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Nano-Particles Improve Water Cooling Efficiency by 60%
Cooling things (buildings, power plants, data centers, etc) takes a lot of energy. There are different ways to go about it, but when you need a lot of cooling, water-cooling is hard to beat. And it might just be about to get even better!
Evolution may occur faster than once thought
Two graduate students at Harvard University claim to have shown that evolution can happen much faster than previously thought. Physics student Peter Lu and his former roommate, economist Motohiro Yogo, decided to apply an economics model to a well-known marine fossil record in order to predict how fast life can adapt to changes in the environment. The technique, vector autoregression, is used to predict the stock market based on its historical behavior.
United Nations Report: Deserts threatened by global warming
A new report, titled "Global Deserts Outlook," has been released on World Environment Day by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report suggests that the world's deserts face dramatic changes as a result of global climate change: high water demands, tourism and salt contamination of irrigated soils. Desert margins and mountainous areas within deserts that have been important for people, wildlife and water supplies for millennia, are under particular threat,
say UNEP.
Global Warming underestimated, say scientists
Taking this information on board could mean temperature increases of 1.6 to 6 degrees Celsius - and the higher temperatures are more likely, they said in a statement.
PBS show asserts greenhouse gases, atmospheric pollutants dimming future
This week, the Public Broadcasting Service aired a NOVA program titled “Dimming the Earth”, which presented research by leading scientists on the complex systems of our global climate and human activity's effect on it. One of the largest interactions (or "inputs") humans have with the atmosphere is the ever-increasing use of fossil fuels. Consumption has risen 2% per year for this decade.
Largest mass extinction in 65 million years underway
Environmental scientists say they have concrete evidence that the planet is undergoing the "largest mass extinction in 65 million years". Leading environmental scientist Professor Norman Myers says the Earth is experiencing its "Sixth Extinction."
Australian report shows emissions increase "more than doubled since the 1990s"
Atmospheric scientists warn that greenhouse gas emissions are increasing more rapidly, despite global efforts to curb the use of fossil fuels, new research by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) shows.
High Above the Earth, Satellites Track Melting Ice
The surest sign of a warming Earth is the steady melting of its ice zones, from
disappearing sea ice in the Arctic to shrinking glaciers worldwide. Now, scientists are
using increasingly sophisticated satellite technology to measure the extent, thickness,
and height of ice, assembling an essential picture of a planet in transition.
Elves and Sprites
Upper atmospheric lightning or upper atmospheric discharge are terms sometimes
used by researchers to refer to a family of electrical breakdown phenomena that occur well
above the altitudes of normal lightning. The preferred current usage is transient luminous
events (TLEs) to refer to the various types of electrical discharge phenomena in the upper
atmosphere, because they lack several characteristics of the more familiar lower
atmospheric lightning. TLEs include red sprites, sprite halos, blue jets, gigantic jets,
and elves.
UN scientist: Eat less meat to tackle climate change
Rajendra Pachauri, the chair of the UN-run Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that eating less meat is a good way to reduce damage to the climate.