By Darryl Fears, Washington Post Staff WriterTuesday, December 21, 2010; 10:59 PM The killing season has begun. Hordes of bats recently flew into abandoned mines and caves across the region for their annual winter hibernation – and more than likely, wildlife biologists said, tens of thousands won’t fly back out. A flesh-eating fungus has stalked […]
Haiti “the worst big story of the year” Sometimes the myopia startles even Desdemona. Top Headlines of 2010 Technorati Tags: oil spill,oil production,Gulf of Mexico,North America,Pakistan,global warming,climate change,flood
Free-market economist Stefan Karlsson asks the question on his blog and gets reposted by the usually level-headed Christian Science Monitor. Of course, for anybody even slightly acquainted with climate science, the answer is an obvious, ”Yes, and how.” Since Karlsson doesn’t allow comments on his blog, Desdemona is forced to reply here. Karlsson asks: What […]
December 22, 2010 — Billfish and tuna, important commercial and recreational fish species, may be more vulnerable to fishing pressure because of shrinking habitat according to a new study published by scientists from NOAA, The Billfish Foundation, and University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. An expanding zone of low oxygen, known […]
23 December 2010 – While China has made great economic and social progress in recent years, land degradation and the widening income gap between rural and urban are posing challenges to ensuring the right to food for its population, says an independent United Nations human rights expert. “Within a few decades, China has been able […]
By Henry J. Evans Jr.Wed, Dec 22, 2010 Call it what you might – global warming or climate change – there are few scientists or people living near bodies of water who haven’t observed those waters moving closer to their property. More than 35 people attended the Dec. 9 workshop at the University of Delaware […]
Median arrival dates of (a) autumn-breeding urodeles, (b) winter-breeding anurans, (c) winter-breeding urodeles and (d) spring-breeding anurans. Closed symbols with solid trend lines indicate significant shifts in breeding phenology at α = 0.05 level. Note that data points were offset in panel (b) for clarity. Climate change has had a significant impact globally on the […]
Here are 2010’s most-viewed stories on Desdemona. A few have had further developments since they were posted, and I’ve noted this where appropriate. Not surprisingly, the most popular event was the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with seven entries (that’s why this post is about the top twenty stories, instead of the top ten). Six of […]
By Geoffrey YorkMao, Chad— From Saturday’s Globe and MailPublished Friday, Dec. 17, 2010 6:05PM ESTLast updated Sunday, Dec. 19, 2010 1:04AM EST Five-year-old Fatime moves in slow motion, barely able to lift her skeletal arms and legs. Flies land on her face, and she is too weak to brush them away. She struggles to drink […]
December 19, 2010, UNITED NATIONS (APP): Even as people displaced by the devastating floods in Pakistan continue streaming back to their destroyed homes, the UN and its partners warned on Friday that humanitarian needs remain enormous amid dwindling resources. “Under-funding remains a challenge,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in […]