Aliasinkhorn I like this

Wolves spreading westward across Europe

Sep 6, 9:52pm    (1 review)  environment, germany, wolves, foxes, central-europe  http://www.monstersandcritics.com/scienc...

Wolves spreading westward across Europe From the page: "The mournful howling of wolves is echoing these days through the forested woodlands of eastern Germany for the first time in centuries, according to conservationists who say that wolves are spreading into Western Europe now that all their natural enemies have long since disappeared. The cunning canine is even outsmarting its most dangerous mortal enemy - man. Wolves are encroaching on urbanized areas, even being spotted on the outskirts of large cities like Berlin. Earlier this year, reports said that red foxes are also on the increase. Ironically, the increase in foxes has also benefited hungry wolves, which feed on foxes and their pups. Experts say the disappearance of lynxes and brown bears in the 20th century has helped to reverse the fall in the fox population. Without those natural enemies, foxes have been able to establish themselves as the dominant carnivore in many areas of Central Europe. And with the foxes on the march across Western Europe, wolves are following literally in their footprints. In addition, the widespread eradication of rabies has also been a boon to wild canine families, since rabies has always been the primary biological enemy of these creatures. Wolves have been sighted in recent weeks in a forest near the town of Ludwigslust, located midway between Berlin and Hamburg, Germany's two largest cities. Wolves are already fairly frequently spotted east of Berlin and in Poland. But Hamburg, a seaport on the North Sea at the base of the Danish peninsula, has not seen any wolves for centuries. 'It is only a matter of time before wolves spread all across northern Germany in their move ever-westward,' says Professor Josef Reichholf of the University of Munich. 'Northern Germany is the perfect habitat for the wolf,' says Dr. Reichholf. 'Aside from two large cities, Berlin and Hamburg, the region is sparsely settled. There are vast areas of woodlands, lakes and dark forests.' Wolves and foxes are only the start of a resurgence in wildlife unseen since the Middle Ages, the Munich biologist predicts. 'Weasels and otters and raccoons are already well re-establishing themselves,' he says. 'And the European moose elk is poised to move westward. Indeed, elk are already relatively common in the Czech republic.'" .

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 08/31/2008 | Scientists fear impact of Asian...

Sep 2, 11:18pm    (1 review)  environment, asia, weather, pollutants, us-weather  http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/511...

Scientists fear impact of Asian pollutants on U.S. From the page: "From 500 miles in space, satellites track brown clouds of dust, soot and other toxic pollutants from China and elsewhere in Asia as they stream across the Pacific and take dead aim at the western U.S. A fleet of tiny, specially equipped unmanned aerial vehicles, launched from an island in the East China Sea 700 or so miles downwind of Beijing, are flying through the projected paths of the pollution taking chemical samples and recording temperatures, humidity levels and sunlight intensity in the clouds of smog. On the summit of 9,000-foot Mt. Bachelor in central Oregon and near sea level at Cheeka Peak on Washington state's Olympic Peninsula, monitors track the pollution as it arrives in America. By some estimates more than 10 billion pounds of airborne pollutants from Asia -- ranging from soot to mercury to carbon dioxide to ozone -- reach the U.S. annually. The problem is only expected to worsen: Some Chinese officials have warned that pollution in their country could quadruple in the next 15 years. While some scientists are less certain, others say the Asian pollution could destabilize weather patterns across the North Pacific, mask the effects of global warming, reduce rainfall in the American West and compromise efforts to meet air-pollution standards. "East Asia pollution aerosols could impose far reaching environmental impacts at continental, hemispheric and global scales because of long-range transport," according to a report earlier this year in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The report said that a "warm conveyor belt" lifts the pollutants into the upper troposphere -- the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere -- over Asia, where winds can bring it to the U.S. in a week or less." .

Thumb Up for Trees

Jul 22, 6:49am    (625 reviews)  environment  http://www.stumbleupon.com/earthday/

Earths hum predicts quake danger spots - earth - 15 July 2008 - New Scientist...

Jul 16, 11:55am    (1 review)  environment, earthquakes, seismography  http://environment.newscientist.com/arti...

Earth's hum predicts quake danger spots - earth - 15 July 2008 - New Scientist Environment From the page: "THE faint sound of crashing waves can travel across continents through Earth's rocks. Now it seems this ambient hum can be harnessed to help predict how destructive an earthquake will be. Estimating the degree to which the ground will shake during a quake of a given magnitude is tricky because seismic waves can be muffled or amplified by geological structures en route from the epicentre, such as sedimentary basins. According to Gregory Beroza and Germán Prieto of Stanford University in California, you can predict these effects using measurements of the ambient hum. They were able to see how the underlying geology affected waves travelling through the Earth's crust when they correlated measurements of the hum, taken near the town of Big Bear on the San Andreas fault, with corresponding readings at four seismic stations across Los Angeles. Their analysis shows that seismic waves are trapped and amplified on this route, probably by a bowl of sedimentary rock under Los Angeles. That is borne out by a 2001 earthquake close to Big Bear with a magnitude of 4.6, which shook LA more intensely and for longer than it should have for its magnitude (Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1029/2008GL034428)." .

Earth Changes Media - for the latest info on our changing earth.

Jul 15, 8:17am    (3 reviews)  environment, weather, climate, sun-spots  http://earthchangesmedia.com/

Friends of Science

Jul 14, 12:03pm    (6 reviews)  environment, climate-change  http://www.friendsofscience.org/

It is interesting that when I was a child, I was taught in science class that the sun (and moon) played a key role in climate. Good to see that this attitude is still alive - or there would be some serious explanations required by science regarding sediment correlates with sun cycles and activities. .

Doomed to a fatal delusion over climate change | Herald Sun

Jul 10, 10:39pm    (9 reviews)  environment, china, climate-change, greenhouse-gases, c02  http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0...

Doomed to a fatal delusion over climate change PSYCHIATRISTS have detected the first case of "climate change delusion" - and they haven't even yet got to Kevin Rudd and his global warming guru. From the page: "Rudd hopes this pain will make you switch to expensive but less gassy alternatives, and -- hey presto -- the world's temperature will then fall, just like it's actually done since the day Al Gore released An Inconvenient Truth. But you'll have spotted already the big flaw in Rudd's mad plan -- one that confirms he and Garnaut really do have delusions. The truth is Australia on its own emits less than 1.5 per cent of the world's carbon dioxide. Any savings we make will make no real difference, given that China (now the biggest emitter) and India (the fourth) are booming so fast that they alone will pump out 42 per cent of the world's greenhouse gases by 2030. Indeed, so fast are the world's emissions growing -- by 3.1 per cent a year thanks mostly to these two giants -- that the 20 per cent cuts Rudd demands of Australians by 2020 would be swallowed up in just 28 days. That's how little our multi-billions of dollars in sacrifices will matter. And that's why Rudd's claim that we'll be ruined if we don't cut Australia's gases is a lie. To be blunt. . . . A year ago China released its own global warming strategy -- its own Garnaut report -- which bluntly refused to cut its total emissions. Said Ma Kai, head of China's powerful State Council: "China does not commit to any quantified emissions-reduction commitments . . . our efforts to fight climate change must not come at the expense of economic growth."" Based on this article, the best and most sensible way to improve mental health and fight greenhouse gases is to stop doing business with China - and India. Let's do it. .

Reducing cow burping is key to tackling climate change | Mail Online

Jul 9, 3:35pm    (6 reviews)  environment, bizarre  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...

Reducing cow burping 'is key to tackling climate change' From the page: "Argentine scientists are taking a novel approach to studying global warming - strapping plastic tanks to the backs of cows to collect their burps and farts. Researchers say the slow digestive system of cows makes them a producer of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide in efforts to fight global warming.   Scientists at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology in Castelar, Argentina will analyse the gas collected from cows Scientists around the world are studying the amount of methane in gas expelled by cows and Argentine researchers have come up with a unique way to collect and analyse it. They attached red plastic tanks to the cows' backs and connected them through a tube to their stomachs, which trapped the gas. 'When we got the first results, we were surprised. Thirty per cent of Argentina's (total greenhouse) emissions could be generated by cows,' said Guillermo Berra, a researcher at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology. One of the world's biggest beef producers, Argentina has some 55 million heads of cattle grazing on the famed Pampas grasslands." .

Ancient diamonds may reveal earliest life on Earth | Mail Online

Jul 6, 3:05am    (3 reviews)  environment, life, diamonds  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...

Ancient diamonds 'may reveal earliest life on Earth' | Mail Online From the page: "Life may have appeared only a short time after the Earth was formed out of a swirling disc of gas and dust, scientists said today. They believe 4.2 billion-year-old diamonds could contain an imprint of this earliest existence. If they are right it will mean a major re-think about the emergence of biological activity on Earth. The most ancient life forms known were single-celled organisms that did not require oxygen and lived 3.5 billion years ago. But the diamonds, containing a type of 'light' carbon normally associated with living organisms, raises the possibility of life existing at least 700 million years earlier. The diamonds were trapped inside extremely old zircon crystals recovered in 1983 from the Jack Hills of Western Australia. Resarch leader Dr Alexander Nemchin, from Curtin University of Technology in Australia said: 'We believe this find to be the oldest terrestrial light carbon reservoir discovered so far. 'It opens up the possibility of biological activity during the period not long after the Earth's formation.' The carbon was found in 22 diamonds and graphite grains obtained from 18 of the zircon crystals. The latest finding was reported in the journal Nature. 'The discovery challenges our fundamental understanding of processes active in the early history of the Earth,' Dr Nemchin said. 'It suggests that life may well have appeared on Earth long before the period of heavy-meteorite bombardment believed by some to have initiated the emergence of life on Earth.'" .

The New York Times & Log In

Jul 3, 2:11pm    (1 review)  environment, housing, energy-efficiency  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/magazi...