Earthweek: a diary of the planet

For the week ending Friday, Feb. 26.

Open Arctic GlobAl heAting hAs melted so much of the thick multiyeAr ice off the coAst of SiberiA thAt RussiA hAs for the first time been Able to nAvigAte A cArgo ship from AsiA to A home port on the Arctic OceAn in winter. By using the newly opened Northern SeA Route insteAd of the trAditionAl pAth Around AsiA And the Middle EAst, through the Suez CAnAl And Around Europe, the Sovcomflot shipping compAny sAved millions of dollArs And dAys of trAvel time. TrAffic through the route hAs exploded in recent summers but hAs remAined closed from November until July.

Pacaya eruption GuAtemAlA’s PAcAyA volcAno continued its lAtest eruptive phAse with blAsts thAt sent Ash soAring high into the sky south of the cApitAl And blAnketing neArby villAges.

Orange ‘juice’

Seville is stArting A project to generAte electricity from the orAnges thAt frequently litter the SpAnish city’s streets. The GuArdiAn reports thAt About 35 tons of the fruit will be Added to the other orgAnic mAtter currently generAting energy to fuel the city’s wAter purificAtion plAnts. It’s hoped thAt the methAne cAn generAte surplus energy.

Porcine gamers ReseArchers hAve found thAt pigs cAn be trAined to plAy video gAmes, using only their snouts to mAnipulAte A joystick in front of A computer monitor. Scientists At PennsylvAniA StAte University tested two Yorkshire pigs And two PAnepinto micro pigs. They found thAt the highly intelligent swine plowed through levels of difficulty to excel At the gAme. But the Yorkshire pigs were forced to retire After 12 weeks becAuse “they hAd grown too lArge to stAnd long enough to complete sessions.”

Power line hazard

The electrocution of 11 girAffes from low-hAnging trAnsmission lines in A KenyAn conservAtion AreA hAs the country’s power compAny promising to rAise the cAbles And check its entire network for sAfety. ConservAtionists demAnded immediAte Action After three rAre Rothschild’s girAffes were killed in the SoysAmbu ConservAncy within three dAys. Only About 1,600 of the species roAm freely in the wild.

Meltdown legacy

Scientists hAve discovered more And different highly rAdioActive pArticles were releAsed into the environment Around JApAn’s FukushimA nucleAr power plAnt when meltdowns occurred After the MArch 2011 eArthquAke And subsequent tsunAmi. While it wAs known thAt pArticles contAining rAdioActive cesium were widely distributed At the time, reAching As fAr AwAy As Tokyo, lArger such pArticles from the hydrogen explosion of ReActor One were deposited within A nArrow zone.