Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (Jan. 23, 2015)

Danger Zones
An international team of 18 researchers warns that a potent combination of human activities has pushed four of the planet's nine ecological boundaries into "danger zones," threatening life on Earth.  The four boundaries that have been crossed are loss of biodiversity, improvident land use and an altered nitrogen cycle due in part to fertilizer use.  "For the first time in human history, we need to relate to the risk of destabilizing the entire planet," study author Johan Rockstrom of Stockholm University told the Thomson Reuters Foundation,  The five other boundaries not yet pushed into the danger zone are ozone depletion, ocean acidification, freshwater use, microscopic particles in the atmosphere and chemical pollution, the study concludes in a report published in the journal Science.  The findings should be a wake up call to policymakers that "we're running up to and beyond the biophysical boundaries that enable human civilization as we know it to exist," said University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher Steve Carpenter.Tropical CyclonesAn area of disturbed weather that brought catastrophic flooding to parts of southeastern Africa strengthened into Cyclone Chedza over the Mozambique Channel.  The storm then triggered torrential rainfall over Madagascar that killed at least 49 people and left more than 50,000 others homeless.  Most of the victims died in landslides and collapsed buildings.*    Typhoon Mekkhala drenched a wide area of the eastern and northern Philippines.  The approaching storm forced Pope Francis to leave an area of the Philippines earlier than planned.*    Cyclone Niko churned the waters of French Polynesia to the north and east of Tahiti.Cross-Kill ClaimsNew Zealand conservation groups slammed the government's use of a pesticide, which the campaigners say may have virtually wiped out a group of endangered birds.  The Department of Conservation dropped more than 900 tons of toxic sodium fluoroacetate late last year across parts of the South Island, including Kahurangi National Park.  The pesticide, known commercially as 1080, was intended to wipe out invasive pests such as possums, stoats and rats, which threaten native species.  Anti-1080 campaigners say the drop "exteminated" part of a rare population of rock wrens----the country's only true alpine birds.  The Department of Conservation claims heavy snowfall could be behind the disappearance of the birds.  Environmentalists called that claim "ludicrous," pointing out the alpine birds often encounter such snowfall.Endangered ProtectionA plunge in the number of monarch butterflies across North America may lead to the insects being offered protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.  The population of the long-haul migrators has dropped as much as 90 percent during the past two decades, and conservationists say the destruction of milkweed is the main factor behind the decline.  Monarchs need the plant both to feed and to reproduce.  But the widespread use of the Monsanto herbicide Roundup in agriculture has nearly wiped out the once abundant plant.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it will begin a review of vulnerable species in response to a petition that calls for stronger protections for the monarchs.  Experts say nearly 1 billion monarchs migrated to Mexico in 1996 compared to slightly fewer than 35 million last year.EarthquakesTremors continued to rattle areas of Texas, Oklahoma and southern Kansas, where natural gas extraction has expanded in recent years.*    Earth movements were also felt in central California, the Hawaiian Islands and the northern Philippines.New IslandA volcano in the South Pacific nation of Tonga calmed down after several weeks of activity that caused a new island to form.  Volcanologists from New Zealand said ash emissions from Hunga Ha'apai were subsiding and no longer threatened regional aviation.  Nico Fournier of New Zealand's GNS Science predicted that the new island would disappear beneath the Pacific once the volcano quiets down.Ghost ParticleA tiny and mysterious object collected from Earth's stratosphere could be a "living balloon" from another world, which U.K. reseachers say may have once carried an alien organism inside.  The team from the University of Sheffield and the University of Buckingham say the "ghost particle" is biological in nature and is made of carbon and oxygen.  They also claim the particle contains no evidence of contaimination from the Earth's surface, like pollen, grass or pollution.  Looking like a deflated balloon or chiffon scarf, and measuring the width of only a human hair, the particle is unlike anything else ever observed on Earth, researcher Milton Wainwright told the Daily Express.  He says the discovery could help support the theory that life on Earth was seeded from elsewhere in the universe.

Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (Jan. 9, 2015)

2014 Record Heat
Last year was the world's hottest since reliable  records begun in the late 1800s, and was also likely the hottest in the history of human civilization, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).  The Tokyo-based agency is one of four worldwide that calculate global temperature trends in somewhat different ways.  A day after the JMA announcement, the University of Alabama in Huntsville said 2014 was the third-warmest in the 36-year global satellite temperature record.  But researchers there cautioned that the difference from previous hot years as measured by "not statistically different than zero."  Data from other weather agencies pointed to unprecedented ocean warmth as the main driver of the new record atmospheric heat.
Fault in Our Sun
People born around the lowest point of the 11-year cycle of solar activity may live five years longer than those born when the sun is most energetic, according to new research.  The team from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology wrote in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B that peaks of solar activity produce bursts of energetic particles rhat can increase levels of ultraviolet radiation on Earth.  Those UV rays bring environmental stress known to cause cell and DNA damage, which can hamper survival and reproductive success.  The researchers say there is a clear link between solar cycles and the lifespans of about 8,600 Norwegians studied through birth and death records dating from 1676 to 1878.  Solar cycle peaks in recent history occurred in March 1958, November 1968, December 1979, July 1989 and March 2000.
Ebola's Source
A hollow tree in a Guinea village where the first known victim of the West African Ebola outbreak died in December 2013 may be ground zero for an epidemic that has now killed more than 8,000 people.  The Ebola virus hides in what are known as reservoirs, such as wild animals that remain unaffected.  Researchers think that infected bats living in the hollow tree 160 feet from the first victim's home were the source of the outbreak.  They theorize that the toddler who was the first to die could have picked up the virus while playing in the tree, or he might have caught and played with an infected bat droppings.  Local children have historically played with the bats and even grilled them for food. 
New Year's Eruption
Mexico's famed Popcatepetl volcano exploded almost 30 times on Dec. 31, giving residents just southeast of Mexico City an early, natural New Year's fireworks display.  Residents living within 6 miles of the towering mountain in Puebla state were asked to evacuate the area.  Ash from the eruptions soared as high as 2 miles into the sky, according to Mexico's National Disaster Prevention Center.
Year-End Cyclone
At least 60 people perished in the southern Philippines from flash floods and landslides triggered by passing Tropical Storm Jangmi on Dec. 30.  The storm packed wind gusts of 50 miles per hour as it also brought downpours to the islands of Mindanao, Palawan and Leyte.  An official said 12 people died when a landslide buried two vans and six houses near a mountainside highway in Catbalogan City.
Earthquakes
A broad swath of Idaho was jolted by a 4.9 magnitude quake that triggered rock slides, damaged homes and knocked out power around Custer County.  While there were no reports of injuries, several residents near the epicenter reported cracking in the walls of their homes.
*    Much of metropolitan Dallas was jolted by an unusually strong tremor that many suspect was caused by a gas well near the epicenter.  It was the latest in a series of tremors during recent weeks.
*    Earth movements were also felt in northern parts of Los Angeles, northern Oklahoma, Canada's Vancouver Island, eastern Taiwan and New Zealand's South Island.
Predator and Play
A South African park ranger and guests were startled to see a real-life example of the Bible verse that predicts "the leopard will lie down with the young goat."  The surprising encounter of a baby impala apparently befriending and frolicking with a leopard was videotaped for more than an hour at Kruger National Park.  "In all my years of being a game ranger, I have never seen such an encounter, nor do I ever expect to see a repeat of it again," said ranger Estiaan Houy.  "I felt amazed and honored to see such a rare and unexplainable sighting."  Houy said that at no time did the impala show any sign of distress or fear.  But wildlife experts point out that leopards often play with their prey, and that after the pair later walked into the bush together, things probably did not end well for the impala once the leopard got hungry.