Discover Magazine: Environment

Discover Environment

• Are Eyes From Flies the Future of Solar Technology? | Discoblog
  Scientists are eyeing the future of solar technology–specifically, fly eyes. Turns out those bubbly-looking spectators might be just the ticket to more-efficient solar cells, researchers from Penn State University say. Blowflies have peepers that would help solar panels collect light more efficiently, and creating these fly-eye molds was a feat in itself, according to Discovery News. [...]
  
  
• Researchers in Greenland Drill 8,000′ Down to Study 120,000-Year-Old Climate | 80beats
  Researchers camped on the Greenland ice sheet hit bedrock this week after almost three years of drilling, reaching a depth of 8,000 feet. They hope that the ice they’ve uncovered from some 120,000 years ago, might give them a better understanding of what a warmer future might look like, if Greenland has less ice and [...]
  
  
• NOAA’s Conclusive Report: 2000s Were Hottest Decade on Record | 80beats
  The 2000s, the “aughts”—whatever you want to call the first decade of the 21st century, you can also call it the warmest 10 years on record. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration just released its annual “State of the Climate” report, and after sampling 37 climate indicators including the biggies like sea surface temperature, glacier [...]
  
  
• A warmer ocean is a less green one | Not Exactly Rocket Science
  The Earth’s oceans are mysterious and largely unexplored. Many of their inhabitants are familiar to us but their whereabouts and numbers are far less clear. This is starting to change. In two new studies, Boris Worm from Dalhousie University has revealed an unprecedentedly detailed portrait of the planet’s marine life, from tiny plankton to mighty [...]
  
  
• Will Climate Change Really Spur Mass Migrations of Mexicans to the U.S.? | 80beats
  Every time governments fail to take serious steps on climate change, it seems the parlor game of predicting what our warmer world will look like heats up. And the newest of those predictions, appearing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, pokes at what is presently one of the country’s most [...]
  
  
• Finally! A Self-Sustaining, Sewage-Processing, Poop-Powered Rocket | Discoblog
  Today’s sewage is tomorrow’s rocket fuel–at least, according to Stanford researchers. Raw sewage has long posed a problem for scientists who aim to get rid of it. That’s because the chemical byproduct of the bacteria that break down waste is nitrous oxide–a greenhouse gas also known as laughing gas. The proposed solution? Using the nitrous oxide produced [...]
  
  
• Couple Charged With Stealing General Motor’s Hybrid Secrets | 80beats
  A lucrative new car market, a former General Motors employee, and a dumpster with shredded documents. According to a federal court indictment (pdf) released on Thursday, these may be a recipe for hybrid car espionage. A former GM employee and her husband–Shanshan Du and Yu Qin–stand accused of shuttling secrets out of the American automobile [...]
  
  
• The Flow of Energy in the United States | The Intersection
  Produced by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and featured at the National Academies terrific website What You Need to Know About Energy. Click on the photo to get interactive. The data are from the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE/EIA-0384(2008), June 2009). Hydro, wind, and solar electricity inputs are expressed using [...]
  
  
• Boat Made of Recycled Plastic Bottles Completes Its 9,000-Mile Voyage | 80beats
  After floating on plastic for more than 9,000 miles, the crew of the Plastiki arrived in Sydney, Australia today, more than four months after the ship set sail from San Francisco. The boat of 12,500 bottles was the brainchild of David de Rothschild, who sought a way to bring more of the world’s attention to the [...]
  
  
• The Best Flavor of Geoengineering Stills Leaves a Bad Taste | Science Not Fiction
  The Eyjafjallajökull eruption as seen by NASA’s Terra satellite In theory, geoengineering seems like the ideal remedy for our climate ills. Some white reflective roofs here, a little ocean fertilization there, a few simulated volcanic eruptions, and voilà! you have a potential fix for one of the world’s most intractable problems. But there’s good reason to believe [...]
  
  
• ‘Doubters’ of Climate Change Lack Scientific Expertise | The Intersection
  Now there’s data–actual data–showing how few climate scientists doubt the existence of climate change. From Science Daily: The small number of scientists who are unconvinced that human beings have contributed significantly to climate change have far less expertise and prominence in climate research compared with scientists who are convinced, according to a study led by Stanford [...]
  
  
• Senators Cut Climate Change Rules and Renewables From Energy Bill | 80beats
  There will be no carbon cap-and-trade provision in this summer’s energy legislation in the Senate. Nor will there be a renewable energy standard (RES)—a mandate that a certain percentage of national energy come from renewable sources. Those are the two major losses for climate-watchers today as Senator Harry Reid and other Democrats announced they would [...]
  
  
• Pocket Science – belly-flopping frogs, and fattening marmots | Not Exactly Rocket Science
  Not Exactly Pocket Science is a set of shorter write-ups of new stories with links to more detailed takes by the world’s best journalists and bloggers. It is meant to complement the usual fare of detailed pieces that are typical for this blog. Frogs evolved to jump before they perfected landings Most frogs are can leap large [...]
  
  
• Look Out for Tropical Storm (?) Bonnie | The Intersection
  A depression near the Bahamas is now on the verge of being upgraded to tropical storm status, which would make it TS Bonnie. What is troubling about this one is the forecast track–possibly toward land across the slick. Fortunately, the system is not currently forecast to become a hurricane due to its surrounding conditions, but [...]
  
  
• Deep Sea Discoveries! | The Intersection
  More adorable, breathtaking, and wondrous photos from deep in the North Atlantic at CNN…
  
  
• Another Thing BP Can’t Do Right: Photoshop | Discoblog
  Notice anything weird in this picture from a BP website of Gulf relief photos? We’ll give you a hint: Look at the the upper left. That’s right; there’s a control tower in the window of a flying helicopter. As directed by the blog Gizmodo, take a closer look at the high-res version. A screen on [...]
  
  
• 16,000 Feet Under the Sea: Deepest Hydrothermal Vent Discovered | 80beats
  Want to know what early or extraterrestrial life might look like? You might try looking at Earth’s extremes: the coldest, highest, and deepest places on our planet. One unmanned research vehicle just tried the last of these strategies, and took samples from a hydrothermal vent plume 16,000 feet under the sea–about 2,000 feet deeper than [...]
  
  
• Is Global Warming a Boon for the Yellow-Bellied Marmot? | 80beats
  Yellow-bellied marmots are taking to global warming just fine—so far. A Nature study of the hibernating Rocky Mountain-dwellers found that over the last 30-plus years, the marmots have grown both in girth and in population, and the researchers think they know why. Study author Arpat Ozgul says that the marmots have limited time to accomplish the [...]
  
  
• NASA Satellites Use Lasers to Map the World’s Tallest Forests | 80beats
  It’s not just the sequoias—the towering firs, hemlocks, and other trees of the Pacific Northwest make its forests the tallest in the world, matched only by those in Southeast Asia. That’s according to a study by NASA, which has completed the first survey of the heights of forests throughout the world. The map, created by NASA’s [...]
  
  
• China’s Latest Environmental Ills: Oil Spills and Copper Mines | 80beats
  Two Chinese bodies of water made pollution headlines this week: the Yellow Sea is home to an oil spill, and the Ting River to waste water from a copper processing plant. The Ting River The waste water came from the Zijinshan mine in China’s Fujian province. Though earlier this month mine operators blamed weather for waste water [...]
  
  
• Stephen Schneider, Leading Climatologist, is Dead at 65 | The Intersection
  I am stunned, because he seemed so alive and vibrant when I saw him in December 09 in Copenhagen, and in Feb 2010 at the AAAS meeting in San Diego. But Stephen Schneider, one of the greats of climate science–and climate policy, and public outreach–died today of an apparent heart attack. There are tributes from the [...]
  
  
• Study: Geoengineering Can’t Adjust Earth’s Thermostat to Everyone’s Liking | 80beats
  Schemes to hack the planet and save us from global warming have two layers of obstacles to overcome. First, is it technologically and physically possible to do what’s proposed? And then there’s the second: Is it politically possible to tinker with the planet? Those who would argue “absolutely not” to the latter got a boost by [...]
  
  
• 1 Week and Counting: Zephyr’s Record-Breaking, Solar-Powered Flight | 80beats
  Earlier this month, we described the successful flight of Solar Impulse, a manned solar plane that flew for over 26 hours before a safe landing in Switzerland. Now comes news of another feat of solar-powered derring-do. Currently circling above Arizona, a British-built unmanned solar plane dubbed the Zephyr has now flown for a record-breaking seven [...]
  
  
• Feds Detect an Oil Seep, Say BP’s Cap May Not Be Working | 80beats
  If three months of waiting for BP to fix its oil leak have taught us anything, it’s not to get too optimistic about potential fixes. On Thursday, BP installed a cap that appeared to cut off the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, but yesterday the federal government officials overseeing the leak response [...]
  
  
• Calling on Californians: West Coast Represent! | The Intersection
  Nishanta Rajakaruna, a professor of botany at College of the Atlantic, sent me UC Davis geologist Eldridge M. Moores’s list on why serpentine should remain the State Rock of California (background here). Why should you care? It’s simple: When politicians make so-called “scientific” decisions based on nonsense, it’s our collective responsibility to call them out [...]
  
  
• BP’s Cap Has Stopped the Oil Leak—for Now | 80beats
  Do you hear that? That’s the sound of oil not gushing uncontrollably into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s leak, for the first time in nearly three months. BP is still running tests on the new cap the company installed this week, but at least for now there’s some for slight optimism. The flow stopped yesterday [...]
  
  
• Bearded goby munches jellyfish, ignores toxic gases, is generally very hard | Not Exactly Rocket Science
  The Benguela region, off the coast of Namibia, is a shadow of its former self. In the first half of the 20th century, it was one of the world’s most productive ocean areas and supported a thriving fishing community. Today, the plentiful stocks of sardines and anchovies, and the industries that overexploited them, are gone. [...]
  
  
• Drop in Illegal Logging Left 42 Million Acres of Forest Standing Tall | 80beats
  Imagine enough forest to cover the state of Florida. According to a recent report (pdf), a downturn in illegal logging has protected that amount of forest land–some 42 million acres–over the past decade. The decrease is a good start, London think tank Chatam House authors say, but there is still more work to do. “We’re a quarter [...]
  
  
• Unscientific California: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Serpentine and Biodiversity | The Intersection
  In light of California’s most recent faux pas, today’s guest commentary comes from California native David Lowry. David’s an extraordinary plant biologist working on the genetics of switchgrass as a postdoc at the University of Texas at Austin. (And yes I’m biased, he’s soon to be my husband). Given the economic crisis has wreaked havoc [...]
  
  
• The Oil Spill’s Smallest Survivors Released into Atlantic | The Intersection
  The first sea turtle eggs rescued from the Gulf have hatched! From the Associated Press: About 700 sea turtle nests — each containing about 100 eggs — are being trucked from oiled shores along the Gulf to Cape Canaveral, where they’re kept at a climate-controlled facility. The turtles are being released into the Atlantic as they [...]
  
  
• How to Make High Fashion From Bacterial Slime | Discoblog
  It’s not Prada, Gucci, or Dolce & Gabbana. That head-turning jacket is a bacteria cellulose original. Bio-Couture clothing transforms a hardening ooze–yanked from tubs of yeast, bacteria, and green tea–into high fashion. It may sound a bit like a Project Runway challenge, but according to the Bio-Couture website, the microbe-made clothes are meant as a sustainability [...]
  
  
• The Super-Hot Atlantic | The Intersection
  And no, I don’t mean sexy. This is a NASA image from the start of hurricane season, showing the sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and especially in the main hurricane development region. I got the image from this great analysis over at the WWF Climate Blog, which is mainly devoted to summarizing a recent congressional [...]
  
  
• The Forecasted Collapse of a Fishery | The Intersection
  It could be the dams, fertilizers, pesticides, and related reduced food availability. It might have to do with the amount of water in the region, climate change, and poor regulation. Most likely, it’s some combination of these factors compounded by widespread apathy about a population of chinook salmon off the coasts of Northern California–until it [...]
  
  
• “Keep a Distance From the Media” | The Intersection
  Andy Revkin has the scoop on a letter from the IPCC (very misguided, to my mind) advising its scientists against having media contacts. An IPCC scientist, Edward R. Carr, also thinks this is a very bad idea. More specifically, IPCC chair Rajendra Pachauri wrote this to researchers: I would also like to emphasize that enhanced media interest [...]
  
  
• This IS the Worst-Case Scenario | The Intersection
  via xkcd. Sounds about right.
  
  
• More on that Smithsonian Poll: The Rise of Denial | The Intersection
  I’ve looked a bit more closely at the Smithsonian/Pew Poll that I blogged recently, and I realized I overlooked one of the most important (and dismal) findings. Once again, this poll shows that global warming denial is on the rise: In an exception to the pessimism about the environment, the poll found a ten-point drop in the [...]
  
  
• Losing Nemo 2 – clownfish swim towards predators as CO2 levels rise | Not Exactly Rocket Science
  If you think the stars of Pixar’s Finding Nemo had it rough, spare a thought for the plight of real clownfish. These popular fish may struggle to survive in oceans that are becoming enriched with carbon dioxide. High levels of CO2 dissolved in the water can muddle a clownfish’s sense of smell, preventing it from [...]
  
  
• The Climate Scandal That Never Was | The Intersection
  New Scientist has just published my review of the first book on “ClimateGate”–Fred Pearce’s The Climate Files. It’s based on a series of 12 investigative reports by Pearce in the Guardian, and, well, I have to say I had real problems with it (just as the RealClimate guys had problems with those reports). My issue? [Pearce] takes [...]
  
  
• Somewhat Tardy Reflections on Hurricane Alex | The Intersection
  Anyone watching the pre-season forecasts, and now the weather, has to be pretty concerned about the hurricane season that we’re heading into. Hurricane Alex, which just slammed the Mexico coast and caused over $ 1 billion in damage, set some troubling early season records. As the National Hurricane Center put it: IT MAY BE OF INTEREST THAT [...]
  
  
• Pimm on the Oil Spill Wildlife Crisis | The Intersection
  Just because I am no longer at Duke, doesn’t mean I don’t keep tabs on Stuart Pimm and the rest of the family. Recently Stuart spoke to the Endangered Species Coalition about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico describing how it’s been so devastating to wildlife, why scientists cannot predict the long-term ecological [...]
  
  
• Michael Mann Vindicated (Again) | The Intersection
  Penn State University has now completed its investigation of climate research Michael Mann with respect to “ClimateGate”–and sure enough, it’s an exoneration. My understanding is that the report, which releases at 330 pm today, can be found here. You’ll recall that Mann had previously been found clean on three other counts; the remaining question being looked [...]
  
  
• Do Politicians Understand the Science? | The Intersection
  Ever since joining an listserv before the 2008 election, I’ve been receiving emails from all sorts of folks across levels of government. Last night a note came from a candidate running for Senate in a state I’ve never resided in. Since the topic being discussed was the oil spill, I read on. I agreed with [...]
  
  
• “There’s always a bigger fish.” [or whale] | The Intersection
  ~ Qui-Gon Jinn (Image by C.Letenneur) New discovery, ancient whale: Meet Leviathan melvillei (Is that a great name or what?!) Ed’s got the details and you can read the full article in Nature. Spectacular!
  
  
• Edison Would Have Been Proud of Today's Young Data-Crawlers | Science Not Fiction
  Thomas Alva Edison once said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.” We recently saw a fine example of this in a field in which Edison’s quip may prove increasingly true. It turns out that group of 8th Graders have discovered what appears to be a “skylight” — a caved-in lava tube–on Mars. [...]
  
  
• If Only Oil Spills Would Evaporate Like Climategate | Cosmic Variance
  Even if I’m on hiatus, there’s no reason not to post links to interesting things that I would be tweeting anyway. Blogs are still much better places to have conversations, whatever the Twitter triumphalists might think. With that in mind: check out this story by Sharon Begley from Newsweek, on how media are slowly [...]
  
  
• Another Growing Algal Bloom in China | The Intersection
  Here we go again… From the AFP: BEIJING — A floating expanse of green algae floating off China’s eastern seaboard is growing and spreading further along the coast, state-run media has reported. * * * * * Algae blooms are typically caused by pollution in China and suck up huge amounts of oxygen needed by marine wildlife to [...]
  
  
• An Extremely Cool New Book | Science Not Fiction
  Where is the smelliest place in the Solar System? Where are there snowballs in Hell? Where is the surfing the most extreme, dude? If you’re extremely intrigued by those questions, I’m extremely excited to announce an extremely interesting book coming this Fall, written by two extremely fascinating gentlemen. It’s The 50 Most Extreme Places in the Solar System [...]
  
  
• The Florida Panhandle | The Intersection
  As the 2006 Sea Grant Fellow for Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), I spent much of the year working hard to keep oil drilling away from the state’s coast. I am completely devastated to see photos of the Panhandle taken this morning by The Ocean Conservany. The full set is here, but be warned, these images are [...]
  
  
• Food For Thought | The Intersection
  As we continue to talk about energy, we’ll be exploring its relationship with the food we eat. Food and energy are inextricably linked, but all too often, their connections are overlooked. But before we begin considering average daily per capita intake for humans and how that relates to production and availability, it’s necessary to consider [...]
  
  
• The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change: Stronger and Stronger | The Intersection
  Courtesy of Rick Piltz, I learn of a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that powerfully demonstrates just how convinced scientists are that global warming is real and human caused. Indeed, this paper, entitled “Expert Credibility in Climate Change,” looks at the relationship between scientific prominence, amount of work published [...]