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Archive for October 18th, 2012
African farmers could soon grow virus-resistant cassava
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on October 18th, 2012
SciDevNet: Researchers in Zurich, Switzerland, have successfully developed a strain of virus-resistant cassava, and now hope to train scientists in Africa to develop the technology in laboratories on the continent. The study, which demonstrated that researchers can now generate transgenic farmer- and industry-preferred cassava, was published in PLOS One last month (25 September). Herve Vanderschuren, the study's lead author, and head of the cassava research team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology...
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How climate change disappeared from the debates
Posted by Washington Post: Brad Plumer on October 18th, 2012
Washington Post: Over at the New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert laments the fact that neither President Obama nor Mitt Romney had anything to say about climate change during the second presidential debate Tuesday. Oh, sure, they talked about energy -- about oil leases, about coal, a few quick nods toward renewable energy. But nothing about this warming planet of ours. Nothing about the summer`s droughts or wildfires or the rapidly melting Arctic.
So I was curious to look back at how Obama and John McCain talked about...
Drought areas shrink, wheat states see improvement
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on October 18th, 2012
Reuters: Drought retreated across many areas of the United States over the last week as storm systems pushed through parched areas, bringing coast-to-coast relief from record-breaking dry conditions.
Roughly 62.39 percent of the contiguous United States was experiencing at least "moderate" drought as of October 16, down from 63.55 percent a week earlier, according to Thursday's Drought Monitor, a weekly compilation of data gathered by federal and academic scientists.
The portion of the United States...
UK fined over EU water violation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on October 18th, 2012
BBC: The UK faces fines for breaching EU law on water treatment after plants in northern England and in London dumped raw sewage into waterways.
That is the outcome of a ruling by the European Court of Justice, which has yet to decide what the penalty will be.
Under an EU directive introduced in 1991, Britain was obliged to meet new standards for treating waste water.
The UK said that it had already taken steps to fix the problem and that it was complying with EU regulations.
However, the...
New Research Links Health Problems with Oil and Natural Gas Development
Posted by EcoWatch: Earthworks on October 18th, 2012
EcoWatch: The largest health survey to-date of Marcellus Shale residents living near oil and gas development shows a clear pattern of negative health impacts associated with living near gas facilities, according to a new report released by Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project today. Titled Gas Patch Roulette: How Shale Gas Development Risks Public Health in Pennsylvania, the project surveyed 108 residents in 14 Pennsylvania counties, and conducted air and water tests at more than half of the households...
UK Met Office responds: It’s still getting warmer
Posted by EarthSky: None Given on October 18th, 2012
EarthSky: If you were engaging in social media this past weekend, you might have found an October 13, 2012 article suggesting that global warming stopped 16 years ago. The article is here. David Rose of the Daily Mail wrote it. The article says the UK Met Office sent out a news release release saying its data showed that global warming has stopped and that there is no "discernible rise in aggregate global temperatures." It now comes to light that this information is not true. The UK Met Office did not release...
Study helps pinpoint East Coast sea level rise
Posted by Summit Voice: Bob Berwyn on October 18th, 2012
Summit Voice: Calculating sea level rise has been vexing for climate and ocean scientists. Melting ice and thermal expansion both contribute, but the water doesn`t just go up evenly like a bathtub that`s filling up.
Pinpointing the rate and location of sea level rise is critical for planners tasked with adapting their communities to coastal flooding, said John Boon, emeritus professsor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
“Localized projections of sea-level rise are needed to guide the regional planning...
Glacier retreat affects stream ecology, water resources
Posted by Calgary Herald: Colette Derworiz on October 18th, 2012
Calgary Herald: Dozens of scientists took a bus early Wednesday to the middle of the snow-covered Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia Icefield, stepping into a site that’s known as Canada’s hydrological apex. Along the edges, there are signs the glacier was once wider. At the bottom, markers show how much it’s retreated — more than 1.5 kilometres in the past 125 years. The tour — led by the University of Calgary’s Shawn Marshall and Michael Demuth of the Geological Survey of Canada — is a stark reminder of how...
Canadian expert says warmer, wetter, weather adding to extreme weather woes
Posted by Canadian Press: Bill Graveland on October 18th, 2012
Canadian Press: A gradual warming of the atmosphere coupled with a melting snowpack and receding glaciers is likely to lead to continued incidents of extreme weather, says a Canadian water-policy expert.
Bob Sandford, EPCOR Chair for the Canadian Partnership Initiative of the United Nations Water for Life Decade, took some of the world’s leading water and climate scientists, engineers, risk managers, municipal planners and policy experts on a tour of the Columbia Icefields on Wednesday.
The experts, from the...
Photographer James Balog traces glacial decay in his latest documentary, “Chasing Ice.”
Posted by Fast Company: None Given on October 18th, 2012
Fast Company: When James Balog set out to document decaying glaciers via time-lapse photography, he first had to build a camera that could withstand hurricane winds and temperatures of 40 degrees below zero. Balog talks us through the labor-intensive project--35 cameras were placed at 18 glaciers for more than four years--the results of which can be seen in this month’s documentary Chasing Ice.
Why build your own equipment?
I entered this project thinking I'd be able to buy this equipment off the shelf,...