Bear hair study in Banff proves animal highway crossings work

kannappanEcosystems

Bear hair study in Banff proves animal highway crossings work Originally published by High Country News – For three years, researchers from Montana State University spent their summers collecting bear hair. The samples, collected on both sides of the 50 mile stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway that cuts through Banff National Park, prove what the researchers had suspected: wildlife underpasses and bridges were helping enough bears move back and forth across the highway to keep the populations healthy.

NASA 'Fire Towers' in Space Watch for Wildfires On the Rise

kannappanDisasters

NASA 'Fire Towers' in Space Watch for Wildfires On the Rise Originally published by ScienceDaily – The Black Forest wildfire this June was one of the most destructive in Colorado history, in terms of homes lost. It started close to houses and quickly spread through the ponderosa pine canopies on the rolling hills near Colorado Springs. The wildfire destroyed 500 homes in the first 48 hours and killed two people.

A Texan tragedy: ample oil, no water

kannappanWater

Originally published by The Guardian – Fracking boom sucks away precious water from beneath the ground, leaving cattle dead, farms bone-dry and people thirsty.

Future water availability will alter electricity prices in Europe

kannappanEnergy

Originally published in Environmental Research Letters (ERL) – The current European electricity-transmission infrastructure needs updating in the short term to cope with the future effects of climate change on electricity supply, according to a pan-European group of researchers.

Rice gene digs deep to triple yields in drought

kannappanAgriculture

Rice gene digs deep to triple yields in drought Originally published by ENN Environmental News Network – A gene that gives rice plants deeper roots can triple yields during droughts, according to Japanese researchers writing in Nature Genetics this week

Ozone Hole Might Slightly Warm Planet, Computer Model Suggests

kannappanClimate

Ozone Hole Might Slightly Warm Planet, Computer Model Suggests Originally published by ScienceDaily – A lot of people mix up the ozone hole and global warming, believing the hole is a major cause of the world’s increasing average temperature. Scientists, on the other hand, have long attributed a small cooling effect to the ozone shortage in the hole.

Heat intensifies Siberian wildfires

kannappanClimate

Heat intensifies Siberian wildfires Originally published by Earth, Science Wire – The summer of 2012 was the most severe wildfire season Russia had faced in a decade. 2013 might be headed in the same direction after an unusual heat wave brought a surge of fire activity in northern Siberia in July.