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What A Week It Was: Apocadocuments from

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Species Collapse:	(2)
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This Week's Top Ten Very Scary Tags:
anthropogenic change ~ carbon emissions ~ airborne pollutants ~ health impacts ~ short-term thinking ~ global warming ~ economic myopia ~ capitalist greed ~ deniers ~ smart policy ~ corporate malfeasance

ApocaDocuments (31) gathered this week:
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 from University of Cambridge via ScienceDaily: Warming Climate Means Red Deer Rutting Season Arrives Early Wild red deer on the Isle of Rum are rutting earlier in the year, a study shows. Scientists believe the annual rutting season on the Isle of Rum could be changing because of warming spring and summer temperatures. The study shows that the rutting and calving seasons are now up to two weeks earlier on average compared with 30 years ago... Scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh, who maintained the long-term research, say this provides rare evidence that warming temperatures are affecting the behaviour of British mammals. ...	Some enchanted evening! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 from McClatchy Newspapers: Northwest's unusually foggy summer mystifies experts The summer of 2010 was the foggiest on record in the Pacific Northwest, according to a researcher dubbed "Dr. Fog" by his colleagues. Record levels of fog were reported in Seattle, Portland, Ore., Olympia, Wash., and from North Bend, Ore., to Quillayute, Wash., along the coast, said James Johnstone, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Washington's Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Oceans who's focused on West Coast fog. Though the increase in fog is consistent with global warming computer models for the West Coast, Johnstone said there were other factors in play, with California actually becoming less foggy as the Northwest grew foggier. ...	Fog, by its very nature, is supposed to be mysterious! ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 from The Independent: Beekeepers fume at association's endorsement-for-cash of fatal insecticides Britain's beekeepers are at war over their association's endorsement for money of four insecticides, all of them fatal to bees, made by major chemical companies. The British Beekeepers' Association has been selling its logo to four European pesticide producers and is believed to have received about 175,000 pounds in return. The active ingredient chemicals in the four pesticides the beekeepers endorsed are synthetic pyrethroids, which are among the most powerful of modern insect-killers. The deal was struck in secret by the beekeepers' association executive without the knowledge of the overwhelming majority of its members. After news of the deal emerged, some members expressed outrage and others resigned. ...	That executive's colony just collapsed. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 from Mongabay: Italy and Panama continue illegal fishing, says new report On Wednesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its biennial report identifying six countries whose fisheries have been engaged in illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing during the past two years. The report comes at a time when one-fifth of reported fish catches worldwide are caught illegally and commercial fishing has led to a global fish stock overexploitation of an estimated 80 percent.... The countries listed in the report - Colombia, Ecuador, Italy, Panama, Portugal, and Venezuela - have fishing vessels which engaged in practices such as fishing during closed seasons, using banned driftnets, and possessing undersized bluefin tuna. Other violations included illegal gear modifications, fishing without proper authorization, and problems with vessel registry lists. The identified nations will have two years to comply with mandates against IUU fishing or risk economic sanction. ...	Why worry? Mama told me there's always more fish in the sea. ApocaDoc permalink
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 from Slate, via DesdemonaDespair: The Chinese Eco-Disaster He had traveled 100,000 miles crisscrossing China, from Tibet to the deserts of Inner Mongolia, and everywhere he went, he discovered that the Chinese state had embarked on a massive program of ecological destruction. It has turned whole rivers poisonous to the touch, rendered entire areas cancer-ridden, transformed a fertile area almost twice the size of Britain into desert--and perhaps even triggered the worst earthquake in living memory. In his extraordinary book When a Billion Chinese Jump: How China Will Save Mankind--or Destroy It, Watts warns: "The planet's problems were not made in China, but they are sliding past the point of no return there." The über-capitalist Communists now have the highest emissions of global-warming gases in the world (although the average Chinese person generates one-seventh the emissions the average American does). We are all trapped in a greenhouse together: Environmental destruction in China becomes environmental destruction where you live. This story will become your story. ...	We may be looking at a Cultural Devolution. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jan 15, 2011 from EnvironmentalResearchWeb: 'Stepping off the GDP escalator' path to sustainable economies Buy, buy, buy; that is the message that most of us hear, and for the last few decades rampant consumerism certainly seems to have ensured that the economic bubble continued to grow. But like all bubbles, the economic one eventually had to burst, and the current global recession is causing some people to question the wisdom of pursuing an ever-growing economy. "Right now the only way we know to keep an economy going is to consume more and more, but I'm asking if we could do better than this," says Jackson, author of Prosperity Without Growth: Economics For A Finite Planet. "Previously it has been taboo to raise the question of economic growth within government - economic stability is seen to rely on growth," says Jackson. But he thinks that the global recession, change in UK government and failure to reach a climate deal in Copenhagen last year have all helped to break down the taboo and open up debate. "It is now possible to question whether GDP is the best measure of how well we do as a nation, and to ask what happiness really means," says Jackson. ...	As long as you don't question the wisdom of pursuing obesity as a means of improved health. ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jan 15, 2011 from Guardian: Australian floods: Why were we so surprised? After 10 years of drought, we are having the inevitable flooding rains. The pattern is repeated regularly and yet Australians are still taken by surprise. The meteorologists will tell you that the current deluge is a product of La Nina. At fairly regular intervals, atmospheric pressure on the western side of the Pacific falls; the trade winds blow from the cooler east side towards the trough, pushing warm surface water westwards towards the bordering land masses. As the water-laden air is driven over the land it cools and drops its load. In June last year the bureau of meteorology issued a warning that La Nina was about "to dump buckets" on Australia. In 1989-90 La Nina brought flooding to New South Wales and Victoria, in 1998 to New South Wales and Queensland. Dr Andrew Watkins, manager of the bureau's climate prediction services, told the assembled media: "Computer model forecasts show a significant likelihood of a La Nina in 2010." In Brisbane the benchmark was the flood of 1974; most Queenslanders are unaware that the worst flood in Brisbane's history happened in 1893. Six months ago the meteorologists thought it was worthwhile to warn people to "get ready for a wet, late winter and a soaked spring and summer". So what did the people do? Nothing. They said, "She'll be right, mate". She wasn't.... The rest of the world might well be scratching its head. Though the rise of the Brisbane river had been predicted for many days, owners left their boats on the river, some of them moored to pontoons, which were themselves ripped from their moorings. Literally hundreds of pontoons went careering down the river, crashing into unmanned powerboats that were already cannoning into each other. A long section of the riverside walkway broke away and became a waterborne missile.... After the Fitzroy river flooded Rockhampton in 1991, all the corals and sea grasses round the Keppel Islands died. The area had not yet recovered when the brown tide returned at the beginning of January, and keeps coming. The fresh water now entering the seas off Australia is expected to drift northwards to where the Great Barrier Reef is already struggling with rising sea temperatures. In ecological terms, worse, perhaps very much worse, is on the way. Australia owes it to the rest of the world to get a handle on its regular floods. Or she won't be right, mate. ...	But if we started believing computer models' predictions, we'd have to change our lifestyle! ApocaDoc permalink
Sat, Jan 15, 2011 from Telegraph.co.uk: Climate change could happen much faster than previously thought Humans are in danger of making large parts of the Earth uninhabitable for thousands of years because of man made climate change, according to new evidence based on geological records. The US study predicted that if society continues burning fossil fuels at the current rate, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide could rise from the current level of 390 parts per million (ppm) to 1,000 by the end of this century.... But unlike last time, when it happened over millions of years, temperatures will rise too fast for species to adapt and change. In the short term he said temperatures could rise by more than 10.8F (6C) by the end of the century, which will also wipe out species.... "A truly conservative position is to conserve what we have, to not radically change things and if we do not want to radically change the environment then the conservative approach is to conserve the Earth as the human species has known it ever since we have been around on this planet." ...	Perhaps wiping out millions of species will decrease the atmospheric CO2, since they'll no longer be exhaling. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jan 14, 2011 from San Francisco Chronicle: Toxics found in virtually all pregnant U.S. women tested in UCSF study Multiple chemicals, including some banned since the 1970s and others used in items such as nonstick cookware, furniture, processed foods and beauty products, were found in the blood and urine of pregnant U.S. women, according to a UCSF study being released today.... Of the 163 chemicals studied, 43 of them were found in virtually all 268 pregnant women in the study. They included polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs, a prohibited chemical linked to cancer and other health problems; organochlorine pesticides; polybrominated diphenyl ethers, banned compounds used as flame retardants; and phthalates, which are shown to cause hormone disruption. Some of these chemicals were banned before many of the women were even born.... The chemicals found in 99 percent to 100 percent of the women included certain PCBs, organochlorine pesticides, perfluorinated compounds, phenols, PBDEs, phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and perchlorate. ...	Just think of it as vaccinating fetuses against future toxic buildup. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jan 14, 2011 from HuyffingtonPost: Sylvia Earle Talks Gulf Oil Spill Effects In Exclusive Interview It's hard to get a straight answer on the effects of the Gulf oil spill amid all of the headlines, hearsay, and word of mouth tidbits from a friend of a friend of a friend. But we managed to track down an expert who gave us not just one answer, but four detailed, honest responses to questions that we have all been wondering for nearly nine months now.... Q. Have the cleanup efforts been adequate, and if not, who should be considered responsible -- BP or the government? A. There is no way to "adequately clean up" the consequences of the blowout any more than you can uncook an egg. Most of the efforts succeeded in magnifying, not diminishing the impacts. In some ways, we are all responsible for this catastrophe. Our insatiable appetite for fossil fuels and the corporate mandate to maximize shareholder value encourages drilling without taking into account the costs to the ocean, even without major spills. Nonetheless, the thousands of individuals who have done their best to protect areas that escaped oiling and have attempted to clean up areas damaged by the blowout of the Deepwater Horizon well deserve recognition. However, we need to hold accountable those who authorized massive applications of toxic dispersants, especially at 5,000 ft depth, as well as those who allowed beaches to be upended, scraped, bulldozed and otherwise altered to give the appearance that the oil magically disappeared. Deployment of hundreds of miles of booms did little to contain the oil but did succeed in creating hundreds of miles of oily trash now contaminating landfills. ...	Does that mean we can't uncook our goose, either? ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jan 14, 2011 from Yale360: Massive Outbreak of Jellyfish Could Spell Trouble for Fisheries Among the spineless creatures of the world, the Nomura's jellyfish is a monster to be reckoned with. It's the size of a refrigerator -- imagine a Frigidaire Gallery Premiere rather than a hotel minibar -- and can exceed 450 pounds. For decades the hulking medusa was rarely encountered in its stomping grounds, the Sea of Japan. Only three times during the entire 20th century did numbers of the Nomura's swell to such gigantic proportions that they seriously clogged fishing nets. Then something changed. Since 2002, the population has exploded -- in jelly parlance, bloomed -- six times. In 2005, a particularly bad year, the Sea of Japan brimmed with as many as 20 billion of the bobbing bags of blubber, bludgeoning fisheries with 30 billion yen in losses.... Now, researchers fear, conditions are becoming so bad that some ecosystems could be approaching a tipping point in which jellyfish supplant fish.... Fish and jellyfish "interact in complex ways," says Kylie Pitt, an ecologist at Griffith University in Australia. Overfishing can throw this complex relationship out of kilter. ...	Every "out of kilter" relationship is an economic opportunity. Somehow. ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jan 14, 2011 from New Scientist: Prion disease can spread through air You catch flu by inhaling germs - now it seems you can catch prion diseases that way too. Prions are misshapen proteins that cause brain degeneration in conditions such as mad cow disease and scrapie in animals, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. They can get into you if you eat infected meat or receive infected blood, but it was thought they couldn't spread through air. Now Adriano Aguzzi of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich reports that mice exposed for 10 minutes to aerosols containing as little as 2.5 per cent brain tissue from mice with scrapie all developed the disease within months. The prions didn't need processing by the immune system first, as some other research has suggested, but entered the brain directly through nasal nerves. "We were amazed at how efficiently they spread," says Aguzzi. He warns that this doesn't mean animals or people with prion diseases actually transmit them through the air: there have been no unexplained cases of disease transmission which suggested this. But workers in mills that process potentially infected carcasses may need more respiratory protection. ...	Another vector just itchin' for optimization by evolution! ApocaDoc permalink
Fri, Jan 14, 2011 from Reuters: Filmmaker must surrender Chevron footage: court A U.S. appeals court on Thursday upheld a lower court's order that a filmmaker must hand over to Chevron Corp raw footage from a documentary as part of a legal fight over oil pollution in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest. At stake in the 17-year-old case are $27 billion in damages and clean-up costs the Ecuadorian government is claiming from Chevron. Indigenous communities accuse the oil company Texaco -- taken over by Chevron in 2001 -- of damaging their health and environment by polluting rivers. Filmmaker Joe Berlinger had argued that raw footage from his documentary "Crude" was a form of journalism and was therefore protected by press privileges. ...	Chevron is some kind of monster! ApocaDoc permalink
Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish!
Thu, Jan 13, 2011 from Washington Examiner: Ocean acidification: one less thing to worry about According to a 2009 statement by Britain's Royal Society, co-signed by Dr. James Hansen, of NASA's Goddard Center, and Dr. Mark Spalding of The Nature Conservancy: "Temperature‐induced mass coral bleaching causing widespread mortality on the Great Barrier Reef and many other reefs of the world started when atmospheric CO2 exceeded 320ppm.... "At today's level of ~ 387ppm CO2, reefs are seriously declining and time‐lagged effects will result in their continued demise with parallel impacts on other marine and coastal ecosystems... Except that there's practically no evidence that the depth in which coral shells dissolve faster than they accumulate has gotten any shallower over the past 250 years, geoscientist David Middleton points out in "Chicken Little of the Sea Strikes Again". "There is solid evidence that elevated atmospheric CO2 levels have actually caused carbonate deposition to increase over the last 220 years," Middleton writes. In fact, CO2 may actually be good for coral reefs. "It appears that in addition to being plant food... CO2 is also reef food," he points out... Once again, we have an environmental catastrophe that is entirely supported by predictive computer models and totally unsupported by correlative and empirical scientific data," he concludes. "We can safely pitch ocean acidification into the dustbin of junk science." ...	Another eco-fad eradicated by one intrepid scientist's search for notoriety. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jan 13, 2011 from Rice, via EurekAlert: Virus killer gets supercharged on the cheap A simple technique to make a common virus-killing material significantly more effective is a breakthrough from the Rice University labs of Andrew Barron and Qilin Li. Rather than trying to turn the process into profit, the researchers have put it into the public domain. They hope wide adoption will save time, money and perhaps even lives.... adding silicone to titanium dioxide, a common disinfectant, dramatically increases its ability to degrade aerosol- and water-borne viruses.... "We chose the Yangtze River as our baseline for testing, because it's considered the most polluted river in the world, with the highest viral content," he said. "Even at that level of viral contamination, we're getting complete destruction of the viruses in water that matches the level of pollution in the Yangtze." Using a smaller amount of treated P25 takes longer but works just as well, he said. "Either way, it's green and it's cheap." ...	"Green and cheap" is no way to restart the economy. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jan 13, 2011 from Associated Press: 2010 ties 2005 as warmest year on record worldwide It's a tie: Last year equaled 2005 as the warmest year on record, government climate experts reported Wednesday. The average worldwide temperature was 1.12 degrees Fahrenheit (0.62 degree Celsius) above normal last year. That's the same as six years ago, the National Climatic Data Center announced. Climate experts have become increasingly concerned about rising global temperatures over the last century. Most atmospheric scientists attribute the change to gases released into the air by industrial processes and gasoline-burning engines. In addition, the Global Historical Climatology Network said Wednesday that last year was the wettest on record. Rain and snowfall patterns varied greatly around the world. ...	It's as if... the years are competing with each other! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jan 13, 2011 from Washington Post: New global network to precisely measure emissions A D.C. area company and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography will announce Wednesday that they are launching an ambitious project that aims to precisely gauge how human activity is affecting the climate. The $25 million, five-year commercial venture will include 50 sensors in the United States and another 50 around the world to measure atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. Most governments and industries estimate their carbon footprint based on an inventory of the fossil fuels they burn, the trees they cut or the landfills they create; this technology will allow experts to quantify how much carbon dioxide and methane has entered the air. ...	We better be able to see this in 3-D. ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jan 13, 2011 from Montreal Gazette: Quebec forest fires cast wide pall When lightning sparks a fire in a Quebec forest, people living as far as 1,000 kilometres away can end up breathing polluted air. A new study has found air pollution levels in northern New York state jumped last summer as more than 50 forest fires burned around La Tuque, about 300 kilometres northeast of Montreal. Researchers at Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., found the amount of fine particulate matter, one component of air pollution, jumped to 18 times its normal level because of smoke blown south from Quebec. Fine particulate matter is about one-30th the diameter of a human hair, and is linked to premature death from heart and lung disease, as well as heart attacks, respiratory problems, asthma attacks and bronchiolitis. ...	Keep your bloody Canadian smoke out of my airspace! ApocaDoc permalink
Thu, Jan 13, 2011 from New York Times: Stress, Pollution and Poverty: A Vicious Cycle? The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $7 million in grants to researchers to study the cumulative health impact of pollutants like mercury and lead and social factors like stress and poor nutrition in several low-income communities, the agency said Tuesday... But a growing body of research suggests that cumulative exposure to multiple pollutants, and nonchemical factors like stress, poverty and poor diet, can amplify the negative effects of a single toxic substance. ...	I think we should pay more attention to rich people. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jan 12, 2011 from Reuters, via Desdemona: Floods threaten Australia's Great Barrier Reef Australia's devastating floods are flushing toxic, pesticide-laden sediment into the Great Barrier Reef, and could threaten fragile corals and marine life in the world's largest living organism, environmentalists said on Monday. Flood plumes from the swollen Fitzroy and Burnett rivers in Queensland state had muddied reef waters as far as the Keppel Island Group, about 40 km (24 miles) offshore, at the southern end of the World Heritage-listed reef. "Toxic pollution from flooded farms and towns along the Queensland coast will have a disastrous impact on the Great Barrier Reefs corals and will likely have a significant impact on dugongs, turtles and other marine life," the World Wild Life Fund (WWF) said in a statement.... The damage to the Great Barrier Reef would be exacerbated because the floods are "bigger, dirtier and more dangerous due to excessive tree clearing, overgrazing and soil compaction", the WWF said. Experts expect the reef to recover, but depending on the coral resilience, that could take up to 100 years. ...	If God didn't want those toxins in the coral, He wouldn't have let us use them in the first place. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jan 12, 2011 from TheNews, via DesdemonaDespair: Pakistan flood victims in miserable conditions, UNDP told The flood-affected people are still living in miserable conditions and more assistance is needed to rehabilitate them, according to the Sindh chief minister.... The meeting discussed the situation after last year's heavy floods, which damaged several districts and affected more than seven million people in Sindh.... The meeting was informed that almost half of the total affected people were residing in camps and the situation was very crucial. ...	I didn't know Pakistan was in Australia. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jan 12, 2011 from NOAA via ScienceDaily: Atmosphere's Self-Cleaning Capacity Surprisingly Stable An international, NOAA-led research team took a significant step forward in understanding the atmosphere's ability to cleanse itself of air pollutants and some other gases, except carbon dioxide. The issue has been controversial for many years, with some studies suggesting the self-cleaning power of the atmosphere is fragile and sensitive to environmental changes, while others suggest greater stability. And what researchers are finding is that the atmosphere's self-cleaning capacity is rather stable. ...	Sounds sorta like my oven. ApocaDoc permalink
Wed, Jan 12, 2011 from Christian Science Monitor: South in icy grip, as latest winter storm defies warming predictions ...After many Southerners experienced the second unusually cold and snowy December in a row - including Atlanta's first white Christmas since 1882 - the warming trend predicted by long-range meteorologists at the National Weather Service has so far failed to appear. A regional high-pressure system over Greenland - the North Atlantic Oscillation, or "Greenland Block" - has thrown a wrench into traditional, and easier-to-predict, weather patterns. The unusual winter conditions, especially in the South and parts of the mid-Atlantic, have renewed debates about manmade global warming, with many scientists saying the cold weather is proof of climate change and skeptics saying such global-warming hype has left many unprepared for one of the coldest and snowiest decades in 40 years. ...	It's as if the weather has a mind of its own. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jan 11, 2011 from Washington Post: As Arctic melts, U.S. ill equipped to tap resources ...Like the rest of the 2.5-million-square-foot area at the top of the world, this chunk of the U.S. Arctic is melting quickly because of accelerated climate change. The prospect of newly thawed sea lanes and a freshly accessible, resource-rich seabed has nations jockeying for position. And government and military officials are concerned the United States is not moving quickly enough to protect American interests in this vulnerable and fast-changing region. ...	The Empire is sooo melting. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jan 11, 2011 from McClatchy Newspapers: Climate change reveals disease as national security threat One of the most worrisome national security threats of climate change is the spread of disease, among both people and animals, U.S. intelligence and health officials say. But more than a decade after such concerns were first raised by U.S. intelligence agencies, significant gaps remain in the health surveillance and response network -- not just in developing nations, but in the United States as well, according to those officials and a review of federal documents and reports. And those gaps, they say, undermine the ability of the U.S. and world health officials to respond to disease outbreaks before they become national security threats. ...	I bet we don't understand the language. ApocaDoc permalink
Tue, Jan 11, 2011 from McClatchy Newspapers: Why the CIA is spying on a changing climate ... As [CIA] intelligence officials assess key components of state stability, they are realizing that the norms they had been operating with -- such as predictable river flows and crop yields -- are shifting...Back in the 1990s, the CIA opened an environmental center, swapped satellite imagery with Russia and cleared U.S. scientists to access classified information. But when the Bush administration took power, the center was absorbed by another office and work related to the climate was broadly neglected. In 2007, a report by retired high-ranking military officers called attention to the national security implications of climate change, and the National Intelligence Council followed a year later with an assessment on the topic. But some Republicans attacked it as a diversion of resources. And when CIA Director Leon Panetta stood up the climate change center in 2009, conservative lawmakers attempted to block its funding. "The CIA's resources should be focused on monitoring terrorists in caves, not polar bears on icebergs," Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said at the time. ...	Is "Barrasso" pronounced "bare-asshole"? ApocaDoc permalink
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.
Tue, Jan 11, 2011 from Reuters: EPA "pollution diet" starves agriculture: farm group The head of the largest U.S. farm group called on Congress to stop ruinous EPA "over-regulation" of agriculture and announced on Sunday a lawsuit against EPA rules to reduce Chesapeake Bay pollution. Bob Stallman, president of the 6 million-member American Farm Bureau Federation, announced the lawsuit during a speech that opened the group's annual meeting. He said the Environmental Protection Agency's "over-regulation endangers our industry." Farmers have been leery of EPA for years. Opposition has grown in the past couple of years out of concern that regulation of greenhouse gases will drive up farming expenses and that EPA may tell farmers to limit dust from fields. ...	And YOUR pollution endangers OUR environment! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jan 10, 2011 from CBC: China bans logging in largest forest reserve China has banned logging in its largest forest reserve area for 10 years in a bid to combat climate change. The official Xinhua News agency reported Monday that logging will be prohibited until 2020 in the Great and Lesser Hinggan Mountains in the northeast.... China is trying to increase the size of its forests by 40 million hectares to help reduce greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. The forest reserve in the Hinggan mountains spreads out over 430,000 square kilometres across Heilongjiang province and into neighbouring Inner Mongolia. ...	Don'tcha hate it when one-party rule makes democracies look like dilly-dallyers? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jan 10, 2011 from CBC: Climate change on inevitable course: study Researchers from the University of Calgary and Environment Canada's climate centre at the University of Victoria say coastal areas will flood and the Earth's land mass will shrink as global sea levels rise by at least four metres over the next millennium. They also believe parts of North Africa will dry out by up to 30 per cent and ocean warming is likely to trigger widespread collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet, a region the size of the Canadian Prairies.... "We were kind of surprised by the result, actually. Even if we change behaviour and totally change society, we're still in store for a lot of bad scenarios. I feel a bit defeatist from it."... The team used computer modelling to speculate how the world would change by the year 3000 in a "zero emissions" scenario.... If we drop dead with emissions right now, the Arctic sea ice gets worse for another 10 or 20 years but then it comes back -- so by 2100 it's back to what we're used to. "If we keep business as usual, the sea ice in the Arctic is mostly gone." ...	Time to invest in Nunavut! ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jan 10, 2011 from National Geographic: Fish as Good as College Students in Numbers Test Mosquitofish can "count" to a hundred but have trouble with ratios, study finds.... The new study shows that the fish can not only tell the difference between small numbers such as 4 and 8, but they can also differentiate between quantities as large as 100 and 200. "You just don't expect interesting results like this when dealing with animals like fish," said study leader Christian Agrillo of the University of Padova in Italy. "We thought this was really incredible." But numerical skills break down for the fish when the ratios between two numbers change--an effect that was also seen among human volunteers.... "It was kind of funny, most of them appeared to be surprised when we switched from small numbers to hundreds. They swam inside the tank for a while, looking at the new stimuli as if they were trying to understand what was going on," Agrillo said. "However, after a short while they started to solve the task as well." ...	Yes, but how well do they go with tartar sauce? ApocaDoc permalink
Mon, Jan 10, 2011 from UT Dallas, via ScienceDaily: Spinning the Unspinnable: Superconducting, Energy Storing and Catalytic Yarns Based on Ancient Types of Spirals Nanotechnologists at The University of Texas at Dallas have invented a broadly deployable technology for producing weavable, knittable, sewable, and knottable yarns containing up to 95 weight percent of otherwise unspinnable guest powders and nanofibers. A minute amount of host carbon nanotube web, which can be lighter than air and stronger pound-per-pound than steel, confines guest particulates in the corridors of highly conducting scrolls without interfering with guest functionality for such applications as energy storage, energy conversion, and energy harvesting.... Biscrolled yarns get their name from the way they are produced: a uniform layer of guest material is deposited on top of a web of carbon nanotubes, which is called the host. This bilayer guest/host stack is then twisted to form a biscrolled yarn.... The carbon nanotube webs that the inventors used for biscrolling are not ordinary carbon nanotube sheets -- they can be drawn at up to two yards/second from forests of carbon nanotubes.... Using as guest up to 95 weight percent LiFePO4, a remarkable material for lithium-ion batteries, high performance lithium ion battery electrodes were demonstrated by UT Dallas researchers, and shown to have the battery performance, flexibility and mechanical robustness needed for incorporation in energy storing and energy generating clothing. Biscrolling nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube guest provided highly catalytic fuel cell cathodes for chemical generation of electrical energy, which avoid the need for expensive platinum catalyst. By biscrolling a mixture of magnesium and boron powders and thermal treatment, superconducting MgB2 yarns were produced, which eliminated the thirty or more draw steps used for conventional production of superconducting wires. Using photocatalytic titanium dioxide guest, biscrolled yarns for self-cleaning fabrics were obtained. ...	My recommendation for a colloquial name for any nanofibre-encased substance: "nanwich." ApocaDoc permalink