Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Monday, January 30, 2006
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Last year's record hurricane season didn't just change life for humans. It changed nature, too.
Everywhere scientists look, they see disrupted patterns in and along the Gulf of Mexico. Coral reefs, flocks of sea birds, crab- and shrimp-filled meadows and dune-crowned beaches were wrapped up in - and altered by - the force of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Dennis.
"Nothing's been like this," said Abby Sallenger, a U.S. Geological Survey oceanographer, during a recent flight over the northern Gulf Coast to study shoreline changes.
For him, the changes are mind-boggling: Some barrier islands are nearly gone; on others, beaches are scattered like bags of dropped flour.
Hurricanes have been kneading the Gulf Coast like putty for eons, carving out inlets and bays, creating beaches and altering plant and animal life - but up to now, the natural world has largely been able to rebound. Trees, marine life and shoreline features tourists and anglers enjoyed in recent years were largely the same types as those 17th century buccaneers and explorers encountered.
But scientists say the future could be different. Nature might not be able to rebound so quickly. The reason: the human factor.
By Craig McCulloch
Vancouver
27 January 2006
McCulloch report (Real Media) - Download 613k audio clip
Listen to McCulloch report (Real Media) audio clip
Even though he has not yet been sworn in, Canada's prime minister designate is already in a diplomatic dispute with the United States. At issue is claims of sovereignty in the northern Arctic.
The dispute is over Canada's claim to the area of the Arctic Ocean that is offshore from the country's northern territories.Canada, the United States and Russia have had conflicting claims in the Arctic for years.
The prime minister designate's retort came after the U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins, made a comment earlier this week disputing Canada's assertion of sovereignty over Arctic waters the United States considers international territory. "We don't recognize Canada's claim to those waters," he said.
Ambassador Wilkins added that there is no reason to create a problem that does not exist.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper gives thumbs up in Calgary, Canada, Monday, Jan. 23, 2006
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper gives thumbs up in Calgary, Canada, Monday, Jan. 23, 2006
For incoming Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who will formally take office on February 6, this issue clearly is a problem.
Canada's northern sovereignty became a recurring issue during the 46-year-old economist's recent election campaign. Mr. Harper is promising to build three new armed icebreaking ships for the Arctic in addition to establishing underwater sensors to listen for foreign vessels, including U.S. submarines. He is also vowing to establish aerial surveillance and install more military personnel. In addition, he supports plans for building a new port in the Arctic town of Iqaluit to house the additional personnel and new ships.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
# Study, called a 'realistic picture,' finds a mix of low-level pesticides like those found on farms may play a role in species' endangerment.
By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer
Frogs exposed to a mix of pesticides at extremely low concentrations like those widely found around farms suffer deadly infections, suggesting that the chemicals could be a major culprit in the global disappearance of amphibians, UC Berkeley scientists reported Tuesday.
When tadpoles were exposed in laboratory experiments to each pesticide individually, 4% died before they turned into frogs. But when atrazine and eight other pesticides were mixed to replicate a Nebraska cornfield, 35% died.
The frogs developed an array of health problems, including meningitis, because the chemicals suppressed their immune systems. They also took longer to complete the transformation from tadpole to frog, which reduces their chances of survival.
At least one-third of amphibians worldwide, or 1,856 of the known species of frogs, toads, salamanders and caecilians, are in danger of extinction, according to an international group of conservation biologists.
A variety of factors are thought to be involved, including climate change, ultraviolet radiation, disease, parasites and habitat destruction.
"We demonstrated that a realistic pesticides mixture [based on a mixture applied to an actual field] at low, ecologically relevant concentrations can have dramatic effects on amphibian development and growth and ultimately, we predict, survivorship," Tyrone Hayes, a professor at the university's department of integrative biology, and his colleagues reported in the online version of the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
y Deborah Zabarenko
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Last year was the warmest recorded on Earth's surface, and it was unusually hot in the Arctic, U.S. space agency NASA said on Tuesday.
All five of the hottest years since modern record-keeping began in the 1890s occurred within the last decade, according to analysis by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
In descending order, the years with the highest global average annual temperatures were 2005, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004, NASA said in a statement.
"It's fair to say that it probably is the warmest since we have modern meteorological records," said Drew Shindell of the NASA institute in New York City.
"Using indirect measurements that go back farther, I think it's even fair to say that it's the warmest in the last several thousand years."
The politician's take on global warming fits with publisher's history.
By Dan Shope
Of The Morning Call
Rodale Inc. will publish former Vice President Al Gore's book on global warming, the company said Tuesday.
''An Inconvenient Truth'' is scheduled to be released in April.
The deal was announced at the Sundance Festival in Park City, Utah, during a screening of a documentary about climate change.
The partnership between Gore and Rodale, an Emmaus publisher of books and magazines on health and fitness, made sense to those in the publishing industry. Rodale has been known for more than a half century for its support of environmental causes, and in recent years has increased its publishing power.
''It's a nice combination of longstanding interest in a topic and an increased presence in the publishing industry,'' said Jim Milliot, senior editor for news and business at the trade magazine Publisher's Week.
''Five years ago, Rodale wouldn't have tried for Gore and he wouldn't have even thought of Rodale. That was before the success of [Rodale-published] 'South Beach Diet.' This is a further stamp of approval that Rodale is now a mainstream publisher.''
In the book, Gore will discuss global warming and share his story about how the issue became of urgent importance to him. He published another book in 1992, ''Earth In The Balance.''
Gore is featured in a documentary also titled ''An Inconvenient Truth'' that was screened at Sundance. In the film, Gore gives evidence of the environmental impact of global warming.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Sunday, January 22, 2006
: "REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Jan. 18, 2005 — Iceland has energy to spare, and the small country has found a cutting-edge way to reduce its oil dependency. Volcanoes formed the island nation out of ash and lava, and molten rock heats huge underground lakes to the boiling point.
The hot water — energy sizzling beneath the surface — is piped into cities and stored in giant tanks, providing heat for homes, businesses and even swimming pools.
he volcanoes melted ice, which formed rivers. The water runs through turbines, providing virtually all the country's electricity.
Iceland wants to make a full conversion and plans to modify its cars, buses and trucks to run on renewable energy — with no dependence on oil.
Icelanders say they're committed to showing the world that by making fuel from water, it is possible to kick the oil habit."
Saturday, January 21, 2006
By Tony Paterson in Berlin
Published: 21 January 2006
A study by German scientists has established that global warming is the likely cause of chronic water shortages in the river Elbe, and that they threaten to bring shipping to a standstill along one of the continent's main inland waterways.
The study by the Institute of Climate Impact Research in the east German city of Potsdam is the result of six decades of continuous observation of water levels on the Elbe, which runs from the Czech Republic to the North Sea at Hamburg.
The scientists found that water levels had dropped so much during the past two decades that they had rendered the waterway impassable for barge traffic for periods of between four and six months in 1991, 1992, 2000 and 2003. Dr Frank Wechsung, who compiled the study, said: "If this trend continues, we can expect more frequent and more extremely low water levels on the river, which will make it even more difficult to use as a shipping route."
The institute's study says that the cause is lack of rain during the summer which has been induced by global warming. The scientists found that rainwater was not filling the Elbe as reliably as it did in the period 1950-1980, and that mean temperatures had increased in the region by 1C over the past 50 years.
Over the past 30 years there had been an average of 123 days when no rain fell in the Elbe region, whereas during the preceding 30 years, there had been only 85 days without rain.
"Even if we assume that rainfall stays at its present level, it is still certain that temperatures will increase," Dr Wechsung said. "This means that moisture in the drainage areas which feed the Elbe will dry up before it reaches the river. But there is a high possibility that there will be even less summer rainfall in future," he added.
The institute's findings coincide with an extensive German government improvement programme for the Elbe, which aims to increase its use as a thoroughfare for commercial barge traffic. German environmental groups say that it will lead to the destruction of marshlands which are home to rare plants, birds and mammals.
"The latest findings about dropping Elbe water levels make it clear that the government's plans to develop the river are complete nonsense because there will not be enough water under the keels of commercial vessels," said Paul Doerfler of the German environment association, Bund.
German environmentalists have urged the government to drop its plans and concentrate instead on measures to reduce soil erosion in the river basin which contributes to rapid fluctuations in water levels.
A German transport ministry spokesman said that the government's plans for the Elbe merely aimed to strengthen breakwaters that prevented the river silting up. "We have an international obligation to keep the river open to traffic and these breakwaters have been there for centuries. Some of them have fallen into disrepair," he said.
There are similar concerns about the river Rhine, which is Europe's most frequented commercial inland waterway. In the summer of 2003, a drought reduced water levels in the river to their lowest in four decades and brought river traffic almost to a complete halt.
Environmentalists and Juergen Trittin of the Green party, who was then the Environment Minister, blamed decades of regional and central government development projects on the Rhine. They argued that government planning had led to the deforestation of river banks and the channelling of streams feeding the river into concrete water runs which exhausted the Rhine's natural water supply within days of rainfall.
Germany's water authorities have measured unusually low water levels in the Rhine during the first weeks of 2006, a period when traditionally the river often bursts its banks. However, regional officials say that over the past century the volume of water carried by the Rhine has increased as a result of overall increases in rainfall during the period.
A study by German scientists has established that global warming is the likely cause of chronic water shortages in the river Elbe, and that they threaten to bring shipping to a standstill along one of the continent's main inland waterways.
The study by the Institute of Climate Impact Research in the east German city of Potsdam is the result of six decades of continuous observation of water levels on the Elbe, which runs from the Czech Republic to the North Sea at Hamburg.
The scientists found that water levels had dropped so much during the past two decades that they had rendered the waterway impassable for barge traffic for periods of between four and six months in 1991, 1992, 2000 and 2003. Dr Frank Wechsung, who compiled the study, said: "If this trend continues, we can expect more frequent and more extremely low water levels on the river, which will make it even more difficult to use as a shipping route."
Thursday, January 19, 2006
This year has been one of the hottest on record, scientists in the United States and Britain reported yesterday, a finding that puts eight of the past 10 years at the top of the charts in terms of high temperatures.
Three studies released yesterday differ slightly, but they all indicate the Earth is rapidly warming. NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies has concluded 2005 was the warmest year in recorded history, while the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.K. Meteorological Office call it the second hottest, after 1998. All three groups agree that 2005 is the hottest year on record for the Northern Hemisphere, at roughly 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit above the historical average.
Jay Lawrimore, who heads NOAA's Climate Monitoring Branch in its National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., called the new data "one of the indicators that the climate is changing." He added: "It's certainly something the administration is taking seriously."
The three teams used the same set of ocean and land temperature records, but they analyzed the data and compensated for gaps in the climatic record differently. As a result, NASA scientists estimate that 2005 average global land and sea temperatures were 1.04 degrees Fahrenheit above average, just beating out 1998's 1-degree elevation. NOAA researchers, by contrast, say this year's global average is 1.06 degrees Fahrenheit above average, compared with 1.1 degrees in 1998.
The analyses were based on data through the end of November and projections of December temperatures.
Scientists said yesterday that these differences should not detract from their common conclusion that the world is experiencing serious climate change, driven in part by human activity. Researchers recently found by drilling ice cores that there is a higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than in any time in the last 650,000 years, which reflects that humans are burning an increased amount of fossil fuels to power automobiles and utilities.
The loss of more than 70 species of brightly coloured harlequin frogs in the Central and South American tropics can be blamed on a lethal mixture of global warming and fungal growth, says their study, to be published Thursday in the journal Nature.
Climate change had been suspected as a cause, but the link was not immediately clear. The scientists' answer is this:
Global warming has accelerated cloud formation, which, paradoxically, has a moderating effect on temperature, producing warmer nights and cooler days.
Unluckily for the frogs, this keeps temperatures within a range that fungus loves. More extreme temperatures, both high and low, would hold back growth.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. officials are opening personal mail that arrives from abroad when they deem it necessary to protect the country from terrorism, a Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman said Monday.
News of the little-known practice follows revelations that the government approved eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without judicial oversight after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which sparked concern from civil liberties advocates and some lawmakers, who called for congressional hearings.
"Customs and Border Protection is charged with making sure that terrorists and terrorists' weapons don't enter the country," said Suzanne Trevino, a spokeswoman for the customs agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
"One of our areas of responsibility is to inspect international mail coming into our country," she said. "We respect privacy and always keep that at the forefront, but at the same time we need to make sure we do our job in keeping U.S. citizens safe."
Customs and Border Protection's Web site notes that "all mail originating outside United States Customs territory that is to be delivered inside U.S. Customs territory is subject to Customs examination."
Grant Goodman, an 81-year-old retired history professor, drew attention to the policy after a letter he received from a colleague in the Philippines was opened and resealed by Customs and Border Protection, and only then sent on to him.
He said he was shocked and amazed that the letter -- which he received last month from another retired history professor with whom he has corresponded for 50 years -- had been screened.
hree houses, hundreds of metres apart, were destroyed, with wreckage scattered in craters some three metres deep. Five women were weeping nearby, cursing the attackers. Dozens of others gathered to express condolences.
"My entire family was killed and I don't know whom should I blame for it," said Sami Ullah, a 17-year old student, as he shifted debris from his ruined home with a hoe.
"I only seek justice from God."
He said 24 of his family members were killed - among them his parents, four brothers, three sisters-in-law, three sisters and five nephews. He said his father, Bakht Pur, had been a labourer.
Digging through the cement rubble of his home, Shah Zaman, who lost two sons and a daughter, recounted hearing planes at about 2:40 a.m. local time.
"I ran out and saw planes were dropping bombs," said Zaman, 40.
"I saw my home being hit."
"I don't know who carried out this attack and why. We were needlessly attacked."
"We are law-abiding people. I think we were targeted wrongly," he said.
Friday, January 13, 2006
BERKELEY – Trees, particularly those with deep roots, contribute to the Earth's climate much more than scientists thought, according to a new study by biologists and climatologists from the University of California, Berkeley.
While scientists studying global climate change recognize the importance of vegetation in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and in local cooling through transpiration, they have assumed a simple model of plants sucking water out of the soil and spewing water vapor into the atmosphere.
The new study in the Amazonian forest shows that trees use water in a much more complex way: The tap roots transfer rainwater from the surface to reservoirs deep underground and redistribute water upwards after the rains to keep the top layers moist, thereby accentuating both carbon uptake and localized atmospheric cooling during dry periods.
The researchers estimate this effect increases photosynthesis and the evaporation of water from plants, called transpiration, by 40 percent in the dry season, when photosynthesis otherwise would be limited.
"This shifting of water by roots has a physiological effect on the plants, letting them pull more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they conduct more photosynthesis," said co-author Todd Dawson, professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley. "Because this has not been considered until now, people have likely underestimated the amount of carbon taken up by the Amazon and underestimated the impact of Amazonian deforestation on climate."
Thursday, January 12, 2006
The difference between errors you can fix and errors you can't, or, why Wikipedia is better than the Register... "With Wikipedia, anyone can roll back the clock and see what was published, when, and by whom: Wikipedia's History and Discuss pages are palimpsests recording the process by which the truth was eventually negotiated. With The Register, the negotiation of the truth took place behind closed doors. I never got a response to my emails to Orlowski nor was I informed when the article was corrected. No retraction notice was published, and there's no way for a reader of the article to discover how it was edited, by whom, and when." Submitted on January 12, 2006 1:14 p.m. by StephenDownes.
By Kevin Poulsen Kevin Poulsen | Also by this reporter
2005-11-21 18:08:00.0
TUNIS, Tunisia -- If tech luminary Nicholas Negroponte has his way, the pale light from rugged, hand-cranked $100 laptops will illuminate homes in villages and townships throughout the developing world, and give every child on the planet a computer of their own by 2010.
The MIT Media Lab and Wired magazine founder stood shoulder to shoulder with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to unveil the first working prototype of the "$100 laptop" -- currently more like $110 -- at the U.N. World Summit on the Information Society here Wednesday. The Linux-based machine instantly became the hit of the show, and Thursday saw diplomats and dignitaries, reporters and TV cameras perpetually crowded around the booth of One Laptop Per Child -- Negroponte's nonprofit -- craning for a glimpse of the toy-like tote.
With its cheery green coloring and Tonka-tough shell, the laptop certainly looks cool. It boasts a 7-inch screen that swivels like a tablet PC, and an electricity-generating crank that provides 40 minutes of power from a minute of grinding. Built-in Wi-Fi with mesh networking support, combined with a microphone, speaker and headset jack, even means the box can serve as a node in an ersatz VOIP phone system.
Under the hood, it's powered by a modest 500-MHz AMD processor, and uses a gig of flash memory for storage. But the key to building it cheaply enough to educate the world's children is an innovative, low-power LCD screen technology invented by Negroponte's CTO, Mary Lou Jepsen.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Monday, January 09, 2006
Sunday, January 08, 2006
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Forgetting computer passwords is an everyday source of frustration, but a solution may literally be at hand -- in the form of computer chip implants.
With a wave of his hand, Amal Graafstra, a 29-year-old entrepreneur based in Vancouver, Canada, opens his front door. With another, he logs onto his computer.
Tiny radio frequency identification (RFID) computer chips inserted into Graafstra's hands make it all possible.
"I just don't want to be without access to the things that I need to get access to. In the worst case scenario, if I'm in the alley naked, I want to still be able to get in (my house)," Graafstra said in an interview in New York, where he is promoting the technology. "RFID is for me."
The computer chips, which cost about $2, interact with a device installed in computers and other electronics. The chips are activated when they come within 3 inches of a so-called reader, which scans the data on the chips. The "reader" devices are available for as little as $50 (29 pounds).
Information about where to buy the chips and readers is available online at the "tagged" forum, (http://tagged.kaos.gen.nz/) where enthusiasts of the technology chat and share information.
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