 Graph courtesy of NASA - GISS |
A group of scientists have proposed that seaweed could be a viable method for sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Seaweed's rapid growth means that it could use up as much carbon dioxide as a rainforest while providing an alternative source of food and fuel. Currently, more than 8 million tons of seaweed and algae are harvested for food, almost exclusively in Asia-Pacific region.| Comet probes reveal evidence of origin of life, scientists claim - Recent probes inside comets show it is overwhelmingly likely that life began in space, according to a new paper by Cardiff University scientists. Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe and colleagues at the University’s Centre for Astrobiology have long argued the case for panspermia - the theory that life began inside comets and then spread to habitable planets across the galaxy. Now the team claims that findings from space probes sent to investigate passing comets reveal how the first organisms could have formed. |
 Cities incite thunderstorms, researchers find - Summer thunderstorms become much more fierce when they collide with a city than they would otherwise be in the open countryside, according to research led by Princeton engineers. While thunderstorms are thought of as being purely forces of nature, the Princeton research suggests that man’s built environment can radically alter a storm’s life cycle. |
| Conventional plowing is 'skinning our agricultural fields' - Traditional plow-based agricultural methods and the need to feed a rapidly growing world population are combining to deplete the Earth's soil supply, a new study confirms. In fact, long-established practices appear to increase soil erosion to the point that it is not offset by soil creation, said David Montgomery, a University of Washington professor of Earth and space sciences. No-till agriculture, in which crop stubble is mixed with the top layer of soil using a method called disking, is far more sustainable, he said. |
 U.S. Icebreaker to Map Arctic Sea Floor - A U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker is headed to the Arctic to map the sea floor off Alaska, as Russia, Denmark and Canada assert their claims in the polar region, which has potential oil and gas reserves. Russian media assert that the Healy's mission signals that the United States, along with Canada, is actively joining the competition for resources in the Arctic. Melting ice could open water for drilling or create the long-sought Northwest Passage for shipping. A Russian submarine dropped that nation's flag Aug. 2 on the floor of the Arctic Ocean under the North Pole. |
 Bigelow Aerospace Fast-Tracks Manned Spacecraft - Following the successful launch and deployment of two inflatable space modules, on Monday the owner and founder of Bigelow Aerospace announced plans to move ahead with the launch of its first human habitable spacecraft, the Sundancer. The decision to fast-track Sundancer was made in part to rising launch costs as well as the ability to test some systems on the ground, company CEO Robert Bigelow said in a press statement. The Sundancer module will provide 180 cubic meters of habitable space and will come fully equipped with life-support systems, attitude control and on-orbit maneuverability, as well as reboost and deorbit capability. This larger module – sporting a trio of windows – could support a three-person crew and be on orbit in the second half of 2010, Bigelow told Space News in March of this year. |
 NASA Performs Tests on Shuttle Tile Damage - NASA engineers are running a battery of tests to determine whether Endeavour shuttle astronauts will have to repair a deep gouge on their orbiter's underbelly, while a separate team weighs the best of three options for any fix required, mission managers said Monday. A piece of fuel tank debris struck Endeavour's belly-mounted tiles 58 seconds after launch on Aug. 8, carving the 3 1/2-inch by 2-inch (9-centimeter by 5-centimeter) gouge. The debris did penetrate through the tile to expose a small strip of felt about one inch (2.5 centimeters) wide and 0.2 inches (0.5 centimeters) long. This image depicts tile damage to the space shuttle Endeavour during its Aug. 8, 2007 launch, as well as its location near the starboard landing gear door.Side note: ABC News has a better image of the gouge, for those that are interested. The robot arm and the laser scanner, used to examine the damage, were designed and built in Canada. |
 Hot Gas in Space Mimics Life - Electrically charged specks of interstellar dust organize into DNA-like double helixes and display properties normally attributed to living systems, such as evolving and reproducing, new computer simulations show. But scientists are hesitant to call the dancing dust particles "alive," and instead say they are just another example of how difficult it is to define life. |
 Newfound Planet Has Earth-Like Orbit - A planet outside our solar system with a year roughly equal to Earth's has been discovered around a dying, red giant star. The discovery could help astronomers understand what will happen to our sun's brood of planets when it exhausts its store of hydrogen fuel and its outer envelope begins to swell. When that happens in an estimated 5 billion years, our sun will be so big that it will engulf the inner planets and most likely Earth. But long before that happens, life on our planet will have perished and its seas will have boiled away. |
 Report: Hot Rocks Keep N. America Afloat - If it weren't for the hot rocks down below Earth's crust, most of North America would be below sea level, report researchers who say the significance of Earth's internal heat has been overlooked. |
| Greenhouse gas burial - Deep coal seams that are not commercially viable for coal production could be used for permanent underground storage of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) generated by human activities, thus avoiding atmospheric release, according to two studies published in Inderscience's International Journal of Environment and Pollution. An added benefit of storing CO2 in this way is that additional useful methane will be displaced from the coal beds. |
 Nanoparticles hitchhike on red blood cells: a potential new method for drug delivery - Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have discovered that attaching polymeric nanoparticles to the surface of red blood cells dramatically increases the in vivo lifetime of the nanoparticles. The research, published in the July 07 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, could offer applications for the delivery of drugs and circulating bioreactors. |
| Transparent transistors to bring future displays, 'e-paper' - Researchers have used nanotechnology to create transparent transistors and circuits, a step that promises a broad range of applications, from e-paper and flexible color screens for consumer electronics to "smart cards" and "heads-up" displays in auto windshields. |
 Healing Blood Vessels - A biotech startup is testing a gel that could make cardiovascular procedures safer. |
 Crater Could Solve 1908 Tunguska Meteor Mystery - Researchers point out possible 1908 Tunguska event crater, in a lake. |
 Push to legalize Afghanistan's opium trade - Afghanistan produces more than 90% of the world's illegal opium. Current control methods involve literally ripping up poppy fields, mainly under the oversight of the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. But the Senlis Council, an international policy think-tank with a base in London, has another suggestion: allow the farmers to grow their poppies and process them locally to make morphine tablets under a controlled licensing scheme. |
 Mammoths to Return? DNA Advances Spur Resurrection Debate - Experts are close to piecing together the entire genomes of long-dead beasts. But bringing them back to life may—or may not—happen soon, depending on whom you ask. |
 Alcohol, Feces, Carcasses Fuel "Green" Vehicles in Sweden - Drinking and driving don't usually mix—unless the alcohol is turned into a new organic fuel that's gaining steam in Sweden |
Source: BBC News  Extracted from Warren Ellis's blog. SkyNet 5A, part of Britain's secure military communication system, is now in orbit. Expect terminator robots soon. |
Source: Slate  Extracted from Rick Mercer's Blog. This is not technology, but an interesting article, especially recent discussion on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small} ms_danson's journal about helping (without asking first) and being helpful (asking if assistance is required). The article explores Bush's apparent focus on extracting a proper level of "gratitude" from countries in which they intervene. This is the political equivalent of "helping", then getting all pissy because they aren't being thanked for their efforts. The article states that this has the appearance of "Lord" Bush annoyed that serf-like nations do not bestow upon him the proper level of gratitude. In one writer's words, "Gratitude is something you give to somebody who's superior. It's very different from, say, appreciation, which is something that equals give each other." |
Source: PhysOrg The sediment in the bottom of a Turkish lake may provide our best snapshot of climate changes over the past 500,000 years. Every summer, limestone and pollen combine to form a pale, inch-thick sediment that can be used to estimate the prevailing weather conditions in ancient Turkey. In the winter, the limestone ceases to fall, being replaced with a dark clay sediment. A core sample of the sediment with its clearly-marked rings could provide an accurate climate record going back to the time of the Neanderthal. Preliminary investigations have shown that climate change can be "rapid" in from a geological perspective, taking as little as 10 years. |
Source: Space.com  Texans tend to think big, and Bill Stone is thinking really big. Moon-sized. He is part of a company that plans to send a manned mission to the moon to determine if they can mine it for fuel that can be used in spacecraft. If this proves to be the case, they would process it there and ship to to low-Earth orbit where it can be used to refuel spacecraft. It is expected that fuel obtained in this manner would cost 1/10th of the equivalent shipped from Earth. They would hope to be "open for business" by 2015. |
Source: Reuters A team of US researchers have shown that exercise is linked to the generation of new brain cells in the dentate gyrus of rats. This portion of the hippocampus is known to begin degrading in humans at around the age of 30, and is important for memory formation. Just one more reason to cultivate a lifestyle that includes plenty of exercise, particularly as you get older. |
Source: News @ Nature  A fitness club in Hong Kong is has hooked their stairmasters and stationary bikes to generators to supplement the building's power supply. No word on whether athletes get a discount for the amount of energy they generate. |
Source: Reuters  A group of US researchers report that, based on a recent study, people identified as having schizophrenia are less successful in detecting "false" notes in music that those believe to not have this disorder. Based on a study of 19 adults with schizophrenia and 19 without, those with schizophrenia were found to be less able to detect changes in pitch. A related project indicated that people with poor musical abilities were the least able to detect the emotional content of speech, so the researchers have extrapolated that poor pitch discrimination in music may indicate that people with schizophrenia are less able to detect verbal emotional cues. |
Source: National Geographic  One scientist has theorized that correlations between warming trends on Mars and Earth prove that global warming is due to solar cycles and not a result of human activity. The scientist claims that almost all the global warming effects observed on earth can be attributed to changes in solar activity. Understandably, this claim is not being well-received among climatologists, one of whom describes the theory as "...completely at odds with the mainstream scientific opinion...". Further, he claims that we will begin to experience a steep degree of planetary cooling over the next 15 to 20 years because the level of solar irradiance has been declining since the 1990s. |
Source: Coolest Gadgets  Java Wand is a variant on the french presse coffee maker (which I use regularly at home), but in this case the coffee (or tea) is placed in the mug and the grounds are "pressed" when you sip on the specially-designed straw. Cool idea, but I think I'll stick with the old-fashioned method. |
Source: PhysOrg Food Scientists in Taiwan (of course) have determined that capsaicin can stall the development of fat cells, and encourages the immature fat cells to self-destruct, what is referred to as apoptosis. This may indicate that spicy foods could work as a preventative measure against excessive weight gain. |
Source: Science Blog Apparently, a treatment for restless leg syndrome (RLS) can have an unusual, and financially devastating, side effect. In some cases, one class of drugs used as part of the treatment for RLS may exacerbate a pre-existing obsessive-compulsive disorder, such as compulsive gambling. It is believe that these drugs can amplify poor impulse control; however, if caught in time, the effect can be minimized by reducing the dose or switching to a similar drug. |
Source: PhysOrg  Richard Branson is at it again, this time offering a $25 million prize for anyone who can demonstrate a technology that reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Get your thinking caps out, the money's on the table. |
Source: Space.com  For those interested in astronomy, or seeking an excuse to look at the stars, a lunar eclipse will be visible to people in North America just after sunset on March 3rd. Those on the East Coast are expected to have the best show. |
Source: PhysOrg  For those of you paranoid about what goes on in your house when you're away, LukWerks offers a $330(US) spy camera that is hidden inside a digital desk clock. |
Source: Uncrate  Own your own radio-controlled dragonfly for only $50(US). This device flaps its wings like a real dragonfly and is able to achieve sustained flight, along with some of the ariel maneuvers you can see in the real thing. |
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