Philippine typhoon widow grateful for cruel consolation
San Agustin, Philippines (AFP) Nov 03, 2014 -
A tiny store selling lollies, coffee and shampoo may seem a cruel consolation for Philippine typhoon widow Jennifer Pulga, but it keeps her with her children and for that she is deeply grateful.
Jennifer's husband, Richard, was among the more than 7,350 people who perished when Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms on record, razed dozens of farming and fishing communities in the ...
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Snowstorm blasts eastern Canada
Ottawa (AFP) Nov 03, 2014 -
The first major snowstorm of the season hit easternmost Canada on Monday, knocking out power lines and forcing school closures along the Atlantic seaboard.
Nearly 20 inches (50 centimeters) of snow fell on parts of New Brunswick and Quebec provinces, accompanied by howling winds, and Environment Canada forecast up to another 25 centimeters (nine inches) throughout the day.
In New Brunswi ...
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Biology meets geometry
Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Nov 03, 2014 -
Architecture imitates life, at least when it comes to those spiral ramps in multistory parking garages. Stacked and connecting parallel levels, the ramps are replications of helical structures found in a ubiquitous membrane structure in the cells of the body.
Dubbed Terasaki ramps after their discoverer, they reside in an organelle called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a network of membra ...
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Saving lonely species is important for the environment
Knoxville TN (SPX) Nov 03, 2014 -
The lemur, Javan rhino and Santa Cruz kangaroo rat are all lonesome animals. As endemic species, they live in habitats restricted to a particular area due to climate change, urban development or other occurrences.
Endemic species are often endangered, and a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, study finds that saving them is more important to biodiversity than previously thought.
Joe ...
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Making lab-grown tissues stronger
Davis CA (SPX) Nov 03, 2014 -
Lab-grown tissues could one day provide new treatments for injuries and damage to the joints, including articular cartilage, tendons and ligaments.
Cartilage, for example, is a hard material that caps the ends of bones and allows joints to work smoothly. UC Davis biomedical engineers, exploring ways to toughen up engineered cartilage and keep natural tissues strong outside the body, report ...
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Patents for humanity: Special edition of Technology and Innovation
Tampa FL (SPX) Nov 03, 2014 -
The current special issue of Technology and Innovation, is devoted to patents that benefit people around the world who live with limited resources, in challenging environments, and are in need of better access to basic needs and improved standards of living, health and infrastructure.
The issue includes original articles from winners of the 2013 USPTO Patents for Humanity Awards, aimed at ...
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Berkeley Lab scientists ID new driver behind Arctic warming
Berkeley CA (SPX) Nov 04, 2014 -
Scientists have identified a mechanism that could turn out to be a big contributor to warming in the Arctic region and melting sea ice.
The research was led by scientists from the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). They studied a long-wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum called far infrared. It's invisible to our eyes but accounts f ...
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Does it help conservation to put a price on nature?
Cambridge, UK (SPX) Nov 03, 2014 -
Putting a price on the services which a particular ecosystem provides may encourage the adoption of greener policies, but it may come at the price of biodiversity conservation.
Writing in the journal Science, Professor Bill Adams of the University's Department of Geography argues that assigning a quantitative value to nature does not automatically lead to the conservation of biodiversity, ...
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Nasal spray may offer long-lasting protection from Ebola virus
San Diego CA (SPX) Nov 04, 2014 -
A nasal vaccine in development by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin has been shown to provide long-term protection for non-human primates against the deadly Ebola virus.
Results from a small pre-clinical study represent the only proof to date that a single dose of a non-injectable vaccine platform for Ebola is long-lasting, which could have significant global implications in ...
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Lack of oxygen delayed the rise of animals on Earth
New Haven CT (SPX) Nov 04, 2014 -
Geologists are letting the air out of a nagging mystery about the development of animal life on Earth. Scientists have long speculated as to why animal species didn't flourish sooner, once sufficient oxygen covered the Earth's surface.
Animals began to prosper at the end of the Proterozoic period, about 800 million years ago - but what about the billion-year stretch before that, when most ...
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Variations in ice sheet height influence global climate
Bristol, UK (SPX) Nov 04, 2014 -
In a study published in PNAS, Dr William Roberts of Bristol's School of Geographical Sciences and colleagues use computer models to simulate a Heinrich event in Hudson Bay, Canada, adjusting the models to consider freshwater influx only, changing ice sheet height only or both factors together.
Dr Roberts said: "There's lots of evidence to suggest that changing the height of the ice sheets ...
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Vast geographic change may have triggered explosion of animal life
Austin TX (SPX) Nov 04, 2014 -
A new analysis of geologic history may help solve the riddle of the "Cambrian explosion," the rapid diversification of animal life in the fossil record 530 million years ago that has puzzled scientists since the time of Charles Darwin.
A paper by Ian Dalziel of The University of Texas at Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences, published in the November issue of Geology, a journal of the Ge ...
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