Plants survive radioactivity

Scientists have uncovered mechanisms that allow plants to thrive in highly radioactive environments like Chernobyl, writes the BBC.

They analysed seeds from soybean and flax grown near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor which exploded in 1986. The team says that plants may have an innate ability to cope with radioactivity.

The study appears in the Environmental Science and Technology journal. One of the researchers speculates that such mechanisms could trace back millions of years, when early life forms were exposed to higher levels of natural radiation.

In an effort to save time, money and trees, Canada's Hampton town council has gone high-tech, reports Telegraph Journal.

The mayor, the four councillors, the town clerk and the chief administrative officer were all sporting their new Dell laptops this week during their monthly council meeting rather than their usual hefty council agenda packages.

Instead of handling hundreds of pieces of paper used to make the seven agenda packages each month, council has moved to electronic council packages. "We are a progressive council and we are environmentally-friendly," Mayor Ken Chorley said after the meeting.

Council agenda packages were never fewer than 50 sheets of paper, said town clerk Megan O'Brien-Harrison, and on most occasions, up to 100 pages. With 12 meetings a year plus an average of three special meetings on top of that, it's estimated - even with mostly double-sided copies - about 10,000 pieces of paper were used each year.

To help organizations protect the environment, improve sustainability initiatives and streamline compliance, Oracle today extended the environmental impact and sustainability reporting capabilities of Oracle Depot Repair, says Market Watch.

These extensions are delivered as part of the Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.3 and include new business intelligence dashboards that help organizations reduce waste, reuse and recycle returned materials more effectively, improve product designs and comply with environmental laws.

Oracle Depot Repair now includes powerful reporting and analytics to aggregate and parse comprehensive return and disposition data, including information collected directly from third-party logistics providers, processors and recyclers, functionality not available in other enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions.