Sunday Green
All the environmental stories from last night's Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday. Any Kossacks/Kosmopolitans out there on my flist (there are at least three of you), feel free to click on the link. The diary will be open for nominations for another four hours.
Recent Science Diaries and Stories
DarkSyde: This week in science
DarkSyde: CNN climate disinformant gets religion on global warming
Edger: Pakistan, & Hugely Unequal Global Climate Change Effects
National Geographic: Sea-Creature Discoveries Spawn Music Video
Featured in a new "roll call" of life from 25 key ocean regions, marine oddities oscillate, swim, and skitter to an ocean "chorus." The animals are all on the Census of Marine Life's newly released species inventory of 25 key areas of the world's oceans. Each area averages more than 10,000 known forms of life, including jellyfish, octopus, sharks, and crustaceans.
Dark Roasted Blend: Dwellers In The Abyss: Ugly, Monstrous Fish
"Why are the Earth's oceans more mysterious to us than the Moon?"
- Bill Bryson, "A Short History of Nearly Everything"
It's commonly said we know more about the surface of the moon than we know about what happens right here on our own planet, in that murky world at the bottom of the sea. And indeed, we have only explored less than 5 percent of our oceans (we have better maps of Mars than we do of the ocean floor!)
Here's a fun fact for you: did you know that you, an unprotected human being, can last for about two whole minutes in a vacuum -- say on the surface of the moon? Here's another amusing bit of knowledge: did you also know that you, still just an unprotected homo sapiens, would last only the barest smidgen of a second before being totally, completely pulped by the crushing pressures at the bottom of the sea?
There is also more light on the dark side of the moon than there is down, down, down in those ocean depths... One thing we do know, though: even in the deepest part of the ocean, the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, despite the crushing pressure (at least 16,000 pounds per square inch) and the absolute, total, complete darkness, there is life. Auguste Piccard, who made an adventurous trip in 1960 to the bottom of the Deep in his bathyscaphe, the Trieste, saw a few extreme creatures that managed to made that extreme environment their home.
Biodiversity
Examiner.com: Michigan Sea Grant confirms zebra mussels in 255 of Michigan's inland lakes
By Vince Lamb, Detroit Science News Examiner
In a press release issued by Michigan State University on Monday, Michigan Sea Grant confirmed reports of zebra mussels from 255 of Michigan's inland lakes and 17 of the state's streams and rivers in 2009. The number of inland lakes in Michigan infested by zebra mussels has steadily increased during the past decade, with more than 100 lakes being added to the 149 known in 2000.
The worst-hit county in the state has been Oakland County with 51 infested lakes. The three next most impacted counties have been Livingston County with 17, Cass County with 14, and Branch County with 11.
The reports have come in from both amateurs and professionals, including lakefront property owners, other interested citizens, and resource managers. The reports were of colonies of adult mussels attached to hard surfaces, including boats, docks, rocks, dams, and water pumps.
More at the link, including basic information about zebra mussels, what boaters and others can do to prevent their spread, and a brief description of the Michigan Sea Grant.
Personal note: I spent almost an entire year working at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory doing research on zebra mussels. Before that, I wrote a paper describing a model of the population dynamics of the zebra mussel's introduction and spread throughout the Great Lakes. I was also the person who piloted the boat used by the researcher who found zebra mussels in the lake where I had a summer house from 1994-1999 that became my full-time residence during 1999-2006. Trust me, I'm very familiar with these critters.
Michigan State University: Freezing, preserving sperm vital to saving ‘snot otter’ salamanders
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The hellbender salamander - known affectionately as a snot otter or devil dog - is one of America's unique giant salamander species. For unexplained reasons, most hellbender populations have rapidly declined as very little reproduction has occurred in recent decades.
Working with researchers from the Nashville Zoo and Antwerp Zoo in Belgium, veterinarians from Michigan State University are helping develop conservation techniques to sample and freeze the sperm from some of the last surviving salamanders. The international consortium's work aims to enable future re-stocking of genetically viable hellbenders back to their streams and rivers, ensuring the survival of the species.
The largest salamander found in North America, the hellbender can grow to up to 30 inches long and live 30 years or more. They live in a geographic range from Arkansas northeast to New York and have remained relatively unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs.
Discovery News: New Monkey Sports Bushy Red Beard
By Jennifer Viegas
An expedition to the Colombian Amazon has just revealed a new species of titi monkey that's the size of a house-cat and sports a bushy red beard, Conservation International announced today. The discovery is also described in the journal Primate Conservation.
Titi monkeys hail from South America and are territorial, monogamous, and always possess furry, never prehensile, tails. Most have a white, bar-shaped patch of fur on their foreheads, but the new monkey, Callicebus caquetensis, is an exception, as you can see.
BBC: Peru battles rabid vampire bats after 500 people bitten
Peru's health ministry has sent emergency teams to a remote Amazon region to battle an outbreak of rabies spread by vampire bats.
Four children in the Awajun indigenous tribe died after being bitten by the bloodsucking mammals.
Health workers have given rabies vaccine to more than 500 people who have also been attacked.
Some experts have linked mass vampire bat attacks on people in the Amazon to deforestation.
Biotechnology/Health
University of Michigan: Healthiest pregnant women feel a strong sense of community
ANN ARBOR, Mich.-It takes a village to keep a pregnant woman at her healthiest, a new University of Michigan study shows.
The study compared African American and European American women and women of lower and higher socioeconomic status to see what effects communalism, or a strong sense of community, had on African American women and women of lower socioeconomic status.
The pregnant African American women and women of lower socioeconomic status had overall higher levels of stress, negative effect and blood pressure than women of higher status based on race or education and income. However, these ethnic and socioeconomic disparities were not observed among women with higher communalism.
University of Michigan: Sperm may be harmed by exposure to BPA, study suggests
ANN ARBOR, Mich.-In one of the first human studies of its kind, researchers have found that urinary concentrations of the controversial chemical Bisphenol A, or BPA, may be related to decreased sperm quality and sperm concentration.
However, the researchers are quick to point out that these results are preliminary and more study is needed. Several studies have documented adverse effects of BPA on semen in rodents, but none are known to have reported similar relationships in humans.
BPA is a common chemical that's stirred much controversy in the media lately over its safety. Critics say that BPA mimics the body's own hormones and may lead to negative health effects. BPA is most commonly used to make plastics and epoxy resins used in food and beverage cans, and people are exposed primarily through diet, although other routes are possible. More than 6 billion pounds of BPA are produced annually.
Examiner.com: MSU researchers find green buildings make for healthier, more productive employees
By Vince Lamb, Detroit Science News Examiner
Changing one's workplace from a conventional building to a green building is not only good for the environment, it is also good for one's health and work performance.
So says a study conducted by four Michigan State University researchers and published in the American Journal of Public Health (abstract only). They found that found that two sets of Lansing office employees who moved from conventional buildings to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified green buildings experienced fewer hours of suffering from asthma, respiratory allergies, depression, and stress while at work after moving to their new green quarters. The same employees also reported less absenteeism for those same conditions. Finally, the workers also believed they had increased their productivity in the new buildings because of their perceived improvements in health and well-being. The researchers calculated that the total potential productivity gains approximated a full work week per building occupant per year.
“These preliminary findings indicate that green buildings may positively affect public health,” the researchers wrote, as quoted in a press release.
The full study can be read free at the Michigan State University website (PDF).
More about how the study was done, the detailed findings, and plans for future research at the source, which is linked in the headline.
The Guardian via Monbiot.com: Turning Estates into Villages
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 9th August 2010
It took me a while to recognise what I was seeing. It was an ordinary campsite in Pembrokeshire: a square field with tents around the perimeter. But it had a curious effect on the children staying there. Young people who had seldom experienced daylight slowly emerged from their tents and were drawn towards the centre of the field. Bats and balls left on the grass mysteriously appeared in their hands. Children with no prior interest in sport started playing football, cricket and rounders. Little kids ran around with older ones. As children of all classes played together, their parents started talking to each other. It hit me with some force: we had reinvented the village green.
We are, to a surprising extent, what the built environment makes us. Academic papers show that many of the problems we blame on individual behaviour are caused in part by the places in which we live. People are more likely to help their neighbours in quiet areas, for example, than in noisy ones(1). A long series of studies across several countries, beginning in San Francisco in 1969, shows unequivocally that communities become weaker as the volume of traffic on their streets increases(2,3).
Other papers show that people’s use of shared spaces is strongly influenced by the presence of trees: the more trees there are, the more time people spend there and the larger the groups in which they gather(4,5). A further study shows that, partly as a result, vegetation in common spaces strengthens the neighbourhood’s social ties(6). In greener places, people know more of their neighbours, are more likely to help each other and have stronger feelings of belonging. Social isolation is strongly associated with an absence of green spaces(7).
Climate/Environment
Discovery News: Chinchilla Poop Reveals How Much It Rained
By measuring the size of poop pellets from these diminutive mammals, scientists reconstruct rainfall levels from centuries ago.
By Jessica Marshall
Chinchilla poop is serving an unlikely purpose in one of the world's driest places, Chile's Atacama Desert. The animals' tiny waste pellets are helping scientists reconstruct the rainfall in the region over the last 14,000 years.
Reconstructing rainfall history of the Atacama can provide important information about how events like La Niña and El Niño affect Chile's rainfall, said Claudio Latorre Hidalgo of the Universidad Catolica de Chile and the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity in Santiago.
Knowing this is important for predicting the future water supply in Chile. About 98 percent of the population gets its water from sources in the Andes adjacent to the high Atacama.
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for this story.
Energy
CNet: Solar power plant plans move ahead in California
by Martin LaMonica
After a long drought, large-scale solar power is getting closer to returning to the U.S. desert.
The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday gave the green light to power purchase agreements which two utilities have with solar power project developers, a key step toward beginning actual construction.
The approvals in California follow a flurry of activity at the Bureau of Land Management, which created a fast-track review process for solar projects on federal land. Both agencies' reviews are required for permitting the projects which, if finalized and financed, would result in a dramatic increase in solar power on the California grid.
On Friday, the BLM issued its final environmental impact statement for the Chevron Energy Solutions Lucerne Valley Solar Project in the California desert, a necessary step before final permitting approval. That project would bring 1,000 megawatts of generating capacity online in California, enough to supply hundreds of thousands of homes.
CNet: Ford microgrid to combine solar with EV charging
by Martin LaMonica
What was once a Ford SUV factory will become a solar-powered facility turning out fuel-efficient cars.
Ford Motor on Thursday announced a plan with utility Detroit Edison to install a 500-kilowatt solar array and battery energy storage from Xtreme Power at Ford's Michigan Assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan.
The set-up is meant to make Ford's operations cleaner and serve as a smart-grid test case. Installation for the system, which will cost $5.8 million, is scheduled to start later this year, the companies involved said.
Discovery News: Liquid Nitrogen Cools Power Plants' Heat
By Alyssa Danigelis
Besides being favored by geektastic chefs who want to make instant ice cream, liquid nitrogen has some other sweet potential. A team of researchers from the University of Leeds and the Chinese Academy of Sciences came up with system using this inert, colorless, odorless gas that could cut slice power plants' fuel consumption in half.
Power plants dealing with peak loads are like elementary school teachers returning from a short vacation to face a classroom full of students who have all just eaten a ton of sugar. In other words, it's a big strain. Specifically, it forces power plants to resort to expensive, inefficient generators. More gas-firing, more coal burning, more pollution.
To address this energy conundrum, a team led by University of Leeds engineering professor Yulong Ding, figured out a novel approach that could cheaply store excess energy and then use that during the peaks. I've heard of many developments in improving energy storage for power plants, especially with renewables coming online. However, Ding and his fellow engineers are the only ones I've seen so far with a promising plan that involves liquid nitrogen and oxygen. Liquid nitrogen on its own is amazing -- it freezes at -346 degrees Fahrenheit and boils at -321 degrees.
Science, Space, Environment, and Energy Policy
True Food Network: Federal Court Rescinds USDA Approval of Genetically Engineered Sugar Beets
Posted on August 13, 2010 by Heather
Order Bans Planting or Sale of Controversial Crop. Court Denies Monsanto Request to Allow Continued Planting.
Today Judge Jeffrey White, federal district judge for the Northern District of California, issued a ruling granting the request of plaintiffs Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, High Mowing Organic Seeds, and the Sierra Club to rescind the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) approval of genetically engineered “Roundup Ready” sugar beets. In September 2009, the Court had found that the USDA had violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by approving the Monsanto-engineered biotech crop without first preparing an Environmental Impact Statement. The crop was engineered to resist the effects of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, which it sells to farmers together with the patented seed. Similar Roundup Ready crops have led to increased use of herbicides, proliferation of herbicide resistant weeds, and contamination of conventional and organic crops.
In today’s ruling the Court officially “vacated” the USDA “deregulation” of Monsanto’s biotech sugar beets and prohibited any future planting and sale pending the agency’s compliance with NEPA and all other relevant laws. USDA has estimated that an EIS may be ready by 2012.
Science Writing and Reporting
Science News: Book Review: Climatopolis
By Matthew E. Kahn
Review by Matt Crenson
Perhaps many looming climate problems can be solved with a dose of the heady cocktail that is one part human ingenuity and one part profit motive. But Kahn’s analysis gives short shrift to two aspects of climate change that make it especially daunting. First, waiting for markets to feel the effects of global warming before getting serious about limiting greenhouse gas emissions will guarantee that the disruption is extreme and long-lasting. Second, the world is finite. It may be true that wealthy nations can easily import food if agricultural patterns change, but only up to a point. As the recent global economic recession illustrates, when a crisis is bad enough, it hurts pretty much everywhere.
My two Detroit Science News Examiner articles from last week are here, as well as press releases from both Michigan State and the University of Michigan.