City council gives identification numbers to its 70,000 trees which allow admirers to write Dear Tree letters – and get replies Continue reading…
We Haven’t Been This Close to the Apocalypse Since 1984, Scientists Say
In 1947, the specter of nuclear holocaust prompted the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to come up with a “Doomsday Clock.” The clock was meant to highlight just how close humans had come to wiping ourselves off the map. Midnight on the clock represented global catastrophe—the end of civilization as we know it.
Can anything stop the rhino poaching crisis?
At the end of the 19th century, a group of 20-50 southern white rhinoceros were discovered in the Umfolozi-Hluhluwe region of South Africa. The species had been thought lost to the guns and trophy rooms of colonial hunters. Today their population is more than 20,000.
VIDEO: Finding future drugs in the dirt
Scientists in the US appeal for soil samples from across the world to help find new naturally occurring agents for future medicines.
Agriculture: State-of-the-art soil
A charcoal-rich product called biochar could boost agricultural yields and control pollution. Scientists are putting the trendy substance to the test.
Earth’s ‘Planetary Boundaries’ Disrupted by Human Activities
WASHINGTON, DC, January 16, 2015 (ENS) – Human activities have “dangerously compromised” four of the nine processes that are crucial to maintaining the stability of the planet, warns an international team of researchers.
Finding farmland: New maps offer a clearer view of global agriculture
(International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis) A new global cropland map combines multiple satellite data sources, reconciled using crowdsourced accuracy checks, to provide an improved record of total cropland extent as well as field size around the world.
West Virginia Revisits Science Standards
Members of the West Virginia Board of Education will take up the teaching of climate science after accusations that the curriculum had been revamped to appease the state’s fossil fuel industry.
After Steep Decline, Signs of Hope for World’s Sea Turtles
Nearly all sea turtle species have been classified as endangered, with precipitous declines in many populations in recent decades. But new protections, particularly in the U.S. and Central America, are demonstrating that dramatic recovery for these remarkable reptiles is possible.
Firefighting has hardly changed in a century. But bushfires certainly have
Innovation in firefighting methods only go so far. To keep up with climate change and more extreme fires, we need a larger, more professional fire service – and a change of attitude. Right now it’s the Adelaide Hills. In 2013 it was the Blue Mountains, in NSW. In 2009 it was the terrible Black Saturday fires in Victoria. While bushfires … Read More