Evidence that Earth's first mass extinction was caused by critters not catastrophe
Nashville TN (SPX) Sep 03, 2015 -
In the popular mind, mass extinctions are associated with catastrophic events, like giant meteorite impacts and volcanic super-eruptions. But the world's first known mass extinction, which took place about 540 million years ago, now appears to have had a more subtle cause: evolution itself.
"People have been slow to recognize that biological organisms can also drive mass extinction," said ...
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Study shows how fracking documentary influenced public perception and political change
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 04, 2015 -
Social scientists have long argued documentary films are powerful tools for social change. But a University of Iowa (UI) sociologist and his co-researchers are the first to use the Internet and social media to systematically show how a documentary film reshaped public perception and ultimately led to municipal bans on hydraulic fracking.
By measuring an uptick in online searches as well as ...
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Iraqi oil revenue drops in weak market
Baghdad (UPI) Sep 3, 2015 -
Iraqi revenue generated from oil exports in August was lower than the previous month by nearly $1 billion in part because of low oil prices, data show.
The ministry, using data from a federal marketing company, said total crude oil exports for August was 95.4 million barrels. Roughly 98 percent of those exports left the country from southern ports, with the remainder traveling north acr ...
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Maduro, Putin discuss ways to stabilize oil market
Caracas (AFP) Sept 3, 2015 -
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met in Beijing Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ways to stabilize oil prices, the government news agency AVN reported.
"President Putin and I have agreed on initiatives, to be made public when they are in full development, that will stabilize the oil market," Maduro said, according to AVN.
Both Maduro and Putin are in Beijing f ...
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North Dakota may tap federal funding for energy transit
Washington (UPI) Sep 3, 2015 -
More than $10 million in available federal funding to ensure the safe transport of oil and gas is vital for U.S. energy security, a North Dakota senator said.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the state roughly $250,000 to support a state pipeline safety program. The Federal Railroad Administration, meanwhile, announced it was taking applications for $10 million in competiti ...
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Dallas bank upbeat 'except in the energy sector'
Dallas (UPI) Sep 3, 2015 -
A report from the Dallas Federal Reserve said regional economic metrics indicated mostly positive momentum, "except in the energy sector."
A so-called Beige Book from the bank said the regional economy grew at a modest pace since late July. Activity in the real estate sector was strong, and manufacturing demand was mixed.
"Price pressures remained subdued, and employment held ste ...
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Crude oil prices unmoved by ECB position
New York (UPI) Sep 3, 2015 -
Crude oil prices were holding steady at the start of trading Thursday as markets weighed statements from the European Central Bank and U.S. labor figures.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Thursday it was keeping key interest rates unchanged at near zero percent. While recognizing the slow recovery in the European economy, Draghi said he'd use all tools at his disposal t ...
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Rubio: Priority No. 1 is lifting U.S. oil export ban
Oklahoma City (UPI) Sep 3, 2015 -
Lifting a ban on U.S. crude oil exports will bring "immediate" economic stimulus to the economy, Republican presidential contender Marco Rubio said.
Sen. Rubio, R-Fla., addressed supporters in Oklahoma, saying one of the first things he'd do if elected president would be to lift the 1970s era ban on exports of domestic crude oil.
"President Nixon signed it into law in the 1970s - ...
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New Zealand takes step toward oil and gas offerings
Wellington, New Zealand (UPI) Sep 3, 2015 -
The New Zealand government is consulting with local communities as a first step toward awarding oil and gas exploration permits, the energy minister said.
"Successive block offers have shown that operators are looking for long-term opportunities in a mix of mature and frontier acreage, which New Zealand has to offer," New Zealand Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said in a sta ...
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Self-driving golf carts
Boston MA (SPX) Sep 03, 2015 -
At the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in September, members of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) and their colleagues will describe an experiment conducted over six days at a large public garden in Singapore, in which self-driving golf carts ferried 500 tourists around winding paths trafficked by pedestrians, bicyclists, and the occasional ...
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Magnetic fields provide a new way to communicate wirelessly
San Diego CA (SPX) Sep 03, 2015 -
Electrical engineers at the University of California, San Diego demonstrated a new wireless communication technique that works by sending magnetic signals through the human body. The new technology could offer a lower power and more secure way to communicate information between wearable electronic devices, providing an improved alternative to existing wireless communication systems, researchers ...
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Corvus Energy powers the world's first electric commercial fishing vessel
Richmond, BC (SPX) Sep 03, 2015 -
Corvus Energy is pleased to announce a Corvus ESS with a Siemens BlueDrive PlusCmarine propulsion system will power the Selfa Elmax 1099 electric fishing boat. The 11 metre electric vessel will have a 195 kWh ESS consisting of 30 Corvus AT6500 lithium polymer battery modules.
The fishing boat, designed to operate entirely on Corvus battery power over a planned ten hour working day, will al ...
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Microsoft to buy startup focused on worker efficiency
San Francisco (AFP) Sept 3, 2015 -
Microsoft on Thursday said it was buying a startup that specializes in analyzing email, meeting schedules and other work data to increase people's efficiency on the job.
Microsoft did not disclose financial details regarding its acquisition of Seattle-based VoloMetrix.
"I am excited about this big step forward in our company ambition to reinvent productivity and business process, and how ...
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New technique lowers cost of energy-efficient embedded computer systems
Raleigh NC (SPX) Sep 03, 2015 -
Electrical and computer engineers at North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for creating less-expensive, low-power embedded systems - the computing devices found in everything from thermostats to automobiles.
"Using our techniques, we've been able to create prototype systems with power converters that have a combination of energy efficiency and low cost that - as fa ...
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France confirms wing part found on Reunion is from MH370
Paris (AFP) Sept 3, 2015 -
French prosecutors confirmed Thursday that a wing part found on a remote Indian Ocean island was from ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a month after tests on the flaperon began.
"It is possible today to say with certainty that the flaperon discovered on Reunion island on July 29 came from flight MH370," Paris prosecutors said in a statement, confirming claims made by Malaysia's prim ...
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Solar Frontier's CIS Modules Selected For 26 MW Project In North Carolina
Tokyo (SPX) Sep 02, 2015 -
Solar Frontier, the world's largest CIS solar energy solutions provider, announced that it will supply its advanced solar module technology, CIS, for a 26 MW project located near Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Solar Frontier signed the module supply agreement with a California-based solar equipment supplier and initiated the first of a series of shipments in late August. The project will ...
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G20 seeks to smooth economic shock waves from China
Paris (AFP) Sept 3, 2015 -
World finance ministers and central bankers gather in Turkey this weekend to grapple with the fallout of slowing growth in China, tanking emerging economies and panicked global stock markets.
Signs that China's economy - the world's second-largest - is slowing more than expected have panicked stock markets, pushed commodity prices to fresh lows, sparked a rout in emerging market currencies ...
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Water heals a bioplastic
University Park PA (SPX) Sep 03, 2015 -
A drop of water self-heals a multiphase polymer derived from the genetic code of squid ring teeth, which may someday extend the life of medical implants, fiber-optic cables and other hard to repair in place objects, according to an international team of researchers.
"What's unique about this plastic is the ability to stick itself back together with a drop of water," said Melik Demirel, pro ...
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EDF delays launch of EPR nuclear reactor
Paris (AFP) Sept 3, 2015 -
French energy group EDF on Thursday announced a further delay to the launch of its next generation EPR nuclear reactor, another setback for its 10.5-billion-euro ($11.6 billion) project.
The launch is now set for "the fourth quarter of 2018," said EDF CEO Jean-Bernard Levy, of the showcase project being built with atomic energy giant Areva which has faced fresh technical problems in the pas ...
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Using DNA origami to build nanodevices of the future
Kyoto, Japan (SPX) Sep 03, 2015 -
Scientists have been studying ways to use synthetic DNA as a building block for smaller and faster devices. DNA has the advantage of being inherently "coded".
Each DNA strand is formed of one of four "codes" that can link to only one complementary code each, thus binding two DNA strands together. Scientists are using this inherent coding to manipulate and "fold" DNA to form "origami nanost ...
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A technique designed to predict how much energy waves will be bringing
Basque Country, Spain (SPX) Sep 03, 2015 -
Marine energy has a great future potential according to the experts, but there is still a long way to go before it can be used on a large scale. Despite the problem of intermittency, wave energy has an advantage over wind energy, for example: it is easier to predict optimum swell than some suitable gusts of wind.
That is why knowing how much energy the waves will be bringing within a few h ...
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