Author Archives: Zandra23Mqghpna

Russia scandal forces Sam Clovis out of a top USDA position.

Poor dumb turtles and fish, always chomping on the ubiquitous plastic in the water by accident — or so the story went, until a handful of recent studies suggested sea creatures may actually be choosing to eat plastic.

In one of these experiments, researchers took single grains of sand and particles of microplastic — both around the same size and shape — and dropped them onto coral polyps. The tiny creatures responded to the plastic the same way they would to a tasty piece of food, stuffing the bits of trash into their mouths like so many Snickers Minis.

“Plastics may be inherently tasty,” Austin Allen, a study coauthor and marine science doctoral student at Duke University, told the Washington Post.

Coral polyps rely on chemical sensors — taste buds, essentially — to determine whether something is edible or not. And they were repeatedly chosing to swallow plastic during the study. Only once in 10 trials did a polyp make the same mistake with sand. In fact, the cleaner and fresher and more plastic-y the plastic was, the more readily the coral gulped it down.

While the long-term effects of the plastic-saturation of the planet are still unknown, this research suggests that accidentally tasty microplastics could pose an extra hazard to already beleaguered corals around the world.

Original link:

Russia scandal forces Sam Clovis out of a top USDA position.

Posted in alo, Anchor, Casio, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, organic, oven, Smith's, solar, solar power, Uncategorized, wind power | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Russia scandal forces Sam Clovis out of a top USDA position.

Piano performance next to a crumbling glacier will give you chills

Ice ice baby grand

Piano performance next to a crumbling glacier will give you chills

By on Jun 21, 2016Share

The Arctic Ocean may not be a typical venue for a piano performance, but it’s a prime setting for making a point about climate change. Ludovico Einaudi, an Italian composer-pianist, performed an original piece while stranded on an “artificial iceberg” (or rather, a floating platform made of white, wooden triangles) as Norway’s Wahlenbergbreen glacier collapsed in the background.

Greenpeace shipped the baby grand piano from Germany to the Arctic for the stunt, which was meant draw attention to a proposal to create a sanctuary in 10 percent of the Arctic Ocean, protecting it from oil drilling, fishing trawlers, and other exploitation.

There are no promises it will work, but enjoy the exciting performance on a stranded iceberg — no polar bears needed.

Find this article interesting?

Donate now to support our work.

Get Grist in your inbox

Excerpt from: 

Piano performance next to a crumbling glacier will give you chills

Posted in alo, Anchor, FF, GE, ONA, solar, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Piano performance next to a crumbling glacier will give you chills