In a path-breaking development, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and others, are soon going to be in a position where they play God with the weather.
So-called hurricane modifiers aim to steer dangerous weather patterns off course and to weaken hurricanes in the hope of preventing disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Scientists have [...]
A plastic tweaked to mimic cellular membranes can separate carbon dioxide from natural gas and could help reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, scientists say.
The technology, detailed in the Oct issue of the journal Science, might also be modified to isolate natural gas from decomposing garbage or filter impurities from water, the researchers say. [...]
WASHINGTON: Economic growth has made carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increase much faster than expected, as trees and oceans struggle to absorb the greenhouse gas, scientists said in a study published on Monday.
“Atmospheric carbon dioxide growth has increased 35 percent faster than expected since 2000,” said a statement from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), [...]
CHICAGO: Scientists have figured out a way to trick plants into doing the dirty work of environmental cleanup, US and British researchers reported on Monday.
Researchers at the University of Washington have genetically altered poplar trees to pull toxins out of contaminated ground water, offering a cost-effective way of cleaning up environmental pollutants. A group [...]
TRIENT VALLEY(Switzerland): The Trient glacier looming ahead of me on a trek through the Alps this summer looked very different to the frosty heights that once provided ice for pastis drinkers in France.
Now the bare, eroded rock is testament to the ice’s retreat under the warming effects of climate change. In the 19th [...]
LONDON: A series of giant pipes in the oceans to mix surface and deeper water could be an emergency fix for the Earth’s damaged climate system, the scientist behind the Gaia theory said on Wednesday.
James Lovelock, whose Gaia hypothesis that Earth is a living entity has fuelled controversy for three decades, thinks the stakes [...]
WASHINGTON: Tropical rainfall is on the rise, NASA scientists have said.
Using a 27-year-long global record of rainfall assembled by the international scientific community from satellite and ground-based instruments, the scientists found that the rainiest years in the tropics between 1979 and 2005 were mainly since 2001.
The rainiest year was 2005, followed by 2004, 1998, 2003 [...]
Cosmic Snapshots
We saw in the last article that the earlier phases of the universe would have been very hot and filled with particles of high energy. This has led to an influx of ideas from high energy particle physics that has enriched our understanding of cosmic evolution. One such idea which [...]
GLOBAL warming is by nature a big-enough problem to create the kind of necessity that could be mother, father and midwife to invention. And plenty of big ideas are out there to address it, some that may even lead to substantial enterprises much as our military needs have.
But the ideas being backed in the United [...]
ARVIN, Calif., Aug. 11 (AP) — Ana Maria Corona was driving home in June when she began gasping for air. She prayed she would not get into an accident.
“I asked God, ‘Let me see my daughters one last time,’ †Ms. Corona, 43, recalled in an interview at her home in this San Joaquin Valley [...]
1.Conserve energy by purchasing major appliances with an Energy Star rating, and by adding timers and automated thermostats to control usage. Also, consider switching to fluorescent light bulbs and adding more natural lighting with additional windows or skylights.
2.Repair leaky fixtures and install low-flow showerheads and faucets.
3.Use water-based paints, finishes and sealants. Some milk-based paints [...]
The Energy Research Institute (TERI) and ITC Foods Sunfeast recently organised a training workshop for schoolteachers in the Capital, as part of their Sunfeast Hara Banao campaign. 50 teachers attended the workshop, from 23 schools of Delhi.
The workshop began with a melodious song by tiny tots of the school who presented their views on [...]
Plastic sheets from corn sugar, plastics that degrade in the soil within weeks and plastic-producing trees — the material is all set for a makeover in the next few years.
[...]
A watched pot never boils… or does it?
As the earth continues to heat up, and scientists see their previous predictions becoming reality, the problem of global warming is coming more and more to the forefront. » more
Burning fossil fuels, like we all do for transportation and electricity production, releases greenhouse gases (like carbon emissions) into [...]