US Republicans harden positions on climate change
Washington (AFP) May 12, 2014 -
Despite President Barack Obama's renewed push to tackle climate change, many American politicians see a tougher stance against anti-pollution standards as a vote-winner in the race to replace him.
Even as confirmed that he thinks he is ready to run, Republican presidential hopeful Senator Marco Rubio rejected the scientific consensus that human activity is the main cause of climate change. ...
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Deep-diving robot sub implodes 6.2 miles underwater
Auckland, New Zealand (UPI) May 12, 2013 -
One of the world's most proficient deep-diving submarines, the remote controlled Nereus, imploded over the weekend while exploring the Kermadec Trench, northeast of New Zealand's North Island.
Nereus was a stalwart of deep sea exploration, and a prized tool of U.S. science.
"Nereus helped us explore places we've never seen before and ask questions we never thought to ask," Timoth ...
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China demand for luxury furniture 'decimating rosewood'
Bangkok (AFP) May 12, 2014 -
Runaway Chinese demand for luxury furniture is spurring illegal logging across Southeast Asia, stripping the region of precious Siamese rosewood and driving a chain of cross-border corruption and violence, environmentalists said Monday.
Increasing wealth in China has seen a surge in sales of consumer status symbols such as reproductions of ornate high-end furniture from the Ming and Qing era ...
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Italian navy says 14 dead in migrant shipwreck
Rome (AFP) May 12, 2014 -
At least 14 people died when a boat packed with migrants sank between Libya and Italy on Monday, in the latest shipwreck tragedy to hit the Mediterranean.
The Italian navy said another 200 people had been rescued, while some media reports claimed as many as 400 people had been on board the sinking ship - just days after another migrant boat disaster off Libya.
"Fourteen bodies have been ...
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Study lists dangerous chemicals linked to breast cancer
Washington (AFP) May 12, 2014 -
Certain chemicals that are common in everyday life have been shown to cause breast cancer in lab rats and are likely to do the same in women, US researchers said Monday.
The paper in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives lists 17 chemicals to avoid and offers women advice on how to minimize their exposure.
They include chemicals in gasoline, diesel and other vehicle ...
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Three dead in China rain storms: government
Beijing (AFP) May 12, 2014 -
Three people have been killed and thousands evacuated in several days of rainstorms in southern China, flooding major cities and affecting air and rail transport, authorities said Monday.
Pictures showed widespread inundations in the boom town of Shenzhen, in Guangdong province, with the brown waters several inches deep. Cars were seen stranded in expanses of water, and pedestrians waded thr ...
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Oxygen In Exoplanet Atmospheres Could Fool Search For Life
Moffett Field CA (SPX) May 09, 2014 -
Oxygen is a signal of life on our own planet, but that's not necessarily the case elsewhere. Particularly when it comes to young planets, signs of oxygen do not necessarily indicate the presence of biological processes, new research argues.
Water vapor in the upper atmosphere of a young planet could break into hydrogen and oxygen by incoming ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet rays from th ...
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China's polar-orbiting meteorological satellite now operational
Beijing (XNA) May 08, 2014 -
China's third Fengyun-III satellite, a polar orbiting meteorological satellite, was put into operation on Monday, according to a news release posted on the website of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA).
The satellite was handed over by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation to the CMA.
The third Fengyun-III satellite, together with the second Fengyun-III sa ...
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Why a bacterium got its curve
Princeton NJ (SPX) May 09, 2014 -
Drawing from his engineering background, Princeton University researcher Alexandre Persat had a notion as to why the bacteria Caulobacter crescentus are curved - a hunch that now could lead to a new way of studying the evolution of bacteria, according to research published in the journal Nature Communications.
Commonly used in labs to study cell division, C. crescentus naturally take on a ...
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NASA Telescopes Coordinate Best-Ever Flare Observations
Greenbelt MD (SPX) May 09, 2014 -
On March 29, 2014, an X-class flare erupted from the right side of the sun... and vaulted into history as the best-observed flare of all time. The flare was witnessed by four different NASA spacecraft and one ground-based observatory - three of which had been fortuitously focused in on the correct spot as programmed into their viewing schedule a full day in advance.
To have a record of suc ...
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NASA Carbon-Counting Satellite Arrives at Launch Site
Vandenberg AFB CA (SPX) May 02, 2014 -
A NASA spacecraft designed to make precise measurements of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere is at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., to begin final preparations for launch.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 arrived Wednesday at its launch site on California's central coast after traveling from Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Satellite Manufacturing Facility in Gilbert, Ariz. The spacecraft no ...
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Bee biodiversity boosts crop yields
Raleigh, NC (SPX) May 13, 2014 -
Research from North Carolina State University shows that blueberries produce more seeds and larger berries if they are visited by more diverse bee species, allowing farmers to harvest significantly more pounds of fruit per acre.
"We wanted to understand the functional role of diversity," says Dr. Hannah Burrack, an associate professor of entomology at NC State and co-author of a paper on t ...
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Study strengthens link between neonicotinoids and collapse of honey bee colonies
Boston MA (SPX) May 13, 2014 -
Two widely used neonicotinoids-a class of insecticide-appear to significantly harm honey bee colonies over the winter, particularly during colder winters, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).
The study replicated a 2012 finding from the same research group that found a link between low doses of imidacloprid and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), in which bees ...
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Longevity gene may boost brain power
Washington DC (SPX) May 13, 2014 -
Scientists showed that people who have a variant of a longevity gene, called KLOTHO, have improved brain skills such as thinking, learning and memory regardless of their age, sex, or whether they have a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Increasing KLOTHO gene levels in mice made them smarter, possibly by increasing the strength of connections between nerve cells in the brain. The stud ...
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Stuck in the middle with oysters and crabs
Boston MA (SPX) May 13, 2014 -
Northeastern University ecologist David Kimbro claims to have watched a lot of TV growing up, particularly The Brady Bunch. "You could kind of get a flavor for how an episode was going to turn out based on how Jan or Peter were faring-you know, the middle kids," said Kimbro, an assistant professor in the a href="http://www.northeastern.edu/mes/">Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences. ...
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Grape consumption may offer benefits for symptomatic knee osteoarthritis
Fresno CA (SPX) May 13, 2014 -
New research presented last week at the Experimental Biology conference in San Diego, California, suggests that regular grape consumption may help alleviate pain associated with symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee, and improve joint flexibility and overall mobility. Researchers attribute these potential benefits to the polyphenols found in grapes.
The sixteen week clinical study, undert ...
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Bioprinting a 3D liver-like device to detoxify the blood
San Diego CA (SPX) May 13, 2014 -
Nanoengineers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a 3D-printed device inspired by the liver to remove dangerous toxins from the blood.
The device, which is designed to be used outside the body - much like dialysis - uses nanoparticles to trap pore-forming toxins that can damage cellular membranes and are a key factor in illnesses that result from animal bites and sti ...
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New species of metal-eating plant discovered in the Philippines
Manila, Philippines (SPX) May 13, 2014 -
Scientists from the University of the Philippines, Los Banos have discovered a new plant species with an unusual lifestyle - it eats nickel for a living - accumulating up to 18,000 ppm of the metal in its leaves without itself being poisoned, says Professor Edwino Fernando, lead author of the report. Such an amount is a hundred to a thousand times higher than in most other plants. The study was ...
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Paleontologists discover new fossil organism
Riverside CA (SPX) May 13, 2014 -
Scientists at the University of California, Riverside have discovered a fossil of a newly discovered organism from the "Ediacara Biota" - a group of organisms that occurred in the Ediacaran period of geologic time.
Named Plexus ricei and resembling a curving tube, the organism resided on the Ediacaran seafloor. Plexus ricei individuals ranged in size from 5 to 80 centimeters long and 5 to ...
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Back to the future to determine if sea level rise is accelerating
Southampton UK (SPX) May 13, 2014 -
Scientists have developed a new method for revealing how sea levels might rise around the world throughout the 21st century to address the controversial topic of whether the rate of sea level rise is currently increasing.
The international team of researchers, led by the University of Southampton and including scientists from the National Oceanography Centre, the University of Western Aust ...
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