Whales Stressed by Shipping
By recording the level of stress hormones in North Atlantic right whale feces, an international team of researchers has linked and increase in shipping density to an increase in stress on whales. The study, which focused on the Bay of Fundy in Canada, found that as shipping decreased after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, so did the level of glucocorticoid hormones in the feces; and as shipping gradually increased over the years, so has the level of glucocorticoid.
9-Feb-2012
Diesel vs. Electric Trucks
A study conducted by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, has found that while the initial cost of purchasing electric trucks can cost three times as much as diesel trucks, companies can actually save money by converting their fleet to electric when used in a urban setting. The study compared diesel, electric, and hybrid engines and found operating costs for electric trucks to be 9-12% less than diesel.
9-Feb-2012
Tel Aviv Wells Contaminated
Israel's Health Ministry and Water Authority closed 96 of a total 166 wells in the Tel Aviv area after deeming them to be hazardous to human health and the environment. Problems have aroused due to contaminants from armaments manufacturing, agricultural runoff, and sewage systems seeping into the wells, as well as an increase of salinity due to a weakening of the barrier between salt and fresh water.
9-Feb-2012
Rwandan Mountain Gorilla
Rwanda will increase the price for a permit to search for mountain gorillas, currently listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, in national parks to $750 on June 1, 2012. While the price is steep, many still pay to see the magnificent animal, with a peak revenue of $8 million in 2008, all of which went to conserving the national parks. This has led to a rise in gorilla population to 790 total between Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
9-Feb-2012
Concern Over Cruise Ship Emissions
With a $27 million cruise ship port planned for Auckland, New Zealand, the environmental impact of cruise ships has come under scrutiny. The main concern is the low grade fuel many cruise ships use release large amounts of sulfur dioxide, with emissions equivalent to 10,000-12,000 cars daily. Possible alternatives that have been suggested include low-sulfur fuel and plugging in to the city power grid while idling in port.
8-Feb-2012
Malaria Death Toll Falling
Casualties from malaria have been on a steady decline having dropped by 7% each year between 2007 and 2011. This is due to a nearly tenfold increase in anti-malaria funding from $250 million in 2001. The funding has helped increase the availability of bed nets treated with insecticides which keep the mosquitoes from biting in the first place, as well as artemisinin treatments which prove to be the quickest treatments, with patients showing improvement in 1-3 days.
8-Feb-2012
London's Electric Car Goals
London, England, has fallen behind on targets to become Europe's largest electric vehicle network. London Mayor Boris Johnson made three major goals in 2009 to have 1,300 charging stations by 2013, 25,000 stations by 2025, and 100,000 electric vehicles on London's roads as soon as possible. Currently, however, there are only 400 charge points and 2,313 electric vehicles, prompting environmentalists to call for a revising of the goals.
8-Feb-2012
Nearing Lake Vostok
After 20 years of drilling, a Russian team of researchers has nearly reached Lake Vostok, which has been buried under 2 mi (3.2 km) of ice in Antarctica for 14 million years. Any life forms living in the lake would have to be microbes, and may give a glimpse of what life could be like elsewhere in the universe as there are low nutrient levels, high oxygen concentration, low sunlight, high pressure, and constant cold temperatures.
8-Feb-2012
Record Number of Turtle Eggs
The green sea turtle, currently listed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List, has laid a record setting number of eggs on Baguan Island, Philippines. The Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources recorded a total of 14,220 nests, breaking the record of 12,311 in 1995, and an astounding 1.44 million eggs in 2011. With a 90% hatch rate and 1% survival rate up to sexual maturity, nearly 13,000 of these eggs will likely reproduce.
7-Feb-2012
Nano-Infused Transformer Oil
Scientists at Rice University have created a cost effective nano-infused oil meant to cool and insulate transformers without harming the environment. The team dispersed hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) particles in the oil, and found that 0.1% by weight of h-BN in the oil was able to increase the insulation efficiency of the oil by 80%. The h-BN particles disperse easily in oil and are more effective insulators than the currently used carbon-based grapheme.
7-Feb-2012
Fossils of World's First Animals
Scientists digging in Etosha National Park, Namibia, have discovered sponge like fossils in rocks between 550 and 760 million years old. This find pushes the timeline of the emergence of animals back 100 to 150 million years, as previous fossils had only been discovered in rocks between 600 and 650 million years old. This find also coincides with what many geneticists hypothesized using the “molecular clock” of when multi-cellular life forms began.
7-Feb-2012
Climate Change and Food Web
An international team of researchers, led by the British Antarctic Survey, have completed a three year study on the effects of climate change on the food web of the Scotia Sea. With more CO2 available in the atmosphere, the ocean can absorb more, resulting in a lower pH, or increased acidity. This change in pH reduces the ability of animals to gather carbonate ions from the water to form shells, destroying their defense and shelter systems.
7-Feb-2012
England's New Urban Park
England's Environment Agency and the Olympic Delivery Authority have completed work on creating an urban park in London. These two organizations, along with several local agencies, decontaminated two million tons of soil, planted 300,000 wetland shrubs and 2,000 native trees, and turned 110 acres of land into woodlands and grasslands to attract wildlife along the Lea River.
6-Feb-2012
Officials Fired Over Toxic Spill
In January 2012, residents of Liuzhou, China, noticed dead fish floating along the Longjiang River, the result of a toxic cadmium spill. While the exact details of what caused the spill are unknown, the environmental director for the city of Hechi and six other officials were fired for negligence, and executives from eight mining companies have been detained for their suspected role.
6-Feb-2012
EU Increases Water Monitoring
The European Commission is proposing to add 15 chemicals, including three pharmaceuticals, to the list of 33 pollutants currently monitored and controlled in EU waterways. This is the first time pharmaceutical products are going to be monitored by the Commission, and is another step towards improving the quality of Europe's waterways to benefit human health and wildlife.
6-Feb-2012
Sturgeon Listed as Endangered
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association has updated the status of four species of Atlantic sturgeon; the New York Bight, the Chesapeake Bay, the Carolina, and the South Atlantic, to endangered. Despite more than a decade of anti-fishing laws, several other threats, including habitat damage, pollution, and climate change, challenge the species ability to survive.
6-Feb-2012
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Two Mysteries For The Eco-Reader
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Girl Scouts Go Green
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Student Environmental Projects Highlighted at the White House Science Fair
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Dolphin Bubble Rings
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World Wetlands Day
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Global Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise: 2003-2010
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BP Reports $40B Profits; Braces for Deepwater Horizon Lawsuits
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Rare Earth Processing Plant Granted License in Malaysia
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Quantum Dots Increase Solar Cell Efficiency
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Cooler 2011 Still the Ninth Warmest Year on Record
