Dwindling growth in rice harvests in India over recent decades may be due to large atmospheric brown clouds looming over the region, a new study by U. S. scientists published Monday suggests. Atmospheric brown clouds are drifting banks of air pollution that reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the surface, causing dryer, cooler, and dimmer surface conditions that could adversely affect important food crops. One of the largest of these clouds hovers over the Indian subcontinent, one of the world’s major rice-producing regions. To examine the effects of these clouds on rice harvests, researchers from University of California constructed a model that combines historical Indian rice harvest data with a climate model. They found that historical rice harvests would have been larger in the absence of these clouds, and larger still if reductions in the clouds were accompanied by reductions in greenhouse gases. Contrary to previous concerns that reducing the brown clouds could diminish harvests by unveiling the warming effects of greenhouse gases, these results suggest that reductions in these clouds, alone or in combination with reductions in greenhouse gases, would benefit rice harvests in India, the researchers say. The findings were reported Monday by […]
Songbirds change their tune when they move to cities, according to new research. Scientists found that great tits adapted to urban living by singing faster, shorter songs that were at a higher frequency than their forest-dwelling cousins. Rapid urbanisation around the world and the subsequent increase in ambient noise has proven problematic for animals which use sound to communicate. For birds in particular, city noises can mask the exchange of vital information and prevent males from attracting mates. To see how birds reacted to increased noise, Hans Slabbekoorn of Leiden University recorded the songs of great tits in 10 European cities including London, Prague, Paris and Amsterdam. He then compared the songs with birds of the same species in nearby forests. The results, published today in the journal Current Biology, showed that songs important in attracting mates and defending territory were markedly different in the urban setting. ‘The songs diverged in several parameters,’ said Dr Slabbekoorn. ‘In 10 out of 10 comparisons we found that birds in cities use a higher minimum frequency. The songs in cities are faster, especially the duration of the first element of each of those repetitive song phrases.’ He explained the […]
BAGHDAD – The decision of the giant engineering company Bechtel to withdraw from Iraq has left many Iraqis feeling betrayed. In the company’s departure, they see the end of remaining hopes for the reconstruction of Iraq. ‘It is much worse than in the time of Saddam Hussein,’ Communist Party member Nayif Jassim said. ‘Most Iraqis wish Saddam would be back in power now that they lived out the hardships of the occupation. The Americans did nothing but loot our oil and kill our people.’ Bechtel, whose board members have close ties to the administration of US President George W Bush, announced last week that it was done with trying to operate in the war-torn country. The company has received US$2.3 billion of Iraqi reconstruction funds and US taxpayer money, but is leaving without completing most of the tasks it set out to do. On every level of infrastructure measurable, the situation in Iraq is worse now than under the rule of Saddam. That includes the 12 years of economic sanctions since the first Gulf War in 1991, a period that Dennis Halliday, former United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, described as ‘genocidal’ for Iraqis. […]
WASHINGTON — The American-trained police force in Afghanistan is not effectively trained and is incapable of carrying out routine law enforcement duties, a U.S. government report found. The joint report by the Pentagon and the State Department has been circulated to members of relevant congressional committees, The New York Times reported Sunday night on its Web site. State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus and Pentagon spokesman Todd Vichan said Sunday night they could not comment on the report. Managers of the $1.1 billion training program cannot say how many officers are actually on duty or where thousands of trucks and other equipment issued to the police force are now, said the report, issued by the inspector generals’ offices at the Pentagon and the State Department. The report said no effective field training program had been established in Afghanistan. Considering the current problems with the force, an estimated $600 million per year will be needed to sustain it, the report said. Some of the problems in Afghanistan are similar to those experienced in Iraq, where inadequate training, too much reliance on private contractors for that training and lost equipment have plagued the formation of a reliable police force.
Millions of chest pain and heart attack sufferers thought they were getting a phenomenal medical advance when tiny coils that ooze medicine were placed in their arteries to keep them from squeezing shut again. These gizmos, called drug-coated stents, worked so much better than plain old metal ones that 6 million people worldwide received them in the few years they have been available. It was a modern record for any medical device. Now their long-term safety is in question. Doctors think these stents may raise the risk of life-threatening blood clots months and even years later unless people stay on Plavix, an anti-clotting drug whose long-term safety in stent patients has not been established. Thousands of people are being urged to take the $4-a-day drug until more is known. Thousands of others each day who develop new blockages are being treated by doctors no longer sure of what to do. Many are returning to the old metal stents, and some are fundamentally rethinking when to use stents at all and are considering alternatives like bypass surgery or medications. A Food and Drug Administration panel will meet on the issue Thursday and Friday. Medical journals […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
