Ukraine has gas in storage for Europe, minister says
Kiev, Ukraine (UPI) Apr 14, 2013 -
Ukraine likely has enough gas stored in underground facilities to keep European demand satiated for three months, Ukraine's energy minister said Monday.
European consumers get about a quarter of their natural gas needs met by Russia, though the bulk of those supplies run through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last week warned European ...
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Ireland scraps wind energy exports
Dublin, Ireland (UPI) Apr 14, 2013 -
Irish Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte said a plan to send electricity from renewable resources to the United Kingdom won't take place as planned.
The Irish government had planned to build more than 2,000 wind turbines by 2020 to send as much as 5,000 megawatts of green energy to the British market.
Rabitte said in a statement that more energy trade with the British economy was inevi ...
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Refreshingly cool, potentially toxic
Munich, Germany (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
The refrigerant R1234yf is being considered for use in air conditioning systems in cars. LMU chemists now show that, in the event of a fire, it releases the highly poisonous carbonyl fluoride, and urge that its safety be reassessed.
According to EU guidelines, the new compound R1234yf should in future be used as the refrigerant in air-conditioning systems for automobiles. But the compound ...
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Emerging research suggests a new paradigm for "unconventional superconductors"
Urbana IL (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
An international team of scientists has reported the first experimental observation of the quantum critical point (QCP) in the extensively studied "unconventional superconductor" TiSe2, finding that it does not reside as predicted within the superconducting dome of the phase diagram, but rather at a full GPa higher in pressure.
The surprising result, reported in Nature Physics, suggests th ...
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BLOODHOUND team predicts the impact of the 1,000 mph supersonic car
London, UK (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
A new paper from the Swansea University, College of Engineering team working on the BLOODHOUND SSC (Supersonic car) project has been published on the aerodynamic characteristics of travelling at 1,000mph.
Simulations have looked at how the car will cope with the supersonic rolling ground, rotating wheels and resulting shock waves in close proximity to the test surface at the record attempt ...
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New research on gigabit wireless communications
Bristol, UK (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
Research on gigabit wireless communications has been presented by researchers from the University of Bristol at the world's leading wireless communications and networking conference, IEEE WCNC 2014, in Turkey earlier this week [Monday 6 to Wednesday 9 April].
The two research papers, led by Andrew Nix, Professor of Wireless Communication Systems and Dr Simon Armour, Senior Lecturer in Soft ...
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DNV GL Recognizes Wind Turbine Design by Goldwind
Shanghai, China (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
DNV GL has recently completed the Design Evaluation for a 2.5-MW wind turbine designed by Goldwind. At the 8th China International Wind Energy Exhibition, DNV GL handed over a Conformity Statement to Goldwind, one of the largest wind turbine manufacturers in China. It confirms that the turbine meets the requirements according to the standard IEC 61400-22 and IEC 61400-1 of the International Elec ...
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Catching the Invisible Wave
Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
In a feat that may provide a promising array of applications, from energy efficiency to telecommunications to enhanced imaging, researchers at UC Santa Barbara have created a compound semiconductor of nearly perfect quality with embedded nanostructures containing ordered lines of atoms that can manipulate light energy in the mid-infrared range.
More efficient solar cells, less risky and hi ...
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The Motion of the Medium Matters for Self-assembling Particles
Philadelphia PA (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
By attaching short sequences of single-stranded DNA to nanoscale building blocks, researchers can design structures that can effectively build themselves. The building blocks that are meant to connect have complementary DNA sequences on their surfaces, ensuring only the correct pieces bind together as they jostle into one another while suspended in a test tube.
Now, a University of Pennsyl ...
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Virus structure inspires novel understanding of onion-like carbon nanoparticles
York, UK (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
Symmetry is ubiquitous in the natural world. It occurs in gemstones and snowflakes and even in biology, an area typically associated with complexity and diversity. There are striking examples: the shapes of virus particles, such as those causing the common cold, are highly symmetrical and look like tiny footballs.
A research programme led by Reidun Twarock at the University of York, UK has ...
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Survey finds majority of Malaysians distrust govt on MH370
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) April 14, 2014 -
More than half of Malaysians believe their government is hiding information about missing flight MH370, according to survey results released by a news portal Monday.
Fifty-four percent of more than 1,000 people surveyed by Malaysia's leading independent polling firm said the government was not being transparent about the passenger jet's disappearance, the Malaysian Insider reported.
Only ...
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China officials seek to block corruption protesters: report
Beijing (AFP) April 14, 2014 -
Local Chinese officials are blocking citizens seeking to report corruption to a central government inspection team, state media said on Monday, in the latest apparent abuse of the country's petitioning system.
Chinese citizens unable to find redress from local officials can appeal to higher-level authorities under a so-called petitioning system but are often illegally detained by local offic ...
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Solomons flood victims 'terrified' after quakes
Honiara (AFP) April 14, 2014 -
A series of powerful earthquakes off the Solomon Islands sparked panic in evacuation centres filled with victims of an earlier flood but apparently caused no serious damage, aid workers said Monday.
A 7.6-magnitude quake woke residents in the flood-hit capital Honiara early Sunday, followed soon after by a 5.9-magnitude aftershock, then a tremor close to midnight that measured 7.5, according ...
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Mini-sub deploys to scour ocean depths in MH370 hunt
Perth, Australia (AFP) April 14, 2014 -
Australia decided Monday to deploy a mini-submarine to scour the unmapped Indian Ocean seabed for Malaysian jet MH370 at a daunting depth of 4,500 metres (15,000 feet), ending the search for black-box signals.
Angus Houston, who heads the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, also revealed that an oil slick had been sighted in the area of the search led by the Australian vessel Ocean Shield far ...
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Thousands evacuated, 12 dead in Chile blaze
Valparaiso, Chile (AFP) April 14, 2014 -
More than 8,000 people were evacuated Sunday as an army of firefighters battled a killer blaze that tore through parts of Chile's historic port of Valparaiso and left at least 12 people dead.
The fire, which started in woodland Saturday, gutted 500 homes as flames advanced on the city of 270,000, famed for its UNESCO-listed center with cobblestone streets and brightly painted wooden homes. ...
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Philippine leader receives draft law for Muslim self-rule
Manila (AFP) April 14, 2014 -
Philippine President Benigno Aquino on Monday formally received a draft law representing a crucial step towards the creation of an autonomous area for the country's Muslim minority, following a historic peace deal.
Aquino received the Bangsamoro Basic Law from a special transition committee headed by representatives of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), once the main Muslim rebel grou ...
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New technology helps paleontologists see Ice-Age bee in intricate detail
Los Angeles (UPI) Apr 14, 2013 -
Scientists in California recently used CT scanning technology to capture remarkably detailed photos of an Ice Age bee, preserved in a nest of ancient leaves.
The Megiachile gentiles specimen - a species of bee that's still alive today - was first excavated from Los Angeles' La Brea tar pits in the 1970s, but the fossil was too delicate to be investigated by hand. So it was set aside. ...
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Camels emit less methane than cows or sheep
Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
Ruminant cows and sheep account for a major proportion of the methane produced around the world. Currently around 20 percent of global methane emissions stem from ruminants. In the atmosphere methane contributes to the greenhouse effect - that's why researchers are looking for ways of reducing methane production by ruminants.
Comparatively little is known about the methane production of ot ...
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Antennae Help Flies "Cruise" In Gusty Winds
Pasadena CA (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
Due to its well-studied genome and small size, the humble fruit fly has been used as a model to study hundreds of human health issues ranging from Alzheimer's to obesity. However, Michael Dickinson, Esther M. and Abe M. Zarem Professor of Bioengineering at Caltech, is more interested in the flies themselves-and how such tiny insects are capable of something we humans can only dream of: autonomou ...
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Reef fish arrived in two waves
Davis CA (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
The world's reefs are hotbeds of biological diversity, including over 4,500 species of fish. A new study shows that the ancestors of these fish colonized reefs in two distinct waves, before and after the mass extinction event about 66 million years ago that wiped out the dinosaurs.
Reef fish represent one of the largest and most diverse assemblages of vertebrates, according to Samantha Pri ...
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Iconic boreal bird species declining in the Adirondacks
Adirondack Park NY (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
A new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society finds that several iconic Adirondack birds are in trouble, with declines driven by the size of their wetland habitats, how connected these wetlands are to one another, and how near they are to human infrastructure.
The Adirondack Park represents the southern range extent for several species of boreal forest birds in eastern North America. ...
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Odds that global warming is due to natural factors: Slim to none
Montreal, Canada (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
An analysis of temperature data since 1500 all but rules out the possibility that global warming in the industrial era is just a natural fluctuation in the earth's climate, according to a new study by McGill University physics professor Shaun Lovejoy.
The study, published online April 6 in the journal Climate Dynamics, represents a new approach to the question of whether global warming in ...
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Warming Climate Has Consequences for Michigan's Forests
Houghton MI (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
In the last 100 years, Michigan has become warmer, with more rain coming through heavy downpours. Climate models suggest that the state will continue to warm and variability in precipitation patterns will increase, which will have consequences for the state's forests. A new U.S. Forest Service report describes the potential risks and opportunities of climate change for forests in the eastern Upp ...
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Study resolves controversy over nitrogen's ocean 'exit strategies'
Princeton NJ (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
A decades-long debate over how nitrogen is removed from the ocean may now be settled by new findings from researchers at Princeton University and their collaborators at the University of Washington.
The debate centers on how nitrogen - one of the most important food sources for ocean life and a controller of atmospheric carbon dioxide - becomes converted to a form that can exit the ocean a ...
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A small coral-eating worm may mean big trouble for reefs
Southampton, UK (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
New research from the University of Southampton has identified a coral-eating flatworm as a potential threat for coral reefs. It is barely possible to see the parasitic worm Amakusaplana acroporae when it sits on its favourite hosts, the staghorn coral Acropora, thanks to its excellent camouflage. However, the researchers found that the small flatworm could cause significant damage to coral reef ...
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