Oil from freighter collision off Belgian coast threatens nature reserve
The Hague (AFP) Oct 6, 2015 -
Belgium and the Netherlands are frantically trying to stop the spread of oil leaking from a collision Tuesday morning between a freighter and a tanker in the North Sea before the slick sullies a coastal nature reserve.
The Flinterstar freighter was carrying 125 tonnes of diesel and 427 tonnes of fuel oil when it collided with the Al Oraiq tanker eight kilometres (five miles) off the Belgia ...
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Study explores ancient ecosystem response to a 'big 5' mass extinction
San Francisco CA (SPX) Oct 07, 2015 -
As the planet faces the dawn of a sixth mass extinction, scientists are searching for clues about the uncertain road ahead by exploring how ancient ecosystems collapsed and bounced back from traumatic upheavals.
A new study follows the lengthy collapses and revival of South African ecosystems during one of the "big five" mass extinctions, the Permian-Triassic event, revealing unexpected re ...
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Stability of surviving communities increases following mass extinction
Washington DC (SPX) Oct 07, 2015 -
By using fossil data, researchers have found that the structure of ecological communities leading up to the Permian-Triassic Extinction, one of the largest drivers of biodiversity loss in history, is a key predictor of the ecological communities that would demonstrate stability through the event.
As we are confronted with the reality of modern day mass extinction, identifying factors that ...
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Are the blueprints for limbs encoded in the snake genome
Washington DC (SPX) Oct 07, 2015 -
Hundreds of millions of years ago, a common ancestor of mammals, birds, and reptiles evolved a phallus. We don't know much about phallus evolution (external genitalia generally don't mineralize, so the fossil record is of little help), but we can compare the expression of phallus genes from organism to organism. From such work, we've learned that many of the genes deployed in the developing phal ...
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Dinosaur population study reveals how Maiasaura lived and died
Bozeman MT (SPX) Oct 07, 2015 -
Decades of research on Montana's state fossil - the "good mother lizard" Maiasaura peeblesorum - has resulted in the most detailed life history of any dinosaur known and created a model to which all other dinosaurs can be compared, according to new research published recently in the journal Paleobiology.
Researchers from Oklahoma State University, Montana State University and Indiana Purdu ...
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Ancient alga left the water ready to survive on land
Norwich, UK (SPX) Oct 07, 2015 -
A team of scientists led by Dr Pierre-Marc Delaux (John Innes Centre / University of Wisconsin, Madison) has solved a long-running mystery about the first stages of plant life on earth.
The team of scientists from the John Innes Centre, the University of Wisconsin - Madison and other international collaborators, has discovered how an ancient alga was able to inhabit land, before it went on ...
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Montana student, professor discover earliest Jurassic corals
Missoula MT (SPX) Oct 07, 2015 -
Five times in Earth's history mass extinction events have wiped out up to 90 percent of global life. University of Montana doctoral student Montana Hodges and geosciences Professor George Stanley recently found the fossil record of the earliest North American coral species that reappeared after the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction event.
Their findings were published in the October issue ...
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Volcanic activity may have contributed to Cretaceous extinction
Washington DC (SPX) Oct 07, 2015 -
While there is general consensus that a massive asteroid colliding with Earth 66 million years ago contributed to the ensuing mass extinction, including that of dinosaurs, new evidence suggests that this impact triggered more intense volcanic activity, further compounding the extermination. The new measurements of volcanic activity, which may be the most precise to date, indicate a dramatic incr ...
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Ancestors of land plants were wired to make the leap to shore
Madison WI (SPX) Oct 07, 2015 -
When the algal ancestor of modern land plants first succeeded in making the transition from aquatic environments to an inhospitable shore 450 million years ago, it changed the world by dramatically altering climate and setting the stage for the vast array of terrestrial life.
But the genetic and developmental innovations plants used to make the leap to land have been enduring secrets of na ...
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Signs of ancient megatsunami could portend modern hazard
New York NY (SPX) Oct 07, 2015 -
Scientists working off west Africa in the Cape Verde Islands have found evidence that the sudden collapse of a volcano there tens of thousands of years ago generated an ocean tsunami that dwarfed anything ever seen by humans. The researchers say an 800-foot wave engulfed an island more than 30 miles away. The study could revive a simmering controversy over whether sudden giant collapses present ...
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Microsoft unveils first laptop, Windows 10 smartphones
New York (AFP) Oct 6, 2015 -
Microsoft unveiled its first laptop and its first Windows 10 smartphones Tuesday as it aims to widen the use of its new operating system in the mobile technology universe.
The spate of fresh products, launched before the year-end holiday shopping season, seeks to build on the July launch of Windows 10. Microsoft said Tuesday that the Windows 10 system was now running on 110 million devices a ...
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Canadian Oil Sands mulls takeover offer
Calgary, Alberta (UPI) Oct 6, 2015 -
The unsolicited bid put on the table by Suncor Energy is far below what represents a fair value, a main shareholder at target Canadian Oil Sands said.
Suncor Energy, the largest energy company in Canada, offered about $3.2 billion for rival Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. in a hostile bid. Seymour Schulich, a Canadian billionaire with a 5 percent stake in Canadian Oil Sands, told the nation's F ...
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Gazprom: Nord Stream II not a new project
St. Petersburg, Russia (UPI) Oct 6, 2015 -
Parties to the twin Nord Stream pipeline through the Baltic Sea are covered for plans to expand the existing infrastructure, Russia's Gazprom said.
Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller last month signed a shareholder agreement on the development of the second phase of the twin Nord Stream pipeline system in the Baltic Sea with his counterparts at German energy companies BASF and E.ON, as well ...
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Recovery sentiment lifts oil prices
New York (UPI) Oct 6, 2015 -
European support for Greek economic recovery and industry sentiments of upward momentum helped lift crude oil prices in early Tuesday trading.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark for crude oil prices, moved up about seven tenths of a percent in early trading Tuesday to $46.62 per barrel. Brent crude oil prices rallied 1.5 percent to $50.03 per barrel.
Crude oil prices sta ...
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IMF gloomy on world economy as China slows
Lima (AFP) Oct 6, 2015 -
The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecasts for the world economy Tuesday, warning of increasing risks from the slowdown in China, which is dragging other emerging markets down with it.
The global economy will expand just 3.1 percent this year and 3.6 percent next year, the IMF predicted, revising downward its previous forecasts by 0.2 percentage points in both cases.
Even t ...
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Japan's Abe hails new trade era, hopes China will join pact
Tokyo (AFP) Oct 6, 2015 -
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hailed a deal to create the world's largest free trade area Tuesday as the start of a "new century" for Asia, and expressed hope China might one day join the historic accord.
"A huge economic zone will emerge... the TPP will make our lives more prosperous," Abe said in a televised news conference after a dozen nations reached a deal on the long-awaited Tran ...
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NYT: Oil export push well-funded machine
Washington (UPI) Oct 6, 2015 -
The push to ease the ban on U.S. crude oil exports is a well-funded effort akin to a presidential campaign in terms of its political machinery, a report finds.
Republican leaders in the U.S. House and Senate have moved various pieces of legislation meant to end the ban placed on U.S. crude oil exports after Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in the 1970s b ...
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New system allows heightened purity of a metal binding compound
Buffalo NY (SPX) Oct 06, 2015 -
A team of researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo (University at Buffalo) have demonstrated a novel means of pre-purifying a natural product generated from a biosynthetic platform. The compound, termed yersiniabactin, has a unique ability to form strong complexes with metal ions, including iron and copper.
As such, the compound has potential in a range of applications ...
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TEPCO Removes Protective Cover Over Crippled Fukushima Reactor
Moscow (Sputnik) Oct 07, 2015 -
The Fukushima power plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced on Monday that the removal of protective dome installed over the first power generating unit was completed.
The dome was installed in 2011 to stop radioactive particles from escaping into environment after the facility suffered a meltdown as a result of a tsunami caused by a powerful earthquake, which cripple ...
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International research team finds thriving wildlife populations in Chernobyl
Chernobyl, Ukraine (SPX) Oct 07, 2015 -
A team of international researchers, including James Beasley, assistant professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Georgia Savannah River Ecology Laboratory and the Warnell School Forestry and Natural Resources, has discovered abundant populations of wildlife at Chernobyl, the site of the 1986 nuclear accident that released radioactive particles into the environment and forced a massive ...
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Anti-aging treatment for smart windows
Uppsala, sweden (SPX) Oct 06, 2015 -
Electrochromic windows, so-called 'smart windows', share a well-known problem with rechargeable batteries - their limited lifespan. Researchers at Uppsala University have now worked out an entirely new way to rejuvenate smart windows which have started to show signs of age. The study, published in the distinguished science journal Nature Materials, may open the way to other areas of application. ...
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Flame retardant breakthrough is naturally derived and nontoxic
Austin TX (SPX) Oct 06, 2015 -
Inspired by a naturally occurring material found in marine mussels, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have created a new flame retardant to replace commercial additives that are often toxic and can accumulate over time in the environment and living animals, including humans.
Flame retardants are added to foams found in mattresses, sofas, car upholstery and many other consume ...
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Semiconductor nanoparticles show high luminescence in a polymer matrix
Toyohashi, Japan (SPX) Oct 06, 2015 -
Semiconductor nanocrystals known as quantum dots (QDs) are increasingly being used as photoluminescent materials in bio-imaging, photonics, and optoelectronic applications. However, these QDs must have stable photoluminescence properties to be used in these applications. Photoluminescence stability of QDs is achieved by chemically modifying the surface of the QDs.
However, chemical modific ...
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Microalgae biomass as feedstock for biofuel, food, feed and more
Washington DC (SPX) Oct 07, 2015 -
Novel and scalable technology and production process combining algal biomass cultivation, harvesting and concentration as well as extraction and fractionation of fatty acids from the biomass results in ability to offer high quality feedstock for various industries in a highly competitive price.
UniVerve Ltd. (UniVerve), an Israeli company, has begun scaling-up its technological process, wh ...
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Nanocellulose materials by design
Chicago IL (SPX) Oct 06, 2015 -
Theoretically, nanocellulose could be the next hot supermaterial. A class of biological materials found within numerous natural systems, most notably trees, cellulose nanocrystals have captured researchers' attention for their extreme strength, toughness, light weight, and elasticity. The materials are so strong and tough, in fact, that many people think they could replace Kevlar in ballistic ve ...
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