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 […]
Fears for future of gene pool as interbreeding between vulnerable species driven together by global warming gathers pace By Steve Connor, Science EditorThursday, 16 December 2010 The rapid loss of sea ice in the Arctic is encouraging the formation of hybrids between related species which could accelerate the decline of some of the region’s most […]
By Aislinn Maestas12-07-2010 The polar bears of Western Hudson Bay went without eating this year for approximately 3 weeks longer than usual. According to the National Wildlife Federation, the combined early summer break-up of sea ice and delayed winter freeze-up foreshadows what is likely to be a fast-approaching and grim future for these polar bears. […]
By JULIE REED BELL and SETH BORENSTEIN, The Associated Press Dec 19, 2010 8:26 AM PT This was the year the Earth struck back. Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 — the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people […]
Warning: This video includes disturbing footage of a malnourished polar bear mother and her two cubs in western Hudson Bay, Canada. Some may choose not to watch, because it includes graphic scenes of a malnourished cub experiencing seizures. Both cubs died within two days of the November 23, 2010, filming. As difficult as the images […]
By Jason Burke in Delhi, www.guardian.co.uk Thursday 16 December 2010 21.30 GMT The Dalai Lama told US diplomats last year that the international community should focus on climate change rather than politics in Tibet because environmental problems were more urgent, secret American cables reveal. The exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader told Timothy Roemer, the US […]
A final refuge of Arctic summer sea ice may be the last outpost for polar bears. By Jessica Marshall Thu Dec 16, 2010 04:05 PM ET As sea ice disappears, a refuge of suitable habitat for polar bears and ringed seals — key polar bear prey — may persist in northeastern Canada and northern […]
By Maggie Fox; editing by Todd EasthamWed Dec 15, 2010 WASHINGTON Dec 14 (Reuters) – Climate change is affecting the breeding cycles of toads and salamanders, researchers reported on Tuesday, in the first published evidence of such changes on amphibians. They documented that two species were breeding later in the autumn than in years past, […]
