 |
 |
| January 01, 2014 |
 Antarctic ship rescue set to start: authorities Sydney, Australia (AFP) Jan 02, 2014 - Rescuers are expected Thursday to launch a complex operation using a Chinese helicopter to airlift passengers from a Russian ship ice-bound in Antarctic seas as weather improves, Australia's maritime authority said. The Akademik Shokalskiy, carrying 52 passengers and 22 crew, has been trapped in pack ice 100 nautical miles east of the French base Dumont d'Urville since December 24. A ... more |  |
 Competition in a rough neighborhood: Plant success in a desert environment Washington DC (SPX) Jan 01, 2014 - Many people think of deserts as inhospitable places devoid of life, but numerous plants and animals have adapted to this harsh environment, where they often compete for limited resources. In desert environments, the most limited resource is usually water, forcing plants to adopt different strategies to compete with their neighbors for this precious resource. In natural environments, water ... more |  |
 To grow or to defend: How plants decide Norwich UK (SPX) Jan 02, 2014 - Scientists have discovered how plants use steroid hormones to choose growth over defence when their survival depends on it. The findings published in the open-access scientific journal eLife could be used to engineer crops that combine size with pathogen resistance. "A major dilemma faced by plants is whether to invest their energy in growth or defending against pathogens," said Prof ... more |  |
 Finnish research team reveals how emotions are mapped in the body Aalto, Finland (SPX) Jan 01, 2014 - Researchers Aalto University have revealed how emotions are experienced in the body. Emotions adjust our mental and also bodily states to cope with the challenges detected in the environment. These sensations arising from the bodily changes are an important feature of our emotional experiences. For example, anxiety may be experienced as pain in the chest, whereas falling in love may ... more |  |
 19,000 Indonesians flee erupting volcano Sinabung, Indonesia (AFP) Dec 31, 2013 - More than 19,000 people have been displaced by a volcano in Indonesia that has been erupting for months and shot lava into the air nine times overnight, an official said Tuesday. Mount Sinabung on the western island of Sumatra sent hot rocks and ash 7,000 metres (23,000 feet) in the air Monday night and Tuesday morning, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. ... more |  |
 | |
 Los Angeles likely to score driest year since record-keeping began Los Angeles (UPI) Dec 30, 2013 - Los Angeles is on track to set a dry-weather record, with the year looking to end up the driest since official record-keeping started in 1877, experts say. Only 3.60 inches of rain have been recorded at the National Weather Service station at the University of California since Jan. 1, about half an inch less than was recorded in 1953 and 1947, previously tied for the lowest rainfall yea ... more |  |
 Indonesia struggles to clean up corrupt forestry sector Berau, Indonesia (AFP) Jan 01, 2014 - Deep in the forests of Borneo island, workmen from an Indonesian timber company fell a tree with a chainsaw, stick a red tag with a serial number onto it and attach a corresponding stub to the stump. This is all part of an arduous auditing process, one of many government attempts to clamp down on illegal logging and clean up one of the country's most corrupt and mismanaged sectors as Western ... more |  |
 Hundreds monitored in Taiwan after bird flu case Taipei (AFP) Jan 01, 2014 - Taiwanese authorities are monitoring hundreds of people who may have had contact with a mainland Chinese tourist infected with the H7N9 strain of bird flu, officials said Wednesday. The 86-year-old man from the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu is in stable condition in hospital in Taiwan, where he was on an eight-day tour, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said in a statement. As ... more |  |
 Chinese officials set corpse ablaze in cremation row Beijing (AFP) Dec 31, 2013 - Officials in a Chinese village dug up and set fire to a man's corpse after his family ignored their demand that he be cremated rather than buried, state media reported Tuesday. The case is an extreme example of the country's unevenly-enforced funeral policy, which tries to encourage cremation rather than interment given the wide range of alternative uses for land. But traditional Chines ... more |  |
Strong cyclone hits western Australia Sydney (AFP) Dec 31, 2013 - A powerful cyclone lashed Australia's resources-rich west coast Tuesday, bringing torrential rain and gales that ripped up trees and roofs and closed major global iron ore operations. Tropical Cyclone Christine made landfall after midnight as a category three storm out of a maximum five, bringing winds in excess of 170 kilometres (105 miles) per hour and heavy rain that cut power to several ... more |  |
 | |
 Cloud mystery solved: Global temperatures to rise at least 4C by 2100 Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jan 01, 2014 - Global average temperatures will rise at least 4C by 2100 and potentially more than 8C by 2200 if carbon dioxide emissions are not reduced according to new research published in Nature. Scientists found global climate is more sensitive to carbon dioxide than most previous estimates. The research also appears to solve one of the great unknowns of climate sensitivity, the role of cloud forma ... more |  |
6.6 magnitude Pacific quake, no tsunami threat: US geologists Washington (AFP) Jan 01, 2014 - A powerful 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck Wednesday off the coast of Vanuatu in the South Pacific, but US geologists said it was too deep to cause a tsunami. The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 1603 GMT about 37 kilometers (23 miles) west of Sola, Vanuatu. The National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska said that the New Year's Day temblor, with a depth of 195 kilome ... more |  |
Elephant put down after attacking tourists in S.Africa Cape Town (AFP) Dec 31, 2013 - An elephant was put down in South Africa's Kruger National Park after it attacked and overturned a vehicle, ripping open a British woman's thigh with its tusk, the park said Tuesday. The bull injured a couple, who had been filming it, after charging at their car in the mega-wildlife reserve on Monday. "It suddenly stopped, turned around and rapidly walked towards the vehicle which was st ... more |  |
Thousands rally on New Year's Day for Hong Kong democracy Hong Kong (AFP) Jan 01, 2014 - Thousands marched in Hong Kong Wednesday to demand a greater say in choosing their future leaders, expressing fears China will limit long-awaited political reforms, but turnout fell short of expectations. Organisers said around 30,000 people took part in the annual New Year's Day march for democracy, while police put the figure at 11,100 - less than half their estimate last year. March ... more |  |
World's biggest fish market set for new home Tokyo (AFP) Jan 01, 2014 - As most of Tokyo sleeps, men in rubber boots haggle over tuna in the cavernous halls of Tsukiji market. The clang of a bell around 5:30 am kicks off the action at the world's biggest fish emporium. Traders flash hand signs and bellow out prices as they buy and sell what will soon end up on plates in the Japanese capital and beyond. Fins are lopped off to expose the red flesh among rows a ... more |  |
| ADVERTISEMENT + A Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison Report  Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison The Temperflow? uses a patent pending technology that allows body heat to ventilate out the mattress, while cooler air can flow back into the mattress. See www.Temperflow.com for more information about how their technology works. Or read our comparison report on two different memory foam mattress products.+ Buy a Temperflow? bed today and sleep better tonight! | |
Major reductions in seafloor marine life from climate change by 2100 Southampton, UK (SPX) Jan 01, 2014 - A new study quantifies for the first time future losses in deep-sea marine life, using advanced climate models. Results show that even the most remote deep-sea ecosystems are not safe from the impacts of climate change. An international team of scientists predict seafloor dwelling marine life will decline by up to 38 per cent in the North Atlantic and over five per cent globally over the n ... more |  |
Isolation in Russia jail was 'very hard': Greenpeace activist Zurich (AFP) Dec 31, 2013 - A Greenpeace activist who was jailed in Russia over an Arctic protest said after returning to Switzerland that solitary confinement was "very hard" but that he did not regret joining the protest. "It was quite hard to be isolated, just by myself. Not in the beginning, but after a few weeks it was quite tiring," Marco Weber told a news conference at Greenpeace's Zurich office on Tuesday, a da ... more |  |
 Morocco begins emptying beached oil tanker Rabat (AFP) Jan 01, 2014 - Morocco has launched an operation to empty an oil tanker that ran aground during a storm near the southern port of Tan Tan with 5,000 tonnes of fuel on board, an official said. The fuel was being pumped into trucks, with the operation to last between five and seven days depending on the weather, M'Hammed Atmani, police chief at the national ports agency, was quoted as saying by the official ... more |  |
Scientists surprised to discover anemones living under antarctic ice Lincoln, Neb. (UPI) Dec 31, 2013 - A species of sea anemone found on the underside of Antarctica's ice sheets is the only marine animal known to live embedded in ice, U.S. researchers say. No one is sure how the anemones, which burrow upward into the ice with only their tentacles dangling into the water, are able to survive, scientists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Ohio State University said. Researche ... more |  |
Poll: Fewer Republicans, more Democrats say they believe in evolution Washington (UPI) Dec 30, 2013 - Fewer U.S. Republicans believe in evolution now than five years ago, with a Pew Research poll finding an 11 percentage point drop. In a poll of almost 2,000 Americans, 43 percent of Republican respondents said they believe humans have evolved over time, a drop from 54 percent in 2009, a Pew release said Monday. Sixty-seven percent of Democratic respondents said they believe in ev ... more |  |
| ||||
| ||||||||
No comments :
Post a Comment