MicroHawk's NewsScan

Loon, Interrupted: Chicks Dying, Social Chaos; Is Their Comeback Unraveling?

via www.truth-out.org

From the article:

Researchers suspect that hormone-disrupting pollutants such as flame retardants may have eroded the birds' delicate social structure and contributed to a mysterious drop in Squam Lake’s loon population. In other parts of the Northeast, scientists have implicated acid rain and mercury in declining numbers of chicks. Loons with high mercury levels lay and hatch fewer eggs, and they’re not good parents.

Once facing steep declines in much of their U.S. range, loons have made a comeback in the last 40 years. Now this success story is in jeopardy.

Rate of Ocean Warming Vastly Underestimated: Study | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

via www.commondreams.org

From the article: Since 1970, the top 700 meters (roughly 2,296 feet) of the ocean have been heating up 24 to 55 percent faster than scientists have been estimating, the report, published in Nature Climate Change, found—a massive miscalculation that was caused by “poor sampling of the Southern Hemisphere, and limitations of the analysis methods.”

The Solution Is the Soil: How Organic Farming Can Feed the World and Save the Planet | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

via www.commondreams.org

From the article: Just over a week ago, the executive director of the Rodale Institute, Mark 'Coach' Smallwood, set out from the group's research farm in eastern Pennsylvania on a 160-mile journey to Washington, DC with a walking stick, a brimmed hat, and a simple but profound message: We can not only stop climate change. We can reverse it.

Small-Scale Traditional Farming Is the Only Way to Avoid Food Crisis, UN Researcher Says - NationofChange

New scientific research increasingly shows how “agroecology” offers environmentally sustainable methods that can meet the rapidly growing demand for food.

via www.nationofchange.org

Coastal Cities Are Drowning, Thanks To New Reality Of Sea Level Rise

via www.huffingtonpost.com

From the article: Coastal American cities are sinking into saturated new realities, new analysis has confirmed. Sea level rise has given a boost to high tides, which are regularly overtopping streets, floorboards and other low-lying areas that had long existed in relatively dehydrated harmony with nearby waterfronts. The trend is projected to worsen sharply in the coming years.

Global Frackdown: Calling for a Ban on Fracking

Global Frackdown is an international day of action calling for a ban on fracking. This year’s event on Saturday, Oct. 11 will send a message to elected officials across the globe that the future should be powered by clean, renewable energy, not dirty, polluting fossil fuels.

via ecowatch.com

Massive Methane Hot Spot Detected by Satellite » EcoWatch

via ecowatch.com

From the article: One tiny section in the U.S. is responsible for a significant amount of the country’s methane emissions, according to new information released by scientists from NASA and the University of Michigan.

PLOS Biology: The “Balance of Nature”—Evolution of a Panchreston

The earliest concept of a balance of nature in Western thought saw it as being provided by gods but requiring human aid or encouragement for its maintenance. With the rise of Greek natural philosophy, emphasis shifted to traits gods endowed species with at the outset, rather than human actions, as key to maintaining the balance. The dominance of a constantly intervening God in the Middle Ages lessened interest in the inherent features of nature that would contribute to balance, but the Reformation led to renewed focus on such features, particularly traits of species that would maintain all of them but permit none to dominate nature. Darwin conceived of nature in balance, and his emphasis on competition and frequent tales of felicitous species interactions supported the idea of a balance of nature. But Darwin radically changed its underlying basis, from God to natural selection. Wallace was perhaps the first to challenge the very notion of a balance of nature as an undefined entity whose accuracy could not be tested. His skepticism was taken up again in the 20th century, culminating in a widespread rejection of the idea of a balance of nature by academic ecologists, who focus rather on a dynamic, often chaotic nature buffeted by constant disturbances. The balance-of-nature metaphor, however, lives on in large segments of the public, representing a fragile aspect of nature and biodiversity that it is our duty to protect.

via www.plosbiology.org

Direct brain-to-brain communication demonstrated in human subjects -- ScienceDaily

via www.sciencedaily.com

From the article: In a first-of-its-kind study, an international team of neuroscientists and robotics engineers have demonstrated the viability of direct brain-to-brain communication in humans. Recently published in PLOS ONE the highly novel findings describe the successful transmission of information via the internet between the intact scalps of two human subjects -- located 5,000 miles apart.

Part of Aral Sea Dries Up: Biggest Environmental Disaster in Human History - ICTMN.com

via indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

From the article:

It took millions of years for the Aral Sea to form, and just a few decades to divest it of water.

Formerly a gigantic lake straddling Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the ocean-sized body of water is well on its way to disappearing. In fact one section has completely dried up since 2000, the space agency’s Earth Observatory said on September 26.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com//2014/10/01/part-aral-sea-dries-biggest-environmental-disaster-human-history-157145

Is Darwin's Long Debated Theory of Species Migration Valid? New Research Says "Yes"

via www.dailygalaxy.com

From the article: More than one hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin hypothesized that species could cross oceans and other vast distances on vegetation rafts, icebergs, or in the case of plant seeds, in the plumage of birds.Though many were skeptical of Darwin's "jump dispersal" idea, a new study suggests that Darwin might have been correct.

Moon's Vast "Ocean of Storms" Reveals Ancient Rifts of Volcanic Activity (Not a Cosmic Impact Basin)

via www.dailygalaxy.com

From the article: Oceanus Procellarum, a vast dark patch visible on the western edge of the Moon's near side, has long been a source of mystery for planetary scientists. Some have suggested that the "ocean of storms" is part of a giant basin formed by an asteroid impact early in the Moon's history. But new research published today in Nature deals a pretty big blow to the impact theory.

Organic vs. ‘Climate-Smart': Can The UN Fix Farming in Time? | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

via www.commondreams.org

From the article:

Amidst heated discussions of global policy change, greenhouse gases, and emissions caps, food and farming–and the impact they are having on our changing climate—were also in the spotlight. After all, agriculture is one of largest contributors of human-caused emissions.

Second Discovery of GMO Wheat Reveals 'Failed Policy' That Threatens Farmers: Watchdog | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

via www.commondreams.org

From the article:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday revealed that it was opening an investigation into the appearance of unapproved genetically engineered wheat in Montana.

It marks the second time the USDA is issuing notice of a discovery of rogue genetically engineered (or GMO) wheat. There is no commercially-approved GMO wheat.

Trusting Science Leads to Complacency About Climate Change | Care2 Causes

You might intuitively think that our understanding of and belief in science is part of what drives us to take individual action to halt climate change, but research from Amsterdam suggests, oddly, that just the opposite is true.

Research subjects with a high degree of faith in science were actually less likely to engage in individual actions to address global climate concerns. Shockingly, the study suggests, the best way to get people to take action on climate change may not lie in educating them about the science.

via www.care2.com