Greatest mass extinction driven by acidic oceans, study finds
Edinburgh UK (SPX) Apr 10, 2015 -
Changes to the Earth's oceans, caused by extreme volcanic activity, triggered the greatest extinction of all time, a study suggests.
The event, which took place 252 million years ago, wiped out more than 90 per cent of marine species and more than two-thirds of the animals living on land.
It happened when Earth's oceans absorbed huge amounts of carbon dioxide from volcanic eruptions, ...
more
More food, low pollution effort gains traction
Frostburg, MD (SPX) Apr 10, 2015 -
Nitrogen fertilizers make it possible to feed more people in the world than ever before. However, too much of it can also harm the environment. Professor Eric Davidson, director of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory, has been leading a group of scientists, economists, social scientists, and agriculture experts in figuring out how to produce more ...
more
Ancient human fossils from Laos reveal early diversity
Champaign IL (SPX) Apr 10, 2015 -
An ancient human skull and a jawbone found a few meters away in a cave in northern Laos add to the evidence that early modern humans were physically quite diverse, researchers report in PLOS ONE.
The skull, found in 2009 in a cave known as Tam Pa Ling in the Annamite Mountains of present-day Laos, and reported in 2012 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the oldest mo ...
more
Dynamic dead zones alter fish catches in Lake Erie
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 10, 2015 -
New research shows that Lake Erie's dead zones are actually quite active, greatly affecting fish distributions, catch rates and the effectiveness of fishing gear.
Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey, the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and partners recently found that dead zones caused by hypoxia, the depletion of oxygen in water, are unexpectedly variable in Lake Erie, sometimes disappe ...
more
Gradual, prolonged permafrost greenhouse gas emissions forecast
Fairbanks AK (SPX) Apr 10, 2015 -
A new scientific synthesis suggests a gradual, prolonged release of greenhouse gases from permafrost soils in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, which may afford society more time to adapt to environmental changes, say scientists in an April 9 paper published in Nature.
"Twenty years ago there was very little research about the possible rate of permafrost carbon release," said co-author A. Dav ...
more
Ferromanganese crusts record past climates
Munich, Germany (SPX) Apr 10, 2015 -
In the past decades ferromanganese crusts have been the focus of interest due to their resource potential of valuable metals such as cobalt, nickel or rare earth elements, which are highly enriched in these crusts. For the moment, however, the cost of underwater mining outweighs their cost of recovery. Future price development will change this and deep-sea mining may one day become profitable. I ...
more
Bush v. Gore; Cruz v. Constitution
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 08, 2015 -
Remember the 2000 presidential elections? Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote. But for thirty-one days after the election, no one knew whether he or Texas Governor George W. Bush had prevailed in Florida winning the needed electoral votes that would determine the nation's 43rd president. "Hanging chads" and the spectacular hair-do of Florida's Secretary of State Kathleen Harris domina ...
more
Study details animals' ability to adapt to cold snaps
Gainesville, Fla. (UPI) Apr 9, 2015 -
In looking at the effects of temperature change on living organisms, researchers at the University of Florida and Kansas State University found insects - and potentially other animals, as well - possess the ability to rapidly acclimate to a shifting climate.
The new study details unique genetic makeup in fruit flies for both longterm climate acclimation and short term adjustment.
...
more
Unusual cancer spreads among clams off N. America
Miami (AFP) April 9, 2015 -
The discovery of a contagious cancer spreading among edible clams off the northeast US and Canadian coasts has stunned scientists and raised new questions about marine health, according to research published Thursday.
The study in the journal Cell describes for the first time the unusual kind of leukemia that has been killing untold numbers of clams for years.
"We were pretty amazed," sa ...
more
Thousands of goldfish taking over lake in Colorado
Boulder, Colo. (UPI) Apr 8, 2015 -
Confined to a small bowl, goldfish remain rather miniscule. But turned loose in open water and the pet fish can grow to be several inches long.
That's what happened in Teller Lake No. 5, a neighborhood lake near Boulder, Colorado, where thousands of goldfish have proliferated and begun crowding out native species. Local wildlife officials are concerned the invaders could unsettle the la ...
more
India bans Greenpeace from receiving foreign funds
New Delhi (AFP) April 9, 2015 -
India on Thursday suspended Greenpeace India's foreign funding licence, the latest move against the environmental watchdog after the government accused it of hurting the country's economic interests.
India's home ministry issued a notice saying the ban was imposed after an audit of the environmental group's bank accounts in September revealed the organisation had violated rules governing for ...
more
Ecological flash mobs
Davis CA (SPX) Apr 10, 2015 -
How does an acorn know to fall when the other acorns do? What triggers insects, or disease, to suddenly break out over large areas? Why do fruit trees have boom and bust years?
The question of what generates such synchronous, ecological "flash mobs" over long distances has long perplexed population ecologists. Part of the answer has to do with something seemingly unrelated: what makes a ma ...
more
Russia mulls credit autonomy
Moscow (UPI) Apr 8, 2015 -
As low oil prices and Western-backed economic sanctions hammer Russia, the head of the central bank said it was time to embrace domestic rating agencies.
A draft law regulating Russian credit rating agencies was introduced in February as economic problems became more evident. Central Bank Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina said at a banking conference in Moscow it was time to develop more cre ...
more
China auto sales up 3.3% in March: industry group
Shanghai (AFP) April 9, 2015 -
China's auto sales rose 3.3 percent year-on-year to 2.24 million vehicles in March, an industry group said Thursday, rebounding from a holiday slowdown.
Vehicle sales had slipped 0.2 percent from 2014 in February, which included a week-long holiday for the Chinese New Year.
For the first three months, auto sales gained 3.9 percent on the same period last year to 6.15 million vehicles, ac ...
more
Gazprom Neft compensated with Iraqi oil
Moscow (UPI) Apr 9, 2015 -
Russian energy company Gazprom Neft said Thursday it received its first batch of oil from the Badra field in Iraq as compensation for field development costs.
The Russian oil company, which serves as the operator of the Badra oil field, said it received 500,000 barrels of oil from the Iraqi State Oil Marketing Co. at the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
"Gazprom Neft's buyer is a large As ...
more
China on tap for Iranian 'Peace Pipeline,' report says
Islamabad (UPI) Apr 9, 2015 -
Pakistani officials said they're building a natural gas pipeline that could stretch to Iran with anticipation of financial support from the Chinese government.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled in Islamabad in late April. A report published Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal says the Chinese leader will offer support to a project first discussed in the 1990s as the so-called P ...
more
Iraqi oil producer Gulf Keystone still for sale
London (UPI) Apr 9, 2015 -
Iraqi oil player Gulf Keystone Petroleum said Thursday it's still in talks about a sale of the company despite significant achievements in the country.
The company, which has headquarters in London, said in its full-year 2014 announcement gross production was 6.4 million barrels of oil, up from the 496,921 barrels produced in 2013. Growth potential for this year is substantial, the comp ...
more
PC sales resume slide in 2015: surveys
New York (AFP) April 9, 2015 -
Global sales of personal computers resumed their downward trajectory in early 2015 after a modest uptick late last year, surveys showed Thursday.
A survey by Gartner showed worldwide PC shipments totaled 71.7 million units in the first quarter, a 5.2 percent decline from the same period a year ago.
A separate report by IDC showed a steeper 6.7 percent drop in the quarter to 68.5 million ...
more
Vietnam hunts for missing box of radioactive material
Hanoi (AFP) April 8, 2015 -
Vietnamese authorities are searching for a lead box containing hazardous radioactive material which has gone missing from a steel factory, an official said Wednesday.
The box of cobalt-60, which has a wide range of uses including for radiotherapy and in industry, has disappeared from the Vietnamese-owned Pomina steel mill in the south of the country.
"(We) do not know how and when the co ...
more
Saudi demand optimism lifts oil prices
New York (UPI) Apr 9, 2015 -
Prospects for a brief slowdown in U.S. oil production and demand expectations from Saudi Arabia gave oil prices a major lift in Thursday trading.
Ibrahim al-Muhanna, an adviser to the Saudi Petroleum Ministry, said before the Saudi Economic Association in Riyadh the bear market for crude oil was an unnatural and temporary market phenomenon given growth expectations in a recovering globa ...
more
Apache Corp. unloads Australian subsidiary
Houston (UPI) Apr 9, 2015 -
Apache Corp. said it was strengthening its position in the North American market through the $2.1 billion sale of its Australian subsidiary.
The company said it sold the subsidiary to a private equity management company for cash. Total production for the Australian entity was around 49,000 barrels of oil equivalent last month.
John Christmann, chief executive officer at Apache, s ...
more
New report identifies possible next steps in US energy development
Alexandria VA (SPX) Apr 10, 2015 -
The U.S. energy portfolio changes over time. Scientific and technologic advances related to hydraulic fracturing have dramatically increased the supply of U.S. oil and gas; because of this, a methane economy - in which natural gas provides the leading share of primary energy consumption - is now a possible scenario for U.S. energy development.
In a report released by the American Geoscienc ...
more
The first metal-free catalyst for rechargeable zinc-air batteries
Cleveland OH (SPX) Apr 10, 2015 -
Researchers from Case Western Reserve University and the University of North Texas have made what they believe is the first metal-free bifunctional electrocatalyst that performs as well or better than most metal and metal oxide electrodes in zinc-air batteries.
Zinc-air batteries are expected to be safer, lighter, cheaper and more powerful and durable than lithium-ion batteries common in m ...
more
Methane monitoring method reveals high levels in Pennsylvania stream
University Park PA (SPX) Apr 10, 2015 -
A new stream-based monitoring system recently discovered high levels of methane in a Pennsylvania stream near the site of a reported Marcellus shale gas well leak, according to researchers at Penn State and the U.S. Geological Survey. The system could be a valuable screening tool to assess the environmental impact of extracting natural gas using fracking.
Multiple samples from the stream, ...
more
Study finds a natural oil dispersion mechanism for deep-ocean blowout
Miami FL (SPX) Apr 10, 2015 -
A first-of-its-kind study observed how oil droplets are formed and measured their size under high pressure. They further simulated how the atomized oil spewing from the Macondo well reached the ocean's surface during the Deepwater Horizon accident.
The findings from the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and University of Western Australia research ...
more
