Maasai kill six lions after livestock attack
Arusha, Tanzania (AFP) Jan 01, 2015 -
Angry Maasai herders in Tanzania killed six lions that had attacked livestock, in the latest clash between man and beast in the region.
The government said it was "saddened to learn that six lions, an endangered species" were killed overnight Thursday in the northern Babati District, adding it would attempt to identify and prosecute those responsible.
Authorities said the big cats, which ...
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Tropical storm leaves 54 dead as it exits Philippines
Manila (AFP) Jan 01, 2015 -
Tropical storm Jiangmi exited the Philippines Thursday, leaving at least 54 dead and 13 missing from floods and landslides as officials admitted that more extensive warnings could have saved more lives.
The storm's death toll was nearly triple that of the last major storm - Super Typhoon Hagupit, which hit the Philippines last month and wreaked less havoc than expected thanks to timely prec ...
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Seek muscular male with quality rump? Try online dating for bulls
Saint-Prix, France (AFP) Jan 01, 2015 -
Described as blond, muscular and from a good family, Bariton's online profile has caught the eye of Sylvain Frobert, who is thinking of hooking him up with Anita, or Henriette.
He could also be a good match for Desiree. Or maybe even all three?
But Frobert is not a matchmaker in the traditional sense. He is a farmer in Saint-Prix in the centre of France raising 160 Charolais cows for me ...
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New Year stampede kills 36 in China's financial capital
Shanghai (AFP) Jan 01, 2015 -
A New Year's stampede on Shanghai's historic waterfront killed at least 36 revellers and injured dozens more, mostly women, as one police officer said fewer personnel than at previous events were securing the area.
While some witnesses said partygoers had scrambled for fake money thrown from a building, others said this was unlikely to have been the main cause and huge crowds were to blame. ...
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Sri Lanka opposition says army scaring off Tamil voters
Colombo (AFP) Jan 01, 2015 -
Sri Lanka's opposition Thursday accused the government of deploying thousands of troops to deter ethnic minority Tamils from voting against President Mahinda Rajapakse in next week's election.
A top opposition official said the sending of reinforcements to Tamil-majority areas was part of a strategy to intimidate voters against backing Rajapakse's main challenger Maithripala Sirisena in the ...
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Catching ET on the move
Lausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Dec 30, 2014 -
Looking for life on other planets is not straightforward. It usually relies on chemical detection, which might be limited or even completely irrelevant to alien biology. On the other hand, motion is a trait of all life, and can be used to identify microorganisms without any need of chemical foreknowledge.
EPFL scientists have now developed an extremely sensitive yet simple motion detector ...
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NOAA establishes 'tipping points' for sea level rise related flooding
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 02, 2015 -
By 2050, a majority of U.S. coastal areas are likely to be threatened by 30 or more days of flooding each year due to dramatically accelerating impacts from sea level rise, according to a new NOAA study, published in the American Geophysical Union's online peer-reviewed journal Earth's Future.
The findings appear in the paper From the Extreme to the Mean: Acceleration and Tipping Points fo ...
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Penn scientists identify patterns of RNA regulation in the nuclei of plants
Philadelphia PA(SPX) Jan 02, 2015 -
When the human genome was first sequenced, experts predicted they would find about 100,000 genes. The actual number has turned out to be closer to 20,000, just a few thousand more than fruit flies have. The question logically arose: how can a relatively small number of genes lay the blueprint for the complexities of the human body?
The explanation is that genes are subject to many and vari ...
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Alaska fish adjust to climate change by following the food
Seattle WA (SPX) Jan 02, 2015 -
Not all species may suffer from climate change. A new analysis shows that Dolly Varden, a species of char common in southeast Alaska, adjust their migrations so they can keep feasting on a key food source - salmon eggs - even as shifts in climate altered the timing of salmon spawning.
The resiliency of species to climate change may depend on how well they adapt to climate-driven changes in ...
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Unique Sulawesi frog gives birth to tadpoles
Berkeley CA (SPX) Jan 02, 2015 -
University of California, Berkeley, herpetologist Jim McGuire was slogging through the rain forests of Indonesia's Sulawesi Island one night this past summer when he grabbed what he thought was a male frog and found himself juggling not only a frog but also dozens of slippery, newborn tadpoles.
He had found what he was looking for: direct proof that the female of a new species of frog does ...
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3-D culture system for pancreatic cancer could change therapeutic approaches
Bethpage NY (SPX) Jan 02, 2015 -
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly forms of cancer, with only 6 percent of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. Today, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and The Lustgarten Foundation jointly announce the development of a new model system to grow both normal and cancerous pancreatic cells in the laboratory.
Their work offers the potential to change the way pancreatic c ...
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Soil's large carbon stores could be freed by increased plant growth
Princeton NJ (SPX) Jan 02, 2015 -
An increase in human-made carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could initiate a chain reaction between plants and microorganisms that would unsettle one of the largest carbon reservoirs on the planet - soil.
Researchers based at Princeton University report in the journal Nature Climate Change that the carbon in soil - which contains twice the amount of carbon in all plants and Earth's atmosphe ...
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National model of restoration: Nine Mile Run
Pittsburgh PA (SPX) Jan 02, 2015 -
A stream runs through it. A much nicer, healthier stream. Pittsburgh's Frick Park is home to Nine Mile Run, a stream that had been known as "Stink Creek." From 2003 to 2006, the City of Pittsburgh and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers poured $7.7 million into restoring 2.2 miles of the stream and tributaries into waterways approximating what they were prior to urban development.
The project ...
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Yellowstone's thermal springs - their colors unveiled
Washington DC (SPX) Jan 02, 2015 -
Researchers at Montana State University and Brandenburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany have created a simple mathematical model based on optical measurements that explains the stunning colors of Yellowstone National Park's hot springs and can visually recreate how they appeared years ago, before decades of tourists contaminated the pools with make-a-wish coins and other detritus.
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New challenges for ocean acidification research
Kiel, Germany (SPX) Jan 02, 2015 -
To continue its striking development, ocean acidification research needs to bridge between its diverging branches towards an integrated assessment. This is the conclusion drawn by Prof. Ulf Riebesell from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and Dr. Jean-Pierre Gattuso from the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Universite Pierre et Marie Curie.
In a ...
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Ancient, hydrogen-rich waters discovered deep underground
Toronto, Canada (SPX) Jan 02, 2015 -
A team of scientists, led by the University of Toronto's Barbara Sherwood Lollar, has mapped the location of hydrogen-rich waters found trapped kilometres beneath Earth's surface in rock fractures in Canada, South Africa and Scandinavia.
Common in Precambrian Shield rocks - the oldest rocks on Earth - the ancient waters have a chemistry similar to that found near deep sea vents, suggesting ...
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