediments near continents lie ancient reservoirs of methane called methane hydrates. These ice- ... more

Assad regime promotes Syria as a 'tourist' destination
Madrid (AFP) Jan 20, 2018

It is over a year since Bashar al-Assad's regime, with the help of Russian air strikes and barrel bombs, pounded the rebel-held east of Aleppo into submission. Buildings were flattened, those who survived were left terrorised, hungry and filled with despair, and the stench of dead bodies rose up from the rubble as families searched for their loved ones. Now, having largely destroyed the ... more

+ 10 Syrians die of cold trying to flee into Lebanon: officials

+ Fukushima operator releases fresh images of reactor wreckage

+ Astrosat and DroneSAR form partnership to enhance Search and Rescue capabilities

+ France to clear decade-old airport protest camp

+ Tracing how disaster impacts escalate will improve emergency responses

+ Hurricane-hit Puerto Rico launches new drive for US statehood

+ When humans wage war, animals suffer too: study

Kilopower: What's Next?
Cleveland OH (SPX) Jan 19, 2018

When astronauts someday venture to the Moon, Mars and other destinations, one of the first and most important resources they will need is power. A reliable and efficient power system will be essential for day-to-day necessities, such as lighting, water and oxygen, and for mission objectives, like running experiments and producing fuel for the long journey home. That's why NASA is conductin ... more

+ Pulsating dissolution found in crystals

+ Space Traffic Management

+ Scientists develop a new material for manipulating molecules

+ Self-healing fungi concrete could provide sustainable solution to crumbling infrastructure

+ Russian scientists found excitons in nickel oxide for the first time

+ Novel 3-D printing technique yields high-performance composites

+ Gyroscopes lead scientists to unusual state of matter in a disorganized structure

New application for acoustics helps estimate marine life populations
San Diego CA (SPX) Jan 17, 2018

Researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego were part of an international team that for the first time used hydroacoustics as a method for comparing the abundance of fishes within and outside marine protected areas (MPAs). They found that the abundance of fishes was four times greater in Mexico's protected Cabo Pulmo National Park than in ar ... more

+ Top European chefs take electric pulse fishing off the menu

+ Dutch shocked by call to ban EU electric pulse fishing

+ Scale-eating fish adopt clever parasitic methods to survive

+ Clean and green: A moss that removes lead from water

+ Australia offers cash for Great Barrier Reef rescue ideas

+ Egypt, Ethiopia united against 'conflict' over Nile waters

+ Feeding patterns among coastal, deep ocean sharks differ, study shows

Weather anomalies accelerate the melting of sea ice
Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Jan 17, 2018

In the winter of 2015/16, something happened that had never before been seen on this scale: at the end of December, temperatures rose above zero degrees Celsius for several days in parts of the Arctic. Temperatures of up to eight degrees were registered north of Svalbard. Temperatures this high have not been recorded in the winter half of the year since the beginning of systematic measurements a ... more

+ Coping with climate stress in Antarctica

+ Methane hydrate dissociation off Spitsbergen not caused by climate change

+ New study reveals strong El Nino events cause large changes in Antarctic ice shelves

+ Shedding some light on life in the Arctic

+ Machine learning predicts new details of geothermal heat flux beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet

+ Scientists find surprising evidence of rapid changes in the Arctic

+ In Antarctic dry valleys, early signs of climate change-induced shifts in soil

In sweet corn, workhorses win
Urbana, IL (SPX) Jan 17, 2018

When deciding which sweet corn hybrids to plant, vegetable processors need to consider whether they want their contract growers using a workhorse or a racehorse. Is it better to choose a hybrid with exceptional yields under ideal growing conditions (i.e., the racehorse) or one that performs consistently well across ideal and less-than-ideal conditions (i.e., the workhorse)? New research from the ... more

+ New process could slash energy needs of fertilizer, nitrogen-based chemicals

+ New 'Buck' naked barley: Food, feed, brew

+ Setback for Romanian farmer's bid to graze sheep near NATO base

+ 'World's ugliest pig' spotted in Indonesia

+ Lightening Up Soybean Leaves May Boost Food Supply

+ Self-defense for plants

+ Genetic mechanism that could enhance yield in cereal crops

Mexico shaken by 6.3 magnitude earthquake
Mexico City (AFP) Jan 19, 2018

Tourist hotspots in Mexico's Baja California Peninsula were shaken Friday by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake - but no injuries or damage were reported, authorities said. The epicenter was located in the Gulf of California, 76 kilometers northeast of Loreto, a small city in the state of Baja California Sur, the National Seismological Service said. "There are no reports of people being affecte ... more

+ On volcanic islands, landslides can trigger giant eruptions

+ Philippine volcano rains ash, violent eruption feared

+ 12,000 flee as lava oozes from Philippine volcano

+ Two dead in Peru after 7.3-magnitude quake

+ 4.4-magnitude quake jolts Athens

+ Madagascar cyclone death toll hits 51, 22 missing

+ Madagascar cyclone death toll hits 36 as thousands displaced

Sahel defence ministers in Paris in push for 'G5' force
Paris (AFP) Jan 15, 2018

Defence ministers from five countries in the Sahel were meeting Monday with French counterpart Florence Parly in the latest push for a pooled force fighting jihadism in the fragile region. The brief meeting, in which senior military officers were to take part, aims at setting down a concrete timetable for deploying the so-called "G5 Sahel" force, which carried out its maiden mission in Novem ... more

+ Seven Niger troops killed in Boko Haram attack

+ Search on for kidnapped Americans and Canadians in Nigeria

+ Former DR Congo army chief accused of coup bid held in Gabon

+ Congo rebels, government meet after ceasefire deal

+ Unauthorised gold mining in Cameroon reaps deathly toll

+ IS-allied Boko Haram faction claims killing of Nigerian troops

+ Mali president names new govt after ex-PM's resignation

Bonobos prefer jerks
Durham NC (SPX) Jan 09, 2018

Never trust anyone who is rude to a waiter, advice columnists say. For most people, acting nasty is a big turnoff. But while humans generally prefer individuals who are nice to others, a Duke University study finds bonobos are more attracted to jerks. The researchers were surprised by the findings because these African apes - our closest relatives in the animal kingdom along with chi ... more

+ Unlike people, bonobos don't 'look for the helpers'

+ Study: When the going gets tough, women are more resilient than men

+ Study redefines understanding of old age throughout human history

+ Bonobos show a preference for jerks

+ DNA offers evidence of new population of native Alaskans

+ Primordial mutation helps explain origin of some organs in vertebrates

+ Scientists show how Himalayan rivers influenced ancient Indus civilization settlements

Future climate change revealed by current climate variations
Exeter UK (SPX) Jan 19, 2018

Uncertainty surrounding the extent of future climate change could be dramatically reduced by studying year-on-year global temperature fluctuations, new research has shown. A team of scientists from the University of Exeter and the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology has pioneered a new process to reduce uncertainty around climate sensitivity - the expected long-term global warming if atmospher ... more

+ Pentagon strategy drops climate change as a security threat

+ Worst-case global warming scenarios not credible: study

+ Release of ancient methane due to changing climate kept in check by ocean waters

+ Colorado's governor sees climate efforts as an economic engine

+ 1.5 C climate goal 'unlikely' but doable: draft UN report

+ Trump says US could 'conceivably' return to Paris climate deal

+ Researchers use global thermometer to track temperature extremes, droughts

First ICEYE-X1 Radar Image from Space Published
Helsinki, Finland (SPX) Jan 19, 2018

ICEYE has published the first radar image obtained with the ICEYE-X1 SAR satellite. The image depicts Noatak National Preserve, Alaska, on Monday Jan. 15, at 21:47 UTC. ICEYE-X1 is the world's first SAR satellite under 100 kg, launched less than a week ago on Jan. 12, 2018 on ISRO's PSLV-C40 from Satish Dhawan Space Center in India. A synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) instrument sends its own ... more

+ Himawari-8 data simulation allows 10-min updates of rain and flood predictions

+ Japan forecasting breakthrough could improve weather warnings

+ Earth-i launches prototype of world's first full-colour, full-motion video satellite constellation

+ Unexpected environmental source of methane discovered

+ Jet stream changes since 1960s linked to more extreme weather

+ Frequent growth events and fast growth rates of fine aerosol particles in Beijing

+ Australia swelters through one of hottest years on record

Tiny dinosaur may have dazzled mates with rainbow ruff and a bony crest
Austin TX (SPX) Jan 17, 2018

Ancient dinosaurs were adorned in some amazing ways, from the horns of the triceratops to the plates and spikes of the stegosaurus. A newly discovered, bird-like dinosaur fossil from China contains evidence that could add a new accessory to the list: a shaggy ruff of rainbow feathers. A team of researchers, including scientists from The University of Texas at Austin, are the first to condu ... more

+ Scientists discover planet's oldest oxygen oasis

+ Print a 200-million-year-old dinosaur fossil in your own home

+ New turkey-sized dinosaur from Australia preserved in an ancient log-jam

+ Sharks, humans shared common ancestor 440 million years ago

+ Earliest fossil evidence of butterflies and moths

+ Moths and butterflies existed during Jurassic era long before flowering plants

+ Giant extinct burrowing bat discovered in New Zealand

Magnetic liquids improve energy efficiency of buildings
Jena, Germany (SPX) Jan 19, 2018

Climate protection and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions have been on top of global development agendas. Accordingly, research and development projects have been conducted on national and international levels, which aim for the improvement of the CO2-footprint in diverse processes. Apart from particularly energy-intensive sectors of the industry, the building sector in particular i ... more

+ US energy watchdog rejects plan to subsidize coal, nuclear sectors

+ U.S. utility regulator ponders grid reliability

+ U.S. blizzard to test gas, electric markets

+ 'Virtual gold' may glitter, but mining it can be really dirty

+ Science for a resilient EU power grid

+ Alaskan microgrids offer energy resilience and independence

+ How will customers benefit from tax overhaul, Michigan asks utilities

Hazardous contamination found around lead battery recycling plants in 7 African countries
San Francisco CA (SPX) Jan 19, 2018

Extensive lead contamination was found in lead battery recycling plants and surrounding communities in seven African countries. The contamination levels in soil ranged up to 14% lead with average concentrations of 2% lead. Lead battery recycling is a growing hazardous industry throughout Africa. In addition to vehicle applications, lead batteries are used to store solar and wind power, and ... more

+ Siberian chemists have improved hydrogen sensors

+ New, greener fuel cells move step closer to reality

+ Controlling superconductivity using spin currents

+ The LECs now an efficient and bright device

+ The atomic dynamics of rare everlasting electric fields

+ Surprising discovery could lead to better batteries

+ Study boosts hope for cheaper fuel cells

Why don't turtles still have tail spikes?
Raleigh NC (SPX) Jan 19, 2018

We're all familiar with those awesome armored giants of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods - Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus - and their amazing, weaponized tails. But why aren't similar weaponized tails found in animals living today? In a study covering 300 million years of evolutionary history, researchers from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienc ... more

+ Facebook top choice for Philippines wildlife traders: monitor

+ Expert unlocks mechanics of how snakes move in a straight line

+ New technology will create brain wiring diagrams

+ France's first panda cub makes debut appearance

+ Wolf found in northern Belgium, first time in over 100 years

+ To prevent spreading infections, ants sacrifice their sick peers

+ What species is most fit for life? All have an equal chance, scientists say

China to enshrine Xi's name in state constitution
Beijing (AFP) Jan 19, 2018

China's Communist Party proposed on Friday to engrave President Xi Jinping's guiding philosophy in the country's constitution, further cementing his status as its most powerful leader in decades. Xi's eponymous "thought" was already enshrined in the Communist Party constitution at the 19th Party Congress in October, elevating him to the same status as modern China's founder Mao Zedong. T ... more

+ China sees births fall despite push for second child

+ Chinese human rights lawyer's detention 'absurd': attorney

+ Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong jailed over protest

+ Qantas changes website to recognise Chinese territories

+ China demolishes Christian megachurch

+ Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong jailed over protest

+ Former Chinese military chief of staff under investigation

Senegal to revamp logging laws after massacre linked to timber trade
Dakar (AFP) Jan 18, 2018

President Macky Sall on Thursday suspended all authorisations for logging and ordered an overhaul of Senegal's forestry laws after a massacre connected to the illegal trade in timber. In a statement, Sall said he had instructed the government "to suspend until further orders all authorisations for logging and to immediately proceed with a revision of the forestry code." He also urged the ... more

+ Study shows European forest coverage has halved over 6,000 years

+ Senegal forest massacre: what we know

+ Senegal in crackdown on timber trafficking after massacre

+ North Atlantic Oscillation dictates timing of tree reproduction in Europe

+ African deforestation not as great as feared

+ Cascading use is also beneficial for wood

+ New maps show shrinking wilderness being ignored at our peril

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