Archive | Environment

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Wildlife extinction rates hugely over-reported

Calculating species extinction rates is a tricky business at the best of times, but a new research paper in Nature suggests the most widely used methods are “fundamentally flawed” and overestimate extinction rates by as much as 160 percent. Paper co-author Stephen Hubbell, a distinguished professor of ecology at UCLA, explained why he believed extinction […]

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Naked chicks baffle penguin boffins

Large numbers of young penguins in colonies around the Atlantic are suffering what is known as feather-loss disorder and scientists are baffled as to what might be causing the condition. A report on the disorder appears in the journal Waterbirds. “Feather-loss disorders are uncommon in most bird species, and we need to conduct further study […]

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The Pill not to blame for estrogen in drinking water

The American Chemical Society says there is a widespread public misconception about the estrogen-related hormones detected in drinking water supplies. Writing in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, researchers Amber Wise, Kacie O’Brien and Tracey Woodruff describe how their analysis shows that, contrary to popular belief, birth control pills account for less than 1 percent […]

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Blue-green algae affecting reproductive health

Algal blooms that occur in rivers and waterways have been found to produce a previously unrecognized estrogen-like compound that adversely affects fish, plants and humans by disrupting the normal activity of reproductive hormones. University of Tennessee researchers, led by biotechnologist Theodore Henry, compared groups of larval zebrafish exposed to blue-green algae (Microcystis) cells with those […]

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