Archive for July 3rd, 2014

More people, less water mean rising food imports for Egypt

Reuters: In the northwest corner of the Nile Delta, Ibrahim Sharaf Al-Dein fires up his diesel-powered pump next to a murky canal only to watch it spew out a yellowish froth. For the past 15 years, antiquated irrigation systems and a government conservation drive have kept many farmers from nutrient-rich Nile waters, forcing them to tap sewage-filled canals despite their proximity to the world's longest river. "This water ruins our pumps, it breaks our machines, it's bad for our production," Sharaf Al-Dein,...

Ancient ice sheet may have melted later than previously thought

PhysOrg: After one of the snowiest winters in recent history, William Philipps will forego the beach to spend the summer studying glaciers at the world's northernmost university. The University at Buffalo geology graduate student and self-proclaimed "nerd who likes rocks" will travel to the University Centre on Svalbard (UNIS) in Norway to collect data that proves the Svalbard-Barents Sea Ice-Sheet's (SBSIS) time of deglaciation - the point when the ice began to melt - is older than its suggested age of...