Tag Archives: Mexico

Milkweed Loss Hurts Monarchs

By Guest PostMarch 21, 2012Environment, Natureagricultural field, glyphosate herbicides, herbicide, john pleasants, karen oberhauser, Mexico, midwestern farm, milkweed, minnesota, monarch butterfly, monarchs, plant, university of minnesota, wildlife

*Loss of milkweed in Midwestern farm fields harms butterflies, a study shows*

If you’re a gardener, milkweed may not be at the top of your list.

But if you love Minnesota’s state insect—the monarch butterfly—maybe it should be.

Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed, but the plant is disappearing from what used to be a prime reservoir: Midwestern farm fields. A new study by University of Minnesota monarch expert Karen Oberhauser and her Iowa State colleague John Pleasants ties a decade-long decline in monarch populations to the loss of milkweed from the corn and soybean fields that blanket the region. (more…)

Ancient Popcorn Discovered in Peru

By Guest PostJanuary 26, 2012Scienceacademia nacional de la historia, andean region, ceramic pottery, coast of peru, corn microfossils, corncobs, dolores piperno, duccio bonavia, grains, huaca prieta, human welfare, husks, kernels, maize, male flowers, Mexico, panama, panama city, paredones, phytoliths, popcorn, smithsonian tropical research institute, south america, stalks, tassels, teosinte, tom dillehay, tropical ecosystem, tropical forests, tropical nature, vanderbilt university, wild grass

People living along the coast of Peru were eating popcorn 2,000 years earlier than previously reported and before ceramic pottery was used there, according to a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences co-authored by Dolores Piperno, curator of New World archaeology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and emeritus staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Some of the oldest known corncobs, husks, stalks and tassels (male flowers), dating from 6,700 to 3,000 years ago were found at Paredones and Huaca Prieta, two mound sites on Peru’s arid northern coast. The research group, led by Tom Dillehay from Vanderbilt University and Duccio Bonavia from Peru’s Academia Nacional de la Historia, also found corn microfossils: starch grains and phytoliths. Characteristics of the cobs—the earliest ever discovered in South America—indicate that the sites’ ancient inhabitants ate corn several ways, including popcorn and flour corn. However, corn was still not an important part of their diet. (more…)

Scientists Prepare to Take First-Ever Picture of a Black Hole

By Guest PostJanuary 16, 2012Scienceabyss of space, albert einstein, alma, arizona, astrophysicists, atacama large millimeter array, atmosphere, black hole, black void, center of milky way, Chile, cosmic traffic jam, dan marrone, daniel stolte, dimitrios psaltis, earth, einstein, event horizon, event horizon telescope, extreme environment, field of gravity, game changer, general relativity, global array, hawaii, haystack observatory, maelstroms, mass, massachusetts institute of technology, mauna kea, mercury, Mexico, MIT, mt graham, nothingness, optical telescopes, plasma, radio telescopes, radio waves, shadow, sheperd doeleman, south pole, space and time, steward observatory, sun, supermassive black hole, theory of general relativity, tucson, ultra precise timing, universe, university of arizona, virtual telescope, water vapor, wavelengths

*The Event Horizon Telescope is an Earth-sized virtual telescope powerful enough to see all the way to the center of our Milky Way, where a supermassive black hole will allow astrophysicists to put Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity to the test.*

Astronomers, physicists and scientists from related fields across the world will convene in Tucson, Ariz. on Jan. 18 to discuss an endeavor that only a few years ago would have been regarded as nothing less than outrageous.

The conference is organized by Dimitrios Psaltis, an associate professor of astrophysics at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory, and Dan Marrone, an assistant professor of astronomy at Steward Observatory. (more…)

Some Earthquakes Expected Along Rio Grande Rift in Colorado And New Mexico, New Study Says

By Guest PostJanuary 15, 2012Environmentactive, anne sheehan, anthony lowry, colorado plateau, earth, earthquake hazards, earthquakes, fault bounded basins, fort collins, frederick blume, garden city, geologically alive, geologists, global positioning system, gps, magnitude, mark murray, Mexico, molten rock, nanostrain, new mexico tech, rates of deformation, rio grande rift, rise of magma, spreading motion, steven nerem, surface coloradom rocky mountains, unavco, university of colorado boulder, university of new mexico, western great plains

The Rio Grande Rift, a thinning and stretching of Earth’s surface that extends from Colorado’s central Rocky Mountains to Mexico, is not dead but geologically alive and active, according to a new study involving scientists from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.

“We don’t expect to see a lot of earthquakes, or big ones, but we will have some earthquakes,” said CU-Boulder geological sciences Professor Anne Sheehan, also a fellow at CIRES. The study also involved collaborators from the University of New Mexico, New Mexico Tech, Utah State University and the Boulder-headquartered UNAVCO. The Rio Grande Rift follows the path of the Rio Grande River from central Colorado roughly to El Paso before turning southeast toward the Gulf of Mexico. (more…)

Online Banking Approaches 3 Million Visitors in Mexico

By Guest PostAugust 2, 2011Technologybancomer, banking websites, citigroup, composition index, Comscore, grupo bbva, hsbc, iván marchant, Mexico, online banking market in mexico, online users

*Grupo BBVA and Citigroup Rank as Most-Visited Online Banking Destinations*

Mexico City, Mexico, August 2, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the latest results from a study on the online banking market in Mexico. The study found that nearly 3 million online users in the country visited banking websites during June 2011, reaching nearly 15 percent of the entire online population age 15 and older. Grupo BBVA (which includes Bancomer.com.mx) led as the most-visited online banking property with 810,000 visitors, followed closely by Citigroup with 776,000 visitors. The study also found that although Mexico’s online audience skews largely younger, online bankers are predominately older in age with visitors age 55 and older being the most overrepresented banking audience segment. (more…)

Genetic Analysis Splits Desert Tortoise into Two Species

By Guest PostJune 29, 2011Environment, Natureagassiz desert tortoise, arizona, army physician, california, california state university dominguez hills, colorado river, desert tortoise, dna evidence, endangered species act, fish and wildlife service, fws, genetic evidence, gopherus agassizii, gopherus morafkai, habitat preferences, j g cooper, kristin berry, Mexico, morafka desert tortoise, nevada, northern arizona, robert murphy, roy averill murray, san francisco earthquake, Smithsonian, species, us army fort irwin, usaf edwards air force base, usgs, utah

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A new study shows that the desert tortoise, thought to be one species for the past 150 years, now includes two separate and distinct species, based on DNA evidence and biological and geographical distinctions.

This genetic evidence confirms previous suspicions, based on life history analysis, that tortoises west and east of the Colorado River are two separate species. (more…)

Mexico Leads Latin America in Online Video Penetration and Engagement

By Guest PostMay 4, 2011Technologyalejandro fosk, Argentina, argentines, behaviors in latin america, brazil, brazilians, Chile, chileans, Comscore, digital consumer behaviors, mexicans, Mexico, online video viewing

*comScore Releases Latest Report on Online Video Viewing in Latin America*

Santiago, Chile May 3, 2011– comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of online video viewing behaviors in Latin America based on data from its comScore Video Metrix Service. The report found that in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile more than 80 percent of all online users viewed video content in March 2011, with viewers in Mexico spending the most time watching online video at an average of 10.5 hours per viewer during the month. (more…)

Latin America’s Internet Population Grows 15 Percent in Past Year to 112 Million People

By Guest PostMarch 18, 2011Technologyalejandro fosk, argentineans, brazil, brazilians, Comscore, comscore media metrix, internet audience, latin america, mexicans, Mexico, spanish, Venezuela, webinar

*Venezuela and Colombia Web Populations Experience Highest Growth, Brazil Home to Most Engaged Users*

*comScore Presents Complimentary Webinar “The 2010 Digital Year in Review: Latin America”*

Santiago, Chile, March 18, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the latest results from a study of the growth in the Internet audience in Latin America based on data from its comScore Media Metrix service. The study found that in the past year the Internet population in Latin America has increased 15 percent to 112.7 million visitors as the region’s digital ecosystem continued to grow and develop. The results of the study will be presented along with other key online trends via a complimentary, live webinar 2010 Digital Year in Review Latin America on Tuesday, March 22. For more information and to register, please visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/255678857 Note: Webinar will be presented in Spanish. (more…)