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| January 10, 2014 |
 Mine landslide triggered quakes Salt Lake City UT (SPX) Jan 07, 2014 - Last year's gigantic landslide at a Utah copper mine probably was the biggest nonvolcanic slide in North America's modern history, and included two rock avalanches that happened 90 minutes apart and surprisingly triggered 16 small earthquakes, University of Utah scientists discovered. The landslide - which moved at an average of almost 70 mph and reached estimated speeds of at least 100 mp ... more |  |
 Indonesian palm oil firm to pay losses in 'historic' ruling Meulaboh, Indonesia (AFP) Jan 09, 2014 - An Indonesian court has ordered a palm oil company to pay almost $30 million to the state for illegally clearing peatland in a "historic" ruling, lawyers said Thursday. The Meulaboh district court on Sumatra island ruled late Wednesday that Indonesian company Kallista Alam had illegally burnt vegetation on 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of peatland in Aceh province to clear it for a palm oil p ... more |  |
 Italy arrests head of Europe's biggest landfill Rome (AFP) Jan 09, 2014 - Italian police on Thursday placed under house arrest the owner of Europe's biggest landfill outside Rome and six others including a former regional governor as part of an investigation into illegal waste management. Manlio Cerroni - dubbed the "King of Waste" by the local press - manages Malagrotta, a 250-hectare (618-acre) landfill on the outskirts of the Italian capital that has flouted ... more |  |
Wanted: Billions of bees for European farms Paris (AFP) Jan 08, 2014 - Many countries in Europe face a worrying lack of crop-pollinating honeybees, a problem caused mainly by an EU policy shift in favour of biofuels, scientists warned on Wednesday. "Europe as a whole only has two-thirds of the honeybee colonies it needs, with a deficit of more than 13.4 million colonies - equivalent to around seven billion bees," they said. Researchers at the University of ... more |  |
 Novel 'attract-and-kill' approach could help tackle Argentine ants Riverside CA (SPX) Jan 07, 2014 - After being inadvertently introduced in the United States from South America, Argentine ants have successfully invaded urban, agricultural, and natural settings nationwide. In urban California, the Argentine ant is among the primary pest ants. For example, this particular species of ants makes up 85 percent of ants sampled by commercial pest control companies in just the Greater San Diego Area. ... more |  |
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 Long-term overstory and understory change following logging and fire exclusion in a Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forest Washington, DC (SPX) Jan 07, 2014 - In many forests of the western US, increased potential for fires of uncharacteristic intensity and severity is frequently attributed to structural changes brought about by fire exclusion, past land management practices, and climate. Extent of forest change and effect on understory vegetation over time are not well understood, but such information is useful to forest management focused on r ... more |  |
Worker Wasps Grow Visual Brains, Queens Stay in the Dark Philadelphia PA (SPX) Jan 07, 2014 - A queen in a paperwasp colony largely stays in the dark. The worker wasps, who fly outside to seek food and building materials, see much more of the world around them. A new study indicates that the brain regions involved in sensory perception also develop differently in these castes, according to the different behavioral reliance on the senses. "The wasps in different castes within a colo ... more |  |
 Biomaterials get stem cells to commit to a bony future San Diego CA (SPX) Jan 07, 2014 - With the help of biomimetic matrices, a research team led by bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego has discovered exactly how calcium phosphate can coax stem cells to become bone-building cells. This work is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of Jan. 6, 2014. UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering professor Shyni Varghese and coll ... more |  |
Improper use of biocides in food production may endanger public health Washington DC (SPX) Jan 07, 2014 - Biocides used in the food industry at sublethal doses may be endangering, rather than protecting, public health by increasing antibiotic resistance in bacteria and enhancing their ability to form harmful biofilms, according to a study published ahead of print in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. This is among the first studies to examine the latter phenomenon. The study was designed ... more |  |
New fossils shed light on the origins of lions, and tigers, and bears (oh my!) Brussels, Belgium (SPX) Jan 07, 2014 - New fossils from Belgium have shed light on the origin of some of the most well-known, and well-loved, modern mammals. Cats and dogs, as well as other carnivorous mammals (like bears, seals, and weasels), taxonomically called 'carnivoraformes', trace their ancestry to primitive carnivorous mammals dating back to 55 million years ago (the beginning of the time period called the Eocene). A s ... more |  |
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 Population stability 'hope' in species' response to climate change York, UK (SPX) Jan 07, 2014 - Stable population trends are a prerequisite for species' range expansion, according to new research led by scientists at the University of York. The climate in Britain has warmed over the last four decades, and many species, including butterflies, have shifted their distributions northwards. The extent of distribution changes has varied greatly among species, however, with some showing rap ... more |  |
 Despite rains, Dead Sea water levels falls again in December Ketura, Israel (UPI) Jan 8, 2013 - Despite rainstorms that have soaked fields and filled reservoirs in Israel during December, the Dead Sea's water level still dropped, water researchers said. Eli Raz, a researcher at the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center in Ketura said the Dead Sea fell to 427.82 meters (1,403 feet) below sea level in early January, 3 centimeters (slightly more than an inch) lower than the level measure ... more |  |
 China demolishes landmark inn once hailed as symbol of change Beijing (AFP) Jan 09, 2014 - When they introduced market reforms that would shake the world, China's rulers celebrated a tiny privately owned Beijing hotel that survived decades of state planning as an example to the nation. Now in a twist of fate the Tianyi Inn has been demolished, apparently overcome by the very changes it once symbolised. The hotel reportedly endured as Beijing's only private business even during ... more |  |
 'Cramped' houses row over Philippine typhoon survivors Manila (AFP) Jan 08, 2014 - International aid agencies have criticised a Philippine government plan to move homeless survivors of the country's deadliest typhoon into "cramped" temporary shelters, officials said Wednesday. The issue has disrupted the Super Typhoon Haiyan rehabilitation effort as the government halted further construction of bunkhouses so they could be redesigned, they said. "There were some concern ... more |  |
 Penn State researchers find new path for neuron repair State College, Pa. (UPI) Jan 9, 2013 - A new pathway for repairing nerve cells could have implications for faster and improved healing after an injury, Penn State molecular biologists said. The biologists said their findings demonstrate that dendrites, the nerve cell component that receive information from the brain, have the capacity to regrow after an injury, the State College, Pa., university said Thursday in a release. / ... more |  |
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Chinese man detained after dead tiger found in SUV Beijing (AFP) Jan 09, 2014 - Police in China have detained a man over the death of a rare Siberian tiger discovered in the back of an SUV, a report said Thursday. Pictures showing officers pulling the black-streaked tiger, wrapped in a plastic bag, out of a white vehicle went viral on China's Internet after they were posted online. Police in the eastern city of Wenzhou are holding a suspect identified as a former ch ... more |  |
Death of elephant, 73, sparks mourning at India wildlife park Guwahati, India (AFP) Jan 08, 2014 - A giant 73-year-old elephant died Wednesday at a famed wildlife sanctuary in northeast India, bringing tears to the eyes of his keepers - and fellow pachyderms. The majestic 11-foot (3.35 metre) tall elephant, called Joyraj, died of old age at Kaziranga National Park, 220 kilometres (130 miles) east of Assam's state's main city of Guwahati, keepers told AFP. Kaziranga is a world-famous ... more |  |
 Ice rescue sparks Antarctic tourism debate Wellington (AFP) Jan 09, 2014 - The challenging rescue operation launched after a Russian ship became trapped in Antarctic pack ice last month shows the inherent risks facing the frozen continent's burgeoning tourist industry, experts say. Antarctica represents one of the last frontiers for adventurous travellers, an icy wonderland of glaciers, emperor penguins and seemingly endless white expanses. But, as those aboard ... more |  |
 To curb China's haze and air pollution, use water Heidelberg, Germany (SPX) Jan 07, 2014 - A new idea to cut back on air pollution: spray water into the atmosphere from sprinklers atop tall buildings and towers, similar to watering a garden. This suggestion comes from Shaocai Yu of Zhejiang University in China, and North Carolina State University in the US. In an article published in Springer's journal Environmental Chemistry Letters, Yu suggests this course of action as a novel ... more |  |
 As US shivers, northern Europe waits for winter to arrive Oslo (AFP) Jan 08, 2014 - While part of North America is suffering through a record freeze, northern Europe is enjoying unusually balmy temperatures that are disturbing wildlife, traffic and the winter sports season. The month of December was one of the mildest in a century in the Nordic countries, according to meteorologists, with temperatures exceeding their normal seasonal average by four to five degrees Celsius ( ... more |  |
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