US: These small Black-owned farms are growing crops with the climate in mind
15 September 2024 - A number of small Black-owned farms in the Gulf South are growing crops with the climate in mind. Hilery Gobert is among them. He owns a 65-acre farm in Iowa, Louisiana, that he started farming in 2020. He has been trying to improve the soil since then. To do that, he rotates crops and uses cover crops to keep nutrients in the ground. The land now supports a variety of crops, including okra, figs, Asian eggplants, and watermelons. (more)

US: In Portland, thousands gather to marvel at migrating birds' nighttime routine
14 September 2024 - The Vaux's Swift is a tiny bird... But every fall these little birds make a big trip, from summer breeding grounds in the Pacific Northwest down to their winter home in Central and South America. Along the way, many of them roost as a big flock in chimneys up and down the west coast. And their murmurations in the air -- and simultaneously dive together into chimneys -- are so spectacular that they draw crowds. (more)

Australia, a biodiversity hotspot, recognizes 750 new species
13 September 2024 - In Australia, unique species abound -- from koalas and kangaroos to wombats and emus. Now, the western laughing frog and a spider named for Tom Hardy are among the 750 new species recognized on the continent. Melbourne-based wildlife ecologist Euan Ritchie says 750 new species may sound like a lot, but that number is just the tip of the iceberg. (more)

Brazil Indigenous group hails a sacred cloak's homecoming after centuries in Europe
13 September 2024 - Indigenous chants and the rattle of maracas resounded Thursday [12 September] in a Rio de Janeiro park, where Brazil's Tupinamba people gathered to celebrate the homecoming of a sacred cloak absent for some 380 years. Made of feathers from the scarlet ibis, the artifact from northeastern Brazil resided in Copenhagen until the Danish National Museum donated the cloak to its Brazilian counterpart. (more)

UK's King Charles installs solar panels at Windsor Castle
12 September 2024 - Britain's King Charles, who has spent a lifetime campaigning on environmental issues, has installed solar panels at Windsor Castle and plans to convert the royal family's Bentley cars to run on biofuel, palace officials said. Charles installed solar panels on part of the Windsor Castle estate known as the Lord Chamberlain's Upper Store, replacing the existing lead roof, and the plan will be to add more panels in the future, officials said. (more)

U.S. high school vaping hits 10-year low, CDC Says
11 September 2024 - The percentage of high school students in the U.S. who use e-cigarettes has fallen to a decade-long low, according to a survey released Thursday [5 September], reversing an uptick in teen vaping as regulators crack down on popular products and some school districts install vaping detectors. (more)

Americans' inflation-adjusted incomes rebounded to pre-pandemic levels last year
10 September 2024 - The inflation-adjusted median income of U.S. households rebounded last year to roughly its 2019 level, overcoming the biggest price spike in four decades to restore most Americans' purchasing power. ...The jump in incomes reflects solid job creation last year, which helped reduce the unemployment rate to a half-century low of 3.4 percent in April 2023. (more)

Celebrate International Observe the Moon Night at NASA Goddard
9 September 2024 - The public is invited to celebrate International Observe the Moon Night on Saturday, Sept. 14, from 6 to 9 p.m. EDT at NASA Goddard's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. International Observe the Moon Night is a time to come together with fellow Moon enthusiasts and curious people around the world. The public is invited to learn about lunar science and exploration, take part in celestial observations, and honor cultural and personal connections to the Moon. (more)

Laughing frog, celebrity-inspired creatures join Australian fauna among 750 new species
9 September 2024 - Australia's wildlife just got a lot richer with 750 new species added to the nation's official list of species in 2023. ...These species are now officially part of Australia's rich and unique biological tapestry, showcasing the importance of ongoing taxonomic research in the country. (more)

'She was right and they were wrong': the female astronomers hidden by science's male elite
7 September 2024 - Eighty-five years ago, several dozen eminent astronomers posed for a photograph outside the newly constructed McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis in Texas. All were men -- with one exception. Half-concealed by a man in front of her, the face of a solitary woman can just be made out in the grainy black and white image. This is Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, whose impact on our understanding of the cosmos was profound. She showed stars were primarily made of hydrogen and helium, contradicting the scientific orthodoxy of the 1920s, which held that they were made of an array of elements. (more)

Protecting honey bees through organic farming and flower strips
6 September 2024 - Honey bees are more likely to thrive when their habitats include organically farmed land and flower strips, new research from Germany shows. A team from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the University of Gottingen found that honey bee colonies in the vicinity of such land uses grew stronger and were generally healthier than honey bees that did not have those benefits. (more)

Alaska's Chugach Electric to install solar panels on power plants and prepares for community solar farm
5 September 2024 - Chugach Electric Association is installing small solar panel projects on its natural gas plants and is close to launching the first community solar farm in Alaska. ...The utility is also working on a four-acre community solar farm that will allow utility members to buy subscriptions to receive power from one panel or up to 20, the utility said. The solar energy will be credited to subscribers' bills. (more)

Great Britain on track to generate record levels of summer solar power
4 September 2024 - Great Britain is on track to generate record levels of solar power this summer, according to expert forecasts, as the government pushes forward plans to triple the country's solar energy capacity by the end of the decade. Solar power output between June and August is likely to climb by almost a quarter compared with the same period last year. (more)

India: Shah urges Uttarakhand farmers to move towards organic farming
4 September 2024 - Union Minister of Home and Cooperation Amit Shah Friday [30 August] urged Uttarakhand farmers to adopt organic farming. He was speaking on the occasion of signing of an MoU between National Co-operative Organics Ltd (NCOL) and Uttarakhand Jaivik Utpad Parishad for procurement of organic cereals to provide better rates to farmers for their produce. (more)

These robot boats are cleaning up Asia's waterways
3 September 2024 - A range of technologies are being used globally to remove plastic and other waste from waterways. ...Entrepreneurs, academics, and NGOs across the world are racing to develop innovations -- from automated floating trash bins to containment booms to fishlike underwater drones -- that clean up waterways and capture more information about what's happening beneath the surface. (more)

How do gold nuggets form? Earthquakes may be the key
2 September 2024 - Much of the world's gold is mined from natural veins of quartz, a glassy mineral that streaks through large chunks of Earth's squashed-up crust. But the geologic process that put gold nuggets there in the first place was a mystery. Now, a new study published today in Nature Geoscience has come up with a convincing, and surprising, answer: electricity, and earthquakes -- lots of them. (more)

Electricity generated by earthquakes might be the secret behind giant gold nuggets
2 September 2024 - Scientists have long been fascinated by the formation of gold nuggets, often found nestled within quartz veins. New research led by Monash University geologists suggests that the process might be even more electrifying than we previously thought -- literally. (more)

India: NCOL-UOCB partnership aims to promote organic farming and increase farmers' income
1 September 2024 - National Co-operative Organics Limited (NCOL) and Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board (UOCB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in New Delhi in the presence of Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah. Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set a target to prepare the vast cultivable land of this country for organic farming. Today the movement for organic farming has reached an important stage. (more)

US: Program aims to sprout more organic farms in Arkansas
31 August 2024 - One Arkansas organization is encouraging more farmers in the state, particularly those who are minorities, to become certified organic growers. The effort is part of a broader federal push to boost organic farming across the country. (more)

These monkeys use names to communicate with each other, study finds
30 August 2024 - Marmosets can communicate with one another by name and know when they are being addressed, joining a very short list of species exhibiting such behavior, and a first for non-human primates, a new study has found. The monkeys use specific calls, known as 'phee-calls,' to call each other, which scientists say is a 'high cognitive' behavior pattern only previously observed in humans, dolphins, and elephants. (more)

US economic growth for last quarter is revised up to a solid 3 percent annual rate
29 August 2024 - The U.S. economy grew last quarter at a healthy 3 percent annual pace, fueled by strong consumer spending and business investment, the government said in an upgrade of its initial assessment. ...Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, rose at a 2.9% annual rate last quarter. That was up from 2.3 percent in the government's initial estimate. (more)

US: Morgantown organic farm receives conservation award, offers tours and fresh produce
29 August 2024 - The Mountain Harvest Farm, which was named the 2023 West Virginia Conservation Farm of the Year, welcomed a new John Deere tractor in a Tuesday [27 August] ceremony. Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture were on hand Tuesday to tour the farm. Mountain Harvest is located on the grounds of the Owl Creek Farm on Goshen Road and is operated by Mary Oldham and Chico Ramirez. ...'We use organic practices and we grow about 30 to 40 vegetable crops and a few fruit crops like strawberries and melons,' Oldham said. (more)

NASA discovers a long-sought global electric field on Earth
28 August 2024 - Using observations from a NASA suborbital rocket, an international team of scientists has, for the first time, successfully measured a planet-wide electric field thought to be as fundamental to Earth as its gravity and magnetic fields. Known as the ambipolar electric field, scientists first hypothesized over 60 years ago that it drove how our planet's atmosphere can escape above Earth's North and South Poles. (more)

Dolly Parton is sending free books to children across 21 states - and around the world
27 August 2024 - Dolly Parton's father grew up poor and never got the chance to learn to read. Inspired by her upbringing, the 78-year-old country music legend has made it her mission over the past three decades to improve literacy through her Imagination Library book giveaway program. It has expanded statewide in places like Missouri and Kentucky, two of 21 states where all children under the age of 5 can enroll to have books mailed to their homes monthly. (more)