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Archive for May, 2013
Arkansans Sue Exxon Over Dilbit Spill, Citing Negligence
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 30th, 2013
Associated Press: Dozens of residents and property owners are suing ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. two months after a pipeline ruptured and spilled thousands of barrels of oil in the central Arkansas city of Mayflower. Attorneys for a number of residents and property owners filed the lawsuit in Faulkner County on Tuesday seeking damages after the Exxon Mobil Corp. unit's Pegasus pipeline ruptured March 29 and spilled the oil in Mayflower. Shawn Daniels, one of the lawyers for the residents and property owners, said Wednesday...
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Comments Off on Arkansans Sue Exxon Over Dilbit Spill, Citing NegligenceGM salmon can breed with wild fish and harm ecosystem, warns study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 29th, 2013
Independent: Genetically modified salmon could escape into the wild with devastating consequences for the ecosystem, a new study has warned.
Researchers from Canada say that there is a risk of GM salmon mating with the closely-related brown trout species to produce a hybrid fish. GM salmon grow faster than normal salmon and scientists observed that their hybrid offspring grow even faster allowing them to out-compete existing species for food.
In a mocked-up stream in the laboratory the GM offspring took...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on GM salmon can breed with wild fish and harm ecosystem, warns studyGM ‘hybrid’ fish pose threat to natural populations, scientists warn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 29th, 2013
Guardian: The offspring of genetically modified salmon and wild brown trout are even faster growing and more competitive than either of their parents, a new study has revealed, increasing fears that GM animals escaping into the wild could harm natural populations.
The aggressive hybrids suppressed the growth of GM salmon by 82% and wild salmon by 54% when all competed for food in a simulated stream.
"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of environmental impacts of hybridisation...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on GM ‘hybrid’ fish pose threat to natural populations, scientists warnWhy wealthy tech entrepreneurs are pouring their money into water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 29th, 2013
Guardian: What happens when you mix 40 technology entrepreneurs, a charity visionary and a week-long field trip where many of the group will see their donated dollars at work? Hopefully great things.
From Old Street to the world: McLoughlin spotted a child in the Ethiopian village of Mekele wearing a 'Silicon Roundabout' t-shirt
I'm writing this hours after having flown back from Mekele, a town in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. I recently spent a full week with members of the charity: water...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Why wealthy tech entrepreneurs are pouring their money into waterTiny but feisty prehistoric wesserpeton amphibian discovered
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 29th, 2013
Independent: A tiny but feisty species of amphibian that lived in the shadows of dinosaurs has been discovered by scientists.
The discovery of the wesserpeton fills a gap in the evolutionary history of a now-extinct group, the albanerpetontids, according to researchers at the University of Portsmouth.
The amphibian, nicknamed "Wessie", was about the size of a small, modern-day newt and unlike most amphibians, albanerpetontids had a scaly skin and eyelids, showing that they spent most of their time on land....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tiny but feisty prehistoric wesserpeton amphibian discoveredScientists Discover Rip Van Winkle Of The Plant World
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 29th, 2013
National Public Radio: Nothing lives forever, but bryophytes come close. Scientists have found a kind of plant in the Canadian Arctic that started growing again after being buried under a glacier for 400 years
GM salmon can breed with trout and harm ecosystem, warn scientists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 29th, 2013
Telegraph: The researchers fear that plans to farm a new type of GM salmon that grows faster than normal salmon may result in some of the animals escaping into streams and rivers.
They conducted a study to examine the impacts that such an escape would have on natural habitats.
They found that the GM salmon, which have been developed by a Canada firm and are expected to be given approval for sale as food in the US, could mate with wild brown trout.
This resulted in a "hybrid' species that grew faster...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on GM salmon can breed with trout and harm ecosystem, warn scientistsGM salmon can breed with wild fish
Posted by BBC: Rebecca Morelle on May 29th, 2013
BBC: The potential risks of genetically modified fish escaping into the wild have been highlighted in a new study.
Scientists from Canada have found that transgenic Atlantic salmon can cross-breed with a closely related species - the brown trout.
The fish, which have been engineered with extra genes to make them grow more quickly, pass on this trait to the hybrid offspring.
The research is published the Proceedings of the Royal Society B..
However, the biotech company AquaBounty, which created...
Ancient plants reawaken: Plants exposed by retreating glaciers regrowing after centuries entom
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 29th, 2013
ScienceDaily: When University of Alberta researcher Catherine La Farge threads her way through the recently exposed terrain left behind by retreating glaciers, she looks at the ancient plant remains a lot closer than most. Now, her careful scrutiny has revealed a startling reawakening of long-dormant plants known as bryophytes. La Farge, a researcher in the Faculty of Science, and director and curator of the Cryptogamic Herbarium at the University of Alberta, has overturned a long-held assumption that all of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Ancient plants reawaken: Plants exposed by retreating glaciers regrowing after centuries entomNatural Gas Export Plan Unites Oregon Landowners Against It
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2013
National Public Radio: A radical shift in the world energy picture is raising environmental concerns in the United States. Until recently, the U.S. had been expected to import more natural gas. But now, because of controversial technologies like "fracking," drillers are producing a lot more domestic natural gas; so much that prices are down along with industry profits. And drillers are looking overseas for new customers. Whether the United States should export some of its newly abundant supplies of natural gas is a controversial...
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