 | Invading weeds are met by an offense of plant-eating insects Nov 1st 2012, 16:11 What is the best course of action when an invading noxious weed threatens to attack crop yields and assault grazing land? Invite a friend to dinner. In this case, the friend is a plant-eating insect—the stem-mining weevil. | | Minimizing mining damage with manure Oct 26th 2012, 16:50 New research confirms that the time-tested practice of amending crop soils with manure also can help restore soils on damaged post-mining landscapes. | | Under debate: Mongolian nomadic lifestyle Oct 22nd 2012, 12:01 Geographers from the University of Leicester are involved in research on pastoralism, environment and livelihoods at a critical juncture in decision making over the future of Mongolia's rural areas. | | Fast image processing developed for industry Oct 19th 2012, 11:14 The mining and steel industries, as well as the aggregates industry that produces rock and stone for construction and industry needs, were the focus end-users for new fast image analysis capabilities for measurement feedback in industry processes. Researchers have developed LTU-CUDA, a software for fast image processing based on high performance graphics cards commonly found in today's personal computers. | | Fall calls bats to hibernate, scientists to study them Sep 28th 2012, 12:49 Bats are an important weapon in the battle against insect pests, but a deadly fungal disease is killing more and more of them. They flock to mines and caves in the fall, where scientists study them while they hibernate. New research helps track their origins, which could lead to better prevention and control of White Nose Syndrome. | | Can blue tits can save our conker trees? Aug 30th 2012, 10:57 Blue tits, a familiar garden bird in the U.K., could be the salvation of our imperiled conker trees (horse-chestnut trees), which are under severe attack by a tiny non-native moth that has spread from continental Europe. | | Mangroves: A filter for heavy metals Jul 24th 2012, 14:43 A mangrove is a forest consisting of various species of mangrove trees growing with their bases submerged in water, at the interface between land and sea. They cover more than three quarters of tropical coastlines, that is to say almost 200,000km². In New Caledonia, they accounts for almost 80% of the island's western coastline. They act as a buffer zone between the lagoon and the mountain mining areas, rich in metallic elements (iron, manganese, nickel, chrome and cobalt, nearly all toxic pollutants). | | To clean up the mine, let fungus reproduce Jul 16th 2012, 19:23 Researchers have discovered that an Ascomycete fungus that is common in polluted water produces environmentally important minerals during asexual reproduction. The key chemical in the process, superoxide, is a byproduct of fungal growth when the organism produces spores. Once released into the environment, superoxide reacts with the element manganese, producing a highly reactive mineral that aids in the cleanup of toxic metals, degrades carbon substrates, and controls the bioavailability of nutrients. | | Fracking's footprint on Pennsylvania forests Jul 16th 2012, 14:08 As the natural gas extraction process known as fracking surges across Pennsylvania, scientists are trying to understand what the short- and long-term consequences could be for the state's forests and watersheds. | | Copper from car brakes and mining is making salmon prone to predators Jul 10th 2012, 13:39 Minute amounts of copper from brake linings and mining operations can affect salmon to where they are easily eaten by predators, according to new research. Biologists found the metal affects salmon's sense of smell so much that they won't detect a compound that ordinarily alerts them to be still and wary. | | Earth's oldest known impact crater found in Greenland Jun 28th 2012, 20:46 Scientists in working in Western Greenland have found evidence of an asteroid or comet impact early in the Earth's history. At three billion years old, the crater is a billion years older than the previously oldest known crater. | |
