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Prehistoric humans hunt a woolly mammoth. More and more research shows that this species – and at least 46 other species of megaherbivores – were driven to extinction by humans. Credit: Engraving by Ernest Grise, photographed by William Henry Jackson. Courtesy Getty’s Open Content Program ================================================================== Researchers at Aarhus University have concluded that human hunting, rather than climate change, was the primary factor in the extinction of large mammals over the past 50,000 years. This finding is based on a review of over 300 scientific articles. Over the last 50,000 years, many large species, or megafauna, weighing at least 45...

To efficiently operate a fuel cell, carbon monoxide has always been a major technical barrier. But now, chemical and biological engineers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have not only cleared that barrier—they also found a method to capture carbon monoxide's energy. To be useful in a power-generating fuel cell, hydrocarbons such as gasoline, natural gas, or ethanol must reform into a hydrogen-rich gas. A large, costly, and critical step to this process requires generating steam and forcing a reaction with carbon monoxide (CO). This process, called water-gas shift, produces hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2). Additional steps then must reduce the...

~snip~ The details behind the new fuel cell The new fuel cell uses stainless steel in place of platinum and rare metals. Johanna Wellington, advanced technology leader at General Electric Global Research and the head of General Electric's fuel cell business, states: "The cost challenges associated with the technology have stumped a lot of people for a long time. But we made it work, and we made it work economically. It's a game-changer. The new fuel cell can generate electricity at any location with a supply of natural gas. It can get going quickly, does not need new transmission lines...

In Monday's interview on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) offered his perspective on the sudden shift in the Democratic presidential race, criticizing media pressure on President Joe Biden while holding off on an immediate endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. Sanders, who had previously supported Biden's reelection bid, expressed concern about the media's role in pushing the President out of the race. The Vermont senator's hesitation to immediately endorse Harris stands in contrast to the wave of support she has received from within the Democratic Party. "Vice President Harris has now been endorsed by at least 41...

Daniel Alman from Squirrel Hill @DanielAlmanPGH #JustStopOil protestors who deliberately stood in the street and prevented sick people from getting medical treatment have been sentenced to prison. https://judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/R-v-Hallam-and-others.pdf #LuciaWhittakerDeAbreu #CressidaGethin #LouiseLancaster #DanielShaw #RogerHallam #BlockingTraffic #UK 1:04 PM · Jul 21, 2024

Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), which controls 90,000 mosques globally and employs 140,000 people, mandated that women must cover their entire body except for the face, hands, and feet, asserting that veiling is an Islamic command, not a personal choice. The mask has come off, and the facade of the Left-Islamic alliance has been removed. The insistence that Islamic dress for women is a matter of modesty and personal choice has been debunked by a top Islamic authority. But will the Western, Islam-enabling left-wing media report this truth or continue to assist Islam in its quest for dominance in the...

Have the greenies ever heard of these crazy things called trees? First, the story, from a report out at The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday: In May this year, on the flat plains of an Icelandic geothermal reserve, a gigantic vacuum cleaner designed to suck planet-warming carbon dioxide out of the sky was switched on. The machine, called Mammoth, would not be entirely out of place on a Mad Max set. It will soon start extracting up to 36,000 tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere a year to be fossilised, locking it safely and permanently underground. And, here’s some context, from...

HOUSTON — Half a million Texans are expected to suffer through sweltering heat with no electricity into early next week after Hurricane Beryl knocked out power throughout the Houston area Monday, generating anger at the region’s large utility for failing to defend the grid from a predictable summer storm. Food is spoiling in dormant refrigerators days after the Category 1 hurricane tore through power lines and utility poles. Hospitals are swarming with patients struggling with heat stroke. Businesses can’t function as residents are ordered to stay home, and many residents faced at least three or four more days of continued...

Scientists in South Africa have been stunned to discover that termite mounds that are still inhabited in an arid region of the country are more than 30,000 years old, meaning they are the oldest known active termite hills. Some of the mounds near the Buffels River in Namaqualand were estimated by radiocarbon dating to be 34,000 years old, according to the researchers from Stellenbosch University. “We knew they were old, but not that old,” said Michele Francis, senior lecturer in the university’s department of soil science who led the study. Her paper was published in May. Francis said the mounds...

To save the imperiled spotted owl from potential extinction, US wildlife officials are embracing a contentious plan: hire trained sharp-shooters to assassinate its rivals. The US Fish and Wildlife Service strategy released Wednesday is meant to prop up declining spotted owl populations in Oregon, Washington state and California. Trained shooters will be deployed to the dense forests of the West Coast forests to kill almost a half-million barred owls that are crowding out their endangered cousins. Documents released by the agency show up to about 450,000 barred owls would be shot over three decades — a solution designed to level...

In its first year, the Biden administration launched a fast-track Scientific Integrity Task Force, intended to “lift up the voices of Federal scientists of many perspectives and backgrounds” and put scientific integrity “paramount in Federal governance for years to come.” The task force took a “whole-of-government” approach to ensuring the scientific integrity of federally funded research and included representatives from the 21 federal agencies that maintain scientific-research programs. For those with a high pain threshold, the final report may be seen here. Prominent among the move’s critics have been the Council on Governmental Relations (a consortium of research universities) and...

To save the imperiled spotted owl from potential extinction, U.S. wildlife officials are embracing a contentious plan to deploy trained shooters into dense West Coast forests to kill almost a half-million barred owls that are crowding out their cousins. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service strategy released Wednesday is meant to prop up declining spotted owl populations in Oregon, Washington state and California. The Associated Press obtained details in advance.

How can Americans trust the medical establishment when it openly engages in openly ideological bias? Together with 51,269,999 others, I watched the Trump-Biden debate on Thursday, June 27, 2024. I also paid attention to the obligatory spin from both sides. In addition to the usual talking head commentary, the Biden side released information about Joe’s health during his encounter with Trump. Based upon that narrow, self-serving information, one medical publication embarked upon an entire essay of uniformed Biden apologetics. The Hill: “President Biden has a cold, a White House official told The Hill amid the first presidential debate.” The Wall...

Joey, the albino grizzly bear from Canada has led an eventful and unfortunate short life. Meet Joey, the world’s unluckiest yet most endearing albino grizzly bear. Joey, due to his snowy-white fur from albinism, found himself on an accidental world tour, mistaken not once, not twice, but multiple times for a polar bear! Joey’s rollercoaster of adventures began when a well-meaning animal protection group, mistaking him for a polar bear, shipped him off to the Arctic. Picture this: a regular-sized grizzly among towering polar bears, who were as confused as Joey himself. It turns out, size does matter in the...

In 2018, a study of aerial photos of 700 Pacific Islands showed that 89% were the same size or growing. This rather destroyed the idea that sea levels were swallowing small nations. The New York Times said nothing. Indeed, the only Pacific things shrinking were deserted sand drifts. No islands bigger than 10 hectares were getting smaller. Measured in square kilometers that’s “0.1”. Despite the media headlines and delegations from Kiribati and Tuvulu begging for money to hold back the tide, no islands with people living on them were shrinking. None, not one island in the Pacific big enough to...

The state minister at the Ministry of Climate Change, Environment and Energy for the Maldives, Fathimath Shamnaz Ali Saleem, was detained and suspended from her position on accusations of committing acts of “sorcery” on President Mohamed Muizzu, Maldivian outlets reported on Thursday. The Maldivian newspaper the Edition reported on Friday that the national police service confirmed that Shamnaz and Minister at the President’s Office Adam Rameez had been suspended from those top government roles due to an ongoing investigation but did not clarify the nature of the probe. Accusations of “black magic” can result in serious legal consequences in the...

The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to discard the 40-year-old precedent established by Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council is a truly harsh blow against environmental protection and climate justice. By overruling the Chevron doctrine that required courts to defer to federal agencies when it came to implementing broadly written laws, the Supreme Court will make it much more difficult for the federal government to regulate pollution — including, but by no means limited to greenhouse gas emissions — among many other issues related to health, labor, consumer welfare, taxation, and on and on. I am profoundly upset at the...

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., responded to what she called a “bad faith report” on Tuesday after the Biden administration announced plans for a Columbia River Task Force. The White House’s announcement followed a report from the U.S. Department of the Interior on some of the impacts of federal dams on native tribes throughout the Columbia River Basin. However, according to the federal agency, it was also “based on limited sources.” The Department recognizes this report does not tell the complete story of the impacts that the Columbia River System and other federal dams have on the Basin Tribes,”...

Environmental protesters sprayed paint on Britain’s Stonehenge on Wednesday, with orange marks covering some of the stones of the prehistoric megalithic structure on the eve of the summer solstice celebrations. Two people have been arrested on suspicion of damaging the ancient monument, police said in a statement. “This is extremely upsetting and our curators are investigating the extent of the damage,” English Heritage, the charity that manages Stonehenge, said on X. Stonehenge remains open, it added. The monument, one of Britain’s most visited tourist spots, also holds spiritual significance and attracts thousands of revellers, spiritualists and tourists during the summer...

A pair of climate protesters was arrested Wednesday after allegedly spraying the Stonehenge monument in England with orange paint, according to local authorities. The protesters, from the group Just Stop Oil, sprayed the monument with orange paint Wednesday, one day ahead of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the environmental activist group said in a statement on the social platform X. The two individuals were “demanding the incoming government sign up to a legally binding treaty to phase out fossil fuels by 2030,” Just Stop Oil said. Wiltshire Police told The Associated Press...