Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (May 3, 2013)

Bird Flu Concerns
A growing chorus of public health specialists is sounding the alarm for a deadly strain of bird flu that has so far killed 23 people in China.  "This is definitely one of the most lethal influenza viruses we have seen so far," said Keiji Fukuda, an epidemiologist with the World Health Organization.  Most of the reported H7N9 infections have occurred in or around Shanghai.  Other confirmed cases were reported in Beijing and in the provincesof Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui and Henan.  There was a single confirmed case in Taiwan.  Symptoms include fever and coughing and, in more critical cases, pneumonia.  There is no evidence to suggest that the virus can be transmitted between humans.  Public health experts now believe that the approximately 110 people so far diagnosed with H7N9 were infected directly by chickens, ducks and other birds found at poultry markets.
Wildebeest Virus
The mass annual calving of wildebeests in Tanzania is increasingly bringing domestic cattle into contact with a deadly virus that kills livestock but doesn't harm the wild animals.  The malignant catarrhal fever virus is deposited onto grassland in the birth fluids of female wildebeests and by the nasal secretions of their newborns.  Livestock become exposed when they later graze over the same area, and they die quickly from the infection.  There is no cure or vaccine.  Masai and Sukuma herders once were able to move their animals far from the wildebeests during calving season, but most of those lands have been taken by farmers, investors and even residential developers.  Cattle are now forced to share the wild pastures with the wildebeests, bringing them ever more in direct contact with the virus.
Clouds Shield Warming
Small particles released by plants in warmer weather could help to boost cloud production and reduce the effect of global warming, a new study suggests.  By surveying nearly a dozen forests across Europe, North America and southern Africa, the team of Finnish physicists found that in warmer weather, plants tend to emit higher concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere.  When these small, floating chemicals bind with water vapor, they can create the "seeds" of clouds.  With more VOCs in the air, we can expectto see more clouds in the sky.  That could be good news for those concerned about climate change.  As warmer weather leads to higher levels of cloud production, more sunlight will be deflected back into space and prevented from warming the surface of the Earth.   But the authors of the study caution that the global impact of this cloud-seeding effect is expected to be quite small.
Coral Sea Cyclone
Tropical Cyclone Zane briefly threatened to roar ashore along northern Queensland's coast after forming over the Coral Sea.  But the storm became disorganized and brought only locally heavy rain and gales when it made landfall late in the week on the Cape York Peninsula.
Earthquakes
A sharp quake centered in northern India's Jammu and Kashmir region killed one person and injured 59 others.  The shaking wrecked several buildings and caused cracks to appear in many others.  About 25 students were hurt in their damaged schools.
*  A mild tremor shook the Marina del Rey coast near Los Angeles.
Gulf Spill Legacy
Crude oil that polluted the Gulf of Mexico during the Deepwater Horizon disaster is still causing health defects in at least one species of fish that is an indicator of the region's marine ecosystem health, researchers say.  A team from universities in California, South Carolina and Louisiana has monitored the killfish since the disaster occurred in April 2010.  Writing in the journal Environmental Science and technology, they say that Gulf killfish embryos exposed to sediment from oiled locations have developmental abnormalities that include heart defects, delayed hatching and reduced hatching  success.  They caution that other Gulf species may also be suffering similar effects.
Lobster Return
With the help of offshore wind farms, German scientists are about to reintroduce lobsters to the water around a North Sea island that was once home to unfold numbers of the crustaceans.  World War II bombing of Helgoland sent tons of toxins into the water, killing off most of the creatures.  While lobster fishing was a thriving industry for centuries before the bombing, the lobster population has remained very low but stable during the decades since the war ended, according to Heinz-Dieter Franke of the Biological Institute Helgoland.  He and others hope the rocky foundations of the new North Sea wind farms will provide good habitats for the lobsters, which are extremely aggressive toward each other and need lots of personal space.  Der Spiegel reports that about 3,000 lobsters will be released in the Borkum Riffgat offshore wind farm during a three-year pilot project.