Dec 11 2012

Recovery of Atlantic Forest depends on land-use histories

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The intensity of land-use influences the speed of regeneration in tropical rainforests, says new research. Tropical rainforests are a priority for biodiversity conservation; they are hotspots of endemism but also some of the most threatened global habitats. The Atlantic Forest stands out among tropical rainforests, hosting an estimated 8,000 species of endemic plants and more than 650 endemic vertebrates. However, only around 11 percent of these forests now remain. The quality of what remains is also a concern: 32 to 40 percent of remnants are small areas of secondary forest. Although the restoration of these secondary forests would go a long way toward mitigating the loss of forest cover and biodiversity elsewhere, it is not always possible to recover richness, diversity and floristic composition. Land-use history can make these changes irreversible.
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Dec 10 2012

Global Decline of Big, Old Trees Impacts Forest Ecosystems

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Trees can live hundreds, even thousands of years. But the problem is that these trees aren’t making it to old age and according to a new study, big, old trees are in decline throughout the world which can have detrimental impacts to forest ecosystems. Old trees are crucial organisms for many ecosystems: they provide homes for animals, provide space for other plants to grow, and they produce seeds, leaves, and nuts that serve as food. They also store large amounts of carbon and continue to sequester it as they grow, said study co-author David Lindenmayer, a researcher at Australian National University.
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Dec 10 2012

Israeli Researchers Use Rust To Store Solar Energy

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Using the power of the sun and ultrathin films of iron oxide (commonly known as rust), researchers at the Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology, have found a novel way to split water molecules to hydrogen and oxygen. The breakthrough, published this week in the scientific journal Nature Materials, could lead to less expensive, more efficient ways to store solar energy in the form of hydrogen-based fuels. This could be a major step forward in the development of viable replacements for fossil fuels.
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Dec 10 2012

New Emphasis on Keeping the Weight Down for Older Women

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Being too overweight is known to be detrimental to one's health. But for postmenopausal women, keeping the weight down, and not letting it come back up is just as critical. A new study From Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC found that gaining weight back AFTER an intentional weight loss is associated with negative long-term effects for cardio and metabolic (CM) risk factors for older women. This study puts a new emphasis on the importance of the hardest part of weight loss, keeping the weight down.
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Dec 10 2012

Palm oil or lard?

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Animal fats and margarine consumption in the United States have been largely replaced by palm oil, a plant-based oil that has similar cooking properties, but may not be as environmentally-friendly as commonly believed, argues a researcher in this week's issue of Nature.
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Dec 07 2012

Gravity and Plants

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When one examines the roots of a plant, one sees a tangled mess of tendrils. It is well known that plant growth patterns are influenced by a variety of stimuli, gravity being one amongst many. On Earth plant roots exhibit characteristic behaviors called waving and skewing, which were thought to be gravity-dependent events. This is how the roots develop and grow in terms of direction and changes in direction. However, Arabidopsis plants grown on the International Space Station (ISS) have proved this theory wrong, according to a study published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Plant Biology: root waving and skewing occur in spaceflight plants independently of gravity.
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Dec 07 2012

100 Million Electric Miles: Chevy Volts Reach Milestone

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Chevrolet Volt owners collectively have driven more than 100 million all-electric miles since the vehicle went on sale two years ago this month. The average Volt owner travels more than 65 percent of the time in pure electric mode as the car was designed – only using the gasoline-powered generator for longer trips. By charging regularly, Volt owners drive approximately 900 miles, or a month and a half, between fill-ups. However, many Volt owners quickly exceed that average, based on an EPA-estimated 98 MPGe that puts electric-only range at 35 mpg city and 40 mpg on the highway.
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Dec 07 2012

Wind Speeds in Southern New England Declining Inland, Remaining Steady On Coast: Climate Change, Urbanization Among Possible Causes

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Oceanographers at the University of Rhode Island have analyzed long-term data from several anemometers in southern New England and found that average wind speeds have declined by about 15 percent at inland sites while speeds have remained steady at an offshore site.
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Dec 07 2012

Feeding Paris – why the city needs to adopt the ‘fairer’ diet

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Like all great cities, Paris has the power to draw in food and resources from all corners of the Earth. And with every meal, this food-lovers' paradise unwittingly sketches the fate of its countryside and seashores, near and far.
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Dec 07 2012

Climate Change Update: Reports Show Growing Risks

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As the UN climate change talks continue in Doha, Qatar, several reports over the past month have highlighted a sombre picture of the Earth's changing climate, raising alarm bells in particular for the world's poorest regions. A report from the World Bank launched last month (18 November) warns that the planet "is on track for a four degrees Celsius warmer world" by 2100, marked by extreme heat waves, declining food stocks, loss of biodiversity and life-threatening sea level rise. This is double the generally accepted two degrees Celsius threshold beyond which catastrophic climate change impacts are expected.
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