Ice island reported by UD researcher breaks into mammoth ‘ice cubes’
The giant ice island that broke off Greenland’s Petermann Glacier in July 2012 has plowed into the ocean floor and shattered into a couple of mammoth “ice cubes” sitting in the ocean, according to the University of Delaware researcher who reported the initial glacial event last year.
Andreas Muenchow, an associate professor in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, said the ice chunk twice the size of Manhattan that snapped off the glacier in July 2012 ground into the ocean floor and has split into at least two ice islands and a number of large icebergs. (more…)
Whether and when NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, humankind’s most distant object, broke through to interstellar space, the space between stars, has been a thorny issue. For the last year, claims have surfaced every few months that Voyager 1 has “left our solar system.” Why has the Voyager team held off from saying the craft reached interstellar space until now?
“We have been cautious because we’re dealing with one of the most important milestones in the history of exploration,” said Voyager Project Scientist Ed Stone of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. “Only now do we have the data — and the analysis — we needed.” (more…)
Bundesweite Umfrage zeigt überwältigende Ablehnung der schmutzigen Energie
Cottbus, 17.9.2013 – Eine überwältigende Mehrheit der Deutschen spricht sich gegen weitere Braunkohle-Tagebaue aus. 83 Prozent halten neue Tagebaue für nicht zu verantworten, wenn Schäden für Natur und Umwelt groß sind. Dies ist das Ergebnis einer repräsentativen Umfrage, die Emnid zwischen dem 5. und 9. September im Auftrag der unabhängigen Umweltschutzorganisation Greenpeace durchgeführt hat.
Befragt wurden bundesweit 1027 Menschen. Die Ablehnung ist in den ostdeutschen Bundesländern, die über große Braunkohlereviere verfügen, in etwa so hoch wie in Westdeutschland. “Das Zeitalter der Braunkohle ist vorbei. Vattenfall darf das nicht ignorieren und muss alle weiteren Tagebaupläne sofort stoppen”, fordert Niklas Schinerl, Energieexperte bei Greenpeace. (more…)
NEW ORLEANS, LA – 17 Sep 2013: At LinuxCon 2013 today, IBM announced plans to invest $1 billion (USD) in new Linux and open source technologies for IBM’s Power Systems servers. The investment aims to help clients capitalize on big data and cloud computing with modern systems built to handle the new wave of applications coming to the data center in the post-PC era.
Two immediate initiatives announced, a new client center in Europe and a Linux on Power development cloud, focus on rapidly expanding IBM’s growing ecosystem supporting Linux on Power Systems which today represents thousands of independent software vendor and open source applications worldwide. Specific details of both initiatives include: (more…)
Integration of vCE Provides Be On With Holistic View of Digital Campaign Performance
London, UK, September 17, 2013 – comScore, Inc., a global leader in digital measurement and analytics, today announced that branded entertainment platform Be On, a division of AOL Networks, has selected comScore validated Campaign Essentials (vCE) as its global campaign performance measurement platform. comScore vCE is a holistic ad and audience delivery validation solution that provides valuable campaign insights, such as audience verification, brand safety and ad viewability, whilst also offering in-flight campaign reporting and daily alerting for effective campaign management.
“We are delighted that Be On has selected comScore vCE as its digital campaign analytics platform, and look forward to working together to validate and optimise campaign performance on a global scale,” said Scott Joslin, VP International Advertising Effectiveness at comScore. “Our experience is based on analysing thousands of campaigns globally, and we are committed to providing our clients with the most advanced advertising solutions to deliver the campaign insights needed to maximise the value of their digital investments.” (more…)
WWF: Asiens Hirsche, Büffel und andere Huftiere stehen vor der Ausrottung
In Südostasien sieht es nicht gut aus für alles was Hufe trägt. Der Bestand an Wasserbüffeln, Wildrindern, Hirschen und anderen Huftieren geht rapide zurück. Zu diesem Fazit kommt der WWF in einem jetzt vorgelegten Report. Demnach ist die Mekong-Region besonders betroffen. Dazu gehören Teile von Südchina, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Kambodscha und Vietnam. Mit dem Schumburgk Hirsch, einem ehemaligen Bewohner der offenen Gras- und Sumpflandschaften Thailands und dem einst in Trockenwäldern heimischen Kouprey seien im vergangenen Jahrhundert zwei Arten aus der Familie der Hornträger ausgestorben.
Der WWF befürchtet, dass eine Reihe von verwandten Arten dieses Schicksal bald teilen könnten, wenn es nicht gelingt den Druck auf die Wälder zu reduzieren. Seit 1973 fiel etwa ein Drittel des Waldes den Kettensägen und der Brandrodung zum Opfer. Mit dem Wald schrumpfte der Lebensraum für viele Tiere. Besonders gefährdet ist das Saola, ein erst 1993 entdecktes Wildrind. „Es ist nahezu unmöglich, diesen extrem scheuen Waldbewohner zu Gesicht zu bekommen“, berichtet Stefan Ziegler vom WWF Deutschland. Entsprechend unsicher seien die Bestandszahlen. Die Schätzungen schwanken zwischen einem Dutzend bis hin zu wenigen 100 Exemplaren. (more…)
The science behind the tingling sensation caused by eating a popular Asian spice has been explained by researchers at UCL.
The study, which is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, helps shed light on the complex interactions between the senses of taste and touch, and could lead to a greater understanding of the causes of the tingling sensations experienced by many chronic pain patients.
Widely used in Asian cooking, the Szechuan pepper was found to mimic the sense of touch in the brain. It chemically activates light-touch fibres on the lips and tongue and sends the equivalent of 50 light taps to the brain per second. (more…)
On Monday morning — Labor Day — first-year students gathered in classrooms around campus for their First Readings seminars. The program, initiated at Brown seven years ago, is designed to give new students a common reading experience and prepare them for college life.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Classes don’t officially begin until Wednesday, but first-year students got their first taste of academic life at Brown on the first Monday in September, when all 1,537 of them gathered in classrooms around campus for the annual First Readings seminars. (more…)
