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Gas Injection Probably Triggered Small Earthquakes Near Snyder, Texas

AUSTIN, Texas — A new study correlates a series of small earthquakes near Snyder, Texas between 2006 and 2011 with the underground injection of large volumes of gas, primarily carbon dioxide (CO₂) — a finding that is relevant to the process of capturing and storing CO₂ underground.

Although the study suggests that underground injection of gas triggered the Snyder earthquakes, it also points out that similar rates of injections have not triggered comparable quakes in other fields, bolstering the idea that underground gas injection does not cause significant seismic events in many geologic settings. (more…)

„Wir haben keine Zeit mehr, nur zu reden“

Environment

Die wichtigsten Fragen und Antworten zur COP 19

Heute beginnt in Warschau die internationale Klimakonferenz COP 19. Martin Kaiser, Leiter der internationalen Klimapolitik bei Greenpeace, ist selbst in Warschau dabei und beantwortet die wichtigsten Fragen.

Online-Redaktion: Klimakonferenzen scheinen meist das zu produzieren, was sie eigentlich verhindern sollen: heiße Luft. Warum ist Greenpeace trotzdem in Warschau? (more…)

Murder Has Always Been a Part of Children’s Books, Author Finds

Literature

Violence in ‘Hunger Games’ not unusual for children’s lit

COLUMBUS, Ohio – If you think the Hunger Games novels are too violent for their intended young readers, try re-reading classic children’s books from the past. (more…)

Georgia Tech Helps Design Easy-to-Open, Child-Resistant Medicine Bottle for a Pfizer Medication

Health

Opening prescription medicine bottles can be a struggle for individuals with arthritis. When the medicine inside the bottle is supposed to relieve the pain, but opening the bottle causes additional pain, the experience can be even more frustrating. (more…)

If a tree falls in Brazil…? Amazon deforestation could mean droughts for western U.S.

Environment

In research meant to highlight how the destruction of the Amazon rainforest could affect climate elsewhere, Princeton University-led researchers report that the total deforestation of the Amazon may significantly reduce rain and snowfall in the western United States, resulting in water and food shortages, and a greater risk of forest fires.

The researchers report in the Journal of Climate that an Amazon stripped bare could mean 20 percent less rain for the coastal Northwest and a 50 percent reduction in the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a crucial source of water for cities and farms in California. Previous research has shown that deforestation will likely produce dry air over the Amazon. Using high-resolution climate simulations, the researchers are the first to find that the atmosphere’s normal weather-moving mechanics would create a ripple effect that would move that dry air directly over the western United States from December to February. (more…)

Tea-Party: jakobinisch und stalinistisch

Politics

Der Zürcher SVP-Nationalrat Hans Kaufmann wünscht sich auch für Europa eine Tea-Party: keine sehr demokratiekompatible Vision.

Spätestens im Januar 2014, wenn sich in den USA das finanzpolitische Gezerre wiederholen wird und die Vereinigten Staaten erneut über die Fiskalklippe zu stürzen drohen, wird sie wieder weltweit die Schlagzeilen beherrschen: die amerikanische Tea-Party, jene extremistische Gruppierung innerhalb der Republikanischen Partei, für die jeglicher Kompromiss des Teufels ist. Mindestens einen prominenten Bewunderer hat diese Bewegung auch in der Schweiz: den Zürcher SVP-Nationalrat Hans Kaufmann. Er findet, «es wäre an der Zeit, dass auch in der EU endlich eine Tea-Party-Bewegung einsetzt», und zwar wegen der wachsenden Staatsschulden. Sie sei nicht etwa «eine hirnlose Bewegung, sondern sie vertritt vor allem wirtschaftspolitische Anliegen, die der politischen Linken missfallen», schreibt Kaufmann in einem Gastkommentar von «Journal 21» (Link siehe unten). (more…)

A shot in the dark: Detector at UW on the hunt for dark matter

Science

Leslie Rosenberg and his colleagues are about to go hunting. Their quarry: A theorized-but-never-seen elementary particle called an axion.

The search will be conducted with a recently retooled, extremely sensitive detector that is currently in a testing and shakeout phase at the University of Washington’s Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics. (more…)

Recent immigration to the UK: New evidence of the fiscal costs and benefits

Economy, Politics

UK immigrants who arrived since 2000 are less likely to receive benefits and less likely to live in social housing than UK natives. What’s more, over the decade from 2001 to 2011, they made a considerable positive net contribution to the UK’s fiscal system, and thus helped to relieve the fiscal burden on UK-born workers.

The positive contribution is particularly evident for UK immigrants from the European Economic Area (EEA – the European Union plus three small neighbours): they contributed about 34% more in taxes than they received in benefits over the period 2001-11. (more…)