Distant planets can help us understand what will happen to our oceans

If we want to look to the future of the oceans, we must also understand what's going on on the other planets. Briefly, this is the theory espoused by Jaz Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams, from the Department of geology at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, who have just published the book "Ocean Worlds: The Story of seas on Earth and Other Planets".

According to the authors, the existing water bodies under miles and miles of ice exist on other planets can give us clues about what will happen to our seas.

The book explores the history of the Earth's oceans and what the new discoveries are telling us about his future. In addition to the futurism based on Planets, the book addresses the human impact in our ocean, overfishing and pollution, which endanger this precious resource.

According to the authors, the world has changed so much that we are now in a new era, in which the consensus is real: the Anthropocene will seem very different to geologists of the future than it was before him.

"We know of possible oceans on Venus, and probably those on Mars, as well as the seas that are beneath the ice on the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, and the seas of the moon Titan. They tell us what may be the State of various Oceans of the Earth and how they may change over time, or disappear, "Williams explained to the Daily Telegraph.

Foto: Kevin Dooley/Creative Commons

Read More

United Kingdom: Hurricane Gonzalo helped to overcome wind nuclear power production

The presence of Hurricane Gonzalo on British coast helped wind turbines to produce more energy than nuclear plants in the country in the last week, according to data from Lorien Energy Index (LAW), compiled by Lorien Engineering Solutions.

This has been, moreover, a glorious year for the British wind power, too because of the extreme weather phenomena. As a consequence, energy prices have fallen almost 7 percent between the first two quarters of the year, and is now 4% cheaper than in the same period.

"The extreme weather phenomena and all the issues around nuclear power stations EDF contributed to these accomplishments. And the way the media publish these results is a positive indication of the recognition of the renewables sector and their contribution to the energy supply Briton ", explained to Tom Edie Jardan, Lorien's sustainability consultant.

In summer, the wind had already surpassed, in five different days, coal plants. "There is a real business opportunity to invest in renewable energy-efficient initiatives, betting on increasingly low costs of renewable and low-carbon technologies," concluded the consultant.

It is ironic that the climatérios extreme phenomena, many of them a result of global warming and increase in emissions with gaseous pollutants, they influence the growth of renewable. But it's still a pleasant news, too.

Foto: Furacão Gonzalo/NASA Goddard Space Flig/Creative Commons

Read More

Ancient inhabitants of Easter Island traveled 7,500 miles in wooden canoes

The ancient rapanui, the inhabitants of Easter Island, came to that spot after traveled about 7,500 miles, traveling several times the way to South America. Before, they would have already migrated in Polynesia, in wooden canoes.

According to the Smithsonian, nobody knows for sure what prompted the Rapa Nui traveling halfway around the world to reach Easter Island, in the great Pacific Ocean. Other of the mysteries is set against the backdrop of gigantic stones hundreds â€" the moai-who have traveled themselves thousands of miles from the site where they were taken. The third secret refers to the way your company itself went into decline and collapsed.

"Maybe they used ropes to pull the stones or maybe the mice have gnawed all the Palm trees," explains the site. "But we still don't know why they left the Polynesia".

Second Will Dunham, who explained the findings of the study in a Reuters article, the DNA of rapanui 27 shows that the Polynesians and rapanui met and fraternized with South Americans, between 1300 and 1500.

The research team analyzed the way DNA fragments of Europeans and native Americans has been found in the genomes of the Rapa Nui of Easter Island. The DNA of native Americans is more fragmented than the Europeans, suggesting that this "mix" happened before.

The researchers concluded that the "mixture" occurred to 19 to 23 generations â€" on the other hand, the rapanui only began to "blend" with the Europeans in the 19th century. Today the Rapa Nui are 75% Polynesians, 15% in Europe and 10% native Americans.

Namely, according to the researchers, the Rapa Nui have spent much of their existence to sail between Easter Island and the South America, probably to change sweet potatoes for other goods.

The results â€" absolutely stunning â€" were presented in the journal Current Biology.

Foto: Arian Zwegers/Creative Commons

Read More

British television shows have seal of sustainability

What ingredients make a TV program a success? The quality of the protagonists, purpose, suspense and intelligence are four of them, but a television show is more than a piece of 50 minutes to entertain us until the end, he got behind a production â€" often-complex and dozens, hundreds or thousands of people working for a single objective: the Viewer.

However, a TV show does not end at the Viewer, with the closing credits. It can be made in the country where it is originally broadcast or another, by a production team of two or 200 people.

As the concepts of sustainability extends to various industries, the TV could not stay behind. Is that what you thought the British BBC, in 2010, when he created the albert, a stamp of environmental impact of television production and which calculates the carbon footprint of each program.

The BBC approach pioneered internationally and, to some extent, has not yet been copied. Despite a study by the University of West Indies advance technology sector â€" in which the TV industry moves â€" is responsible for 2% of global emissions of polluting gases.

A television production that wants to apply for the seal albert has several challenges: teams have to avoid sending garbage to the dumpster and promote energy efficiency of filming. There are productions that already use renewable energies, scripts prints, scenes constructed with sustainable materials or catering local produce â€" and all this counts for final certification.

Now, says the Guardian, albert seal between a new phase. Your logo will be placed in the credits of 15 programs companies: the UK's four largest TV stations and producers as the Shed, Endelmol, all3media, IMG, NBC Universal, UKTC, Kudos or Twofour.

The first programme to feature the new logo will air on Monday, November 3, on Sky: is Trollied comedy, which already use the carbon calculator albert to help monitor emissions of CO2.

"The Sky and the Roughcut TV, which produces the program, want it to be as sustainable as possible. The use of lights and papers was avoided and props like refrigerators, countertops and shelves were all wanted men in nearby shops, "says the Guardian.

According to British newspaper, several internal BBC productions have also use the albert system, as well as the ITV. For when a solution equal to the Portuguese television scenario?

Foto: Ben Sutherland/Creative Commons

Read More

New Brazilian Tarantula named in honor of John Lennon

Brazilian investigators have discovered a new species of Tarantula Granbury on Amazon and decided to baptize her Bumba Lennoni, in tribute to the singer and ex-Beattle John Lennon.

Idol of biologists Alexandre Bragio Bonaldo and Laura Tavares Miglio, the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi and Fernando Pérez-Miles, of the University of the Republic, Montevideo, Uruguay, Lennon shares the name of the new Tarantula with the tradition of the boi-bumbá, of Brazilian folklore â€" and hence the designation of bumba.

"The specific name was given in honor of John Winston Lennon, the legendary creator of the Beatles, which contributed to making the world a nicer place," wrote the authors in the study, published last week in the journal ZooKeys.

According to the sustainable planet, the new species was captured in Caxiuaná, in para. It differentiates itself from other already discovered by a set of specific features, such as the format of the palps, structures used in playback. "These animals copulate with the palp, located near the mouth, and have specific structures in them that fit into the female's genitalia. Each species has a kind of modification, so this characteristic helps determine the species, "said Alexandre Bonaldo Veja website.

Read More

U.S. wants list African lion as a species in danger of extinction

The u.s. Government, through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency Servive, proposed yesterday that the African lion is considered an animal in danger of extinction after a study show that the animal might disappear in the not too distant future. If the suggestion is adopted, the species will be protected.

According to the organisation, quoted by the Huffington Post, the African lions can be found in a vast area of Africa, but about 70%, i.e., 24,000 live in just 10 large clusters. "[List the African lion as endangered species] will bring all the protections of American law to Lion conservation, allow us to improve the monitoring of imports and international exchanges", explained the Agency's director, Dan Ashe.

The main threats to African lion are loss of habitat of the animals that they hunt and conflicts with humans. With the passing of the years and decades, increasingly people and farmers entered the sacred territory of the Lions, coming into conflict with these. On the other hand, as poachers take their food, the Lions eventually Hunt the cattle, leading to retaliatory measures on the part of farmers.

The proposal now has 90 days to be commented on by the public and organizations, and approved or rejected.

Read More

Australia Unveils massive plan to halt the loss of native species until 2020

The Ministry of environment of Australia will launch a plan for halting the loss of native species in the territory, particularly mammals, until 2020. The Australia is the country with the highest rate of mammal extinctions worldwide, with about 29 missing native species over the past 200 years.

"Determined the objective of halting the loss of species of mammals until 2020," said the Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, in presenting the plan, cites the Guardian.

To fulfill the goal, the Government will start a war against the population of feral cats and strays that, according to the verdict of the scientific community, are the biggest threat to species of Australian mammals and birds. There are about 20 million feral cats and strays in Australia, responsible for the deaths of about 75 million birds and small mammals every day.

The Environment Minister also promised deeper governmental interventions to protect the species in Kakadu, Norfolk Island, Raine Island and great barrier reef. Already on Christmas Island, the Government wants to eradicate all feral cats.

Foto: John Englart (Takver) / Creative Commons

Read More