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Archive for January 7th, 2016
The Anthropocene: Hard evidence a human-driven Earth
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2016
ScienceDaily: The evidence for a new geological epoch which marks the impact of human activity on Earth is now overwhelming according to a recent paper by an international group of geoscientists. The Anthropocene, which is argued to start in the mid-20th Century, is marked by the spread of materials such as aluminium, concrete, plastic, fly ash and fallout from nuclear testing across the planet, coincident with elevated greenhouse gas emissions and unprecedented trans-global species invasions. An international...
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Dam projects on world’s largest rivers threaten fish species, rural livelihoods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2016
ScienceDaily: Advocates of huge hydroelectric dam projects on the Amazon, Congo, and Mekong rivers often overestimate economic benefits and underestimate far-reaching effects on biodiversity, according to an article in the Jan. 8 issue of Science by scientists representing 30 academic, government, and conservation organizations in eight countries.
"These three river basins hold roughly one-third of the world's freshwater fish species," said Kirk Winemiller, a professor of wildlife and fisheries sciences at...
Random mutation, protein changes, tied start multicellular life
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2016
ScienceDaily: All it took was one mutation more than 600 million years ago. With that random act, a new protein function was born that helped our single-celled ancestor transition into an organized multicellular organism. That's the scenario -- done with some molecular time travel -- that emerged from basic research in the lab of University of Oregon biochemist Ken Prehoda. The mutation and a change it brought in protein interactions are detailed in eLife, an open-access journal launched in 2012 with support...
Cost to fix Flint water infrastructure could reach $1.5 billion: reports
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2016
Reuters: Fixing Flint, Michigan's lead-contaminated drinking water infrastructure could cost as much as $1.5 billion, the city's mayor said on Thursday after meeting with the governor to discuss the crisis, according to Detroit newspapers.
Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said in Lansing, the state capital, where she met with Governor Rick Snyder, that the cost to fix or replace the city's water pipes has been estimated in a range of millions of dollars to up to $1.5 billion, the Detroit News and Detroit Free...
U.S. wildfires just set an amazing and troubling new record
Posted by Washington Post: Darryl Fears on January 7th, 2016
Washington Post: Last year’s wildfire season set a record with more than 10 million acres burned. That’s more land than Maryland, the District and Delaware combined.
More than half the total was the result of mega-fires in Alaska, where dryness due to historically low mountain snowpack and a freak lightning storm created perfect conditions for a huge blaze. The nation’s overall toll was about 4 million acres more than the yearly average, scorching a record set in 2006.
The record was anticipated by the U.S....
If we’re going to fix climate change, have to get creative
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2016
Washington Post: The developing world deserves reparations from wealthier nations as compensation for the harmful climate change effects that are mostly our fault. It’s us who have tainted our global commons by emitting vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and us whose actions have led to extreme weather and other disasters in the world’s most vulnerable regions.
But a strictly financial mea culpa from rich nations won’t be enough. Rich countries should also invest in geoengineering projects to...
Trees employ similar strategies to outcompete their neighbors
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2016
ScienceDaily: How more than 1,000 tree species may occur in a small area of forest in Amazonia or Borneo is an unsolved mystery. Their ability to co-exist may depend on how trees get along with their neighbors. A new study based, in part, on data from the Smithsonian's Forest Global Earth Observatory (ForestGEO) network shows that trees worldwide compete in some of the same ways, making simpler models of forest response to climate change possible.
Published in Nature, the study demonstrated how 'personal' traits...
TransCanada Sues U.S. for Killing Keystone XL
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 7th, 2016
Climate Central: TransCanada is suing the U.S. government for more than $15 billion in losses and damages for denying the Canadian company's permit to build the Keystone XL Pipeline.
The U.S. State Department denied the permit in November, saying that the proposed $8 billion pipeline would undermine U.S. global leadership on climate change. Keystone XL would have transported more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil each day from the Canadian tar sands in Alberta to oil refineries in Texas.
President Obama said...
December in US was warmest, wettest on record
Posted by Agence France-Presse: Kerry Sheridan on January 7th, 2016
Agence France-Presse: Wet weather and scorching temperatures propelled the United States into record books for the hottest December in modern history and the second warmest year since the late 1800s, US government scientists said Thursday. The report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is the latest to document a warming trend that many scientists expect will make 2015 the planet's steamiest year on record. Man-made climate change resulting from the burning of fossil fuels, along with the El Nino...
El Niño rains get L.A. River roaring to life
Posted by LA Times: Joe Mozingo on January 7th, 2016
LA Times: At the end of Wood Avenue in South Gate, unseen behind its levee, the ephemeral giant strained in its cage.
The raw power drew Rita Adams for the first time in her 40 years of living in the neighborhood. She and her son walked under bare winter elms, past tidy postwar homes with American flags flapping in the rain, up the sandy embankment of an old Union Pacific track, to the top of the concrete channel.
She lit a cigarette and shook her head. "Wow."
The Los Angeles River had awakened. ...