Blog – Page 543 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

GreenTec Awards meet Panda

WWF-Sonderpreis bei „GreenTec Awards 2014“ / Online-Voting für innovative Naturschutzprojekte

Im Rahmen der GreenTec Awards 2014 wird erstmalig ein WWF Sonderpreis für Naturschutzarbeit verliehen. Vom 04.01. bis 13.02.14 können User per Online-Voting unter www.greentec-awards.com aus zehn innovativen, deutschen Naturschutzprojekten den persönlichen Favoriten wählen. Von der Besenderung eines Wisents über den Schutz von Fledermauskolonien bis hin zur Teich-Renaturierung reicht die Bandbreite der Kandidaten. Das Gewinnerprojekt wird im Rahmen der GreenTec Awards-Gala im Mai 2014 ausgezeichnet.

„Naturschutz fängt vor der eigenen Haustür an und jedes der zehn Projekte hat einen Vorbildcharakter für ehrenamtliche Naturschutzarbeit in Deutschland und Europa“, sagt Marco Vollmar, Mitglied der Geschäftsleitung beim WWF Deutschland. (more…)

Cassini Sees Saturn and Moons in Holiday Dress

Science

This holiday season, feast your eyes on images of Saturn and two of its most fascinating moons, Titan and Enceladus, in a care package from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. All three bodies are dressed and dazzling in this special package assembled by Cassini’s imaging team.

The new images are available online at: https://www.nasa.gov/cassini , https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and https://ciclops.org .

“During this, our tenth holiday season at Saturn, we hope that these images from Cassini remind everyone the world over of the significance of our discoveries in exploring such a remote and beautiful planetary system,” said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader, based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. “Happy holidays from all of us on Cassini.” (more…)

‘A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all’: Edward Snowden

Politics

‘Asking is always cheaper than spying’

Grosses Interesse an einem Europa ohne Grenzen

Politics

Die Europäische Union durchlebt die wohl schwerste Krise. Doch es gibt auch eine positive Botschaft: Europa wächst zusammen.

In der Ukraine demonstrieren Bürgerinnen und Bürger für eine Annäherung ihres Landes an die Europäische Union, Anfang Jahr beginnen die Beitrittsverhandlungen der EU mit Serbien – und am 1. Januar 2014 fällt wieder einmal eine Grenze: Die Übergangsregeln für die EU-Staaten Rumänien und Bulgarien laufen aus, die Bürgerinnen und Bürger dieser beiden Länder kommen ab Jahresanfang in den Genuss der vollen Personenfreizügigkeit der EU (für die Schweiz gelten noch bis Mai 2016 Beschränkungen). Trotz weiterhin bestehender Strahlkraft der EU, trotz fallender Grenzen: Zum Feiern ist niemandem zumute. (more…)

Researchers Develop System for Assessing How Effective Species Are at Pollinating Crops

Science

From tomatoes to pumpkins, most fruit and vegetable crops rely on pollination by bees and other insect species – and the future of many of those species is uncertain. Now researchers from North Carolina State University are proposing a set of guidelines for assessing the performance of pollinator species in order to determine which species are most important and should be prioritized for protection.

“Widespread concerns over the fate of honey bees and other pollinators have led to increased efforts to understand which species are the most effective pollinators, since this has huge ramifications for the agriculture industry,” says Dr. Hannah Burrack, an associate professor of entomology at NC State and co-author of a paper on the new guidelines and related research. “However, various research efforts have taken a wide variety of approaches, making it difficult to compare results in a meaningful way. (more…)

Walking the Walk: What Sharks, Honeybees and Humans Have in Common

Science

A research team led by UA anthropologist David Raichlen has found that the Hadza tribe’s movements while foraging can be described by a mathematical pattern called a Lévy walk – a pattern that also is found in the movements of many other animals

A mathematical pattern of movement called a Lévy walk describes the foraging behavior of animals from sharks to honey bees, and now for the first time has been shown to describe human hunter-gatherer movement as well. The study, led by University of Arizona anthropologist David Raichlen, was published on December 23, 2013 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

Hack the planet? Geoengineering research, ethics, governance explored

Environment

Hacking the Earth’s climate to counteract global warming – a subject that elicits strong reactions from both sides – is the topic of a December special issue of the journal Climatic Change. A dozen research papers include the most detailed description yet of the proposed Oxford Principles to govern geoengineering research, as well as surveys on the technical hurdles, ethics and regulatory issues related to deliberately manipulating the planet’s climate. (more…)

The future of research universities

Education, Science

Maryland chancellor shares ideas to enhance effectiveness of America’s research universities

For research universities to produce the ideas and talent the United States needs in order to lead in the 21st century, they “must make a steady and persistent movement to adapt to the times,” according to William (Brit) Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland (USM).

Kirwan spoke on the future of research universities on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at the University of Delaware. The talk, presented to a group of UD faculty and administrators, was designed to help set the scene and percolate new ideas as UD considers the next phase of its Path to Prominencestrategic plan, a process that will begin in the new year. (more…)