Friday, September 27, 2019

How climate change is threatening to cut off Nova Scotia from mainland Canada

 According to the UN, the land link between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is one of the most vulnerable areas to climate change in all of North America. How climate change is threatening the Chignecto Isthmus.




Alicia Draus has more. How climate change is threatening to cut off Nova Scotia from mainland Canada

Sunday, September 15, 2019

OPINION: DO ARCHAEOLOGISTS' REGULATIONS CREATE HIDDEN TREASURES?


WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT! The History of the Oceans Is Locked in Whale Earwax

The Astonishing History Locked in Whale Earwax - The Atlantic:






MIGUEL MEDINA / GETTY

Whales are big, whales are long-lived, and whales have paddle-shaped flippers instead of dexterous hands. These three traits inexorably lead to a fourth: Over time, whales accumulate a lot of earwax.
Whale earwax forms like yours does: A gland secretes oily gunk into the ear canal, which hardens and accumulates into a solid, tapering plug. In the largest whales, like blues, a plug can grow up to 10 inches long, and looks like a cross between a goat’s horn and the world’s nastiest candle. Fin whale wax is firmer than blue whale wax, bowhead whale wax is softer and almost liquid, and sei whale wax is dark and brittle. But regardless of size or texture, these plugs are all surprisingly informative.

As whales go through their annual cycles of summer binge-eating and winter migrations, the wax in their ears changes from light to dark. These changes manifest as alternating bands, which you can see if you slice through the

Friday, September 13, 2019

The herbicide glyphosate persists in wild, edible plants: B.C. study | Vancouver Sun

The herbicide glyphosate persists in wild, edible plants: B.C. study | Vancouver Sun:





Lisa Wood, a forester and assistant professor at the University of Northern B.C., is the author of a study on the impact of aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research.

Lisa Wood, a forester and assistant professor at the University of Northern B.C., is the author of a study on the impact of aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research. HANDOUT



Edible and medicinal forest plants that survive aerial spraying of glyphosate can retain the herbicide and related residues for at least a year, a new study has found.
“The highest and most consistent levels of glyphosate and AMPA (aminomethylphosphonic acid) were found in herbaceous perennial root tissues, but shoot tissues and fruit were also shown to contain glyphosate in select species,” according the study published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
Herbicides containing glyphosate are used by forest companies to kill aspen and other broadleaf plants in areas that have been logged and replanted with trees of commercial value such as Douglas fir and pine, according to the Ministry of Forests.
When herbicides are sprayed by aircraft, the spray can deliver non-lethal doses of glyphosate to nearby “non-target plants,” some of which may store the compound indefinitely or break it down very slowly, said author Lisa Wood, a registered professional forester and assistant professor of forest ecology at the University of Northern B.C.
Wood found unexpected levels of glyphosate in new shoots and berries of plants that survived an aerial herbicide application made one year earlier.