Extending climate predictability beyond El Nino
Honolulu HI (SPX) Apr 22, 2015 -
Tropical Pacific climate variations and their global weather impacts may be predicted much further in advance than previously thought, according to research by an international team of climate scientists from the USA, Australia, and Japan.
The source of this predictability lies in the tight interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere and among the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian ...
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Researchers produce first atlas of airborne microbes across United States
Boulder CO (SPX) Apr 22, 2015 -
A University of Colorado Boulder and North Carolina State University-led team has produced the first atlas of airborne microbes across the continental U.S., a feat that has implications for better understanding health and disease in humans, animals and crops.
The researchers collected outdoor dust samples from roughly 1,200 homes in all 50 states from both urban and rural areas using a pow ...
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Big butts aren't everything to male baboons
Durham NC (SPX) Apr 22, 2015 -
While the female baboon's big red bottom may be an eyesore to some, it has an aphrodisiac effect on her mates. Biologists have long thought that baboon males prefer females with bigger backsides as the mark of a good mother, but new research suggests it isn't so simple.
A study of wild baboons in southern Kenya reveals that the size of a female's swollen rump doesn't matter as much as prev ...
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Oldest fossils controversy resolved
Bristol, UK (SPX) Apr 22, 2015 -
New analysis of world-famous 3.46 billion-year-old rocks by researchers from the University of Bristol, the University of Oxford and UWA (the University of Western Australia) is set to finally resolve a long running evolutionary controversy.
The new research, published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, shows that structures once thought to be Earth's oldest ...
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Ocean currents impact methane consumption
Kiel, Germany (SPX) Apr 22, 2015 -
Large amounts of methane - whether as free gas or as solid gas hydrates - can be found in the sea floor along the ocean shores. When the hydrates dissolve or when the gas finds pathways in the sea floor to ascend, the methane can be released into the water and rise to the surface.
Once emitted into the atmosphere, it acts as a very potent greenhouse gas twenty times stronger than carbon di ...
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Down to three wolves on Isle Royale
Houghton MI (SPX) Apr 22, 2015 -
Only three wolves seem to remain in Isle Royale National Park. Researchers from Michigan Technological University observed the wolves during their annual Winter Study, and the lone group, at an unprecedented low, is a sharp decline from nine wolves observed last winter.
The study's report, released today, marks the project's 57th year of observing wolves and moose in Isle Royale. It is the ...
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Let it snow
Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Apr 22, 2015 -
Five years ago today, the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Since then, scientists have continued to study the effects of the largest environmental disaster in the history of the petroleum industry.
UC Santa Barbara research oceanographer Uta Passow has been investigating the formation of aggregated oil and organic matter, commonly called marine snow. "Marine ...
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Expanding rubber plantations catastrophic for endangered species in Asia
Norwich, UK (SPX) Apr 22, 2015 -
Demand for natural rubber fuelled by the tyre industry is threatening protected parts of Southeast Asia - according to research from the University of East Anglia (UEA). A new study predicts that up to 8.5 million hectares of additional rubber plantations will be required to meet demand by 2024.
But expansion on this scale will have 'catastrophic' biodiversity impacts, with globally threat ...
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Genetic road map may bring about better cotton crops
Austin TX (SPX) Apr 22, 2015 -
A University of Texas at Austin scientist, working with an international research team, has developed the most precise sequence map yet of U.S. cotton and will soon create an even more detailed map for navigating the complex cotton genome.
The finding may help lead to an inexpensive version of American cotton that rivals the quality of luxurious Egyptian cotton and helps develop crops that ...
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Vampire squid discovery shows how little we know of the deep sea
Kiel, Germany (SPX) Apr 22, 2015 -
Among soft-bodied cephalopods, vampire squid live life at a slower pace. At ocean depths from 500 to 3,000 meters, they don't swim so much as float, and they get by with little oxygen while consuming a low-calorie diet of zooplankton and detritus. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 20 have found that vampire squid differ from all other living coleoid ce ...
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Luxury auto party over in China as growth slows, graft drive bites
Shanghai (AFP) April 21, 2015 -
When Italian luxury carmaker Maserati entered China a decade ago, with a brand virtually unknown to Chinese customers, it sold fewer than 40 vehicles its first year.
Last year, the Asian giant was Maserati's second largest market as sales of its sports cars - including the Quattroporte, which can cost up to $377,000 - reached 9,400, more than doubling from 2013.
But now its chief execu ...
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North Dakota to improve pipeline safety
Bismarck, N.D. (UPI) Apr 21, 2015 -
New pipeline rules in North Dakota will give the oil-rich state stronger safeguards against leaks and improve remediation, Gov. Jack Dalrymple said.
Dalrymple signed a state bill into law that strengthens the state's regulatory oversight on pipelines for crude oil and so-called produced water.
"This legislation builds on our ongoing work to enhance pipeline safety in North Dakota ...
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China property developer's default an 'isolated' glitch: analysts
Beijing (AFP) April 21, 2015 -
China's troubled property sector has seen its first default outside the mainland, with developer Kaisa unable to pay interest on its Hong Kong-listed bonds, but analysts said an immediate crisis is unlikely despite market woes.
Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd, based in the boom town of Shenzhen that borders Hong Kong, failed to pay interest totalling $52 million on 2017 and 2018 notes due last mont ...
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Iran wants more non-oil exports, better prices
Tehran (UPI) Apr 21, 2015 -
Iran aims to increase non-oil exports by 20 percent as part of an effort to reduce its economic dependence on crude oil, an industry minister said Tuesday.
Motjaba Khosrwotaj, the deputy minister of industry, mining and trade, said the increase would bring export revenue to $60 billion for the calendar year ending March 2016. With Iraq, Afghanistan, India and China as main export destin ...
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Microsoft to launch first flagship store outside US in Sydney
Sydney (AFP) April 21, 2015 -
Microsoft on Tuesday said it will open its first flagship store outside the United States in Sydney, as the technology giant expands its physical footprint to take on global rivals Apple and Samsung.
Microsoft Australia's managing director Pip Marlow said the shop, to be located in Sydney's main Pitt Street shopping district, was a "significant development" for the American firm.
"This i ...
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Oil price rally stalls in data anticipation
New York (UPI) Apr 21, 2015 -
A brief rally in crude oil prices stalled Tuesday, with major indices treading water ahead of the release of key market data later this week.
The price for Brent, the global benchmark, and West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. standard, have been on a steady rise for most of April, increasing more than 10 percent since the start of the month.
Separate reports from the Organization of ...
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Year-on-year, U.S. oil output up
Houston (UPI) Apr 21, 2015 -
Oil production in the Lower 48 U.S. states is increasing year-on-year despite low oil prices and less spending on exploration and production, analysis finds.
Bentek, the forecasting unit of energy news service Platts, said oil production from the Eagle Ford shale basin in Texas increased 28 percent year-on-year, while output from the Bakken shale in North Dakota was up nearly 18 percent ...
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Top experts call for zero-carbon world by 2050
London (AFP) April 21, 2015 -
A group of top international experts on Wednesday urged governments to stick to their promises to combat climate change and said the aim should be to create a "zero-carbon society" by 2050.
To coincide with Earth Day, research institute The Earth League published a statement warning that 2015 would be "a critical year for humanity" ahead of a global warming summit in Paris in December.
W ...
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IEA reviews arctic energy ambitions
Hammerfest, Norway (UPI) Apr 21, 2015 -
Norway has the experience to lead developments offshore, but tapping into frontier territory in arctic waters carries heavy risks, the director of the IEA said.
Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, spoke to delegates at the Barents Sea Conference in Hammerfest, Norway. Her address coincided with the start of a new Norwegian licensing round for ene ...
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Technique could slash energy used to produce many plastics
Boulder CO (SPX) Apr 19, 2015 -
A new material developed at the University of Colorado Boulder could radically reduce the energy needed to produce a wide variety of plastic products, from grocery bags and cling wrap to replacement hips and bulletproof vests.
Approximately 80 million metric tons of polyethylene is produced globally each year, making it the most common plastic in the world. An essential building block for ...
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Better battery imaging paves way for renewable energy future
Madison WI (SPX) Apr 22, 2015 -
In a move that could improve the energy storage of everything from portable electronics to electric microgrids, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Brookhaven National Laboratory researchers have developed a novel X-ray imaging technique to visualize and study the electrochemical reactions in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries containing a new type of material, iron fluoride.
"Iron fluorid ...
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How unwanted CDs and DVDs could help cut carbon emissions
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 19, 2015 -
Now that most consumers download and stream their movies and music, more and more CDs and DVDs will end up in landfills or be recycled. But soon these discarded discs could take on a different role: curbing the release of greenhouse gases.
In the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, scientists report a way to turn the discs into a material that can capture carbon dioxide, a k ...
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Dispersant used to clean gulf spill more toxic to corals than the oil
Philadelphia, PA (SPX) Apr 19, 2015 -
The dispersant used to remediate the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is more toxic to cold-water corals than the spilled oil, according to a study conducted at Temple University. The study comes on the eve of the spill's fifth anniversary, April 20th.
In this collaborative study between researchers from Temple and the Pennsylvania State University, the researchers ex ...
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Mountain of electrical waste reaches new peak: report
Paris (AFP) Apr 21, 2015 -
A record amount of electrical and electronic waste hit the rubbish tips in 2014, with the biggest per-capita tallies in countries that pride themselves on environmental consciousness, a report said Sunday.
Last year, 41.8 million tonnes of so-called e-waste - mostly fridges, washing machines and other domestic appliances at the end of their life - was dumped, it said.
That's the equi ...
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Mayor in standoff with chemical firms in Israel's Haifa
Jerusalem (AFP) April 20, 2015 -
Municipal rubbish trucks blocked the entrances to a refinery and four chemical plants in Israel's third city Haifa Monday following a scare over high cancer rates, a municipal spokesman said.
The standoff began on Sunday morning when Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav ordered municipal rubbish trucks to block access to the plants after warnings linking high cancer rates in the area to air pollution.
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