How spiders spin silk
Uppsala, Sweden (SPX) Aug 06, 2014 -
Spider silk is an impressive material; lightweight and stretchy yet stronger than steel. But the challenge that spiders face to produce this substance is even more formidable. Silk proteins, called spidroins, must convert from a soluble form to solid fibers at ambient temperatures, with water as a solvent, and at high speed.
How do spiders achieve this astounding feat? In new research publ ...
more
Scientists uncover combustion mechanism to better predict warming by wildfires
Los Alamos NM (SPX) Aug 06, 2014 -
Scientists have uncovered key attributes of so-called "brown carbon" from wildfires, airborne atmospheric particles that may have influenced current climate models that failed to take the material's warming effects into account. The work was described by a collaborative team of researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Montana in the journa ...
more
China quake toll nears 600 as volunteers told to stay away
Longtoushan, China (AFP) Aug 06, 2014 -
The death toll from an earthquake that devastated a remote region of China jumped to nearly 600 people Wednesday, authorities said, as volunteer rescuers were warned away.
Yet some slivers of hope remained, among them the dramatic rescue of a woman who was pulled out alive from the debris 67 hours after the quake.
Rescue efforts in the southwestern province of Yunnan, where the 6.1-magni ...
more
Emergency declared in Canada over mine tailings spill
Ottawa (AFP) Aug 06, 2014 -
A state of emergency was declared Wednesday in parts of westernmost Canada after effluent from a gold and copper mine tailings pond spilled into Rocky Mountains waterways.
Spill estimates doubled since Monday when an earthen dam breach at the Mount Polley Mine sent waste water and mining debris from the pond into nearby pristine rivers and lakes.
Up to 10 million cubic metres of water an ...
more
France, Italy help battle Sweden's massive forest fire
Stockholm (AFP) Aug 06, 2014 -
French and Italian air tanker fire planes flew in to fight a huge forest fire raging in central Sweden on Wednesday, the worst seen in Scandinavia in 40 years, officials said.
Two French Canadair CL-415s, which flew from their base near Marseille in the south of France, joined two similar Italian aircraft water-bombing the wildfire, which has been raging since July 31 near Sala, Swedish medi ...
more
Guatemala's Fire volcano rumbles back to life
Guatemala City (AFP) Aug 05, 2014 -
Guatemala's Fire volcano erupted Tuesday for the first time in nearly two years, causing panic in nearby villages and prompting aviation authorities to re-route air traffic.
The volcano, in the country's southwest spewed smoke and ash Tuesday, at the rate of three or four times per hour, officials said.
Geologists said the volcano belched out huge columns of smoke measuring as high as 4, ...
more
New Nigeria Ebola cases amid fears epidemic 'out of control'
Lagos (AFP) Aug 06, 2014 -
The death toll of the Ebola epidemic neared 1,000 on Wednesday as fears rose that the disease is now taking hold in Africa's most populous nation of Nigeria after a second death among seven confirmed cases in Lagos.
The spread of the disease comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) met in an emergency session in Geneva to decide whether to declare an international crisis.
The latest ...
more
Hawaii braces for double storm hit
Los Angeles (AFP) Aug 06, 2014 -
Hawaii on Wednesday braced for a walloping by a rare duo of storms headed for the vacation paradise, with local residents rushing to stock up on water and flashlights.
Hurricane Iselle, predicted to weaken to a tropical storm, was expected to bring strong wind, heavy rains and possibly damaging swells to the archipelago's main islands by Thursday.
The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CP ...
more
Australia hires Dutch firm to continue MH370 search
Sydney (UPI) Aug 6, 2013 -
It's been almost five months since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared over the Indian Ocean without a trace. Evidence of the jetliner itself or the 239 passengers and crew on board has yet to be found, but the search continues as the Australian government announced this week it has hired Dutch firm Fugro NV to continue looking for the missing Boeing 777.
Beginning in September, th ...
more
Nepal says 156 people killed in landslide, ends search
Lamosanghu, Nepal (AFP) Aug 06, 2014 -
Nepal rescuers said Wednesday 156 people were presumed killed in a landslide that struck on the weekend, as they called off their search for remaining bodies buried in the debris.
Thirty-four bodies, including those of seven children, have been pulled from the rubble since Nepal's worst landslide in more than a decade slammed into hamlets in Sindhupalchok district on Saturday.
But rescue ...
more
6,500-year-old human skeleton found in museum storage
Philadelphia (UPI) Aug 5, 2013 -
Clean out your closets, people! Every week, there's a new story about someone finding something remarkable in their storage closets - one week it's prehistoric amber, another time it's smallpox vials, and now it's 6,500-year-old human remains.
Researchers documenting artifacts forgotten to the storage closets of the Penn Museum in Philadelphia recently came across a complete skeleton d ...
more
Flooding hits Serbia and Bosnia again
Belgrade (AFP) Aug 06, 2014 -
One person was killed and another was missing after heavy rains brought a new wave of flooding to Serbia and Bosnia this week, just three months after historic floods killed almost 80 people.
Torrential rain in the western Serbian town of Banja Koviljaca led to a 65-year old man drowning after his house was flooded, Beta news agency reported, quoting local police.
Several local roads we ...
more
New research links tornado strength, frequency to climate change
Tallahassee FL (SPX) Aug 07, 2014 -
New research by a Florida State University geography professor shows that climate change may be playing a key role in the strength and frequency of tornadoes hitting the United States.
Published Wednesday in the journal Climate Dynamics, Professor James Elsner writes that though tornadoes are forming fewer days per year, they are forming at a greater density and strength than ever before. ...
more
Mercury in the global ocean
Woods Hole MA (SPX) Aug 07, 2014 -
Although the days of odd behavior among hat makers are a thing of the past, the dangers mercury poses to humans and the environment persist today.
Mercury is a naturally occurring element as well as a by-product of such distinctly human enterprises as burning coal and making cement. Estimates of "bioavailable" mercury-forms of the element that can be taken up by animals and humans-play an ...
more
Study of Aerosols Stands to Improve Climate Models
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 07, 2014 -
Aerosols, tiny particles in the atmosphere, play a significant role in Earth's climate, scattering and absorbing incoming sunlight and affecting the formation and properties of clouds.
Currently, the effect that these aerosols have on clouds represents the largest uncertainty among all influences on climate change.
But now researchers from Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ha ...
more
Melt Ponds Shine in NASA Laser Altimeter Flight Images
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 07, 2014 -
Even from 65,000 feet above Earth, aquamarine melt ponds in the Arctic stand out against the white sea ice and ice sheets. These ponds form every summer, as snow that built up on the ice melts, creating crystal clear pools.
On July 16 and July 17, NASA's ER-2 aircraft flew above Alaskan glaciers and to the North Pole, carrying an instrument called the Multiple Altimeter Beam Experimental L ...
more
Photon hunting in the twilight zone
Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium (SPX) Aug 07, 2014 -
The eyes of deep-sea bioluminescent sharks have a higher rod density when compared to non-bioluminescent sharks, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Julien M. Claes, postdoctoral researcher from the FNRS at Universite catholique de Louvain (Belgium), and colleagues.
This adaptation is one of many these sharks use to produce and perceive bioluminescent ligh ...
more
Burrowing animals may have been key to stabilizing Earth's oxygen
Odense, Denmark (SPX) Aug 07, 2014 -
Around 540 million years ago, the first burrowing animals evolved. When these worms began to mix up the ocean floor's sediments (a process known as bioturbation), their activity came to significantly influence the ocean's phosphorus cycle and as a result, the amount of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere.
"Our research is an attempt to place the spread of animal life in the context of wider bioge ...
more
Risks to penguin populations analysed
London, UK (SPX) Aug 07, 2014 -
A major study of all penguin species suggests the birds are at continuing risk from habitat degradation. Writing in the journal, Conservation Biology, a group of internationally renowned scientists recommends the adoption of measures to mitigate against a range of effects including; food scarcity (where fisheries compete for the same resources), being caught in fishing nets, oil pollution and cl ...
more
Enhanced international cooperation needed in Antarctica
Melbourne, Australia (SPX) Aug 07, 2014 -
Countries need to work together to ensure Antarctic research continues and key questions on the region are answered, researchers say.
In an article published in Nature this week, 75 scientists along with policy makers in 22 countries have outlined what they see as the major priorities for Antarctic research over the next 20 years and beyond.
In it they outline six priorities for Anta ...
more
Standard Chartered faces new US money-laundering probe
Hong Kong (AFP) Aug 06, 2014 -
Standard Chartered confirmed Wednesday that it faces fresh US fines over alleged breaches in its anti-money laundering systems, two years after it paid massive penalties for violating American sanctions.
Media reports said the probe by New York's financial regulator followed allegations that the London-based, Hong Kong-listed lender failed to spot millions of risky transactions flowing throu ...
more
Robots to up-end the world of work, for good and bad
Washington (AFP) Aug 06, 2014 -
Robots and artificially intelligent devices will take over many jobs now done by people, and experts are divided as to whether their spread will do human society more good than harm.
The Pew Research Center said experts see a growing role for self-driving cars, delivery drones, robotic workers, smartphone-based assistants and even algorithmic journalism by 2025.
But they are divided on w ...
more
Global art market in rude health
Paris (AFP) Aug 06, 2014 -
The global art market rose in value by 17 percent to a record $7 billion in the first half of 2014, according to new industry figures.
Artprice, a French company which tracks art sales worldwide, said that during the first six months of the year art works sold at public auction totalled $7.15 billion ($5.22 billion euros), up on $6.11 billion for the same period in 2013.
"The art market ...
more
NIST ion duet offers tunable module for quantum simulator
Boulder CO (SPX) Aug 07, 2014 -
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a pas de deux of atomic ions that combines the fine choreography of dance with precise individual control.
NIST's ion duet, described in Nature, is a component for a flexible quantum simulator that could be scaled up in size and configured to model quantum systems of a complexity that overwhelms tradi ...
more
Used-cigarette butts offer energy storage solution
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 07, 2014 -
A group of scientists from South Korea have converted used-cigarette butts into a high-performing material that could be integrated into computers, handheld devices, electrical vehicles and wind turbines to store energy.
Presenting their findings in IOP Publishing's journal Nanotechnology, the researchers have demonstrated the material's superior performance compared to commercially availa ...
more
