Posts Tagged ‘earthquake’

Wild Pandas Face Uncertainty in Southwestern China

Panda

At a reserve in southwestern China, a small group of wild pandas may be pushed closer to extinction in the wild. Researchers now report that last year’s earthquake destroyed almost a quarter of their fragile habitat.

In a recent article published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, researchers say that landslides and mudflows occurring from the May 12 earthquake have severely fragmented one of the last habitats of wild pandas. The resulting isolation from other populations puts them at risk of inbreeding, which could lead to extinction.

Lead author of the study, Weihua Xu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, says that the Sichuan region comprises more than half of the habitat for the world’s remaining wild pandas.

Xu estimates that more than 60 percent of the panda population - which could be as low as 35 individuals - was affected by the earthquake.

Geothermal Power Gains Steam in America

The hot springs at Pagosa Springs, CO by Warren Gretz

Harnessing the Earth’s Heat for Food and Power

As the rumbling temblors beneath Yellowstone National Park continue (over 900 hundred such weak quakes in 2008), media attention shifts to two topics: the possibility of a super-volcanic eruption (not likely, according to most geologists), and secondly, the harnessing of geothermal energy.

This latter consideration is all the more fashionable these days as America struggles to embrace an alternative and sustainable energy future.

Geothermal energy offers the promise of a virtually unlimited source of power. Although less energetic in terms  of total constant power output compared to the sun, harnessing the geothermal venting from a single, sufficiently high-grade, hot-spring could conceivably provide power for a population of tens of thousands, and it’s not weather dependent.  But there are also plenty of “lower grade” springs that can be put to other uses, such as growing hothouse produce (and the spring water is also used for watering the plants) and  naturally warming water for fish farming (the Talipia species, a popular dinner fish, is one species farmed this way). Not all animals that are farmed this way are used for food, some, like the farmed alligators in Mosca, CO (see photo), are raised for their skins primarily (though some do eat the meat).

A Bit More Than the Usual Rumbling Hits Yellowstone

In the past week or so, some 400 earthquakes have added to the already precarious land at Yellowstone National Park. Although the area is the largest supervolcano in North America, the rumbling is a bit more than normal.

Folding Bamboo Houses in Response to Catastrophe

Using designs that mimic the shape of birds’ flight, as rendered above, these foldable bamboo shelters can be used in a wide range of ways to provide eco-friendly shelter in response to catastrophe that displaces large numbers of people.

Ming Tang, the designer, arrived at the idea for the Folding Bamboo Houses after the devastating earthquake that struck China in May, killing tens of thousands of people.

Sources: OneInchPunch.net and Click to Continue Reading

Lehman Brothers Collapse: New Financial Architecture Required

Switching on the radio this morning, the reaction to Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy was sobering to say the least. No more “Aww .. it’s OK, it’ll get better”. Now it was:

“It may be past time to panic already. These are certainly seismic events.” Terry Smith, Chief Executive at Tullett Prebon, leading Internet Stock Brokerage

“This is not stress testing, this could be testing where the failure point lies.” John Moulton, Alchemy Partners, leading Private Equity providers.

New Solar Streetlight Can Detect Earthquakes

sharp streetlight

Sharp’s new solar-powered streetlight can do it all. Not only does the light operate for ten years without needing maintenance, but it also automatically turns on when it detects an earthquake.

The light use a high-intensity LED spotlight that has a service life of about 40,000 hours. It charges using built-in solar panels during the day, and shines automatically at night. Best of all, Sharp’s streetlight doesn’t create any light pollution—it’s illuminated with a directed light that doesn’t shine into the sky.

Turkish Man Believes His Ant Farms Can Predict Earthquakes

When you were younger, did you ever own an ant farm? I’m still begging my wife to get me a glow-in-the-dark one that we saw several years ago in a science center gift shop. Ok, begging might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but I’d still like the novelty gift.

A child views his ant farm

In any case, when we saw the ant farm it made me think fondly back on the several ant farm colonies I had as a child, and how interesting and cool the ants were to watch as they built their tunnels. I never had any idea though that ants might be able to predict earthquakes.

Now a man in Turkey, Kadir Sutcu, is using several ant colonies in his home to predict when earthquakes will occur. As the article I read claims, in early July Sutcu was successful in predicting an earthquake before its occurrence by watching the behavior of his ants. Supposedly, he even sent out thousands of emails warning people before the earthquake hit (I wonder how many people took him seriously at that time, and also how many do now).

Damage to Dams in China Leaves Millions at Risk

dam china earthquake

Many dams in Southwest China sustained significant damage after the recent massive earthquake.

The Min River and its tributaries have 30 dams upstream from Dujiangyan and 16 incurred significant damage from the recent earthquake. The Zipingpu dam is an example where a dam failure could have disastrous consequences.

Zipingpu dam threatens millions

The Zipingpu reservoir can hold a staggering 1.1 billion cubic meters of water, but the dam wall was cracked after the earthquake. Dujiangyan, with a population of 600,000 would be devastated by a dam failure first. Within a couple hours, water would then hit the provincial capital, Chengdu.

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