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LONDON – Plankton, tiny marine organisms, are a good way of cleansing the atmosphere of one of the main greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide. To do this they need dissolved iron to help them to grow, and if they lack iron then they cannot do much to reduce CO2 levels. [More]
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The Planck space telescope has delivered the most detailed picture yet of the cosmic microwave background, the residual glow of the Big Bang. [More]
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The world is already on its way to a warmer future, and without radical change, experts said yesterday, that temperature rise soon will reach crisis levels. [More]
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When most folks think about Girl Scouts , they think about cookies . I love the cookies (peanut butter patties are my favorite) but thinking about Girl Scouts brings to my mind calculus, the glacial border region of Western New York, and the friendships I shared with a remarkable group of women who have all gone on to have successful careers in science and engineering fields.[caption id="attachment_592" align="alignright" width="162" caption="In my Brownie uniform, circa 1984"] [/caption]
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Taste-testing. (C) Julie Hecht Dogs don't write. At least not in a way easily understood by people, and certainly not with a pen or pencil. You could argue that dogs "write" with their urine. Some dogs seem quite familiar with Morse code -- evident by a trail of little plops left behind -- while others seem to show off their cursive, the urine gracefully spanning the entire width of the sidewalk. [More]
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Developing new drugs is no easy feat. As much as 95 percent of new compounds fail along the path to becoming clinically available. Attrition is especially high for drugs treating the central nervous system. The ones that do succeed rack up an average cost of $1.8 billion. So researchers are increasingly turning to the bottles already on the shelf. Proved safe for human consumption and often understood at a molecular level, today's familiar pills might just be tomorrow's medical
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[caption id="attachment_776" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Credit: VA Institute of Marine Science (VIMS)"] [/caption]There's nothing like the thought of a delicious piece of meat with human teeth wrapped in prison stripes to put you to a gentle, dreamless sleep . [More]
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What do polar ice caps, guinea worm disease and wildfires have in common? All are being modeled with cutting-edge mathematics. Mathematical societies and institutes around the world are participating in " Mathematics of Planet Earth ," or MPE, this year. They aim to study the math that underpins geologic and biological processes on our planet as well as encourage more math researchers to tackle these problems. Events are planned for the year 2013, but the organizers hope that the
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“Drill, baby, drill” has become a slogan of those who want to produce more oil and gas and who scoff at alternatives to petroleum. But rarely mentioned is the expense required to get that oil and gas--and still more rarely mentioned is the energy required to access those resources. [More]
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There is an urgent need for talking and teaching geology.Many people don't know it. They think geology is rocks, but if they're not rock aficionados, it's nothing to do with them. So our K-12 schools inadequately teach the earth sciences ( pdf ). People don't learn about geology, and they grow up to move to hazardous areas without being aware of the risks . They grow into politicians who feel it's smart to sneer at volcano monitoring . They become people who don't understand what geologists […]
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The population of critically endangered yellow-crested cockatoos ( Cacatua sulphurea ) in the Indonesian province of West Nusa Tenggara has reached an all-time low of 107 individual birds, according to a recent report from The Jakarta Post . The cockatoos are protected by international and Indonesian law, but they are also highly valued in the illegal pet trade, where they can fetch more than $500 each. The average annual income in Indonesia is just over $1,400 , making the birds worth as […]
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I'm one of those sticks-in-the-mud who is disappointed that I won't get to see gloriously feathered theropods in Jurassic Park 4, but I also must give director Colin Trevorrow the benefit of the doubt: after all, his promise that there wouldn't be any feathers in JP4 may have simply meant that he plans on not including any feathered taxa in the film. Why, that would be perfectly fine! I'm no theropod chauvinist. And wouldn't you know it, I've got a little wishlist for just how the
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BEIJING (Reuters) - China imposed long-debated stringent fuel economy standards on Wednesday, making life tougher for cash-strapped small domestic brands that are already struggling amid a slowdown of the world's biggest auto market.The rules, jointly issued by five government bodies including the National Development and Reform Commission, would cut passenger cars' average fuel consumption to 6.9 liters per 100 kilometers by 2015 and down further to 5.0 liters by 2020."That's going to be tough
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Marc intimated yesterday that there would be 'a treat' from me this evening. I'm afraid it's nothing of the kind. I had originally asked that this drawing be appended to the end of Marc's review of Katrina van Grouw's The Unfeathered Bird, on the grounds that its indulgence qualified it poorly for a post of its own. But Marc insisted it be posted alone, presumably to absolve himself of any involvement or blame. Katrina van Grouw is without question one of my most admired living artists. I
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By Marty GrahamSAN DIEGO (Reuters) - San Diego's mayor has placed a prime stretch of beach inhabited by seals and the area around it off-limits to the public between sunset and dawn after video footage of two women harassing the marine mammals at night surfaced on the Internet.Mayor Bob Filner's emergency order, issued on Tuesday, covers a 150-foot-wide swath of sand at the city's La Jolla Cove, which more than 200 harbor seals regularly use for shelter and as a rookery during breeding and
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[caption id="attachment_269" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The opening tip of the 2012 NCAA women's basketball championship game, played April 3, 2012. My Baylor Lady Bears, led by #42 Brittney Griner and #0 Odyssey Sims, defeated Notre Dame 80-61. Image: flickr user Han Shot First."] [/caption]March Madness always sneaks up on me. I mean, I know that March has started because my dad's birthday and my wedding anniversary are right at the beginning of the month, but I always end […]
