Usually we think of demolished concrete walls and floors as environmental contaminants, but in fact this material may turn out to be a valuable resource in nature protection work. This is the conclusion from researchers from University of Southern Denmark after studying the ability of crushed concrete to bind phosphorus. “We have shown that crushed…

In the past one hundred years, the Global Mean Sea Level has risen between 4 and 8 inches, and is currently rising at a rate of approximately 0.13 inches a year. However, the sea level rise “lock-in” – the rise we don’t see now, but which, due to emissions and global warming, is being locked…

In 2011, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the University of Colorado at Boulder reported that between early 2010 and summer 2011, global sea level fell sharply, by about a quarter of an inch, or half a centimeter. Using data from the NASA/German Aerospace Center’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)…

Just like physical appearance affects the way many humans act around others, sometimes even boosting an individual’s confidence, certain birds have been found to act in a similar manner. A recent study by the University of Colorado Boulder and Cornell University shows that the physiological health of North American barn swallows is highly dependent on…

A leading seismologist has linked the process of shale gas fracking with more than 100 earthquakes that blighted a city in the US Midwest within the space of just 12 months. Since records began in 1776, the Ohio city of Youngstown had never experienced a single earthquake, until a deep injection well was built to…

Where do the iron and micronutrients in the oceans come from, and what are the factors that marine scientists use to estimate their levels? Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute reports that their scientists have discovered a vast plume of iron and other micronutrients more than 1,000 km long billowing from hydrothermal vents in the South Atlantic…

In 2010, Bulgarian airport authorities confiscated 108 African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) from a smuggler. Last month, the 28 parrots who survived the stress of being stuffed into dog kennels, constantly handled by humans, and the absence of their native habitat, completed their three-year journey to freedom.

Last month, France implemented one of the world’s most comprehensive “lights out” ordinances. Conditions include turning off shop lights between 1 a.m. to 7 a.m., shutting off lights inside office buildings within an hour of workers leaving the premises, and waiting only until sunset before turning lights on, on building facades. Over the next two…

A recent study, performed by researchers from Australia’s ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) and James Cook University, reveals that particular tiny fish have developed deceiving behaviors and features to enhance their survival chances against predatory fish. The damsel fish, a tiny yellow fish with an eyespot on its tail, is capable…

The human population has surpassed seven billion and continues to increase by a quarter of a million people every day. That’s 150 additional people every minute, all needing energy, water, food and space to inhabit. The inevitable and unrelenting urban expansion which results leaves precious few natural refuges for other species. No surprise then that…