2 Fury as Brussels authorises GM potatoes
by Paul Harrington, AFP
Tue Mar 2, 3:06 pm ET
| BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Commission on Tuesday approved the cultivation of genetically-modified potatoes, prompting an angry response from environmental campaign groups and two EU member governments.
Austria said it was planning an immediate ban on the potatoes' cultivation, while Italy's agriculture minister slammed the commission's decision and vowed to defend "traditional agriculture and citizens' health".
The first approval of genetically modified foods in Europe for 12 years was criticised by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth as a threat to human health, though the Amflora potatoes developed by German chemical giant BASF will not be for human consumption. |
3 World Cup set to be more grey than green
by Charlotte Plantive, AFP
Tue Mar 2, 2:03 am ET
| JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - South Africa is trying to "green" the World Cup, but local efforts are struggling to balance out the enormous carbon emissions caused by holding the tournament at the tip of the continent.
Natural ventilation, rain water capture, energy efficiency: the new stadiums built for Africa's first World Cup incorporate top-notch environmental standards.
The cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban have also planted thousands of trees to capture the carbon dioxide blamed for global warming. |
4 Common weed-killer chemically castrates frogs: study
by Karin Zeitvogel, AFP
Mon Mar 1, 11:48 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - One of the most common weed-killers in the world, atrazine, causes chemical castration in frogs and could be killing off amphibian populations worldwide, a study published showed.
Researchers compared 40 male control frogs with 40 male frogs reared from the moment they hatched from eggs until full sexual maturity in atrazine concentrations in the range that animals experience year-round in areas where the chemical herbicide is found.
Ninety percent of the male frogs exposed to atrazine had low testosterone levels, decreased breeding gland size, feminized laryngeal development, suppressed mating behavior, reduced sperm production and decreased fertility, while the control group showed features typically found in male frogs. |
5 Chile quake far bigger but less deadly than Haiti
by Marlowe Hood, AFP
Tue Mar 2, 5:37 am ET
| PARIS (AFP) - The Chile earthquake released nearly 1,000 times more energy than the one that devastated Haiti in January, but left 200 times fewer fatalities.
While rescue teams sift through the rubble, experts said many factors explained the difference between the approximately 700 dead so far in Chile while the grim tally in Haiti has topped 220,000.
An earthquake's magnitude reflects the amount of seismic energy released at its epicentre, usually the meeting point of tectonic plates pushing up against or pulling away from each other. |
6 Global warming raises Taiwan typhoon danger
by Benjamin Yeh, AFP
Mon Mar 1, 7:49 am ET
| TAIPEI (AFP) - Global warming is raising the danger from typhoons, Taiwan experts warned Monday, saying the island may be hit in a year or two by a powerful storm like the one which killed more than 700 last August.
Typhoon Morakot dumped a record 3,000 millimetres (120 inches) of rainfall and caused massive mudslides in the south of the island, and the government should be prepared for similar disasters in the future, they said.
"A typhoon as powerful as Morakot is very likely to strike Taiwan in a year or two," said Wang Chung-ho, a research fellow at the Institute of the Earth Sciences at Taiwan's top academic body Academia Sinica. |
7 Mammoth iceberg 'could alter ocean circulation'
by Marlowe Hood, AFP
Fri Feb 26, 6:39 am ET
| PARIS (AFP) - An iceberg the size of Luxembourg knocked loose from the Antarctic continent earlier this month could disrupt the ocean currents driving weather patterns around the globe, researchers said.
While the impact would not be felt for decades or longer, a slowdown in the production of colder, dense water could result in less temperate winters in the north Atlantic, they said Thursday.
The 2,550 square-kilometre (985 square-mile) block broke off on February 12 or 13 from the Mertz Glacier Tongue, a 160-kilometer spit of floating ice protruding into the Southern Ocean from East Antarctica due south of Melbourne, researchers said. |
8 Record low Mekong River poses threat to millions
by Ian Timberlake, AFP
Thu Feb 25, 9:11 pm ET
| HANOI (AFP) - Water levels in the northern Mekong River are at record-low levels, posing a threat to water supply, navigation and irrigation along a stretch of water that is home to millions, a regional official said.
Northern Thailand, northern Laos and southern China have all been affected, Jeremy Bird, chief executive officer of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) secretariat, told AFP.
"The flows are much lower than we've got records on in the last 20 years," said Bird, whose inter-governmental body deals with all Mekong River-related activities including fisheries, agriculture and flood management. |
9 China pollution concerns dash Hummer deal, analysts say
by Marianne Barriaux, AFP
Thu Feb 25, 12:02 pm ET
| SHANGHAI (AFP) - China's environmental concerns have dashed Tengzhong's dream of buying the iconic Hummer brand from General Motors, but the once little-known firm has now made a name for itself, analysts said Thursday.
Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery, based in southwest China, raised eyebrows when it announced in June last year that it would buy General Motors' world-famous brand of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles.
Nearly nine months later, when Tengzhong announced Thursday it had withdrawn its offer to acquire Hummer after it failed to get approval from Chinese authorities, analysts expressed little surprise. |
Well, I hadn't heard this take on it before.
10 Bloom Energy unveils fuel cell of the future
by Glenn Chapman, AFP
Thu Feb 25, 9:01 am ET
| SAN JOSE, California (AFP) - Stealth start-up Bloom Energy on Wednesday publicly unveiled an innovative fuel cell that promises to deliver affordable, clean energy to even remote corners of the world.
Compact Bloom Servers built with energy cells made from silicon -- a plentiful element found in sand -- made their formal debut in an eBay building here partially powered by the energy source.
"Bloom fuel cell technology has the potential to revolutionize the energy industry," California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said while introducing Bloom founder K.R. Sridhar. |
11 Development threat to Hong Kong bird haven
by John Saeki, AFP
Thu Feb 25, 7:40 am ET
| HONG KONG (AFP) - Tens of thousands of birds, including rare and endangered species, flock each year to an unlikely haven sandwiched between high-rise Hong Kong and Shenzhen, the towering frontier of mainland China.
Up to 100,000 birds fly in from as far as Arctic Siberia and Central Asia to winter in marshes squeezed between the two urban giants, or to rest and fatten-up on their annual migration as far south as Australia and New Zealand.
But conservationists say this haven on the "East Asian-Australasian flyway" -- one of the world's main migratory routes -- is in danger of breaking up, as government and construction companies eye valuable land for development. |
12 U.N. says emissions vows not enough to avoid rise of 2 degrees C
By Sunanda Creagh, Reuters
Tue Feb 23, 8:13 am ET
| NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Emission cuts pledges made by 60 countries will not be enough to keep the average global temperature rise at 2 degrees Celsius or less, modeling released on Tuesday by the United Nations says.
Scientists say temperatures should be limited to a rise of no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times if devastating climate change is to be avoided.
Yearly greenhouse gas emissions should not be more than 40 and 48.3 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent in 2020 and should peak between 2015 and 2021, according to new modeling released on Tuesday by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). |
13 Endeavour ends space shuttle fleet's 130th mission
By Irene Klotz, Reuters
Mon Feb 22, 12:33 pm ET
| CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Space shuttle Endeavour and its six crew members wrapped up a 14-day construction mission to the International Space Station on Sunday with a precision touchdown in Florida.
After 217 orbits around Earth and 5.7 million miles (9.17 million km), commander George Zamka circled Endeavour high over the Kennedy Space Center to burn off speed, then nosed the 100-ton ship onto a canal-lined runway at 10:20 p.m. EST.
Ending the space shuttle fleet's 130th mission, Endeavour landed three miles from where it blasted off on February 8. |
14 Northwest at risk of megaquake like one in Chile
By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer
Tue Mar 2, 7:19 pm ET
| LOS ANGELES - Just 50 miles off the Pacific Northwest coast is an earthquake hotspot that threatens to unleash on Seattle, Portland and Vancouver the kind of damage that has shattered Chile.
The fault has been dormant for more than 300 years, but when it awakens - tomorrow or decades from now - the consequences could be devastating.
Recent computer simulations of a hypothetical magnitude-9 quake found that shaking could last 2 to 5 minutes - strong enough to potentially cause poorly constructed buildings from British Columbia to Northern California to collapse and severely damage highways and bridges. |
15 Scientists say tsunami models should be tested
By HERBERT A. SAMPLE, Associated Press Writer
Tue Mar 2, 6:20 am ET
| HONOLULU - In the coming months and years, scientists will pore over reams of data from what turned out to be the minuscule tsunami that reached Hawaii on Saturday.
But already, some scientists are saying there is less need for additional measuring equipment of the kind that was placed in the Pacific Ocean after the devastating tsunami that killed 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean in 2004.
Instead, they say there should be a rigorous examination of long-standing assumptions within computer-generated models that are used to estimate the strength and impact of tsunamis. |
16 Iceberg breaks in Antarctica not where expected
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
Fri Feb 26, 9:14 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - With the dramatic crash of an iceberg against a glacier that dislodged a massive new chunk of ice, the mysterious continent of Antarctica once again did the unexpected.
A big chunk of ice, slightly smaller than Oahu, broke off from a place it wasn't supposed to and in a way that wasn't quite anticipated, scientists reported Friday.
The new iceberg broke off from the cooler eastern end of Antarctica, the result of tidal forces that caused a longer but thinner iceberg that stretches for 60 miles to hammer it free. The new chunk broke off a long tongue of ice that had been building for decades, but will unlikely cause future ice loss problems on the continent, scientists said. |
17 Senators to NASA chief: Go somewhere specific
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
Wed Feb 24, 7:02 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - NASA needs to go somewhere specific, not just talk about it, skeptical U.S. senators told the space agency chief Wednesday.
President Barack Obama's proposed budget kills the previous administration's return-to-the-moon mission, sometimes nicknamed "Apollo on steroids." That leaves the space agency adrift without a goal or destination, senators and outside experts said at a Senate Commerce science and space subcommittee hearing, the first since Obama unveiled his new space plan this month.
On top of that the nation's space shuttle fleet is only months away from long-planned retirement, an issue for senators from Florida, where NASA is a major employer. And while the new NASA plan includes extra money - $6 billion over five years - for private spaceships and developing new rocket technology, NASA shouldn't be just about spending, the senators said. It should be about John F. Kennedy-like vision. |
18 For NASA no easy answer for next space destination
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
Tue Feb 23, 5:19 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - Where to next?
It's a simple question that NASA can't answer so easily anymore. The veteran space shuttle fleet is months from being mothballed and the White House has nixed a previous plan to fly to the moon.
For the first time in decades, NASA has no specific space destination for its next stop, although it has lots of places it wants to go. Future space flight, NASA officials say, now depends on new rocket science and where it can take us. |
19 Polite or panicky may depend on time to react
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer
Tue Mar 2, 6:03 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - When the ship is sinking is it really women and children first, or every man for himself? The answer, it seems, may depend on how fast it's going down.
Comparing who survived two of history's most famous sinkings - the Titanic and the Lusitania - indicates sharply different behavior on the two doomed vessels, neither of which had enough available lifeboats for all passengers.
When a torpedo sent the Lusitania to the bottom in just 18 minutes, claiming 1,198 lives, most survivors were young, fit people age 16 to 35 who could rush to a spot in the lifeboats and hang on to it. |
20 2 huge icebergs let loose off Antarctica's coast
By OWEN PYE, Associated Press Writer
Fri Feb 26, 12:17 pm ET
| SYDNEY - A massive iceberg struck Antarctica, dislodging another giant block of ice from a glacier, Australian and French scientists said Friday.
The two icebergs are drifting together about 62 to 93 miles (100 to 150 kilometers) off eastern Antarctica following the collision on Feb. 12 or 13, said Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young.
"It gave it a pretty big nudge," Young said of the 60-mile (97-kilometer) -long iceberg, about the size of Luxembourg, that collided with the giant floating Mertz Glacier and shaved off a new iceberg. "They are now floating right next to each other." |
21 Shuttle back on Earth after rare night landing
By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer
22, 6:25 am ET
| CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Endeavour and its six astronauts closed out the last major construction mission at the International Space Station with a smooth landing in darkness that struck many as bittersweet.
Only one flight remains for Endeavour, the baby of the shuttle fleet. Overall, just four missions remain.
"We'll go into it with our heads held high," launch director Mike Leinbach said early Monday, a few hours after Endeavour landed in Florida. "A little bit sad note, but a great ending to a great mission." |
22 Fishermen protest law that's closing many areas to fishing
By Sananda Sahoo, McClatchy Newspapers
Wed Feb 24, 5:00 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - Fishermen, anglers, charter and party boat captains, and marine business owners from coast-to-coast gathered here to demand changes in fisheries law that they say is putting them out of work.
This year and next endangered coastal fishing grounds in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are to be closed to allow depleted fish species to recover from overfishing. The closures could be as long as 10 years.
"A lot of coastal communities across the United States have had severe negative economic impacts from the excessive regulations," says Pam Anderson , the operations manager at the Capt. Anderson Marina in Panama City Beach in Florida . "Folks can't carry on." |
23 Environmentalists question coal's place in Obama policy
By Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers
Fri Feb 26, 4:08 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama , a longtime believer in "clean coal," is launching an ambitious and expensive plan to help the energy industry lock climate-changing gases from coal-fired power plants deep underground.
"If we can develop the technology to capture the carbon pollution released by coal, it can create jobs and provide energy well into the future," the president said in February at a meeting with Republican and Democratic governors, including those from coal-mining states.
The idea, which has been around for years, is a key part of Obama's plan for building a diverse mix of power sources - including more nuclear energy, oil and natural gas drilling and renewable energy - while also putting the country on a path to an 80 percent reduction in emissions of heat-trapping gases by 2050. |
24 Obama: Give homeowners rebates for energy savings
By Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers
Tue Mar 2, 6:35 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Tuesday unveiled details of a proposal that would give rebates at the cash register to people who want to make their homes more energy-efficient.
A homeowner who buys materials to save energy - better windows or insulation, for example - would get 50 percent of the cost back, up to $1,500 for a $3,000 purchase. Those who hire experts to check their entire houses for energy-saving improvements and do major makeovers could qualify for rebates of up to $3,000 .
The White House hopes that the idea catches on, much like last year's "cash for clunkers" money-back program for trading in gas-guzzling vehicles for more fuel-efficient ones. The building program - called Homestar, but also known as "cash for caulkers" - would need approval from Congress . The White House is expected to ask for about $6 billion . |
25 NASA Chief to Senators: Mars is the Ultimate Destination
Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor
Wed Feb 24, 7:16 pm ET
| NASA chief Charles Bolden told senators Wednesday that sending astronauts to Mars is still the ultimate goal for U.S. human spaceflight, as he defended the agency's new space plan against criticism in a heated budget hearing.
"Mars is what I believe to be the ultimate destination for human exploration in our solar system," Bolden told the Senate's Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee.
But NASA will likely not have the technology to send astronauts to Mars for at least the next 10 years, he said. |
26 Elusive Dark Matter May Be Hidden on Earth
Clara Moskowitz, SPACE.com Staff Writer
Thu Feb 25, 10:03 am ET
| Scientists are hot on the tail of one of nature's most elusive substances, the mysterious dark matter that is thought to make up the bulk of the universe. Many scientists think dark matter might even be hiding right under our noses here on Earth.
Dark matter is especially tricky to find because of its dark nature. In fact, scientists don't know what it is. It doesn't emit or reflect any light, so the most powerful telescopes have no hope of spying it directly. It has been thought to exist since the 1970s based on observations of gravity's effects on large-scales, such as among and between galaxies - regular matter can't account for the amount of gravity at work.
And dark matter doesn't often interact with most other matter, scientists theorize. One idea is that it flies right through the Earth, your house, and your body without bouncing off atoms. |
27 Scientists Build Gun to Mimic Meteorite Crash
Jeremy Hsu, Astrobiology Magazine, SPACE.com
Thu Feb 25, 12:45 pm ET
| Recreating how the seeds of life might have survived aboard an ancient meteorite that crashed to Earth is no small feat, but scientists have begun doing just that in a recent lab experiment. The project could help indicate whether life on Earth got its start from alien organic material that hitched a ride aboard space rocks.
Perhaps one of the likeliest building blocks of primordial life on Earth came in the form of amino acids, which are the basic components of proteins. And so a team of U.S. and European researchers focused on trying to replicate how well amino acids would fare when a meteorite slams into the ground.
"This study is the first which tested amino acid quantities similar to those found in real meteorites," said Marylene Bertrand, a biophysicist funded by the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France and lead author of the work published in the December issue of the journal Astrobiology. |
28 NASA's New Space Plan a 'Radical Change,' Lawmakers Say
Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor
Fri Feb 26, 9:02 am ET
| A Congressional subcommittee on Thursday urged caution for the new NASA space exploration plan unveiled earlier this month, and criticized its lack of a defined vision and dependence on commercial ventures to fly astronauts in space.
In a Thursday hearing, members of a House Science and Technology Committee reviewing the 2011 NASA budget request by President Barack Obama said that despite its positive boosts for science and technology, the plan does little to inspire the public and could diminish the United States' role as a leader in human spaceflight.
"This budget proposal represents a radical change from the approach to human spaceflight and exploration that has been authorized and funded by the successful Congresses of the last five years," committee chairman Bart Gordon (R-Tennessee) told NASA chief Charles Bolden during the two-hour hearing. "It has raised as many questions as it has answered." |
29 One Last Blast: NASA Performs Final Shuttle Solid Rocket Test
Robert Z. Pearlman, SPACE.com
Fri Feb 26, 9:02 am ET
| PROMONTORY, UTAH - The thunderous roar from a space shuttle solid rocket booster reverberating and rebounding off the mountains of northern Utah was heard for the final time Thursday, as NASA and contractor Alliant Techsystems (ATK) ignited their final ground test after three decades of static firings.
The 52nd reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM) ground test since the first was fired July 18, 1977, the two minute and three second horizontal "launch" was performed in support of NASA's remaining four missions before the shuttle fleet is retired later this year.
"That was probably the safest solid rocket motor ever test fired here," commented Steve Cash, NASA's manager for the shuttle propulsion office. "I have a lot of comfort about this coming next [four] launches because of the test firing today." |
30 Veil Lifts Slightly on Secretive Blue Origin Rocket Project
Leonard David, SPACE.com's Space Insider Columnist
Fri Feb 26, 1:16 pm ET
| BOULDER, Colo. - For all the shake, rattle and roll that a rocket emits on takeoff, the secretive private rocket firm Blue Origin is still keeping quiet even as new details are emerging regarding its new vertical launch and landing rocket.
Bankrolled by the super-wealthy Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, Blue Origin has been busy fabricating its New Shepard rocket. The spacecraft has been shrouded in secrecy since work began, but Blue Origin officials lifted the veil slightly in recent weeks.
New Shepard is being built to eventually haul a crew of three or more astronauts to the suborbital heights, explained Gary Lai, the group's engineer/manager responsible for crew cabin development. |
31 Astronaut Makes Sushi in Space
Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor
Fri Feb 26, 5:45 pm ET
| Houston, we have space sushi.
Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi may be far from home, but not from his country's trademark dish. He is making sushi in space while floating weightless aboard his current post on the International Space Station, and even wears a chef's hat while he does it.
In a demonstration, Noguchi held a piece of seaweed in one hand and used a spoon to nudge a floating clump of rice into it. With a few quick twists, he wrapped it all up in a neat roll.
"The first hand-rolled sushi in space, there you go," a proud Noguchi told Fuji TV reporters after making a sushi roll while floating inside the space station's Japanese-built Kibo laboratory. "It has salmon inside." |
32 Tons of Water Ice Found on the Moon's North Pole
Tariq Malik, SPACE.com Managing Editor
Mon Mar 1, 7:00 pm ET
| This story was updated at 6:39 p.m. ET.
Vast pockets of water ice numbering in the millions of tons have been discovered at the north pole of the moon, opening up another region of the lunar surface for potential exploration by astronauts and unmanned probes, NASA announced Monday.
A NASA radar instrument on an Indian moon probe found evidence of at least 600 million metric tons of water ice spread out on the bottom of craters at the lunar north pole. It is yet another supply of lunar water ice, a vital resource that could be mined to produce oxygen or rocket fuel to support a future moon base, NASA officials said.More than 40 craters ranging from 1 mile (2 km) to 9 miles (15 km) wide were found harboring the water ice, which was detected using NASA's Mini-SAR radar instrument on India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter. The instrument is also known as Mini-RF in NASA parlance.More than 40 craters ranging from 1 mile (2 km) to 9 miles (15 km) wide were found harboring the water ice, which was detected using NASA's Mini-SAR radar instrument on India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter. The instrument is also known as Mini-RF in NASA parlance. |
33 Is NASA's New Space Plan Really That Radical?
Clara Moskowitz, Senior Writer SPACE.com
Tue Mar 2, 12:00 pm ET
| President Barack Obama's new plan for NASA has been met with some anger and confusion in the weeks since its announcement, drawing sharp objections from critics who view it as a radical vision change for the space agency that would upset the world leadership of the United States in space.
But similar shifts have occurred throughout NASA's more than 50-year history, and some space experts counter that this new plan - which would use commercial spacecraft to fly astronauts in space instead of government spacecraft - is no more radical than those previous changes.
The new space plan calls for the cancellation of the existing Constellation program, which has been overseeing the construction of new Ares I and Ares V rockets to take humans to low-Earth orbit and back to the moon. Instead, the Obama administration aims to encourage private industry to develop commercial spacecraft to ferry humans to and from the International Space Station, while NASA focuses on research and development to enable future space exploration. |
34 Chile Earthquake May Have Shortened Days on Earth
SPACE.com Staff
Tue Mar 2, 7:00 pm ET
| The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile may have changed the entire Earth's rotation and shortened the length of days on our planet, a NASA scientist said Monday.
The quake, the seventh strongest earthquake in recorded history, hit Chile Saturday and should have shortened the length of an Earth day by 1.26 microseconds, according to research scientist Richard Gross at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. One microsecond is one-millionth of a second long.
"This change should be permanent," Gross told SPACE.com today. There is a chance the Earth's rotation could relax over time, but it is too early to tell, he said. |
35 How to Properly Care for Your Batteries
Michelle Bryner, TechNewsDaily Contributor, LiveScience.com
Wed Feb 24, 1:30 pm ET
| Batteries are simple enough to use, but treating them right to ensure they don't conk out prematurely can be tricky. Here are some tips for keeping your batteries in tip-top shape.
Most cell phones use lithium-ion batteries, a variation of which is the lithium-ion polymer battery used in some newer cell phones, including the iPhone.
A typical lithium-ion cell phone battery will provide about four to six hours of talk time before it's time for a charge. (Apple claims up to five hours of talk time for its 3G iPhone.) |
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