ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE

Could Water Have Changed the Face of Mars, or Is the Habitability Question too Much to Bare?

While some parts of the nation are fighting Winter storms of snow and sleet, eyes this week are o water of the liquid variety. And more specifically, researchers and reporters are looking towards the molecule’s importance in developing life, as well as its origins story too. News this week of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta Mission, revealed a recently published study reporting that the sustenance of our Earth and of all life, water, may in fact have not originated on comets from the Kuiper Belt as once believed. And what’s more, now that researchers have debunked false origin stories of the miracle molecule, they’re now beginning to question whether water alone can make a planet habitable for life, or if there are other mitigating conditions as well.

Can A Peripheral Anomaly Cause Hummingbirds to Crash?

For decades now, man has modeled their methods of flight from the majestic bird species that have conquered the skies. But what if there’s a glitch in birds’ programming that remains hidden in the secrets of aviation?

More Seafloor Methane Released Into the Pacific Ocean

Increased Seafloor Methane Released Into the Pacific Ocean Water at intermediate depths is observed to be warming up as seafloor methane released into the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate, a recent study found.

How Small Farmers May Make a Mark on the Climate Issues Facing Earth

As a small farm owner, many may feel that their impact as an individual dwarfs in comparison to corporate America, where large conglomerates rule. But in the view of nature, all individuals are equal when it comes to changing the face of our Earth, and small farmers are finding that together their unified voices and actions may help create a better climate for tomorrow.

What’s Happening to All Our Giraffes? The Disappearing Species Faces Silent Extinction

In what perhaps may be the most shocking upset in the news this week, ecologist revealed last Friday, Dec. 5, that giraffes may be headed towards extinction – and it’s in part due to a lack of awareness of dangers facing the African species. While contemporary studies in Africa’s central savannahs have revealed the collected threats that human encroachment , habitat loss and black market poaching has posed to wildlife communities, researchers say that giraffes are amongst some of the hardest hit populations in the long list of black market species. And without significant change in the way giraffes are protected, they may disappear all together within a matter years.

Dwindling Ice in Antarctica Spurs Questions Over Climate Change and The Point of No Return

As impending threats of “climate change” and “ecological disaster” have loomed over international affairs this year, to the point that even the United Nations spearheaded a campaign and led a summit to discuss future changes that may amend for some of humanity’s grave mistakes, new research published this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters looks to a place much colder than our metropolises for evidence of a rapidly shifting climate.

NATURE Says Mammals Developed 3D Neural Compass to Better Navigate Terrain

Ever wonder how you could lose your way on the freeway, and still find your destination without Google Maps or MapQuest as an aid? Or how a dog with an attention span of only mere minutes can recall the path least travelled, and find its way home, in spite of the baffling sounds and smells around it? Well as it so happens, researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel believe that new research reveals that mammals have developed an internal compass that guides our way. And it’s not just dogs and humans that have evolved the nifty trick deep within the brain.

Violent Californian Subculture Faces Bans as Advocates Stand Up for Coyotes

While California may be one of the most progressive states in terms of animal rights, there’s a subculture that exists within the Western state where marksmen find that wildlife is their main target. Organized coyote hunts, where legal, are sparking a clash between wildlife advocates and anti-coyote interest groups, and marksmen are making money off of the deaths of these key landscape species.

While Some Researchers Find Brains Who can Navigate, Others Just Can’t Find Theirs

News early this morning broke courtesy of a study in the journal Nature, where researchers finally discovered how brains intrinsically can navigate the body, by using what they call a “3-D neural compass”. The study conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel investigated the Egyptian fruit bat and revealed a toroidal shaped grouping of neural cells within the brain that helped the bats differentiate their orientation and the place in a 3-dimensional field.

Earth’s Warm Streak Could Peak in a Decade, If Policymakers Don’t Change

Speed up the models and cut down on your carbon footprints, because a bit of change today could spell better weather and a better Earth only a decade away. While climatologists and researchers across all of science have in recent years discussed the long-term goals of climate change and the effects of carbon emissions, a new study published today, Dec. 2, in the journal Environmental Research Letters reveals that reductions in carbon emissions today will help shape the planet’s atmosphere in as little as 10 years, versus the 30 to 50 year models used by researchers and policymakers until now.

What Drives Monkeys to Drink—The Fruit-Filled Tale Of Why We Imbibe

As a child, alcoholism was something that surrounded evolutionary physiologist Robert Dudley from the University of California Berkeley. Watching first-hand as his father descended into the addictive disease, Dudley’s first fascinations as a scientist were with what predispositions led to humans’ strong attraction to the intoxicating libations.

Wintry Weather Brings Delays for Travelers Heading Home for Turkey Day

If you were expecting your relatives to arrive this morning on the Red-Eye, you may have been disappointed to hear that just like your relatives, you’ll likely be stuck at the airport most of this Turkey Day. As it happens, winter has set in this Thanksgiving, and while it’s a bit early for snow and storms of this magnitude, America has seen hundreds of delays today when airports are at their peaks.
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