EU gives shark protection

The European Commission has unveiled measures aimed at protecting sharks, many of which are in sharp decline. The proposals would close loopholes in current shark fining regulations, cut catches of endangered species and set quotas according to scientific advice. About half of ocean-going shark species are threatened with extinction.


Sharks might be dangerous and fears creatures but still an equal member and obviously necessary system for the environment and it will be a disaster if sharks will add in the animals in extension!

Tail-walk on water

A wild dolphin is apparently teaching other members of her group to walk on their tails, a behavior usually seen only after training in captivity. The tail-walking group lives along the south Australian coast near Adelaide.

One of them spent a short time after illness in a dolphinarium 20 years ago and may have picked up the trick there. Scientists studying the group say tail-walk tuition has not been seen before, and suggest the habit may emerge as a form of "culture" among this group.

Amazing creating a new culture influenced from humans into the dolphins society!

Falcons take up city-centre

Usually their nests are found in remote areas, often around the coast, resting on cliff edges and rocky outcrops. To see them would require specialist climbing gear and a long lens.

But in Worcester, a pair have nested bang in the city centre - it is possible to clearly see the adults coming and going during the day and now the chicks have begun to hatch, one is often seen standing guard over the nest.

They have built their nest on St Andrew's spire, known locally as The Glover's Needle.

Volcano prompts evacuation in Chile

A volcano has erupted in southern Chile, scattering ash over the surrounding area and forcing more than 1,000 people to leave their homes.

The eruption of the Chaiten volcano caught local authorities by surprise, as experts say it has been dormant for at least 450 years. But on Friday morning, it blew a thick cloud of ash high into the air. This prompted the evacuation of sick and elderly people from the town of Chaiten, just six miles away.

Residents have been told not to drink the water, because the reservoirs in the area are covered in a layer of ash. Emergency workers are handing out face masks to help people breathe more easily. The eruption also dumped a layer of ash in neighboring Argentina, forcing the closure of schools and a regional airport.

Chile is one of the most volcanic countries on Earth, with more than 100 active volcanoes. Of those, experts say about 20 are in danger of erupting at any time.

Coral spawn turns Palau seas pink

The annual mass spawning of corals on the Palau archipelago in the western Pacific has occurred right on cue.

With Sunday night's full moon, coral polyps let forth a huge swathe of sperm and egg, to seed the next generation. The event was short-lived - only about 30 minutes - but so vast in its scale that it turned the sea water pink.

Scientists from Palau, Australia and the UK are studying the practicality of collecting coral larvae to help restore damaged reefs elsewhere.

Moon roses

Scientists with the European Space Agency (Esa) say the day when flowers bloom on the Moon has come closer.

An Esa-linked team has shown that marigolds can grow in crushed rock very like the lunar surface, with no need for plant food. Some see growing plants on the Moon as a step towards human habitation.

But the concept is not an official aim of Esa, and one of the agency's senior officials has dismissed the idea as “science fiction”. The new research was presented at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) meeting in Vienna, the largest annual European gathering of scientists studying the Earth, its climate and its neighbours in space.

Bernard Foing, a senior scientist with the European Space Research and Technology Centre (Estec) in the Netherlands, believes growing plants on the Moon would be a useful as a tool to learn how life adapts to lunar conditions, and as a practical aid to establishing manned bases.

Imagine moon roses and moon …asparagus!

Sea level rises

Sea levels could rise by up to one-and-a-half meters by the end of this century, according to a new scientific analysis.

This is substantially more than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast in last year's landmark assessment of climate science. Sea level rise of this magnitude would have major impacts on low-lying countries such as Bangladesh.

The findings were presented at a major science conference in Vienna. The research group is not the first to suggest that the IPCC's forecast of an average rise in global sea levels of 28-43cm by 2100 is too conservative.

The IPCC was unable to include the contribution from "accelerated" melting of polar ice sheets as water temperatures warm because the processes involved were not yet understood.

Elephant 'had aquatic ancestor'

An ancient ancestor of the elephant from 37 million years ago lived in water and had a similar lifestyle to a hippo, a fossil study has suggested.

The animal was said to be similar to a tapir, a hoofed mammal which looks like a cross between a horse and a rhino. Experts from Oxford University and Stony Brook University, New York, analyzed chemical signatures preserved in fossil teeth. These indicated that the animal grazed on plants in rivers or swamps.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could shed light on the lifestyle and behavior of modern elephants. Dr Erik Seiffert, co-author of the study has said: "It has often been assumed that elephants have evolved from fully terrestrial ancestors and have always had this kind of a lifestyle.”Now we can really start to think about how their lifestyle and behavior might have been shaped by a very different kind of existence in the distant past.

"It could help us to understand more about the origins of the anatomy and ecology of living elephants."

Dancing with the …whales!

Julia Petrik, had to cut through ice one foot thick to get in to the -2C (28F) water off the north-west coast of Russia.

Miss Petrik, 38, one of the world's top free divers, swims underwater with no air tanks and can hold her breath for up to two minutes.

After entering the water she grabbed hold of a passing Beluga Whale for a lift - a moment captured by British photographer Dan Burton.

Dolphins woo for sex

A South American river dolphin uses branches, weeds and lumps of clay to woo the opposite sex and frighten off rivals, scientists have discovered.

Researchers observed adult male botos carrying these objects while surrounded by females, and thrashing them on the water surface aggressively. Writing in the journal Biology Letters, they say such behaviour has never before been seen in any marine mammal.

The boto lives in only two rivers, and numbers are thought to be declining. A group of British and Brazilian researchers studied the dolphin's unique courtship behaviour over three years in the Mamiraua Reserve, a flooded rainforest area on the Amazon.

The beauty of the nature!

Delay biofuels

The UK's chief environment scientist has called for a delay to a policy demanding inclusion of biofuels into fuel at pumps across the UK. Professor Robert Watson said ministers should await the results of their inquiry into biofuels' sustainability.

Some scientists think biofuels' carbon benefits may be currently outweighed by negative effects from their production. The Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation (RTFO) is to introduce 2.5% biofuels at the pumps from 1 April.

Professor Robert Watson warned that it would be insane if the RTFO had the opposite effects of the ones intended. He said biofuels policy in the EU and the UK may have run ahead of the science.

Everything has to do with the overconsuming and overproduction. To create biofuels companies will destroy whole areas of nature and then we will end up with a new problem!