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| October 30, 2013 |
 Space technologies boost disaster reduction int'l co-op Beijing (XNA) Oct 28, 2013 - Another China-Brazil satellite will be launched from China at the end of this year to collect data for disaster prevention and environmental protection. The satellite, the third to be launched under the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite Program (CBERS), is the latest international advance in disaster reduction, with functions in agriculture, meteorology and the environment, according ... more |  |
 New low-cost, nondestructive technology cuts risk from mercury hot spots Washington DC (SPX) Oct 30, 2013 - Hot spots of mercury pollution in aquatic sediments and soils can contaminate local food webs and threaten ecosystems, but cleaning them up can be expensive and destructive. Researchers from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and University of Maryland, Baltimore County have found a new low-cost, nonhazardous way to reduce the risk of exposure: using charcoal to trap it in the soil. ... more |  |
 SMOS sees triple superstorms Paris (ESA) Oct 28, 2013 - ESA's versatile water mission tracked Asia's recent storms over land and sea. Over the past three weeks, tropical cyclone activity has intensified over the seas bordering southern and eastern Asia. Cyclone Phailin began forming on 4 October in the Gulf of Thailand, before moving northwest across the Bay of Bengal and making landfall in northern India. The storm affected about 12 million pe ... more |  |
 Astrium delivers microwave radiometer for the Sentinel-3A satellite London, UK (SPX) Oct 28, 2013 - Astrium, the world's second ranking space company, has delivered the proto-flight model (PFM) of the microwave radiometer (MWR) (an instrument for the European Space Agency's (ESA) Sentinel-3A environmental monitoring satellite) to the prime contractor Thales Alenia Space for installation on the Sentinel-3A satellite. The MWR works alongside the SRAL radar altimeter on the Sentinel-3 topog ... more |  |
 Scientists develop new method to help global coasts adapt to sea-level rise Southampton, UK (SPX) Oct 30, 2013 - A team of scientists, led by the University of Southampton, has developed a new method to help the world's coasts adapt to global sea-level rises over the next 100 years. Future sea-level rise seems inevitable, although the rates and geographical patterns of change remain uncertain. Given the large and growing populations and economic activity in coastal zones, as well as the importance of ... more |  |
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 For fish and rice to thrive in Yolo Bypass, 'just add water' Davis CA (SPX) Oct 30, 2013 - From a fish-eye view, rice fields in California's Yolo Bypass provide an all-you-can-eat bug buffet for juvenile salmon seeking nourishment on their journey to the sea. That's according to a new report detailing the scientific findings of an experiment that planted fish in harvested rice fields earlier this year, resulting in the fattest, fastest-growing salmon on record in the state's rivers. ... more |  |
How to Manage Nature's Runaway Freight Trains Boulder CO (SPX) Oct 30, 2013 - Last month's torrential rains and flooding in Colorado made headlines, but there's another, far more common and growing weather-related threat western states are facing in the wake of longer and worsening fire seasons: flash floods and debris flows. These runaway freight trains made of rock, mud, and water can barrel down mountain channels with little or no warning and take out roads, home ... more |  |
Time is ripe for fire detection satellite Berkeley CA (SPX) Oct 28, 2013 - As firefighters emerge from another record wildfire season in the Western United States, University of California, Berkeley, scientists say it's time to give them a 21st century tool: a fire-spotting satellite. Such a satellite could view the Western states almost continuously, snapping pictures of the ground every few seconds in search of hot spots that could be newly ignited wildfires. F ... more |  |
 SUBNETS Aims for Systems-Based Neurotechnology and Understanding for the Treatment of Neuropsychological Illnesses Washington DC (SPX) Oct 30, 2013 - Despite the best efforts of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to protect the health of U.S. servicemembers and veterans, the effects of neuropsychological illness brought on by war, traumatic injuries and other experiences are not always easily treated. While current approaches can often help to alleviate the worst effects of these illnesses, they are imprecise and not universally ... more |  |
 Antarctic Ozone Hole Slightly Smaller than Average This Year Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 28, 2013 - The ozone hole that forms each year in the stratosphere over Antarctica was slightly smaller in 2013 than average in recent decades, according to NASA satellite data. The ozone hole is a seasonal phenomenon that starts to form during the Antarctic spring (August and September). The September-October 2013 average size of the hole was 8.1 million square miles (21 million square kilometers). ... more |  |
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'Anklebot' helps determine ankle stiffness Boston MA (SPX) Oct 30, 2013 - For most healthy bipeds, the act of walking is seldom given a second thought: One foot follows the other, and the rest of the body falls in line, supported by a system of muscle, tendon, and bones. Upon closer inspection, however, locomotion is less straightforward. In particular, the ankle - the crucial juncture between the leg and the foot - is an anatomical jumble, and its role in maint ... more |  |
India's water supply at risk Washington DC (UPI) Oct 29, 2013 - India's president has called for stricter regulations to conserve the country's water supply. "Population expansion, rapid urbanization and developmental needs have exerted tremendous pressure on India's water availability," President Pranab Mukherjee said in his opening address Monday at the India Water Forum 2013 in New Delhi. While India has 17 percent of the world's populati ... more |  |
Storm-battered northern Europe slowly gets back to normal Berlin (AFP) Oct 29, 2013 - Countries in northern Europe lashed by a storm that killed 16 people were on Tuesday still struggling with power outages and travel disruptions a day after the tempest. After gusting winds and heavy rain, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and northern Germany began weighing up the damage left in the storm's wake. In Britain, where four people died, 61,000 households were stil ... more |  |
 Did hard-wired fear of snakes drive evolution of human vision? Davis, Calif. (UPI) Oct 29, 2013 - The evolution of high-quality vision in our human ancestors may have been driven by a hard-wired fear of snakes, Japanese and Brazilian researchers suggest. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers report they found specific nerve cells in the brains of rhesus macaque monkeys that respond to images of snakes. The snake-sensitive neurons were ... more |  |
Argentine bread prices keep rising as grain scarcity kicks in Buenos Aires (UPI) Oct 29, 2013 - Argentina's wheat and corn distribution chaos, caused by erratic supplies and now widespread scarcity, has finally reached bakeries that are charging exorbitant prices for bread despite government warnings of a crackdown. Corn and wheat shortages began several months ago and weren't relieved despite what critics called the government's stopgap measures. The timing of the grain shortage ... more |  |
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Uruguay to pull peacekeepers from Haiti: president Montevideo (AFP) Oct 29, 2013 - Uruguay's President Jose Mujica said Tuesday he plans to withdraw his country's peacekeeping troops from Haiti because of the lack of democratic progress there. Mujica noted delays in convening Senate elections and a general "political impasse in Haitian society." "They were supposed to have called elections to the Senate a while ago. We see it going very slowly, we see nothing happening ... more |  |
 US, family urge China to free anti-censorship activist Washington (AFP) Oct 29, 2013 - The United States on Tuesday urged China to release anti-corruption and free speech activist Yang Maodong as his wife voiced fear that he was being mistreated following his latest detention. Yang, also known by his pen-name Guo Feixiong, was taken away on August 8 after a public talk in the southern city of Guangzhou in which he defended freedom of speech and the rights of the outspoken Sout ... more |  |
 Ancient mini-sharks lived longer than thought: study Paris (AFP) Oct 29, 2013 - A line of mini-sharks thought to have perished in Earth's "Great Dying" event some 250 million years ago, in fact lived another 120 million years, said researchers Tuesday who found samples of their miniscule fossil teeth. The strange creature, which measured no more than 30 centimetres (12 inches) in length and likely sported a hook-like protrusion in place of a dorsal fin, may have survive ... more |  |
Brazil energy, farm incentives fuel CO2 emissions Brasilia (AFP) Oct 29, 2013 - Tax incentives approved by the Brazilian government for transport, energy and farming are fueling higher CO2 emissions, according to a study released Tuesday. Over the past decade, Brazil has reduced deforestation in its Amazon rainforest by 80 percent to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Tax incentives grew 69 percent a year in the past decade for the energy sector, 38 pe ... more |  |
Scientists eye longer-term forecasts of US heat waves Boulder CO (SPX) Oct 28, 2013 - Scientists have fingerprinted a distinctive atmospheric wave pattern high above the Northern Hemisphere that can foreshadow the emergence of summertime heat waves in the United States more than two weeks in advance. The new research, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), could potentially enable forecasts of the likelihood of U.S. heat waves 15-20 days o ... more |  |
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