Climate Change Threatens to Kill Off More Aspen Forests by 2050s, Scientists Say

The beloved aspen forests that shimmer across mountainsides of the American West could be doomed if emissions of greenhouse gases continue at a high level, scientists warned on Monday. That finding adds to a growing body of work suggesting forests worldwide may be imperiled by . The analyzed the drought and heat that killed millions of aspens in Colorado and nearby states a decade ago. Such conditions...

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Syracuse to Drop Fossil Fuel Stocks From Endowment

is dropping all fossil fuel stocks from its endowment, the university announced on Tuesday. At $1.2 billion, Syracuse’s is the largest endowment to divest entirely of fossil fuel stocks. (Stanford University last year pledged to drop coal stocks from its $21.4 billion endowment.) The university’s chancellor, Kent Syverud, said the move was part of Syracuse’s “long record of supporting responsible environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship.” Student protesters staged an 18-day...

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Fluoridated Water Helps Older Adults Keep Teeth, Study Says

By Fluoridation of water supplies, long ago proved to protect children from , also helps older adults keep their teeth, a has shown. But fluoridation had no effect on overall bone density in the aged, a result that surprised the study’s authors because fluoridation had been shown to increase bone mass. The study, part of the Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging, was done by researchers at the school of Trinity College Dublin and involved almost 5,000 adults older than 50. Participants were asked to indicate roughly how...

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How Idealism, Expressed in Concrete Steps, Can Fight Climate Change

By Idealism combined with an intriguing application of economic theory may accomplish what international conferences have not: solving the seemingly intractable problem of global warming. Despite periodic flurries of optimism, diplomacy has been largely disappointing. The 1997 , for example, in which many nations agreed to impose strict taxes on carbon emissions, hasn’t accomplished much. And subsequent climate conferences...

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A Wing That Can Recover From Midair Collisions

By A new robotic wing, inspired by those of birds and bats, recovers from midair collisions with a simple mechanism: a pin joint that allows it to bend. Birds and bats maneuver through forests easily and recover from collisions with branches because their wings fold upon impact, then unfold. An artificial wing “beats back and forth,...

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Parsing Ronald Reagan’s Words for Early Signs of Alzheimer’s

WASHINGTON — Even before became the oldest elected president, his mental state was a political issue. His adversaries often suggested his penchant for contradictory statements, forgetting names and seeming absent-mindedness could be linked to . In 1980, Mr. Reagan if White House doctors found him mentally unfit. Years later, those doctors and key aides...

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A Farmer Ant’s Unique Fungal Crop

By Much like human farmers, fungus-farming ants meticulously maintain their subterranean gardens. They regularly fertilize, weed and tend to their crops. Now, that one primitive species cultivates a kind of fungus that is entirely domesticated. “These ants make their living by being farmers, and they are absolutely dependent...

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Enterovirus 68 May Be Linked to Paralysis in Children, Study Says

A new strain of a common respiratory virus , researchers reported on Monday. Since August, 115 children in 34 states have developed -like in an arm or a leg. The virus, enterovirus 68, has emerged as a leading suspect. A study published Monday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases strengthens that possibility, although many questions remain. Researchers...

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How Not to Catch a Cold on a Plane

Q&A By Take heart. Not everyone on the plane will catch whatever illness is being spread by those sneezes, and if you are uncomfortably close to a sick person, you might be able to request a seat farther away. Research published by the suggests that even a few rows of distance will cut risks significantly. A of passengers on two...

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3D-Printed Weather Stations Could Save Lives In Developing Countries

3D Printed Weather Station Kelly Sponberg, Weather is free, of course, but predicting it, and anticipating changes like sudden storms or flash floods--that takes technical equipment and sensors. Thanks to 3D printing and cheap commercial electronics, USAID thinks they can bring weather stations to the developing world. And they should only cost about $200 each. The 3D-printed weather stations are a collaboration between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and USAID. Printers make most of the parts, which makes it easy to locally...

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Zelda Williams Opens Up About Her Father Robin Williams And Says He's 'Impossible To Forget'

She's really handle it as well as anyone could.The passage of Robin Williams left millions of people with a broken heart, but no one suffered as much as the children of the actor.But Zelda Williams came in a rare appearance on Friday with his mother Marsha Garces to Noble Awards in Beverly Hills.And although, of course, wants to keep the memory of her father alive - she admits is basically unlikely to ever forget the bigger man than life.[Related:...

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In Brazil, Some Inmates Get Therapy With Hallucinogenic Tea

JI-PARANÁ, Brazil — As the night sky enveloped this outpost in ’s Amazon basin, the ceremony at the open-air temple began simply enough. Dozens of adults and children, all clad in white, stood in a line. A holy man handed each a cup of ayahuasca, a muddy-looking hallucinogenic brew. They gulped it down; some vomited. Hymns were sung. More ayahuasca was consumed. By midnight, the congregants seemed...

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Liberia Recommends Ebola Survivors Practice Safe Sex Indefinitely

The Liberian government recommended on Saturday that survivors of practice safe sex indefinitely, until more information can be collected on the length of time the virus might remain present in body fluids including semen. Previously, male survivors were advised to abstain from sexual intercourse or to use for three months, reflecting that the active virus had been detected for up to 82 days in semen. Acting on new developments, all countries affected by the Ebola outbreak need to consider applying similar recommendations,...

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California: Governor Signs $1 Billion Water Package

Gov. signed legislation Friday that speeds up $1 billion in water infrastructure spending amid the worst drought in a generation. The bills he signed will offer some aid to residents hurt by the drought, but the vast majority is expedited spending on water infrastructure. California’s vast water delivery system is struggling under a fourth year of little snow and rain. Nearly two-thirds, or $660 million, of the water package goes to shore up flood protection structures to prevent mudslides...

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An American With Ebola Is Improving

An American aid worker being treated for at the clinical center in Maryland is doing better and has been upgraded from critical to serious condition, the N.I.H. Thursday. The patient, who worked with the American charity in , was to the United States on March 13. who also contracted Ebola in March has recovered and was discharged from a treatment unit, said Dr. Adikali Kamara, a district medical officer in Sierra Leone. People who came into contact with the two...

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Engineering Lightbulbs To Keep Insects Away

An LED light blub. , Spending long summer evenings outside comes with a big nuisance: bug bites. Mosquitos and other insects are drawn to the lights illuminating your dinner party, which helps them hone in on their human prey. While that might mean a few days of itchy welts for some of us, the implications are much more dire in other countries where bug bites can mean infection of some nasty diseases such as , Chagas disease, and malaria. Now, a team of researchers is experimenting with LED lights that can ward off insects but still appear...

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Corralling Carbon Before It Belches From Stack

To fight against global warming, the world needs to sharply reduce emissions of carbon dioxide gas. A technology called carbon capture and storage can keep the gas out of the environment. ESTEVAN, Saskatchewan — So much soot belched from the old power plant here that Mike Zeleny would personally warn the neighbors. “If the wind was blowing in a certain direction,” Mr. Zeleny said, “we’d call Mrs. Robinson...

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