Just outside of Rockport, Texas, stands an ancient Live Oak that for well over 1,000 years has offered a long, cool shadow to weary locals during hot summers — and now they’re returning the favor.
Soaring temperatures and dry conditions had some locals worried that the big oak may succumb to drought, so fire fighters brought their hoses and pumped a deluge of life-giving water on the majestic tree.
It took 11,000 gallons of water to simulate half an inch of rainfall.
Good news for a wolf is good news for a turkey. At least it is in Eastern North Carolina, where red wolves are making a comeback and helping other animal species along the way.
Wolves’ role in helping ground-nesting birds, like the quail is well known. Raccoons eat the birds’ eggs, and red wolves prey on raccoons. More wolves mean fewer raccoons and more quail and turkey.
A Dutch study has found that offshore wind turbines have “hardly any negative effects” on wildlife, and may even benefit animals living beneath the waves.
The evidence was based on studies of a large-scale wind farm off the Dutch coast in the North Sea.
Birds avoided the offshore wind turbines, while marine species, including mussels and crabs, found shelter and new habitats that actually contributed to increased biodiversity.
The new US ambassador to China, the first Chinese-American to take up the post, said Sunday that the two countries could solve many of the world’s problems if their governments work together more.
At a news briefing, Gary Locke said the two countries could provide global leadership and his priority was to promote understanding between the nations.
After decades of declining numbers, the world’s fastest creature is populating Britain’s cities once again.
The peregrine falcon, which can travel at speeds of 200mph, is returning to Britain’s cities in droves, with the highest number recorded in the capital for hundreds of years.
The regal bird of prey in the UK has increased more than fourfold since the 1960s when the population was devastated by the effects of toxic pesticides.
Illinois has joined the ranks of states that allow their public road projects to use an asphalt mix that includes recycled shingles.
Saying, “We can’t keep throwing things into landfills,” Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation Friday that will help turn old roofing shingles into asphalt for new road surfaces on public projects around Illinois.
Like most green initiatives, environmental advantages are just some of the benefits. The ability to reduce costs is an attractive argument for further recycling. With asphalt being created mostly from petroleum, the price savings on raw materials alone is significant. The Missouri Department of Transportation reports approximately $20 million in savings in 2009 by using recycled shingles in their hot-mix.
Illinois has joined the ranks of states that allow their public road projects to use an asphalt mix that includes recycled shingles.
Saying, “We can’t keep throwing things into landfills,” Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation Friday that will help turn old roofing shingles into asphalt for new road surfaces on public projects around Illinois.
Like most green initiatives, environmental advantages are just some of the benefits. The ability to reduce costs is an attractive argument for further recycling. With asphalt being created mostly from petroleum, the price savings on raw materials alone is significant. The Missouri Department of Transportation reports approximately $20 million in savings in 2009 by using recycled shingles in their hot-mix.
Disappointment turned into celebration and happiness after a group of manufacturing plant employees in Ottawa won $7 million in the lottery a day after their company announced massive layoffs.
Ten employees who got layoff notices on Wednesday at SMART technologies were part of the group of winners
(WATCH the video below, or READ the story from CBC)
In Africa, waiting for blood work can take weeks, and many people don’t bother getting their results. A new device could make testing in remote villages a possibility, and that could lead to drastically improved treatment.
Columbia University researchers have a partial solution–a $1 plastic chip that can diagnose HIV and syphilis in 15 minutes, according to results published this week in Nature Medicine.
A Philips LED bulb is the winner of the U.S. Department of Energy’s $10 million competition to develop a low-cost, energy efficient, high-performance replacement for the incandescent bulb.
The 60-watt incandescent bulb is one of the most widely used types of light bulbs by consumers. It also is extremely wasteful in its energy usage. The energy-saving L Prize winner uses less than 10 watts of power, providing an energy savings of 83 percent, while still emitting the same amount of light, and with the familiar warm glow.
If every 60-watt incandescent bulb in the U.S. was replaced with the 10-watt L Prize winner, the nation would save about 35 terawatt-hours of electricity and avoid 20 million metric tons of carbon emissions. That’s enough electricity to power the lights of nearly 18 million U.S. households.
A Philips LED bulb is the winner of the U.S. Department of Energy’s $10 million competition to develop a low-cost, energy efficient, high-performance replacement for the incandescent bulb.
The 60-watt incandescent bulb is one of the most widely used types of light bulbs by consumers. It also is extremely wasteful in its energy usage. The energy-saving L Prize winner uses less than 10 watts of power, providing an energy savings of 83 percent, while still emitting the same amount of light, and with the familiar warm glow.
If every 60-watt incandescent bulb in the U.S. was replaced with the 10-watt L Prize winner, the nation would save about 35 terawatt-hours of electricity and avoid 20 million metric tons of carbon emissions. That’s enough electricity to power the lights of nearly 18 million U.S. households.
Ukraine’s Environment Minister Mykola Zlochevsky vowed last week to free all bears kept in restaurants as entertainment, Interfax news agency reported.
Captured and tamed bears are still used for entertainment purposes and often forced to drink alcohol, a tradition that has survived since the rule of Russian emperors.
Fire trucks and concrete mixers, semis, heavy-duty pickups and all trucks in between will, for the first time, have to trim fuel consumption and emissions of heat-trapping gases under new efficiency standards announced Tuesday by President Barack Obama.
The White House said the standards, which apply to vehicle model years 2014 to 2018, will save businesses billions of dollars in fuel costs, help reduce oil consumption and cut air pollution.
Following the riots in London, crowds of people turned out Wednesday to help clean up the glass and ashes left on the streets of cities across the country.
Andrew Bayles joined the volunteer army in Clapham Junction. “The riots were shocking and I was really rocked to the core by what was going on.”
Since then, his photograph of brooms raised in the air has become an internet sensation via Twitter, and used by journalists around the world to underscore the decent citizens, which have come out in full force to outnumber the troublemakers.
“The ‘Broom Army’ tag and my photo is something that I think is very special,” Andrew told the BBC. “It is a movement of solidarity to stand up for everything that is good about this country. I am very proud to have been there to help in the clean up and very proud that the image is being used countrywide to inspire further support in the clean-up effort.”
READ the full story about how the photo came to be in the BBC.
And, VIEW these moving photos from Clean-ups in Manchester.
Following the riots in London, crowds of people turned out Wednesday to help clean up the glass and ashes left on the streets of cities across the country.
Andrew Bayles joined the volunteer army in Clapham Junction. “The riots were shocking and I was really rocked to the core by what was going on.”
Since then, his photograph of brooms raised in the air has become an internet sensation via Twitter, and used by journalists around the world to underscore the decent citizens, which have come out in full force to outnumber the troublemakers.
Festival goers at a nationalist, right-wing concert in Germany were taken by surprise when souvenir t-shirts they were given had a secret anti-far right message that emerged only after being washed.
The slogan on the shirts first read “hardcore rebels” along with a skull and nationalist flags. But once washed the slogan turned into a message from a group offering help to right-wing extremists break away from the neo-Nazi scene.
(READ the story in Reuters)
After dedicating her life to the martial arts, 98-year-old, Keiko Fukuda of San Francisco, became the first woman to be promoted to judo’s highest level: 10th degree black belt.
Only three people in the world, all men living in Japan, have ever reached that mark.
The phone call brought the 4-foot-10-inch Sensei to tears at the women’s dojo where she still teaches in Noe Valley.
The Burning Man festival — where people meet once-a-year in the Nevada desert for a hedonistic experiment in self-reliance, innovation and art — has spawned a community that has over the years launched many do-good ventures.
The latest project will work on revitalizing a down-and-out area of San Francisco, Burning Man’s home city — the Central Market Street corridor that’s been pretty much boarded up for 20 years.
The photo shows an art installation going up in May, symbolizing the rebirth of the area.
(READ the story in the Fast Company)
A new leukemia treatment has experts buzzing over a possible cure that may one day change cancer treatment forever.
The experimental treatment delivered extraordinary results to the three leukemia patients who received it. Two of the three are now cancer-free.
Doctors genetically engineered white blood cells from the patients to make the cells kill the cancer.
Money is now pouring in to expand the research.
American Volunteers increased the number of hours they contributed to their communities last year, whether tutoring and mentoring students, fundraising, job training or assisting during natural disasters.
More than 60 million Americans volunteered 8.1 billion hours of their services in 2010 in work valued at nearly $173 billion, according to a new report.
(READ the story from Reuters)
