EcoLocalizer

In order to save human lives and study the effects of being buried in avalanches, researchers buried live pigs in snow while monitoring them as they died.  The research was conducted in order to better understand the effects of oxygen deprivation from being buried in the snow as well as study the timescale of death. A total of 29 pigs were part of the two-week study. Read the rest of this entry »

Give people a little winter weather and they cry out that global climate change is a myth.

Well, unfortunately, that is not the case.

Before we get too excited about the cold weather, here are a few things to look at, including the fact that the scientist who said we were entering “global cooling” doesn’t really say so at all.
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According to studies conducted by paleontologists over the years into fossils and bones belonging to historic vertebrates such as amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, a rough timeline as to when they evolved from sea to land had been established.

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A sting from an unidentified mosquito has proven to be quite deadly for livestock in Pekanbaru, Indonesia.   According to Askardiya Ribudana Patrianov, head of Riau Province’s Department of Animal Husbandry and Animal Health, “tens of livestock” have died since the attacks began in December, 2009.   Read the rest of this entry »

More than 70,000 square miles of habitat has been proposed for critically endangered leatherback turtles in U.S. waters off California, Oregon, and Washington.

Endangered species protection finally advances in favor of leatherback turtles: The National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a proposal today for 70,000 square miles of critical habitat in the waters off the U.S. Pacific Coast.

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Chemical structure of the antibiotic tetracycline–one of the four classes of antibiotics that sampled soil microbes showed increased resistance to in the 2009 Study.

The prevalence of antibiotic resistant genes (ARG) in soil bacteria has been increasing steadily over the past seven decades, despite tighter controls on the use of antibiotics for agricultural purposes (in Europe). This is according to a recent benchmark study/analysis* of soil samples from five sites in the Netherlands. The research team, lead by David Graham of Newcastle University in the UK, found that “Seventy-eight percent of detected resistance genes, associated with four classes of antibiotics, showed increasing levels since 1940.”

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When you’re a paleontologist seeking to solve an ancient mystery–in this case, the demise of Ice Age ‘megafauna’ like Woolly Mammoths and Giant Sloths–you sometimes have to get down and dirty. Specifically, you have to collect and analyze fossilized poop.

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Sea level may actually rise much faster than previously expected, a new scientific study shows.

The study shows that by 2100, sea level could rise between 75 and 190 centimeters (about 2′6″ to 6′3″). The study uses very up-to-date data collected from satellites and builds on previous work by one of the authors. It is now published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The findings continue the scientific warnings that if we do not do something, climate change will take us on a snowball’s path to widespread and incomparable destruction.

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News from South Korea is that scientists have succeeded in creating plastic without the use of fossil fuels.

The scientists created sustainable polymers used in common plastics that could replace traditional polymers that use chemicals from fossil fuels. The bioengineered polymers may be what is needed to create truly green-friendly plastic products.
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Fishing and refuse disposal are to be banned in the 1st high seas Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the Southern Ocean, an area of the ocean that contains more species than the Galapagos Islands.

This will allow scientists to monitor the effects of climate change in this region. This is only the first of possibly twelve such areas.
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