Drought in California: before and after

In January, when half the world was trying to survive floods and rainstorms, California decreed a State of emergency for the reasons against. The drought has led the State's water reserves to historic lows â€" less than 35%, when last October were the 75%.

Last week, the rain returned â€" torrential, actually â€" but was insufficient to restore water levels to normal.

The photos published in this article were provided by the California Department of Water Resources, and show how the water will probably be the most scarce of that State in the near future.

While Europe and part of America tries to control the floods and rain, the State of the American West struggle against drought. This is the world in which (increasingly) live.

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House renovated New Yorker has giant wall with vertical garden

A house in the neighborhood of Cobble Hill, Brooklyn District of the American city of New York, has a rental price that reaches € 18 000 per month. Despite the price, the exurbitante property, with four bedrooms and five bathrooms, was renovated with a new giant wall that has a vertical garden, referred to Inhabitat.

The exterior of the House is reminiscent of any other property of the traditional neighborhood of Cobble Hill. However, within the housing can be seen a space with clean and contemporary finishes, as well as large ceilings.

The former commercial property is located in a residential block and was rebuilt with plenty of room, a skylight and even an elevator. The four-storey house has floor to ceiling Windows, plenty of natural light and a living green wall that is professionally maintained and irrigated. The House also has a garage for a car, a major Studio and a landscaped garden.

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As the cold of Covilhã will help PT to be more sustainable (with video)

Strategically located in the city of Covilhã, the coldest of Portugal, the new data center-data center or â€" Portugal Telecom impresses with its design. But it's in your technological investment and avant-gardism in sustainability that it becomes more interesting for the Portuguese technological.

"This is a new generation data center, complying with industry best practices on a global scale," explained to the green economy responsible for the infrastructure, Michael Graves.

Situated just outside of Covilhã, with serra in sight, this is the largest data center of Europe and will enable the UK reduce their energy bill in 40%, a savings that could be reflected in a most competitive price in the offer of services.

"Unlike our homes, we need to stay warm in winter and cool in the summer, a data center the need is always cooling," said Michael Graves. "In Covilhã 's cold, and the goal is to take what mother nature offers us here, cold air. Instead of using the air conditioners for cooling, use this cold air for cooling and air-conditioning in the computers. "

The technological megacubo stands in the middle of a reflecting pool, which was thought to store all the rainwater. There are still several deposits of cold air, which aim to cool the environment.

Data centers have to operate with temperatures between the 18th and the 27th, which is why the Covilhã turns out to be an excellent choice for this infrastructure. Opened in September last, the data center has more than 1,600 photovoltaic panels, with 75% of the supply of energy is from renewable sources.

See the episode 213 of the green economy â€" lucky for PT.

Foto: Jsome1/Creative Commons

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The abandoned military equipment factory in Ukraine

The political, social and economic instability of Ukraine is today probably the most relevant subject of the world agenda. As the news emerge, the world gets to know a little better, this former Soviet, and their desperate struggle to emancipate â€" still â€" of its influential giant neighbor.

With tensions spreading in the Crimea, was in Kharkiv, 30 kilometres from the border with Russia, which the photographer Pavel Itkin, only 18 years, found a real military tanks cemetery â€" more than 400.

This military warehouse, until now secret, was "eerily deserted" last week, when Pavel managed to sneak in. The young Ukrainian looking for this place for months, after receiving a tip from a friend, but only now managed to find him.

The vehicles here are fried and the factory, once powerful, is automatically closed. The warehouse has tanks of years 60 and 70. "I searched this site for months. I received a tip from a friend and I realized it was a great place to take pictures. The area should be kept, but no one was there when I arrived. I was lucky, "explained the young.

During its heyday, between 60 and 70, the Kharkiv factory repaired more than 60 tanks and 55 engines per month. Despite the production having fallen enough after the fall of the former Soviet Union, in 1991, the factory never closed officially.

What will be the impact of this military cemetery in the environment of the region? See some of the pictures.

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How do you start a controlled avalanche?

The avalanche control is the process of using explosives to, as its name makes clear, the trigger. The aim is to increase the safety of skiers and climbers, among others.

In Stevens Pass, Washington, responsible for controlling avalanches decided was time to act once, in less than two weeks, the mountain have won 3.3 feet of snow.

The explosives reached the mountain via helicopter, having so commenced the awful avalanche.

After calculating and initiating a controlled avalanche, these responsible filmed the process. See it here.

If she had formed naturally, who was around wouldn't survive to tell the tale, most likely.

. fancybox-wrap {position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; z-index: 8020; }. fancybox-skin {position: relative; /* margin-top: 20px! important; */background: #222222; color: #74b32e; text-shadow: none; -webkit-border-radius: 2px; -moz-border-radius: 2px; border-radius: 2px; }. fancybox-opened {z-index: 8030;} . fancybox-opened. fancybox-skin {-webkit-box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.5); -moz-box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.5); box-shadow: 0 10px 25px rgba (0, 0, 0, 0.5); }. fancybox-outer,. fancybox-inner {position: relative;} . fancybox-inner {overflow: hidden;} . fancybox-type-iframe. fancybox-inner {-webkit-overflow-scrolling: touch;} . fancybox-close {background: url('wp-content/themes/codistage/styles/fancybox/exit.png') no-repeat; width: 25px; height: 25px; float: right; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 5px; }/*. ng-gallery-image img {width: 565px; height: 393px;}*/Uma avalanche controlada1of 16jQuery (document). ready (function ($) {var thumbContainerWidth = 0, thumbs = Array (), selectedIndex = 1, thumbIndex = 1, imageOffset = 7; $ ('. ng-gallery-thumbnail-box '). each (function () {thumbs.push($(this)); }); /* thumbnail navigation */$ ('. ng-greensavers-thumb-next '). unbind (). bind (' click ', function (e) {e.preventDefault(); if (thumbIndex< == (thumbs.length-imageOffset)) {$ ('. ng-thumbnails-container '). stop (). animate ({left:-$ (thumbs [thumbIndex]). position (). left}); thumbIndex + +; } }); $ ('. ng-greensavers-thumb-prev '). unbind (). bind (' click ', function (e) {e.preventDefault(); if (thumbIndex >1) {$ ('. ng-thumbnails-container '). stop (). animate ({left: $ ('. ng-thumbnails-container '). position (). left + ($ (thumbs [thumbIndex-1]). position (). left-$ (thumbs [thumbIndex-2]). position (). left)}); thumbIndex--; } }); $ (window). load (function () {/* set thumbnail container width */$ ('. ng-gallery-thumbnail '). each (function () {thumbContainerWidth = thumbContainerWidth + $ (this). width () + 10; }); $ ('. ng-thumbnails-container '). width (thumbContainerWidth); }); });

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Protected marine birds of the Mediterranean are increasingly ingesting plastic

The pollution produced through the plastic is increasingly affecting marine ecosystems and can have multiple harmful effects according to a recent study, in addition to the marine animals, seabirds in the Mediterranean also are ingesting plastics.

Often, turtles, marine mammals and birds, now also ingest plastic pieces accidentally â€" because they confuse the plastic objects with potential prey. These fragments can injure or obstruct the digestive system of these animals or release toxic chemicals, which have harmful effects on animal health of the marine ecosystem of the Mediterranean.

The Mediterranean Sea is a location prone to risk caused by plastics due to large industrial areas located on the coast of the region.

This study is the first to analyze plastic ingestion by seabirds in the Mediterranean. Researchers collected approximately 171 animals that were accidentally caught in nets of fishing boats and eventually die, between May 2003 and June 2010, along the Catalan coast and the East coast of the Mediterranean. In total, nine different species were collected. The birds were dissected and the contents of stomachs was collected and analyzed.

The results indicate that 113 birds, about 66 percent, had at least one piece of plastic in the stomach. The average size of the fragments was of 3.5 mm and had an average weight of 2.26 milligrams. Pieces of bottles or plastic boxes were traces most frequently found, followed by bags and packaging.

The Atlantic Cory's Shearwater-Atlantic was the bird most affected, with about 94% of the animals collected accusing the ingestion of plastics. The three worst affected birds by eating plastic belong to the list of species at risk.

Foto: epSos.de/Creative Commons

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Cancer can be detected with a test similar to that of pregnancy

Early detection of cancer is crucial to save the lives of patients. However, the disease diagnostic tests are not accessible to thousands of people due to high costs. To combat the rise of the disease in developed countries, the engineers from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) are developing a cancer diagnostic test that uses urine and indicates the result within minutes.

The test, which is similar to conventional pregnancy tests, uses synthetic biomarkers that dispenses with the use of specialized equipment and expensive. Before carrying out the test, the patient receives an injection of nanoparticles that join tumor proteins, producing biomarkers that indicate the presence of cancer in the human body.

Although the new cancer detection technology has not yet been approved for human use, the results conducted in the laboratory were positive, referring the Inhabitat. The team of researchers from MIT, who is now working for that technology could be commercialized, expects the diagnostic test is soon on the market and that could prevent thousands of deaths per year due to late diagnosis of the disease.

Foto: Esparta/Creative Commons

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