Blogging the End of the World™
Jerusalem (AFP) Sept 14, 2009 – The Gaza Strip’s underground water supplies are “in danger of collapse” following years of overuse and a devastating war Israel waged in the territory at the turn of the year, the UN said Monday. “The underground water supplies, upon which 1.5 million Palestinians depend for agriculture and drinking water, […]
MADRID (AFP) – One in six Mediterranean mammals is threatened with extinction at the regional level, mainly due to the destruction of their habitat from urbanization, agriculture and climate change, nature body IUCN said Tuesday in a new study. Of the 320 mammal species assessed by the Geneva-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature, […]
A rush to extract methane from the depths of Africa’s Lake Kivu could trigger a huge upwelling of suffocating gas, potentially affecting over 2 million people By Shanta Barley BENEATH the shimmering surface of Africa’s Lake Kivu, a deadly time bomb awaits. A “gold rush” to extract valuable methane from the lake’s depths might trigger […]
ROME (Reuters) – Italian authorities have found the wreck of a ship sunk by the mafia with 180 barrels of toxic waste on board, one of more than 30 such vessels believed to lie off Italy’s southern coast, officials said on Tuesday. Following a lead from a mafia turncoat, investigators used a remote-controlled submersible to […]
In the isolated border lands between Kenya and Somalia, families have always clung to a precarious existence. Now a decade of droughts has tested their endurance By Peter Beaumont in Elwak Hawa Hassan comes leading three donkeys, accompanied by two female relatives and a handful of the family’s smallest children. They have walked out of […]
By DEBORAH SMITH, SCIENCE EDITOR NSW faces a dangerous bushfire season, with hot, dry spring weather and abundant fuel predicted to result in a higher than average risk of major fires breaking out across the state, scientists have warned. Large swathes of the country, including all of Victoria, also have a greater than normal chance […]
First it was Burmese pythons (remember those photos of one eating an alligator), now another giant snake is setting up shop in Florida. National Geographic News reports that Africa’s largest snake, the 20 foot long African rock python appears to have begun establishing itself in a suburban area west of Miami: Since 2002 six have […]
ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2009) — Intersex occurrence in smallmouth and largemouth basses is widespread in numerous river basins throughout the United States is the major finding of the most comprehensive and large-scale evaluation of the condition, according to new research. Of the 16 fish species researchers examined from 1995 to 2004, the condition was most […]
By CHARLES DUHIGG Jennifer Hall-Massey knows not to drink the tap water in her home near Charleston, W.Va. In fact, her entire family tries to avoid any contact with the water. Her youngest son has scabs on his arms, legs and chest where the bathwater — polluted with lead, nickel and other heavy metals — […]
These are results for the 12 reef systems around the world (Caribbean, Red Sea, Indo-west Pacific). The colors show ecological condition (amount of degradation) for 7 “guilds” of coral reef organisms: large herbivores (> 1 meter long) like sea cows and green turtles, large carnivores like sharks and goliath groupers, small herbivores like parrotfish, small […]
