The new agreement, effective immediately through Dec. 5, 2015, stipulates that the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park will conduct research in the areas of giant panda breeding and cub behavior.

The post Smithsonian signs new giant panda agreement with China appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Caitlin Burrell, research scientist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, returned from China last night April 20, with frozen giant panda semen that had been […]

The post Panda Semen from China arrives at Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

If you were dumped into the middle of a desert, your first instinct would be to look for water—it is, after all, the stuff of […]

The post In Western China’s deserts an ancient competition for water resumes appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Invertebrate Zoology Scientists studying pollinators of the yellow poppy (Meconopsis integrifolia) in the highlands of southern China have discovered a striking new species of flower fly […]

The post New species of poppy pollinating fly discovered in China appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

February satellite readings in the troposphere (the lower atmosphere) of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a pollutant primarily from burning fossil fuels, show a dramatic decline compared to early January when power plants were operating at normal levels.; Credit: /NASA Earth Observatory

As China seeks to control the spread of COVID-19, fewer cars are driving, fewer factories are running and — in some places — skies are clearer.

Air pollution levels have dropped by roughly a quarter over the last month as coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities have ramped down so employees in high-risk areas can stay home. Levels of nitrogen dioxide, a pollutant primarily from burning fossil fuels, were down as much as 30%, according to NASA.

"It is an unprecedentedly dramatic drop in emissions," says Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, who tallied the reductions. "I've definitely spoken to people in Shanghai who said that it's been some of the most pristine blue skies that they remember over the winter."

Myllyvirta estimates that China's carbon emissions have dropped by a quarter over the same period. While that's a tiny fraction of its overall annual emissions, it's substantial in a worldwide context, since China is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

There's potentially a health benefit — although any gains due to a drop in pollution are set against the toll taken by the coronavirus outbreak.

Air pollution is estimated to contribute to more than 1 million premature deaths in China each year. Fine particle pollution, also known as PM 2.5, can enter the bloodstream through the lungs and has been linked to asthma attacks, heart attacks and respiratory problems.

Even a short-term reduction in air pollution can make a difference.

"There is no question about it: When air quality improves, that will be associated with a reduction in health-related problems," says Jim Zhang, professor of global and environmental health at Duke University.

Zhang says that was evident during the 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing. To help improve the air, government officials shut factories and dramatically limited car travel before and during the games. Levels of some air pollutants dropped by half.

He and colleagues studied a group of young men and women in Beijing and found that during that time period, their lung and cardiovascular health improved. He also followed pregnant women.

"What we found is that the kids whose mothers had a third trimester pregnancy during the Olympics when the air quality was better, their birth weight was substantially higher than the kids who were born a year before and a year later," he says.

But health specialists sound a cautionary note.

"It would be a mischaracterization to say that the coronavirus was beneficial to health because of these air pollution reductions," says Jill Baumgartner, associate professor and epidemiologist at McGill University.

"The health impacts from the virus itself, the stress on the health-care system, the stress on people's lives — those health impacts are likely to be much greater than the short-term benefits of air pollution on health," she says.

Baumgartner says people with health issues other than COVID-19 may have avoided seeing doctors during the outbreak or potentially couldn't receive treatment they needed in areas with overtaxed health systems.

Those isolated at home and avoiding crowds may also have been exposed to more indoor air pollution.

"People spent a lot more time indoors and it's possible that they were exposed to higher levels of indoor tobacco smoke," Baumgartner says. "Or in the suburban areas, it's possible that they were using their traditional wood or coal stoves for heating."

Not all cities have experienced the recent improvements. In mid-February, Beijing saw a spike in pollution due to local weather patterns trapping air in the region.

The drop in air pollution and carbon emissions is also likely to disappear as Chinese industry ramps up again in an attempt to offset its economic losses.

"If you think back to the global financial crisis, the immediate impact was for China's emissions to fall," says Myllyvirta. "But then the government response was to roll out the biggest stimulus package in the history of mankind that then drove China's emissions and global emissions up for years."

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

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China's strategy for securing its energy supply has been analysed in a new study. The author highlights key aspects of the country's energy security strategy, focusing on overseas investment in oil and development of petroleum reserves and unconventional gas, including fracking.

From 1980 to 2000 China quadrupled its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) whilst only doubling its energy use. New research has indicated that this trend will not continue and China is likely to experience much greater energy use, coal demand and CO2 emissions than has been forecast by international energy agencies.

Following rapid urbanisation, management of contaminated soil has become a political priority in China. In this study, researchers reviewed the current system in China as compared to Europe and provide recommendations for the sustainable management of soil.

To believe that China will have a significant advantage due to its population size requires us to believe that each additional user adds as much to an informational ecosystem as the first one.

Despite some criticisms about the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a new study has indicated that CDM projects in China could be making sizeable improvements to air quality. The research predicted, in particular, that the projects' associated SO2 reductions would make up 13-14 per cent of the reductions in 2010 towards the national target level.

Under the United Nations Minamata Convention on mercury, China and India could avoid a combined 242 tonnes of mercury emissions in 2050 from coal-fired power plants, a new study predicts. This amount is equal to approximately 12% of total emissions in 2010. While the benefits will be mostly regional, lower mercury deposition in surrounding oceans is good news for Europeans who eat fish sourced from those waters.

New pest management strategies may be needed in landscapes where certain types of GM crop are grown, according to recent research. The study found that GM cotton grown in China, designed to resist insect attack, has had an unintended consequence: reduced insecticide use has allowed outbreaks of non-target organisms to infest crops across the agricultural landscape and emerge as new pests.

Less than five days after leaving Earth atop a blazing Long March launcher, China's Chang'e 3 spacecraft reached lunar orbit.

There is indeed a national security issue raised by selling this ex-military brand to China. But it's not the U.S. that faces a threat from this boat anchor of

Over 60,000 members of the People’s Liberation Army will help increase the total acreage of forested land in China from 21 to 23 percent.

Obama and Jintao announce sweeping clean energy 'cooperation plan' that could significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

Lisa Jackson's first official visit to China results in the creation of a new committee, but will the committee be able to achieve anything?

Three Chinese astronauts lifted off to spend 15 days in China's Tiangong 1 Module space station.

You might be familiar with floating wind turbines, but what about floating solar panels?

Visibility in Harbin, China has dropped to 33 feet in the wake of monster smog rolling through the area.

What good is it if all of the historical cities and natural beauty in China are covered by haze?

Electronics giant announces it will compensate workers relocating to China for the poor quality of air they will have to breathe.

Skeptics question whether China can grow its economy and fight emissions. The truth is, it has no choice.

Dozens of cities throughout the country have either banned or limited fireworks displays due to the threat of heavy pollution.

China's most polluted cities have made strides in reducing air pollution, but there's still work to be done.

Yet one more scandal rocks the Chinese people as ongoing food regulation issues continue to haunt them.

China is the world's largest polluter and the largest green innovator. It is a country full of environmental contradictions, but so is the United States.

Sweatshops filled with robots could bring manufacturing of smartphones, computers and TVs to the United States, as well.

In a surprise announcement, Earth's two largest economies revealed a game-changing agreement to cut carbon emissions.

In an effort to combat pollution, China is building 'forest cities' and people will be moving into the first one in about 2 years.

Officially called the "3D fast bus," the bus will literally straddle the road and carry passengers over cars and under overpasses.

Cars with 10 horsepower, fish tanks and Home Depot hardware are just part of the fun. Some even plug in.

Sky City was supposed to be 220 stories and this building was supposed to be 97 stories; but there's more to building than just technical innovation.

New massive panda park in China will connect bear populations and should help with finding mates.

The U.S. secretary of state makes the ACES climate bill targets official and pledges to build a $100 billion fund.

NBC’s Adrienne Mong ventures inside one of China’s fake Apple stores to look at the bogus products being sold under the guise of the legitimate American tec

Chinese government offers high-speed rail expertise to U.S. projects.

China admits it's the leading emitter of greenhouse gas emissions — even though everyone else already knew that. What that means for this week's negotiations

Popular online shopping holiday produces billions of dollars in sales — and billions of boxes in the trash.

China will turn away 24 types of recyclable material imported from the U.S. and other countries due to concerns over contamination.

Several months into China's ban on most waste imports, a new study paints a sobering yet optimistic view of how we need to handle our plastic.

Terrible environmental conditions and an unyielding government has put China in dire danger of poisoning its enormous population and the land around it.