Jul 05 2012

Fracking Graves

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Even cemeteries aren't sacrosanct in the relentless drive to extract fossil fuels. Far beneath the final resting places of many Americans, including war veterans, lies a wealth of natural gas trapped in shale rock formations, which could be tapped using the controversial hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, technique.
Categories: News
Dec 02 2011

Walnut Industry May Crack Under Climate Pressure

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Eat all the walnut treats you can this holiday season. They might not be so plentiful in coming years. Commercially grown walnut trees (Juglans nigra and Juglans regia) are very particular about their growing conditions and drought or untimely frosts can crack the walnut tree's defenses.
Categories: News
Jun 09 2011

Extreme Heat the New Norm

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The hottest summer day you remember from childhood could be the norm in a few decades; in fact it looks like the heat has already been cranked up. "When scientists talk about global warming causing more heat waves, people often ask if that means that the hottest temperatures will become 'the new normal,'" said Noah Diffenbaugh, an assistant professor of environmental Earth system science at Stanford, in a press release. "That got us thinking –- at what point can we expect the coolest seasonal temperatures to always be hotter than the historically highest temperatures for that season?"
Categories: News
Apr 05 2011

Billion Dollar Bats in Danger

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Bats mean big money for American farmers. Their nightly bug-munching saves U.S. agriculture between $3.7 to $53 billion a year on pesticides and crop losses. A U.S. Geological Survey study, published in Science, put a dollar sign on the services bats offer free of charge. The study found that bats are high rollers in the game of insect control. But the researchers are worried.
Categories: News
Nov 12 2010

Cocoa Crisis, stock up on chocolate now!

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Chocolate was once the drink of Mayan and Aztec kings. Now a cocoa shortage may make chocolate an exclusive luxury again. Chocolate could become as rare as caviar, said John Mason of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council. Which means chocolate treats may become unaffordable for the average person. The price of cocoa, the raw ingredient for chocolate, has been skyrocketing in international markets.
Categories: News