More than hundred dolphins beached in Cape Cod baffle scientists

Animal rescuers are working to save more than a hundred common dolphins beached off Cape Cod, Mass., since January 12. Marine scientists have been unable to explain the recent pattern of dolphins being washed ashore.

The recent beachings have been described as the largest single-species stranding ever in that part of the U.S. According to Daily Mail, of 116 common dolphins that beached on Cape Cod since January 12, three died on Friday, bringing the total number of deaths to 84. CNN reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had reported that 81 dolphins died at Cape Cod in the series of strandings that began last month. According to ABC News, hundreds of volunteers are working to save the dolphins by releasing them into deep water. CNN says the animals are transported by trailer, after they have been tagged, to an outer Cape Cod coast where they are released. The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has rescued 31 dolphins and attached satellite tags to them to track their movements. According to Brian Sharp, an IFAW official: “Right now we’re at around 66 percent. We release them off beaches where it gets deep quite quickly. From all these signs that we’ve seen from this event, the satellite tags look very good. We had a pregnant female dolphin that we were able to release. We began doing our health exam and sure enough we discovered that the dolphin was pregnant with probably a third trimester calf.” This season is usually the period in which strandings peak near Cape Cod but the number of strandings this year is far beyond the usual pattern over 12 years. There has been a spike in the number of strandings this year and marine experts have been left guessing the cause of the upsurge.

Read More:

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/319045#ixzz1lkjgXAfY

András Székács and Béla Darvas - Forty Years with Glyphosate

EXTRACT:

6. Adverse environmental effects of glyphosate

6.1 Glyphosate and Fusarium species

Sanogo and co-workers (2000) observed that crop loss in soy due to infestation by Fusarium solani f. sp. glycines increased after glyphosate applications. 

Kremer and co-workers (2005) described a stimulating effect of the root exsudate of GR soy sampled after glyphosate application on the growth of Fusarium sp. strains. Treatments caused concentration dependent increase on the mycelium mass of the fungus. Nonetheless, Powel and Swanton (2008) could not confirm these observations in their field study. 

Kremer and Means (2009) claim that certain fungi utilise glyphosate released from plant roots into the soil as a nutritive, which facilitates their growth. Soil manganese content also affects the above consequence of glyphosate through chelating with the compound and thus, modifying its effects. Considering the fact that numerous plant pathogenic Fusarium species produce mycotoxins, an increasing proportion of these species is far not favourable as a side-effect.András Székács and Béla Darvas - Forty Years with Glyphosate

Read More:

http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/forty-years-with-glyphosate

Space Daily - First ever direct measurement of the Earth's rotation

by Staff Writers, Space Daily
Munich, Germany (SPX) Dec 28, 2011

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/First_ever_direct_measurement_of_the_Earths_rotation_999.html

The Earth wobbles. Like a spinning top touched in mid-spin, its rotational axis fluctuates in relation to space. This is partly caused by gravitation from the sun and the moon. At the same time, the Earth's rotational axis constantly changes relative to the Earth's surface. On the one hand, this is caused by variation in atmospheric pressure, ocean loading and wind.

These elements combine in an effect known as the Chandler wobble to create polar motion. Named after the scientist who discovered it, this phenomenon has a period of around 435 days. On the other hand, an event known as the "annual wobble" causes the rotational axis to move over a period of a year.

This is due to the Earth's elliptical orbit around the sun. These two effects cause the Earth's axis to migrate irregularly along a circular path with a radius of up to six meters.

Capturing these movements is crucial to create a reliable coordinate system that can feed navigation systems or project trajectory paths in space travel.

Click to read more ...

ScienceDaily - Less Knowledge, More Power: Uninformed Can Be Vital to Democracy, Study Finds

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215141621.htm

ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2011) — Contrary to the ideal of a completely engaged electorate, individuals who have the least interest in a specific outcome can actually be vital to achieving a democratic consensus. These individuals dilute the influence of powerful minority factions who would otherwise dominate everyone else, according to new research published in the journal Science.

A Princeton University-based research team reports Dec. 16 that this finding -- based on group decision-making experiments on fish, as well as mathematical models and computer simulations -- can ultimately provide insights into humans' political behavior.

The researchers report that in animal groups, uninformed individuals -- as in those with no prior knowledge or strong feelings on a situation's outcome -- tend to side with and embolden the numerical majority. Relating the results to human political activity, the study challenges the common notion that an outspoken minority can manipulate uncommitted voters.

"The classic view is that uninformed or uncommitted individuals may allow extreme views to proliferate. We found that might not be the case," said lead author Iain Couzin, a Princeton assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. He and his co-authors found that even a small population of indifferent individuals act as a counterbalance to the minority -- whose passion even can cause informed individuals in the majority to waver -- and restore majority rule.

Click to read more ...

Vandana Shiva - The Anthropocene Age

Eco Watch   11-30-2011

Dr. Vandana Shiva

http://ecowatch.org/2011/the-anthropocene-age-humanity%E2%80%99s-choice-to-be-destructive-or-creative/

We have moved out of the Holocene Age that began 10,000 years ago at the end of the Pleistocene. It comes from the greek words “holos” (whole) and “kainos” (new). This age provided the stable climate which gave us the conditions for our culture and material evolution as a human species.

Scientists are now saying we have entered a new age, the Anthropocene age, the age in which our species, the human, is becoming the most significant force on the planet. Current climate change and species extinction are driven by human activities and the very large ecological footprint of our species.

Climate catastrophes and extreme climate events are already taking lives—the floods in Thailand in 2011, in Pakistan and Ladakh in 2010, the forest fires in Russia, more frequent and intense cyclones and hurricanes, severe droughts and intense flooding are examples of how humans have destabilized the climate system of our self-regulated planet which has given us a stable climate for the past 10000 years. Humans have pushed 75 percent agricultural biodiversity to extinction because of industrial farming. Between 3 to 300 species are being pushed to extinction every day.

Click to read more ...

World Net Daily - $2 trillion sunstorm coming, NASA warns - Recovery time period estimated at 10 years

World Net Daily: December 04, 2011

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=373629

Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted fromJoseph Farah's G2 Bulletin,the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. is becoming increasingly aware and concerned about the possibility within a few years of an electromagnetic pulse attack from an enemy's high-altitude nuclear explosion. The impact would include the loss of critical U.S. electrical infrastructure that could send the nation back into an 18th century agrarian economy, according to a report fromJoseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

But experts have warned that such an attack could produce conditions more difficult than the 18th century due to the considerable increase in population and the total reliance by society on electricity and technology for life-sustaining factors, such as food production and delivery. Also hit would be transportation, medical and emergency services, telecommunications, and the economic and financial system.

Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, in a nationally televised presidential debate, recently declared that the potential for an EMP attack is perhaps the most serious national security threat facing the United States today.

Click to read more ...

Eurekalert.org - UN overhaul required to govern planet's life support system: Experts

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/essp-uor112111.php
Earth System Science Partnership 

Needed to avert environmental disaster, reform of international organizations at scale rivalling post-WW II era

		IMAGE: This is the cover of one of five policy briefs issued today by the Earth System Science Partnership. Click here for more information.

Reducing the risk of potential global environmental disaster requires a "constitutional moment" comparable in scale and importance to the reform of international governance that followed World War II, say experts preparing the largest scientific conference leading up to next June's Rio+20 Earth Summit.

Stark increases in natural disasters, food and water security problems and biodiversity loss are just part of the evidence that humanity may be crossing planetary boundaries and approaching dangerous tipping points. An effective environmental governance system needs to be instituted soon, according to independent experts commissioned by organizers of the huge “Planet Under Pressure” conference in London March 26-29, 2012.

As policy-makers gather in Durban, South Africa, for the 17th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Planet Under Pressure consortium today released the first five of nine policy briefs on key issues. The briefs deal with biodiversity and ecosystem services, food and water security, interconnected risks and solutions, and a topic common to all: reforming environmental governance from the local to the global level.

Click to read more ...