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mongabay.com news - December 2006China uses snake-based earthquake prediction system -- 12/27/2006A province in southern China has come up with a unique way to predict earthquakes: snakes. According to China Daily and as reported by Reuters, the earthquake bureau in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi province, has set up a 24-hour video feed to monitor the behavior of snakes at snake farms. The scientists say that snakes are particularly sensitive to vibrations caused by impending earthquakes. Bush administration says polar bears under threat -- 12/27/2006 Today the Bush Administration said polar bears are in need of protection. The reason? Global warming. The administration says that climate change is causing sea ice to melt, putting the polar bear in peril. Madagascar Conservation & Development journal launches -- 12/25/2006 Madagascar Wildlife Conservation, a Madagascar-based nonprofit, and the Jane Goodall Institute Switzerland have launched a new journal focused on conservation and development issues in Madagascar. Wildfires are linked to Atlantic Ocean temperatures -- 12/25/2006 Scientists have linked the incidence of wildfires in the Western United States to Atlantic Ocean temperatures. Apes sing for protection -- 12/25/2006 White-handed gibbons in Thailand use songs as a defense against predators according to a study by researchers at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Madagascar plant may offer new treatment for malaria -- 12/25/2006 A plant traditionally used by healers in Madagascar may offer a new way to treat malaria, a mosquito-borne illness that kills 2-3 million people -- mostly children in Sub-Saharan Africa -- per year. Antarctic ozone depletion exceeds that of Arctic -- 12/25/2006 A new study comparing ozone depletion between the poles shows that the Antarctic is experiencing the most severe depletion of the ozone layer. Leaf-mimicking insects at least 47 million years old -- 12/25/2006 With the discovery of a 47 million year old fossil of a lead insect, new research suggests that cryptic leaf-mimicking camoflauge is a time-tested strategy used by insects to avoid predators. Warmer oceans reduce dispersal of shellfish larvae -- 12/25/2006 In a study published in the Dec. 25 Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), scientists show they can predict how the distance marine larvae travel varies with ocean temperature. The say that the findings have important implications for the conservation and management of fish, shellfish and other marine species in oceans increasingly effected by climate change. Evidence of massive simultaneous supervolcano eruption in NZ -- 12/24/2006 Eruptions of supervolcanoes capable of causing planetary climate disruptions and mass extinctions can be worse than previously thought according researchers from Auckland University in New Zealand. Squirrels predict years of bounty -- 12/22/2006 Squirrels are able to plan for the boom and bust seed production cycle of trees by producing an extra litter of babies in anticipation of a particularly rich season of tree seeds, according to new research published by scientists at the University of Alberta. 'Happy Feet' penguins declining fast in the Falklands -- 12/22/2006 The rockhopper penguin, a species featured in the movie Happy Feet, has taken a suffered a 30 percent population decline over the past five years according to the latest survey figures from Falklands Conservation, a conservation group with offices in Stanley, Falkland Islands and London, England. Giant squid captured! -- 12/22/2006 Japanese researchers captured a small female giant squid near the Ogasawara islands, 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo. The squid, which measured 3.5 meters (11 ft 6 in) long and weighed 50 kg (110 lb), was hooked at a depth of 650 meters (2,150 ft). The capture comes a year after researchers produced the first photographs and video of living squid. Impact of new forest law in India unknown -- 12/21/2006 A new law giving land rights to millions of poor Indian forest dwellers is stirring debate in the conservation community according to a report from Reuters. Giant dinosaur discovered in Spain - largest ever recorded in Europe -- 12/21/2006 Researchers working in Teruel, Spain have discovered the fossil remains of a giant dinosaur that weighed between 40 to 48 tons and was 30-37 meters (100-120 feet) long -- the length of an NBA basketball court. It is the largest dinosaur ever found in Europe -- most giant dinosaurs have been found previously in the New World and Africa. Africa's rarest carnivore spotted in Tanzania -- 12/21/2006 Africa's rarest carnivore, Jackson's mongoose, was spotted in the mountains of remote southern Tanzania by researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Until now the species has been only known from a few observations and museum specimens. Satellite imagery to be used to detect illegal logging, determine sustainability -- 12/21/2006 A new project aims to use advanced satellite imagery to monitor illegal logging activities and help certify the sustainability of timber harvesting in some of the world's most remote forests. The effort could reduce the cost of forest management and certification, while helping to crack down on illicit tree-felling. Moles and shrews can smell underwater -- 12/20/2006 Mammals can smell underwater according to a study published in the December 21 issue of the journal Nature. Kenneth Catania, an assistant professor of biology at Vanderbilt University, found that moles and shrews are capable of detecting prey underwater using their sense of smell. Virgin dragon to give birth this Christmas -- 12/20/2006 A virgin Komodo dragon will give birth to offspring this Christmas (or thereabouts) at the Chester Zoo in Britain according to researchers. Flora, a female Komodo dragon, will reproduce asexually in a process called parthenogenesis, where eggs become embryos without male fertilization. The process is known to occur in about 70 reptile species but hadn't been observed in Komodo dragons -- the world's largest lizard species -- until this year. Another dragon, Sungai, had virginal conception earlier this year. Both cases are described in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature Paraguay extends deforestation law that has cut forest loss by 85% -- 12/20/2006 The government of Paraguay has extended a law has helped deforestation rates in the Upper Parana Atlantic Forest by more than 85 percent according to environmental group WWF. How did giant dinosaurs digest their food without molars? -- 12/20/2006 The giant dinosaurs had a problem. Many of them had narrow, pointed teeth, which were more suited to tearing off plants rather than chewing them. But how did they then grind their food? Until recently many researchers have assumed that they were helped by stones which they swallowed. In their muscular stomach these then acted as a kind of 'gastric mill'. But this assumption does not seem to be correct, as scientists at the universities of Bonn and Tubingen have now proved. Their research findings can be found in the current issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society. Borneo governor arrested in rainforest for palm oil fraud -- 12/20/2006 The governor of East Kalimantan on Indonesian part of the island of Borneo has been suspended and faces life in prison for his involvement in an oil palm plantation scheme that caused the deforestation of a million hectares of tropical rainforest. Are Brazil nuts really sustainable? -- 12/20/2006 A lot of rainforest conservation initiatives embrace sustainably harvested non-timber forest products (NTFPs) like seeds and nuts as a means to provide income to locals without harming the forest. Operating on the premise that such products are eco-friendly, hundreds of outfits ranging from Whole Foods to the Body Shop to Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream tout their use of sustainably harvested Brazil nuts and related products. But really, how sustainable are these products? China launches green buying policy -- 12/19/2006 China's Ministry of Finance and the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) announced that starting in 2007, the country's central and provincial governments will prioritize their purchasing of environmentally friendly products and services. Papua New Guinea log exports to China surge -- 12/19/2006 Papua New Guinea (PNG) log exports surged in October according to the International Tropical Timber Organization's (ITTO) Tropical Timber Market Report. New Zealand implements 'green timber' policy -- 12/19/2006 New Zealand's government will only buy timber and wood products only from legally and sustainably managed forests according to a new policy paper put out Monday by the minstry of forestry. Bush administration sued for failure to protect sea otter -- 12/19/2006 A conservation group filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal district court in Washington, DC, seeking more protection for sea otters in Alaska. The Center for Biological Diversity, a national nonprofit conservation organization that aims to conserve endangered species and wild places, says that the Bush administration has failed to designate critical habitat for sea otters in southwest Alaska, despite the species' listing as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act in August 2005. Sea otter populations have decline by 90 percent in some areas according to the group. Pictures of species discovered in Borneo rainforest -- 12/19/2006 Yesterday's announcement by WWF that 52 previously unknown species were discovered in the fast-disappearing rainforests of Borneo brings the total number of 'new' species found on the island to more than 400 since 1994. Time is running out for French Guiana's rainforests -- 12/19/2006 Understanding relationships between plants and animals is key to understanding rainforest ecology. Dr. Pierre-Michel Forget of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in France is a renowned expert on the interdependency between rainforest trees and seed disperses. Author of dozens of papers on tropical forest ecology, Dr Forget is increasingly concerned about deforestation and biodiversity loss in forests of the Guiana Shield region of Northern South America. In particular he sees the invasion of informal gold miners, known as garimpeiros, as a significant threat to forests in French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela. Europe's largest tropical rainforest invaded by gold miners -- 12/19/2006 As Europe frets over climate change and deforestation, threats to "Europe's largest tropical rainforest" are mounting, according to reports from French Guiana. While French Guiana is best known for its infamous Devil's Island penal colony and as the main launch site for the European Space Agency, which is responsible for more than 50% of the state's economy activity, most of the territory is covered with lowland tropical rainforest. French Guiana's forests are biologically rich with some 1,064 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles, and 5,625 species of vascular plants according to figures from the World Conservation Monitoring Center. 52 species discovered in Borneo rainforest -- 12/18/2006 In 2006 scientists discovered 52 species in the highly threatened rainforests of Borneo according to a new report from WWF, an environmental group working to preserve the biodiverse 'Heart of Borneo' from further destruction. Marine protected areas boost fishing yields -- 12/18/2006 A new study conducted on the reefs of Madagascar found that marine protected areas can benefit the fishing industry. The study, authored by Frances Humber, a scientist with conservation group Blue Ventures, found that implementing seasonal fishing closures for octopus boosted returns for fishermen when the closed areas were reopened to fishing after seven months. Octopus yields increased 13 times while the total weight of octopus caught jumped 25 times. Worst coral reef die-off in 11,000 years -- 12/18/2006 Two new studies by scientists at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University suggest that coral reefs may be in worse shape than previously thought. The first, appearing in the journal Geology indicates that the current large scale coral die-offs are now occurring more frequently than at any time in the last 11,000 years. The second, published in Current Biology, suggests that the loss of a single 'keystone' species can trigger a rapid shift in the health of a reef. Coral reefs help protect from tsunami damage -- 12/18/2006 Healthy coral reefs can help reduce the impact of tsunami waves relative to unhealthy or dead reefs, according to a new Princeton University study published in the December 14 edition of the journal Geophysical Review Letters. Audible warfare: how moths avoid bats -- 12/18/2006 A new study published in Current Biology suggests bats and moths may be engaged in evolutionary warfare when it comes to their sense of hearing. Does green investing pay as well as conventional investing? -- 12/17/2006 Socially responsible investing is now a major Wall Street trend. But the real question is this: Can you make as much dough when you're being virtuous? China will continue search for 'extinct' baiji river dolphin -- 12/17/2006 Chinese state media reports that scientists will continue to search for the baiji dolphin even after a 38-day search failed to produce any evidence of its existence in the Yangtze River. 2006 is sixth warmest year, but hurricanes below average -- 12/15/2006 2006 will be the sixth-warmest year on record according to the World Meteorological Organization (WHO). The United Nations weather agency said the ten hottest years have all occurred in the past 12 years. 2005 was the warmest year since record keeping began 150 years ago, according to the agency. 2006 is third warmest year on record for the United States -- 12/15/2006 2006 will likely go down as the third warmest year on record for the United States according to scientists at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, North Carolina. Globally, 2006 will have the sixth highest annual global temperature since record keeping began in 1880 NCDC says that the 2006 annual average temperature for the contiguous United States (based on preliminary data) will likely be 2F (1.1C) above the 20th century mean, making 2006 the third warmest year on record, just cooler than 1998 and 1934. 2006 has been a record year for wildfires which researchers say will continue to increase in frequency and intensity as climate continues to warm. Global warming improves sex life of seals -- 12/15/2006 Climate change is enhancing the sex life of subordinate male grey seals on the remote Scottish Island of North Rona according to researchers at Durham University and the University of St Andrews. Are biofuels good or bad for the environment? -- 12/14/2006 Sometimes hailed as a savior from global warming and foreign oil dependence, biofuels are as often criticized for deforestation and pollution. So, are biofuels good or bad for the environment? Grist, an independent online environmental magazine, examines the question in a new series devoted to biofuels. President Museveni needs to do what's best for Uganda -- 12/14/2006 In recent months Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has moved to destroy some of Uganda's last remaining primary rainforests to give land to politically-connected plantation owners. Personally intervening in two disputes, one in Mabira Forest Reserve and the other on Bugala island in Lake Victoria, Museveni has argued that his country urgently needs such projects to industrialize and bring a better quality of life to Ugandans. He would be wrong. Sea levels may rise higher than predicted due to global warming -- 12/14/2006 Global warming could cause sea levels to rise by four-and-a-half feet (140 cm) according to new projections published in Friday's issue of the jounral Science. Stefan Rahmstorf, a scietist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Potsdam, Germany, uses air temperature measurements and past sea level changes rather than computer models to calculate that ocean levels could rise by 50-140 cm by 2100, well above the 9-88 cm projected by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. A 140 cm rise in sea levels could swamp low-lying cities like New York and Venice while causing catastrophic flooding in Bengladesh and South Pacific island nations. Looming desertification could spawn millions of environmental refugees -- 12/14/2006 Africa may be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025 if soil degradation on the continent continues at its current pace, according to a water expert presenting at an upcoming United Nations University (UNU) conference on desertification in Algiers, Algeria. Karl Harmsen, Director of UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, says that should soil conditions continue to decline in Africa, nearly 75% of the continent could come to rely on some sort of food aid by 2025. Goodbye to the Baiji -- 12/13/2006 After a short illness spurred by pollution, overfishing, boat traffic, and obstructions like dams, the Baiji was declared 'functionally extinct' last night. As a species, the river dolphin found only in China's Yangtze River was 20 million years. The Baiji is survived by other river dolphins, all themselves threatened, in the Ganges, Indus, Amazon, Orinoco, and La Plata rivers. No memorial service will be held. Mammals may have flown before birds -- 12/13/2006 Mammals may have flown before birds according to a fossil discovery by scientists working in China. Working in the Inner Mongolian region of China, a team of Chinese and American scientists discovered a 125 million year fossil that provides evidence that mammals were capable of gliding flight some 70 million years earlier than previously believed. Forests need good soil to sequester more carbon -- 12/13/2006 Soil nutrition is key to helping forests absorb more carbon under elevated CO2 conditions according to new research by scientists with the USDA Forest Service and Duke University. "The researchers found that trees can only increase wood growth from elevated CO2 if there is enough leaf area to support that growth," reported the Southern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service in a statement. "Leaf area, in turn, is limited by soil nutrition; without adequate soil nutrition, trees respond to elevated CO2 by transferring carbon below ground, then recycling it back to the atmospheric through respiration." Monkey trials for medical research should continue in Britain -- 12/13/2006 British scientists support the use of primates in medical research to improve human health and reduce deaths from disease but only if no alternatives are available according to a report by the Academy of Medical Sciences. The report, which examines the scientific basis for recent, current and future use of non-human primates in biological and medical research, comes as a poll by the journal Nature reveals that most researchers have no ethical misgivings about the role of animals in their work. Circumcision reduces HIV/AIDS infection in men -- 12/13/2006 Medical circumcision of men reduces their risk of acquiring HIV during heterosexual intercourse by 53 percent according to a University of Illinois at Chicago study. The results were so compelling researchers stopped the trial early to protect the health of participants. The study's safety board recommended that all men enrolled in the study who remain uncircumcised be offered circumcision. African river basins are drying up says NASA -- 12/13/2006 New satellite data from NASA show that the Mississippi and Colorado River basins are storing more water over the past five years, while the Congo, Zambezi and Nile basins are drying. Tigers can recover given protection, adequate food supplies -- 12/13/2006 A new study says that if tigers are protected and have sufficient access to abundant prey, their populations can quickly stabilize. The findings have implications for conservation of the world's largest cat species which is fast-disappearing due to poaching for the animal parts trade. Yellow Sea biodiversity needs protection says WWF -- 12/13/2006 In response to worsening pollution in China's Yellow Sea, environmental group WWF is pushing for the establishment of a network of protected areas between China and South Korea. Asian pollution fuels rain in Australia -- 12/12/2006 A new study says that the haze produced by fires in southeast Asia causes increased rainfall in Australia by lowering regional ocean temperatures. Particulate matter in the upper atmosphere has been shown to reflect sunlight, hence lowering temperatures. Temperate forests do not help fight global warming -- 12/11/2006 Trees planted in temperate zones could worsen global warming according to research that will be presented on December 15 at the American Geophysical Society annual meeting in San Francisco. The study, which shows that trees planted in tropical regions can help fight climate change, found that global forests actually produce a net warming of the planet. President Museveni again moves against Uganda's forests< -- 12/11/2006 Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has again taken action against rainforest conservation in Uganda, moving to hand a protected forest reserve over to private agricultural interests intent on clearing trees, according to a report from Reuters. Who pays for Amazon rainforest conservation? -- 12/11/2006 Last Monday, Brazil created the world's largest rainforest protected area in the northern Amazon. Covering more than 15 million hectares (57,915 square miles) -- or an area larger than England -- the network of seven new protected reserves has been met with praise by environmental groups. Instrumental in the development of the conservation project has been an organization that most people wouldn't associate with rainforest conservation but certainly should: the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. A better way to cut down the Amazon rainforest? -- 12/11/2006 A new study suggests that deforestation that follows a "fishbone" pattern may be less damaging from an environmental standpoint than traditional clear-cutting. The reason? Fishbone deforestation patterns may create conditions that increase precipitation levels which help cleared vegetation recover quicker. The research, which will be presented this week by Somnath Baidya Roy, a professor of atmospheric sciences at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco, is based on analysis of deforestation in Rondonia, a state in Brazil where the "establishment of rural development projects has resulted in the construction of orthogonal road networks." Deforestation, which typically follows road and highway construction, has progressed in a fishbone pattern. ESA seeks to better understand impact of oceans on climate -- 12/11/2006 The European Space Agency (ESA) said it is backing two projects that aim to better understand the impact of oceans on climate. Hotspot conservation will not protect global biodiversity -- 12/11/2006 The concept of biological hotspots has served as a fundamental principle guiding conservation efforts over the past generation. A new study, published in the Dec. 15 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), argues this may be a mistake and that conservation efforts based on hotspots will not effectively preserve biodiversity. Unknown species of lizard discovered in Borneo -- 12/11/2006 A previously unknown species of lizard was discovered in Borneo by Chris Austin, assistant curator of herpetology at Louisiana State University's Museum of Natural Science. Photos and the scientific name of the lizard, which was discovered while Austin was conducting field research in Sarawak, will be unveiled in the March 2007 edition of Journal of Herpetology. Melting glaciers, not ice sheets, primarily responsible for rising sea levels -- 12/11/2006 A new study says that melting glaciers are contributing more to the global rise in sea levels than melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Of the estimated 650 billion tons of ice lost to the oceans annually, some 400 billion tons comes from the melting of small glaciers and icecaps, according to Professor Tad Pfeffer of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Only 250 billion tons -- or less than 40 percent -- comes from the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Global warming could save NASA millions in fuel costs -- 12/11/2006 Carbon dioxide emissions produced from the burning of fossil fuels will produce a 3 percent reduction in the density of Earth's outermost atmosphere by 2017, according scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Pennsylvania State University (PSU). Small insects tell us Earth is warming -- 12/11/2006 Small insects known as midges are telling scientists that Earth is warming, according to research to be presented December 15 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. 'Loch Ness Monster' found in Antarctica -- 12/11/2006 Paleontologists found a well-preserved fossil skeleton of a juvenile plesiosaur in Antarctica. Cryptozoologists say the plesiosaur resembles the legendary Loch Ness Monster, despite scientific evidence indicating that the marine reptile has been extinct for millions of years. Global warming coud make Arctic sea ice-free by 2040 -- 12/11/2006 Global warming is causing an abrupt retreat in Arctic sea ice that could leave the Arctic Ocean with ice-free summers by 2040 according to research published in the December 12 issue of Geophysical Research Letters. Butterfly biomimicry improves communications technology -- 12/11/2006 A new DARPA-sponsored study says that biomimicry of butterfly wings can help researchers build complex photonic integrated circuits to improve communications technology. "By replicating the complex micron- and nanometer-scale photonic structures that help give butterfly wings their color, researchers have demonstrated a new technique that uses biotemplates for fabricating nanoscale structures that could serve as optical waveguides, optical splitters and other building blocks of photonic integrated circuits," stated a release from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Nuclear war could cause global cooling (i.e. block global warming) -- 12/11/2006 Nuclear war would disrupt global climate for at least a decade according to new research presented Dec. 11 at the annual meeting of American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. The research, based on findings from historic volcano eruptions, found that a small-scale, regional nuclear war could produce millions of tons of 'soot' particles that could block solar radiation, in effect, cooling the planet. Living fossil found in South Pacific -- 12/10/2006 French scientists found a species of crustacean previously believed to have become extinct 60 million years ago, according to an update from the Census of Marine Life. 4-pound lobster discovered off coast of Madagascar -- 12/10/2006 Researchers with the Census of Marine Life discovered a 1.8 kg (4 lb) rock lobster that lives off the coast of Madagascar. Named Palinurus barbarae, the beast is half a meter (one-and-a-half feet) long. 500 species found in census of marine life -- 12/10/2006 Some 500 previously unknown species of marine life were discovered during the latest Census of Marine Life (CoML), a research effort involving some 2000 researchers from 80 countries. The discoveries, made during 19 ocean expeditions in 2006, included a gigantic 1-centimeter in diameter single-celled organism in the Nazare Canyon off Portugal, a "blonde-haired" lobster near Easter Island, a "chewing" squid, and a four-pound (1.8 kg) lobster off Madagascar. UN says man's global warming impact lower than thought -- 12/10/2006 When it is released in 2007, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will report that man's impact on global climate is less than previously believed according to a story published in the Sunday edition of the UK-based Telegraph. The Telegraph says that the report will reduce its estimate of man's role in global warming by 25 percent. However, the IPCC will still project global temperatures to climb by 4.5 C druing the next century and rising sea levels, albiet by half the amount -- 17 inches instead of 34 inches by 2100 -- projected by the IPCC's 2001 report. It will also note that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have continued to climb over the past five years but that the overall human effect on global warming since the industrial revolution has been dampened by cooling caused by particulate matter and aerosol sprays, which accumulate in the upper atmosphere and reflect heat from the sun. The Vaquita, the world's smallest cetacean, dives toward extinction -- 12/10/2006 Accidental death in fishing nets is driving the world's smallest cetacean, the Vaquita (Phocoena sinus), towards extinction, according to a new study published in the current issue of Mammal Review, the official scientific periodical of the Mammal Society. Bioprospecting links health and biodiversity conservation in Panama -- 12/07/2006 The difference between bioprospecting and biopiracy as at times controversial, but a program run by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) suggests that training professionals in high-biodiversity regions can help bring benefits to local populations while promoting biodiversity conservation. The program, called the International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG), is profiled in the December issue of the journal BioScience. Ancient hominid not our ancestor finds new study -- 12/07/2006 Scientists have shown that ancient remains once thought to be a key link in man's evolutionary history are 400,000 years to young to be part of human evolution. Ebola kills thousands of gorillas in African park -- 12/07/2006 The Ebola virus, a nasty hemorrhagic fever that causes massive organ failure and bleeding, is killing thousands of endangered gorillas across Central African forests according to new research published in the journal Science. While the findings suggests that even in strictly protected wildlife sanctuaries gorillas are not safe, the research provides insight on how to control Ebola outbreaks among wild gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Past global warming suggests massive temperature shift in our future -- 12/07/2006 If past climate change is any indication, Earth could be in store for some significant global warming according to research published in the December 8, 2006, issue of the journal Science. The work suggests that climate change skeptics may be fighting a losing cause. The study, led by Mark Pagani, associate professor of geology and geophysics at Yale, looked at an episode of rapid climate change that occurred some 55 million years ago. Known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), the period was marked by a rapid rise in greenhouse gases that heated Earth by roughly 9 F (5 C), in less than 10,000 years. The climate warming caused widespread changes including mass extinction in the world's oceans due to acidification and shifts of plant communities due to changes in rainfall. The era helped set the stage for the "Age of Mammals," which included the first appearance of modern primates. Biomimicry of native prairie yields more bioenergy than corn ethanol -- 12/07/2006 Diverse mixtures of plants that mimic the native prairie ecosystem are a better source of biofuels than corn grain ethanol or soybean biodiesel according to a new paper published in the Dec. 8 issue of the journal Science. Led by David Tilman, a biology professor at the University of Minnesota, the research shows that "mixtures of native perennial grasses and other flowering plants provide more usable energy per acre than corn grain ethanol or soybean biodiesel and are far better for the environment," according to a release from the University of Minnesota. How to cut paper waste when printing web sites -- 12/07/2006 A new service reduces paper waste when printing web sites according to a column by Walt Mossberg in today's Wall Street Journal. Mossberg highlights GreenPrint, software that analyzes documents before printing to minimize paper waste. Photos of water suggest possibility of life on Mars -- 12/06/2006 New NASA photos suggest the existence of water on Mars. The finding could suggest the possibility of life of the planet. "These observations give the strongest evidence to date that water still flows occasionally on the surface of Mars," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program in Washington. Military technology used to catch poachers in Congo -- 12/06/2006 Conservationists are using military technology to catch poachers in the act, according to an article published in the December 9, 2006 issue of New Scientist. The article says wildlife managers are using small seismic detectors developed by New York City-based Wildland Security, a firm that builds sensors for detecting wildlife crime. Global warming could reduce ocean productivity -- 12/06/2006 Global warming could cause a rapid overall reduction in marine life resulting from diminished ocean productivity, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature. The researchers, led by Michael Behrenfeld of Oregon State University, say that the growth of phytoplankton -- the basis of the ocean food chain -- will likely be reduced by climate change. Microsoft wants in on $100 laptop for poor children -- 12/06/2006 Looks like Microsoft may want to be involved in the One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC) after all. Reports indicate that Microsoft wants to make its Windows CE operating system, one usually installed on handheld devices, available on the OLPC notebook computer, a $100 laptop designed for use by children in developing countries. Energy-efficient light bulbs to be promoted with Gore movie at Wal-Mart -- 12/05/2006 Energy-efficient light bulbs made by Philips Electronics will be promoted alongside store displays for Al Gore's global warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" at Wal-Mart stores, according to an article in today's issue of The Wall Street Journal. Earthquake prediction, however brief, could save lives -- 12/05/2006 Could a few seconds warning of an impending strong earthquake be of practical use in mitigating its effects? Scientists, engineers, and first responders say yes, and now such warnings may be possible. Researchers in Italy have analyzed seismic signals from over 200 moderate to strong earthquakes, ranging from magnitude 4.0 to 7.4, and they conclude that the waves generated in the first few seconds of an earthquake (the primary, or P, waves) carry sufficient information to determine its magnitude and destructive potential. Temperatures in European Alps at 1,300-year high -- 12/05/2006 Temperatures in the European Alps are at the warmest point in 1,300 years according to the head of a European Union climate study. Switchgrass-based ethanol could cost $1 per gallon, reduce foreign oil dependence -- 12/05/2006 Genetic engineering of switchgrass, a native prairie plant, could reduce the price of ethanol to $1 per gallon according to a plant geneticist at the University of Rhode Island. Brazil creates world's largest rainforest reserve -- 12/05/2006 Brazil created the world's largest expanse of protected tropical rainforest in Para, the state where American nun Dorothy Stang was murdered after trying to protect land rights of rural poor. The network of seven new protected areas covers an expanse of 15 million hectares (57,915 square miles) -- or an area larger than England -- and links to existing reserves to form a vast conservation corridor in the northern Amazon, one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. Nairobi talks made progress on forest conservation for global warming emissions credits -- 12/04/2006 Tropical deforestation is one of the largest sources of human-produced greenhouse gases yet it has no place in existing climate agreements. This has been a point of contention in negotiations as the United States has objected to some developing countries -- notably Brazil and Indonesia -- to be getting an apparent "free ride" on deforestation-related emissions in addition to emissions from fossil fuel sources. Recent negotiations have looked at this issue from a different perspective, one where developing countries would be paid by industrialized countries for reducing their deforestation rates. Globally the payoff could be immense, extending well beyond helping mitigate global warming emissions to safeguard biodiversity and important ecological services. Leading scientists have called such plans a "win-win" scenario for all parties and even the World Bank and U.N. have voiced support for the concept. Green computing - Dell releases energy-saving server -- 12/04/2006 Dell released a premium line of energy-efficient servers that consume considerably less power than regular models, joining a list of firms that offer consumers 'greener' products. California crop production could plunge due to global warming -- 12/04/2006 Higher temperatures could cause a 40 percent drop in some of California's most popular crops by mid-century according to new research in the journal Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. Almonds, walnuts, oranges, avocados and table grape could be especially affected. Fighting air pollution could feed the hungry in India -- 12/04/2006 Reducing human-generated air pollution could create agricultural benefits in India according to research published by University of California scientists in the current online issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Moray eels and groupers hunt together -- 12/04/2006 Moray eels and groupers hunt together according to research published in the December 5 issue of PLoS Biology. A team of researchers lead by Redouan Bshary, a biologist at the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland, found that moray eels and groupers practice cooperative hunting in Red Sea coral reefs -- behavior not before described outside primates and birds. The hunting habits of groupers, which are diurnal (day-active) predators that hunt in open water, are markedly different from moral eels, which are evasive nocturnal hunters that sneak through reef crevices in an attempt to ambush and corner prey. As such prey have distinctly different evasive behavior when confronted by groupers versus morays. Another large tsunami could hit Indonesia soon -- 12/04/2006 Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) say that the Indonesian island of Sumatra could be due for another large tsunami like the one that devastated the island on December 26, 2004. Their research is published in the December 4 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Neanderthal life was miserable suggests new evidence -- 12/04/2006 New analysis of 43,000-year-old samples of Neanderthal remains from Spain's Iberian Peninsula suggest our relatives eked out a meager existence, possibly supplemented by cannibalism. The results are published in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) for the week of December 4-8, 2006. Forest fires worsen mercury contamination in fish -- 12/04/2006 Forest fires can worsen mercury accumulation in fish according to a paper published in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) for the week of December 4-8, 2006. Logging roads lead to disease, social breakdown in Ecuador rainforest communities -- 12/04/2006 Logging roads are linked to increased incidence of diarrheal disease and new social problems among communities along the Ecuadorian coast, according to a new study published in the Online Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) for the week of December 4-8, 2006. Lead by Joseph Eisenberg, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, an international team of researchers examined diarrheal infections and social networks in 21 villages recently connected to a new government-constructed road network in the Choco rainforest of coastal Ecuador. They found that the new roads bring colonists to the region and allow villagers to travel more easily between villages and larger cities. Increased mobility increases the spread of bacteria, viruses and parasites according to Eisenberg. Are old-growth forests storing more carbon than before? -- 12/04/2006 Old-growth forests in China are storing more carbon than previously believed. The finding could have implications for fighting global warming through forest conservation, though some researchers caution that the results may not be representative of tropical forests as a whole. Great Barrier Reef shark populations collapsing finds study -- 12/04/2006 Coral reef shark populations are declining rapidly due to fishing according to research published in the December 5th issue of the journal Current Biology. The paper says that "no-take zones" -- areas where fishing is prohibited -- can be effective in protecting sharks but only when the no-take regulations are strictly enforced. Examining two common species of sharks on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the researchers found that both populations are in the midst of a rapid population decline -- 7% per year for white tip sharks and 17% per year for gray reef sharks, showing that current shark conservation strategies are not effective. City life causes song birds to change their tune -- 12/04/2006 Cities cause birds to change their songs according to research published in the December 5th issue of the journal Current Biology. Hans Slabbekoorn and Ardie den Boer-Visser, biologists from Leiden University in the Netherlands, studied songs of the great tit (Parus major), a species that has successfully adapted to urban life, in ten major European cities, and compared them to songs of great tits living in nearby forest areas. They found that urban songs were shorter and faster-paced than the forest songs, and tended to be higher frequency to overcome the low-frequency environmental noise, such as traffic noise, associated with cities. Global-warming resistant crops under development by researchers -- 12/04/2006 Researchers at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) are working to develop climate-resilient agriculture to reduce the impact of global warming on food supplies. Climate change is expected to disproportionately affect the world's poorest regions most dependent on agriculture for economic sustenance. Chinese river dolphin nearly extinct says official -- 12/03/2006 Xinhua, China's state news agency, reported that a 26-day search for the Baiji, or the Yangtze dolphin, found no dolphins. The Baiji is highly threatened by pollution, overfishing, and obstructions like dams. Outbreak may be killing chimps in Guinea - Reuters -- 12/03/2006 Endangered chimpanzees are disappearing in the West African country of Guinea according to a report from Reuters. Groundwater supplies polluted in 90% of cities in China -- 12/03/2006 Groundwater water supplies are polluted or overexploited in about 9 out of every 10 Chinese cities according to official state media. Single strike killed the dinosaurs says new study -- 12/01/2006 A new study argues that "one and only one" meteorite impact -- not multiple impacts as some scientists have suggested -- caused the extinction of dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. Global warming increases flooding in India -- 12/01/2006 Extreme rains are becoming more common in India as more moderate rains decline, increasing the risk of flooding, according to a study published in the journal Science. The study, conducted by scientists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, found that heavy rain events -- one where at least 3.9 inches (100 mm) of rain fell -- are more frequent and severe than they were in 1951. The increase in heavy rains is offset by a decline in moderate rains, leaving overall rainfall levels unchanged overall. However the increase in heavy rain events means catastrophic flooding and landslides are more common said B.N. Goswami, lead author of the research. Invasive ants use genetic differences to distinguish friend from foe -- 12/01/2006 A study led by University of California, San Diego biologists shows that invasive Argentine ants appear to use genetic differences to distinguish friend from foe, a finding that helps to explain why these ants form enormous colonies in California. News index | RSS | News Feed Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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