2011

Counting the Earth's living riches is a landmark moment

Author: 

Damian Carrington
Counting the Earth's living riches is a landmark moment
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Moths, cicadas, and other insects attracted to a backlit sheet in the rainforest of Peru in 2008. Most of the 75% of all species that live in land are insects. Photograph: Gerry Bishop/Corbis

Some numbers are fundamental and iconic: think pi in mathematics and the speed of light in physics. They provide a cornerstone upon which a vast edifice of science can be built, leading ultimately to much of our prosperity and wellbeing.

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Return to London please, via Moscow: Kremlin paves way for East to West rail link after after 'approving' $99bn Bering Strait tunnel

Author: 

Wil Longbottom
Return to London please, via Moscow: Kremlin paves way for East to West rail lin
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  • Trip of a lifetime would take the best part of three weeks through picturesque Alaska and Siberia
  • Russia set to complete extension of rail network to tip of Siberia by 2030
  • $99 billion plan would see 65-mile tunnel bored under Bering Strait and linking East and West

The prospect of an epic train journey from New York to London might seem like a distant dream for those seeking the ultimate railway holiday.

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World humanitarian day: which countries gave the most aid and who received the most?

Author: 

Sarah Marsh
World humanitarian day: which countries gave the most aid and who received the m
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On World humanitarian day we look at countries who give aid and those that are in need

World humanitarian day celebrates people who help others - the aid workers who risk their lives to support people in great need.

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Pakistan May Be Standing in Way of Polio's Eradication

Author: 

Uri Friedman
Pakistan May Be Standing in Way of Polio's Eradication
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Several Pakistani news outlets today are dissecting a troubling finding from the U.N. Children's Fund: the 63 cases of polio diagnosed in the country so far this year are nearly double the 36 detected during the same period last year. The highly contagious viral disease, which attacks the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death, is most evident in the province of Balochistan and has now spread to other areas that haven't been infected for the past five years.

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Microfinance's sober reckoning

Author: 

Madeleine Bunting
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It's like a hangover after a big party. For over a decade microfinance has boomed as donors' have poured millions into the sector – now there is a sober reckoning.

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Water systems at risk from growing demand for food - expert

Author: 

alertnet // Laurie Goering
Water systems at risk from growing demand for food - expert
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LONDON (AlertNet) – Efforts to feed an extra 2 billion people by mid-century could lead to widespread destruction of forests, wetlands and other natural systems that protect and regulate the world’s water, researchers warn.

But finding ways to boost agricultural production while protecting nature could produce big benefits, including reduced poverty and hunger in some of the world’s most fragile countries and hikes in food production that are sustainable beyond 2050.

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Map tracks Antarctica on the move

Author: 

Jonathan Amos
Map tracks Antarctica on the move
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Scientists have produced what they say is the first complete map of how the ice moves across Antarctica.

Built from images acquired by radar satellites, the visualisation details all the great glaciers and the smaller ice streams that feed them.

The map has been published online by Science magazine.

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Fukushima radiation alarms doctors

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Scientists and doctors are calling for a new national policy in Japan that mandates the testing of food, soil, water, and the air for radioactivity still being emitted from Fukushima's heavily damaged Daiichi nuclear power plant.

 

"How much radioactive materials have been released from the plant?" asked Dr Tatsuhiko Kodama, a professor at the Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology and Director of the University of Tokyo's Radioisotope Centre, in a July 27 speech to the Committee of Health, Labour and Welfare at Japan's House of Representatives.

 

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rainfall levels in china

Source: 

http://www1.cnr.cn/dlfw/rdzz/201106/t20110603_508061710.shtml

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rainfall levels in china

the maroon line is the breaking point between rain and snow

the color code is the measure of rain in millimeters

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