Excerpts of earth-focused news from around the world. News sources: BBC, CNN, Earth Picture o the Day. LInks take you to external sources. Please open in a new tab/window.
AUSTRALIA
Australian toads evolving into 'super-invaders' Earth News
By Victoria Gill
Science and nature reporter, BBC News
Cane toads have increased their rate of spread fivefold in the last70 years Scientists have demonstrated a "runaway evolutionary effect" that is speeding up Australia's cane toad invasion.
This explains why the invasive toads have increased their rate of spread so dramatically, the researchers say.
Otters come back from the brink of extinction
17 October 2010Last updated at 20:57
The otter was nearly wiped out by polluted rivers three decades ago The otter has made a remarkable comeback from the brink of extinction, the Environment Agency has said.
Otters almost disappeared from England in the 1970s after pesticides routinely used three decades ago brought their numbers to near extinction levels.
Now many of those chemicals have been banned and the creatures are present once again in rivers across England.
INDONESIA
Scientist: 'Human-induced global warming' killing corals
October 20th, 2010
Reefs on Sumatra, Indonesia, on May 31, 2010 show the effects of bleaching.
Coral reefs are dying around the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia at rates that may be the worst ever recorded, scientists said this week.
Death rates as high as 80 percent have been recorded for some species, according to the study performed by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University.
“It is certainly the worst coral die-off we have seen since 1998. It may prove to be the worst such event known to science,” said Andrew Baird, a principal research fellow for James Cook University in Australia.
The coral bleaching extends from the Seychelles in the middle of the Indian Ocean to the Philippines in Southeast Asia and encompasses much of the Coral Triangle, an area scientists refer to as the “Amazon rainforest of the seas” or the most diverse marine ecosystem on Earth.
A mass of abnormally hot water which moved into the Indian Ocean several months ago is behind the bleaching, according to the ARC report. The hot water caused the corals to shed microscopic algae which help nourish them. The algae also give color to the corals, so when the algae are gone, the corals starve and appear white or bleached.
INDIA, BRAZIL
Brazil and India lead green race
Governments are increasingly taking the economic value of nature into account in policy-making, with growing interest in results from a UN-backed analysis.
20 October 2010Last updated at 12:05 ET
India and Brazil head move to 'green' economic future By Richard Black Environment correspondent, BBC News, Nagoya A number of countries have systems in place to reward forest conservation Governments are increasingly taking the economic value of nature into account in policy-making, with growing interest in results from a UN-backed analysis.
The Brazilian and Indian governments are among those keen to use findings
MIDDLE EAST
Dead Sea to be topped up by Red Sea water
Dead Sea could disappear by 2050
Water levels in the Dead Sea are falling sharply and farms and businesses along its shore are suffering.
Lying in Jordan's Rift Valley, it is the world's saltiest sea and authorities have come up with an ambitious plan to pump water - through a pipeline from the Red Sea - to top it up.
But as always with water in the Middle East, it is a contentious issue, as Ben Thompson reports.
SWITZERLAND
20 October 2010Last updated at 21:06 ET
Stone Age door unearthed by archaeologists in Zurich
The door was damaged when Neolithic villagers built a stilt house on top of it Archaeologists have found a "fantastically preserved" 5100-year-old door in the Swiss city of Zurich.
WORLDWIDE/SPACE
Stargazing: A visible comet, the most distant galaxy
The NASA/ESA Hubble Telescope took this false color picture of Hartley 2 in September.
The Hartley 2 comet should be visible to the naked eye when it makes its closest pass to Earth tonight.
The mountain-sized ball of ice and dust has been too faint to be seen without a professional telescope since its discovery in 1986 by Australian astronomer Malcolm Hartley.
But as the comet has drawn closer to Earth in the past week, passing the brilliant star Capella in the constellation Auriga, it has become visible above the northeast horizon as a faint, fuzzy patch, according to National Geographic's news blog.
INDIA, SPACE
20 October 2010Last updated at 14:25 ET
India to build observatory to study neutrino particles
By Swaminathan Natarajan BBC Tamil
The thick layer of rock in the West Bodi hills will provide a natural filter
India's Department of Atomic Energy has been given clearance to build a multi-million dollar underground facility to study particles called neutrinos.
The environment and forests ministry gave the go-ahead for the observatory to be built in the Bodi West hills on the coast of southern Tamil Nadu state.
The facility costing $270m will be only the fifth of its kind in the world.
Correspondents say it is one of the biggest and most ambitious scientific projects ever undertaken by India.
VIETNAM
46 killed in landslides, floods in Vietnam
updated 12 hours, 7 minutes agoThe death toll from the latest round of heavy rain and flooding in central Vietnam continues to soar, with 46 people killed and 21 missing, state-run media report.
PHILIPPINES
Typhoon heads for China after killing 11 in the Philippines
updated 19 hours, 31 minutes agoTyphoon Megi marched toward southern China on Wednesday after leaving 11 people dead in the Philippines, prompting Chinese authorities to close train services in the region, state media said.
USA
Photographer: Mary Beth Radford
Summary Author: Mary Beth Radford; Dottie Edwards; Jim Foster
As friends and I arrived for a vacation in southern Florida, we noticed these beautiful sky colors and initially thought we were seeing a rainbow. Upon further investigation, however, we ruled out a rainbow and knew it was something we had never seen before. This is a pileus cloud, or cap cloud, displaying lovely iridescence. Pileus form when building cumulus clouds rapidly ascend; at velocities of 40 feet (about 12 m) per second or more. As the cloud rises, it pushes a mass of air ahead of it. When the air in the vicinity of the building cumulus cloud is near saturation, the boost from the rising currents may saturate it thoroughly. This creates a cloud that's markedly smoother in comparison to the puffier cumulus clouds beneath it.Iridescence often occurs in clouds comprised of minute water droplets. These droplets deflect sunlight, which results in overlapping colors and thus the metallic or pastel shades. If the cloud droplets happen to be close in size throughout the cloud, the iridescent colors are more apt to be brighter and purer. Photo taken on August 14, 2010.
