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TED (Ideas worth spreading): The omnivore's next dilemma (Michael Pollan) "What if human consciousness isn't the end-all and be-all of Darwinism? What if we are all just pawns in corn's clever strategy game, the ultimate prize of which is world domination? Author Michael Pollan asks us to see things from a plant's-eye view -- to consider the possibility that nature isn't opposed to culture, that biochemistry rivals intellect as a survival tool. By merely shifting our perspective, he argues, we can heal the Earth. Who's the more sophisticated species now?"
2008-02-14 18:44:53
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Georgia Institute of Technology: Carbon Capture Strategy Could Lead To Emission-free Cars "Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a strategy to capture, store and eventually recycle carbon from vehicles to prevent the pollutant from finding its way from a car tailpipe into the atmosphere. Georgia Tech researchers envision a zero emission car, and a transportation system completely free of fossil fuels."
2008-02-14 18:23:49
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Financial Times: Study finds profit in cutting emissions "Half the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions needed to make the world safe can be achieved at a net profit to the global economy, a study has found. McKinsey, the consultancy, publishes a report on Thursday concluding that investment in energy efficiency of about $170bn a year worldwide would yield a profit of about 17 per cent, or $29bn. Diana Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, said: “It shows just how much deadweight loss there is in the economy in energy use.”
2008-02-11 16:00:24
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Wall Street Journal: Nine Cities, Nine Ideas "Ann Arbor, Mich., and Beijing, China, have precious little in common. But the modest college town and sprawling national capital do share one trait: They're part of a world-wide movement by cities to rein in their runaway energy use. Ann Arbor is replacing the bulbs in its street lamps with light-emitting diodes that use much less power. Beijing is closing or relocating cement kilns, coal mines and chemical plants dating back to the era of Chairman Mao.
2008-02-09 17:22:36
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University of Alberta: Barnacles Go To Great Lengths To Mate "Compelled to mate, yet firmly attached to the rock, barnacles have evolved the longest penis of any animal for their size - up to 8 times their body length - so they can find and fertilize distant neighbours. Graduate student Christopher Neufeld and Dr. Richard Palmer from the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta have shown that barnacles appear to have acquired the capacity to change the size and shape of their penises to closely match local wave conditions."
2008-02-09 17:15:03
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Houston Chronicle: Brown pelican population soars "Celebrating the phoenix-like recovery of the brown pelican, brought to near-extinction 40 years ago by potent insecticides, U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Friday proposed removing the big-beaked coastal bird from the endangered species list. Kempthorne, speaking in Baton Rouge, La., said more than 620,000 of the pelicans now inhabit the U.S. Gulf and Pacific coasts, the Caribbean and Latin America. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Texas Coastal Program counted 3,800 nesting pairs in Texas."
2008-02-09 16:30:38
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Associated Press: Device on knee can produce electricity "Call it the ultimate power walk. Researchers have developed a device that generates electrical power from the swing of a walking person's knee. With each stride the leg accelerates and then decelerates, using energy both for moving and braking...With the device, a minute of walking can power a cell phone for 10 minutes, [Max] Donelan, of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, said in a telephone interview. Other potential uses include powering a portable GPS locator, a motorized prosthetic joint or implanted drug pumps."
2008-02-05 17:47:29
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AP (via Yahoo): Navy must comply with no-sonar rule "Scientists have said loud sonar can damage the brains and ears of marine mammals, and may mask the echoes from natural sonar that some whales and dolphins use to locate food.
The president signed a waiver Jan. 15 exempting the Navy and its anti-submarine warfare exercises from the injunction, arguing they are vital to the nation's national security."
2008-01-29 13:17:24
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Technical Research Centre of Finland: Could Bush Chips Be Profitably Used For Electricity Generation In Namibia? "VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has studied the profitability of using bush chips in electricity production in Namibia, where biomass from bushes has great energy production potential. Namibia suffers from the overgrowth of bush, which is disruptive to cattle raising, the country's primary source of livelihood. VTT also developed the production technology for bush chips. According to the study, the production of chips for power plants is technically possible."
2008-01-26 12:19:19
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Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research: Extra Power From Private Wind and Solar Generation Can Be Given Back To Grid More Easily "An increasing number of people use wind or solar energy as a power source, and at times, they have extra power available that could be sold to the electricity grid. Dutch-sponsored researcher Haimin Tao examined how this externally generated energy can be better stored and transferred."
2008-01-21 16:00:26
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Montana State University: Renewed Interest In Turning Algae Into Fuel "The same brown algae that cover rocks and cause anglers to slip while fly fishing contain oil that can be turned into diesel fuel, says a Montana State University microbiologist. Drivers can't pump algal fuel into their gas tanks yet, but Keith Cooksey said the idea holds promise. He felt that way 20 years ago. He feels that way today.
"We would be there now if people then hadn't been so short-sighted," Cooksey said."
2008-01-21 15:40:26
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Living on Earth: From toilet to tap "Orange County will soon use purified wastewater to replenish sinking groundwater. Orange County, CA has opened what is likely the largest sewage purification plant for drinking water in the world. The community is on board, and the idea is already being copied elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad. 'The squeamish call it 'toilet to tap.' The correct term is 'indirect potable water reuse.' That's a mouthful. And in a few days 2.3 million people in Orange County California will begin quenching their thirst with it. Living on Earth's Ingrid Lobet reports.'"
2008-01-17 17:13:02
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OC Register: Research tracks arctic warming "As much as a third of the warming trend in arctic regions is caused by "dirty snow," not by greenhouse gases, UC Irvine researchers say, a finding that could have implications for pollution control efforts across the Northern Hemisphere. Because darker surfaces absorb more heat from sunshine, [climate researcher Charlie] Zender said, soot is making a significant contribution to Arctic warming, which is melting permafrost, increasing spring runoff and causing a variety of woes for the people who live in these regions. Better control of pollution sources that emit large amounts of soot – coal-fired power plants in China, for example – could be a relatively easy way to reduce arctic warming, he said."
2008-01-11 11:18:12
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United Press International: Hybrid poplar trees to absorb contaminants "U.S. researchers want to plant poplar trees at a former oil storage facility to see if the trees can turn contaminants into harmless byproducts. Purdue University researchers said a recent a study found that transgenic poplar cuttings absorbed 90 percent of trichloroethylene within a hydroponic solution in one week. The engineered trees also took up and metabolized the chemical 100 times faster than unaltered hybrid poplars."
2008-01-11 11:19:13
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DOE Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC at Berkeley: Body Heat To Power Cell Phones? Nanowires Enable Recovery Of Waste Heat Energy "Energy now lost as heat during the production of electricity could be harnessed through the use of silicon nanowires synthesized via a technique developed by researchers ... The far-ranging potential applications of this technology include DOEs hydrogen fuel cell-powered Freedom CAR, and personal power-jackets that could use heat from the human body to recharge cell-phones and other electronic devices."
2008-01-03 14:52:58
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Radio Netherlands: Breakthrough in effective bird flu vaccine There has been a new step forward in the development of an effective vaccine against H5N1, the bird flu virus that's also dangerous to humans. By adding an agent that stimulates the immune system, it appears that the existing vaccine is effective against various strains of the bird flu virus.
2008-01-03 14:45:13
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New Straits Times (Malaysia): Malaysian Cabinet committee to tackle climate change "Environmental needs go beyond environmental impact assessments."
Azmi said the setting up of the committee would mean a more concerted effort in dealing with issues of the environment. "As it is, some ministries don't look at climate change mitigation as their responsibility. This cabinet committee will bring everyone in."
2008-01-01 15:38:36
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Yankton Press and Dakotan (US): Project Offers Sanctuary For Endangered Birds "Down by the river, there is a habitat for endangered species recovery program being created with a price tag of $2.47 million. The endangered species piping plover and least tern have been threatened with predators since the building of the dams along the Missouri River."
