Earth News, Earth Sciences, Energy and Environment. http://www.terradaily.com/index.html Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT en-us To help answer one of the great existential questions - how did life begin? - a new study combines biological and cosmological models. Professor Tomonori Totani from the Department of Astronomy looked at how life's building blocks could spontaneously form in the universe - a process known as abiogenesis. If there's one thing in the universe that is certain, it's that life exists. It must h]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT Rutgers engineers have created a tabletop device that combines a robot, artificial intelligence and near-infrared and ultrasound imaging to draw blood or insert catheters to deliver fluids and drugs. Their most recent research results, published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, suggest that autonomous systems like the image-guided robotic device could outperform people on some c]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT More than half of the planet's fresh water is in Antarctica. While most of it is frozen in the ice sheets, underneath the ice pools and streams of water flow into one another and into the Southern Ocean surrounding the continent. Understanding the movement of this water, and what is dissolved in it as solutes, reveals how carbon and nutrients from the land may support life in the coastal ocean. ]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT The biggest impacts on the sea life in Swansea Bay, Wales, come from waves and tides rather than human activity, a wide-ranging new study - encompassing over 170 species of fish and other sea life such as crabs, squid and starfish - has revealed. Combining data on species, human impacts, and wave and tide patterns, the study, by a Swansea University team, provides the most comprehensive pi]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT The ability of the world's tropical forests to remove carbon from the atmosphere is decreasing, according to a study tracking 300,000 trees over 30 years, published in Nature. The global scientific collaboration, led by the University of Leeds, reveals that a feared switch of the world's undisturbed tropical forests from a carbon sink to a carbon source has begun. Intact tropical for]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT University of Illinois scientists, with help from members of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, have developed a new, scalable method for estimating crop productivity in real time. The research, published in Remote Sensing of Environment, combines field measurements, a unique in-field camera network, and high-resolution, high-frequency satellite data, providing highly accurate productivity e]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT The Southern High Plains of the United States have low annual rainfall. When it does rain, though, intense storms can cause severe soil erosion. Strong winds also strip away valuable topsoil. Enter cover crops. Usually grown during seasons when primary crops aren't cultivated, cover crops can include legumes such as pea and hairy vetch, or grassy crops like oats and barley. C]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT For days now, several cities at the heart of China's deadly coronavirus epidemic have not recorded any new infections - so residents such as factory worker Tang Wushan have a message for the authorities: it's time to lift their quarantine. Tang lives in central Hubei province, whose nearly 60 million residents have been under lockdown since late January as the government rushed to put a lid]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT The United Nations on Friday asked nine countries, including China, South Korea and France, to delay by three months the rotations of their UN peacekeeping forces due to the coronavirus outbreak. The request was made to the countries "to maintain operational strength and execute their mandated tasks," diplomatic sources at the UN said. The nine countries also include Cambodia, Thailand, ]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT China's fight against the coronavirus epidemic has triggered anger over the neglect of frontline female workers who have struggled to access menstrual products, battled with ill-fitting equipment and had their heads shaved. Reports that some medical staff were given birth control pills in order to delay their periods have also prompted outrage. As the world marks International Women's Da]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT The novel coronavirus is getting a new name from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - the "Wuhan virus" - despite objections from China where the illness was first detected. For the second day in a row, Pompeo on Friday publicly referred to COVID-19 as the "Wuhan virus" or "Wuhan coronavirus," a reference to the central Chinese metropolis that is hardest hit. Asked in a CNBC interview abou]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT A quarter of the Italian population was in lockdown on Sunday as the government took drastic steps to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus sweeping the globe, while Iran recorded another 49 deaths and the national airline suspended flights to Europe. Italy's COVID-19 death count is now 233, more than any other country outside China. The outbreak has now killed more than 3,500 peopl]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT China on Sunday reported its lowest number of new coronavirus infections since January, with nearly all the 44 new cases in the outbreak epicentre Wuhan. There were 27 new deaths from the virus, all in Wuhan and the lowest in more than a month, bringing the nationwide toll to 3,097, according to the National Health Commission. Only three cases, all imported from abroad, were reported out]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT Almost 300 million students worldwide faced weeks at home with Italy the latest country to shut schools over the deadly new coronavirus, as the IMF urged an all-out global offensive against the epidemic. More than 95,000 people have been infected and over 3,200 have died worldwide from the virus, which by Thursday had reached some 80 countries and territories. In California, Governor Gav]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT Videos showing residents at the centre of China's coronavirus epidemic haranguing a top Chinese official have highlighted persistent anger at how authorities have handled the crisis. The clips, which have been circulating online since Thursday, show occupants of an apartment block in the city of Wuhan yelling "it's all fake" from windows during an official neighbourhood inspection by Vice Pr]]> Mon, 09 Mar 2020 05:57:24 GMT