Two subway trains collided in the city of Shanghai on September 26, injuring hundreds, according to early reports. And, much like the collision of two high-speed trains that killed 40 people near Wenzhou on July 23, the culprit appears to be signal failures. According to Chinese news magazine Caixin, the signals began to malfunction at least an hour before the crash, which caused operators to attempt to coordinate the system by phone. The signals on the Shanghai system, like the signals on the Wenzhou high-speed rail line and a full 70 percent of the signals on all of China’s burgeoning rail network were made by Casco—a joint venture of China Railway Signal and Communication Corp., a quasi-governmental company, and French industrial giant Alstom. Railroad signaling ... Continue reading →
Lions are one of just six carnivores that remain in East Africa today, compared with more than 15 species that shared the landscape before the dawn of Homo. Image: Kate Wong The impact of Homo sapiens on the environment over the past few hundred years has been so profound that some scientists term this chapter of Earth’s history the Anthropocene. But humans may have begun wreaking ecological havoc far, far earlier than that. A new suggests that a shift in the technology and diet of our ancestors around two million years ago led to the downfall of a number of large carnivore species in East Africa, which would have triggered cascades of ecosystem disruption. East Africa today has six carnivores that weigh upwards of 21.5 ... Continue reading →
News | Energy & Sustainability Can Soil Sensors Save Georgia Waterways from Drought? An innovative effort would embed sensors in agricultural fields in a bid to cut down on irrigation--saving farmers money and preserving water for endangered species By David Biello | May 22, 2012 DRY BY WIRE: Soil sensors, software and variable-rate technology will help cut down on unnecessary irrigation, saving water for rivers, streams and wildlife. Image: Calvin Perry / U.G.A. By June 15 gasoline-powered augers will have drilled 100 holes in the corn, cotton and peanut fields of the Lower Flint River Basin in southwest Georgia. Into the holes, scientists from the University of Georgia (U.G.A.) will slip half-meter-long PVC pipes filled with sensors for soil moisture and temperature topped with a ... Continue reading →
News | Energy & Sustainability Apocalypse Soon: Has Civilization Passed the Environmental Point of No Return? Although there is an urban legend that the world will end this year based on a misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar, some researchers think a 40-year-old computer program that predicts a collapse of socioeconomic order and massive drop in human population in this century may be on target By Madhusree Mukerjee | May 23, 2012 Image: flickr/Alexey Kudenko Remember how Wile E. Coyote, in his obsessive pursuit of the Road Runner, would fall off a cliff? The hapless predator ran straight out off the edge, stopped in midair as only an animated character could, looked beneath him in an eye-popping moment of truth, and plummeted straight down into a ... Continue reading →
News | Energy & Sustainability Can Soil Sensors Save Georgia Waterways from Drought? An innovative effort would embed sensors in agricultural fields in a bid to cut down on irrigation--saving farmers money and preserving water for endangered species By David Biello | May 22, 2012 DRY BY WIRE: Soil sensors, software and variable-rate technology will help cut down on unnecessary irrigation, saving water for rivers, streams and wildlife. Image: Calvin Perry / U.G.A. By June 15 gasoline-powered augers will have drilled 100 holes in the corn, cotton and peanut fields of the Lower Flint River Basin in southwest Georgia. Into the holes, scientists from the University of Georgia (U.G.A.) will slip half-meter-long PVC pipes filled with sensors for soil moisture and temperature topped with a ... Continue reading →
the thirstiest nations Continue reading →
Review "An intelligent account of the mess we are making of the planet."—Kirkus Reviews"While Guterl’s pessimism is not for the faint of heart, it turns out to be remarkably entertaining."—Publishers Weekly "This is a beautifully written book that will make you think and worry. Fred Guterl explains everything that could go wrong in lucid prose. It is an arresting, though unnerving combination."—Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World and host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS"It feels strange to call a book about the end of humanity elegant and engaging, but so be it. Fred Guterl has researched the many, many ways in which we could bring destruction down upon our own heads, bringing them up to date with the latest research in climatology, synthetic biology, ... Continue reading →
