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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Canada boycotts Arctic Council meeting in Moscow
Ottawa (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
Canada boycotted Arctic Council meetings in Russia this week in protest of Russia's "illegal occupation" of Ukraine, Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Tuesday.
Aglukkaq is responsible for the Canadian Northern Development Agency and currently chairs the Arctic Council.
She said the boycott of the working-group level meetings in Moscow was "as a result of Russia's illegal occupation of Ukraine ...
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Malaysia vows to be transparent with 'black box' data
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
Any data that is eventually recovered from the "black box" of missing flight MH370 will be publicly released, Malaysia's transport minister pledged Tuesday, as the government battles widespread criticism over the transparency of its investigation.
"It's about finding the truth. And when we... find out the truth, definitely we have to reveal what's in the black box," Hishammuddin Hussein told ...
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Mini-sub dives again after aborting first MH370 search
Perth, Australia (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
A mini-sub hunting for Malaysian jet MH370 was Tuesday set for a second sweep of the remote Indian Ocean seabed, after aborting its first search when it encountered water deeper than its operating limits.
The unmanned submarine loaded with sonar deployed Monday night from the Australian ship Ocean Shield which has spearheaded the hunt for the Boeing 777 that vanished on March 8.
"After c ...
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A European bear's point of view, finally on film
Toulouse, France (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
They love their larvae, snore like troopers when they sleep on their sides and, for reasons unknown, get a kick out of pushing over the trunks of dead trees.
Those are just a few of the insights into the daily life of Europe's dwindling band of brown bears obtained as a result of an innovative film project being shown as part of a hit exhibition at the Natural History museum in Toulouse, in ...
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Japan culls 112,000 chickens after bird flu outbreak
Tokyo (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
Japan has finished slaughtering 112,000 chickens after confirming its first bird flu infections for three years, with authorities stepping up efforts to swiftly contain the latest outbreak, officials said Tuesday.
Workers on Sunday started culling 56,000 chickens kept at a poultry farm in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, where DNA tests confirmed the H5 strain of the virus after owners reported ...
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Goat to be cloned to treat rare genetic disorder
Brasilia, Brazil (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
Scientists in Brazil have genetically modified a goat to produce milk with an enzyme to treat a rare genetic disorder, O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper reported Tuesday.
The goat, named "Gluca," is the first of its kind in South America. It has been genetically modified to produce the enzyme glucocerebrosidase.
Gaucher's disease is a rare human genetic condition caused by hereditary defi ...
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Mali remains free of deadly Ebola epidemic: government
Bamako (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
Mali said on Tuesday it was clear of the Ebola epidemic suspected to be behind around 130 deaths this year in Guinea and Liberia.
The health minister told reporters samples taken from patients displaying symptoms compatible with Ebola infection had tested negative for the deadly tropical pathogen.
"All ten samples gave a negative result. This means that, as of today, Mali has no suspect ...
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Japan plans to resume whaling in 2015
Tokyo (UPI) Apr 15, 2013 -
Earlier this month, the International Court of Justice halted Japanese whaling, ruling it in violation of the 1986 moratorium on whaling.
But late last week, Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) announced plans to renew it whaling operation, promising its revamped research program will operate in strict accordance with the court's ruling.
The ICR revealed its plans in a b ...
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Forest fires and warming planet could accelerate deforestation in Amazon
Belem, Brazil (UPI) Apr 15, 2013 -
The increasingly deadly combination of forest fire and extreme weather spells tragedy for the trees of the Amazonian rainforest, according to a new study by biologists from Brazil's Amazon Environmental Research Institute and the Woods Hole Research Center in the U.S.
Scientists conducted field experiments to observe how severe drought accelerates forest dieback, a phenomenon whereby th ...
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Vacuuming carbon from the atmosphere may be most realistic solution to climate change
Berlin (UPI) Apr 14, 2013 -
In order to stave off the worst of global warming's consequences, the world's nations must find a way to reduce carbon emissions by 40 to 70 percent by 2050. That's one of many claims made in the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The new report also suggests vacuuming up vast amounts of CO2 from the skies and storing it underground may be the most ...
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UN weather agency warns of 'El Nino' this year
Geneva (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
The UN weather agency Tuesday warned there was a good chance of an "El Nino" climate phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean this year, bringing droughts and heavy rainfall to the rest of the world.
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said its modelling suggested a "fairly large potential for an El Nino, most likely by the end of the second quarter of 2014."
"If an El Nino event develop ...
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China condemns British rights report and cancels talks
Beijing (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
China expressed anger at Britain Tuesday for a report criticising its human rights record, a day after London said Beijing called off a dialogue between the countries on the issue.
China was last week listed as one of 28 "Countries of Concern" in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) Human Rights Report, which said "civil and political rights remain subject to significant restrictions" ...
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Mini-sub to dive again after aborting first MH370 search
Perth, Australia (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
A mini-sub hunting missing Flight MH370 was set to sweep the Indian Ocean seabed again Tuesday after cutting short its first mission, as Malaysia vowed to reveal any 'black box' data found.
The unmanned submarine equipped with sonar gear was deployed Monday night from the Australian ship Ocean Shield, which has spearheaded the hunt for the Boeing 777 that vanished on March 8 with 239 people ...
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Chileans survey damage from massive blaze
Valparaiso, Chile (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
Chileans on Monday surveyed the smoking remains of homes charred in a fire in the historic port of Valparaiso, the city's worst-ever blaze that killed 15 people, mainly in poor neighbourhoods.
Pockets of the massive blaze remained active days after it erupted on Saturday, with the inferno so far having consumed 2,500 homes and left 11,000 homeless, according to Interior Minister Rodrigo Pena ...
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Researchers say Neanderthals were no strangers to good parenting
York NY (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
Archaeologists at the University of York are challenging the traditional view that Neanderthal childhood was difficult, short and dangerous.
A research team from PALAEO (Centre for Human Palaeoecology and Evolutionary Origins) and the Department of Archaeology at York offer a new and distinctive perspective which suggests that Neanderthal children experienced strong emotional attachments w ...
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Farming for improved ecosystem services seen as economically feasible
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
By changing row-crop management practices in economically and environmentally stable ways, US farms could contribute to improved water quality, biological diversity, pest suppression, and soil fertility while helping to stabilize the climate, according to an article in the May issue of BioScience.
The article, based on research conducted over 25 years at the Kellogg Biological Station in s ...
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GM crops under the microscope at international debate
Belfast UK (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
One of the world's most contentious food issues - Genetically Modified (GM) crops - will be debated by some of the world's leading authorities on the subject at Queen's University Belfast today (Wednesday day 9 April).
A panel of international food experts will argue the pros and cons or GM crops at a special debate as part of the Food Integrity and Traceability Conference (ASSET 2014). Th ...
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Oyster aquaculture could significantly improve Potomac River estuary water quality
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
Oyster aquaculture in the Potomac River estuary could result in significant improvements to water quality, according to a new NOAA and U.S. Geological Survey study published in the journal Aquatic Geochemistry.
All of the nitrogen currently polluting the Potomac River estuary could be removed if 40 percent of its river bed were used for shellfish cultivation, according to the joint study. ...
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Growth of Antarctic ice sheet triggered warming in the Southern Ocean during Miocene
Bremerhaven, Germany (SPX) Apr 15, 2014 -
Scientists of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), have deciphered a supposed climate paradox from the Miocene era by means of complex model simulations. When the Antarctic ice sheet grew to its present-day size around 14 million years ago, it did not get colder everywhere on the Earth, but there were regions that became warmer.
A physical con ...
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GenDyn Canada enhancing Portuguese Navy sonar
Ottawa (UPI) Apr 15, 2013 -
Adjunct processing systems for use with AN/SQS-510 sonar are being provided to the Portuguese Navy by General Dynamics Canada.
The Eclipse processing system will work in parallel with the AN/SQS-510, improving the sonar's capability to detect and characterize echoes and sounds transmitted through the water to determine the location and physical characteristics of threats such as submari ...
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Karzai condemns air strike over 'civilian casualties'
Khost , Afghanistan (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday condemned a US air strike in an eastern border province that allegedly killed a woman and two of her children.
The incident occurred overnight in a village in Nadir Shah Kot district in the province of Khost, around 220 kilometres (90 miles) from the capital Kabul.
Khost provincial spokesman Mubarez Mohammad Zadran told AFP: "The woman and her two ...
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Russia in new ballistic missile test: Pentagon
Washington (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
Russia carried out a new test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as tensions over Ukraine escalated, the Pentagon confirmed on Tuesday.
Russia informed US authorities of the test prior to the launch on Monday, in keeping with an existing weapons treaty, Pentagon spokesman colonel Steven Warren said.
"I can confirm that the Russians test-fired an ICBM yesterday," Warre ...
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Iraq Kurds dig trench on Syria border to block militants
Arbil, Iraq (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region is digging a trench along its border with Syria to prevent the infiltration of militants and smuggling from the war-racked country, officials say.
"The trench is designed to prevent the infiltration of members of terrorist groups and stop smugglers," Halkurd Mullah Ali, the spokesman for the Kurdish region's peshmerga security ministry, told AFP.
Smuggler ...
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Israelis, Palestinians seeking to extend peace talks: US
Washington (AFP) April 15, 2014 -
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are hammering out a way to extend their faltering peace talks beyond an April 29 deadline, a US official said Tuesday, refuting calls from a leading daily to call it quits.
More talks between the two sides will be held on Wednesday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, although it was not immediately clear if US lead negotiator Martin Indyk would t ...
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