ApocaDocuments (45) gathered this week:
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Sun, Jun 22, 2008
from Illawara Mercury (Australia):
Eight species disappear
At least eight species of wildlife have been wiped out of the Illawarra in the past 100 years, according to a report released by the Department of Environment and Climate change.... The species the department listed as "extinct" [from the area] -- animals which could no longer be found in a given area -- were: eastern quoll, ground parrot, wompoo fruit dove, superb fruit dove, rose-crowned fruit dove, bush stone curlew, jabiru, and the magpie goose. ...
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Come back, Ptilinopus magnificus, come back!
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Sun, Jun 22, 2008
from The West Australian:
Australia to argue need for whale ban
Environment Minister Peter Garrett will lead the Australian push to continue a ban on whaling at what is expected to be a highly charged meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).... "I will be making very clear the ... strong view that the Australian government and Australians have generally about the practice of killing whales in the name of science," he said. "I will be saying clearly and strongly at this whaling commission that we think there is a much better way of approaching the question of looking after our whales, conserving whales." ...
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Apocaiku:
A much better way
of looking after our whales
is not killing them.
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Sun, Jun 22, 2008
from Grist:
Why are sperm counts so low in Missouri?
Are the region's titanic annual lashings of agrichemicals -- synthetic and mined fertilizers, as well as poisons designed to kill bugs, weeds, and mold -- leaching into drinking water and doing creepy things to the state's citizens? And what about manure from the stunning concentration of concentrated-animal feedlot operations (CAFOs)...? Greaney cites an Environmental Health Perspectives study showing that men in Columbia have sharply lower average sperm counts.... [T]wo pesticides -- diazinon and metolachlor -- have shown up in samples from Missouri men with low sperm counts. Neither is currently regulated by the EPA as a drinking-water contaminant. ...
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Why would the EPA regulate it?
It's just a farm chemical after all.
Isn't that USDA?
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Sun, Jun 22, 2008
from Green Bay Press Gazette (WI):
Fight against invasives remains fluid: VHS changes definition, views of battle
Dozens of dead panfish and bass seen floating on West Alaska Lake in Kewaunee County recently were not the result of viral hemorrhagic septicemia, but rather a common bacterial infection.... Instead, it was columnaris, one of the oldest known fish diseases and one that typically strikes following some type of environmental stress.... Gansberg said there are four aquatic invasives high on the local radar: Eurasian water milfoil, curly leaf pondweed, zebra mussels and VHS. ...
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Betamax would have solved the VHS -- perhaps a leaf straightener would solve the pondweed?
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Sun, Jun 22, 2008
from Times Online (UK):
Home-made energy to prop up grid
Homeowners are to be offered extra financial incentives to fit their properties with solar panels and wind turbines in an ambitious green energy programme to reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels.
At the heart of the £100 billion renewable energy strategy, due to be unveiled this week, is a proposal to encourage householders to generate their own power. They will be able to sell back surplus electricity at premium prices to the national grid. At present it can be sold only at market rates. ...
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Baby steps in Britain.
In the US, bound feet.
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Sat, Jun 21, 2008
from CBC (Canada):
Dumping mining waste into lakes 'more responsible': fisheries minister
Tailing waste produced by mining companies is best stored in water, the federal fisheries minister said Tuesday, defending a planned move by bureaucrats to reclassify 16 Canadian lakes as toxic dump sites.... "It is much more responsible to store them in water," Hearn said. "Any damage done in relation to fish or fish habitat has to be mitigated where there is no net loss to either fish or fish habitat. There is a major environmental study done before any go-ahead is given," he said, adding that "every aspect is covered" before anybody could be in a position to damage the environment. ...
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Clearly a graduate of the
GWB School of Public Speeching.
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Sat, Jun 21, 2008
from Telegraph.co.uk:
Blue whale song is getting deeper
The haunting song of the world's biggest animal, the blue whale, is getting deeper, researchers have discovered.
Underwater recordings of the giant endangered mammals have revealed that the tone of their rhythmic pulses and moans has become steadily lower as their population have slowly recovered after nearly being wiped out by whaling. Before large-scale hunting, the global blue whale population was thought to have been around 200,000 animals, but numbers fell to just a few hundred by the 1960s when a hunting ban was introduced.
The population has since recovered to around 4,500 animals. ...
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Apocaiku:
Perhaps the whales mourn
the hollowness of the sea:
the empty ocean.
ApocaDoc
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Sat, Jun 21, 2008
from Yorkshire Post (UK):
Sludge used on fields may strip crop of value
Farmers have been warned they could devalue their crops by fertilising them with sewage sludge.
Although partially retracted after being issued, the warning gave a rare glimpse of some unease in the food and drinks business about a practice which has been growing for 10 years.... "We are concerned that following the recent rise in fertiliser prices, some growers may be tempted to apply sewage sludge. The vast majority of our customers do not accept such treatment and a recent parcel of grain sold off water authority land that had been treated with sewage sludge attracted a price discount of £60 per tonne."
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They're just not marketing it right:
"Enriched with local resources."
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Sat, Jun 21, 2008
from Guardian (UK):
Biggest firms call for huge cuts in emissions to start green industrial revolution
Heads of 100 of the world's biggest companies will today call on political leaders to agree huge cuts in greenhouse gases to stimulate a "green industrial revolution".... The chairmen and chief executives, whose companies represent more than 10 percent of global stockmarkets, indicate that emissions reductions by richer countries will have to be much deeper than 50 percent, but insist that big developing nations, particularly China and India, also have to tackle pollution. So far the G8 has only said it would "seriously consider" a 50 percent cut.
"Climate change is not only a challenge, it is also an opportunity," says the statement. ...
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Business 101 meets climate chaos.
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Fri, Jun 20, 2008
from Global Change Biology (Blackwell):
Birds Migrate Earlier, But Some May Be Left Behind As The Climate Warms Rapidly
Many birds are arriving earlier each spring as temperatures warm along the East Coast of the United States. However, the farther those birds journey, the less likely they are to keep pace with the rapidly changing climate.... eight out of 32 bird species are passing by Cape Cod significantly earlier on their annual trek north than they were 38 years ago. The reason? Warming temperatures. Temperatures in eastern Massachusetts have risen by 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since 1970. ...
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Let's hope their food sources arrive early too.
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Fri, Jun 20, 2008
from Bellevue Intelligencer (Canada):
Electronics wasteland: 91,000 tonnes of electronic waste in Ontario each year
Lead, flame retardants, mercury, cadmium, chromium, beryllium: many consumers would be surprised to learn that a desktop computer contains all of these potentially toxic substances.
But ensuring your unwanted electronics are disposed of safely isn't always an easy task.... This means obsolete and unwanted electronics -- and all the associated toxic substances -- often end up in the dump for lack of an easy alternative. ...
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All of 12 million people in Ontario.
That's about, oh, 2/3 of greater NYC..
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Fri, Jun 20, 2008
from University of Liverpool, via EurekAlert:
Desert plant may hold key to biofuel growth in arid land
Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi, is unique because, unlike normal plants, it captures most of its carbon dioxide at night when the air is cooler and more humid, making it 10 times more water-efficient than major crops such as wheat. Scientists will use the latest next-generation DNA sequencing to analyse the plant's genetic code and understand how these plants function at night.
The project will generate a genome sequence database that will be used as an Internet resource for plant biologists throughout the world.... Scientists believe that the novel genes found in Kalanchoe could provide a model of how bio-fuel plants could be grown on un-utilised desert and semi-arid lands, rather than on fertile farmland needed for producing food. ...
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Night-blooming serious.
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Thu, Jun 19, 2008
from Chicago Tribune:
Fish die-off near Milwaukee signals latest lakes invader may be advancing on Chicago shores
"When thousands of bloody, hemorrhaging fish recently turned up on the Lake Michigan shore south of Milwaukee, it confirmed the worst fears of scientists worried that an Ebola-like virus stalking Great Lakes fish would strike closer to Chicago.
The dead fish were round gobies, a small invasive species that many feel is better off dead. But unlike many other diseases that tend to hit one or two types of fish, this viral strain has led to large fish kills involving more than 30 species, including valuable sport fish such as salmon, trout, walleye, muskie, bass and perch." ...
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What's next? Zombies crawling from the lake?
ApocaDoc
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Want more context?
Try reading our book FREE online:
Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies!
More fun than a barrel of jellyfish!
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Thu, Jun 19, 2008
from Oxford Analytica, via Globe and Mail (Canada):
Low carbon future depends on technology, reductions, efficiencies
... However, the report assumes that given the scale of the challenge, progress must be made on all viable technologies.... there is a disconnect between current energy sector investment plans worldwide and the requirements for transitioning to a low-carbon economy.... CONCLUSION: Conflicting political priorities suggest strongly that governments will be unable to act either individually or collectively with sufficient speed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to IPCC recommendations. ...
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Well, then we just have to change our governments.
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Thu, Jun 19, 2008
from North Channel Sentinel (TX):
Biocrude from waste too good to be true?
Now Rivera must convince potential investors that his trade secret – 21 years and $31 million dollars in the making – isn’t just a bunch of smoke and mirrors.
The "Rivera Method" takes such agricultural refuse as cracked soy beans, rice and cotton seed hulls, grain sorghum, milo and jatropha and turns them into bio-crude oil. This crude – or Vetroleum, as Rivera calls it - can then be further refined into everything from gasoline to jet fuel and just about every petrochemical in between.
With this process, just one bushel (60 pounds) of organic waste can yield about six gallons of bio-crude, Rivera said. ...
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Please tell me the process itself isn't energy-intensive.
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Thu, Jun 19, 2008
from Afriquenligne (France):
Research institute warns of African land degradation
Lagos, Nigeria - The survival of more than 250 million people living in the dry lands of the developing countries is being threatened by chronic land degradation, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) said in a statement made available to PANA here Thursday.
"Dry lands cover about 41 percent of the earth's surface. The poor people in the dry lands depend mainly on rain-fed agriculture and natural range lands for their survival. Their livelihoods are at risk due to land degradation, which is exacerbated by increasing population growth that is putting considerable pressure on fragile land resources," ICRISAT said. ...
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The way we've treated the soil
truly is degrading.
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Thu, Jun 19, 2008
from Science, via ScienceDaily:
Tropical Forest Sustainability: A Climate Change Boon
Improved management of the world’s tropical forests has major implications for humanity’s ability to reduce its contribution to climate change, according to a paper published in the journal, Science. The authors say the billions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed annually by the world's forests represents an 'economic subsidy' for climate change mitigation worth hundreds of billions of dollars. ...
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waidaminit -- we're subsidizing the rainforest!?
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Thu, Jun 19, 2008
from BBC (UK):
Fulmars' dramatic decline: seabird in peril
A reduction in the size of the Scottish whitefish fleet may be linked to a fall in numbers of a seabird, a conservation charity has said.
The John Muir Trust said a count of fulmars at Cape Wrath found 261 pairs on cliffs that once supported 700. The birds often feed on fish discarded by fishing boats.
However, a decline in the numbers of vessels, following European restrictions on catch sizes, could be contributing to a famine. ...
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Those fulmars got lazy, and now look at 'em.
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Wed, Jun 18, 2008
from Daily Mail:
New eco-nightclub where the dancers generate electricity
Britain's first eco-nightclub is to open in King's Cross. The venue will sell organic spirits served in polycarbon cups and will be powered with renewable energy.
There are also plans to install a recycled water system to flush its lavatories and an energy-generating dancefloor, which would harness power from the pounding of clubbers' feet and convert it into electricity. ...
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Saving the planet will have to feel like a party or people won't do it.
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Wed, Jun 18, 2008
from Contra Costa Times:
Last of salmon trucked to San Pablo Bay
"The routes to the ocean followed by California salmon for millennia have turned into such a dangerous gauntlet that today millions of fish no longer come down the Feather, the American or the Mokelumne rivers.
They migrate instead in trucks down U.S. Highways 70 and 50, Interstate 80 and State Route 12." ...
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10-4 good buddy!
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Wed, Jun 18, 2008
from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory:
Ocean temperatures and sea level increases are 50 percent higher than previously estimated
New research suggests that ocean temperature and associated sea level increases between 1961 and 2003 were 50 percent larger than estimated in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.... The research corrected for small but systematic biases recently discovered in the global ocean observing system, and uses statistical techniques that "infill" information in data-sparse regions. The results increase scientists' confidence in ocean observations and further demonstrate that climate models simulate ocean temperature variability more realistically than previously thought. ...
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The results increase our confidence that
we better get a move on!
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Wed, Jun 18, 2008
from Intelligencer-Journal, via RedOrbit:
Old Landfill Gunk Fouls Trail At Park
... A vegetation-free area extends for about 25 feet across the embankment... [The sign lists] a host of pollutants that might be present at various levels, including iron, nickel, mercury, zinc, arsenic, chloroethane and benzene... Jim Warner, executive director of the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority, said leachates are an old story with old landfills.
There were no environmental safeguards, he said. Still, he noted, over many years, the sites do tend to flush themselves clean. ...
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Flush themselves clean to where, exactly?
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Wed, Jun 18, 2008
from FishUpdate:
Norwegian saithe fisheries celebrate sustainability
The Norwegian North Sea saithe and Norwegian North East Arctic saithe fisheries were the first Norwegian fisheries to enter the MSC assessment process.
Subject to MSC Chain of Custody certification, saithe from the fisheries is now eligible to carry the MSC eco-label on fish and products marking it out as fish from a sustainable and well-managed source. ...
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For the six billion who didn't know, "MSC" is the Marine Stewardship Council.
Stewardship -- what a concept.
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Wed, Jun 18, 2008
from Reuters India:
Vietnam lifts rice export ban, Manila seals deal
[Lifting the ban] could speed a recent decline in international rice prices from record highs -- prices had nearly trebled this year -- helping to ease food inflation and boosting supplies of the staple in Asia.... "There are signs of improving supplies but we still have a few bullish factors," said one trader. ...
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A Friedmanian slip: signs of improving supplies that make food affordable for the poor, but still a few bullish factors to make lots of money off the shortage.
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Wed, Jun 18, 2008
from University of Adelaide, via EurekAlert:
World-class environment vision to 'bring back the species'
One of Australia's leading environmentalists will spearhead a world-class project to help revegetate the Mount Lofty Ranges, to stave off the effects of climate change and halt the loss of bird, animal and plant species.... "Ten species are already extinct in the Mt Lofty Ranges and a further 60 species continue to decline in numbers despite the cessation of vegetation clearance in the 1980s. Climate change will exacerbate these losses," he says.
"This will be a terrible loss for all South Australians, but it is avoidable, if suitable and resilient habitats are re-established. Our work is not just about revegetation but about reconstructing complex habitats to secure the region's biodiversity." ...
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We're down with this down-under approach.
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Wed, Jun 18, 2008
from Times Online (UK):
Poachers kill last four wild northern white rhinos
The last four northern white rhinoceros remaining in the wild are feared to have been killed for their horns by poachers and are now believed to be extinct in the wild. Only a few are left in captivity but they are difficult to breed and the number is so low that the species is regarded as biologically unviable. ...
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Dead rhinos walking.
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You're still reading! Good for you!
You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy):
Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies!
We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day!
Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore.
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Tue, Jun 17, 2008
from New York Times:
Tiny, Clingy and Destructive, Mussel Makes Its Way West
"...The mussel-coated debris is unmistakable evidence of an event occurring silently and largely out of sight — the colonization of the Colorado River by the quagga mussel, a fingernail-size Eurasian bivalve with an astonishing sex drive and a nasty reputation for causing economic and ecological havoc.
Like the closely related zebra mussel, the quagga can cling tenaciously to hard surfaces, like the equipment of the many hydroelectric and water-supply plants along the lower Colorado. ...
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Astonishing sex drives and nasty reputations usually go hand in hand.
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Tue, Jun 17, 2008
from University of New Hampshire:
Researchers Test Sediment-Scrubbing Technology In Cocheco River
Rather than dredging up the problem, or burying it under several feet of sand, they've created a patch -- black geotextile mats designed to cap and stabilize pollution in place.... The reactive "filling" of this quilt contains three different substances that bind and stabilize different pollutants. One such substance -- a UNH-patented technology based on a natural form of phosphorus -- treats toxic heavy metals associated with industrial pollution such as lead, copper, zinc and cadmium. ...
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A patch in time
may save mine.
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Tue, Jun 17, 2008
from Science Daily (US):
Pig manure 'crude oil' no panacea
the NIST team has developed the first detailed chemical analysis revealing what processing is needed to transform pig manure crude oil into fuel for vehicles or heating. Mass production of [T]his type of biofuel could help consume a waste product overflowing at U.S. farms, and possibly enable cutbacks in the nation's petroleum use and imports. But, according to a new NIST paper, pig manure crude will require a lot of refining... [It] contains at least 83 major compounds, including many components that would need to be removed, such as about 15 percent water by volume, sulfur that otherwise could end up as pollution in vehicle exhaust, and lots of char waste containing heavy metals, including iron, zinc, silver, cobalt, chromium, lanthanum, scandium, tungsten and minute amounts of gold and hafnium. Whatever the pigs eat, from dirt to nutritional supplements, ends up in the oil. ...
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A far cry from "light sweet crude."
But what did we expect from the back end of a pig?
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Tue, Jun 17, 2008
from Science Daily (US):
Global Impact Of Urbanization Threatening World's Biodiversity And Natural Resources
"As a species we have lived in wild nature for hundreds of thousands of years, and now suddenly most of us live in cities -- the ultimate escape from nature," says Peter Kareiva, chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy and co-author of the report. "If we do not learn to build, expand and design our cities with a respect for nature, we will have no nature left anywhere." ...
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But isn't that the point?
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Tue, Jun 17, 2008
from Perth Now (Australia):
Housing plan at toxic waste dump
A toxic waste plant shut down after a shocking history of government cover-ups will become part of an eco-friendly residential development in Armadale.
Almost five years after the closure of a toxic waste plant that was linked to residents' sickness, there are plans to build an residential development for 40,000 people incorporating land that contained big stockpiles of noxious chemicals and sludge with harmful pathogens. ...
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Australia's population is so high-density, maybe they have no choice.
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Tue, Jun 17, 2008
from CTV (Canada):
Supermarkets contribute to failing fisheries by selling 'Red List'
North American supermarkets can be blamed for contributing to the looming global fisheries collapse, according to a report authored by Greenpeace.... "As key players in the seafood supply chain, retailers have an important role to play in ensuring their customers only have one seafood choice: fair and sustainable products," says the report. ...
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Hey, there's a market for this stuff!
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Tue, Jun 17, 2008
from CBC (Canada):
Lakes across Canada face being turned into mine dump sites
CBC News has learned that 16 Canadian lakes are slated to be officially but quietly "reclassified" as toxic dump sites for mines. The lakes include prime wilderness fishing lakes from B.C. to Newfoundland.
Environmentalists say the process amounts to a "hidden subsidy" to mining companies, allowing them to get around laws against the destruction of fish habitat.
Under the Fisheries Act, it's illegal to put harmful substances into fish-bearing waters. But, under a little-known subsection known as Schedule Two of the mining effluent regulations, federal bureaucrats can redefine lakes as "tailings impoundment areas." ...
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That is some fine print!
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from Brownsville Herald (TX):
Police investigate sale of tigers in Wal-Mart parking lot
Police and federal authorities are investigating the sale of six Bengal tiger cubs in a Wal-Mart parking lot Sunday afternoon.
The animals appear to have been bound for Mexico and neither the buyer nor seller had the permits needed to legally transport the endangered species across national borders, a federal agent said.... There are about 2,000 Bengal tigers living in the wild. ...
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Where else can you get a tiger cub
for the low low price of $900?
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from Metro News (Canada):
Contaminants poison First Nation reserves
The Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve near Sarnia is located in the heart of petrochemical manufacturing country. Its soil and water has been found to be contaminated with dioxins, PCBs, pesticides, and metals. The Aamjiwnaang people have to put up with odours, are unable to swim or fish in their rivers and have high rates of asthma in children.... [a]t the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, two girls were born for every boy and it is hypothesized that endocrine disrupters were to blame for this. ...
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The Beach Boys' Surf City comes to southern Ontario.
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from Herald Tribune (FL):
Gulf of Mexico 'dead zone' to grow to record
Researchers predict a "dead zone" of oxygen-depleted waters off the Louisiana and Texas coasts could grow this summer to 10,084 square miles, making it the largest such expanse in at least 23 years.
If the preliminary forecast holds, the researchers say, the size of the so-called "dead zone" would be 17-21 percent larger than at anytime since the mapping began in 1985 — and about as large as the state of Massachusetts. Another forecast is planned next month.
The report Monday ... is based on May nitrate loads on the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge. ...
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We know the cause. We know the effect. We can measure the nitrate load.
But what's to be done?
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from BusinessWeek:
Food Safety: 'Near the Breaking Point'
For the FDA's embattled food safety inspectors, the salmonella scare was more evidence that a chronic lack of money and manpower has left the agency reacting to such events rather than preventing them in the first place -- a longtime goal. Stephen Sundlof, who runs the FDA's Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition, has recently wondered if his people can handle more than one big crisis at a time -- say, a nationwide outbreak of E. coli and salmonella. "[We're] near the breaking point," he says. The situation is so dire that the Bush Administration has made an extraordinary request to add $275 million to its proposed 2009 budget for the FDA. ...
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$275 million is about the cost of
8 hours of the Iraq War.
Extraordinary!
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from Post-Searchlight (Georgia):
DNR: Sucker fish kill unusual
In a case that has stumped the Georgia Department of Natural Resources fisheries division, last weekend boaters discovered approximately 200 dead spotted sucker fish on Spring Creek.... "We don't get stumped too often," Weller said. "I've worked with the department for 12 years, and this is the most mysterious fish kill I've ever encountered" ... Fisheries experts are awaiting lab results they hope will provide clues in determining the cause of the fish kill.
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I think it was Colonel Mustard with the Pesticide in the Living Room.
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from ABC News (Australia):
'Cane toads with wings' heading north
Authorities say their attempt to raise public awareness about the threat of pest birds is being thwarted by a higher profile and far uglier amphibious pest... "The Indian miner is closely related to the starling. They are both in the same family and the Indian miner is probably an even more aggressive bird and it will actively compete with native species and displace them from their nesting hollows and food sources."
He says cane toads have hogged the headlines for years at the expense of other destructive pests.
"Cane toads are ugly and warty and people generally don't like them. Whereas birds, people have an affinity to them and they see them as charismatic animals. ...
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Those swine.
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from New York Times:
China Pulls Ahead in the Great Carbon Race
For awhile it was neck and neck, but China has now clearly pulled ahead of the United States and become the world's dominant source of carbon dioxide emissions.... "The report, released Friday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, found that in 2007 China's emissions were 14 percent higher than those of the United States." ...
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Come on, America!
We're losing our edge!
ApocaDoc
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from Guardian (UK):
Solar future brightens as oil soars
"High oil prices have boosted demand even more. The market will probably expand another 40 percent this year," ... referring to both PV and solar thermal systems, which produce hot water. He said his previous assumption -- that grid parity would be reached in Germany in five to seven years -- now looked very conservative since it allowed for only a 3 percent rise in electricity prices each year. In many countries increases of 20 percent a year are becoming the norm. ...
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How about we choose to brighten our future...
even faster!
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from Times Online (UK):
90 per cent of pandas in jeopardy after China earthquake
Nearly all of China's endangered pandas are in jeopardy after the earthquake last month devastated the remote mountain corner that is their last remaining [natural] habitat. Already boxed into these steep and thickly forested hillsides by the advance of [humans], its numbers limited by a slow rate of reproduction and with its food supply threatened by the scarcity of its favourite arrow bamboo, the panda is now facing its most severe crisis in decades. Chinese officials ... have announced that the last 1,590 pandas living in the wild face a very uncertain future after the earthquake. ...
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There's under 2,000 left in the world?
My brain is quaking.
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from Penn State University/NOAA:
8-day undersea mission begins experiment to improve coral reef restoration
Scientists have begun an eight-day mission, in which they are living and working at 60 feet below the sea surface, to determine why some species of coral colonies survive transplanting after a disturbance, such as a storm, while other colonies die. Coral reefs worldwide are suffering from the combined effects of hurricanes, global warming, and increased boat traffic and pollution. As a result, their restoration has become a priority among those who are concerned. ...
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I'd say this concerns all of us.
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from Science Daily (US):
Humor Shown To Be Fundamental To Our Success As A Species
Clarke's theory has wider implications: "It sheds light on infantile cognitive development, will lead to a revision of tests on 'humour' to diagnose psychological or neurological conditions and will have implications regarding the development of language. It will lead to a clarification of whether other animals have a sense of humour, and has an important role to play in the production of artificial intelligence being that will feel a bit less robotic thanks to its sense of humour." ...
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If only the rest of the natural world could laugh.
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Mon, Jun 16, 2008
from Guardian (UK):
Corn sets all-time high on U.S. crop fears
Corn prices surged to a record high on Monday and looked set to climb further as widespread flooding in a key producing region, the U.S. Midwest, helped to heighten concern about tight supplies, dealers said.
"I think we are definitely going higher. There is no let up either on the demand or supply side...," said analyst Sudakshina Unnikrishnan of Barclays Capital in London. ...
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When the corn is as hiiigh
as the price of the sky...
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