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Archive for October 23rd, 2014
Washington state community devastated by mudslide could face floods
Posted by Reuters: Victoria Cavaliere on October 23rd, 2014
Reuters: A Washington state community devastated by a mudslide that killed 43 people in March was bracing for its first rainy season since the disaster and the threat of flooding from a river that changed course as a result of it, officials said on Thursday.
A rain-soaked hillside collapsed above the north fork of the Stillaguamish River on March 22, unleashing a torrent of mud that buried a community near Oso, 55 miles (89 km) northeast of Seattle.
The risk of flooding remains a concern for hundreds...
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Uncovering Evidence of a 6th Mass Extinction
Posted by Nature World: None Given on October 23rd, 2014
Nature World: New fossil evidence is pointing to the possibility of a sixth mass extinction event in Earth's past, and this one may have helped usher in the largest "great dying" that that ever occurred. If that is right, the Permian period may have actually been hit with a two-punch knockout that caused more species loss than the infamous extinction of the dinosaurs.
New fossil evidence is pointing to the possibility of a sixth mass extinction event in Earth's past, and this one may have helped usher in the...
New Methane-Releasing Microbe Key Player in Climate Change
Posted by Nature World: Jenna Iacurci on October 23rd, 2014
Nature World: A new methane-releasing microbe, just recently discovered in Sweden, is a key player in climate change, according to new research.
Identified as Methanoflorens stordalenmirensis, it is just one of many species of soil microbes, known to be among the world's biggest potential amplifiers of human-caused climate change. Earlier this year, an international team of researchers discovered this previously unknown microbe living in permafrost soils in northern Sweden that have begun to thaw in our warming...
What Will Winter Hold for Drought-Plagued California?
Posted by Climate Central: Andrea Thompson on October 23rd, 2014
Climate Central: California really needs this winter to be a wet one.
The state is now at the beginning of the fourth year of one if its worst droughts on record. The drought has been fueled by a spate of disappointing winter rainy seasons that have left meager snowpacks and diminished reservoir levels, combined with record-warm temperatures that have driven demand for the increasingly precious resource, and spurred a series of conservation measures around the state.
Shasta Lake, the largest manmade lake in...