| Should cheetahs be reintroduced in India? Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) may be the world's fastest land mammal, but that hasn't helped them escape their worst enemy: humans. The big cats have been hunted to extinction in 15 countries, and their remaining African and Asian populations currently face genetic weaknesses, such as low sperm counts and deformed tails, because of inbreeding. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Swimmers, Hoppers and Fliers: How Do Toxic Chemicals Move Around the Planet? Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from Elizabeth Grossman's book Chasing Molecules .Even hundreds of miles from the nearest industrial or agricultural activity, the sea ice, ocean, and Arctic plants and animals regularly yield evidence of elemental and synthetic chemical contamination. This contamination includes not only herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides--chemicals that are used in open air, may have washed directly into rivers or are released from factories--but also metals, among them mercury as well as flame retardants and water repellants, among other substances that are, at least in theory, incorporated into the materials of the products they’re designed to enhance. [More] rss.sciam.com |
What Does Winter Weather Reveal about Global Warming? Snowpocalypse. Snowmageddon. Whatever your preferred appellation, this week's winter storms brought misery to denizens of the U.S. east coast and prompted some at least to question the scientific theory of climate change . After all, shouldn't global warming deliver us from ice, snow and cold? The site of the Winter Olympics seems to think so, Vancouver experienced the warmest January on record and may have to import snow. Thirty-two people have died during an ongoing heat wave in Brazil. In fact, globally speaking, this January was the warmest in the last three decades. [More] rss.sciam.com |
History Worth Lingering For With gardens and nearby museums, Battery Park deserves to be seen as a destination, not just a launching pad to go elsewhere. travel.nytimes.com |
Recommended: Mummies of the World Mummies of the World Edited by Alfried Wieczorek and Wilfried Rosendahl. Prestel, 2010 [More] Ancient Egypt - Mummies - Social Sciences - Archaeology - World rss.sciam.com |