Earth

Is This the Most Beautiful Street in the World?

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:21:01 GMT

There are many memorable streets in cities across the globe, some marked by monuments and famous buildings. But the most scenic may be those with natural beauty.

Rua Gonçalo de Carvalho, in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre, may not border historical sites along its 500 meter stretch, but it does turn heads with its

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Smart Paint Could Revolutionize Structural Safety of Bridges, Mines and More

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:38:41 GMT

An innovative low-cost smart paint that can detect microscopic faults in mines and bridges before structural damage occurs is being developed by researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

The environmentally-friendly paint uses nanotechnology to detect movement in large structures, and could shape the future of safety monitoring.

The inexpensive smart paint can be simply sprayed
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Arctic Snowy Owls Soar South in Rare Mass Migration

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:31:50 GMT

Bird enthusiasts are reporting rising numbers of snowy owls from the Arctic winging into the lower 48 states this winter in a mass southern migration that a leading owl researcher called "unbelievable."

Thousands of the snow-white birds, which stand 2 feet tall with 5-foot wingspans, have been spotted from coast to coast, feeding in farmlands in Idaho, roosting on
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Leatherback Sea Turtles Granted Protection Along U.S. West Coast

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:42:42 GMT

A major decision to protect feeding hotspots for endangered leatherback sea turtles off the shores of Washington, Oregon and California was finalized last week by the U.S. Marine Fisheries Service.

The final rule establishes protection for 40,000 square miles of critical ocean habitat in areas where leatherbacks feed on jellyfish after swimming 6,000 miles across
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Gamers Redesign a Protein That Stumped Scientists for Years

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:33:50 GMT

Following on the success last September of video gamers to solve the elusive riddle of an HIV enzyme within three weeks, they have again astonished scientists.

Players of the online puzzle game Foldit have redesigned an enzyme model by fiddling with folding proteins on their home computers in search of the best-scoring (lowest-energy) patterns.

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Biofuel Breakthrough: Seaweed Could Power Cars

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:48:54 GMT

Energy experts believe that seaweed holds enormous potential as a biofuel alternative to coal and oil, and US scientists say they have unlocked the secret of turning its complex sugar into energy.

Unlike other microbes before, the Berkeley, Cal., team engineered a form of E. coli bacteria that can digest all the seaweed's sugars into ethanol, potentially
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Lost Gray Monkey Thought to be Extinct 'Rediscovered' in Indonesia

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:42:18 GMT

Scientists working in the dense jungles of Indonesia have "rediscovered" a large, gray monkey so rare it was believed by many to be extinct.

They were all the more baffled to find the Miller's Grizzled Langur — its black face framed by a fluffy, Dracula-esque white collar — in an area well outside its previously recorded home range.

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No Rhinos Poached in Nepal, First Time in 29 Years

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:35:52 GMT

Thanks to strong conservation and law enforcement efforts, not a single rhino was killed by poachers in Nepal, the first such year in 29 years.

Conservationists in the Himalayan nation celebrated at Chitwan National Park, where the vast majority of the country's 534 rhinos reside.

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Galápagos Tortoise Thought to be Extinct Still Lives

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:22:14 GMT

Researchers from Yale University say dozens of giant tortoises of a species believed extinct for 150 years may still be living at a remote location in the Galápagos Islands.

After conducting a genetic analysis of 1600 tortoises on Isabela Island, the scientists concluded that at least 38 purebred individuals of Chelonoidis elephantopus are still living
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Tasmanian Forests Saved in 'Landmark' Agreement with Australia

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:46:48 GMT

Friday the 13th was a lucky day for Tasmanian forests with a major conservation agreement signed that will protect high value forests from logging while balancing the needs of industry, the Minister for Energy and Resources, Bryan Green said today.

Mr Green said the agreement between the Tasmanian and Australian Governments and Forestry Tasmania will give
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World's Smallest Frog Discovered in Papua

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:38:09 GMT

A frog species that appears to be the world's smallest has been discovered in Papua New Guinea by a US-based team.

Finding the frog was not an easy assignment.

Sitting on a dime with much room to spare, Paedophryne amauensis, which lives in leaf litter on the forest floor, is one of the world's smallest vertebrate.

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Thriving North American Start-up Turns Trash into Source of Power

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:14:45 GMT

A young woman of 23 is helping to turn pizza crusts, leftover lasagna, and other food waste into methane gas to fuel electric generators at an alternative energy start-up that is transforming the way North America manages organic materials.

At its Waltham plant, Harvest Power uses airtight reactors to allow plant and animal wastes to decompose and produce biogas
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Saving US Grasslands: Turning Back the Clock on Desertification

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:36:33 GMT

As grasslands diminish on prairies and savannas around the world, an innovative ranching technique that reverses the environmental damage of desertification makes its way to the US.

For a rancher whose livelihood depended on those diminishing grasslands, it was an oncoming economic and ecological disaster in slow motion.

But in Colorado, the grass came back. Today, "the grass has covered the sand." A dozen
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Wires 10,000 Times Thinner Than Hair to Usher in New Computer Era

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:22:47 GMT

Scientists said Thursday they have designed tiny wires, 10,000 times thinner than a human hair but with the same electrical capacity as copper, in a major step toward building smaller, more potent computers, ushering in the quantum computing age.

The advance, described in the US journal Science, shows for the first time that wires one atom
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Africa's Rainforests 'More Resilient' to Climate Change

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:51:03 GMT

Tropical forests in Africa may be more resilient to future climate change than the Amazon and other regions, a gathering of scientists has said.

An international conference agreed that the region's surviving tree species had endured a number of climatic catastrophes over the past 4,000 years.

As a result, they are better suited to cope with future shifts in the
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Yellowstone Wolves Help Trees Rebound

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:27:09 GMT

Scientists say in a new study that the return of gray wolves has dramatically altered the landscape in portions of Yellowstone National Park by curbing foraging elk herds that prevented new aspen, willow, and cottonwood trees from taking root.

Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995 and 1996 after being killed off early last century.

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Saving the Amazon: Brazil is Winning the War on Deforestation

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:28:14 GMT

For years, the story told about the Amazon has been one of destruction. But in Brazil the environmental battle is actually being won.

In 2004 the nation declared it would cut deforestation by 80% by 2020.

Seven years later, it has almost reached its goal. The latest figures, released just weeks ago, show that 2011 had the lowest rates of deforestation since records
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Unlikely Friendships in the Animal Kingdom: 5 Best Videos of 2011

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:42:30 GMT

The book, Unlikely Friendships: 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom, is a beautiful collection of heartwarming animal tales released in 2011 that features cross-species bonding. A cat and a bird. An elephant and a sheep. A snake and a hamster.

Watch five of the best videos from 2011 involving animals protecting each other,
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'Christmas Miracle' for Lonely Endangered Rhino

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 19:07:58 GMT

On Christmas morning, conservationists in Malaysia airlifted a young Sumatran Rhinoceros — one of the world's most endangered animals — from an area where she had no hope of ever seeing another rhinoceros.

After monitoring her isolation for years, the Sabah Wildlife Department and Borneo Rhino Alliance flew the female rhino, named Puntung, to a forested reserve
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The Global Outcry That Saved the Amazon

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:49:03 GMT

Half a million citizens of the world joined with 1,000 indigenous protesters in demanding that Bolivian President Evo Morales halt construction on a highway that would slice through the heart of the Amazon.

Avaaz.org launched the petition that was delivered by staff to top Bolivian cabinet ministers during a long and stormy meeting.

"The pressure worked!"

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