Environment

Vegetation In Arid Regions Increased Since 1982 Due To Carbon Fertilization

Satellite observations made from 1982 to 2010 found that warm, arid regions are getting greener.  ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 30 2013 - 3:30pm

Four Teams Collaborate To Engineer Crops Of The Future

A $12 million program wants to revolutionize current farming methods by giving crops the ability to thrive without using costly, polluting artificial fertilizers. Four teams are using synthetic biology to create new components for plants: a global search f ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 23 2013 - 11:46am

Calcium May Be Key To Restoring Acid Rain-Damaged Forests

Calcium helps strengthen bones in people but it is also a critical nutrient for healthy tree growth and new research shows that adding it to the soil helps reverse the decades-long decline of forests ailing from the effects of acid rain.  ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 20 2013 - 9:26am

Could Thermal Oceanic Hotspot increase Climate Changes activities in North tropical Atlantic

This paper reviews recent studies and particularly the effects of Climate Change in the North Tropical Atlantic by studying atmospheric conditions that prevailed in 2005; Coral Bleaching HotSpot and Hurricane Katrina. In the aim to better understand and es ...

Blog Post - Siméon Jean-luc - Sep 27 2013 - 4:54pm

Elevated Radioactive Contaminants Found At Shale Gas Wastewater Discharge Site

Industry has made efforts to reuse or to transport shale gas wastewater to deep injection wells, but wastewater is still discharged into the environment, after being treated, in some states.  In western Pennsylvania, water that comes from Marcellus shale ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 2 2013 - 10:42am

GMO Sweet Corn Reduces Insecticide Use

Since 1996, corn containing a gene that allows it to create a protein that is toxic to certain insects yet is safe for human consumption has been grown in the United States. Most of this genetically modified "Bt corn" has been used for animal fe ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 7 2013 - 10:57am

Constructive Conservation: The Wave Of Our Biodiversity Future

There was once a perception that nature was somehow unspoiled and humans changed that. It was never really true, it was just an arbitrary naturalistic fallacy, but it caught on among environmentalists who began lobbying for a return to this historical eco ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 17 2013 - 11:15am

Australian Bush Fires- The Worst Could Be Still Ahead

A dry spring has meant a rampant wildfire season already for Australia. Hold those fires back? Arguably the largest volunteer fire department in the world.  New South Wales uses volunteer fire services, even newly-elected Prime Minister Tony Abbott is a me ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 19 2013 - 11:18am

American Classification System Proposed For Green Roofs- Let's Not Overthink It

Green roofs, well-established in Europe, are becoming a growing trend in North America. Some benefits are tangible, like conserving energy and managing storm water runoff, while others are more speculative, such as improving air quality or having a positi ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 23 2013 - 12:35pm

Citizens Produce Forest And Emissions Data Equal In Quality To Government Employees

Protecting carbon-storing forests in the developing world may be easier than mobilizing government bureaucracies; a recent paper finds that local communities, using simple tools like ropes and sticks, can produce forest carbon data on par with results by ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 29 2013 - 5:30am