TerraDaily Oct 16, 2015: Could contaminated land actually be good for trees; Pre-modern people don't get more Zzzzs than we do...

October 16, 2015

Could contaminated land actually be good for trees Montreal, Canada (SPX) Oct 16, 2015 - The very act of tolerating some forms of soil pollution may give trees an advantage in the natural world, says University of Montreal plant biologists. Their findings were published this week in BMC Plant Biology. High chemical tolerant plants can be used to rehabilitate land contaminated with heavy metals or petroleum by-products - some 30,000 such sites exist in Canada and 342,000 sites ...more

China reports less pollution from burning straw Beijing (XNA) Oct 16, 2015 - China saw an "overall improvement" regarding air pollution from burning straw this summer, the Ministry of Environmental Protection reported Friday. Northern farmers traditionally burn straw after harvest and plough to bury the ashes in the ground, which they believe fertilizes farmland. Citing satellite data, the ministry observed 1,158 burning sites between May 20 and July 31, a 45 ... more

Sentinel-3A shows off Paris (ESA) Oct 16, 2015 - Before the latest satellite for Copernicus is packed up and shipped to the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Russia for launch at the end of the year, the media and specialists were given the chance to see this next-generation mission centre-stage in the cleanroom. Carrying a suite of state-of-the-art instruments, Sentinel-3 is set to play a key role in the world's largest environmental monitoring pr ... more

Ocean protection gaining momentum, but still lags progress made on land Corvallis OR (SPX) Oct 16, 2015 - Extraordinary progress in the past decade has brought 1.6 percent of the world's ocean to a category of "strongly protected," researchers say in a new analysis, but the accomplishments are still far behind those that have been achieved on land, and those that are urgently needed. In a report published in the journal Science, researchers from Oregon State University point out that numerous ... more

'Paleo' sleep? Sorry, pre-modern people don't get more Zzzzs than we do London, UK (SPX) Oct 16, 2015 - It's tempting to believe that people these days aren't getting enough sleep, living as we do in our well-lit houses with TVs blaring, cell phones buzzing, and a well-used coffee maker in every kitchen. But new evidence reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology shows that three ancient groups of hunter-gatherers--living in different parts of the world without any of those trappings ... more

Study shows new potential indirect effects of humans on water quality Minneapolis MN (SPX) Oct 16, 2015 - A study published this week shows that a newly studied class of water contaminants that is known to be toxic and hormone disrupting to marine animals is present likely due in part to indirect effects of human activity. The contaminants are more prevalent in populated areas in the San Francisco Bay, suggesting that human impacts on nutrient input or other changes in water quality may enhance natu ... more

Rise and fall of agrarian states influenced by climate volatility University Park PA (SPX) Oct 16, 2015 - Climate variability is one of the major forces in the rise and fall of agrarian states in Mexico and Peru, according to a team of researchers looking at both climate and archaeological records. "We are arguing that the climate information in both areas is good enough to establish that climate is playing some role in the rise and fall of these city states," said Douglas Kennett, professor o ... more

Rising seas will drown mangrove forests Brisbane, Australia (SPX) Oct 15, 2015 - Mangrove forests around the Indo-Pacific region could be submerged by 2070, international research published this week says. Even with relatively low sea-level rises, many mangrove forests had a poor outlook said Professor Catherine Lovelock, a University of Queensland ecologist. "Mangrove forests are particularly vulnerable," she said. "Mangroves are predicted to be submerged in parts of ...more

New concept to help set priorities in water management Magdeburg, Germany (SPX) Oct 15, 2015 - The basic principle behind most strategies aimed at renaturalising ecosystems is to increase biodiversity by restoring natural habitat structure, which should lead to improved ecosystem services in the process. These projects often do not result in the success researchers had hoped for because the complexity of ecological relationships is so vast that it is difficult to detect the precise ecolog ... more

Researchers learn how to keep pathogens, pests from traveling with grain Gainesville FL (SPX) Oct 15, 2015 - University of Florida researchers say new research can help grain handlers and grain inspectors find key locations for pathogens and pests along rail routes in the United States and Australia. The new knowledge could help make the food supply safer and address stored grain problems that cost hundreds of millions of dollars annually. In a new analysis in the journal BioScience, researchers ... more

Shift in weaning age supports hunting-induced extinction of Siberian woolly mammoths Ann Arbor MI (SPX) Oct 16, 2015 - Chemical clues about weaning age embedded in the tusks of juvenile Siberian woolly mammoths suggest that hunting, rather than climate change, was the primary cause of the elephant-like animal's extinction. Woolly mammoths disappeared from Siberia and North America about 10,000 years ago, along with other giant mammals that went extinct at the end of the last glacial period. Current competi ... more

Prehistoric mammal likely suffered from hair disease Bonn, Germany (SPX) Oct 15, 2015 - An international team of researchers, together with participation from the University of Bonn, has investigated a stunning fossil finding from the Cretaceous period. The 125-million-year-old mouse- to rat-sized mammal is preserved so well that even detailed analyses of its fur are possible. An astounding finding: The animal may have suffered from a fungal infection of the hair which also strikes ... more

2015 Antarctic maximum sea ice extent breaks streak of record highs Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 16, 2015 - The sea ice cover of the Southern Ocean reached its yearly maximum extent on Oct. 6. At 7.27 million square miles (18.83 million square kilometers), the new maximum extent falls roughly in the middle of the record of Antarctic maximum extents compiled during the 37 years of satellite measurements - this year's maximum extent is both the 22nd lowest and the 16th highest. More remarkably, th ... more

New study questions long-held theories of climate variability in the North Atlantic Miami FL (SPX) Oct 16, 2015 - A University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric-led study challenges the prevailing wisdom by identifying the atmosphere as the driver of a decades-long climate variation known as the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO). The findings offer new insight on the causes and predictability of natural climate variations, which are known to cause wide-ranging global weather i ... more

Cyprus blasts 'illegal' pipeline from Turkey Nicosia (AFP) Oct 15, 2015 - Cyprus on Thursday slammed as illegal a water pipeline connecting Turkey to the Turkish-held north of the divided island, saying it undermined ongoing peace talks. Nicosia's foreign ministry said the construction of a 106-kilometre (65 mile) underwater pipeline taking water from a damn near the Turkish port of Mersin to breakaway northern Cyprus "violates international law". Cyprus has ... more

Heavy air pollution in 80% of Chinese cities: Greenpeace Beijing (AFP) Oct 15, 2015 - Pollution in nearly 80 percent of Chinese cities surveyed by Greenpeace "greatly exceeded" national standards over the first nine months of this year, the advocacy group said on Thursday. The average level of PM2.5 particulates - small enough to deeply penetrate the lungs - in the 367 cities tested was also more than four times the maximum recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) ... more

Hong Kong police, 'beaten' protester, all face charges Hong Kong (AFP) Oct 15, 2015 - Seven Hong Kong police officers were charged Thursday with assaulting a pro-democracy protester in a beating captured on video - but the victim was also charged in the heavily-criticised case. It comes one year to the day since the attack on Civic Party activist Ken Tsang, footage of which was beamed around the world at the height of mass protests for free leadership elections in Hong Kong. ... more

Did Homo sapiens colonize Asia before Europe? Daoxian, China (UPI) Oct 15, 2015 - A cave in Southern China, near the small village of Daoxian, has yielded 47 human teeth, dated between 80,000 and 120,000 years ago - the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens presence outside of Africa. Researchers don't think modern humans left Africa for Europe until roughly 60,000 years ago. If they're right, the new evidence suggests Homo sapiens left for Asia first. "This is s ... more

Dibblers get a second chance on Australian island Perth, Australia (UPI) Oct 15, 2015 - Pushed to the brink of extinction by land clearing and growing populations of feral cats and foxes, a rare marsupial in Western Australia is trying to make a comeback - with a little help from their human friends. Recently, 29 dibblers were reintroduced to Gunton Island, a remote spot off the coast of the southern tip of Western Australia, part of the Recherche Archipelago. The small, ... more

Can a crystal ward off climate change? Stockholm, Sweden (UPI) Oct 15, 2015 - Carbon-absorbing crystals probably won't stave off global warming, but they could help put a dent in carbon emissions. Carbon capturing technologies are mostly too expensive, but a new discovery could change that. Scientists in Sweden have developed a new type of synthetic crystal with carbon-capturing micropores. Researchers say the crystal can capture carbon dioxide more effici ... more