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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: trees

trees stories: 16 news summaries

 Biofuel Laws Make No Sense: Scientists 

Kyoto Protocols actually encourage harming the environment

Oct 23, 09 10:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - Biofuel laws around the world actually encourage harming the environment, prominent scientists argue in the latest issue of Science. Under the Kyoto Treaty, in laws throughout Europe, and in the bill that passed the US House, biofuels count as carbon-neutral, on the theory that the plants the fuel is... More »

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climate change • environment • trees • biofuel • Kyoto Protocol • deforestation • carbon emissions

 Disease Threatens 
 Florida Oranges 

Scientists search for solutions to citrus greening disease

Jul 28, 09 5:01 PM CDT
(Newser) - Florida’s orange growers face a powerful adversary in a disease know by its shorthand of HLB that causes citrus trees to “green”—produce only sour, misshapen fruit, Scientific American reports. With every county in the state affected, the citrus industry has dedicated $10 million this year... More »

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Florida • trees • disease • harvest • insects • oranges • fruit and vegetables • citrus greening disease

Chew on This: Biodegradable Gum Hits Stores

Will vanish in six weeks after a good chew

Mar 30, 09 6:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - The first widely available biodegradable chewing gum hits British stores today. Chicza Rainforest Gum is manufactured in Mexico from the sap of the chicle tree collected by a cooperative network of chicleros, or gum farmers. Unlike regular gum, Chicza uses no petrochemicals, isn't sticky, and dries up and crumbles to... More »

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Mexico • trees • SAP • chewing gum • farmers • chicle • biodegradable

Barbies of the Future May Grow on Trees 

Researchers use wood and wax to make biodegradable alternative

Dec 6, 08 2:31 PM CST
(Newser) - Wooden toys may not be so 1850s, scientists say. A bioplastic made from trees has been used to make everything from golf tees to car parts in recent years, but its sulfurous stink kept it out of the toy market. Now a sulfur-free version of "liquid wood" is available,... More »

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trees • science • plastic • design • toys • nature • Barbie • inventions • Lego

 Nuke Tests 
 Left Mark on 
 Trees, People 

Scientists can date humans and trees by the extra carbon in their systems

Nov 16, 08 4:04 PM CST
(Newser) - Scientists can now carbon-date baby boomers by detecting atomic bomb residue in their DNA, NPR reports. Turns out that carbon-14 released during above-ground nuclear tests in the 1950s and '60s hung around, then was absorbed into living tissue, experts say. Evidence, in the form of extra carbon neutrons, has been... More »

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baby boomer • trees • carbon • atomic bomb • radiocarbon dating • carbon date

 Disease Stalks Florida's Palms 

State worries it lacks resources to identify, combat pathogen

Jul 23, 08 5:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - A mystery disease is eating away at the sabal palm, Florida’s state tree, and scientists say the prospects of successfully fighting the disease are slim. The AP reports that an increasing number of the trees, which can grow up to 50 feet tall, have suffered collapsed canopies. "There's... More »

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Florida • agriculture • trees • disease • research • palm tree

Pine Beetles
Eat Through Western Forests

Huge bug infestation doing more damage than wildfires

Jul 16, 08 12:51 PM CDT
(Newser) - The biggest infestation of mountain pine beetles in decades is devastating huge tracts of forest in the Western states, USA Today reports; forestry workers say the bugs are killing even more trees than the wildfires ravaging California's forests. The larvae consume the inner bark of trees, usually lodgepole pines, killing... More »

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trees • infestation • insects • forests • beetle

Italian Cooks Up Eggplant and Tomato Tree

Hardy hybrid said to yield better produce than nature intended

Jul 11, 08 2:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Sicilian amateur botanist claims to have developed a plant hybrid that functions as the world’s first tomato/eggplant tree, ANSA reports. Taking advantage of the fact that all three share the same genus, Giuseppe Marino grafted tomato and eggplant tissue onto a devil’s fig shrub, a hardy plant... More »

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trees • science • genetic modification • tomatoes • botany • eggplant

Warming Will Kill 66% of Calif. Plants Within Century

Flora won't have time to migrate if emissions continue at current rate

Jun 25, 08 1:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - If California’s climate warms significantly in the next 100 years the consequences could be grave for the majority of the state’s native plants, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A team of scientists from UC Berkeley and Duke found that up to 66% of the state’s plants wouldn’... More »

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environment • California • global warming • trees • plants • temperatures • plant • carbon emissions

 Ruling Doesn't Chop 
 Tree-Hugging Stalemate 

UC Berkeley dismantles treehouses; protesters cheered construction can't proceed

Jun 19, 08 4:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - UC Berkeley can't yet proceed with a $140 million athletic center, a judge ruled yesterday, even as the university continued to dismantle structures belonging to protesters trying to save a grove of trees that would be cut down during construction, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Earthquake safety is the major... More »

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trees • UC Berkeley • protesters • tree-sitters

ANALYSIS

 What Happened to
 the Paperless Office? 

Still, huge financial incentives to cut down have wheels in motion

May 28, 08 2:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - More than 30 years after Xerox guru George Pake predicted a "paperless office" by 1995, the dream is as elusive as ever. That's because the very computers that made paper theoretically obsolete, BusinessWeek notes, also brought us printers and copiers on practically every desktop. "The decision to print... More »

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trees • deforestation • Xerox • Xerox PARC • paperless office

 Solar Panels Trump Trees 

Calif. man forced to cut down redwoods so neighbor can tap sun's energy

Mar 26, 08 5:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - A dispute between California neighbors pitting trees against solar panels has gone to the panels, KGO-TV reports. Following a seven-year battle over whether one should have to cut down trees in his backyard that shade the other’s solar panels, Richard Treanor today chopped two redwoods after he was found... More »

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California • Silicon Valley • trees • environmentalism • solar power • U.S. environmental laws • solar panel

Kamikaze Palm Baffles Botanists

Madagascar giant flowers spectacularly, then dies

Jan 17, 08 3:30 AM CST
(Newser) - Scientists have found a gigantic—and suicidal—new species of palm tree in a remote area of Madagascar, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. The tree, so big it can be seen in satellite photos, grows normally for a century or so until it spectacularly erupts with countless tiny flowers that... More »

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conservation • trees • Madagascar • scientists

NY to Clone Central Park 'Tree-nome'

Cuttings will be replicated in lab, replanted across city

Jan 11, 08 4:46 PM CST
(Newser) - Arborists and geneticists are collaborating on a project to bring 1 million new trees to New York's gritty streets by 2016. They won't be entirely new, though, Newsday reports. Cuttings will be taken from several species in Central Park, then shipped to an Oregon lab where they will be cloned,... More »

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New York City • trees • cloning • Central Park • beech trees

Vegas Tree Chopper
Sought Better View of Strip

Saw-wielding retiree could face 35 years

Dec 5, 07 10:44 PM CST
(Newser) - A retiree convicted of killing 500 trees in a Las Vegas suburb was trying to better his view of the famous Strip, the Los Angeles Times reports. Douglas Hoffman, 60, was found guilty last month of felling $250,000 worth of mesquite and other trees over the course of a... More »

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trees • Las Vegas • landscaping • conviction

Sorry, Al: Tree Planting May Speed Warming

Outside the tropics, trees merely trap
heat, study shows

Apr 10, 07 9:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - Planting trees to offset your carbon footprint not only won't slow global warming, it may worsen its effects, a new study claims. Trees growing outside a small band of tropical zones don't cut the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by enough to offset the heat their foliage traps,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • environment • greenhouse gases • carbon dioxide • global warming • trees • carbon footprint • environmentalism • science

16 Stories


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