A New Bird Species Is Confirmed in India
A new bird species has been found in India, the first such discovery here in more than 50 years.

The multicolored bird, Liocichla bugunorum, was named after the Bugun tribe which lives in the area by Ramana Athreya, who first spotted the bird in May. The bird has a black cap, a bright yellow patch around the eyes and yellow, crimson, black and white patches on the wings.

“We thought the bird was just too rare for one to be killed,” Mr. Athreya said to the New York Times. “With today’s modern technology, we could gather all the information we needed to confirm it as a new species. We took feathers and photographs and recorded the bird’s songs.”

Though the bird was discovered in May, the news was kept under wraps until the bird was confirmed as a new species. Mr. Athreya said he first spotted the bird in 1995, “but it was only this year I had a sufficiently good look that we could move into the matter.”

Jin Yanni

(Resource: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/science/13bird.html?ref=environment)

NASA Scientists See New Signs of Global Warming
Scientists have long suspected that the recent melting of Arctic Ocean ice in the summer might be a result of heat-trapping gases. But recently NASA scientists reported that higher temperatures and a retreat of the sea ice over the last two winters offered new evidence that the gases were influencing the region’s climate, according to the New York Times.

While the summer melting could be a result of a number of phenomena like the flow of warm water, the scientists said, the reduction of winter ice two seasons in a row is harder to find an explanation other than the human-caused warming.
In the past two winters, the peak of sea ice growth in the Arctic has been 6 percent below the average peak since the satellite observations began. Some Arctic experts say the most open water in the Arctic in a century probably happened last year.

Jin Yanni

(Resource: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/14/science/earth/14climate.html?_r=1&ref=environment&oref=slogin

School of the Future

A paperless environment; high-tech tools to support hands-on instruction; and a sustainable architecture designed to save thousands of dollars in energy costs—with all these innovations, the School of the Future in Philadelphia opened its doors to students on September 7th.

Technology is integrated into every aspect of the school building design, aiding the building upkeep and energy consumption. The school building, which is described as “smart, smart, smart” works in several ways to cut down cost. A water "catchment" system stores and reuses rainwater while a solar energy system makes use of sunlight, and a unique cooling system stores air on cool days and reuses it during warmer ones.

Concerned that continuing instability in the Middle East may lead to escalating increases in oil price, many schools are actively searching for sustainable solutions. The School of the Future has set a good example for them.

Jin Yanni

(Resources:
http://www.eschoolnews.org/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6579
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=5922)

Garbage into Electricity

According to the AP, a company in Florida has a grand plan to generate electricity by vaporizing garbage. Geoplasma, a sister company of Jacoby Development Inc, says the $425million plasma arc gasification facility in St.Lucie County will be the first in the nation and the largest in the world.

While trash to power is not a new idea, supporters say the process is cleaner than traditional trash incineration. The facility, which is expected to be operational in two years, will generate heat hotter than part of sun's surface and will gasify and melt garbage by using high pressure air to form plasma. It's a process similar to how lightning is formed in nature.

The 100,000-square-foot plant is planned to vaporize 3,000 tons of garbage a day. County officials estimate their entire landfill of 4.3 million tons of trash will be gone in 18 years.

"It addresses two of the world's largest problems -- how to deal with solid waste and the energy needs of our communities," an official said. "This is the end of the rainbow. It will change the world."

Jin Yanni

(Resource: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/10/ap/tech/mainD8K1N66O2.shtml)

Baby Boom for World’s Rarest Rhinos
According to the BBC, scientists have found indications that four new Javan rhinos were born recently in Indonesia. The discovery in Java's Ujong Kulon National Park has raised hopes for the survival of the rarest of the rhino species and one of the rarest mammals in the world.
Park officials were first alerted to the new-born rhinos by tracks made by a mother and calf - a set of small footprints alongside larger ones. In the following days, they found two more such tracks - too far away from each other to be made by the same family. Then, in another location, they spotted a fourth calf alongside its mother.
A WWF manager at the park described it as a remarkable achievement for conservation.
Since 1970 the world's rhino population has declined by 90 percent (WWF). Poaching and habitat loss has reduced the total world rhino population to under 18,000 individuals today. According to the AfRSG & the IUCN, there are currently roughly 60 Javan rhinos.

Jin Yanni

(resource:
article, photo2: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5305906.stm
photo1: http://www.1770.co.uk/rhinoclimb/index.html)