Butterflies tell plants apart by leaf shape
Panama City, Panama (UPI) Jul 29, 2016 -
The evolutionary pressures of hunger, reproduction and pollination have driven a unique relationship between butterflies and plants.
To encourage the faithfulness of their winged friends, plants have sprouted an impressive diversity of leaves, which in turn has prompted impressive shape-recognition ability among butterflies.
According to scientists with the University of Cambridg ...
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Pro-independence activist banned from Hong Kong elections
Hong Kong (AFP) July 30, 2016 -
A leading pro-independence politician was Saturday disqualified from standing in Hong Kong's upcoming legislative election, his party said.
Andy Chan, who founded the Hong Kong National Party in March, was banned by the city's government from taking part in the September poll.
But the party, which claims there is growing support for the semi-autonomous city to break away from mainland C ...
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Monsoon-triggered floods kill more than 50 in India
Guwahati, India (AFP) July 30, 2016 -
Floods triggered by days of torrential monsoon rains have claimed more than 50 lives in eastern India this week, the country's home minister and reports said Saturday, with millions of people affected by surging waters.
Rivers have burst their banks, flooding villages in the northeastern tea-growing state of Assam where 26 people have died, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, after carrying ou ...
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Panama prison for 5 over toxic cough syrup that killed hundreds
Panama City (AFP) July 29, 2016 -
Five people were sentenced to prison in Panama Friday over a 2006 poison cough syrup scandal in which hundreds of people died after unwittingly ingesting a toxic compound found in antifreeze.
The verdict capped years of investigation and a convulsion of shock at the many deaths in this small Central American nation.
Officials say 400 people died when they drank the adulterated cough syru ...
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11 killed and 30,000 left homeless in Niger floods
Niamey (AFP) July 29, 2016 -
Eleven people have died in flooding in Niger and 30,000 left homeless after vast swathes of the country - including arid desert locations - were deluged with heavy rain, the UN said Friday.
The worst affected regions are both desert areas: Tahoua in the west, where seven people died and 5,321 people were left homeless, and Agadez in the north where three people were killed and 18,448 lost ...
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Six more officials charged in Flint water scandal
Chicago (AFP) July 29, 2016 -
Authorities in the US state of Michigan filed criminal charges Friday against six current and former state officials over lead water contamination in the city of Flint, signaling that their probe is expanding.
"Many things went tragically wrong in Flint. Some failed to act," Michigan State Attorney General Bill Schuette told a news conference as he announced the new charges.
"Some intent ...
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Reclaimed city off Singapore triggers ecology fears
Johor Bahru, Malaysia (AFP) July 31, 2016 -
A planned multi-billion-dollar new city near Singapore is attracting interest from investors with promises of luxury living but there are questions over its future owing to China's economic woes and warnings of environmental catastrophe.
Forest City, a $42 billion futuristic "eco-city" of high-rises and waterfront villas, will sit on four man-made islands on the Malaysian side of the Johor S ...
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New remote-controlled microrobots for medical operations
Lausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Jul 26, 2016 -
For the past few years, scientists around the world have been studying ways to use miniature robots to better treat a variety of diseases. The robots are designed to enter the human body, where they can deliver drugs at specific locations or perform precise operations like clearing clogged-up arteries. By replacing invasive, often complicated surgery, they could optimize medicine.
EPFL sci ...
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The preventive destruction
Tomsk, Russia (SPX) Jul 28, 2016 -
Employees of the Department of Celestial Mechanics and Astrometry NII PMM of Tomsk state university (Russia) and colleagues from St. Petersburg State University, Keldysh Research Center, and Research Institute Sirius are developing measures to protect the Earth from potentially dangerous celestial bodies.
With the help of supercomputer SKIF Cyberia, the scientists simulated the nuclear exp ...
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Molten storage and thermophotovoltaics offer new solar power pathway
Atlanta GA (SPX) Jul 28, 2016 -
A new wrinkle on an old technology - solid-state thermophotovoltaics (TPV) - could provide a high-efficiency alternative for directly converting high-temperature heat from concentrated solar thermal to utility-scale electricity.
New computer modeling suggests that high temperature TPV conversion - which captures infrared radiation from very hot surfaces - could one day rival combined-cycle ...
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Earth's mantle appears to have a driving role in plate tectonics
Eugene OR (SPX) Jul 29, 2016 -
Deep down below us is a tug of war moving at less than the speed of growing fingernails. Keeping your balance is not a concern, but how the movement happens has been debated among geologists.
New findings from under the Pacific Northwest Coast by University of Oregon and University of Washington scientists now suggest a solution to a mystery that surfaced when the theory of plate tectonics ...
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Mulching plus remediation corrects contaminated lawns
Fargo ND (SPX) Jul 29, 2016 -
Petroleum-based spills on turfgrass can occur during lawn care and maintenance, primarily as a result of equipment failure or improper refueling. When these spills happen, hazardous hydrocarbons can contaminate soil and compromise the chemical balance of the grass and soil. The authors of a study in the June 2016 issue of HortTechnology found that application of mulching materials after soil rem ...
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Monsoon intensity enhanced by heat captured by desert dust
Austin TX (SPX) Jul 29, 2016 -
Variations in the ability of sand particles kicked into the atmosphere from deserts in the Middle East to absorb heat can change the intensity of the Indian Summer Monsoon, according to new research from The University of Texas at Austin. The research was published in Scientific Reports, an open access journal from the publishers of Nature.
The Indian monsoon is a period of intense rainfal ...
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Utah State University geologists probe geological carbon storage
Logan UT (SPX) Jul 29, 2016 -
Effective carbon capture and storage or "CCS" in underground reservoirs is one possible way to meet ambitious climate change targets demanded by countries and international partnerships around the world. But are current technologies up to the task of securely and safely corralling buoyant carbon dioxide (CO2) for at least 10,000 years - the minimum time period required of most agreements?
...
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Nottingham Dollies prove cloned sheep can live long and healthy lives
Nottingham UK (SPX) Jul 28, 2016 -
Three weeks after the scientific world marked the 20th anniversary of the birth of Dolly the sheep new research, published by The University of Nottingham, in the academic journal Nature Communications has shown that four clones derived from the same cell line - genomic copies of Dolly - reached their 8th birthdays in good health. The video can be seen here.
Nottingham's Dollies - Debbie, ...
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Study highlights electric grids' vulnerabilities to extreme weather
Oak Ridge, Tenn. (UPI) Jul 29, 2016 -
Climate change is likely to expose electric grids to new threats. Researchers say electrical engineers and those who manage America's electrical grid need prepare for emerging vulnerabilities.
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed new analysis strategies for identifying the parts of the electric grid that are most vulnerable to extreme weather.
"For the first ...
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Watering solar cells makes them grow ... in power
Onna, Japan (SPX) Jul 28, 2016 -
Perovskite solar cells are the rising star in the photovoltaic landscape. Since their invention, less than ten years ago, their efficiency has doubled twice and it is now over 22% - an astonishing result in the renewable energy sector.
Taking the name 'perovskite' from the light-harvesting layer that characterizes them, these solar cells are lighter, cheaper, and more flexible than the tra ...
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CryoSat sets new standard for measuring sea levels
Paris (ESA) Jul 28, 2016 -
Trying to measure sea levels around rugged coastlines is not always an easy task. ESA's CryoSat satellite is making a difference with its radar altimeter. Sea level is a very sensitive indicator of climate change, reflecting components of the climate system such as heat, glaciers and the melting of ice-sheets.
Precisely monitoring changes in the average level of oceans is vitally important ...
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