Author name: James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy. You can follow his work on Google+.

Particle Accelerator On A Chip — New Research Opens Up A Number Of Interesting Possibilities

Particle accelerators the size of a computer chip may be a reality in the near-future thanks to new research from the US Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University — researchers there recently succeeded in accelerating electrons at a rate 10 times higher than with conventional technology, simply by aiming a laser […]

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GMO Crop Failure — African Caterpillars Develop Resistance To GMO Corn

One of the major agricultural pests of the African continent — the Busseola fusca caterpillar — has now developed resistance to the Bt-toxin that GMO corn relies on for its productivity. While the relatively fast emergence of resistance in the caterpillars is notable in its own right, what’s most interesting is that the resistance is

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Black Dragonfish — Deep-Sea Fish Facts, Pictures, And Videos

The black dragonfish — Idiacanthus atlanticus — is a rather strange-looking, long and slender fish that lives in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic waters of the world’s oceans, typically being found at depths of between 5000-7000 feet. Among the species more notable qualities are its distinct looking long fang-like teeth, its bioluminescence, its bizarre method of

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Asteroid 2013 RZ53 — Asteroid Relative Of This Year's Russian Meteor Passed By The Earth Last Night

Asteroid 2013 RZ53 — a small asteroid from the Apollo family of near-Earth asteroids, a relative of the meteor that exploded over Russia earlier this year — passed within only about 148,000 miles of the Earth last night. The tiny asteroid — only three to ten feet across — made its closest approach to the

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Prawn Nebula — Sharpest Picture Ever Taken Of Enormous Star-Birthing Region

The Prawn Nebula — an enormous star-birthing nebula located in the constellation of Scorpius — has been beautifully captured in a new image taken by the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The striking new image is very likely the sharpest image ever taken of the stellar nursery — depicting in great

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Comet Graveyard Discovered By Researchers — Some Of Which Are Lazarus Comets

A ‘comet graveyard’ has been discovered in the main belt of asteroids located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, by researchers at the University of Anitoquia, Medellin, Colombia. Some of the objects found in this ‘asteroid belt’ are in fact comets which have become inactive — sometimes for millions of years — but have

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Bobbit Worm — Eunice Aphroditois — Giant Super-Aggressive Worm, Attack, Sting, Video, Etc

The Bobbit worm — Eunice Aphroditois — is an animal that you’ve probably never heard of — but that’s unfortunate for you, because it’s probably one of the most interesting animals in the world. You might assume that I’m exaggerating… but, read on… A super-aggressive worm that can grow to be as large as ten

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Greening The Desert To Combat Climate Change? New Plan To Plant Trees In Deserts Unveiled By Researchers

Planting trees in arid regions as a means to temper climate change? That’s what researchers from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart are suggesting — using ‘carbon farming’, as it’s known, to mitigate climate change to some degree. Of course the proposed plan is not a total solution, but simply one intended to accompany and

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Polar Ecosystems Are Very Vulnerable To Changes In Sunlight Exposure Via Sea-Ice Loss, Research Finds

Polar ecosystems are extremely vulnerable to changes in sea-ice cover — specifically changes to do with the timing of annual loss and sunlight exposure — and such ecosystems may experience significant changes in the coming years because of climate change, new research has found. The researchers — from UNSW and the Australian Antarctic Division —

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Dawn Of Carnivores Caused Early Explosion Of Life? Cambrian Radiation Caused By Emergence Of Carnivores, Research Suggests

Was the ‘dawn of carnivores’ the cause of the broad explosion of animal species and body plans/structures during the Cambrian period 540 million years ago? That’s what new research from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego is suggesting — that the emergence of carnivores (as well as the atmospheric conditions favorable to

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Dams Contribute More To Greenhouse Gas Emissions Than Previously Thought — Sediment Behind Dam Releases Significant Amounts Of Methane

Small dams may contribute much more to greenhouse gas emissions than was previously thought, according to new research — the sediments that build up behind dams release more methane than was previously known. The findings add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that dams — particularly large hydroelectric dams — contribute significantly to global

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How Did Life On Earth Get 'Kick-Started'? New Research Strengthens Case For Alkaline Hydrothermal Vents

What was it exactly that ‘kick-started’ life on the Earth? Perhaps an unknowable question — but new research is now adding further support to idea that life on Earth was kickstarted by some of the natural processes that occur at some of the alkaline hydrothermal vents at the bottom of world’s oceans. The new research

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Saturn’s Moons Mimas And Pandora — Beautiful New Image From NASA’s Cassini

Saturn’s moons Mimas and Pandora are the subject of a beautiful new image taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The photo was taken by Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on May 14, 2013. Seeing the two moons together in one image makes for an interesting sight, owing to their differences — Pandora is a relatively small moon (50

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Ice-Free Arctic Was Responsible For Super-Warm Pliocene Epoch, Research Finds

A year-round, ice-free Arctic Ocean could help to explain why the Earth is known to have been significantly warmer during the Pliocene Epoch than the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at the time would have otherwise suggested, according to new research from the University of Colorado Boulder. The last time that CO2 levels

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Lavasoa Dwarf Lemur — New Primate Discovered In Madagascar

A new species of dwarf lemur — the Lavasoa Dwarf Lemur — was recently discovered in the south of Madagascar by researchers from the Institute of Anthropology at Mainz University. “Together with Malagasy scientists, we have been studying the diversity of lemurs for several years now,” stated Dr. Andreas Hapke of the Institute of Anthropology

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Frog Umbrella — Frog Makes Umbrella From Leaf During Rainstorm (Photos)

Do frogs use umbrellas? Apparently some of them do — as the photos below show. This frog and its umbrella was apparently spotted in the garden of the photographer’s neighbor. The tiny tree frog was photographed by Penkdix Palme — a 27-year-old photographer from Indonesia — who reported that the frog stayed under the leaf

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Bee Attack — Africanized Killer Bees Attack People In Texas, Kill Their Horses

Two dead horses, five dead hens, and their owner with a couple hundred bee stings — that’s the end result of a recent bee attack in Texas. The bees in question initiated the attack on Kristen Beauregard and her animals shortly after she had finished exercising the two horses on Wednesday afternoon — according to

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Return Of Wolves To Yellowstone Has Benefitted Grizzly Bears, Research Finds — Berries Becoming Abundant Again Thanks To Return Of Wolf

The return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park is having an interesting — though not surprising — effect on the larger ecosystem, affecting everything from grizzly bears to elk to berry bushes, according to new research from Oregon State University and Washington State University. The new research has found that grizzlies are benefiting greatly from

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Severe Inbreeding In The Winter Flounder Of Long Island's Bays As The Result Of Overfishing, Research Finds

Most winter flounder populations found in the bays of Long Island, NY, are severely inbred as the result of overfishing, new research from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University has found. The new research highlights a significant, and rarely acknowledged, problem with regard to overfishing — loss of genetic diversity.

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Climate Change Will Cut Snow Water Storage In Oregon Watershed 56% By 2050

The amount of water stored in peak snowpack in the McKenzie River watershed of the Oregon Cascade Range will fall by about 56% by the year 2050, as a result of climate change, new research from Oregon State University has found. The research also suggests that similar impacts will be seen in other similar low-elevation

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The North Pole Is A Lake Right Now — Small Melt Lake At The Top Of The World (VIDEO)

The North Pole is a lake right now. Yeah, you read that right — there’s a small meltwater lake at the top of the world right now, as these photos from the North Pole Environmental Observatory show us. That’s an interesting thought isn’t it? The images — and also the time-lapse video posted below —

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Pesticides From California's Central Valley Drift And Contaminate Remote Regions Of National Parks

The pesticides that are used in large quantities in California’s Central Valley — one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world — have now been found miles and miles away from their place of use, in the bodies of frogs living in the remote mountains of several national parks. This research is the

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Geophysical Rhythms Of The Moon Influence Human Sleep, Research Finds — Lunar Cycle Influences Sleep Even In Lab Conditions

The geophysical rhythms of the Moon affect human sleep even when in a highly controlled laboratory environment where the Moon’s light isn’t visible, new research has found. The researchers say that this is some of the first ‘convincing’ scientific evidence to back up the assertion made by many people that they sleep less, and more

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Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder — Common Agricultural Chemicals Linked To Bee Decline By New Research

Commonly used agricultural chemicals — including many commonly used fungicides — damage and impair the abilities of commercial honey bees to fight off dangerous potentially lethal parasites, according to new research from the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture. Commercial honey bees are regularly exposed to these chemicals during the corse of

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Hadrosaur Tail Discovered In Mexico — First Completely Intact Hadrosaur Tail

The first completely intact hadrosaur tail fossil yet discovered was recently unearthed in the desert of Coahuila in Mexico — the 72 million-year-old fossil tail includes over 50 vertebrae, and is more than 16-feet in length. This fossil — whose excavation was led by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) — is the

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Environmental Toxins Are Finding Their Way Into The Brains Of Polar Bears, Research Finds

Bioaccumulative perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) — toxic compounds used in a large variety of different commercial and industrial products over the past 60 or so years — are crossing the blood brain barrier of the polar bears living in East Greenland, new research has found. PerFluoroAlkyl Substances (PFASs) are ubiquitous throughout much of the world now

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Monsanto Announces That It Will Cease The Marketing Of New GE Seeds In The European Union

Monsanto just made the — somewhat surprising — announcement that it will no longer be marketing new genetically engineered seeds (GE) in the European Union. The notorious corporation made moves earlier in the year suggesting that such an occurrence was probably an eventuality — in particular, when they announced that they would no longer lobby

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Life On Land 2.2 Billion Years Ago — Four Times Earlier Than Previously Thought, Research Finds

The first land life may have appeared far earlier than was previously thought — at least 2.2 billion years ago, instead of the 500 million years ago that was estimated before, according to new research from the University of Oregon. The evidence that backs up the existence of this 2.2 billion year old land life

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Iberian Lynx Likely To Go Extinct Despite Current Conservation Methods, Research Finds

The nearly €100 million that have spent on conservation efforts for the Iberian lynx so far have likely been in vain — as the methods are insufficient to prevent the species extinction when other environmental factors such as climate change are factored in, according to new research from the Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate

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Earth From The Saturn System — NASA Releases New Image Of The Earth As Seen From Saturn

NASA just released the raw imagery from the Cassini probe’s July 19th imaging session of the Earth, and the first unofficial versions of the images are now coming through thanks to the amateurs who have been working on processing them. The official versions are expected to be released by NASA within the next few days,

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Paper-Thin E-Skin Responds To Touch — First User-Interactive Sensor Network On Flexible Plastic

The first ever user-interactive sensor network on flexible plastic — a new milestone in the field of robotics — was recently created by researchers at UC Berkeley. The new electronic skin, or e-skin, reacts to touch by lighting up — the harder that the pressure that is applied is, the brighter the light shines. “We

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Underwater Universe Uncovered With Completion Of First Global Atlas Of Marine Plankton

The first ever global atlas of marine plankton — cataloging the wheres, whens, and hows of the world’s oceanic plankton populations — has now completed thanks to an international collaboration between many of the world’s premier marine research centers. When seen under the microscope — the microscopic organisms that are present in the world’s oceans

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Nighttime Heat Waves In Pacific Northwest Have Quadrupled In Frequency Over The Past 33 Years

Nighttime heat waves in the Pacific Northwest have quadrupled in frequency over the past 33 years, according to new research from the University of Washington. Specifically — the region of Washington state west of the Cascades experienced only three nighttime heat waves during the years of 1901-1980, but 12 nighttime heat waves during the years

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Irish Potato Famine-Causing Pathogen Is More Virulent Now Than Ever — $6.2 Billion Spent Annually On Arms Race With Phytophthora Infestans Pathogen

The deadly plant pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine of the 1840s — Phytophthora infestans — is actually more virulent now than ever before, as the result of the arms race between the pathogen and modern agriculture, new research has found. Over $6.2 billion dollars are spent every year in an attempt to stay

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