LONDON (Reuters) - Coral growth since 1990 in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has fallen to its lowest rate for 400 years, in a troubling sign for the world's oceans, researchers said on Thursday. This could threaten a variety of marine ecosystems that rely on the reef and signal similar problems for other similar organisms worldwide, Glen De'ath and colleagues at the Australian Institute of Marine Science said. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral expanse, and like similar reefs worldwide is threatened by climate change and pollution. "These organisms are central to the formation and function of ecosystems and food webs, and precipitous changes in the biodiversity and productivity of the world's oceans may be imminent," the researchers wrote in the journal Science.
LONDON (Reuters) - Coral growth since 1990 in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has fallen to its lowest rate for 400 years, in a troubling sign for the world's oceans, researchers said on Thursday.
This could threaten a variety of marine ecosystems that rely on the reef and signal similar problems for other similar organisms worldwide, Glen De'ath and colleagues at the Australian Institute of Marine Science said.
The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral expanse, and like similar reefs worldwide is threatened by climate change and pollution.
"These organisms are central to the formation and function of ecosystems and food webs, and precipitous changes in the biodiversity and productivity of the world's oceans may be imminent," the researchers wrote in the journal Science.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Preliminary water tests from rivers near a huge coal ash spill in Tennessee show elevated levels of pollutants such as mercury and lead, a environmental group said on Friday. "We're concerned that the water poses a greater risk to residents in the area than has been revealed so far," said Matt Wasson, a program director at Appalachian Voices, a environmental group that coordinated the testing of the water with scientists from Appalachian State University. An earthen dike collapsed on December 22 at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston coal-fired power plant, spilling coal ash across as much as 400 acres. The ash, left from decades of coal burning, had been stored in a sludge pond. The spill extended into a waterway, blocked a road, and ruined three homes, according to the TVA.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Preliminary water tests from rivers near a huge coal ash spill in Tennessee show elevated levels of pollutants such as mercury and lead, a environmental group said on Friday.
"We're concerned that the water poses a greater risk to residents in the area than has been revealed so far," said Matt Wasson, a program director at Appalachian Voices, a environmental group that coordinated the testing of the water with scientists from Appalachian State University.
An earthen dike collapsed on December 22 at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston coal-fired power plant, spilling coal ash across as much as 400 acres. The ash, left from decades of coal burning, had been stored in a sludge pond. The spill extended into a waterway, blocked a road, and ruined three homes, according to the TVA.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two Chinese companies on Friday announced plans to build a solar power plant in northwestern China that could one day be the largest photovoltaic solar project in the world. The news helped spur a rally in shares of solar power companies that was also underpinned by higher oil prices and a strong rise the broader market. China Technology Development Group Corp and privately held Qinghai New Energy Group will begin building a 30 megawatt solar power station in China's Qaidam Basin this year with an initial investment of $150 million, they said in a joint statement. The project, which will combine thin-film and traditional silicon-based technologies that turn the sun's rays into electricity, ultimately will produce 1 gigawatt of power, the companies said, without giving a timeframe.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two Chinese companies on Friday announced plans to build a solar power plant in northwestern China that could one day be the largest photovoltaic solar project in the world.
The news helped spur a rally in shares of solar power companies that was also underpinned by higher oil prices and a strong rise the broader market.
China Technology Development Group Corp and privately held Qinghai New Energy Group will begin building a 30 megawatt solar power station in China's Qaidam Basin this year with an initial investment of $150 million, they said in a joint statement.
The project, which will combine thin-film and traditional silicon-based technologies that turn the sun's rays into electricity, ultimately will produce 1 gigawatt of power, the companies said, without giving a timeframe.
The identity of David Tennant's replacement as Doctor Who will be revealed in a BBC1 show to be broadcast tomorrow - and simulcast live on the BBC's big outdoor screens in cities around the country.It is understood that those hoping for the first female doctor will be disappointed. Doctor Who's new executive producers, Coupling creator Steven Moffat and BBC Wales head of drama Piers Wenger are said to have stuck with tradition and cast a man in the role.However, Moffat and Wenger are thought to have steered away from the more obvious names that have been linked to the role.Tennant's replacement will be unveiled in an edition of Doctor Who Confidential to be broadcast on BBC1 at 5.35pm on Saturday, 3 January, featuring an interview with the actor who is to be the 11th doctor in the long-running BBC1 sci fi drama, successfully revived by the corporation in 2005.
The identity of David Tennant's replacement as Doctor Who will be revealed in a BBC1 show to be broadcast tomorrow - and simulcast live on the BBC's big outdoor screens in cities around the country.
It is understood that those hoping for the first female doctor will be disappointed. Doctor Who's new executive producers, Coupling creator Steven Moffat and BBC Wales head of drama Piers Wenger are said to have stuck with tradition and cast a man in the role.
However, Moffat and Wenger are thought to have steered away from the more obvious names that have been linked to the role.
Tennant's replacement will be unveiled in an edition of Doctor Who Confidential to be broadcast on BBC1 at 5.35pm on Saturday, 3 January, featuring an interview with the actor who is to be the 11th doctor in the long-running BBC1 sci fi drama, successfully revived by the corporation in 2005.
Current approaches to deal with climate change are ineffectual, one of the world's top climate scientists said today in a personal new year appeal to Barack Obama and his wife Michelle on the urgent need to tackle global warming.With less than three weeks to go until Obama's inauguration, Prof James Hansen, head of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, asked the recently appointed White House science adviser Prof John Holdren to pass the missive directly to the president-elect.Obama spoke repeatedly during his campaign about the need to tackle climate change, and environmentalists fervently hope he will live up to his promises to pursue green policies.
Current approaches to deal with climate change are ineffectual, one of the world's top climate scientists said today in a personal new year appeal to Barack Obama and his wife Michelle on the urgent need to tackle global warming.
With less than three weeks to go until Obama's inauguration, Prof James Hansen, head of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, asked the recently appointed White House science adviser Prof John Holdren to pass the missive directly to the president-elect.
Obama spoke repeatedly during his campaign about the need to tackle climate change, and environmentalists fervently hope he will live up to his promises to pursue green policies.
The world's first clinical trial of human insulin produced in plants is starting in the UK. The aim is to provide a new source of insulin to meet the rapidly growing demand from diabetics.SemBioSys, a Canadian biotechnology company, has developed a genetically modified variety of safflower that makes high concentrations of human insulin in its seeds. (Safflower is a thistle-like plant with large yellow flowers, which is a minor source of seed oils.)Thirty healthy volunteers are taking part in the inaugural trial, which is being run in Manchester by Icon, a contract research company. It is an important milestone for the nascent "biopharming" industry, which aims eventually to produce a range of clinically useful human molecules in genetically engineered plants. Although several such pharmaceuticals are in development, none has yet reached the market - and insulin could be the first, says Andrew Baum, SemBioSys chief executive.
SemBioSys, a Canadian biotechnology company, has developed a genetically modified variety of safflower that makes high concentrations of human insulin in its seeds. (Safflower is a thistle-like plant with large yellow flowers, which is a minor source of seed oils.)
Thirty healthy volunteers are taking part in the inaugural trial, which is being run in Manchester by Icon, a contract research company.
It is an important milestone for the nascent "biopharming" industry, which aims eventually to produce a range of clinically useful human molecules in genetically engineered plants. Although several such pharmaceuticals are in development, none has yet reached the market - and insulin could be the first, says Andrew Baum, SemBioSys chief executive.
