Archive for the 'World' Category
Tropical Forests Recover From Clear-Cutting
• March, 2009Tropical Forests Recover From Clear-Cutting Emily Sohn, Discovery News Deforestation is generally considered to be bad news, especially in the tropics. But there may be some hope: In many places, trees are growing back, according to new research, and some of the new forests are nearly as diverse as the old ones were. The work adds to a growing sense that tropical forests are more resilient than scientists previously thought and that second-growth forests are far from worthless.
Children forced into cell-like school seclusion rooms
• March, 2009Children forced into cell-like school seclusion rooms MURRAYVILLE, Georgia (CNN) December 17, 2008 A few weeks before 13-year-old Jonathan King killed himself, he told his parents that his teachers had put him in “time-out.” “We thought that meant go sit in the corner and be quiet for a few minutes,” Tina King said, tears washing her face as she remembered the child she called “our baby … a good kid.” But time-out in the boy’s north Georgia special education school was spent in something akin…
Earth’s Cracks May Contribute to Global Warming
• March, 2009Earth’s Cracks May Contribute to Global Warming Michael Reilly, Discovery News Whether devastating faults, dank caves or mud cracks on a drying desert plain, Earth’s surface is riddled with fractures. Now a new study had found that the cracks exhale large quantities of gas, perhaps enough to affect global warming. Noam Weisbrod of Ben Gurion University of the Negev and a team of researchers monitored a crack about 2 meters long (6.5 feet) and 1 meter (3.3 feet) deep for two years in the Negev…
British and French nuclear subs crash
• March, 2009British and French nuclear subs crash By TOM NEWTON DUNN Defence Editor Published: 16 Feb 2009 BRITISH and French nuclear submarines which collided deep under the Atlantic could have sunk or released deadly radioactivity, it emerged last night. The Royal Navy’s HMS Vanguard and the French Navy’s Le Triomphant are both nuclear powered and were carrying nuke missiles. Between them they had around 250 sailors on board. Calls have today been made for an urgent inquiry in to the international incident. A senior Navy source…
British diplomats to visit detainee at Guantanamo
• February, 2009British diplomats to visit detainee at Guantanamo LONDON (Reuters) British officials are en route to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay to visit Binyam Mohamed, a British resident who has been held there for five years, the Foreign Office (FCO) said on Saturday. “The visit will make preparations for his return, should the ongoing U.S. review into Guantanamo Bay detainees confirm a decision to release him,” an FCO statement said. “The team includes a doctor, who would take part in any return, so that he…
30 Mummies Found in 2,600-Year-Old Tomb
• February, 200930 Mummies Found in 2,600-Year-Old Tomb By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer Feb. 9, 2009 A storeroom housing about two dozen ancient Egyptian mummies has been unearthed inside a 2,600-year-old tomb during the latest round of excavations at the vast necropolis of Saqqara south of Cairo, archaeologists said Monday. The tomb was located at the bottom of a 36-foot deep shaft, said Egypt’s top archaeologist, Zahi Hawass . Twenty-two mummies were found in niches along the tomb’s walls, he said. Eight sarcophagi were also found…
HIV Mutates to Death With New Drug
• February, 2009HIV Mutates to Death With New Drug Eric Bland, Discovery News Feb 9 2009 HIV is notorious for its ability to mutate and evade drugs designed to destroy it. Now scientists are testing a new drug that actually speeds up that rate of change in the hope that the deadly virus will mutate itself to death. “The HIV virus is so dependent on mutation that it really lives on the edge of existence,” said John Reno, Chief Operating Officer for Koronis Pharmaceuticals, the company developing…
Toyota to launch pure electric car in U.S. by 2012
• February, 2009Toyota to launch pure electric car in U.S. by 2012 By Chang-Ran Kim, Asia autos correspondent DETROIT (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said it would launch an all-electric car for city commuting by 2012 in the United States as part of its plan to speed up the introduction of green cars as its global sales falter. The FT-EV concept made its debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit Sunday, where the world’s top automaker is also unveiling two new gasoline-electric hybrid…
Google quietly declares email war on Yahoo
• February, 2009Google quietly declares email war on Yahoo By Jennifer Martinez and David Lawsky Many people have sent an email while angry, exhausted, inebriated or just by mistake that they later regretted. Now, Google has a way to help protect you (and others) from such a faux pas. As part of its quest to attract users to its Gmail service, the Internet search company has introduced dozens of features, including one that, after a certain time, makes a user solve a math problem before sending an…
U.S. judges admit to jailing children for money
• February, 2009U.S. judges admit to jailing children for money By Jon Hurdle 12 Feb, 2009 Two judges pleaded guilty on Thursday to accepting more than $2.6 million from a private youth detention center in Pennsylvania in return for giving hundreds of youths and teenagers long sentences. Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan of the Court of Common Pleas in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, entered plea agreements in federal court in Scranton admitting that they took payoffs from PA Childcare and a sister company, Western PA Childcare, between…
Google Earth dives under the sea
• February, 2009Google Earth “Beneath the Surface” BBC Google has lifted the lid on its first major upgrade to its global mapping software, Google Earth. Google Ocean expands this map to include large swathes of the ocean floor and abyssal plain. Users can dive beneath a dynamic water surface to explore the 3D sea floor terrain. The map also includes 20 content layers, containing information from the world’s leading scientists, researchers, and ocean explorers. Al Gore was at the launch event in San Francisco which, Google hopes,…
Israël vs Hamas: New weapons used against demonstrators
• February, 2009West Bank: New weapons used against demonstrators Since the start of the massacre on Gaza (27 December 2009), the Israeli army has been testing new types of weapons in several villages around West Bank. There are two new types of bullets and one new type of teargas canister.
Coffee Could Fuel You, and Your Car
• February, 2009Coffee Could Fuel You, and Your Car Emily Sohn, Discovery News Coffee can do more than just fuel you through an afternoon slump. It might also power your car. That’s the idea behind a new study that turned used coffee grounds into biodiesel fuel. Coffee will probably never replace petroleum, but discarded cappuccino scraps might someday help reduce our impact on the environment, say the study’s authors. They imagine a day when the byproducts of your latte end up in the gas tank of your…