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Earth News
November 19, 2008
- Model To Measure Soil Health In Bioenergy Era
The loss of soil organic matter due to poor land-management practice threatens farmlands, and while the use for crop residues as feedstock for biomass ethanol and bio-based products increases, these materials no longer contribute to the health of the soil. Scientist have now developed a method of measuring soil quality to assure an adequate amount of soil organic matter, called the CQESTR model. - 1 day
source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News) - UK’s Biggest Ever Countryside Survey: Results Published
The results of the biggest and most comprehensive survey of Britain’s countryside and its natural resources are unveiled in a report published this week by the Countryside Survey partnership. - 1 day
source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News) - Climate Change Opens New Avenue For Spread Of Invasive Plants
A team of researchers from the Netherlands and Florida has found that plants that range beyond their normal distribution because of warming climates may have advantages over native plants. Global warming-induced biological invasions may represent an additional threat to biodiversity. - 1 day
source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News) - Uncovering Secrets Of Life In The Ocean
Scientists now explain the remarkable ability of marine zooplankton to swim towards light. A new study reveals how simple eyes of only two cells, sense the direction of light and guide movement towards it. The research also provides new insights into what the first eyes in animal evolution might have looked like and what their function was. - 1 day
source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News) - New Light Shed On Catalyzed Reactions
Scientists searching for a better way to clean up the stubborn pollutant TCE have found a new way to watch the molecules break apart as individual chemical bonds are formed and broken. Researcher Michael Wong says, "We can watch how molecules transform into other molecules step-by-step. There's no other method that lets you 'see' these catalyzed reactions in water while the reaction is happening." - 1 day
source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News) - Woolly-mammoth Genome Sequenced
Scientists have completed the genome-wide sequence of an extinct animal. The scientists sequenced the genome of the woolly mammoth, an extinct species of elephant that was adapted to living in the cold environment of the northern hemisphere. They sequenced four billion DNA bases using next-generation DNA-sequencing instruments and a novel approach that reads ancient DNA highly efficiently. - 1 day
source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News) - Urban Trees Enhance Water Infiltration
The management of stormwater in urban areas is often focused on restoring the hydrologic cycle disrupted by extensive pavement and compacted urban soils, but now a group of researchers have been investigating innovative ways to maximize the potential of trees to address stormwater. The development of structural soil reservoirs may provide new opportunities for meeting engineering, environmental, and greenspace management needs in urban areas. - 1 day
source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News) - Global Warming Predictions Are Overestimated, Suggests Study On Black Carbon
A detailed analysis of black carbon -- the residue of burned organic matter -- in computer climate models suggests that those models may be overestimating global warming predictions. - 1 day
source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News) - Works Of Art Shed New Light On Climate Change
Paintings, watercolors and prints can be used by those who manage Britain's coastlines to look back in time and better understand the threat of rising sea levels and climate change. - 1 day
source: (ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News) - China to impose fuel tax "very soon": paper
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will impose a long-awaited fuel tax "very soon," the head of National Development and Reform Commission's (NDRC) Energy Research Institute said in comments reported on Tuesday by the China Daily.- 1 day
source: ( Reuters: Environment) - Schwarzenegger opens climate summit with Obama
AP - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opened his international climate change summit on Tuesday by upstaging himself with an even bigger political star President-elect Barack Obama.
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source: (Yahoo! Green News) - Report: Tech sector could cut U.S. emissions 22% by 2020
Global study shows that using information technology to improve buildings, grids, travel and transportation has the potential to cut 7.8 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide worldwide. - 1 day
source: (Cleantech Group - Latest clean technology news) - Hollywood aims to put climate change on prime time
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Could TV really save the world from global warming?- 1 day
source: ( Reuters: Environment) - Environment enthusiasts sought for advisory group (Scoop.co.nz)
Wellington's Environmental Reference Group, which advises the Council on the management of the city's natural environment and environmental policies, is looking for more members. - 1 day
source: (Yahoo! News Search Results for environment) - Obama vows climate action despite financial crisis
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Barack Obama said on Tuesday the United States would "engage vigorously" in climate change talks when he is president, and he pledged to work to reduce emissions sharply by 2020, despite the financial crisis.- 1 day
source: ( Reuters: Environment)
November 18, 2008
- Tiny, long-lost primate rediscovered in Indonesia
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - On a misty mountaintop on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, scientists for the first time in more than eight decades have observed a living pygmy tarsier, one of the planet's smallest and rarest primates.- 1 day
source: ( Reuters: Environment) - World's oldest polar bear dies at Canadian zoo
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canadian zoo officials on Tuesday were mourning the death of what is believed to be the world's oldest polar bear.- 1 day
source: ( Reuters: Environment) - Netflix to Begin Streaming HD Videos
Service first comes this week to Xbox console, then Roku box. - 1 day
source: (U.S. News) - British lawmakers pass landmark climate change bill
AFP - Lawmakers gave final approval Tuesday to a bill committing Britain to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 -- the first country to have such a legally binding framework on climate change.
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source: (Yahoo! Green News) - Eco-Friendly on a Budget
Eco-Friendly on a Budget
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source: (Environmental News)