January
11, 2002
Place your bets on rising sea levels
A new risk-assessment study
says there is a one in 20 chance of a dramatic rise in world sea levels over
the next century, due to global warning.
The study by the British
Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Norwegian environmental safety organization,
Det Norske, says there is a five per cent chance of the giant West Antarctic
Ice Sheet disintegrating due to climate change. This would raise sea levels
by one meter during the next 100 years.
Scientists have already
predicted a rise in sea levels of 50 cm over the next century due to a combination
of climate change and increased extraction of ground water, even with no contribution
from melting.
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January
11, 2002
Early sexual abuse linked to drug addiction
A team of U.S. researchers
has found that repeated sexual abuse can cause physical changes in the brain.
These changes may explain why abused children often use illegal drugs later
in life.
The researchers found that
children who were sexually abused had changes in the blood flow and function
of a brain region called the cerebella vermis, which is also known to change
when people abuse drugs.
"This part of the
brain has been recently implicated in the co-ordination of emotional behavior,
is strongly affected by alcohol, cocaine, and other drugs of abuse, and may
help regulate dopamine, a neurotransmitter critically involved in addiction,"
the researchers said.
Researchers used a technology
called functional magnetic resonance imaging, (fMRI) to look at the brains of
32 adults, aged 18 to 22. Half had been abused as children.
They looked at the cerebella
vermis because it develops slowly and can be affected easily by stress hormones.
"Damage to this area
of the brain may cause an individual to be particularly irritable, and to seek
external means, such as drugs or alcohol, to quell this irritability,"
said chief researcher Carl Anderson.
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January
11, 2002
Santa arrives late in Alaska
Christmas presents are
just arriving in many remote Alaskan communities. That’s because non-priority
mail often takes a month or more to move from the central post office in Anchorage,
Alaska, to the Aleutian Island chain.
Agafon Krukoff, the mayor
of Adak, said even priority mail can occasionally take up to two or three weeks
to reach his Aleutian Island village, population 316.
"It’s a ridiculous
situation," Krukoff told the Anchorage Daily News.
For years Adak was a U.S.
Navy base, and before that the army used the island to mount a World War II
counter-offensive against Japanese troops. The military is now preparing to
transfer the base to the Aleut Development Corporation, which wants to transform
the facility into a commercial fishing center and transportation hub.
Krukoff said the problem
of mail delivery worsened when Reeve Aleutian Airways went out of business last
December and its jet flights to Adak stopped. Another airline now combines both
passenger and mail service using smaller planes. Passengers and their bags get
priority over mail on those flights, but mail goes before freight.
Krukoff said his goal is
to get jet service back for Adak.
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January
11, 2002
The incredible shrinking salmon
Salmon from two rivers
in Alaska and Russia have shrunk in size in the Gulf of Alaska.
Scientists at the University
of Alaska in Fairbanks used high-resolution digital imaging equipment to look
at 2,000 fish scales taken from chum salmon caught on Alaska’s Yukon River
and Russia’s Anadyr River over more than 30 years.
It was the first time that
scientists looked at growth rates of salmon from both sides of the Bering Sea.
The Anadyr River, which also empties into the northern Bering Sea, is almost
directly across the Bering Sea from the Yukon River.
By looking closely at the
width of the scales, scientists from the U.S. and Russia found chum salmon had
decreased in size by about 25 per cent between 1965 and 1997.
While scientists have known
for years that the size of Pacific salmon has decreased, the scale study shows
exactly when growth slows during the life of the fish.
The study found that the
fish grow well in the first year of life, but growth rates decrease when the
fish enter the Gulf of Alaska before returning to rivers to spawn.
Fishermen and scientists
have suggested competition for ocean food with hatchery fish is causing the
Yukon River’s salmon population to decline.
But genes may also play
a role in the smaller size of salmon. The preference for larger fish by commercial
and sport fishermen could be taking these bigger fish from the gene pool, leaving
only the genetically smaller fish to reproduce.
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January
11, 2002
Drivers put their cars to the test in Finland
Every year from November
to April about 100 test teams for manufacturers of cars, auto parts and tires
visit northern Finland to try out their products in the most demanding of conditions.
In Ivalo, one of the major
Sami centres in Finland, the Test World company has transformed the airport’s
second runway into a test site (in the winter no air traffic lands on this runway
at Finland’s northernmost airport).
Another nearby test site
run by the same company offers snow tracks, ice tracks, ice/snow circles and
a so-called "split friction" track, where two wheels drive on dry
asphalt and the other two on sheet ice.
There are also various
slippery slopes and hills to test tire grip, ESP (Electronic Stability Programme)
handling and suspension brake systems.
Customers who want to test
their new models and prototypes in secret often run the tests at night.
The Helsingin Sanomat newspaper
says there are four companies in northern Finland promoting similar services.
The testing teams provide
a major revenue boost to the region. Ivalo Test World has about 40 employees.
Its clients also stay in local hotels and spend money on reindeer and dog sled
trips.
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January
11, 2002
Zinc mine in Alaska fined for polluting
The Red Dog Mine near Kotzebue,
Alaska, could pay up to $827,000 to settle pollution complaints.
The fine is among the largest
for air quality violations in Alaska. It punishes Teck Cominco Alaska Inc. for
18 violations of its air quality permit.
Under the terms of the
settlement, Teck Cominco will pay a $300,000 cash fine. The company will spend
another $279,000 on studies analyzing the mine’s effects on the air and
water of neighboring villages and on subsistence foods in the area.
According to the Anchorage
Daily News, the remainder of the fine, $248,000, will be suspended if the company
meets its obligations under the settlement.
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January
11, 2002
Greenland rolls out new hunting regulations
As of Jan. 1, Greenlanders
have to follow new rules and regulations for hunting. Despite protests from
the Greenlandic hunters and trappers organization, KNAPS, the Greenland Home
Rule Parliament approved new restrictions on the length of hunting seasons and
placed a gradual phase-out on the use of lead pellets.
The new rules limit the
hunting season on 18 bird species, and places a total ban on the hunting of
five species. Egg-picking from these species is also banned.
As of next year, lead pellets
will be prohibited as ammunition, after several cases of lead poisoning were
linked to the consumption of birds killed with lead pellets.
"We’re be lying
to ourselves if we didn’t follow biological advice and cautionary principles.
We need to live with these restrictions in order to save the species, so future
generations may take pleasure in Greenland’s birds," Alfred Jakobsen,
Greenland’s minister of the environment, told the Copenhagen Post.
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