ScienceDaily: Top Environment News |
| Microplastics worse for crabs and other marine life than previously thought: Enter through gills
Posted: 18 Jul 2014 08:56 AM PDT The tiny plastic particles polluting our seas are not only orally ingested by marine creatures, but also enter their systems through their gills, according to a new study. When microplastics are drawn in through this method they take over six times longer to leave the body compared with standard digestion. |
| A 10-year endeavor: NASA’s Aura and climate change
Posted: 18 Jul 2014 07:27 AM PDT Celebrating its 10th anniversary this week, NASA’s Aura satellite and its four onboard instruments measure some of the climate agents in the atmosphere, including greenhouse gases, clouds and dust particles. These global datasets provide clues that help scientists understand how Earth’s climate has varied and how it will continue to change. |
| Ten-year endeavor: NASA’s Aura tracks pollutants
Posted: 18 Jul 2014 07:25 AM PDT NASA’s Aura satellite, celebrating its 10th anniversary on July 15, has provided vital data about the cause, concentrations and impact of major air pollutants. With instruments providing key measurements of various gases — including two built and managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory: the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) — Aura gives a comprehensive view of one of the most important parts of Earth — the atmosphere. |
| Big data used to guide conservation efforts
Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:57 AM PDT Genetic studies have given us detailed information about the evolutionary relationships embodied in the Tree of Life, while newly digitized museum collections contain a wealth of information about species distribution. To date, however, these big data collections have not been applied to conservation efforts. Now researchers have created a model taking both distribution and relationships into account to identify lineages that need preservation, in particular rare endemics. |
| Nature’s strongest glue comes unstuck
Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:54 AM PDT Over a 150 years since it was first described by Darwin, scientists are finally uncovering the secrets behind the super strength of barnacle glue. Still far better than anything we have been able to develop synthetically, barnacle glue — or cement — sticks to any surface, under any conditions. But exactly how this superglue of superglues works has remained a mystery — until now. |
| Catastrophic debris avalanches: A second volcanic hazard
Posted: 18 Jul 2014 06:54 AM PDT Volcanic hazards aren’t limited to eruptions. Debris avalanche landslides can also cause a great deal of damage and loss of life. Stratovolcanoes, with their steep, conical shapes made up of lava and unconsolidated mixed materials, can reach a critical point of instability when they overgrow their flanks. This leads to partial collapse, and the product of this slope failure is a large-scale, rapid mass movement known as a catastrophic landslide or debris avalanche. |
| Politically driven legislation targeting dangerous dogs has had little impact
Posted: 17 Jul 2014 06:22 PM PDT UK legislation that targets ‘dangerous dogs’ has not been shown to reduce dog bites and policies should be based on evidence and risk assessment, suggests a new article. Risk assessment for human violence has proved to be accurate and reliable and the author says this “might be a practical preventative measure to reduce injury from dog bite” along with medical and veterinary professionals “familiarizing themselves with evidence based resources.” |