Rare Musk Ox May Be Threatened By Climate Change

Rare Musk Ox May Be Threatened By Climate ChangeScienceDaily (Apr. 27, 2008) — The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) recently launched a four-year study to determine if climate change is affecting populations of a quintessential Arctic denizen: the rare musk ox. Along with collaborators from the National Park Service, U. S. Geological Survey, and Alaska Fish and Game, Wildlife Conservation Society researchers have already equipped six musk ox with GPS collars to better understand how climate change may affect these relics of the Pleistocene.  The research team will be assessing how musk ox are faring in areas along the Chukchi and northern Bering Seas, and the extent to which snow and icing events, disease, and possibly predation may be driving populations."Musk ox are a throwback to our Pleistocene heritage and once shared the landscape with mammoths, wild horses, and sabered cats," said the study's leader Dr. Joel Berger, a Wildlife Conservation Society scientist and professor at the University of Montana. "They may also help scientists understand how arctic species can or cannot adapt to climate change."Once found in Europe and Northern Asia, today musk ox are restricted to Arctic regions in North America and Greenland although they have been introduced into Russia and northern Europe. They have been reintroduced in Alaska after being wiped out in the late 19th century. Currently they found in two national parks: Alaska's Bering Land Bridge National Park and Cape Krusenstem National Monument.Next year, the team will collar an additional 30-40 more animals.

Rare Musk Ox May Be Threatened By Climate Change

Technological Breakthrough In Fight To Cut Greenhouse Gases

Technological Breakthrough In Fight To Cut Greenhouse GasesScienceDaily (Apr. 27, 2008) — Scientists at Newcastle University have pioneered breakthrough technology in the fight to cut greenhouse gases. The Newcastle University team, led by Michael North, Professor of Organic Chemistry, has developed a highly energy-efficient method of converting waste carbon dioxide (CO2) into chemical compounds known as cyclic carbonates.See also:Matter & Energy * Organic Chemistry * Chemistry * PetroleumEarth & Climate * Global Warming * Environmental Science * Energy and the EnvironmentReference * Automobile emissions control * Catalysis * Carbon cycle * HydrocarbonThe team estimates that the technology has the potential to use up to 48 million tonnes of waste CO2 per year, reducing the UK's emissions by about four per cent.Cyclic carbonates are widely used in the manufacture of products including solvents, paint-strippers, biodegradable packaging, as well as having applications in the chemical industry. Cyclic carbonates also have potential for use in the manufacture of a new class of efficient anti-knocking agents in petrol. Anti-knocking agents make petrol burn better, increasing fuel efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions.The conversion technique relies upon the use of a catalyst to force a chemical reaction between CO2 and an epoxide, converting waste CO2 into this cyclic carbonate, a chemical for which there is significant commercial demand.The reaction between CO2 and epoxides is well known, but one which, until now, required a lot of energy, needing high temperatures and high pressures to work successfully. The current process also requires the use of ultra-pure CO2 , which is costly to produce.The Newcastle team has succeeded in developing an exceptionally active catalyst, derived from aluminium, which can drive the reaction necessary to turn waste carbon dioxide into cyclic carbonates at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, vastly reducing the energy input required.Professor North said: 'One of the main scientific challenges facing the human race in the 21st century is controlling global warming that results from increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.'One solution to this problem, currently being given serious consideration, is carbon capture and storage, which involves concentrating and compressing CO2 and then storing it,' he said. 'However, long-term storage remains to be demonstrated'.To date, alternative solutions for converting CO2 emissions into a useful product has required a process so energy intensive that they generate more CO2 than they consume.Professor North compares the process developed by his team to that of a catalytic converter fitted to a car. 'If our catalyst could be employed at the source of high-concentration CO2 production, for example in the exhaust stream of a fossil-fuel power station, we could take out the carbon dioxide, turn it into a commercially-valuable product and at the same time eliminate the need to store waste CO2', he said.Professor North believes that, once it is fully developed, the technology has the potential to utilise a significant amount of the UK's CO2 emissions every year.'To satisfy the current market for cyclic carbonates, we estimate that our technology could use up to 18 million tonnes of waste CO2 per year, and a further 30 million tonnes if it is used as an anti-knocking agent.'Using 48 million tonnes of waste CO2 would account for about four per cent* of the UK's CO2 emissions, which is a pretty good contribution from one technology,' commented Professor North. The technique has been proven to work successfully in the lab. Professor North and his team are currently carrying out further lab-based work to optimise the efficiency of the technology, following which they plan to scale-up to a pilot plant.* Based on 2004 figures from the UN.The paper 'Synthesis of cyclic carbonates from atmospheric pressure carbon dioxide using exceptionally active aluminium(salen) complexes as catalysts' s been published in the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry.The project was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Technological Breakthrough In Fight To Cut Greenhouse Gases

Carbon Dioxide Removed From Smockstacks Could Be Useful In DVD And CD-ROM Manufacture

Carbon Dioxide Removed From Smockstacks Could Be Useful In DVD And CD-ROM ManufactureScienceDaily (Apr. 9, 2008) — Carbon dioxide removed from smokestack emissions in order to slow global warming in the future could become a valuable raw material for the production of DVDs, beverage bottles and other products made from polycarbonate plastics, chemists are reporting.See also:Matter & Energy * Materials Science * Organic Chemistry * NanotechnologyEarth & Climate * Global Warming * Air Quality * ClimateReference * Biodegradation * Plastic * Carbon-14 * Fossil fuelIn separate reports presented at the 235th annual meeting of the American Chemical Society on April 8, 2008, Thomas E. Müller, Ph.D., and Toshiyasu Sakakura, Ph.D., described innovative ways of making polycarbonate plastics from CO2. Those processes offer consumers the potential for less expensive, safer and greener products compared to current production methods, the researchers agreed."Carbon dioxide is so readily available, especially from the smokestack of industries that burn coal and other fossil fuels," Müller said. He is at the new research center for catalysis CAT, a joint 5-year project of RWTH Aachen and industrial giant Bayer Material Science AG and Bayer Technology Services GmbH. "And it's a very cheap starting material. If we can replace more expensive starting materials with CO2, then you'll have an economic driving force."In another ACS presentation, scientists from Japan also reported using CO2 as an alternative feedstock to change carbonates and urethanes into plastics and also battery components. Sakakura, the team's lead researcher, noted that the new process is simpler and faster than another process developed by a Japanese firm. Sakakura is with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan.Müller pointed out that millions of tons of polycarbonates already are sold each year with the volume rising. Perhaps no other consumer product has such a great potential for use in removing carbon dioxide from the environment, he added. These hard, tough materials represent "intriguing sinks" for exhaust carbon dioxide and are the mainstay for producing eyeglass lenses, automotive headlamp lenses, DVDs and CDs, beverage bottles, and a spectrum of other consumer products.Trapping carbon dioxide in those plastics would avoid the release of many million of tons into the environment, Müller said. "Using CO2 to create polycarbonates might not solve the total carbon dioxide problem, but it could be a significant contribution."Consumers may be drinking from a carbon dioxide product and watching movies on waste-CO2 DVDs sooner than they think. "I would say it's a matter of a few years" before CO2-derived polymers are available to the public.

Carbon Dioxide Removed From Smockstacks Could Be Useful In DVD And CD-ROM Manufacture

Fertilizing Oceans to Combat Climate Change: Research Guidelines

New: Joint statement from SCOR and GESAMP on Deliberate Nutrient Additions to the OceanThe Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR)and GESAMP have released a joint statement regarding Deliberate Nutrient Additions to the Ocean. For any further questions regarding this statement, please refer to the contacts at the end of the document.The statement can be downloaded here.

GESAMP - GESAMP Presentation

Organic and Conventional Production Systems in the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trials: I. Productivity 1990-2002 -- Posner et al. 100 (2): 253 -- Agronomy Journal

Organic and Conventional Production Systems in the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trials: I. Productivity 1990–2002Joshua L. Posnera,*, Jon O. Baldockb and Janet L. Hedtckeaa Dep. of Agronomy, Univ. of Wisconsin, 1575 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706b AGSTAT, 6394 Grandview Rd., Verona, WI 53593. Major funding provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Integrated Food and Farming Systems program and federal appropriation from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Integrated Farming Systems program* Corresponding author (jlposner@wisc.edu).During the last half-century, agriculture in the upper U.S. Midwest has changed from limited-input, integrated grain–livestock systems to primarily high-input specialized livestock or grain systems. This trend has spawned a debate regarding which cropping systems are more sustainable and led to the question: can diverse, low-input cropping systems (organic systems) be as productive as conventional systems? To answer this question, we compared six cropping systems ranging from diverse, organic systems to less diverse conventional systems conducted at two sites in southern Wisconsin. The results of 13 yr at one location and 8 yr at the other showed that: (i) organic forage crops can yield both as much dry matter as their conventional counterparts and with quality sufficient to produce as much milk; and (ii) organic corn (Zea mays L.), soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) can produce 90% as well as their conventionally managed counterparts. The average yields for corn and soybean, however, masked a dichotomy in productivity. Combining Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial (WICST) data with other published reports revealed that in 34% of the site-years, weed control was such a problem, mostly due to wet spring weather reducing the effectiveness of mechanical weed control techniques, that the relative yields of low-input corn and soybean were only 74% of conventional systems. However, in the other 66% of the cases, where mechanical weed control was effective, the relative yield of the low-input crops was 99% of conventional systems. Our findings indicate that diverse, low-input cropping systems can be as productive per unit of land as conventional systems.

Organic and Conventional Production Systems in the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trials: I. Productivity 1990-2002 -- Posner et al. 100 (2): 253 -- Agronomy Journal

CAFOs Uncovered

CAFOs UncoveredThe Untold Costs of Confined Animal Feeding OperationsThe U.S. livestock industry—a large and vital part of agriculture in this country—has been undergoing a drastic change over the past several decades. Huge CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) have become the predominant method of raising livestock, and the crowded conditions in these facilities have increased water and air pollution and other types of harm to public health and rural communities.CAFOs UncoveredCAFOs Uncovered (PDF)Executive Summary (PDF)Author biographyPress releaseTake Action: Sign petition to USDA secretaryCAFOs are not the inevitable result of market forces. Instead, these unhealthy operations are largely the result of misguided public policy that can and should be changed.In this report, the Union of Concerned Scientists analyzes both the policies that have facilitated the growth of CAFOs and the enormous costs imposed on society by CAFOs. We also discuss sophisticated and efficient alternatives for producing affordable animal products, and offer policy recommendations that can begin to lead us toward a healthy and sustainable food system.

CAFOs Uncovered

Nature grants free access for biomedical journals - SciDev.Net

Nature grants free access for biomedical journals

Naomi Antony

29 April 2008 | EN | 中文

SciDev.Net

Developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America will gain free access to more than 65 Nature journals, it was announced last week (22 April).

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) and INASP (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications) have teamed up to make NPG's collection of biomedical journals available to more than 20 partner countries, as part of INASP's Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERI).

Journals in this collection include Nature, the Nature Clinical Practice series, NPGresearch journals and the Nature Reviews journals in life sciences and medicine.

Lucy Browse, head of information delivery at INASP, said that the decision came as the result of requests from their country coordination teams to include NPG biomedical journals within PERI.

"[This] inclusion will be of huge benefit to researchers within our partner countries and also strengthen the resource availability within the digital libraries," says Browse.

"It means that researchers in approximately 600 libraries [around the world] will potentially be able to access [these journals]."

Browse told SciDev.Net that INASP cooperates with over 50 publishers and aggregators to negotiate free or heavily subsidised access for their partner countries, helping to bridge gaps in research communication.

"At INASP, our mission is to enhance the research communication cycle within our partner and network countries … Our activities enable access to research information to be increased in a sustainable way and also encourage the research outputs and communication of colleagues in developing countries to reach a global audience," she says.

According to the NPG and INASP, countries will have access to 2008 content, as well as content published between 2004–2007.

Nature grants free access for biomedical journals - SciDev.Net