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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement 
Wed Mar 17, 2010 at 04:54:47 PDT
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
| From Yahoo News Top Stories |
1 Despite ban, African ivory flows to Asia
by Anne Chaon, AFP
Tue Mar 16, 7:08 am ET
| DOHA (AFP) - A booming black market in African ivory linked to Asian crime syndicates may scupper efforts by Zambia and Tanzania to hold a one-off sale of tusks, experts and delegates at a UN wildlife trade meeting say.
At its last gathering in 2007, the UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted for a nine-year moratorium on exports of African ivory.
The ban went into effect in 2008, after South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe carried out a one-time sale to Japan and China of stockpiled ivory. |
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Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 04:54:44 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
1 Curious whales give boost to Mexican fishermen
by Sophie Nicholson, AFP
Wed Mar 10, 1:20 am ET
| SAN IGNACIO, Mexico (AFP) - When the massive, barnacle-spotted head of a Pacific gray whale slid alongside Pachico Mayoral's wooden boat, he nervously reached out to touch it.
Like other fishermen, he usually beat his boat with a stick to try to frighten the giant mammals away, but for once he hesitated.
"The whale insisted, going from one side of the boat to the other, and at one point I was curious and, very gently, I stroked the whale's face. And nothing happened. It stayed calm," Mayoral said, driving a boat of tourists across the San Ignacio lagoon some 40 years later. |
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Wed Mar 03, 2010 at 03:22:18 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
1 Whale opponents huddle in Florida
by Shaun Tandon, AFP
Tue Mar 2, 9:06 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Key players on whaling huddled behind closed doors in Florida in an uncertain bid to find common ground on an issue that has bitterly divided Australia and Japan.
Negotiators opened talks at a resort hotel in Saint Pete Beach, near Saint Petersburg on Florida's Gulf coast, participants said. Media were not allowed into the talks in the hopes of encouraging a more open dialogue.
The delegates will review through Thursday a proposal by Cristian Maquieira, chairman of the 88-nation International Whaling Commission (IWC), that aims to work toward a grand compromise bringing aboard all sides on the debate. |
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Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 02:03:16 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
1 Kerry insists US to move on climate
by Shaun Tandon, AFP
Tue Feb 23, 9:16 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Senator John Kerry vowed the United States would overcome the odds and approve action on climate change, as the United Nations set talks for April to help break a diplomatic logjam.
Without offering a timetable, Kerry on Tuesday rejected assertions that it had become politically impossible for the Senate to finalize the first US nationwide plan to curb carbon emissions blamed for global warming.
"I'm excited. I know that's completely contrary to any conventional wisdom," said Kerry, a close ally of President Barack Obama and chief architect of the legislation. |
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Wed Feb 17, 2010 at 02:31:38 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
1 Firms scale back from US climate push
by Shaun Tandon, AFP
Tue Feb 16, 9:32 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Three major US companies said they were leaving a coalition pushing for action on climate change, dealing a potential fresh blow to landmark legislation to cut carbon emissions.
The news came on the same day that President Barack Obama announced an eight-billion-dollar drive for nuclear power -- part of his controversial bid to bring a diverse coalition behind his efforts for a greener economy.
The three companies -- oil groups ConocoPhillips and BP America and equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. -- said they backed efforts for a green economy but felt that proposed laws were unfair to them. |
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Wed Feb 03, 2010 at 04:34:39 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
Now with 35 Stories.
1 Iran hails successful satellite launch
by Farhad Pouladi, AFP
2 hrs 46 mins ago
| TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran hailed the successful launch of a home-built satellite on Wednesday amid Western concerns it is using its nuclear and space industries to develop atomic and ballistic weapons.
The Kavoshgar 3 (Explorer) rocket was carrying an "experimental capsule", state-owned Al-Alam television reported.
State television's website said it was carrying "live animals" -- a rat, turtles and worms, the first such experiment by Iran in space technology. |
2 Obama trims US space ambitions
by Jean-Louis Santini, AFP
Sun Jan 31, 12:21 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Facing budgetary constraints, President Barack Obama will scale back US space ambitions, abandoning plans to return to the moon by 2020 and confining NASA to lower orbits for years to come.
The shift will be unveiled Monday when Obama presents his 2011 budget blueprint to Congress, according to an external White House advisor.
"Constellation is dead," the advisor told AFP on Friday, referring to a program that envisioned using Earth's nearest neighbor as a base for manned expeditions to Mars. |
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Wed Jan 27, 2010 at 04:37:51 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
1 India's 'miracle' biofuel crop: too good to be true?
by Yasmeen Mohiuddin, AFP
Tue Jan 26, 10:50 pm ET
| NEW DELHI (AFP) - To its fans, jatropha is a miracle crop, an eco-friendly answer to India's growing energy needs, but some experts are starting to question whether the wonder-shrub is too good to be true.
The seeds of the wild plant, which grows abundantly across India, produce non-edible oil that can be blended with diesel, to make the biofuel that is part of government efforts to cut carbon emissions and combat climate change.
That, combined with the shrub's much vaunted ability to flourish on poorly irrigated land, should make it the perfect crop for wasteland in the drought-prone nation. |
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Wed Jan 20, 2010 at 04:37:25 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
1 Giant, leaping Asian carp threaten US Great Lakes
by Mira Oberman, AFP
Tue Jan 19, 7:32 pm ET
| CHICAGO (AFP) - Huge Asian carp, which act like "aquatic vacuum cleaners" and leap into the air when spooked by motorboats, may have invaded the US Great Lakes despite a massive effort to block them, officials said Tuesday.
Researchers analyzing water samples have discovered fragments of Asian carp DNA in Lake Michigan, although there is still no evidence that that fast-breeding fish have breached electric barriers set up along Chicago-area waterways.
"Clearly this is not good news," said Major General John Peabody, commanding general of the US Army Corps of Engineers' Great Lakes and Ohio River division. |
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Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 03:32:52 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
1 Namibia's landmark trees dying from climate change
by Brigitte Weidlich, AFP
Tue Jan 5, 11:01 pm ET
| WINDHOEK (AFP) - An old man gently touches the trunk of the huge quiver tree with a worried look on his wrinkled face, as he points at several dead branches lying on Namibia's rugged terrain.
"When I was a boy, my grandfather made my first quiver from a branch of this old tree about seventy years ago, but I fear the tree is dying -- too many dead branches. Things changed over the past few years, and these trees just die," he tells AFP.
Aaron Kairabeb works on a farm 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of Namibia's capital Windhoek, where tourists go on scenic hikes and also view a cluster of the giant aloe trees that can live for more than 300 years. |
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Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 04:50:19 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
35 Story Final.
1 Developing nations furious over Danish climate text
AFP
1 hr 49 mins ago
| COPENHAGEN (AFP) - A leaked Danish proposal triggered outrage at Copenhagen climate talks, with developing nations condemning a draft deal that they argued would consign most of the world's poor to permanent penury.
The "draft political agreement" circulated informally by the host government exposed the deep faultlines besetting a 192-nation conference aimed at averting the potential planetary catastrophe of global warming.
The cost of failure in Copenhagen was underlined by the UN's World Meteorological Organisation, which said the current decade was shaping up to be the hottest since accurate records began in 1850. |
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Wed Dec 02, 2009 at 01:17:25 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
23 Story Final.
1 Antarctic melt to feed global sea rise
by Marlowe Hood, AFP
Tue Dec 1, 8:15 am ET
| PARIS (AFP) - Quickening ice loss in West Antarctica will likely contribute heavily to a projected sea level rise of up to 1.4 metres (4.5 feet) by 2100, according to a major scientific report released on Tuesday.
Scientists long held that most of Antarctica's continent-sized ice sheet was highly resistant to global warming, and that the more vulnerable West Antarctic ice block would remain intact for thousands of years to come.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- whose 2007 report is the scientific benchmark for the UN December 7-18 Copenhagen climate summit -- did not even factor melting ice sheets into its forecasts for rising seas. |
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Wed Nov 25, 2009 at 04:43:19 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
36 Story Final.
| From Yahoo News Top Stories |
1 Obama, Singh boost hopes of climate deal
AFP
2 hrs 24 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama sought to boost hopes of a landmark deal at the Copenhagen climate summit, as a new report showed the crisis facing the planet is deeper than previously thought.
Obama, hosting India's leader at the White House a week after visiting top global polluter China, said recent progress meant the world was "one step closer to a successful outcome in Copenhagen."
Countries must "reach a strong operational agreement that will confront the threat of climate change while serving as a stepping-stone to a legally binding treaty," he told a press conference with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. |
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Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 23:30:39 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
31 Story Final.
1 Last chance prep talks wrap up ahead of Copenhagen
by Slim Allagui, AFP
Tue Nov 17, 2:06 pm ET
| COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Environment ministers from 44 key countries on Tuesday wrapped up closed-door talks aimed at laying the groundwork for a political agreement at next month's UN conference on global warming.
Danish Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard described the meeting as "very constructive."
Delegations included major greenhouse gas emitters, including China, the United States, India and Brazil, as well as several island nations and African states that are among the poorest in the world and most vulnerable to climate change. |
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Wed Nov 11, 2009 at 05:00:26 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
33 Story Final.
1 Kerry vows US climate outline for Copenhagen
by Shaun Tandon, AFP
Tue Nov 10, 9:03 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Senator John Kerry has pledged to complete a framework of an elusive US climate change deal in time for next month's high-stakes summit in Copenhagen, vowing not to let the world down.
President Barack Obama's election returned the United States to active global efforts to fight climate change, but a year later Congress has yet to make good on promises to set the first-ever US caps on carbon emissions.
After a lobbying mission in the US Capitol by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Kerry said Tuesday the Senate, while unlikely to complete legislation, would give US negotiators an outline before the December 7-18 talks in the Danish capital. |
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Wed Nov 04, 2009 at 05:00:01 PST
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
27 Story Final.
1 Obama urges action as Europe ups pressure on US
by Michael Mathes, AFP
1 hr 1 min ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama stood shoulder to shoulder with Europe pressing to "redouble" efforts to combat global warming, but opponents in Congress made clear there would be no smooth path to a climate deal.
Fresh from a White House meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who also made a heart-felt plea for a climate protocol in a speech to US lawmakers, Obama held talks with European Union leaders to assure them his administration supported a new treaty at next month's summit in Copenhagen.
At a EU-US summit here, which continues Wednesday with talks with US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the Europeans pressed Washington to take action on climate change ahead of December's climate summit, warning that not enough had been done. |
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Wed Oct 28, 2009 at 02:09:45 PDT
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1 Climate differences set to weigh on EU summit
by Christian Spillmann, AFP
Tue Oct 27, 12:14 pm ET
| BRUSSELS (AFP) - The very real risk of failure on climate change is worrying EU leaders ahead of a summit starting Thursday, amid deep differences over how to help poor nations fight global warming.
Financial aid from the 27 country EU and other rich, but major polluting countries, to help developing nations confront the challenge of global warming has become a key issue, six weeks before the world climate summit in Denmark.
"We need to find a solution on financing, the internal burden-sharing," Sweden's European Affairs Minister Cecilia Malmstroem said Monday. "We need to do that very soon. I think our children cannot wait for us to get the figures right." |
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Tue Oct 13, 2009 at 22:44:48 PDT
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
1 Fight over future of Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake
by Izhar Wani, AFP
36 mins ago
| SRINAGAR (AFP) - "I live here and I will die here," insists Safder Hussain, one of thousands of farmers defying relocation from Kashmir's famed Dal Lake which is slowly choking to death on sewage, silt and weeds.
The iconic mountain-ringed oasis that has seduced generations of visitors has shrunk to half its original size in the past two decades -- and the government has pointed a finger of blame at Hussain and 90,000 other lake dwellers.
For years they have eked out a tough but decent living, growing vegetables and fruit on floating "fields" made of reeds and composted weeds. |
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Wed Aug 26, 2009 at 05:00:08 PDT
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
1 Encyclopedia of Life grows; clues on ageing, pests
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent, Reuters
Sun Aug 23, 10:11 am ET
| OSLO (Reuters) - An online encyclopedia aiming to describe every type of animal and plant on the planet has reached 170,000 entries and is helping research into aging, climate change and even the spread of insect pests.
The "Encyclopedia of Life" (http://www.eol.org), a project likely to cost $100 million launched in 2007, says it wants to describe all the 1.8 million known species from apples to zebras within a decade.
"We're picking up speed," James Edwards, EOL Executive Director based at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, said Sunday of the 170,000 entries with content in a common format vetted by experts. A year ago, it had 30,000 entries. |
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Wed Aug 19, 2009 at 04:20:23 PDT
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
1 Smoke-spewing Trabant poised for rebirth as electric car
by Audrey Kauffmann, AFP
Sun Aug 16, 7:53 pm ET
| BERLIN (AFP) - Once the much-mocked symbol of drab communist East Germany, Trabant cars are revving up for a dramatic rebirth as electric cars -- 20 years after they drove through the fallen Berlin Wall to freedom.
A team of German firms is developing the "new Trabi" or Trabant NT, a revamped version of the famously unreliable and unattractive cars, and is aiming to unveil a prototype at the Frankfurt motor show in September.
And in contrast to the old model, whose noisy two-stroke engine sent a polluting cloud of burnt oil and petrol into the air as it chugged slowly through the streets behind the Iron Curtain, the new 21st century Trabi could hardly be greener. |
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Wed Aug 12, 2009 at 03:05:13 PDT
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Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread
1 'Toxic' seaweed spreading on France's northern coast
by Clarisse Luca, AFP
Tue Aug 11, 7:08 am ET
| SAINT-BRIEUC, France (AFP) - Mounds of putrified green algae are building up on France's northern coast, releasing poisonous fumes blamed for the recent death of a horse and the collapse of the rider.
Part of the coastline has been declared off-limits as local authorities acknowledge they are unable to get rid of the decomposing seaweed that has washed up on shores in more than 80 communities across Brittany.
Green groups accuse President Nicolas Sarkozy's government of turning a blind eye to an "environmental cancer" caused by the algae and blame intensive farming for producing nitrates that feed the seaweed's toxicity. |
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