24/7 News Coverage
October 03, 2018
ICE WORLD
Danish shipping firm tests Russian Arctic route



Saint Petersburg (AFP) Sept 27, 2018
A Danish vessel loaded with Russian fish and South Korean electronics arrived Thursday in Saint Petersburg, becoming the first container ship to navigate the Russian Arctic as the ice pack melts and recedes. Maersk's new ice class container vessel, Venta Maersk, embarked on a trial journey from the Russian far eastern port of Vladivostok in late August, completing the Arctic route in five weeks. "We are carrying out a one-off trial passage of the Northern Sea Route from East to West," said Jani ... read more

ICE WORLD
Finding open water in Greenland's icy seas
Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 02, 2018
"Three, two, one ... drop!" Researchers in NASA's Oceans Melting Greenland campaign heard that phrase 239 times this fall. Each time, it triggered a team member to release a scientific probe from an ... more
FLORA AND FAUNA
India watches for deadly virus as lion deaths spike
Ahmedabad, India (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
Ten endangered Asiatic lions have died in the last two weeks in India, authorities confirmed Tuesday, four of them from a virus that killed around 1,000 lions in Tanzania in the 1990s. ... more
WOOD PILE
Climate change, pests, fallen trees a deadly recipe for US forests
Los Angeles (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
Severe drought, insect infestation and poor forest management have combined in recent years to kill millions of trees in the American West - 130 million in California alone - and provide fuel for huge wildfires. ... more
WATER WORLD
Imran Khan's bid to crowdfund $14bn for Pakistan dams
Islamabad (AFP) Sept 28, 2018
It's a far cry from those sponsored Facebook posts asking you to invest in a start-up's new digital watch or an unbreakable phone case. ... more
24/7 Disaster News Coverage




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FROTH AND BUBBLE
On patrol with India's anti-plastic 'blue squad'
Mumbai (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
Wearing matching blue Nehru jackets, the dozen inspectors fan out across Mumbai's hectic Crawford Market, each scouring for violators of an ambitious plastic ban. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Indonesia tsunami worsened by shape of Palu bay: scientists
Paris (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
The tsunami that ravaged the Indonesian city of Palu was outsized compared to the earthquake that spawned it, but other factors - including a long, narrow bay - conspired to create monster waves, scientists say. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Liquefaction: When terra firma turns to mush
Jakarta (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
Survivors of the enormous 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi, Indonesia that killed 1,234 people have given harrowing testimony of how the ground beneath their feet seemed to churn and suddenly rise up - swallowing everything in its path. ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Indonesia clamps down on looting as quake-tsunami toll tops 1,200
Palu, Indonesia (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
More than 1,200 people are now known to have died in the quake-tsunami that smashed into Sulawesi, Indonesia said Tuesday, as police pledged to clamp down on looting by survivors taking advantage of the chaos. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Dozens of students found dead as Indonesia rescue ramps up
Palu, Indonesia (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
The bodies of dozens of students have been pulled from their landslide-swamped church in Sulawesi, officials said Tuesday, as an international effort to help nearly 200,000 increasingly desperate Indonesian quake-tsunami victims ground into gear. ... more
24/7 Disaster News Coverage
24/7 Technology News Coverage
24/7 China News Coverage



AFRICA NEWS
Fair-trade deals provide safety net for Ivorian cocoa producers
Adzope, Ivory Coast (AFP) Sept 26, 2018
In Ivory Coast, cocoa once guaranteed farmers a sweet life. ... more
FARM NEWS
Satellites safeguard Europe's potato industry
Paris (ESA) Sep 26, 2018
The drought that swept through Europe this year has hit European farmers hard. Sustained high temperatures and the lack of rain have badly affected the agrofood industry, including the important pot ... more
FARM NEWS
Soil holds the secret to mitigating climate change
East Lansing MI (SPX) Oct 01, 2018
Food production doesn't have to be a victim of climate change. New research from Michigan State University suggests that crop yields and the global food supply chain can be preserved by harnessing t ... more
FARM NEWS
Sunflower pollen protects bees from disease, study finds
Washington (UPI) Sep 26, 2018
Great access to sunflowers and their pollen could help keep vulnerable bee populations pathogen-free. ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Quake-hit Indonesia buries dead in mass grave
Palu, Indonesia (AFP) Oct 1, 2018
Indonesian volunteers began burying bodies in a vast mass grave on Monday, victims of a quake-tsunami that devastated swathes of Sulawesi, as the UN warned that some 191,000 people were in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. ... more


Four dead after typhoon batters Japan

ICE WORLD
Small ice-free oasis helped Arctic marine life survive last ice age
Washington (UPI) Oct 1, 2018
New analysis suggests a small corridor between Norway and the British Isles remained ice-free during the last ice age, offering an oasis of sorts for marine life. ... more
24/7 News Coverage



WOOD PILE
How leaves talk to roots
Aarhus, Denmark (SPX) Oct 01, 2018
New findings show that a micro RNA from the shoot keeps legume roots susceptible to symbiotic infection by downregulating a gene that would otherwise hinder root responses to symbiotic bacteria. The ... more
WOOD PILE
National parks bear the brunt of climate change
Berkeley CA (SPX) Oct 01, 2018
Human-caused climate change has exposed U.S. national parks to conditions hotter and drier than the rest of the nation, says a new UC Berkeley and University of Wisconsin-Madison study that quantifi ... more
WOOD PILE
Gabon pressures forestry firms on best practice
Libreville (AFP) Sept 26, 2018
Gabon will pull forestry permits from firms that have not embraced an international standard on responsible logging by 2022, President Ali Bongo Ondimba said Wednesday. ... more
WATER WORLD
Fisheries nations to decide fate of declining bigeye tuna
Paris (AFP) Sept 28, 2018
Dozens of nations with commercial fisheries in the Atlantic Ocean will grapple next week with a new finding that bigeye tuna, the backbone of a billion dollar business, is severely depleted and overfished. ... more
WOOD PILE
Chile launches immense scenic route connecting 17 national parks
Santiago (AFP) Sept 26, 2018
Chile is launching a huge scenic route through its Patagonian wilderness in a bid to attract tourism and highlight the need for conservationism in the sparsely-populated region. ... more
24/7 Nuclear News Coverage
24/7 War News Coverage
24/7 War News Coverage



Quake-hit Indonesia buries dead in mass grave
Palu, Indonesia (AFP) Oct 1, 2018
Indonesian volunteers began burying bodies in a vast mass grave on Monday, victims of a quake-tsunami that devastated swathes of Sulawesi, as the UN warned that some 191,000 people were in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Indonesia is no stranger to natural calamities and Jakarta had been keen to show it could deal with a catastrophe that has killed at least 844 people, according to t ... more
+ Indonesia clamps down on looting as quake-tsunami toll tops 1,200
+ Morocco navy fires on migrant boat, one dead: local officials
+ Rohingya crisis: UN has 'no right to interfere' says Myanmar army chief
+ Puerto Ricans turn to life-saving self-help in Maria's aftermath
+ Lebanon navy rescues dozens from sinking Cyprus-bound boat
+ Trump vows '100 percent' support for storm-battered Carolinas
+ Toll jumps to 22 in Philippine monsoon landslide
NASA, NOAA convene GOES 17 Mishap Investigation Board
Washington DC (SPX) Oct 03, 2018
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have appointed a board to investigate an instrument anomaly aboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) 17 weather satellite currently in orbit. During postlaunch testing of the satellite's Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument, it was discovered that the instrument's infrared detectors cannot b ... more
+ Chip-sized device could help manufacturers measure laser power in real time
+ Maxar's SSL selected by NASA to develop critical technologies for on-orbit servicing
+ Plasma thruster: New space debris removal technology
+ Magnetic field milestone
+ Firmware at the blink of an eye: Scientists develop new technology of alloy steel rolling
+ Lockheed Martin to marry machine learning with 3-D printing
+ Researchers develop magnetic cooling cycle


New York seeks to claw back 'Big Oyster' past
New York (AFP) Sept 25, 2018
One sunny morning in New York, a dozen biologists and volunteers stand in knee-deep water, chucking net sacks of oyster shells down a human chain, before planting them in containers on the riverbed. Why? To build an oyster reef. The goal? To restore a billion oysters by 2035 to America's largest city - not as a delicacy for the dinner table but in an environmental bid to clean up its n ... more
+ Fisheries nations to decide fate of declining bigeye tuna
+ It's not that bad! Science, tourism clash on Great Barrier Reef
+ Seasonal reservoir filling in India deforms rock, may trigger earthquakes
+ Imran Khan's bid to crowdfund $14bn for Pakistan dams
+ Spotlight on sea-level rise
+ France reverses car tyre sea sanctuary as an environmental flop
+ Light pollution inspires boldness in fish
Small ice-free oasis helped Arctic marine life survive last ice age
Washington (UPI) Oct 1, 2018
New analysis suggests a small corridor between Norway and the British Isles remained ice-free during the last ice age, offering an oasis of sorts for marine life. "When we were looking for evidence of biological life in sediments at the bottom of the ocean, we found that between the sea ice covered oceans, and the ice sheets on land, there must have been a narrow ice-free corridor," Joc ... more
+ Finding open water in Greenland's icy seas
+ Danish shipping firm tests Russian Arctic route
+ Retracing Antarctica's glacial past
+ Mineral weathering from thawing permafrost can release substantial CO2
+ Unprecedented ice loss in Russian ice cap
+ Sustained levels of moderate warming could melt the East Antarctic Ice Sheet
+ Study links natural climate oscillations in north Atlantic to Greenland ice sheet melt


Down to the Kernel: NASA Space Imaging Helps Predict Crop Yields
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Sep 27, 2018
Farmers have always looked to the weather and the progress of their crops to try to predict how the harvest will go, but a new tool uses NASA satellite imagery to take the predictions to a whole new level - to near-perfect, in fact. "What distinguishes us is, we're taking the meteorological data and building models that are in some senses similar to more traditional crop forecasting models ... more
+ How fruits got their eye-catching colors
+ Greenpeace 'occupies' Indonesia palm oil plant with rock band
+ Soil holds the secret to mitigating climate change
+ Soil health on the menu with retrieved coffee beans
+ Austrian fruit grower jailed over bee deaths
+ Satellites safeguard Europe's potato industry
+ Sunflower pollen protects bees from disease, study finds
Dozens of students found dead as Indonesia rescue ramps up
Palu, Indonesia (AFP) Oct 2, 2018
The bodies of dozens of students have been pulled from their landslide-swamped church in Sulawesi, officials said Tuesday, as an international effort to help nearly 200,000 increasingly desperate Indonesian quake-tsunami victims ground into gear. The discovery adds to the already-high death toll from Friday's disaster, when a powerful earthquake triggered a tsunami that smashed into the seas ... more
+ Indonesia tsunami worsened by shape of Palu bay: scientists
+ Liquefaction: When terra firma turns to mush
+ Four dead after typhoon batters Japan
+ Hurricane Rosa forms off Mexico's Pacific coast
+ Flood frequency of the world's largest river has increased fivefold
+ Mexico marks anniversaries of two deadly quakes
+ Five killed in torrential Tunisia rains


Humans delayed the formation of the Sahara desert by half a millennium
Washington (UPI) Oct 1, 2018
According to a new climate model, the Sahara desert should have formed 500 years earlier than it did. The influence of hunter-gatherers and pastoralists may explain the delay in desertification. The Sahara only became the desert it's known as today some 5,500 years ago. Some 8,000 years ago, the band stretching across North Africa was green, home to diverse vegetation and populations of ... more
+ Fair-trade deals provide safety net for Ivorian cocoa producers
+ Sierra Leone expels 38 Chinese for 'child labour' in mining
+ Nigerian troops repel Boko Haram attack on base: sources
+ US, allied forces attacked in Somalia: Pentagon
+ 'Say no to China': Anger mounts in Zambia over Beijing's presence
+ Lake Victoria, African lifeline regularly hit by sinkings
+ Algeria's air force chief fired amid military shake-up
How millions of neurons become unique
Basel, Switzerland (SPX) Sep 27, 2018
How is it possible that so many different and highly specific neurons arise in the brain? A mathematic model developed by researchers from the University of Basel's Biozentrum demonstrates that different variants of genes enable such a random diversity. The scientists describe in Cell Reports that despite countless numbers of newly formed neurons, the genetic variants equip neurons individually ... more
+ Ancient bird bones redate human activity in Madagascar by 6,000 years
+ People are less likely to trust someone with a foreign accent
+ Blombos Cave drawing predates previous human-made drawings by at least 30,000 years
+ Reward of labor in wild chimpanzees
+ Getting to the roots of our ancient cousin's diet
+ Amber circulated in extensive Mediterranean exchange networks in Late Prehistory
+ Cold climates contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals


UN report on global warming target puts governments on the spot
Paris (AFP) Oct 1, 2018
Diplomats gathering in South Korea Monday find themselves in the awkward position of vetting and validating a major UN scientific report that underscores the failure of their governments to take stronger action on climate. "This will be one of the most important meetings in IPCC history," Hoesung Lee, chair of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told delegates at the opening ... more
+ World leaders gather to breathe new life into Paris accord
+ Tropics are widening as predicted by climate models, research finds
+ Carbon taxes necessary in climate fight: World Bank chief
+ Leaders back climate change urgency in New York
+ Buried pine trees offer clues on ancient climate change in the Mediterranean
+ Beavers have an impact on the climate
+ Optimism trumps despair at climate summit
How Earth sheds heat into space
Boston MA (SPX) Sep 25, 2018
Just as an oven gives off more heat to the surrounding kitchen as its internal temperature rises, the Earth sheds more heat into space as its surface warms up. Since the 1950s, scientists have observed a surprisingly straightforward, linear relationship between the Earth's surface temperature and its outgoing heat. But the Earth is an incredibly messy system, with many complicated, interac ... more
+ New airborne campaigns to explore snowstorms, river deltas, climate
+ Three Earth Explorer ideas selected
+ Scientists locate parent lightning strokes of sprites
+ Scientists ID Three Causes of Earth's Spin Axis Drift
+ Quick and not-so-dirty: A rapid nano-filter for clean water
+ ECOSTRESS Maps LA's Hot Spots
+ Famous theory of the living Earth upgraded to Gaia 2.0


Birds reinvent voice box in novel evolutionary twist
Austin TX (SPX) Sep 27, 2018
Birds tote around two vocal organs inside their bodies, but only one works. New interdisciplinary research suggests that this distinctly avian anatomy arose because birds, somewhere in their evolutionary history, opted for building a brand new vocal organ - the syrinx - instead of modifying an existing one that is present in an array of animals but silent in birds - the larynx. The r ... more
+ The first predators and their self-repairing teeth
+ Chinese Cretaceous fossil highlights avian evolution
+ Tiny fossils reveal how shrinking was essential for successful evolution
+ How mammal backbones changed during evolution
+ Fat from 558 million years ago reveals earliest known animal
+ When mammal ancestors evolved flexible shoulders, their backbones changed too
+ Earth's oldest animals formed complex ecological communities
How will climate change stress the power grid
Buffalo NY (SPX) Oct 01, 2018
A new study suggests the power industry is underestimating how climate change could affect the long-term demand for electricity in the United States. The research, published in the journal Risk Analysis, was led by the University at Buffalo and Purdue University. It describes the limitations of prediction models used by electricity providers and regulators for medium- and long-term e ... more
+ Electricity crisis leaves Iraqis gasping for cool air
+ Energy-intensive Bitcoin transactions pose a growing environmental threat
+ Germany thwarts China by taking stake in 50Hertz power firm
+ Global quadrupling of cooling appliances to 14 billion by 2050
+ Equinor buys short-term electricity trader
+ China reviewing low-carbon efforts
+ Path to zero emissions starts out easy, but gets steep


A new carbon material with Na storage capacity over 400mAh/g
Beijing, China (SPX) Oct 01, 2018
Since 2010, sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) have been intensively investigated because of their cost and resource advantages and the application prospect in the large-scale energy storage system. However, the energy density of the current NIBs remains a serious challenge hindering its large-scale commercial application. Hard carbon is one of the promising anodes in the early commercial NIBs fo ... more
+ A novel approach of improving battery performance
+ What powers deep space travel
+ X-rays uncover a hidden property that leads to failure in a lithium-ion battery material
+ New battery gobbles up carbon dioxide
+ Laser ignites hot plasma
+ Condensation enhancement: Toward practical energy and water applications
+ Yotta Solar solves panel level energy storage
More than 4 billion birds stream overhead during fall migration
Ithaca NY (SPX) Sep 26, 2018
Using cloud computing and data from 143 weather radar stations across the continental United States, Cornell Lab of Ornithology researchers can now estimate how many birds migrate through the U.S. and the toll that winter and these nocturnal journeys take. Their findings are published in Nature Ecology and Evolution. "We've discovered that each autumn, an average of 4 billion birds move so ... more
+ India watches for deadly virus as lion deaths spike
+ Fad for 'lucky' tail hair threatens Vietnam elephants
+ Judge restores protections for Yellowstone grizzlies, hunts canceled
+ Climate change not main driver of amphibian decline
+ Male mosquitoes listen for approaching females using built-in amplifier
+ How plants harness microbes to get nutrients
+ DNA sleuths bolster case against three ivory cartels
Daily Newsletters - Space - Military - Environment - Energy

Disappearing act: What happened to Hong Kong's Umbrella Art?
Hong Kong (AFP) Sept 26, 2018
Illuminated under a spotlight at London's British Museum, hand-drawn sketches of Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement are part of a new exhibition on dissent that offers a rare glimpse of the artworks produced during the pro-democracy rallies. The months-long demonstrations, which kicked off on September 28 four years ago, brought parts of the city to a standstill as protest camps took over ar ... more
+ Ibsen play pulled in China after audience demand free speech
+ Pope calls on Chinese Catholics to reconcile after bishop deal
+ Beijing charges shuttered church $170,000 after eviction
+ Hong Kong marks fourth anniversary of Umbrella Movement
+ China defends ban on Hong Kong pro-independence party
+ Hong Kong bans pro-independence party over 'national security' fears
+ Vatican delegation 'to visit China this month': state media
Gabon pressures forestry firms on best practice
Libreville (AFP) Sept 26, 2018
Gabon will pull forestry permits from firms that have not embraced an international standard on responsible logging by 2022, President Ali Bongo Ondimba said Wednesday. Ondimba made the statement in support of a certification process run by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international NGO devoted to better forestry management. By 2022, all loggers have to be "committed" to FSC ... more
+ How leaves talk to roots
+ Chile launches immense scenic route connecting 17 national parks
+ National parks bear the brunt of climate change
+ Climate change, pests, fallen trees a deadly recipe for US forests
+ Wetlands disappearing three times faster than forests: study
+ Once majestic Atlantic Forest 'empty' after 500 years of over-exploitation
+ Coastal wetlands will survive rising seas, but only if we let them


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