APES Current Events

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/specialized-protein-helps-these-ground-squirrels-resist-cold This species of ground squirrel that hibernates all winter is less sensitive to cold when it awakes compared to its close nonhibernating relative.  That higher tolerance for cold has been linked to a cold sensing protein in the nerve cells of the squirrels.

In the United States, efforts to reduce air pollution have led to cleaner air and improvements in public health.  These efforts have been aimed to reduce nitric oxide and hydrocarbon pollutants from the air. Nitric oxide is a compound emitted from engines and coal power plants.  On the other hand, hydrocarbons are emitted from sources like gas-powered cars and trucks, solvents and cleaners.  Regulations for newer and more eco-friendly cars have greatly decreased the amount of nitric oxide in urban areas, whereas regulations targeted to reduce hydrocarbon levels are progressing at a slower rate.  This imbalance of the decreasing compounds has led to the creation of chemicals called organic hydroperoxides.  Scientists have already concluded that breathing in these particles is bad for human health, but they do not know how hydroperoxides will impact public health over a long period of time. This article is important because it illuminates something negative that...

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171206141629.htm         Given our recent classes on food webs and the like I thought why not the area in the world we know the least about! We know next to nothing about our depths. And with resent discoveries of fish and linking of animal on animal carnage is exciting! at least to me anyway... https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171213095545.htm        Sea-levels rising! oh no. in about 90 years land that over 100 million people are using for their houses will be covered with water? If only there is something anything we could do, like cutting down on our carbon footprint, like increasing public transportation, or switching to more economic fuel consumption or new fuel sources. If only we could do something like those options i mention previously to help us save our dying planet! oh no. dumb ass.

Recent reports are said that the recent climate change can have a major a effect on the coffee plants themselves. The colder temperatures that are in the areas where the plants are growing effect how quickly the coffee plants ripen. But with climate change occurring and temperatures being warmer, this causes the coffee plants to ripen very slowly making coffee beans not as flavorful. Coffee farmers are saying that the price of coffee could increase because of the inability to grow beans that are plentiful and good quality as well. I think that this could majorly effect the way that we could assume coffee products and how much we import them. We could see a major change in price on coffee because of having to import it more often. Ethiopia, one of the main producers of coffee could see a major dip in their economy. http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/21/world/coffee-climate-change-trnd/index.html

The wildfires in California have been a hot topic the past few months. Wildfires have been tearing through California causing millions of billions of dollars of damage, lost of life and of land. The most recent fires are in Southern California. The fires are nearly touching the busiest highway 405 freeway, UCLA, and Getty Museum. The fires have been started by high temperatures and currently in a drought. The fire is spreading at a rapid pace because winds are 80 MPH+. Firefighters are trying their best to contain and destroy the fire. The fires are awful and there nothing we can really do about it. The firefighters are doing their best the keep the fire back but other than that the best we can do it stay safe and pray rain comes. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/06/us/california-fires.html

This article describes how Brazilian sugarcane could potentially replace 13.7% of the world's crude oil consumption and reduce global emissions. This could be made possible by reducing the emissions from combustion of fossil fuels. The production of fuel ethanol from sugarcane for use instead of the burning of fossil fuels. I think this is productive article because it is looking to help the environment and giving possible replacements for the burning of fossil fuels. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171128123351.htm

Climate Science on Trial Again

China air pollution is a problem there. In fact its a big problem.Some days instead of figuring out when ether you wear a jacket. You have to figure out when to wear a mask because of the air pollution. Professor Wang Hui Ju has some solutions to solving this problem. One solutions is i dentifying the role of human-caused emissions on climate change. I think this is great because it helps and try to figure out this  pollution  problem China has been having. Article here

The wild fires in California are staring to make progress on being contained. The fire in Ventura California is about 15% contained. But the fire already burned 143,000 Acres and 476 Structures. This caused over 50,000 people to evacuate. The wildfire in San Diego is now at 20% contained and this fire burnt over 100 Structures. http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/12/09/firefighters-make-progress-fighting-california-wildfires-will-carr-reports

Since global warming has been on a rise the Arabian sea has had a rise in cyclones. It also has not just been a rise in them they are growing extremely worse. NOAA made predictions on the storms occurring in the Arabian sea. It showed that with the increase of burning fossil fuels in 1860s caused increased storms. This is one of the times that their predictions lined up with what is actually occurring. I found this article very interesting because of it dealing with the increase in deadly storms. It may help people realize that global warming is actually occurring. Also that we do have consequences from the burning of fossil fuels. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171206141643.htm

Narwhals environment is being attacked. They live in an Arctic habitat. Now that the ice caps have been melting it is becoming a lot easier for ships to travel in those parts of the sea. Also meaning more humans in that area. This is something narwhals never had to deal with, the humans and the nets. BBC believes that since there are been more dead narwhal sighting are due to their heart and not humans. A narwhals heart decreases when in fear and swims a lot faster away then it ever has. Causing the narwhal to loose oxygen in the brain and sometimes dies. BBC believes that it is the narwhals fault themselves. While truly it is the traffic in the water causing the fear in narwhal. This article was biased because BBC news is already known to be bias, and the reporter doing this story is saying how they feel on the subject.  http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42259289

In September of 1770, the above China, Japan, and Korea changed to what was described as an "eerie red" colored aurora. This continued for 8 nights. No one could explain this phenomenon and it was eventually forgotten. However, researchers recently began investigating the event again after finding historical documents in East Asia describing it. They have found that this was most likely caused by a geomagnetic storm. A geomagnetic storm occurs when the magnetosphere of Earth is hit by solar eruptions. Sunspots occur with most geomagnetic storms, and there were also drawings and records of sunspots occurring at the same time as the auroras. I found this article very interesting because I have never heard about geomagnetic storms before. There were informative descriptions about what geomagnetic storms are and what can occur along with them. Multiple forms of evidence proving that these auroras were caused by one of the storms were also discussed in the article. Link:  Bloo...

Testing done in London show that babies born at full term have an increased chance of low birth rate. The findings do not only prove true for that city but other European cities. Air pollution also proves to cause other birth problems and pregnancy complications. Afterwards, scientists were able to conclude that increases in traffic was associated with 2% to 6% increased odds of low birth weight. I think this is interesting since it could affect the health of our future populations and could also happen in the Untied States if it is not taken care of.  Link to article 

In this article scientists have been studying the way that blue whales move and rotate when hunting for food and retrieving their food. Scientists have never seen a marine animal ever favor one side over the other like humans favor their right or left hand as their dominate. Blue whales showed that when hunting for their food they role 180 degrees to the right except for when they are along the surface they roll to the left. Scientists believe that they roll to their left when near the surface to see more clearly with their dominate right eye. Interesting to see that blue whale dominate a side to use like humans do. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/most-blue-whales-are-righties-except-one-move

Drowning in Garbage: The Washington Post : As usual the western part of the world is the worst-

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171127135818.htm This article is really cool because it has good sources and it is not fake news. I think it is very interesting that species are evolving just because of climate change. This shows that species are adapting to their environment when it changes. The resource is one you can trust as well. This is a topic that interests me and I would love to learn more about it. I would go and look at more research on this and ask some questions onto how their body changes over time. They should do an experiment with different species in that environment. See if they adapt as well.

While Brexit may have momentarily tanked Britain's economy, thus hurting the small farmers of the nation, it is now giving the British government a way to help sustain the small farms that once covered the British country-side. Brexit has now given Britain a chance to create a new agricultural policy that will help the environment and help small farmers be able to withstand economic hardships. That being said, the key to this new plan is public funding and the variance in farm size across the countryside. Britain is now presented with the chance to totally reform and amend their economic downfalls within the agricultural fields and environmental fields. click here to read the full commentary

     EarthSense Systems have created and published MappAir, which is the first high resolution map of air pollution. The venture was joined together by University of Leicester and the company BlueSky. EarthSense created the very accurate map using techniques of modelling with the data from open source and satellites. The map made shows air pollution changes across the country of UK and the cleanest air areas. EarthSense divided UK into 100 meters squared, and combined open data with its own Zephyr air quality monitoring sensors to make an annual average for each cell. Since the production of MappAir, EarthSense plans to produce more MappAir products, like a 10m map for urban areas, an ultra-high 1m dataset for detailed study areas, an historic time series of maps showing how air pollution changes over the course of a day and on different days, and forecast maps giving indication of fluctuations up to 3 days ahead. Later in 2017, EarthSense will release a map of PM2.5. Map...

This Ted talk discusses illegal logging, how it negatively impacts Earth, and ways in which we can limit and stop this practice. The speaker's main focus is on using cell phones to stop illegal logging. He says that they can be used to pick up the sounds of chainsaws in the rain forest and then the phone can contact authorities in the area to stop the logging. I personally think that this is a very inventive and interesting idea if it is used effectively and could potentially be very beneficial in the cause to stop illegal logging. https://www.ted.com/talks/topher_white_what_can_save_the_rainforest_your_used_cell_phone#t-173249

This article by National Geographic tackles the possible conflict the new tax bill will have on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.  ANWR resides on Alaska's North Slope and is home to over 200 species.  The area thrives with life with refugee species as well as migration species, and if the new tax bill is passed, drilling companies will be able to use the area for collecting oil they believe to be located underneath the region.  Drillers say that the process would be careful and effective, but there are places all over the world that are still suffering form the aftermath of oil spills that occurred years ago.  Contaminating the water or surrounding areas would destroy the habitats for various animals and essentially undo all the work ANWR's creators have done to make a suitable and habitable place for Arctic species. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/anwr-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-drilling-gop-tax-plan-spd/

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/11/22/16666808/india-air-pollution-new-delhi How Delhi became the most polluted city on Earth Delhi has earned the unfortunate title of becoming the world's most populated city of Earth during this month. In Delhi, the air quality has reached very bad conditions. Unites Airlines even cancelled all their flights to India's Capital due to these poor conditions that are occurring. Protests have even broke out due to the people being angered that the government is not doing anything to help control this situation. Kids are even being taken out of school.  I honestly feel disgusted about these conditions right now. As a country, we aren't doing anything to help right now. The fact that their government is not getting involved, shows that we should at least get involved. If it is causing kids to lose education and the government isn't helping, we need to.

The seafloor near Finland off these land size glaciers are usually home to some aquatic species, but since the water temperature is changing so rapidly, many animals have to leave. This leaves areas normally populated to have nothing but sea star and sponges. My big fear with this is animals like whales that migrate around the world, and if they show up there and there is no food, what will they do. Article

Link Here This past hurricane season is coming to an end, but not without causing its fair share of damage and to the countries that it effected and their wallets. This past hurricane season was the most expensive season in the U.S. history. A Massachusetts Institute of technology meteorologist said that human influenced climate change could lead to higher intensity hurricanes in the future. If humans are influencing things like this through human influenced climate change, then why don't we try harder to reduce our ecological footprint and decrease pollution? I think the effects that climate change has on our earth are far more damaging than some people think and we should do more to try to stop making matters worse.

About a day or two ago there was a rare 4.1 magnitude earthquake in Delaware. Luckily the earthquake was very small but was felt from Baltimore to New York. The earthquake was pretty shallow but still did not do any damage. We rarely have earthquakes on the east coast so luckily it was a very little earthquake and if it were a big one everyone would have been in for a rude awakening. http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/30/us/delaware-earthquake/index.html

In America, approximately one-third of food gets wasted or lost in processing. Not only is this adding to overall waste and loss of money, but it is such a waste of perfectly healthy food. The amount we waste could fill up an immense amount of humans in need of food. In an attempt to fix this, there have been some efforts to help other countries try to preserve vegetables and other foods to benefit them. At the end of the day, this awful waste is simply America in a picture, in my opinion. The fact that we waste so much money, resources, and food a year ($1,484 a year in food loss) is a statement of America. Not only are we digging ourselves a deeper hole, but we are wasting products that other countries would be grateful for. In my opinion I see no need for the waste of food and I know at my house, we try to not throw away anything because of the waste of money it is. Maybe for 5 seconds we could focus on topics like this instead of climate change. Article Here

In the article a test completed by the University of Leeds has found that their are less volcanic eruptions in Iceland, where their is more glacier coverage. With the United States their is more human global warming contributing to climate change which may increase volcanic eruption. Every small change will increase the chance for volcanic eruptions. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171123095405.htm

Rebecca Dunning November Article Leap Frog! A child hood game most of us can say we have played. Reading fairy tales and believing if we kiss a frog he will turn into our Prince or Princess. But be careful what toad you are kissing! Meet the Cane Toad. Originating from Australia, this toad covers the land reproducing at such a high rate causing destruction to the environment and its inhibitors. One kiss could be the end of your life. When the toad is scared, is produces a toxin that is lethal to many. In my opinion, this population needs to be contained and although Australian scientists are trying to reduce the population they are not doing enough. More actions need to be taken before more harm is put on the environment. I enjoyed this topic and learning more about Cane Toads because I love frogs. http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/pestsweeds/HowFarHaveTheySpreadWhyAreTheyAProblem.htm 

Leaf endophytes, fungi in plants, help to protect their hosts from disease and drought. These fungi deter pathogens and help the plant boost its defenses by secreting anti-microbial substances. However, some endophytes capitalize on the illness or death of the plant, and may end up killing the organism. Researches wanted to test if and how endophytes are passed on outside the lab, and they chose cacao trees for this study. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/chocolate-trees-shower-young-with-disease-fighting-leaves/

While renewable energy is a great thing that doesn't really output any chemicals into the world, but its placement on the other can could cause issues for more than just a few species. In a any given environment you can make the assumption that there are many organisms that live off one another, and by setting up many dams it will cause a lot of problems. I feel like there should be a limit of how many of these dams can be placed from one another. Renewable energy is important but damaging an ecosystem is not the way to fix things. If dames were placed at an existing fall off from a lake, I think that would make much more sense, since there would not be that much disturbance of the ecosystem. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/27/balkan-hydropower-projects-soar-by-300-putting-wildlife-at-risk-research-shows

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/collision-illuminates-mysterious-makeup-neutron-stars Scientists are currently viewing the data of a recent neuron star collision. They are studying this collision because the weird matter as they call it currently since they do not know enough about the neuron star is being spaced out after the collision. Much research is being done on neuron stars because scientists do not know much about the stars and the weird matter inside them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/11/30/earthquake-hits-delaware-a-reminder-of-east-coast-seismic-hazard/?utm_term=.0b6fe18937b3 Yesterday at 4.47pm an earthquake with 4.1 magnitude hit 6 miles from Dover, Delaware and it was 5 miles deep. Not much damage was caused, but you could feel the shaking from the  nation’s capital and in Virginia suburbs. The  Geophysicist Dale Grant of the USGS said that to have an earthquake in Delaware is “exceptionally rare.”  But c loser to the epicenter, the earthquake was worse. But even with that t here was no known cause for the earthquake.

The Cane toad is a poisons invasive species that has invaded Australia. They have invaded the Kimberly Plateau which they are moving quickly through it. Scientist believe that they move kilometer every night during the wet season. The toads are adopting in shape and physiology. Sugar cane plants from Puerto Rico brought the cane toad to Australia. The toads need to be stopped and soon. They are covering the rain forest at a fast rate and if we don't do anything it'll be late to stop them.

'Zero tolerance' plan eyed for plastic pollution The nations in the UN have agreed to talk about a legal treaty banning plastic from seas and oceans. They already have a ban for ships throwing plastic off their boat but we have no laws against plastic going into the ocean from the land. This will help all of the marine life in the oceans be safer in their environment. It also makes the world a cleaner place.

We are starting to see actual evolution due to global warming in mice and their jaw structure. If this was an event due to sudden adaptation, perhaps a different structure would have been changed. Bone structure isn't nearly as easy to change than other things may be. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171127135818.htm

Scientist have started to recently state that Glitter is harmful to the environment. Since, glitters are a form of micro plastics they can release chemicals in the ocean and be consumed by marine animals. In the upcoming year, the UK will try implementing a law on micro beads, which are a type of micro-plastic. In my opinion, this could help limit the amount of micro-plastics that could get into oceans and waterways. Another thing, this author seems the be very biased towards glitter by calling it a "super-villain" and 'Charming, but insidious". http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/29/health/glitter-environment-hazard-microbead-ban-trnd/index.html

Cane toads in Australia have been having bad impacts on the environment surrounding them. They do not have really any predators, so their population has been increasing very quickly. Any species who tries to consume them end up being harmed and or killed due to the poison that they release. This is causing a decline in many species and could lead to extinction. Scientists are trying to find ways to reduce and control their population size, but as of now, they are negatively impacting the environment which is leading to a bad outcome in the future. http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/pestsweeds/HowFarHaveTheySpreadWhyAreTheyAProblem.htm

This article is extremely biased and not only does it state it's opinion very clearly, the author attacks the opposing view. Because 'obviously, global warming is a joke.' "You're an idiot, so there's no hope for you." "warmageddon"

In this article it talks about how Brazil had found a way to reduce the use of crude oil and fossil fuels and use sugarcane instead. By doing this we reduce the CO2 emissions as much as almost 6% by 2045. I think this is a smart thing to do, or at least consider, because the rapid increase in temperature, due to the CO2 in our air now, could be greatly decreased by this switch. We only have so much fuel in the world and if we could replace it with a replenish-able source then why not? Article