which can act as molecular ievesto separate liquids and gases one molecule at a timeâ##a property that shows promise for applications such as water purification water desalination and gas storage.
and other classes of materials that haven t been considered. tanford s Global climate and Energy project and the Department of energy s Light-Material Interactions in Energy conversion Center supported the work along with the National Science Foundation and the Research Triangle Solar fuels Institute.
#Drop an internet in the ocean to detect tsunamis University at Buffalo rightoriginal Studyposted by Cory Nealon-Buffalo on October 14 2013a deep-sea internet network is expected to improve the way scientists detect tsunamis monitor pollution
and the projectâ#lead researcher. aking this information available to anyone with a smartphone or computer especially when a tsunami or other type of disaster occurs could help save lives. elodia will present his paper at the Association for Computing Machineryâ
For example NOAA relies on acoustic waves to send data from tsunami sensors on the sea floor to surface buoys.
A deep-sea internet has many applications Melodia says including linking together buoy networks that detect tsunamis.
It may also help collect oceanographic data and monitoring pollution. The framework will encourage collaboration among researchers
and remain standing even after volcanic eruptions end and lava levels fall again. In a new study published in the Journal of Volcanology
#To avert mass extinction, is genetic engineering the best option? Cornell University rightoriginal Studyposted by Blaine Friedlander-Cornell on September 30 2013with estimates that 15 to 40 percent of the world s species will be lost over the next 40 years due to warming
and habitat loss researchers are considering the option of a genetic rescue. The technique would involve escuing a target population
To avert mass extinctions the group thinks that three options each with its own set of challenges complications
The Nature commentary draws from a recent workshop cological and Genomic Exploration of Environmental Changethat occurred in March where scientists met to understand issues surrounding climate change adaptation.
Averting climate change altogether would be a preferableâ##albeit unlikelyâ##outcome. The scientists fear that implementing genetic solutions could potentially deter other climate change action. serious concern is that even the possibility of using genetic-engineering tools to rescue biodiversity will encourage inaction with regard to climate change.
Before genetic engineering can be entertained seriously as a tool for preserving biodiversity conservationists need to agree on the types of scenario for which facilitated adaptation managed relocation
#Is this mineral to blame for deep earthquakes? University of Chicago rightoriginal Studyposted by Steve Koppes-Chicago on September 25 2013scientists are closer to understanding deep earthquakes which occur
when tectonics drive the oceanic crust under continental plates. Their new research is a large step toward replicating the full power of these earthquakesâ##to learn what sets them off
-triggered brittle failures during the olivine-spinel (mineral) phase transformation has many similar features to deep earthquakes. ang
and a team of scientists simulated deep earthquakes by using a pressure of 5 gigapascals more than double the previous studies of 2 GPA.
and erupt into violent earthquakes yet it does. And that has puzzled scientists since the phenomenon of deep earthquakes was discovered nearly 100 years ago.
Interest spiked with the May 24 2013 eruption in the waters near Russia of the world s strongest deep earthquakeâ##roughly five times the power of the great San francisco quake of 1906.
These deep earthquakes occur in older and colder areas of the oceanic plate that gets pushed into the earth s mantle.
It has been speculated that the earthquakes are triggered when a mineral common in the upper mantle olivine undergoes a transformation that weakens the whole rock temporarily causing it to fail. ur current goal is to understand why
and how deep earthquakes happen. We are not at a stage to predict them yet.
More than 20 years ago geologist Harry Green of University of California Riverside and colleagues discovered a high-pressure failure mechanism that they proposed then was sought the long mechanism of very deep earthquakes (earthquakes
and showed that it coincides with the locations of deep earthquakes. In the September 20 issue of Science Green and colleagues explain how to simulate these earthquakes. e confirmed essentially all aspects of our earlier experimental work
and extended the conditions to significantly higher pressuregreen says. The ability to do such experiments allows scientists like Green to simulate the appropriate conditions within the Earth
which earthquakes happen at hundreds of kilometers depth. The origin of deep earthquakes fundamentally differs from that of shallow earthquakes (earthquakes occurring at less than a depth of 50 kilometers/31 miles.
In the case of shallow earthquakes theories of rock fracture rely on the properties of coalescing cracks
and friction. ut as pressure and temperature increase with depth intracrystalline plasticity dominates the deformation regime
and undergoes a transformation resulting in spinel a mineral of higher density. he research team focused on the role that phase transformations of olivine might play in triggering deep earthquakes.
and found the arthquakesonly within a narrow temperature range that simulates conditions where the real earthquakes occur in Earth. sing synchrotron X-rays to aid our observations we found that fractures nucleate at the onset of the olivine to spinel transitiongreen says. urther these fractures propagate dynamically
These phase transitions in olivine we argue in our research paper provide an attractive mechanism for how very deep earthquakes take place. ang says researchers next goal is to study the material silicate olivine which requires much higher pressures.
or to break down organic pollutants in the ead zonesof lakes and coastal waters where fertilizer runoff and other organic waste can deplete oxygen levels
In the last few decades seismometers measuring earthquakes travelling through the Earth s core have identified an eastwards
which in turn affects the Earth s climate and the size of marine fisheries. Researchers report that during the past 160000 years nitrogen fixation rose
The supercapacitor could be useful for powering devices in extreme environments On earth and in space. ur intention is to completely move away from conventional liquid
#In an era of light-weighting for energy and emissions reductions there is a great demand for magnesium alloys in everything from portable electronics to air
That landslide enabled by steep slopes and a slick ice layer creates the DLES telltale two-layered appearance.
A key ingredient The landslide scenario explains several of the distinct features of DLES the researchers say.
Striations are common in landslides On earth Weiss says especially landslides on glaciers. That got Weiss
I realized that the landslide wouldn be expected to happen (on crater rims) unless the ejecta was landsliding on an ice layer Weiss says.
Craters larger than about 25 kilometers probably wouldn have steep enough rims to cause an icy landslide.
The manufacturing of Roman concrete also leaves a smaller carbon footprint than does its modern counterpart.
That process is responsible for seven percent of global carbon dioxide emissions every year. The production of lime for Roman concrete is much cleaner requiring temperatures that are two-thirds of that required for making Portland cement.#
The recipe for Roman concrete was described around 30 BC by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio an engineer for Octavian who became Emperor Augustus. The not-so-secret ingredient is volcanic ash
whether volcanic ash would be a good large-volume substitute in countries without easy access to fly ash an industrial waste product from the burning of coal that is commonly used to produce modern green concrete.#
#Many countries don t have fly ash so the idea is to find alternative local materials that will work including the kind of volcanic ash that Romans used.
Saudi arabia has#mountains of volcanic ash#that could potentially be used in concrete Monteiro says. The Loeb Classical Library Foundation Harvard university and the Department of energy provided additional funding.
#Swarms of tiny drones built to spy on hurricanes University of Florida Posted by Cindy Spence-Florida on June 5 2013u.
and through hurricanes to help predict the strength and path of storms. The autonomous craft#some fly and others dart under the waves#can spy on hurricanes at close range without getting blown to bits
while sensors onboard collect and send in real time the data scientists need to predict the intensity and trajectory of storms:
#Our vehicles don t fight the hurricane; we use the hurricane to take us places#says Kamran Mohseni professor in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the department of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida.
The aerial and underwater vehicles just six inches long and about the weight of an ipod Nano can be launched with commands from a laptop hundreds of miles from the eye of a hurricane.
Mohseni and colleagues use mathematical models to predict regions in the atmosphere and ocean that can give the vehicles a free ride toward their destination.
In essence they can go for a fact-gathering ride on hurricane winds and waters. The devices are a departure from current technology
which uses hurricane reconnaissance aircraft to punch through a storm#s eye wall and release dropsondes sensors that free-fall
although just as important considering that the warm moist air on the ocean surface provides fuel for hurricanes.
The new vehicles which can be launched hundreds at a time also reduce the cost of hurricane reconnaissance.#
#If you want to blast through a hurricane you have to build a bigger airplane#Mohseni says.#(
when they hit something a big consideration in hurricane-force winds and waves. A landing strip to test the aerial vehicles isn t necessary Mohseni just tells them to crash picks them up
With proper funding the vehicles could be tested in a real-world hurricane in two or three years.
In instances where many are lost#as in a hurricane#the data gained outweighs the cost of the lost vehicles Mohseni says.
This feature makes them useful for applications beyond hurricanes. Source: University of Floridayou are free to share this article under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noderivs 3. 0 Unported license n
PBS covered an India stove trial initiative that aims to cut the air pollution from traditional wood
and monitoring the drop in air pollution and respiratory irritation in the next two years. Additionally the company is working with the Aprovecho Research center,
when designing nuclear reactors is finding materials that can withstand the massive temperatures, radiation, physical stress and corrosive conditions of these extreme environments.
But until conducting recent computer simulations, scientists lacked the ability to predict the performance of nanocrystalline materials in extreme environments.
which is exposed to different types of pollution from agrochemical residues to metals from leather tanneries.
as if a tsunami coming, said Lee Sung-hee, the South korean Alzheimer Association president, who trains nursing home staff members,
#Student in Kenya Invents Solar Powered Forest fire Detector Efforts to curb forest loss around the world as a means of cutting carbon emissions just got a boost:
and reduce pollution nationwide.####The U s. installed 930 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaics (PV) in Q3 2013, up 20 percent over the second quarter and 35 percent from the third quarter of last year.
This reflects a downward trend in America s CO2 EMISSIONS, which have fallen five out of the last seven years.
if the grid goes down in an earthquake or storm##a key selling point as climate change spawns increasingly powerful hurricanes and tornadoes.
While energy storage systems would cut utilities revenues they would also help them balance supply and demand on the grid as increasing amounts of renewable
They looked at technology feasibility, environmental impact, land use, manpower needs, energy payback, and estimated costs and confirmed the concept was##technically feasible with no new science
but also the environment from 500 tons of CO2 EMISSIONS.####This is the first known project of its kind.
and meeting his goal to reduce CO2 EMISSIONS by 60 percent. If all goes well, this heat-recycling project could account for 25 percent of London s energy by 2025.
But with all that activity comes a whole lot of noise pollution. The noise is an unavoidable side effect of living with millions of other people.
Others have concerns about pollution or toxic residue from the conversion process. Blest tells us that,
and lets loose extremely negative environmental impacts. Typically made from petroleum, it is estimated that 7%of the#world s annual oil production#is used to produce
Plastic s carbon footprint includes landfilling and incineration, since sadly, its recycle rate is dismally low around the globe.
##Plastic s carbon footprint includes landfilling and incineration, since sadly, its recycle rate is dismally low around the globe.##
CO2 EMISSIONS could be slashed dramatically, he says.####It s a waste isn t it?####Ito asks.##
and plastics dependence and help raise awareness of the carbon footprint of its production and use.
According to the blurb,##the film details plastic s path over the last 100 years and provides a wealth of expert interviews on practical and cutting edge solutions to recycling, toxicity and biodegradability.##
The first unit was shipped to Abu dhabi for extended testing in the extreme weather conditions of the Middle east.
but they have been dying at unprecedented rates because of a mysterious phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder (CCD). The situation is so dire that in late June the White house gave a new task force just 180 days to devise a coping strategy to protect bees and other pollinators.
The system could be especially useful after avalanches and earthquakes, when people might be buried under many feet of snow or rubble.
and designed by three female engineers working with the MIT Media Lab spinoff startup Changing environments, according to Yahoo Tech.
Changing environments has plans for future installments in San jose, California, and New york too, Yahoo Tech says.
are susceptible to changing weather conditions, while fossil fuel-or battery-powered unmanned aircraft are expensive to run
and environmental damage like deforestation, said a Google statement announcing the acquisition. Solar s influence Titan Aerospace caught Google s attention thanks to its innovative dragonfly-shaped drones that are powered by its wing-mounted solar panels
These are used to reduce energy and water consumption and pollution. Dubai, United arab emirates Although in the early stages yet, Dubai announced plans last year to turn itself into a smart city.
and aims to use smart technologies to reduce they city CO2 EMISSIONS by 40 per cent by 2020.
Use of cover crops can also help farms survive the droughts expected to become more common in the era of climate change.
and carbon dioxide are driving climate change. Natural carbon sinks like forests and oceans are critical for helping soak up some of these gases.
After long focusing on fuel economy and energy production environmentalists and scientists are now promoting a diet of more plants and less meat to slow climate change but why?
The scope of animal agriculture s impact on climate change has for decades been underestimated. The raising and slaughtering of farm animals is just one component.
As a result of animal agriculture's impact on climate change organizations like the Natural resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club support eating more plant-based meals.
though mistakenly think leads to a major environmental impact due to the reduced travel miles to transport the food).
and corporate policy work to be done to address global climate change it's heartening to see leaders
With more people sharing our mutual responsibility to reduce carbon footprints by shifting to plant-based meals we have reason to be hopeful for our planet's future.
In addition, Germany environment ministry is set to support the project with interest subsidies and consultancy for the build as part of its global development policies.
German Environment minister Barbara Hendricks said. ecause it can store energy, this technology is suited also for basic electricity supply and therefore highly innovative.
and 240-ton mining truck to a large open-pit mining operation in the western United states. The mine recently experienced a series of landslides.
The resulting debris derailed production as the avalanche created numerous hazardous areas where humans could no longer venture.
and scrubs the air of pollutants and excess carbon dioxide, and helps to regulate the planet's climate.
the Silk Leaf could also be used as building material to produce clean air for buildings. Melchiorri has developed even some simple home uses for the material,
and thus help regulate Earth's climate and combat global warming. Deforested land could potentially be offset with buildings
#Billboard sucks in pollution and turns it into purified air Billboards often line busy roads
and highways where there's lots of traffic and by association lots of air pollution. But what if those billboards could be transformed into giant air purifiers scrubbing the air and turning polluted areas into fresh ones?
The billboard's air filtration system is also capable of scrubbing the air of some pretty heavy-duty pollutants such as the dust metal and stone particles common around construction zones.
According to the World Meteorological Association Lima has the highest air pollution levels in all of South america most of it related to transportation and factories.
Hills surrounding the city also trap in the pollution making a bad situation worse. Overall the city pollution levels are triple the maximum recommended by the World health organization.
The billboard works on the basis of simple thermodynamic principles. It makes use of shifts in temperature pressure
Aside from separating pollutants from the air UTEC claims that the technology can also eliminate 99 percent of airborne bacteria.
Researchers also hope that by analyzing the pollutants collected by the billboard they can better understand air circulation around the city.
This could lead to other methods for reducing the accumulation of pollution. If these early prototypes are successful one can imagine similar billboards being erected in urban areas around the world.
of which produces five percent of global CO2 EMISSIONS), and certified lumber was used throughout. Over a year, the house is expected to generate a 2. 6-megawatt-hour surplus (compared to the average home consumption of 13.3 megawatts.
Bio-Bus which boasts CO2 EMISSIONS that are 30 percent less than buses with conventional diesel engines couldn hit the road at a better time.
240 kilograms) designed for ocean depths down to 1000 feet (305 meters) another extreme environment where no one can hear you scream.
as researchers can use Summit to model everything from climate change and weather behavior to materials science and nuclear-weapons performance.
Natural systems, such as Earth's climate, are extremely difficult to model because of their immense complexity.""There is a real importance of having the larger systems,
and clean up nuclear disasters.""By having flexible robots, we're contributing to the next phase of automation.
or 2g connections) the Oneweb network would also give much-needed global emergency and first responder access for natural disasters refugee camps and other humanitarian needs.
instead there are hard data on how much it will cost to treat the asthma cases that are caused by the extra pollution.
what have traditionally been considered intangible benefits such as air pollution property values and recreational space. It plugs right in to the Autocad that many civil engineers use.
and concrete costs but that now can also produce real data on social value pollution health and yes even happiness a
This subtle trend correlates with climate change in the region, which has warmed by between 0. 3 and 0. 4 degrees Celsius every decade since the 1970s.
'As such, the agency will investigate the safety of the'drug'as well as possible environmental impacts if, for example,
Mercury is a global pollutant, he notes, and"to solve problems in any country we need a global strategy".
#Rising air pollution clouds climate debate: Nature News Air pollution that is harmful to human health has increased over all populated continents except Europe since 1973, according to an extensive survey.
The results play into a longstanding debate over whether the Earth's skies are dimming
or brightening, how this affects the amount of sunlight reaching the planet's surface and what that means for climate change.
Two studies published in Science in 2005 concluded that a global dimming trend that began in the 1950s has been replaced since 1990 by global brightening1,
2. The likely effect of all that extra solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface would be faster global warming.
and his colleagues based their conclusions on visibility measurements, a good proxy for aerosol pollution, from 3, 250 meteorological stations around the world.
now that air pollution is a serious health risk, "says Wang.""But attempts, such as China's, to regulate air quality have not yet borne fruit."
"Significant questions remain about what these results means for climate change, because soot and different kinds of aerosols can affect cloud formation in very different ways.
meaning that the net effect of aerosol pollution on global temperatures is worryingly uncertain. Another complication is that soot from burning biofuels,
"The issue of global dimming versus global brightening is not just a question of aerosols, "agrees Martin Wild, an atmospheric scientist at The swiss Federal Institute of technology in Zurich,
I wanted to found a prize to reflect the new challenges faced by humanity#such as climate change, energy shortages, emerging diseases, clashes of cultures and ideas,
Bawa speculates that other factors may also be contributing to the decline of the fungus#in particular, rising temperatures and less snow in the eastern Himalayas as a result of climate change.
researchers analysed air samples from a six-week hurricane-research mission by NASA in 2010.
and after two hurricanes also allowed researchers to study the effects of extreme weather on the atmospheric microbiome.
as is evident from the recovery of readable DNA from long-extinct animals.""The experiment was done 60,000 years ago
a satellite that will monitor natural disasters and measure atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The extra cash will keep it on schedule for launch before April next year.
He adds that he believes South korea should spend its resources on technologies that have the potential to provide a nearer-term impact on carbon emissions and climate change.
keeping carbon emissions from the process low. Despite the drawbacks, says Tsang, the conversion from methanol to hydrogen is worth pursuing:
#Tagged seals help find missing piece in global climate puzzle By tracking the voyages of elephant seals off Antarctica,
and with the help of satellite imaging and undersea sensors, researchers have discovered a long-elusive source for the deep ocean streams of cold water that help to regulate the Earth's climate.
In particular, water samples from an area called the Weddell gyre contain atmospheric pollutants known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCS),
The new finding fills a gap in researchers understanding of the Southern ocean s role in global climate,
the resulting changes in cold-water circulation could have important effects on global climate, letting the ocean depths warm
"To manage the environmental impacts well we really need excellent information. Cindy Van Dover, director of the Duke university Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, North carolina, has worked on assessments of deep-sea mining impacts.
The White house has argued that energy innovation is not only good for cutting carbon emissions to tame global warming,
The oceanic crust is formed at ridges between tectonic plates, where rising lava meets sea water and cools.
#Wildlife trade meeting endorses DNA TESTING of seized ivory If you go into a bar in Bangkok tonight,
the states party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) took the unprecedented step of granting protection to sharks and various species of tropical timber tree in their final vote today.
Tom Milliken, who works for the wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC, which is headquartered in Cambridge, UK and has been involved heavily in the debates about elephant poaching,
Researchers surveying Lake Neuchâtel for evidence of past earthquakes spotted the craters near the lake northwestern shore near the Jura Mountains.
The team was using ship-based sonar to search for sediment that had been disturbed by earthquakes.
The swiss Alps occasionally shake from earthquakes of up to magnitude 6, studies have shown. Scientists are also investigating the risk of earthquake
-and landslide-triggered tsunamis in Alpine lakes. In the past decade researchers have discovered that tsunamis wiped out villages along the shores of both Lake Geneva and Lake Lucerne in the past 1, 500 years.
But instead of ancient quake or tsunami deposits, Reusch and her colleagues stumbled upon an enormous feature they dubbed Chez-le-Bart crater (razy crater. never expected anything like this,
Reusch said. he craters were so interesting that we simply had to take a closer look at this phenomenon,
she added. No one knows for sure how the craters formed, but the pits appear to occasionally spill over, perhaps violently, the researchers reported.
At least one crater directly overlies a major earthquake fault. For instance, water inside Crazy crater is 47 degrees Fahrenheit (8. 4 degrees Celsius),
and pollution particles in the sky left behind by jet aircraftctually are signs of a clandestine government effort to modify the weather.
and designed to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Pivac new company, Fastbrick Robotics, recently posted an animated video of Hadrian in action n
#Smog Harvested from Tower Made into Jewelry A Smog Free Tower that stands 23 feet tall is being built to scrub pollution out of the air in parks and other public outdoor spaces in Rotterdam, The netherlands.
plans to transform the pollution comprised mostly of carbon into rings and cufflinks. Inspired by the idea that diamonds are made of carbon that has been subjected to high pressure,
the company believes that transforming pollution into jewelry will prove desirable to many. Each accessory will be made from scrubbing 35
One tower alone is capable of cleaning 123 million cubic feet of clean air per day.
says he woke up one day obsessed with the idea of pollution. Holding up a bag of pollution particles in this video, he explains that it hard to believe that we accept this pollution as waste
when it can take on other forms. After its Netherlands debut, the company hopes to set up towers in other cities as well, including India, Mexico city and Beijing i
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