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Surveying Ice and Fire: The First Map of All of Iceland’s Glaciers and Subglacier Volcanic Calderas Released

By Guest PostSeptember 26, 2013Environmentdanish geodetic survey, Europe, eyjafjallajökull, glacier, glacier outburst flood, glaciers of iceland, Iceland, icelandic meteorological office, imo, landsat, largest ice cap, little ice age, map, oddur sigurosson, spot, usgs, vatnajokull, volcanic calderas, volcano glaciological hazard

For the first time, all of Iceland’s glaciers are shown on a single map, produced by the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO), in collaboration with the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Iceland Geosurvey. The map is the first to incorporate historical data and coverage from aerial photographs and remote sensing satellites, such as Landsat and SPOT, to show the change in the areal extent of glaciers during the past century.

Iceland has about 300 glaciers throughout the country, and altogether, 269 glaciers, outlet glaciers and internal ice caps are named. The glaciers that lack names are small and largely newly revealed, exposed by melting of snow pack due to warmer summer temperatures. The number of identified glaciers has nearly doubled at the beginning of the 21^st century. (more…)

„Comeback“ gefährdeter Tierarten

By Guest PostSeptember 26, 2013Naturebiber, birdlife international, castor fiber, comeback, dda, gefaehrdeter tierarten, grus grus, haliaeetus albicilla, kraniche, london zoological society, nabu dachverbands, naturschutz in europa, olaf tschimpke, seeadler, uhu, ziel

Naturschutz in Europa trägt Früchte

Trotz des voranschreitenden Artensterbens gibt es Hoffnung: In den vergangenen fünfzig Jahren haben sich die Bestände vieler, in Europa fast ausgerotteter Tierarten, dank intensiver Naturschutzbemühungen deutlich erholt. In einer bisher einmaligen Zusammenstellung zeigt dies eine Studie des NABU-Dachverbands BirdLife International, der London Zoological Society sowie des European Bird Census Council, die am heutigen Donnerstag in London vorgestellt wird. In der Studie wird die eindrucksvolle Rückkehr von fast 40 Säugetier- und Vogelarten untersucht. Für Deutschland wurden gute Ergebnisse für Biber, Kranich und Seeadler erzielt. Auch Schwarzstorch, Uhu und Wanderfalke haben von europäischen Naturschutzbemühungen erheblich profitiert. Weiterhin Handlungsbedarf sieht der NABU jedoch unter anderem bei Wiesenvögeln. (more…)

Invasion in the Desert: Why Some Plant Species are Survivors

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2013Environment, Natureblooming chaenactis stevioides, brassica tournefortii, changing environment, desert, desert plants, doctoral student, dry environments, dune, environmental policy, environmental variation, field ecologist, fitness density covariance, habitat, invasion, invasive species, max li, mohawk valley, native desert plants, peter chesson, plant species, research, sahara mustard, sand, sonoran desert, southern arizona, Space, survivors, time, university of arizona, winter rainfall

Max Li’s research could inform policies to promote sustainable native environments and curb the invasion of alien plant species.

Max Li, a University of Arizona doctoral student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, is studying mechanisms that determine how competing desert plants can coexist with each other and what factors can cause the destruction of this stable coexistence.

His research could help inform policies to curb the spread of invasive species. (more…)

Introducing Kindle Fire HDX—Powerhouse Tablets Built for Work and Play

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2013TechnologyAmazon, ghz, hd video, kerberos intranet, kindle fire hdx, second screen, software encryption, xray for music

All-new Kindle Fire HDX—stunning new 7” or 8.9” HDX display, quad-core 2.2 GHz processor with 3x the processing power, 2x more memory, 11 hours of battery life, and dual stereo speakers with Dolby Digital Plus audio

New HDX display goes beyond HD—exceptional pixel density, perfect 100% sRGB color accuracy, reduced glare, dynamic image contrast, and improved brightness for the best viewing experience indoors or out

Lightest large-screen tablet—Kindle Fire HDX 8.9” is startlingly light at 13.2 ounces, 34% lighter than the previous generation

Introducing the Mayday Button—revolutionary on-device tech support—free, 24×7, 365 days a year (more…)

Koalitionskompass Energiepolitik

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2013Environment, Politicsandree boehling, atompolitik, co2 reduktionszielen, die cdu, die gruenen, eeg, eeg modell, eigene dynamik, energie, energiepolitik, erneuerbare energien gesetzes, eu, Greenpeace, henriette lueht, klimapolitik, klimaschutz, koalitionskompass, kohlekraftwerke, nrw, spd, tobias austrup, union

Nach der Wahl ist vor der Koalitionsverhandlung. Diskutiert werden dabei aktuell vor allem zwei Optionen: eine große Koalition aus Union und SPD – oder ein schwarz-grünes Bündnis. Greenpeace analysiert die möglichen Auswirkungen beider Konstellationen auf die Energie- und Klimapolitik.

Koalitionsverhandlungen haben ihre eigene Dynamik. Schon deshalb kann hier nur eine grobe Einschätzung gegeben werden. Wie die Energie- und Klimapolitik der jeweiligen Koalitionsoptionen tatsächlich aussehen könnte, hängt von vielen Faktoren ab: Welche Parteiflügel der jeweiligen Parteien setzen sich in welchen Einzelfragen durch? Welche Verhandlungsführer für das Politikfeld werden von den Parteien benannt? Welche Paketlösungen, Kompromisse und Zugeständnisse müssen die jeweiligen Parteien akzeptieren? Auf Basis der Wahlprogramme und Aussagen von Spitzen- und Fachpolitikern nehmen die Greenpeace-Energieexperten Tobias Austrup und Andree Böhling dennoch eine Einordnung vor. (more…)

Lifestyle, age linked to diabetes-related protein

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2013Healthage, asian, atsushi goto, binding globulin, black, bmi, body mass index, brian chen, demographic factors, diabetes related protein, early biomarker, hispanic, jane cauley, lifestyle, metabolic syndrome, nongenetic factors, pacific islander, postmenopausal women, risk, sex hormone, shbg, simin liu, type 2 diabetes, yiqing song

A large, newly published study that includes more than 13,500 postmenopausal women has yielded the most definitive associations yet between certain lifestyle and demographic factors and levels of a promising early biomarker of type 2 diabetes risk.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Over the last decade researchers have amassed increasing evidence that relatively low levels of a protein called sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) can indicate an elevated risk of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome years in advance. (more…)

New Connection between Stacked Solar Cells Can Handle Energy of 70,000 Suns

By Guest PostSeptember 25, 2013Scienceconversion efficiency, energy, gallium arsenide, geoff bradshaw, heat, jeff harmon, joshua samberg, new technique, north Carolina, photovoltaic energy, salah bedair, solar energy, stacked solar cells, state university, suns, thin film, voltage, wasted energy, zachary carlin

North Carolina State University researchers have come up with a new technique for improving the connections between stacked solar cells, which should improve the overall efficiency of solar energy devices and reduce the cost of solar energy production. The new connections can allow these cells to operate at solar concentrations of 70,000 suns worth of energy without losing much voltage as “wasted energy” or heat.

Stacked solar cells consist of several solar cells that are stacked on top of one another. Stacked cells are currently the most efficient cells on the market, converting up to 45 percent of the solar energy they absorb into electricity. (more…)

AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo agree to streamline access to premium ad inventory for advertisers

By Guest PostSeptember 24, 2013Technologyadvertiser friendly, advertisers, aol, apis, digital advertising, kooi, Microsoft, microsoft advertising, premium ad inventory, publisher friendly, rik van der, seth demsey, tom shields, tv budgets online, Yahoo

Three leaders in digital advertising converge on technical specifications for programmatic sales, simplifying the purchasing process of premium digital ad inventory.

NEW YORK — Sept. 24, 2013 — AOL Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo on Tuesday announced that they have each committed to converge around a common set of API specifications for the premium programmatic digital advertising sales channel. The goal is to make it easier for advertisers and agencies to procure premium digital advertising by reducing the friction in discovering, ordering and paying for premium inventory. (more…)

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