A new study in Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T) concludes that the US could stop all emissions from coal-fired plants within 20 years time using only existing technologies and some that will be ready within the next decade. Such an accomplishment would go a long way toward lowering the US's carbon emissions and mitigating the impact of climate change, according to the researchers.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0503-hance_coal.html

03/05/2010
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The European Space Agency (ESA) is opposing experiments on monkeys in its partnership with the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) in a project called Mars 500. ESA made their position clear following our exposé of the Russian tests.

In an inadequate attempt to simulate a mission to Mars, longterm radiation experiments are being performed on monkeys. The purpose is to investigate the effects of radiation on the life expectancy of the monkeys as well as the risk of cancer. Experiments will include exposure to deadly levels of radiation, weightlessness, an unnatural diet, severe confinement, and prolonged isolation.

http://www.savetheprimates.org/news/european-space-agency-opposes-mars-monkey-experiments

30/04/2010
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Plants remain "an effective way" of tackling global warming despite emitting small amounts of a greenhouse gas, a study has shown.

The Edinburgh University research suggests plant leaves account for less than 1% of Earth's methane emissions.

The impact on global warming from methane is considered to be about 25 times greater than from carbon dioxide.

A previous study suggested plants were responsible for producing large amounts of methane.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8651153.stm

29/04/2010
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Madagascar's transitional government has finally signed a decree banning the logging and trade of precious hardwoods, a month after announcing the moratorium.

The decree comes in direct response to mounting pressure from the international community over ongoing destruction of Madagascar's national parks by illegal loggers. Timber trafficking was associated with an increase in commercial poaching of wildlife - including endangered lemurs ̬ and violence against conservation workers and local communities by marauding bands of loggers.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0427-madagascar_decree.html

27/04/2010
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From 2000 to 2005 the world lost over a million square kilometers of forest.

Forests continue to decline worldwide, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). Employing satellite imagery researchers found that over a million square kilometers of forest were lost around the world between 2000 and 2005. This represents a 3.1 percent loss of total forest as estimated from 2000. While the study did not look at forest gains during the same time period, it reveals some surprises about where and how much forest was lost: including the fact that from 2000 to 2005 both the United States and Canada had higher percentages of forest loss than even Brazil.

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0427-hance_forestloss.html

26/04/2010
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Albiach-Serrano, A. et al. 2010. Great Apes Track Hidden Objects After Changes in the Objects' Position and in the Subject's Orientation. American Journal of Primatology. 72, 349-359.

Eight chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), five bonobos (Pan paniscus), five gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), and seven orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) were presented with two invisible object displacement tasks. In full view of the subject, a food item was hidden under one of three opaque cups resting on a platform and, after an experimental manipulation, the subject was allowed to select one of the cups. In the rotation task, the platform was rotated 1800 while the subject remained stationary. In the translocation task, the platform remained stationary while the subject walked to the opposite side from where she saw the reward being hidden. The final position of the food relative to the subject was equivalent in both tasks. Single displacement trials consisted of only one manipulation, either a rotation or a translocation, whereas double displacement trials consisted of both a rotation and a translocation. We also included no displacement trials in which no displacements took place. No displacement trials were easier than single displacements which, in turn, were easier than double displacements. Unlike earlier studies with children, there was no difference in performance between rotation and translocation displacements. Overall, apes performed above chance in all conditions, but chimpanzees outperformed the other species. This study reinforces the notion that the great apes use an allocentric spatial coding.

http://apps.isiknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=UA&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=1&SID=Z2hloD5hA4bEE8faKb8&page=1&doc=3&colname=WO

22/04/2010
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