EARTH PORTATION curated News January 6th

ANIMALS - New fossils shed light on the origins of lions, tigers, and bears

A new study discusses the origins of cats and dogs, as well as other carnivorous mammals like bears, seals, and weasels (taxonomically called "carnivoraformes"), and describes new specimens of one of the earliest of these primitive
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140106160029.ht

ANIMALS - Number of gray whales seen migrating south doubles from a year ago

The jump in numbers has researchers wondering if the once endangered species is growing or if its migration patterns are changing.The number of gray whales spotted migrating south off the Southern California coast in December was double what it was compared with the same period last year, raising questions about whether it reflects changing migration patterns or perhaps a population boom for the once endangered species .. ...
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-gray-whales-20140107,0,79

ANIMALS - Worker wasps grow visual brains, queens stay in the dark

A queen in a paperwasp colony largely stays in the dark. The worker wasps, who fly outside to seek food and building materials, see much more of the world around them. A new study indicates that the brain regions involved in sensory perception also develop differently in these castes, according to the different behavioral reliance on the senses. The study is published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2014-01-worker-wasps-visual-brains-quee

BEES - The Politics of Bees Turns Science on its Head -- Europe Bans Neonics While Local Beekeepers, Scientists Say Action is Precipitous

As Jon Entine of the Genetic Literacy Project reports, in a move it says will protect bees, the European Commission announced on Monday that it would impose a two-year ban on neonicotinoid insecticides, although a sharp divide remains whether politics or science is driving this policy change. Although a vote b .. ...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2013/04/30/the-politic

BOOKS - Book Excerpt: Happiness

Joan Duncan Oliver on the benefits of finding and keeping happiness in our lives .. ...
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/excerpts.php?id

BOOKS - Book Excerpt: The Skeptic's Guide to Global Poverty

Dale Hanson Bourke on the meaning of poverty .. ...
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/excerpts.php?id

BOOKS - Book Feature: The Best Spiritual Books of 2013

Our choices of the spiritual books of 2012 that best explore the quest for meaning and purpose, wholeness and healing, commitment and community, contemplation and social activism .. ...
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/features.php?id

BOOKS - Reading A Novel Could Physically Change Your Brain (But What Does That Mean?)

A new study reveals physical changes to the brain result from reading a novel. But what do those changes mean .. ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2014/01/05/reading-a-n

BOOKS - Spiritual Quotation: Hunger, Poverty, God, Reverence

There are so many hungry children .. ...
http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/quotes/quotes.php?id=

CLIMATE - 71 new papers reported in 2013 demonstrating the Sun controls climate, not man-made CO2

http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/05/71-new-papers-reporte

CLIMATE - Analysis: 2013 Was Not A Good Year For Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Climate Warming Change Disruption Weirding Ocean Acidification Extreme Weather, etc.

http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/06/analysis-2013-was-not

CLIMATE - CNN: Record-breaking cold possible across two-thirds of U.S. – ‘An arctic cold front descends on 140 million people’

http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/05/cnn-record-breaking-c

CLIMATE - Damning French Analysis Of Turney’s Expedition: Debacle Was Caused More By ;An Obvious Amateurism’

http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/05/damning-french-analys

CLIMATE - Global Temperatures: 10th warmest year on record according to RSS AMSU Satellite

http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/06/global-temperatures-1

CLIMATE - Historic Cold: ‘If you’re under 40, you’ve not seen this stuff before’

http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/05/historic-cold-if-your

CLIMATE - Obama’s Executive Order in November 2013: ‘Excessively High Temperatures’ ‘Already’ Harming Public Health

http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/06/obamas-executive-orde

CLIMATE - Prof. Turney Backpedals! Now Says Getting Stuck In Sea Ice NOT Due To Climate Change”!

http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/05/prof-turney-backpedal

CLIMATE - SNOW TROLLING BY DRUDGE OR CLIMATE FATIGUE?

http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/05/snow-trolling-by-drud

CLIMATE - Stunning photo from Lake Michigan where winter gales coated St. Joseph Lighthouse in ice

http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/05/stunning-photo-from-l

CLIMATE - THE SCIENTIST AS REBEL: A TRIBUTE TO SKEPTIC FREEMAN DYSON ON HIS 90TH BIRTHDAY

http://www.climatedepot.com/2014/01/05/the-scientist-as-rebe

CLIMATE - Why the Arctic Is Drunk Right Now

The odd relationship between the warming Arctic and extreme cold weather.Greg Laden/ECMWFPerhaps the best analogy yet for the insane cold weather now afflicting the US came from science blogger Greg Laden, who created the viral image above. “Go home, Arctic,” it reads. “You’re drunk.”When it comes to the reason why the United States is currently experiencing life-threatening cold—with temperatures in the negative-20s in the Upper Midwest, and win ...

http://climatedesk.org/2014/01/why-the-arctic-is-drunk-right

EARTH - Dark Matter Near Earth Peaks Every March, New Study Suggests

Billions of particles of invisible "dark matter" are probably flying through your body right now, passing through the spaces between your atoms without a trace. According to conventional thinking, these particles should be somewhat less abundant during the winter and should peak around June 1. But a new study suggests this calculation is way off; the real peak is actually at the beginning of March.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=dark-matter

EARTH - Supervolcanoes Erupt by Their Own Rules

Huge volcanic blasts occur less frequently than scientists would expect, and now volcanologists think they can explain why: super-eruptions and smaller eruptions are triggered by fundamentally different processes.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=supervolcan

ECONOMICS - 3 financial resolutions for a happy new year

At the start of 2014, you've probably made promises to yourself or family or friends about doing things better than last year — and that includes making better financial decisions.You are not alone if you are unsure where to start or what your next move should be. Nearly a third of U.S .. ...
http://www.today.com/money/3-financial-resolutions-happy-new

EDUCATION - Pictorial mnemonics and sound contrasting yield more effective English teaching

Improving English language learning has been a stated priority of the government for two decades. However, Japanese children continue to perform poorly relative to other countries in assessments of English language skills. For this reason, research on methods of instruction is an extremely important field. Strategies such as those tested in this study could help improve the outcomes of English language teaching in Japanese schools .. ...
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-01-pictorial-mnemonics-co

EDUCATION - Want the 'Free College For All' Dream to Come True? Here's How Much it Would Cost the Government

Cringing at the thought of writing the second semester tuition check, or forking over more cash to Sallie Mae. So how much would it cost for higher education to be free? Over at "The Atlantic" Jordan Weissmann says it's possible for what the fed is currently plunking down in financial aid. The problem is instead of using "resources to maintain a cheap public system (and remember, public schools educate 75 percent of undergrads), we spill them int ...
http://www.good.is/posts/want-the-free-college-for-all-dream

ENERGY - US Consumer Support For Clean Energy At Highest Level Since 2010

Consumer attitudes toward clean energy technologies in America rebounded strongly in 2013 to reach their highest levels since 2010, countering several years of declines in favorability ratings between 2009-2012.This good news comes from Navigant Research’s 2013 Energy and Environment Consumer Survey, and indicates clean tech may finally be established as a preferred option for consumers despite high-profile conservative attacks.Overall supp .. ...

http://cleantechnica.com/2014/01/06/us-consumer-support-for-

FASHION - New year fashion resolutions – a three-step guide

Deciding to wear clothes simply because they are 'on trend' does no one any good. If you want to revamp your look, here are some more advisable style resolutionsNew year, new me! What should my fashion resolutions for 2014 be?MB, by email"New year, new me"? Are you actually a person, MB, or some kind of an automated newspaper headline generator that spews out, spambot-like, phrases such as "exclusive access", "explosive interview" and, indeed, "n ...

http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/jan/06/new-year-fash
Enclosure: image/jpeg http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2

GARDENS - Join Your Local CSA & Get Farm Fresh Food

"When you join a CSA [Community Supported Agriculture], there's always a bounty of fresh and local veggies awaiting your enjoyment. CSAs are a guaranteed way to bring more veggies into your family's diet, but they are much more than that. CSAs keep money in the local economy, help farmers share the gamble they take while working with Mother Nature, and are a way that you can enjoy the freshest, most seasonal produce around. .. ...
http://www.good.is/posts/join-a-csa-and-get-your-produce-str

HOMES - INTERVIEW: We Chat With 16 Year Old Tiny House Builder Austin Hay

Read the rest of INTERVIEW: We Chat With 16 Year Old Tiny House Builder Austin HayPermalink |Add todel.icio.us | diggPost tags: "sustainable architecture", 16 year old, 16 year old tiny house builder, Architecture, austin hay, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, small space living, student project, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, tiny house, tiny house movement, tumbleweed houses, tumbleweed tiny house .. ...

http://inhabitat.com/interview-we-chat-with-16-year-old-tiny

MOVIES - 65 Science Fiction and Fantasy Movies to Watch out for in 2014

This will be a year of epics. Some of our most ambitious movie-makers are serving up stories of Biblical apocalypses, space voyages and the rise of artificial intelligences. Godzilla and the Planet of the Apes are both back. And the superhero genre gets pushed to its absolute limits. Here are 65 movies that could rock your universe this year.

http://io9.com/65-science-fiction-and-fantasy-movies-to-watc

MOVIES - The short film "Symmetry" is an audio/visual palindrome

This is "Symmetry," a clever seven-minute short by filmmaker Yann Pineill. As its title suggests, the first and second halves of the film are mirror images of one another – a creative decision that must have required considerable planning to be pulled off as seamlessly as it is here.. ...

http://io9.com/the-short-film-symmetry-is-an-audio-visual-pa

MOVIES - Will Smith: 'Every man needs an Uncle Phil'

Will Smith, who starred on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" with the late actor James Avery, remembered his co-star Monday on Facebook.More than a million Facebook users liked Smith's remembrance, and tens of thousands shared it and commented on it.
http://www.today.com/entertainment/will-smith-every-man-need

MUSIC - Use dry ice to make a sound lens for your ears

I love finding new things to do with dry ice! We know that we can explode things with it, but once the pleasure from that fades, or if you need a temporary break, just grab a balloon, and make a sound lens. .

http://io9.com/use-dry-ice-to-make-a-sound-lens-for-your-ear

PEOPLE - Salman Khan, The Most Influential Person In Education Technology

I have had the good fortune of speaking with good number of the leaders in education technology today. Since so many of these players have emerged from academe, the competition between companies is fierce certainly, but there is also a collegial willingness to acknowledge the successes of other companies. In the case of non-profits like edX, CEO Anant Agarawal says, the more companies that enter this space the merrier. (Stay tuned for my intervie ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterhigh/2014/01/06/salman-khan

SCIENCE - Physicists Search For Tweets From Time Travelers

If we were visited by time travelers in the past year, there's a chance they might have taken time out to tweet. At least that's the hope of physicists at Michigan Tech .. ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2014/01/05/physicists-s

SCIENCE - RAMBO a small but powerful magnet: System allows high-magnetic-field experiments on a tabletop

Researchers have pioneered a tabletop magnetic pulse generator that allows researchers to collect real-time, high-resolution data in a system that couples high magnetic fields and low temperature with direct optical access to the magnet's core .. ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140106160045.ht

SPACE - Kepler provides insight about enigmatic but ubiquitous planets, five new rocky planets

(Phys.org) —More than three-quarters of the planet candidates discovered by NASA's Kepler spacecraft have sizes ranging from that of Earth to that of Neptune, which is nearly four times as big as Earth. Such planets dominate the galactic census but are not represented in our own solar system. Astronomers don't know how they form or if they are made of rock, water or gas .. ...
http://phys.org/news/2014-01-kepler-insight-enigmatic-ubiqui

SPACE - Newfound planet is Earth-mass but gassy

An international team of astronomers has discovered the first Earth-mass planet that transits, or crosses in front of, its host star. KOI-314c is the lightest planet to have both its mass and physical size measured. Surprisingly, although the planet weighs the same as Earth, it is 60 percent larger in diameter, meaning that it must have a very thick, gaseous atmosphere .. ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140106160035.ht

SUSTAINABILITY - Sustainable Clothing Company Feeds the Hungry with Every Sale

If you’re looking to upgrade your wardrobe, and you want to buy your clothes from a sustainable clothing company that’s not only making their apparel from organic fabrics, but is supporting the flagging US apparel industry, as well as feeding the hungry with every sale, then Fed by Threads should be your next stop.“Fed By Threads set out to inspire change & get us back to the roots of what America stands for: generosity, community, feeding th ...

http://ecopreneurist.com/2014/01/06/sustainable-clothing-com

SUSTAINABILITY - Urban Rough Sleeper: Expandable backpack shelter for the homeless

Compact and versatile, this shelter-in-a-backpack can store things too, and is geared toward both campers and those who live on the streets .. ...

http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/ragnhil

URBAN - Another Apartment’s Long Window House Takes a Unique Approach to Privacy in Overcrowded Tokyo

Read the rest of Another Apartment’s Long Window House Takes a Unique Approach to Privacy in Overcrowded TokyoPermalink |Add todel.icio.us | diggPost tags: Another Apartment, full-height sliding window, hidden sink, Long Window House, micro house in Tokyo, multi-purpose residential room, privacy house in Tokyo, sliding partition room, Tsuyoshi Kobayash .. ...

http://inhabitat.com/another-apartments-long-window-house-ta

URBAN - Christopher Megowan’s Convertible Courtyards House Acts Like a Chameleon in Melbourne, Australia

Read the rest of Christopher Megowan’s Convertible Courtyards House Acts Like a Chameleon in Melbourne, AustraliaPermalink |Add todel.icio.us | diggPost tags: architectural extensions, Australian architects, Christopher Megowan, Christopher Megowan Melbourne, Convertible Courtyards House, daylit homes Melbourne, gray water, kinetic architecture, Melbourne architecture, natural lighting, Prefab Homes, Prefab Housing, rainwater harvesting,

http://inhabitat.com/christopher-megowans-convertible-courty

URBAN - Nautical-Inspired Villa Resembles Contemporary Boat Docked on Land

Read the rest of Nautical-Inspired Villa Resembles Contemporary Boat Docked on LandPermalink |Add todel.icio.us | diggPost tags: contemporary villa, Ljubno ob Savinji, Piranesi Award, rheinzink, social spaces, superform, Through the Deck into Life, timber house, timber vill .. ...

http://inhabitat.com/nautical-inspired-villa-resembles-conte

URBAN - Registration for the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative Design Competition Opens in Copenhagen

The 2014 edition of the Land Art Generator Initiative Design Competition, which will take place in Copenhagen this year, is officially open for submissions. The international design competition seeks to promote sustainable design by incorporating public art works into renewable energy-generating infrastructure in cities eager to implement “utility-scale clean energy generation”.Read the rest of Registration for the 2014 Land Art Generator

http://inhabitat.com/registration-for-the-2014-land-art-gene

WIND - UK Wind Energy Sector Smashed Power Generation Record In December 2013

UK’s wind energy sector saw a number of power generation records broken in December 2013. The country’s wind energy projects generated more electricity in December than in any month before that, breaking the previous generation record of October 2013.Credit: United Nations Photo | CC BY-NC-ND 2.0According to the data released by trade association RenewableUK, 2,841,080 MWh electricity was generated by wind energy projects in December,

http://cleantechnica.com/2014/01/05/uk-wind-energy-sector-sm

WIND - UK sets new all-time wind power record in December with 2,841,080 megawatt-hours, 10% of total

A bunch of UK wind power records fell in December 2013, showing that the country is well on its way increasing the amount of electricity that it gets from clean sources .. ...

http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/uk-sets-new-all-t

WORK - 2014 30 Under 30: Energy & Industry

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mef45edded/jamail-larkins-29/

WRITE - Six Ways To Be An Amazing Public Speaker

A veteran speaker shares his tips for developing you own, memorable, speaking style .. ...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2014/01/06/six-wa