Population data for European mountain birds have been for the first time combined in a recent study, with worrying results: the abundance of mountain-specialist birds has declined by as much as 10% in the 2000s.

Ecological communities in mountain areas include species not found in any other habitats. These species are also very susceptible to climate change, as global warming is reducing their liveable habitats. In principle, species may relocate further up the mountains, but closer to the top their habitat inevitably shrinks.

According to the new article,the abundance of European mountain birds has in fact declined in line with climate change projections.

The recently released study examined the population trends of 44 bird species in the 2000s in the mountain and fell regions of Fennoscandia, Great Britain, the Alps and the Iberian Peninsula. A decline was seen in 14 of the observed species, while eight of them saw significant increase.

“On average, population decline among the species studied was 7% over the 13-year research period, making the situation of mountain birds distinctly worse compared to, for example, European forest birds, whose numbers did not change during the same period,” explains Aleksi Lehikoinen, an Academy of Finland research fellow at the Finnish Museum of Natural History Luomus (part of the University of Helsinki), who headed the study.

The situation is direst for species that only inhabit mountain regions and are unable to live in other European environments. For these species, known as mountain specialists, the numbers dwindled by as much as 10% during the monitoring period.

Delivery workers will finally be able to charge their electric bicycles — and themselves — at new stations created out of repurposed news stands in New York City, Senator (参议员) Chuck Schumer announced on Monday.

The repurposed news stands, the first of their kind in the nation, will feature charging stations safe for e-bike batteries, bike parking, and a place for delivery workers to rest or ride out bad weather.

“You’ve been riding this bike a long time. You need a break. Maybe you’ve got to make a phone call. Maybe you have to take care of your personal needs, any of these things,” Schumer said. “They’re constantly out on the street, no place to rest, no shelter to protect them — imagine it’s pouring rain, or even snow and you still got to do this,” he said. “And so we’re going to take underutilized (未利用的) public space on our streets like this news stand right behind us. Very simple.”

And the stations, which will be designed by Manuel Mansylla, will not contain bathrooms — which were once a flashpoint (焦点) for delivery workers who were banned from using the restrooms at some of the very restaurants from which they were delivering food.

But thanks to new city laws that went into effect at the start of this year, including requiring restaurants to allow delivery workers to use their restrooms, that’s thankfully not the main concern anymore, said Gustavo Ajche, a delivery worker. “The bathroom is different. There’s no problem with that any more what we need here is more parking spaces,” he said.

Not everyone loves the idea of news stands being repurposed for e-bike charging stations. “After car chargers on the sidewalk, this is another facility of the city taking pedestrian (行人) space to create charging stations,” said Christine Berthet of CHEKPEDS, the pedestrian advocacy group that has long called for the creation of more public space for pedestrians.

Researchers led by Associate Professor Naoto Hirano from Tohoku University have discovered a new petit-spot volcano（次点火山）at the oldest section of the Pacific Plate.

Petit-spot volcanoes are a relatively new phenomenon on Earth. They are young, small volcanoes that come about along cracks from the base of tectonic plates（构造板块）. As the tectonic plates sink deeper into the Earth's upper mantle（地幔）, cracks occur where the plate begins to bend causing small volcanoes to erupt. The first discovery, of petit-spot volcanoes was made in 2006 near the Japan Trench, located to the northeast of Japan.

Rock samples collected from previous studies of petit-spot volcanoes show that the magma（岩浆）erupted comes directly from the asthenosphere（岩流圈）-the uppermost part of Earth's mantle which drives the movement of tectonic plates. Studying petit-spot volcanoes provides a window into the largely unknown asthenosphere, giving scientists a greater understanding of plate tectonics, the kind of rocks existing there, and the melting process undergone below the tectonic plates.

The volcano was discovered in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, near Marcus Island. Japan's easternmost point. The volcano is thought to have erupted less than 3 million years ago due to the sinking of the Pacific Plate deeper into the mantle of the Mariana Trench. Previously, this area is thought to have contained only seamounts and islands formed 70-140 million years ago. The research team initially suspected the presence of a small volcano after observing data collected by the Japan Coast Guard. They then analyzed rock samples collected by the detector（检测器）Shnkai 6500, diving to depths of 6500 meters and observing the presence of volcano.

“The discovery of this new Volcano provides an exciting opportunity for us to explore this area further, and hopefully reveal further petit-spot volcano,” says Professor Hirano. He adds, “This will tell us more about the true nature of the asthenosphere.” Professor Hirano and his team will continue to explore the site for similar volcanoes in the future.