Archives for February, 2010
Posted by More than seven hundred people were killed and two million have been displaced by the magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile yesterday, according to news reports. (See Chile earthquake pictures.) “We face a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort” for Chile to recover, President Michelle Bachelet told a news…
Read the whole post »Can End of the Line Stem the Tide?
Posted by Ford Cochran on February 28, 2010 Must-see documentary film The End of the Line (newly-released on DVD) and British journalist Charles Clover’s book of the same name examine the imminent threat of overfishing to the world’s fisheries and marine life—and efforts to stem the tide. Among those efforts: A new website, Fish2fork, that rates restaurants on the sustainability of the seafood…
Read the whole post »It looks like a pig with a trunk, but it is related to horses. Not yet a month old, San Diego Zoo’s newest Malaya tapir is starting to nibble on solid food already, the zoo said in a caption released with this photograph. The tapir has been named Tembikai, which means “watermelon” in Malay, the…
Read the whole post »A tsunami generated by an 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile struck Hawaii Saturday, but an official with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said the island chain “dodged a bullet” after smaller-than-expected waves were reported, CNN said. The PTWC lifted all tsunami warnings, watches, or advisories. “The first waves of the tsunami were recorded on The Big…
Read the whole post »NG Weekend: Ethiopia’s Omo Valley
Posted by Ford Cochran on February 27, 2010 This week on National Geographic Weekend radio, host Boyd Matson speaks with guests about Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, tree kangaroos, environmentally responsible travel, killing vampires, Japanese gardens, biogas digesters, prison choirs, the freshwater crisis, finding your inner nomad in Mongolia, and National Geographic Explorer‘s 25th anniversary. Hour 1 Ethiopia’s Omo Valley is a place still ruled…
Read the whole post »An 8.8 magnitude earthquake was registered 22 miles underground off the coast of Chile early this morning, the U.S. Geological Survey reports. One of the strongest earthquakes on record, the temblor has triggered tsunami advisories across the Pacific Ocean, including Japan and California. This map put out by NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center shows the location (the…
Read the whole post »This land is your land… and so, too, is the ocean
Posted by Stuart Pimm on February 26, 2010 By Stuart L. Pimm “This land is your land, this land is my land … ” According to Mary Turnipseed of Duke University’s Marine Laboratory, Woodie Guthrie got it wrong in 1940. What’s ours—as citizens and coastal residents–stretches well beyond “California and New York Island.” Two hundred miles out to sea, in fact. And her…
Read the whole post »By Ford Cochran Today adventurer, environmental advocate, and National Geographic Emerging Explorer David de Rothschild unveiled Plastiki–a sailboat constructed of more than 12,000 recycled plastic bottles–at a press conference near San Francisco. Photograph by Luca Babini courtesy Adventure Ecology David plans to sail the remarkable craft from California to Sydney, Australia, to show what can…
Read the whole post »By Mary Anne Potts Last November the editors of National Geographic Adventure introduced the 2009 Adventurers of the Year, recognized for their extraordinary achievements in exploration, conservation, actions sports, and humanitarian work. Their accomplishments ranged from the longest BASE jump ever to educating 10,000 women and girls in war-torn Afghanistan to rocketing 350 miles above…
Read the whole post »By Ed Yong (via @Not Exactly Rocket Science @ScienceBlogs) In The Descent of Man, Darwin talked about the benefits of life among the treetops, citing the “power of quickly climbing trees, so as to escape from enemies”. Around 140 years later, these benefits have been confirmed by Milena Shattuck and Scott Williams from the University…
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Posted by Our solar system, living proof of the Copernican model —Image courtesy NASA/JPL Astronomers might think they have it tough waiting for the ultimate validation of discoveries: an official name. For example, it took the International Astronomical Union four years to go from the discovery of a new dwarf planet in 2004 to the name Haumea…
Read the whole post »2010 BioBlitz: Scientists, Teachers Needed!
Posted by Ford Cochran on February 25, 2010 Though it’s hard to believe here in D.C.—where we’ve still got more snow piled on most street corners than they’ve got on the runs at Whistler Mountain—in just a few short months many of my NG colleagues and I will head down to balmy Miami and Biscayne National Park for the fourth annual National Geographic-National…
Read the whole post »By GrrlScientist (via @ Living the Scientific Life @ScienceBlogs) Yesterday afternoon, experienced whale trainer, 40-year-old Dawn Brancheau, was attacked and killed by 30-year-old male orca [killer whale], Tillikum, during the afternoon show at SeaWorld, in Orlando, Florida. The 12,000 pound male orca, Orcinus orca, apparently grabbed his trainer and thrashed her to death in front of the…
Read the whole post »—Image courtesy NOAA Next week NASA will launch the latest in a series of satellites run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration designed to track extreme weather events from space. Known as the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, or GOES, each craft carries a letter designation until it arrives in orbit, when it is renamed…
Read the whole post »By James Robertson Carnivorous plants have developed a unique way to get the nutrients they need from sources other than soil. Now researchers have found the plants also developed a way to protect their access to those nutrients that could have an impact on medicine. Researchers at Tel Aviv University tested the liquid from inside…
Read the whole post »Stop dancing! Bees do their famous waggle dance when they want to tell hive mates where to find a good source of food and other resources. But what do they do when they discover that their co-workers may be buzzing off into a trap, such as a spider lurking at the food source? They break…
Read the whole post »Have you ever said to yourself, “Self, have you ever said to yourself, ‘What are African wild animals up to right now?’” Now you can satisfy your self’s overly demanding curiosity with National Geographic’s WildCam. Don’t worry, unlike most streaming webcam feeds, this is one you won’t have to delete from your browser’s history. The…
Read the whole post »Grand unified theory. Re-creating the big bang. Finding the “God particle.” Some days it seems as if particle physicists are on the verge of discovering the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything. Which may or may not be 42. With the recent stream of breakthroughs in dark matter, neutrinos, and the debut of…
Read the whole post »Developing countries are accumulating mountains of hazardous e-waste, with serious consequences for the environment and public health unless they start preparing for safe recycling now, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) warned this week. Sales of electronic products in countries like China and India and across continents such as Africa and Latin America are set…
Read the whole post »A draft compromise on whaling released by a working group of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) today set a dangerous precedent that the international community must reject, the Switzerland-based conservation charity WWF said. The compromise fails to secure a future for whales, the Pew Environment Group said in a separate statement. The Pew Environment Group…
Read the whole post »Long-time National Geographic staff historian Mark Jenkins’ new book, Vampire Forensics, is the basis for a new National Geographic Explorer television special premiering in the U.S. Tuesday night at 10 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel. It’s not quite an interview with the vampire, but Jenkins shares some of what he learned on the…
Read the whole post »For those who take power naps, there is plenty of good news coming out of the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual conference in San Diego this week. Scientists who tested both babies and adults found that the amount and timing of sleep sessions determines how much is learned and remembered. NGS photo…
Read the whole post »Six Ways to Stop a Vampire
Posted by Ford Cochran on February 22, 2010 Ah, the eternal dilemma: How to stop the fiend that is (in Dracula author Bram Stoker’s words) “The Undead”? If you’re an entranced Bella Swan in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, you might not want to—at least not when the vampire in question is Edward Cullen. For the rest of us, here’s a guide to some…
Read the whole post »A familiar type of personal computer security threat can now attack new generations of smart mobile phones–with the potential to cause more serious consequences, computer scientists at Rutgers University said today. The researchers, who are presenting their findings at a mobile computing workshop this week in Maryland, demonstrated how such a software attack could cause…
Read the whole post »Google Energy, which is owned by the search engine company Google, got approval Thursday to buy and sell energy on the wholesale market. The company was created and applied for market based rate-authorization in December, and it will be able to start trading energy on February 23. According to reporting by PC World, Google’s move…
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