Tropical forests account for a third of the total carbon fixed by photosynthesis. Lianas’ increasing abundance may be driven by changing climate, increased disturbance or by more severe seasonal drought. By reducing the ability of tropical forests to accumulate and store carbon released through burning fossil fuels, lianas could cause a positive feedback loop, accelerating climate change. “This study has […]
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There is a deafening and horrific silence in the USA about the problem of gun control, Piers Morgan told the Today program, responding to US radio host Alex Jones’ defence of guns. “The product of this demented attitude is you have the worst gun crime of any of the advanced countries in the world,” said the British journalist. Mr Morgan […]
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Beijing Mass arrests: In one of the biggest crackdowns on civil society groups in decades, Chinese authorities have detained and questioned at least 238 lawyers and human rights activists over the past two weeks. At least 20 activists remain incarcerated, and the whereabouts of six of them are unclear. Maya Wang, a researcher with Human Rights. Watch, said those still […]
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Prison officials in Tennessee say an inmate escaped from jail by smearing himself in grease and squeezing between the bars of his cell. Kristopher White, 23, is 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, yet he managed to writhe his way between bars that were only four and a half inches apart. White then scaled a barbed-wire fence and led police on a […]
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Tropical groundwater may prove to be a climate-resilient source of freshwater in the tropics as intense rainfall favours the replenishment of these resources, according to a new study published in Environmental Research Letters. As climate observations show that global warming leads to fewer but more intense rainfalls, a clearer understanding of how these sources are replenished is crucial for developing […]
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Modern-day mousetraps wouldn’t stand a chance against the supersize rodents that roamed South America about 2 million years ago, National Geographic reports. A giant ancestor of the guinea pig, Josephoartigasia monesi weighed more than 2,000 pounds and stood 5 feet tall, roughly the size of a modern buffalo. Because the critter also sported foot-long buckteeth, University of York scientists wanted […]
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The richest counties got richer and the poorer got poorer in the last decade, according to census reports. The poorest county turns out to be in the heart of Appalachia — Owsley County, Ky. Owsley had the lowest median household income outside of Puerto Rico, according to census results. In Owsley, the median household income is $19,351. Over 41 […]
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The open deliberation about environmental change is done – on the grounds that it has been completely demonstrated NOT to exist, one of the world’s best known environmental change doubter has asserted. John Coleman, who helped to establish the Weather Channel, stunned scholastic’s by demanding the hypothesis of man-rolled out atmosphere improvement was no more deductively dependable. Rather, what ‘little […]
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Researchers have discovered a new map of the octopus genome that is so strange that it could actually be an “alien”. The first whole cephalopod gene sequence shows a striking level of complexity with 33,000 protein-coding genes identified – more than in a human. Not only that, the octopus DNA is highly rearranged – like cards shuffled and reshuffled in […]
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The brain develops faster during early childhood and more than any other time in our life. In children, it is a magnificent thinking machine that learns and grows by interacting with the world. Not surprisingly, experts say that the foods kids eat not only fuel their bodies but their minds as well. Research shows that healthy eating can improve children’s […]
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