Archivos de diario de febrero 2019

08 de febrero de 2019

The Himalayan Glaciers predicted to melt by 2100 USA Today

Doyle Rice, USA TODAY Published 4:30p.m. ET Feb4,2019/Updated 5:26p.m. ET Feb. 4 2019.

Antarctica and Greenland aren't the Earth's only frozen places threatened by human-caused climate change: The Himalayas are also at risk, scientists announced Monday.

In fact, a whopping two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2100 if global warming continues, according to the new report.

Such a catastrophic melt would disrupt the flow of Asian rivers, which are a crucial resource for crops for billions of people in China, India and six other countries.

"This is the climate crisis you haven't heard of," said Philippus Wester, a scientist with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, which released the report. “Global warming is on track to transform the frigid, glacier-covered mountain peaks ... to bare rocks in a little less than a century," he said in a statement.

The glaciers are now a critical source of water for about 250 million people in the mountains and an additional 1.65 billion others who live in the river valleys below, the report said.
Water from the melting glacial ice could lead to floods along such major rivers as the Ganges and the Indus, potentially destroying crops.
In addition to the warming effects from those invisible greenhouse gases, the area is also plagued by punishing levels of air pollution. Black carbon and dust pollution can exacerbate and amplify the effects of greenhouse gases, further accelerating ice melt, the report said.

The polluted air also changes monsoon and rainfall patterns all across Asia.

Besides China and India, the other six most threatened Asian nations are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan.

“We need to start thinking of mountain regions as climate hotspots worthy of urgent attention, investments and solutions,” concluded Dasho Rinzin Dorji of Bhutan, a board member of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.

According to the report, the region is known as the world’s “Third Pole” for its huge store of ice, and it is also home to Mount Everest, K2 and other iconic peaks.

The Khumbu Glacier in Nepal, pictured in 2009, is one of the Himalayan glaciers threatened by global warming, a new report suggests. (Photo: ICIMOD/ALEX TREADWAY HANDOUT, EPA-EFE)
Prepared over a five-year period with contributions from more than 350 researchers, the report is the first "to lay down in definitive detail the region’s critical importance to the well-being of billions and its alarming vulnerability, especially in the face of climate change,” said David Molden, director general of the development group that published the study.

Though the mountains are tens of millions of years old, their glaciers are extremely sensitive to the changing climate. Since the 1970s, when global warming first set in, these huge masses of ice have steadily thinned and retreated.

Man-made climate change, aka global warming, is caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as gas, coal and oil, which release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane into the atmosphere. This extra CO2 causes temperatures of the atmosphere and oceans to rise to levels that can't be explained by natural causes.

The Lirung Glacier is 37 miles northwest of Kathmandu, Nepal. Two-thirds of Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2100 if global emissions are not reduced, scientists warned in a major study released Feb. 4, 2019. (Photo: SAM TAYLOR, AFP/Getty Images)

http://lib.icimod.org/record/34450

Publicado el febrero 8, 2019 07:13 TARDE por walkingstick2 walkingstick2 | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

13 de febrero de 2019

Now in 24 States, 'Zombie Deer' Disease Could Spread to Humans, Expert Warns By Ron Brackett

I saw this on the Weather Channel. If you have these types of animals on your Ranch or Farm be watchful!! Also, below this article is an Website Article from Well Prevention It talks about Mad Cow Disease and CWD.
Here is one, of the two Articles.
****The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

An infectious diseases expert has warned that chronic wasting disease, which is killing deer in the Upper Midwest and has been reported in at least 24 states, could infect humans in the near future.

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told lawmakers recently that chronic wasting disease (CWD) should be treated as a public health issue, the Pioneer Press reported.

"It is probable that human cases of CWD associated with the consumption of contaminated meat will be documented in the years ahead," Osterholm said. "It is possible that the number of human cases will be substantial and will not be isolated events.”
He was speaking at a hearing last week at the Minnesota Capitol, where legislators introduced bills to address the state's growing problems with CWD. There has been some tension about how big a concern CWD should be for hunters, who can have deer they kill tested for the disease.

(MORE: 18 Million Trees Died in California in 2018, Forest Service Study Finds)

CWD is still rare in Minnesota, but the state has seen more than 35 cases in southeastern Minnesota in farmed and wild deer since 2016, the Pioneer Press said in a separate report.
As of January, CWD has been found in deer, elk or moose in at least 24 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. It is also found in farmed deer and elk.

There have been no reported cases of CWD infection in people. However, the CDC and World Health Organization recommend against eating CWD-infected deer.

CWD is caused by a malformed protein — or prion — that infects animals’ brains, according to the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary Medicine. Because of its symptoms, some people have called it "zombie deer disease."

The CDC said symptoms include drastic weight loss, stumbling, lack of coordination, listlessness, drooling, lack of fear of people and aggression – the sort of thing you can see each week on "The Walking Dead." An animal could carry the infection for more than a year and not show any signs of CWD.

(MORE: Two Great Lakes Could Reach Record Levels in the Coming Months)

Scientists think the disease is spread through contaminated body fluids and tissue or through environmental exposure, such as in drinking water or food.

Prion diseases like CWD have made the jump from animals to humans before.

CWD belongs to the same family of diseases as bovine spongiform encephalopathy – or "mad cow disease." The human form of the infection is called variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources advises deer hunters to have deer tested for CWD and to have meat processed and wrapped individually.

The agency also suggest that hunters wear rubber gloves when butchering deer, minimize handling of brain and spinal tissue and wash hands thoroughly after handling a carcass.

DNR also recommends not eating brain, spinal cord, eyes, spleen, tonsils, and lymph nodes.

Cooking or freezing infected meat will not remove prions because they are very resistant to heat and freezing temperatures, the agency said.

Osterholm, who tracked the emergence of mad cow disease for decades, told the Minnesota lawmakers that many in the public health and beef industries did not believe it could infect people, the Pioneer Press reported.

“If Stephen King could write an infectious disease novel, he would write about prions like this,” said Osterholm.

Another article about Both Mad Cow Disease and Chronic Wasting Disease.

https://rightasrain.uwmedicine.org/well/prevention/what-chronic-wasting-disease-and-mad-cow-disease-can-teach-us-about-humans

Publicado el febrero 13, 2019 08:30 TARDE por walkingstick2 walkingstick2 | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

16 de febrero de 2019

National Geographic. New Tarantula has a strange horn!

Discovered in a little-studied part of Angola, the arachnid ambushes its prey at night.
By Carrie Arnold Published February 15, 2019

Genus Ceratogyrus. C. attonitifer . Pretty cool! My husband came across this on National Geographic news. Thought I would share it.

https://apple.news/AW3ky4ZK4Q6-ATBI6CYbihQ

Publicado el febrero 16, 2019 05:31 TARDE por walkingstick2 walkingstick2 | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

22 de febrero de 2019