Goddard instrument makes first detection of organic matter on Mars
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 17, 2014 -
The team responsible for the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on NASA's Curiosity rover has made the first definitive detection of organic molecules at Mars. Organic molecules are the building blocks of all known forms of terrestrial life, and consist of a wide variety of molecules made primarily of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms.
However, organic molecules can also be ma ...
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Heavy snow kills 5, disrupts travel in Japan
Tokyo (AFP) Dec 18, 2014 -
At least five people have died in heavy snow that has blanketed swathes of Japan, reports said Thursday, with more than two metres (6ft 7ins) lying in some places and more forecast.
Two elderly women were killed on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, Kyodo News reported, with one hit by a snow-plough and another buried when a warehouse collapsed under the weight of fallen snow.
Two men, ...
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Scientists befuddled by rock containing 30,000 diamonds
San Francisco (UPI) Dec 18, 2014 -
Scientists aren't sure how a small rock packed with more than 30,000 tiny diamonds came to be. The chunk of diamond ore was discovered in Russia's massive Udachnaya diamond mine. Because the diamonds are minuscule, they're worth little, so the mining company donated the rock to science.
Researchers in Russia and the United States have studied the rock and remain befuddled. The average p ...
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550 Million Year Old Fossils Provide New Clues about Fossil Formation
Columbia MO (SPX) Dec 19, 2014 -
A new study from University of Missouri and Virginia Tech researchers is challenging accepted ideas about how ancient soft-bodied organisms become part of the fossil record. Findings suggest that bacteria involved in the decay of those organisms play an active role in how fossils are formed-often in a matter of just a few tens to hundreds of years.
Understanding the relationship between de ...
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The Greenland Ice Sheet: Now in HD
San Francisco CA (SPX) Dec 19, 2014 -
The Greenland Ice Sheet is ready for its close-up. The highest-resolution satellite images ever taken of that region are making their debut. And while each individual pixel represents only one moment in time, taken together they show the ice sheet as a kind of living body--flowing, crumbling and melting out to sea.
The Ohio State University has partnered with the Polar Geospatial Center at ...
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Improving forecasts for rain-on-snow flooding
Seattle WA (SPX) Dec 19, 2014 -
Many of the worst West Coast winter floods pack a double punch. Heavy rains and melting snow wash down the mountains together to breach riverbanks, wash out roads and flood buildings. These events are unpredictable and difficult to forecast. Yet they will become more common as the planet warms and more winter precipitation falls as rain rather than snow.
University of Washington mountain h ...
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Hidden Movements of Greenland Ice Sheet, Runoff Revealed
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Dec 19, 2014 -
For years NASA has tracked changes in the massive Greenland Ice Sheet. This week scientists using NASA data released the most detailed picture ever of how the ice sheet moves toward the sea and new insights into the hidden plumbing of melt water flowing under the snowy surface.
The results of these studies are expected to improve predictions of the future of the entire Greenland ice sheet ...
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Glacier beds can get slipperier at higher sliding speeds
Ames IA (SPX) Dec 19, 2014 -
As a glacier's sliding speed increases, the bed beneath the glacier can grow slipperier, according to laboratory experiments conducted by Iowa State University glaciologists.
They say including this effect in efforts to calculate future increases in glacier speeds could improve predictions of ice volume lost to the oceans and the rate of sea-level rise.
The glaciologists - Lucas Zoet ...
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Clearing rainforests distorts wind and water, packs climate wallop beyond carbon
Charlottesville VA (SPX) Dec 19, 2014 -
A new study presents powerful evidence that clearing trees not only spews carbon into the atmosphere, but also triggers major shifts in rainfall and increased temperatures worldwide that are just as potent as those caused by current carbon pollution.
Further, the study finds that future agricultural productivity across the globe is at risk from deforestation-induced warming and altered rai ...
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Migrating 'supraglacial' lakes could trigger future Greenland ice loss
Leeds, UK (SPX) Dec 19, 2014 -
Predictions of Greenland ice loss and its impact on rising sea levels may have been greatly underestimated, according to scientists at the University of Leeds.
The finding follows a new study, which is published in Nature Climate Change, in which the future distribution of lakes that form on the ice sheet surface from melted snow and ice - called supraglacial lakes - have been simulated fo ...
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North Atlantic signalled Ice Age thaw 1,000 years before it happened
London, UK (SPX) Dec 19, 2014 -
The Atlantic Ocean at mid-depths may have given out early warning signals - 1,000 years in advance - that the last Ice Age was going to end, scientists report in the journal Paleoceanography. Scientists had previously known that at the end of the last Ice Age, around 14,700 years ago, major changes occurred to the Atlantic Ocean in a period known as the Bolling-Allerod interval.
During thi ...
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Japan nuclear watchdog greenlights more reactors
Tokyo (AFP) Dec 17, 2014 -
Japan's nuclear watchdog on Wednesday gave the green light to restarting two more atomic reactors, days after pro-nuclear Prime Minister Shinzo Abe swept to election victory.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) said it believed the two units at Takahama nuclear power plant in central Fukui prefecture met toughened safety standards introduced after the tsunami-sparked disaster at Fukushima ...
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After Google, Dutch privacy watchdog probes Facebook
The Hague (AFP) Dec 16, 2014 -
A Dutch government-affiliated watchdog said Tuesday it is probing changes in Facebook's privacy policy, the latest skirmish in a wider fight over the commercial use of online personal data.
The announcement came a day after the Hague-based Data Protection Agency warned Google it was breaching data protection laws by using personal details for targeted advertising.
Google faces a 15 mi ...
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Canada court orders Apple to hand over iPhone documents
Ottawa (AFP) Dec 17, 2014 -
A Federal Court in Canada on Wednesday ordered Apple's Canadian subsidiary to hand over nearly three years worth of documents to a watchdog agency as part of an anti-competition probe into iPhone sales.
The move comes after Canada's Competition Bureau last week said it was poring over Apple's contracts with local wireless carriers to determine if the company illegally stifled competition whe ...
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Honda to recall almost 570,000 vehicles in China
Shanghai (AFP) Dec 17, 2014 -
Japanese carmaker Honda will recall almost 570,000 vehicles in China from February due to potentially defective airbags, China's quality watchdog said.
Honda's two Chinese joint ventures have filed their plans with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine to recall 553,264 cars from February 28, the government body said in a statement Tuesday.
The reca ...
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Hackers trick way into ICANN computers
San Francisco (AFP) Dec 18, 2014 -
The private agency that acts as a gatekeeper for the Internet on Wednesday said that hackers tricked their way into its computers.
A "spearfishing" attack aimed at US-based nonprofit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) hooked staff members with emails crafted to appear as though they were sent from peers using "icann.org" addresses, according to a blog post.
"The ...
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Online privacy to remain thorny issue: survey
Washington (AFP) Dec 18, 2014 -
Online privacy will remain a thorny issue over the next decade, without a widely accepted system that balances user rights and personal data collection, a survey of experts showed Thursday.
"The vast majority of experts agree that people who operate online are living in an unprecedented condition of ubiquitous surveillance," said Lee Rainie, a co-author of the report and director of the Pew ...
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US officials see progress in China trade talks
Washington (AFP) Dec 19, 2014 -
The United States and China wrapped up high-level trade talks Thursday in Chicago, with US officials hailing progress in a range of areas including medicines, intellectual property rights and agriculture.
Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said the two sides had "very productive" talks in the annual high-level forum aimed at addressing bilateral trade and investment issues between the worl ...
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Underfire Uber ramps up rider safety
San Francisco (AFP) Dec 17, 2014 -
Uber is ramping up driver background checks and other security measures worldwide after the smartphone-focused car-sharing service was banned in New Delhi following the alleged rape of a passenger.
The incident earlier this month in the Indian capital was one of a string of setbacks for the popular but controversial San Francisco-based start-up - valued at $40 billion - which lets customer ...
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Italy arrest 18 over China bank transfers via British company
Rome (AFP) Dec 17, 2014 -
Italy's financial police on Wednesday arrested 18 people suspected of making illicit cash transfers totalling more than a billion euros, most of them to China through a British company.
The suspects are accused of having laundered profits from the import of counterfeit goods made in China through money-transfer agencies, defrauding the tax authorities in the process, the police said.
The ...
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UN sends team to clean up Bangladesh oil spill
Dhaka (AFP) Dec 18, 2014 -
The United Nations said Thursday it has sent a team of international experts to Bangladesh to help clean up the world's largest mangrove forest, more than a week after it was hit by a huge oil spill.
Thousands of litres of oil have spilt into the protected Sundarbans mangrove area, home to rare Irrawaddy and Ganges dolphins, after a tanker collided with another vessel last Tuesday.
A tea ...
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Marathon trims capital programs for 2015
Houston (UPI) Dec 18, 2014 -
Marathon Oil Corp. said trimming its 2015 capital program by 20 percent was a reflection of the need to manage cash flow in the bear market for crude oil.
Marathon, in a late Wednesday release, said it was planning to spend around $4.4 billion next year on investments and exploration, about 20 percent less than it had designated for the current year.
"We remain confident in our i ...
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Oil markets climb along with global stock indices
New York (UPI) Dec 18, 2014 -
Steady improvements in the U.S. economy and economic assurances offered Thursday by the Russian president helped right the ship for crude oil markets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his annual address the Russian economy would recover within the next two years, along with the rest of the global economy.
"Exit from the current economic situation in Russia is inevitable," ...
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Chevron halts effort to explore Beaufort
New York (AFP) Dec 18, 2014 -
Chevron has suspended plans for Arctic exploration offshore Canada due in part to uncertainty following the drop in oil prices, the company told regulators this week.
Chevron said plans for exploration in the Beaufort Sea were "on hold indefinitely" due "to a number of factors, including the level of economic uncertainty in the industry," according to a letter the US energy giant sent Wednes ...
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Apple co-founder Wozniak skeptical on smartwatches, Google Glass
Sydney (AFP) Dec 19, 2014 -
Steve Wozniak says he is no fan of smartwatches and believes Google Glass will fail as he cautioned not to expect the company he co-founded, Apple, to always lead the way into new technologies.
The American, who quit Apple in 1987 - 12 years after creating the technology giant with the late Steve Jobs - made the comments as he took up Australian residency, with a view to living Down Under ...
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