New Anime Film Tackles Human Trafficking

A Chinese movie star is using his fame for a good cause by starring in an “adrenaline-fueled’ animated-short film about “human trafficking and sexual exploitation that have plagued the country, and for Asia, for decades.” (Ben Blanchard, Reuters) Zhang Hanyu, China’s newest critically acclaimed film star, who just won a Chinese Academy Award, lent his voice to the serious film “Intersection,” which will be shown on MTV China this weekend.



Thai and English versions will be broadcast on MTV’s Southeast Asia channels as well, and other versions are being planned. The film is from the perspective of 5 characters including a brothel owner, a trafficker and a victim. Designed in Anime style, filmmakers hope the format will be something young people can relate to.



“I hope the animation will stir meaningful conversations among youth about how we can fight against the tragic form of modern-day slavery,” Zhang told the press. “Intersection” is produced by MTV EXIT’s (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign, which is connected to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to raise awareness on the subject. “We’re using a different medium, animation, to alert young people about the risks of human trafficking,” Olivier Carduner, USAID’s Mission Director for Asia, said.



Drug and human trafficking is a massive problem in the region. The United Nations estimates that out of 2 million women and children who are trafficked every year, a whopping 30 percent are in Asia. The Chinese government has turned to harsh punishments for these crimes, including the death penalty. A recent high profile news case of the two American journalists, Euna Lee and Lisa Ling, were arrested after crossing the North Korean border into China to report on human trafficking.

Guns in Church?

Despite the recent shooting in church of high-profile abortion doctor George Tiller, a Kentucky pastor is still inviting his flock to bring their firearms into church.

In dubious celebration of the Second Amendment and the Fourth of July, New Bethel Church in Kentucky has invited its congregants to wear their firearms inside the church on Saturday, June 27.

“We’re just going to celebrate the upcoming theme of the birth of our nation,” said pastor Ken Pagano. “And we’re not ashamed to say that there was a strong belief in God and firearms — without that this country wouldn’t be here.”

According to an ad, the arms-bearing event will also include a handgun raffle, patriotic music and information on gun safety. Pastor Pagono says that private security will check visitors at the door to ensure that the guns are unloaded.

In Kentucky, gun owners are permitted to openly carry guns in public with some restrictions. Concealed weapons must have permits and firearms can’t be taken into places like schools, jails or bars and some other exceptions.

The event at New Bethel Church was planned months before the recent shooting of Dr. Tiller, a tragic event Pagano condemns and says highlights the need to educate the public about gun safety.

For the event, Pagano has encouraged his 150-member congregation to bring a canned good and a friend. As a former marine and handgun instructor, Pagano has said that the event is to promote gun safety, not mix violence and worship.

“Firearms can be evil and they can be useful,” he said. “We’re just trying to promote responsible gun ownership and gun safety.”

Marian McClure Taylor, executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches, an umbrella organization for 11 Christian denominations in Kentucky, including Pagano’s Protestant church said that while Christian churches promote peace, “most allow for arms to be taken up under certain conditions.”

She added that Pagano assured her that the event would promote responsible gun ownership and that proceeds would go to charity.

While Pagano’s sect tends to be proud gun owners, fearful of the Obama administration restricting gun ownerships, other pastors are less than thrilled to see churches embrace guns.

John Phillips is an Arkansas pastor who was shot twice by a church member for unknown reasons while leading a service in 1986. He still has a bullet lodged in his spine.

He spoke out against a bill in Arkansas that would have allowed guns to be carried in churches in the state.

“A church is designated as a safe haven, it’s a place of worship,” said Phillips, “It is unconscionable to me to think that a church would be a place that you would even want to bring a weapon.”

For more information on the guns in church event, read the original AP article on Yahoo!

International Trade: Answer to Food Crisis?

The World Trade Organization believes the answer to the global food crisis is international trade, as stated on Sunday. WTO director General Pascal Lamy believes that “global integration representation by trade enabled food to be transported from where it could be produced efficiently to where there was demand.” (Jonathan Lynn, Reuters)

Due to geography, certain countries, like Egypt, could never be self-sufficient in the food marker, according to the International Food and Agriculture Trade Policy Council conference in Salzburg, Austria. “International trade was not the source of last year’s food crisis,” Lamy claims. “If anything, international trade has reduced the price of food over the years through greater competition, and enhanced consumer purchasing power.”

Many people suspected trade as the reason for rising food costs in 2007 and 2008. Prices have slowly come down since then but many experts argue that agricultural trade made the problem worse and wasn’t interested in the needs of poor farmers or consumers in third world countries.

Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food, has condemned an ‘excessive’ reliance on trade in the pursuit of food security, while some farmers’ groups had also called for greater self-sufficiency.” (Reuters) Agriculture currently accounts for less than 10 percent of world trade, and only 25 percent of world farm output is traded globally, compared with 50 percent industrial goods, compared with 50 percent of industrial goods, according to Lamy.

“To suggest that less trade, and greater self-sufficiency, are the solutions to food security, would be to argue that trade was itself to blame for the crisis,” he told the press.

Farm trade is becoming more competitive amongst developing countries, with agricultural exports from developing to developed countries rising 11 percent a year between 2000 and 2007, “faster than the 9 percent growth in trade in the other direction.”

Global Warming Damages Tourist Destinations

According to a travel article found on Yahoo!, some of the most popular travel destinations are disappearing, thanks to climate change and tourism.


The Maldives, a chain of islands in the Indian Ocean is about three feet above sea level. Despite an attempt to bolster the islands, scientists fear they could sink as soon as 2050. The failure of the $63 million repair has left the government of the Maldive Islands in talks to relocate its population of several hundred thousand to other countries: Sri Lanka, Australia, or India. The loss of the island would also be an end to the nation’s tourism, which brings in 30 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.


The Great Barrier Reef is not only a natural treasure, it is also one of the premier tourist destinations in Australia. But thanks to heavy tourist traffic, ocean acidification, and rising water temperatures, the 135,000 square miles of live coral is growing smaller. Despite measures taken by the government to slow the reef’s loss, scientists still estimate that by 2050, the reef will have lost an estimated 95 percent of its living coral, thanks to an increase in water temperature.


Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is one of the world’s most popular climbs. But since 1912 the glacier-covered mountains have lost 84% of their ice and scientists estimate that the remaining glaciers could be entirely gone by the year 2020, making Tanzania’s tourist attraction more popular than ever.


The Swiss Alps are the most popular mountains to ski. But wi html_removed th rising temperatures from global warming, more and more resorts are looking to other attractions to cover up the lack of snow on the slopes. The official outlook is that 40 percent of the Alps’ skiing areas will disappear by 2100.


Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands may have inspired Darwin, but they’ve also inspired an influx of travel to visit the birthplace of evolutionary theory. With Darwin’s 200th birthday looming this year, more plant, marine and animal species are at risk than ever before.


To learn more about the effects of global warming on the world’s natural wonders, read the original article here.

Pic Source:TCNJ

Airlines to Cut Emissions by 8 Percent

Tuesday's press announcement claims that airline executives worldwide are expected to cut their emissions by 8 percent this year in order to meet new economical demands for both passengers and cargo.

Not only will this cut costs for the airline companies but it's likely to make many an environmentalist happy, as planes have been blamed for contributing greatly to global warming. Planes burn fossil fuels such as oil, which is a much needed natural resource.

In recent years, airlines have attempted to stay afloat by charging heavily for cargo, and have been using this method, along with business class passengers and cargo to stay in business. Carriers in Asia and Europe, for example are making cuts due to the recent plummet in supply and demand for both travel and freight, and this could likely be hard to stomach for those used to reasonable and frequent flights.

But airports are determined to improve the system, not make it worse. Companies are looking to revamp "runway and taxiway designs, improving flight scheduling and reducing airfield congestion that causes wasteful fuel burning" according to Angela Gittens, who runs Airports Council International. (Laura MacInnis, Reuters) Over 100 European airports are also planning to change certain protocol such as "continuous descent approach" in order to cut carbon emissions.

6 percent of the forecast carbon cut will come from fewer planes being in the air, and a further 1.8 percent will reflect improvements in energy efficiency, according to the International Air Transport Association. (IATA)

Director-General Giovanni Bisignani reported that successful tests have been conducted using biofuels made from plants, increasing the possibility of powering flights by plants like algae and camelina, a "type of flax."(Reuters) Those who have tested such methods and succeeded include Virgin, Continental, Japan Airlines and Air New Zealand.

"Certification by 2010 or 2011 is a real possibility, and the potential benefits are enormous," Bisignani said at the aviation conference in Geneva. "A biofuel industry could be a big generator of employment and wealth for the developing world." These cutbacks are part of the new administration's larger plan to enforce carbon cuts in automobiles.

Vegetarian Pet Food

If you’re living life as an eco-friendly vegetarian, get your pet in on the green lifestyle.


While many people either don’t eat meat or eat only organic meat products to avoid risk of disease, they may not consider that the meat that doesn’t pass inspection for human consumption goes into pet food.


The same problems that affect humans, including allergies, cancer, and kidney, heart, and bone problems also affect pets. The diseased animals in the food supply that cause mad cow disease can also cause the same illness in pets as they do in humans.


To avoid health problems and risks for your furry friends, change their diet to vegetarian. There are cookbooks, supplements, websites and other resources that ensure critters get all their nutritional needs without any meat.


Wild animals subsist a great deal on plant matter, so it is not unnatural to exclude animals from their diet. In fact, it may even help them live longer, as the 2002 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records cites Bramble, a 27-year-old border collie as the oldest dog in the world.


While rice, lentils, and organic vegetables can make up much of a pet’s vegan diet, it is also important that they get more nutrition in the form of supplements. L-carnitine and taurine are important to help dogs from developing heart disease and may not be sufficient in either a vegetarian or store-bought diet, but supplements can be found at a health food store.


While dogs are natural omnivores, making them perfect vegetarians, it can be a little more difficult to convert cats to a meatless diet. For recipes and ideas about getting your pets to eat green, visit this link, which also contains valuable information about the benefits of a vegetarian diet for furry friends.

Organic Products Safety Called into Question

According to an article found at the NYTimes.com, organic products may not be safer than their conventional counterparts.

Organic products are generally purchased who think they are healthier and taste better than their conventional counterparts. But with the recent outbreak of salmonella in organic peanut butter, many organic buyers are beginning to have their doubts.

“Because there are some increased health benefits with organics, people extrapolate that it’s safer in terms of pathogens,” said Urvashi Rangan, a senior scientist and policy analyst with Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. “I wouldn’t necessarily assume it is safer.”

However, organic certification processes do not include testing for safety, just health inspections and pest-management plans.

The Department of Agriculture has given permission to use the green and white “certified organic” seal to certain parties, but they aren’t directly testing for food safety standards.

Now, in light of the recent salmonella outbreak, Barbara C. Robinson, acting director of the agriculture department’s National Organic Program is sending directions to ensure that investigators look beyond pesticide levels and crop management techniques and report things like finding rodents and droppings to the proper agency.

“For example, while we do not expect organic inspectors to be able to detect salmonella or other pathogens,” Ms. Robinson wrote, “their potential sources should be obvious from such evidence as bird, rodent and other animal feces or other pest infestations.”

Organic foods and suppliers have long been in need of stricter regulations and it seems as though the recent outbreak of salmonella might prove a catalyst, as conventional brands are declared safe and organic brands remain ambiguous.

To learn more about the recent salmonella outbreak in peanut butter, as well as the possible changes in organic food regulation, read the original article here.

Help Timothy Leary Live In Cyberspace!

Before 1960's counter-cultural icon Timothy Leary died in 1996, he knew that one of the tools that could keep him immortal to future generations was computer technology, or more specifically, the internet. It's a little over a decade later and it looks like his dream may come to fruition in a way that could make him even more influential than he ever was in life.

The Timothy Leary estate is currently seeking donations to have his archives completely digitized and uploaded to the world wide web. With over 500,000 typed documents, including hundreds of letters from luminaries such as Allan Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Aldous Huxley and Abbie Hoffman, as well as documents from his Harvard research and hundreds of hours worth of audio and video footage, the project is proving to be a huge undertaking, and probably the first of its kind. Not only will it please Leary fans who wish to know every possible known facet of his life, it would provide the history of the entire psychedelic movement.

According to the estate, the newly planned site would be completely searchable and indexed, and that "Dr. Leary had this dream before most people even knew what the internet was, or how important it would become."

Despite being known as a distinctly 60's figure, Leary was a leading proponent in moving people towards the future with technology. In a 1995 interview posted on EcoMall.com, Leary said, "In the 1980's, of course, an incredible event happened which changed American culture--a new media developed. Radio developed as a new media in the twenties and created the jazz age and a changed America and of course television changed America by bringing the world into our living room. But it was all passive. The problem with the sixties, the problem with television watching, is it's passive consumption... But in the 1980's an incredible technological advance happened in media--computers--YOU could change what's on your screen."

As the internet developed and became more mainstream in 90's, Leary took to it immediately, and may have even been one of the first bloggers as he documented his declining health nearly daily.

The amount of bandwidth needed for a massive Timothy Leary archive isn't cheap; however, and donations can be made here to actualize the groundbreaking project.

NASA To Seek Life On Other Planets

NASA recently announced that the biggest camera to ever be launched into outer space will soon scour the Milky Way galaxy for warm, rocky, "Earth-like" planets that may host life. The Kepler spacecraft is scheduled to spend 3 1/2 years looking at more than 100,000 stars similar to our sun, with the rest of us hoping that some Star Wars-like universes actually exist.

"Kepler will push back the boundaries of the unknown in our patch of the Milky Way galaxy. And its discoveries may fundamentally alter humanity's view of itself," Jon Morse, director of NASA's astrophysics division, told reporters.

The spaceship will cruise around the "habitable" zones of stars--areas where a planet wouldn't be so close as to be burnt to a crisp, and not so far away as to be frozen. But to give some perspective on this issue, 300 some planets have been discovered orbiting stars other than our sun since 1995, but most are large gas planets unlikely able to host life. William Borucki of NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California remains optimistic; however, with Reuters reporting that he estimated Kepler could find as much as 50 rocky and water-containing planets.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed, and scientists could spend the next 3 1/2 years looking at grainy video images of barren planets instead. The mission starts March 5, and NASA says it will cost $591 million--let's hope it finds some needy extraterrestrials because there's plenty of life forms here on earth that could use such funds right now.

Dogs Help Fight Cancer and Other Deadly Diseases

According to an article found at Health.com, the future of cancer prevention may be in the nasal passages of canines.

The Pine Street Foundation, a cancer education and research center in San Anselmo, Calif., is training dogs to literally sniff out early stage ovarian cancer. The Foundation now holds success in training dogs to identify patients with lung and breast cancer, but only in the late stages of the diseases.

Nicholas Broffman, executive director of the foundation, gave the following quote:

“Is there something about the breath of people with cancer that is different in people who do not have cancer?” Broffman wants to know. “Our goal is to identify what collection of molecules in the breath are unique to ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, and lung cancer, and develop a test to find those.”

The use of animals in disease detection is not new, and other animals have been used to detect disease.

Scientists are likely years from identifying exactly what the dogs detect in the difference between the breath of those with cancer and those without. Eventually, scientists hope to discover the type of cancer a patient suffers from and even use a mechanical device to do so.

“It would be great to have a Breathalyzer-type machine that could do this,” Broffman says. “Our goal is to identify what collection of molecules are unique to ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, or lung cancer, and can we develop a test to find those. Scientifically, this is very difficult.”

Dogs are able to detect nuances in scents that scientific devices cannot, allowing them to be the at the forefront of cancer prevention.

To read more about dogs and other animals used to fight disease, read the original article at Health.com.

Name A Cow, Get More Milk

An article found on Discovery News describes a new study, published in January in the journal Anthrozoos that has found that cows with names produce more milk.

Call a cow by any name and it will be more productive according to cattle behaviorist Catherine Douglas, of Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. Cows like to feel good and not like they are just any cow.

Cows with names have more relaxed behavior, and previous studies have shown that elevated stress hormones like cortisol reduce milk production by interfering with the milk-boosting hormone oxytocin. Anxiety also makes cows more difficult to milk because they stomp and kick.

"If you call a cow by name, it indicates that perhaps you talk to her more, perhaps you consider her more of an individual, perhaps you have more of a one-to-one relationship," said Douglas, who has seen firsthand the consequences of stress in a cow. "Personally, I have had a black eye and broken ribs from milking."

For the study, Douglas and colleague Peter Rowlinson surveyed 500 farmers around the UK about their feelings on cows--both their own and others.

Of those surveyed, almost half of the farms named their cow. Of the named cows, they were reported to produce an average of 258 more liters of milk over the 10-month milking season, or about an extra liter a day than cows without names.

Although dairy cows don’t produce milk until their second year, the study also found that cows that were treated well between the ages of six months and 15 months produced more milk later on.

The study reflects findings of how other animals respond to stress and fear and also has implications about how farmers treat their animals, even as farming becomes increasingly industrialized.

Company Provides Memorial Space Flights

It was considered eccentric and almost impossible to fathom when counter-cultural icon Timothy Leary did it, but now it's a service available to all. Celestis is a company that provides memorial funeral services for those who want their cremated remains to orbit in outer space--and it's even somewhat affordable.

Celestis, Inc. is an affiliate company of Space Services, Inc., a Houston, Texas-based aerospace company who helped popularize the notion of public participation space flights. They were responsible for launching Leary's ashes, and have since done the same for Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in 1997, and most recently his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry is scheduled for next year. But now the company offers various services for the entire public.

Ranging from $695 to $12,500, customers have the options to send their loved ones just above the earth and back, into Earth's orbit, into the lunar orbit or surface, or even into deep space.

Give the website a glance and see if somebody you knew could finally have a dream fulfilled.

Mike Duke: Man with a Green Plan

Multi-billion corporation Wal-Mart has suddenly seemed to have grown a conscience. Wal-Mart, Inc. has vowed its new leadership plan to "expand efforts to reduce waste, use renewable energy and push suppliers to clean up their act," the company's incoming chief executive officer said Monday.

Mike Duke will become the company's new boss on the first of February, and claims he wants to "accelerate" Wal-Marts efforts in sustainability. The "Sustainability Milestone Meeting," which was broadcast over the Internet, was used to set the mood for the company to turn a new leaf. Duke says his plans are non-negotiable. "I am very serious about it. It's not something of the past. This is all about the future," he proclaimed.

Efforts to reduce waste by using renewable energy have been a strategy in improving Wal-Mart's reputation since 2005. The company is now holding more energy-efficient products, as well as selling only concentrated laundry detergent by eliminating phosphate in the product.

Phosphate compounds are "a water pollutant that can damage aquatic ecosystems by stimulating the growth of algae," (Nicole Maestri, Reuters) which decreases oxygen for fish and plants. Phosphates are believed to be the main contributor to phosphate-based water pollution. The company is looking to eliminate the chemical entirely from detergent in the near future.

Duke's Wal-Mart will also cut back on packaging by 5 percent by the end of 2013 in American regions, which include stores in Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central America, Brazil and Argentina. There are 2,300 store locations within the region.

Duke wishes to crack down on unacceptable products made in supplying countries such as China, and hold them to stricter regulations, including environmental ones. He reiterated the need for employees not to put these issues on "the backburner."

Wal-Mart's shares went up 10 cents at $48.45 on the New York Stock Exchange after the meeting took place.

People Can’t Help Smiling

In an article by Jeanna Bryner of LiveScience.com, she describes the findings of a new study that shows facial expressions are in genes.

By comparing the facial expressions from more than 4,800 photographs of sighted and blind judo athletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games, researchers were able to determine that sighted and sightless form the same “social smile” when faced with the same social context--in this case, winning a medal.

Social smiles use only the mouth muscles, while true smiles, known as Duchenne smiles, cause the eyes to twinkle and narrow and the cheeks to rise.

Both sighted and sightless athletes in the photographs used social smiles during the medal ceremonies.

"Losers pushed their lower lip up as if to control the emotion on their face, and many produced social smiles," said researcher David Matsumoto, a psychologist at San Francisco State University.

The athletes also exhibited the same expressions when exhibiting sadness, which Matsumoto says is shown by a downturned mouth and the raising of the inner eyebrows.

One idea behind the study had been that people worldwide learn how to match facial configurations with certain emotional states by watching others. Using photos of the blind athletes disproved this theory, as they could not watch others making faces.

"Individuals blind from birth could not have learned to control their emotions in this way through visual learning, so there must be another mechanism," Matsumoto said. "It could be that our emotions, and the systems to regulate them, are vestiges of our evolutionary ancestry. It's possible that in response to negative emotions, humans have developed a system that closes the mouth so that they are prevented from yelling, biting or throwing insults."

The study is published in the January 2009 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Peace Games

In an effort to combat violence with a “get ‘em while they’re young” strategy, Peace Games offers to teach children to resolve conflicts without violence.

Found at PeaceGames.org, Peace Games offers programs through elementary schools, families and volunteers, to help children grow and live in a safe, conflict-free environment.

Peace Games has many goals that they want to meet in their quest for peace at a childhood level, including building children’s knowledge, relationships and opportunities to be peacmakers, while involving the community at large. The other goals include inspiring new generations of educators and activists as well as removing the stigma of the connection between violence and youth.

For this last goal, Peace Games strives to show that youths are not just victims of violence, but also peacemakers. Not all young people are bullies or bullied, nor are all children likely to commit gun-related incidents in schools. Many children try to help others and avoid conflict and Peace Games want to help build that up through their various partnerships.

Since 1992, when Peace Games was founded by Dr. Francelia Butler, Peace Games has grown to be a national organization, with programs found in nearly every major city in the nation. The program model for Peace Games begins at the school level and then goes on to incorporate more people that can help make a positive impact. From the students, the program grows to include school staff, families, volunteers and eventually the community that supports the school.

If you are interested in becoming a part of Peace Games, the organization offers training programs to help teach and promote peace in a violence-free atmosphere.

Many talk about the need for social change and doing something about the schools, but Peace Games seems to really be getting involved and making peace a reality.

For more information, visit PeaceGames.org.

Continental Airlines Takes Flight with Biofuel

Continental Flight No. 9990 recently became the first by a U.S. commercial airliner to test biofuel in flight.

"Nothing has been modified," Erik Bachelet, president of engine manufacturer CFM International, told Discovery News. "The aircraft is expected to resume its normal daily service after the operation."

During a two-hour flight, the aircraft burned a fuel made of algae and jatropha, a plant that grows in arid lands. The test flight, designed to find how the airplane performs with one of its engines burning a fuel that is 50 percent petroleum-based and 50 percent derived from plants, required special licensing from the FAA and had no passengers aboard.

"We're looking to see that the biofuel performs the same as traditional fuel," said Continental spokeswoman Susannah Thurston.

The biofuel was blended with standard airplane fuel to meet density requirements for optimal jet engine performance.

Jennifer Holmgren, general manager at UOP, a Honeywell company that develops and licenses technology to refineries explained that while it possible to meet the rigorous standards using just biofuel, it is still to expensive. The cost is expected to drop with growing demand.

UOP focused on using algae as alternative fuel so as not to interfere with land space that is used to grow food.

Holgrem says that biofuel licensing should happen later this year and that it may be used primarily within the next 10 to 15 years.

The pilots on the test reported that there was no discernible difference in the performance of biofuel from their regularly used jet fuel and that they actually used less biofuel than jet fuel when landing, an added bonus.

Continental Airlines follows on the heels of similar biofuel tests conducted by Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand and Japan Airlines is to conduct a biofuel test at the end of the month.

New Creatures Discovered in the Australian Deep

In a recent search of unexplored Australian water, scientists have discovered several previously unknown species of marine life. In a joint US-Australian research project off the coast of the southern island of Tasmania, the team, led by lead researcher Ron Thresher, "search for life deeper than any previous voyage in Australian waters." A submerged robot named Jason was used to explore a rift in the earth's crust known as the Tasman Fracture Zone, a sheer two kilometer (1.24 mile) drop to 4,000 meters (13,200 feet) below the ocean's surface.

"Our sampling documented the deepest known Australian fauna, including a bizarre carnivorous sea squirt, sea spiders and giant sponges, and previously unknown marine communities dominated by gooseneck barnacles and millions of round, purple-spotted sea anemones," Thresher said.

The sea squirt, also known as an ascidian, stands 50 centimeters tall on the sea floor at a depth of just over 4,000 meters. It traps prey in its funnel-like front section if they touch it when they swim past. On ship blogger, Adam Subhas, described the sea squirt as "basically an underwater Venus fly trap, but much bigger."

They found not only new species, but also new evidence of global warming’s threat to sea life. Ancient coral fields, dating back more than 10,000 years, as well as modern-day deep-water coral reefs were found, and Thresher said samples taken would provide ancient climate data for use in global warming projections. Although more testing is needed, it is suspected that ocean acidification is behind the change.

"If our analysis identifies this phenomenon as the cause of the reef system's demise, then the impact we are seeing now below 1,300 meters might extend to the shallower portions of the deep-reefs over the next 50 years, threatening this entire community," Thresher said.

The rise of temperatures in the world’s oceans are blamed on global warming, which is caused by the build-up in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. This is also blamed for higher acidity in seawater.

Climate change will also be responsible for the death of the Great Barrier Reef within decades if global warming is not stopped.

Paper Homes Provide New Hopes

Weighing less than a Volkswagen Golf and designed as angular and modern deco as anything you'd find in the Hollywood Hills, the new paper house is an eco-friendly solution for the Third World's shantytowns, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them turn up in America eventually.

Invented by Gerd Niemoeller under the Swiss-based company The Wall AG, the 36 square meter home retails for roughly $5,000 and is made almost entirely out of paper--resin-soaked cellulose recovered from recycled cardboard and newspapers to be exact. The material is surprisingly durable and constructed in a way to provide excellent insulation. Each home comes with eight built-in single and double beds, book shelves, a kitchen table with benches, as well as a veranda and a sealed-off area housing a shower and a lavatory.

The 58-year-old engineer who invented the house designed it with refugees and the poorest people in mind. "People don't want to flee their countries, they've been driven to leave their homes out of the need to survive," he told Time Magazine. "The number of migrants, refugees living in improvised housing, is going to grow with climate change, and we offer an alternative." The alternative will provide a more affordable and environmentally conscious substitute to the iron sheds often seen in the slums of the developing world. Some are even excited by the aesthetics the paper homes will offer.

According to Time, more than 2,000 units have already been ordered by a Nigerian company, and inquiries have also been coming in from Angola, Zimbabwe, and South America. Interestingly enough, several Americans are leaving comments on the news site's message board asking how they can purchase the homes for themselves, even though Niemoeller is advertising them by claiming the home "has been designed so that a family can slaughter an animal on the veranda, wash it in the shower and hang it, along with fish, on an integrated washing line."

Rising Sea Levels Claim California Beaches

Rising sea levels are probably three of the scariest words having to do with global warming, and according to the Los Angeles Times, California is now forced to pay attention to them. New research shows that Malibu's Broad Beach is shrinking at a faster rate than originally thought, and coastal development isn't helping matters either.

The LA Times writes:

Sandwiched between the advancing sea and coastal armor built to protect multimillion-dollar homes, the strip of sand is being swept away by waves and tides. Soon, oceanographers and coastal engineers contend, the rising ocean will eclipse the clash between the beach-going public and the private property owners: There will be no dry sand left to fight over.

"If the latest projections of sea level rise are right, you can kiss goodbye the idea of a white sandy beach," said Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge. "You are going to be jumping off the sea wall onto the rocks below."

The rise of sea levels, which have swelled about eight inches in the last century, are projected to accelerate with global warming.

Depending on the slope of the beach, every inch of sea-level rise claims an average of 50 inches of land. Currently scientists among the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change are predicting that sea levels could expect to rise anywhere from two to four feet over the next century, making the prospects of California beaches all the more questionable.

Coastal development is also making it more difficult for the beaches to replenish their natural sand. Rivers and streams that ordinarily deposit sediment to the beaches are being continually dammed and channeled through concrete to send flooding waters safely out to sea.

As far as finding any hope in the situation, scientists are proposing that residential and commercial development retreat landward so waves and tides can naturally gnaw away at the back-beach dunes and hillsides as they have for millenniums, thus creating the beaches of the future.

Trying to tell Malibu home owners they'll have to give up their ocean-front views is a story for another day, however.


Read More Articles at WeEarth.com