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  Washington DC (SPX) Nov 09, 2018 A theory called the cultural brain hypothesis could explain extraordinary increases in brain size in humans and other animals over the last few million years, according to a study published in PLOS Computational Biology by Michael Muthukrishna of the London School of Economics and Political Science and Harvard University, and colleagues at the University of British Columbia and Harvard University. Humans have extraordinarily large brains, which have tripled in size in the last few million years. O ... read more |
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Spying on bees reveals pesticides impair social behaviorTampa (AFP) Nov 8, 2018 A new study that allowed humans to spy on bumblebees inside their nests showed that pesticides can impair social behavior, making it hard for bees to eat and rear their young, researchers said Thursday. ... more  
Illegal emissions threaten to undermine UN's optimistic ozone reportWashington (UPI) Nov 8, 2018 Despite news reports of an improving ozone layer, uncertainty over the impacts of illegal chlorofluorocarbon emissions threatens to undermine the longterm success of the Montreal Protocol. ... more  
Study tracks severe bleaching events on a Pacific coral reef over past centuryCape Cod MA (SPX) Nov 09, 2018 As climate change causes ocean temperatures to rise, coral reefs worldwide are experiencing mass bleaching events and die-offs. For many, this is their first encounter with extreme heat. However for ... more  
Rainforest destruction from gold mining hits all-time high in PeruWinston-Salem NC (SPX) Nov 09, 2018 Small-scale gold mining has destroyed more than 170,000 acres of primary rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon in the past five years, according to a new analysis by scientists at Wake Forest University ... more |
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| Previous Issues | Nov 08 | Nov 07 | Nov 06 | Nov 05 | Nov 02 |
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Madagascar, troubled vanilla islandAntananarivo (AFP) Nov 5, 2018 The Indian Ocean island of Madagascar is the leading global producer of vanilla and blessed with a bountiful biodiversity, yet it remains one of the poorest countries in the world. ... more  
Interpol says must accept Chinese boss' resignationLyon (AFP) Nov 8, 2018 Interpol must accept the resignation of its Chinese boss, who is detained in China on charges of accepting bribes, the organisation's secretary general said Thursday. ... more  
Munich Re posts gains despite typhoon, hurricane payoutsFrankfurt Am Main (AFP) Nov 7, 2018 German reinsurance giant Munich Re posted Wednesday stronger than expected profits for its third quarter, despite booking huge claims over several natural disasters. ... more 
FT journalist denied entry to Hong Kong after author talks cancelledHong Kong (AFP) Nov 8, 2018 Hong Kong refused entry to a senior Financial Times journalist Thursday hours after an arts centre hosting the city's high-profile literary festival cancelled appearances by exiled Chinese writer Ma Jian, as Beijing tightens its grip. ... more 
Rebels kill at least seven civilians in eastern DRCongo: armyBeni, Dr Congo (AFP) Nov 4, 2018 Rebels killed at least seven civilians and abducted 15 others, including children, in fresh overnight raids in the far eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, civilian and military sources said Sunday. ... more |
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 China rights record in spotlight at UN review 
Jailed Chinese activist's elderly mother seeks justiceBeijing (AFP) Nov 6, 2018 Unable to see her son ailing in prison, the 85-year-old mother of China's first "cyber dissident" has come to Beijing to plead his case, fearing he will die behind bars. ... more  |
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Jailed Chinese activist's life in 'immediate' danger: rights groupsBeijing (AFP) Nov 5, 2018 China's first "cyber-dissident" Huang Qi is in danger of dying under police custody if he does not receive medical treatment for a host of severe health conditions, human rights groups warned on Monday. ... more 
Police detain two students outside Beijing Apple storeBeijing (AFP) Nov 8, 2018 Beijing police Thursday briefly detained two students who were part of a group protesting alleged worker exploitation outside an Apple store, according to one of the demonstrators. ... more  
Climate change causing more severe wildfires, larger insect outbreaks in temperate forestsPortland OR (SPX) Nov 08, 2018 A warmer, drier climate is expected is increase the likelihood of larger-scale forest disturbances such as wildfires, insect outbreaks, disease and drought, according to a new study co-authored by a ... more  
Delhi bans trucks as megacity chokesNew Delhi (AFP) Nov 9, 2018 Delhi authorities have imposed a three-day ban on trucks entering the world's most polluted major city as its 20 million inhabitants wheezed in the toxic annual winter smog. ... more
Backlash over FT journalist denied entry to Hong KongHong Kong (AFP) Nov 9, 2018 Rights campaigners Friday denounced Hong Kong's barring of a senior Financial Times journalist as another blow to press freedom in the city which has come under increasing pressure from an assertive China. ... more |
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 Beijing (AFP) Nov 8, 2018 
A chemical spill that dumped nearly seven tonnes of toxic waste in the seas off Fujian province in east China has left 52 people ill, local authorities said Thursday.
The incident happened in the early hours of Sunday when a tube connecting a transport vessel to the wharf broke, spilling 6.9 tonnes of C9 aromatics into the sea.
A product of refining crude oil, C9 is typically used to p ... more |
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 Riverside CA (SPX) Nov 06, 2018 
When two atomically thin two-dimensional layers are stacked on top of each other and one layer is made to rotate against the second layer, they begin to produce patterns - the familiar moire patterns - that neither layer can generate on its own and that facilitate the passage of light and electrons, allowing for materials that exhibit unusual phenomena. For example, when two graphene layers are ... more |
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 Washington DC (SPX) Nov 08, 2018 
Earth's water may have originated from both asteroidal material and gas left over from the formation of the Sun, according to new research. The new finding could give scientists important insights about the development of other planets and their potential to support life.
In a new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, researcher ... more |
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 Bremerhaven, Germany (SPX) Nov 08, 2018 
AWI researchers recently assessed subglacial lakes detected by satellite, and found very little water. But if that's the case, what is the source of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet's massive ice streams?
In the course of an extensive Antarctic expedition, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) recently investigated several lakes bene ... more |
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 Los Angeles (AFP) Nov 7, 2018 
Hens, cows and pigs owe Californians a thank you for approving a law Tuesday guaranteeing minimum living space on farms - though Alaskans had some bad news for wild salmon and trout.
States across the US consult the public on all manner of issues at election time - from drug decriminalization to gun control and the death penalty - and west coast voters had some weighty proposals on the ba ... more |
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 Tacloban, Philippines (AFP) Nov 8, 2018 
Philippine survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan recalled their terror and loss while gathered Thursday at a mass grave for thousands killed five years ago in the country's worst storm on record.
Then the strongest storm to ever hit land, Haiyan left more than 7,360 people dead or missing across the central Philippines with its tsunami-like storm surges wiping out communities and triggering a gl ... more |
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 Antananarivo (AFP) Nov 5, 2018 
The Indian Ocean island of Madagascar is the leading global producer of vanilla and blessed with a bountiful biodiversity, yet it remains one of the poorest countries in the world.
Here is some background:
- Fourth largest island -
Stretching across 587,000 square kilometres (nearly 227,000 square miles), Madagascar is the world's fourth largest island, bigger than Spain or Thailand ... more |
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 Washington DC (UPI) Nov 06, 2018 
Anthropologist Erik Trinkaus has discovered an unusually large number of physical deformities among the earliest humans.
According to a new study, the multitude of deformities could be explained by inbreeding among early human populations.
Trinkaus, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, identified evidence of 75 skeletal or dental defects among 66 early humans, inclu ... more |
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 Washington (AFP) Nov 8, 2018 
New Mexico Democrat Deb Haaland, who became one of the first Native American women elected to the US Congress this week, says she plans to make the fight for renewable energy a top priority.
A 57-year-old member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, Haaland insists that indigenous rights are inextricably linked to climate change - and vows to fight for "tribal nations ... battling the fossil fuel ind ... more |
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 Washington (UPI) Nov 5, 2018 
Scientists expect the Northern hemisphere and mid-latitude ozone holes to be completely repaired some time in the 2030s, according to the first assessment of the ozone hole since 2014.
The study, "Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2018," published Monday by the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization, highlighted the decrease of ozone-depleting substances as the ... more |
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 Philadelphia PA (SPX) Nov 08, 2018 
In the dramatically changing conditions of ancient Earth, organisms had to evolve new strategies to keep up. From the mid-Oligocene, roughly 30 million years ago, to the mid-to-late Miocene, about 5 million years ago, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere fell by a roughly a third. This same period saw the emergence of a new form of photosynthesis in a subset of plants, the C4 pathway. ... more |
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 Brussels (AFP) Nov 8, 2018 
An EU court ruled Thursday that Brussels regulators are wrong to test the energy efficiency of vacuum cleaners using empty dust bags, in a victory for British manufacturer Dyson.
Household vacuums sold in Europe must carry energy labelling to allow consumers to judge which models are more efficient and thus cheaper to run and less damaging to the environment.
But Dyson, which makes clean ... more |
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 Portland OR (SPX) Nov 06, 2018 
Fusion offers the potential of near limitless energy by heating a gas trapped in a magnetic field to incredibly high temperatures where atoms are so energetic that they fuse together when they collide. But if that hot gas, called a plasma, breaks free from the magnetic field, it must be safely put back in place to avoid damaging the fusion device - this problem has been one of the great challeng ... more |
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 Washington (UPI) Nov 7, 2018 
Scientists have discovered a warbler in Pennsylvania that is the hybrid of three species, a rarity.
The bird, documented by ornithologists at Cornell University, is the offspring of a hybrid mother and father from a separate genus. It's the first time scientists have identified such a reproductive trifecta.
"It's extremely rare," David Toews, a postdoctoral associate at the Corne ... more |
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 Hong Kong (AFP) Nov 9, 2018 
Rights campaigners Friday denounced Hong Kong's barring of a senior Financial Times journalist as another blow to press freedom in the city which has come under increasing pressure from an assertive China.
The refusal by immigration officials to let in the FT's Asia news editor Victor Mallet Thursday came hours after an arts centre hosting the city's high-profile literary festival cancelled ... more |
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 Greenbelt MD (SPX) Nov 08, 2018 
A new NASA laser instrument set to launch to the International Space Station in December will help scientists create the first three-dimensional map of the world's temperate and tropical forests. The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation, or GEDI, is scheduled to launch on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. From the station, GEDI's advanced laser technology will reveal the three-dimensional structure o ... more |
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