10 January 2014 (Science) – Worldwide population estimates of large-carnivore species. Error bars represent the low and high range of the estimates when available. Population estimates were not available for all species. Species ranges vary widely, and range sizes can have a strong influence on species population levels (table S1). Sources: Gray wolf (90), all […]
16 January 2014By Christa Marshall (Scientific American) – Cracks in sea ice are funneling additional mercury to the Arctic surface, raising concerns about the toxic element seeping into the food chain of the delicate ecosystem, according to a new study. The research, published yesterday in Nature, finds that channels of open water in Arctic ice, […]
By Jayne Keedle 23 January 2014 (UNH) – Thirty-nine percent of unemployed Americans are experiencing long-term unemployment in the wake of the 2008 recession, which is more than double the percent unemployed more than six months but actively seeking work in 2007, according to new research about trends in long-term unemployment since the recession from […]
By Damian Carrington8 January 2014 (theguardian.com) – The UK faces a food security catastrophe because of its very low numbers of honeybee colonies, which provide an essential service in pollinating many crops, scientists warned on Wednesday. New research reveals that honeybees provide just a quarter of the pollination needed in the UK, the second lowest […]
By Matt McGrath29 January 2014 (BBC News) – Penguin chicks in Argentina are dying as a direct consequence of climate change, according to new research. Drenching rainstorms and extreme heat are killing the young birds in significant numbers. The study, conducted over 27 years, looked at climate impacts on the world’s biggest colony of Magellanic […]
By Jackson Gothe-Snape 3 February 2014 (The Advertiser) – Australia’s stifling heatwaves are threatening to make summer Australia’s deadliest season, experts have warned, as Adelaide sweltered through its hottest February day on record Sunday. Sixty-six people affected by heat stress have presented to South Australian hospitals since Thursday and ten have been admitted for treatment […]
[Yes, Desdemona is indulging in a little anticipatory schadenfreude.] By Damon Linker30 January 2014 (The Week) – National Review, founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955, has had an enormous impact on the nation’s politics. Its writers formulated the ideology that animated the quixotic Barry Goldwater campaign of 1964, and then Ronald Reagan’s successful […]
13 November 2013 (NWF) – Minnesota’s northwest moose population, one of only two populations in the state, was essentially gone by 2008, numbering fewer than 100 animals, down from a population of about 4,000 just 25 years earlier. In the four decades during which the population plummeted, summer temperatures increased 3 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit, […]
31 January 2014 (BBC News) – Australian authorities have approved a project to dump dredged sediment in the Great Barrier Reef marine park as part of a project to create one of the world’s biggest coal ports. The decision was made by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). Scientists had urged it not […]
18 November 2013 (World Bank) – Disasters trap people into poverty, as indicated by the evidence from many countries. For example, following the 2011 drought, poverty levels in Djibouti returned to levels above those in 2002, indicating a loss of almost 10 years of development gains. Studies from rural Ethiopia and Andhra Pradesh, India, indicate […]