Tomato lovers have long known that the red fruit sold by supermarkets tastes like cardboard. A new study has found why: A genetic mutation that gives commercially produced tomatoes their uniform color also prevents the production of sugars and carotenoids that give a proper tomato its taste and health benefits. The mutation “is in literally 100 percent of modern breeds […]
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Cold-blooded animals like lizards, insects and fish have a preferred body temperature range at which they hunt, eat, move quickly and reproduce. Fear that a warming climate will constrict this temperature range underlies recent studies that warn of the detrimental effects of climate change on the activity and survival of cold-blooded animals. While not contradicting these warnings, a new paper […]
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Sophrony Kirilov pulls hard on the strings of the heavy Russian bells from inside the world’s southernmost Eastern Orthodox church, calling to Mass anybody wanting to pray on this remote Antarctic island. The 38-year-old Russian priest is clad in a loose black robe and a vest dotted with patches of penguins and seals, marking his four years of service […]
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1. The first confirmed sighting of the continent was in 1820. 2. Explorers first reached the South Pole in 1911. 3. Because Antarctica lies in the southern hemisphere, seasons there are the opposite of seasons in the north — summer runs from October to February and winter covers the remainder of the year. 4. Antarctica is the coldest continent; temperatures […]
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Climate change is killing off Bees In India. A lethal combination of climate change and human interference is helping to wipe out colonies of the giant honeybees on which many plants and trees in India depend for their survival. The precise cause of colony collapse disorder (CCD) is not known, but researchers say that the loss of the bees will […]
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Despite no exposure to sunlight or fresh air for more than a million years, a lake located half a mile beneath the Antarctic ice sheet sustains an entire ecosystem, scientists have confirmed—raising the prospect that life might exist in similar environments elsewhere in the universe. Researchers had long suspected the existence of tiny life-forms living below the ice pack, and […]
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The Seabin marine waste collector shows how often the simplest solutions are the most effective. The rubbish collector, designed to float in marinas, inland waterways, residential lakes and harbors, collects floating debris and liquids by sucking water from the surface and letting if flow out through the bottom of the structure, trapping waste in a filter bag. The inventors have […]
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The Mont Blanc Glacier is in danger of falling off the Planpincieux area of the Grandes Jorasses in Mont Blanc in the Alps. It is estimated that about 8.8 cubic feet is going to break off at any moment. Since this is emanate the government of Italy has ordered the closure of roads and evacuation orders have been issued to […]
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Climate change, not just increasing atmospheric temperatures, has been affecting the Jet Stream. When the Jet Stream travels across from the West to the East over the Northern Hemisphere in normal conditions the weather is not greatly affected, but because of the climate change it has been slowing down and causing massive heat waves and flooding. When the jet stream […]
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Imagine what your Thanksgiving table would look like without any food that is pollinated by bees. It’s a challenge issued by the group Environment Washington, which is highlighting the issue with a campaign called “No Bees, No Food.” Canvassers for the group say if bees die off, then turkey, rolls and potatoes are all that would be left on the […]
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