As more and more plastic trash permeates the oceans, microplastics are making their way into fish and shellfish, and potentially into humans. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/hundreds-fish-species-consume-microplastics-including-human-food…
Tag: East Asia
Climate Change May Have Caused a ‘Wandering’ Polar Vortex and a Colder Winter
Space.com reports:
High above the North Pole, the polar vortex, a fast-spinning whirl of frigid air, is doing a weird shimmy that may soon bring cold and snowy weather to the Eastern U.S., Northern Europe and East Asia for weeks on end, meteorologists say. While it’s not unusual for the polar vortex to act up, this particular reconfiguration — wandering around and…
The spread of rice farms threatens key wetlands in South-East Asia
Rice farming near Cambodia’s largest lake has spread and reduced flooded forests and grasslands by about a third over the past 15 years, taking over the habitat of threatened species Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2259193-the-spread-of-rice-farms-threatens-key-wetlands-in-south-east-asia/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
DNA Inherited From Neanderthals May Increase Risk of Covid-19
A stretch of DNA linked to Covid-19 was passed down from Neanderthals 60,000 years ago, according to a new study. From a report: Scientists don’t yet know why this particular segment increases the risk of severe illness from the coronavirus. But the new findings, which were posted online on Friday and have not yet been published in a scientific journal, show…
Elite Hackers Target WHO As Coronavirus Cyberattacks Spike
According to Reuters, elite hackers tried to break into the World Health Organization earlier this month. While the effort was unsuccessful, the agency said there’s been a more than two-fold increase in cyberattacks as they battle to contain the coronavirus. From the report: The attempted break-in at the WHO was first flagged to Reuters by Alexander Urbelis, a cybersecurity expert and…
Solstice sun at southernmost point
The 2018 December solstice happens when it’s sunset (December 21) in the Americas, sunrise (December 22) along the Asian Pacific Coast, noontime (December 21) for Hawaii and Alaska and midnight (December 21-22) for Africa and Europe. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/southernmost-sun-brings-december-solstice…
China and Taiwan Clash Over Wikipedia Edits
Ask Google or Siri: “What is Taiwan?” “A state”, they will answer, “in East Asia”. But earlier in September, it would have been a “province in the People’s Republic of China.” From a report: For questions of fact, many search engines, digital assistants and phones all point to one place: Wikipedia. And Wikipedia had suddenly changed. The edit was reversed, but…
Engraved bones reveal that symbolism had ancient roots in East Asia
Denisovans might have etched line patterns on two animal bone fragments more than 100,000 years ago in what’s now northern China. Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/engraved-bones-reveal-symbolism-had-ancient-roots-east-asia4…
What will Earth’s next supercontinent look like?
Here are 4 different scenarios of what planet Earth might look like when the next supercontinent forms. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/what-will-earths-next-supercontinent-look-like…
Significantly Large New Emissions From Banned CFCs Traced To China, Say Scientists
Solandri writes: In 2014, scientists began detecting plumes of CFC-11 in the atmosphere. The compound had been banned in the 1987 Montreal Protocol after it was discovered that it was contributing to the destruction of the ozone layer that protects life on Earth from ultraviolet radiation. Unfortunately, the releases were detected using global monitoring equipment, so the origin could not be…