Earth Changes
As I wrote earlier this week, the virus formerly known as the swine flu (although the CDC continues to say that indeed the H1N1 strain does, as initially reported, contain swine, human and avian virus components) seems quite likely to have links to an industrial hog operation in the La Gloria community where the outbreak was believed to have started, although new information suggests that this strain of the flu may actually have origins in the US as well as Asia. As could be expected, Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork processor and co-owner of the La Gloria facility in question, came out early last weekend denying culpability in the outbreak.
© RedOrbit.com
A Zebra Finch
A Zebra Finch
Young zebra finches learn to sing by imitating adult male songbirds. But when raised in isolation, they produce an unrefined, off-beat song quite different from anything heard in the wild. In order to understand what would happen to this "isolate song" through generations, the scientists designed experiments in which these isolated singers would pass the song to their progeny, which was repeated in following generations. The birds were either paired one-on-one with their offspring, or placed in a more natural social setting with a colony of non-singing females to breed for a few generations.
Jasper is an Asiatic black bear, also known as a moon bear because of the yellow crescent on his chest. In 2000 he came to the Animals Asia Moon Bear Rescue Centre in Chengdu, China, from a bear farm.
When Jasper arrived his rescuers had to cut him out of a tiny "crush cage" that pinned him down so the farmer could extract lucrative bile from his gall bladder. Bear bile is used in traditional Chinese medicine and fetches a tidy price. In China, the wholesale price is around 4000 yuan (approximately $580) per kilogram; each bear produces up to 5 kilograms a year. But it comes at terrible cost.
When Jasper arrived his rescuers had to cut him out of a tiny "crush cage" that pinned him down so the farmer could extract lucrative bile from his gall bladder. Bear bile is used in traditional Chinese medicine and fetches a tidy price. In China, the wholesale price is around 4000 yuan (approximately $580) per kilogram; each bear produces up to 5 kilograms a year. But it comes at terrible cost.
Manila - The death toll from tropical storm "Dante" has risen to 21 while three remained missing, disaster management officials said early Monday.
Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) Bicol regional director Raffy Alejandro said that as of 10:30 p.m. Sunday, they recorded at least 21 casualties [fatalities], and three still missing.
Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) Bicol regional director Raffy Alejandro said that as of 10:30 p.m. Sunday, they recorded at least 21 casualties [fatalities], and three still missing.
© ALGALITA MARINE RESEARCH FOUNDATION
A shark carcass on Kamilo Beach, Hawaii, where plastic particles outnumber sand grains until you dig down about a foot
A shark carcass on Kamilo Beach, Hawaii, where plastic particles outnumber sand grains until you dig down about a foot
A high-seas mission departs from San Francisco next month to map and explore a sinister and shifting 21st-century continent: one twice the size of Texas and created from six million tonnes of discarded plastic.
Scientists and conservationists on the expedition will begin attempts to retrieve and recycle a monument to throwaway living in the middle of the North Pacific.
The toxic soup of refuse was discovered in 1997 when Charles Moore, an oceanographer, decided to travel through the centre of the North Pacific gyre (a vortex or circular ocean current). Navigators usually avoid oceanic gyres because persistent high-pressure systems - also known as the doldrums - lack the winds and currents to benefit sailors.
© British Broadcast Corporation
Such a wave today would flood Wall Street and the Long Island Expressway
Such a wave today would flood Wall Street and the Long Island Expressway
The scenario, proposed by scientists, is undergoing further examination to verify radiocarbon dates and to rule out other causes of the upheaval.
Sedimentary deposits from more than 20 cores in New York and New Jersey indicate that some sort of violent force swept the Northeast coastal region in 300 BC.
It may have been a large storm, but evidence is increasingly pointing to a rare Atlantic Ocean tsunami.
Steven Goodbred, an Earth scientist at Vanderbilt University, said large gravel, marine fossils and other unusual deposits found in sediment cores across the area date to 2,300 years ago.
© iStockphoto/Peter Barker
Dolphins have a clever trick for overcoming sleep deprivation. They are able to send half of their brains to sleep while the other half remains conscious.
Dolphins have a clever trick for overcoming sleep deprivation. They are able to send half of their brains to sleep while the other half remains conscious.
Ridgway and his team set about testing two dolphins' acoustic and visual vigilance over a 5 day period to find out how well they functioned after days without a break.
© US Geological Survey
* Sunday, May 03, 2009 at 16:21:46 UTC
* Sunday, May 03, 2009 at 11:21:46 AM at epicenter
Location 14.664°N, 91.144°W
Depth 104.2 km (64.7 miles)
Distances 45 km (25 miles) ESE of Quezaltenango, Guatemala
70 km (40 miles) W of GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala
125 km (80 miles) ESE of Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico
1005 km (620 miles) ESE of MEXICO CITY, D.F., Mexico
© Graham Turner
According to the Environment Agency, the number of European eels across the continent has declined by as much as 95% in the past 25 years.
According to the Environment Agency, the number of European eels across the continent has declined by as much as 95% in the past 25 years.
But the mystery of the vanishing eels is troubling fisheries officials, conservationists and fishermen who for generations have hunted the curious animal.
A conference in Somerset on the plight of the eel, which was attended by experts from across Europe, has been hearing this week that the eel is in crisis.
The number of European eels across the continent has declined by as much as 95% in the last 25 years, the Environment Agency says. Officials report that the number of young eels arriving in Britain's estuaries, rivers and streams this spring is significantly down on last year. Andy Don, an Environment Agency fisheries officer who has studied the eel for 20 years, said: "There is no doubt that there is a crisis. People have been reporting catching a kilo of glass eels this year when they would expect to catch 40 kilos. We have got to do something."
Our paper
Limits on CO2 Climate Forcing from Recent Temperature Data of Earth
has just been published in Energy and Environment. (Vol 20, Jan 2009). [Copies may be downloaded from here . preprint with figures in color here]
We show in Figure 1 the well established observation that the global atmospheric temperature anomalies of Earth reached a maximum in 1998.
This plot shows oscillations that are highly correlated with El Nino/La Nina and volcanic eruptions. There also appears to be a positive temperature trend that could be due to CO2 climate forcing.
Limits on CO2 Climate Forcing from Recent Temperature Data of Earth
has just been published in Energy and Environment. (Vol 20, Jan 2009). [Copies may be downloaded from here . preprint with figures in color here]
We show in Figure 1 the well established observation that the global atmospheric temperature anomalies of Earth reached a maximum in 1998.
© David Douglass and John Christy
This plot shows oscillations that are highly correlated with El Nino/La Nina and volcanic eruptions. There also appears to be a positive temperature trend that could be due to CO2 climate forcing.
