AIR - Pollen influences optical properties of the atmosphere
Pollen reflects more sunlight than previously known, and makes up to one third of the total amount of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Aerosol particles influence optical depth which provides a measure of the opacity of the atmosphere. These results, reported by scientists of the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) in Korea and the Leibniz-Institute of Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), are published in the research journal Atmosp ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-pollen-optical-properties-atmos
ANIMALS - Computer simulation explains why zebras have stripes
(Phys.org) —Two researchers, one from the University of Queensland, the other the University of London have published a paper together in the journal Zoology in which they claim to have solved the riddle of why zebras have stripes. In their paper, Martin How and Johannes Zankerb describe how they built a computer simulation that demonstrated that the stripes on zebras serve to confuse both pests and predators .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-simulation-zebras-stripes.htm
ANIMALS - Dogs recognize familiar faces from images
So far the specialized skill for recognizing facial features holistically has been assumed to be a quality that only humans and possibly primates possess. Although it’s well known, that faces and eye contact play an important role in the communication between dogs and humans, this was the first study, where facial recognition of dogs was investigated with eye movement tracking .. ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131218095847.ht
ANIMALS - Nepal uses satellite to track rare snow leopard
Wildlife experts in Nepal are tracking a rare snow leopard by using a collar with a satellite link to discover how climate change and human encroachment are affecting its habitat, officials said Wednesday .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-nepal-satellite-track-rare-leop
ANIMALS - Seven distinct African crocodile species, not just three, biologists show
African crocodiles, long thought of as just three known species, are among the most iconic creatures in Africa. But recent research now finds that there are at least seven distinct African crocodile species .. ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131218130150.ht
ART - Image: Prometheus sculpts Saturn's F ring
Saturn's moons create art on the canvas of Saturn's rings with gravity as their tool. Here Prometheus is seen sculpting the F ring while Daphnis (too small to discern in this image) raises waves on the edges of the Keeler gap .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-image-prometheus-sculpts-saturn
ART - Yale anthropologist’s research inspires modern art
The transformation of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area is the focus of a new exhibition in Vietnam by renowned artist Tiffany Chung that is based on research conducted in collaboration with Yale anthropologist Erik Harms .. ...
http://news.yale.edu/2013/12/18/yale-anthropologist-s-resear
BOOKS - Six Amazing Books by Frank Herbert, Tim Pratt and Others, For Just $6
This is a pretty sweet deal — there's a Fiction Bundle on offer right now, that includes six books by Frank Herbert, Tim Pratt and other great authors, for just $6 or whatever you choose. If you pay $10 or more, you get a second Pratt book!Read more... .. ...
BOOKS - Spiritual Quotation: Future, Service, Saints, Courage, Hope
What we will never se .. ...
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/quotes/quotes.php?id=
CLIMATE - Get there while you can; Iceland's glaciers are shrinking fast
According to one glaciologist, in 30 years they may be no more than small "ice museums" .. ...
CLIMATE - Here's why winter has the best full moons
Winter makes for longer nights and shorter days. It also boasts the year's greatest lunar displays – but there's more to this fact than an increase in daily hours of darkness.Read more... .. ...
http://io9.com/heres-why-winter-has-the-best-full-moons-1485
CLIMATE - Maine Governor: Stop Being So Negative About Global Warming
The opening of a westward passage through the Arctic, he says, is a boon for Maine shippin .. ...
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-12-18/maine-govern
CLIMATE - Mountain erosion accelerates under a cooling climate
The Earth’s continental topography reflects the balance between tectonics, climate, and their interaction through erosion. However, understanding the impact of individual factors on Earth’s topography remains elusive. Scientists have now investigated the effect of global cooling and glaciation on topogrpahy over the last two to three million years. Their data show that mountain erosion rates have increased since circa 6 million years and most rap ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131218133603.ht
CLIMATE - What Is Iceland without Ice?
SOLHEIMAJOKULL, Iceland – A fierce wind shrieks down the glacier slope, flinging ice and grit like a weather-witch from an old Icelandic saga. [More] .. ...
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-ice
EARTH - Antarctica May Have Untouchable Diamonds
Antarctica might have a new kind of ice — diamonds might exist there .. ...
http://news.discovery.com/earth/rocks-fossils/antarctica-may
EARTH - Diamonds in Earth's oldest zircons are nothing but laboratory contamination
As is well known, the Earth is about 4.6 billion years old. No rocks exist, however, that are older than about 3.8 billion years. A sedimentary rock section in the Jack Hills of western Australia, more than 3 billion years old, contains within it zircons that were eroded from rocks as old as about 4.3 billion years, making these zircons, called Jack Hills zircons, the oldest recorded geological material on the planet .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-diamonds-earth-oldest-zircons-l
EARTH - Japan's new island keeps growing
Back in November, volcanic activity along the western edge of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" gave rise to a tiny new island in Japanese territory. According to new reports, the island — named Niijima — is still erupting and growing. Read more... .. ...
EARTH - Magical Medieval Crypt Holds 7 Male Mummies
A 900-year-old crypt, containing seven naturally mummified bodies and walls covered with inscriptions, has been excavated in the Nile Valley .. ...
http://news.discovery.com/history/ancient-egypt/medieval-cry
EARTH - Organic Matter Found in Ancient Meteorite Glass
Scientists have found organics from Earth's swamp trapped inside of glass created by a meteor impact almost a million years ago .. ...
http://news.discovery.com/space/asteroids-meteors-meteorites
EARTH - Scientists explore world's largest undersea canyon
A joint British-German team has returned from a five-week research expedition, mapping and sampling a giant submarine canyon off northwest Morocco. The expedition was on the German research vessel, Maria S Merian .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-scientists-explore-world-larges
EDUCATION - Find black holes while you're on the bus
'Radio Galaxy Zoo', launching today, is a new 'citizen science' project that lets anyone become a cosmic explorer .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-black-holes-youre-bus.htm
EDUCATION - Psst, Dan Pink, Educators Don't Sell, They Engage
There is nothing in 5,000 years of economic history to justify the belief that human societies should structure their behavior around the demands of the marketplace. - Chris Hedges Tom Whitby—unassailably seminal connected educator, and spectacularly prolific and insightful blogger—recently shared Daniel Pink's response to a series of questions based on Whitby's reading of Pink's latest release: To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Movi . ...
EDUCATION - Urban schools improving faster than rest of US
Federal testing data shows that public school students in the nation's largest cities are improving their performance in reading and math faster than their counterparts in suburban and rural schools .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-urban-schools-faster-rest.htm
ENERGY - Former DOE Chief Steven Chu Takes Board Seat at Carbon Capture Firm
Vancouver-based Inventys Thermal Technologies, a VC-funded carbon capture technology firm, added former DOE Secretary Steven Chu to its Board of Directors. The startup claims that is has developed a breakthrough in capturing CO2 from coal and natural gas power plants with a "capture cost of about $15 per ton of CO2" -- significantly less than existing methods. According to the company, the Inventys system is based on a low-pressure thermal swin ...
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Former-DOE-Chief
ENERGY - Grid-Scale Energy Storage: 4 Ways to Grow in 2014
There’s little doubt that 2013 has been a breakout year for grid-scale energy storage. On the utility side, we’ve seen California mandate an unprecedented 1.3 gigawatts of grid storage by decade’s end, and other markets in the United States and abroad are moving toward goals of their own. On the customer side, we’ve seen a flood of entrants making storage a part of their renewable power, distributed generation and commercial energy management pl ...
ENERGY - How to Win the War on Coal
Mississippi may prove the first state in the U.S. to help coal fight global warming. A new facility rising from Kemper County's loamy soil will take the dirtiest coal from a local mine, turn it to gas, strip out the climate change-causing carbon dioxide, and then burn the gaseous fuel--resulting in pollution rates comparable with a power plant that burns natural gas. If coal use can truly be made (atmospherically) cleanhttp://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-win-
ENVIRONMENT - Human Exposure to Possibly Neurotoxic Pesticides Should Be Reduced, EU Safety Agency Recommends
Europe should slash the acceptable human exposure limits on two neonicotinoids -- a class of insecticide previously linked to bee declines -- says a key European Union safety agency.http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=human-expos
GARDENS - Aeroponics to boost NY potato production
The mashed potatoes or latkes that enhance your holiday feast have taken a long path from tuber to table – in many cases, several years .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-aeroponics-boost-ny-potato-prod
GARDENS - Wrapping paper embedded with seeds lets you grow veggies
Eden Paper is designed to end up in your garden, not the garbage .. ...
HOMES - Would you use an indoor tent to save money on heating costs?
Extreme or ingenious: using a tent inside the home to cut down on heating expenses .. ...
MOVIES - Brand New Footage From the Doctor Who Christmas special!
The Divergent sequel's looking for a new director. The Disney Channel's cast Maleficent's daughter for its show Descendants. And Paul Rudd again comments on the rumors surrounding him and Ant-Man, while Steve Carell comments on the lack of rumors surrounding him. Plus, photos and concept art from I, Frankenstein. Spoilers now!Read more... .. ...
MOVIES - DVD Feature Film Review: Night Train to Lisbon
A midde-aged professor's life is transformed by a philosophical book that falls into his hands and propels him on a quest from Switzerland to Portugal .. ...
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/films.php?id=25
PEOPLE - Ordinary Citizens Catalyzing Change: A 'People's History' of 2013
This year has been full of examples of people making history. Although newspapers and textbooks often focus on political and military leaders, the real story was with "ordinary people" in the streets who challenged injustice and worked for "good." At the Zinn Education Project, our goal is to help teachers introduce these stories from a people's perspective. Teaching outside of the textbook and the mainstream news helps students see the roles
PEOPLE - Residents of poorer nations find greater meaning in life
While residents of wealthy nations tend to have greater life satisfaction, new research shows that those living in poorer nations report having greater meaning in life. The findings suggest that meaning in life may be higher in poorer nations as a result of greater religiosity: as countries become richer, religion becomes less central to people's lives and they lose a sense of meaning in life .. ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131218100139.ht
PEOPLE - The life of the British upper class, 5500 years ago
Roughly 500 years before Stonehenge was erected, the people of the British Isles were already forming vast kingdoms ruled by a wealthy elite. A new study of one ancient British skeleton gives us a glimpse of what it was like to be a king in neolithic England.
PERMACULTURE - A Guerilla Gardening Across Europe... By Bicycle
9 countries, 5,000 miles - a video about Tom Boyden's guerilla gardening trip, in which he planted seeds at iconic European places like the Berlin Wall and the Eiffel Tower .. ...
http://www.good.is/posts/a-guerilla-gardening-bicycle-trip-a
SCIENCE - A statistician intent on sharing research to promote better science
For centuries, researchers in fields as disparate as astrophysics and political science have faced the same hurdle before they could win acceptance for their theorieshttp://phys.org/news/2013-12-statistician-intent-science.htm
SCIENCE - Ancient Roman Metal Used for Physics Experiments Ignites Science Feud
Archaeologists and physicists are at loggerheads over ancient Roman lead--a substance highly prized by both camps for sharply diverging reasons. Very old lead is pure, dense and much less radioactive than the newly mined metal, so it is ideal for shielding sensitive experiments that hunt for dark matter and other rare particles. But it is also has historical significance, and many archaeologists object to melting down 2,000-year-old Roman ingots ...
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ancient-rom
SCIENCE - Climate Scientist Takes on Tolkien's Middle Earth
If a dark wizard chops down a forest -- technically a renewable biofuel -- to feed the machine of industry, is his carbon footprint still zero? What are the fugitive methane levels of dwarfish gem mines? How much carbon is sequestered by the average adult Ent?http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=climate-sci
SCIENCE - New X-ray laser technique measures atomic vibrations faster, more accurately
(Phys.org) —An international team led by scientists from two SLAC/Stanford institutes has devised a much faster and more accurate way of measuring subtle atomic vibrations that underlie important hidden properties of materials .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-x-ray-laser-technique-atomic-vi
SCIENCE - Study opens graphene band-gap
Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) announced a method for the mass production of boron/nitrogen co-doped graphene nanoplatelets, which led to the fabrication of a graphene-based field -effect transistor (FET) with semiconducting nature. This opens up opportunities for practical use in electronic devices .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-graphene-band-gap.htm
SCIENCE - The Most Amazing Science Images of 2013
From slow-mo footage on YouTube to deep-space satellite imagery to weird washcloths on the International Space Station, this was a big year for beautiful science. Here for your visceral viewing pleasure are thirty-three of our favorite photos and videos from 2013.Read more... .. ...
SCIENCE - Theorists predict new state of quantum matter may have big impact on electronics
Constantly losing energy is something we deal with in everything we do. If you stop pedaling a bike, it gradually slows; if you let off the gas, your car also slows. As these vehicles move, they also generate heat from friction. Electronics encounter a similar effect as groups of electrons carry information from one point to another. As electrons move, they dissipate heat, reducing the distance a signal can travel. DARPAhttp://phys.org/news/2013-12-theorists-state-quantum-big-imp
SPACE - Final James Webb Space Telescope mirrors arrive at NASA
The final three of 18 primary mirrors for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope arrived at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., for integration prior to a scheduled launch in 2018 .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-james-webb-space-telescope-mirr
SPACE - How hypergravity impacts electric arcs
A new study on electric discharge behavior under intense gravitational forces shows that its dynamic changes as gravity increases. Arc discharges are common in everyday conditions like welding or in lightning storms. But in altered gravity, not as much is known about the behavior of electric discharges .. ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/12/131218095849.ht
SPACE - Visit the edge of space in a capsule powered by a helium balloon
Talk about taking balloon rides to the next level. This concept capsule could eventually take a crew of eight people to a height of 98,425 feet (30 km). From there, passengers would be able to see the curvature of the Earth — and even the blackness of space
URBAN - A Palace For Nature: Sanzpont Arquitectura Unveils Plans for a Self-Sustaining Botanical Oasis in Qatar
Read the rest of A Palace For Nature: Sanzpont Arquitectura Unveils Plans for a Self-Sustaining Botanical Oasis in QatarPermalink |Add todel.icio.us | diggPost tags: "sustainable architecture", a palace for nature, botanical gardens, desalination, desert architecture, eco design, eco palace, eco-luxe, green architecture, Green Building, green design, palace, palace for nature, photovoltaics, qatar, sanzpont architecture, Sanzpont Arquitectura.
URBAN - Building tops to house urban windpower
The southern hemisphere's largest ever Windpod system has been installed on the City of Cockburn's administration building in Spearwood, as part of a joint research trial with Windpods International .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2013-12-tops-house-urban-windpower.htm
URBAN - Is the traditional downtown a thing of the past? Or is it due for a revival?
Kaid Benfield of the NRDC things that downtowns are either done or diffuse or different.
WRITE - 71 journalists killed in 2013 'in connection with their work'
In 2013, 71 journalists were killed in connection with their work, some 20% fewer deaths than the year before, according to the Paris-based press freedom body, Reporters Without Borders (RSF).But there was a 129% increase in abductions, says the RSF report, and the overall level of violations continued to be high.The regions with the largest numbers of journalists killed in connection with their work were Asia (with 24) and the Middle East
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