Environmental Cancer Risk
(Click link for full report)
There is a body of evidence linking general environmental exposures to cancer. A report was released today by the President's Cancer Panel which finds that the true burden of environmentally induced cancer is underestimated. The Panel's report, "Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now," concludes that while environmental exposure is not a new front on the war on cancer, the harm from this group of carcinogens has not been addressed adequately by the National Cancer Program.
From: Andy Soos, ENN
Published May 6, 2010 12:31 PM
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Wind Power Growth Continues to Break Records Despite Recession
Wind Power Growth Continues to Break Records Despite Recession
Saya Kitasei
May 06, 2010
Global wind power capacity increased by 38,343 megawatts to a total of 158,505 megawatts in 2009.1 Despite a widespread economic recession, new wind power capacity grew more than 31 percent in cumulative installations, the highest rate in the last eight years.2 (See Figures 1 and 2.) Worldwide, wind power contributed 340 trillion kilowatt-hours, or 2 percent, to global electricity consumption in 2009.3
Saya Kitasei
May 06, 2010
Global wind power capacity increased by 38,343 megawatts to a total of 158,505 megawatts in 2009.1 Despite a widespread economic recession, new wind power capacity grew more than 31 percent in cumulative installations, the highest rate in the last eight years.2 (See Figures 1 and 2.) Worldwide, wind power contributed 340 trillion kilowatt-hours, or 2 percent, to global electricity consumption in 2009.3
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Wasps, Eco Questions & Energy Vampires
Ask Umbra on wasps, researching your own eco-questions, and energy vampires
Q. Dear Umbra,
Every time the weather gets warmer, it's the same: the wasps! They insist on trying to make their home in my balcony! I tried many different things, like citronella candles, but some of them apparently attract instead of repelling wasps. I don't want to kill them; I just want to keep them away! Also, if I don't do anything effective, the landlord will notice and will kill them himself with whatever harsh insect killer he has in hand!
Please help!
Thabata
A. Dearest Thabata,
Before we talk about how to get rid of wasps, let's give them their due as helpful insects. Most wasps are actually quite beneficial to the ecosystem as predators to other insects like caterpillars, which can wreak havoc on a garden. But wasps can be nasty too, so what to do with your balcony colony.
Generally, wasps avoid us humans. But, as you obviously know, when the nest is near a house, it's got to go. Your desire to avoid the fury of a wasp sting (I have—it's no picnic, my friend) is understandable; your desire not to harm the wasps admirable.
Continue On...
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-04-30-ask-umbra-on-wasps-researching-your-own-eco-questions-vampires
Q. Dear Umbra,
Every time the weather gets warmer, it's the same: the wasps! They insist on trying to make their home in my balcony! I tried many different things, like citronella candles, but some of them apparently attract instead of repelling wasps. I don't want to kill them; I just want to keep them away! Also, if I don't do anything effective, the landlord will notice and will kill them himself with whatever harsh insect killer he has in hand!
Please help!
Thabata
A. Dearest Thabata,
Before we talk about how to get rid of wasps, let's give them their due as helpful insects. Most wasps are actually quite beneficial to the ecosystem as predators to other insects like caterpillars, which can wreak havoc on a garden. But wasps can be nasty too, so what to do with your balcony colony.
Generally, wasps avoid us humans. But, as you obviously know, when the nest is near a house, it's got to go. Your desire to avoid the fury of a wasp sting (I have—it's no picnic, my friend) is understandable; your desire not to harm the wasps admirable.
Continue On...
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-04-30-ask-umbra-on-wasps-researching-your-own-eco-questions-vampires
Dolphins, Like Humans, Recognize Names
From: Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters
Published May 9, 2006 12:00 AM
Dolphins, Like Humans, Recognize Names
RELATED ARTICLES
Dolphin Intelligence
April 1, 2009 11:18 AMWASHINGTON — Bottlenose dolphins can call each other by name when they whistle, making them the only animals besides humans known to recognize such identity information, scientists reported Monday.
Scientists have long known that dolphins' whistling calls include repeated information thought to be their names, but a new study indicates dolphins recognize these names even when voice cues are removed from the sound.
For example, a dolphin might be expected to recognize its name if called by its mother, but the new study found most dolphins recognized names -- their signature whistles -- even when emitted without inflection or other vocal cues.
More than that, two dolphins may refer to a third by the third animal's name, said Laela Sayigh, one of three authors of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"They are known to produce these individually distinctive signature whistles, like names," Sayigh said in a telephone interview. She said the researchers wanted to know what information in the whistles helped dolphins identify each other's names.
The scientists already knew that dolphins responded to whistles, but wondered if something in the actual voice of the whistling dolphin was making the identity clear, or if the name itself was enough for recognition.
Published May 9, 2006 12:00 AM
Dolphins, Like Humans, Recognize Names
RELATED ARTICLES
Dolphin Intelligence
April 1, 2009 11:18 AMWASHINGTON — Bottlenose dolphins can call each other by name when they whistle, making them the only animals besides humans known to recognize such identity information, scientists reported Monday.
Scientists have long known that dolphins' whistling calls include repeated information thought to be their names, but a new study indicates dolphins recognize these names even when voice cues are removed from the sound.
For example, a dolphin might be expected to recognize its name if called by its mother, but the new study found most dolphins recognized names -- their signature whistles -- even when emitted without inflection or other vocal cues.
More than that, two dolphins may refer to a third by the third animal's name, said Laela Sayigh, one of three authors of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"They are known to produce these individually distinctive signature whistles, like names," Sayigh said in a telephone interview. She said the researchers wanted to know what information in the whistles helped dolphins identify each other's names.
The scientists already knew that dolphins responded to whistles, but wondered if something in the actual voice of the whistling dolphin was making the identity clear, or if the name itself was enough for recognition.
How the Human Brain Recognizes Language
From: David A Gabel, ENN
Published May 3, 2010 11:37 AM
How the Human Brain Recognizes Language
May 9, 2006 12:00 AM It is a major part of what separates us from the animals, the ability to verbalize our thoughts and understand the verbalizations of others. However, this evolutionary miracle is not exclusive to human beings — other species like dolphins and birds communicate regularly. Humans, however, have taken communication to such an advanced degree that we can verbalize even the most minute detail, and our brains are wired to understand them. Not only are we capable of multiple languages, we also have the capacity for non-verbal sign language. In fact, a recent study out of the University of Rochester focusing on sign language has reached a new conclusion on how the brain is wired for language.
Continue On - http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/41283
Published May 3, 2010 11:37 AM
How the Human Brain Recognizes Language
May 9, 2006 12:00 AM It is a major part of what separates us from the animals, the ability to verbalize our thoughts and understand the verbalizations of others. However, this evolutionary miracle is not exclusive to human beings — other species like dolphins and birds communicate regularly. Humans, however, have taken communication to such an advanced degree that we can verbalize even the most minute detail, and our brains are wired to understand them. Not only are we capable of multiple languages, we also have the capacity for non-verbal sign language. In fact, a recent study out of the University of Rochester focusing on sign language has reached a new conclusion on how the brain is wired for language.
Continue On - http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/41283
Scientists Resurrect Mammoth Hemoglobin
Scientists Resurrect Mammoth Hemoglobin
by Andrew Curry on May 2, 2010 1:00 PM
Defrosted. Woolly mammoth hemoglobin contains unique regions (blue) that interact with other regions (red) to deliver oxygen at a steady rate regardless of temperature.
Credit: (mammoth) Royal British Columbia Museum; (inset) Joerg StetefeldBy inserting a 43,000-year-old woolly mammoth gene into Escherichia coli bacteria, scientists have figured out how these ancient beasts adapted to the subzero temperatures of prehistoric Siberia and North America. The gene, which codes for the oxygen-transporting protein hemoglobin, allowed the animals to keep their tissues supplied with oxygen even at very low temperatures. "It's no different from going back 40,000 years and taking a blood sample from a living mammoth," says Kevin Campbell, a biologist at the University of Manitoba in Canada.
Campbell's team obtained DNA from mammoth bone preserved in the Siberian permafrost. It was a long journey for Campbell, whose specialty is the physiology of mammals. A decade ago, he saw a Discovery Channel program on the recovery of a mammoth specimen encased in ice and wondered if such specimens might hold clues to the physiology of the mammoth.
Artcle continues on at - http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/05/scientists-resurrect-mammoth-hem.html?rss=1
by Andrew Curry on May 2, 2010 1:00 PM
Defrosted. Woolly mammoth hemoglobin contains unique regions (blue) that interact with other regions (red) to deliver oxygen at a steady rate regardless of temperature.
Credit: (mammoth) Royal British Columbia Museum; (inset) Joerg StetefeldBy inserting a 43,000-year-old woolly mammoth gene into Escherichia coli bacteria, scientists have figured out how these ancient beasts adapted to the subzero temperatures of prehistoric Siberia and North America. The gene, which codes for the oxygen-transporting protein hemoglobin, allowed the animals to keep their tissues supplied with oxygen even at very low temperatures. "It's no different from going back 40,000 years and taking a blood sample from a living mammoth," says Kevin Campbell, a biologist at the University of Manitoba in Canada.
Campbell's team obtained DNA from mammoth bone preserved in the Siberian permafrost. It was a long journey for Campbell, whose specialty is the physiology of mammals. A decade ago, he saw a Discovery Channel program on the recovery of a mammoth specimen encased in ice and wondered if such specimens might hold clues to the physiology of the mammoth.
Artcle continues on at - http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/05/scientists-resurrect-mammoth-hem.html?rss=1
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