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Global Warming will Open Unexpected New Shipping Routes in Arctic, UCLA Researchers Find

By Guest PostMarch 11, 2013EnvironmentArctic, arctic lakes, arctic ocean, asia, atlantic ocean, coast of russia, eastern canada, global temperature, global warming, icebreakers, independent climate forecasts, Japan, laurence c smith, new shipping routes, north pole, northern sea route, pacific, panama canal, polar class 6, projected shipping lanes, rotterdam, scott r stephenson, sea ice, shipping potential, suez, the netherlands, trans arctic, ucla researchers, vessels, yokohama

Shipping lanes through the Arctic Ocean won’t put the Suez and Panama canals out of business anytime soon, but global warming will make these frigid routes much more accessible than ever imagined by melting an unprecedented amount of sea ice during the late summer, new UCLA research shows.

“The development is both exciting from an economic development point of view and worrisome in terms of safety, both for the Arctic environment and for the ships themselves,” said lead researcher Laurence C. Smith, a professor of geography at UCLA. (more…)

Two-thirds of Americans Now Believe Global Warming is Real

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2013Environmentallentown, americans, barry rabe, belief, evidence, global temperatures, global warming, hurricanes, muhlenberg college, muhlenberg institute, planet, political factors, public opinion, religious, self identified republicans, superstorm sandy, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR — An increasing number of Americans indicate that there is evidence of global warming, with 67 percent now expressing a belief that the planet has warmed over the past four decades, according to a University of Michigan survey.

It marks the highest level of belief in global warming since a 72 percent-measure in 2008 and is up from 52 percent in spring 2010.

The results come from the National Surveys on Energy and Environment, a joint effort of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at U-M’s Ford School of Public Policy and the Muhlenberg Institute of Public Opinion at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. (more…)

Tracking Sediments’ Fate in Largest-Ever Dam Removal

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2013Environmentaerial photos, andrea ogston, beautiful plume, charles nittrouer, chemicals, dam removal, dam removal project, elwha dam, elwha river, elwha river mouth, flow downstream, geologic deposits, geologic event, glines canyon dam, global carbon cycle, juan de fuca, marine geologists, national science foundation, ocean, ocean floor, ocean water, olympic coast, pesticides, port angeles, salmon, sediments fate, strait, university of washington, washington sea grant, water treatment plant

Salmon are beginning to swim up the Elwha River for the first time in more than a century. But University of Washington marine geologists are watching what’s beginning to flow downstream — sediments from the largest dam-removal project ever undertaken.

The 108-foot Elwha Dam was built in 1910, and after decades of debate it was finally dismantled last year. Roughly a third of the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam still stands, holding back a mountain of silt, sand and gravel. (more…)

How to Thrive in Battery Acid and Among Toxic Metals

By Guest PostMarch 9, 2013Environment, Scienceandreas weber, archaebacteria, bacteria, battery acid, biofuel production, biotechnology, decoded genetic information, dusseldorf, effects of toxins, eukaryote, eukaryotic microorganisms, evolution, extraterrestrial creature, extreme environment, galdieria, galdieria sulphuraria, genes from bacteria, genome of extremophile, gerald schoenknecht, Germany, heinrich heine universitat, horizontal gene transfer, hot springs, martin lercher, matt kane, movie alien, national science foundation, oil producing algae, oklahoma state university, photosynthesis, red alga, thrive, toxic metals, yellowstone national park

Genome of “extremophile” red alga offers insights

In the movie Alien, the title character is an extraterrestrial creature that can survive brutal heat and resist the effects of toxins.

In real life, organisms with similar traits exist, such as the “extremophile” red alga Galdieria sulphuraria.

In hot springs in Yellowstone National Park, Galdieria uses energy from the sun to produce sugars through photosynthesis. (more…)

‘Fat Worms’ Inch Scientists toward Better Biofuel Production

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2013Environment, Scienceanimal feed, arabidopsis thaliana, caterpillar larvae, christoph benning, engineered plant, enhance biofuel production, enhance oil production, fat worms, gavin reid, gene, green algae, gregg howe, john olhrogge, kenneth keegstra, leaf tissue, lipids, michigan state university, nontraditional crops, oily leaves, one celled, plant, plant cell, plants for biofuels, regular leaves, vegetable

Fat worms confirm that researchers from Michigan State University have successfully engineered a plant with oily leaves – a feat that could enhance biofuel production as well as lead to improved animal feeds.

The results, published in the current issue of The Plant Cell, the journal of the American Society of Plant Biologists, show that researchers could use an algae gene involved in oil production to engineer a plant that stores lipids or vegetable oil in its leaves – an uncommon occurrence for most plants. (more…)

The Making of Antarctica’s Hidden Fjords

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2013Environmentantarctic ice sheet, Antarctica, antarctica topography, columbia university, cooling age, east antarctica, erosion rate, fjords, geologists, george e gehrels, geoscientist, geoscientists, glaciers, global climate, hidden fjords, ice sheet growth, lambert glacier, marine technician, mountains, national science foundation, ocean drilling program, pattern, peter w reiners, prydz bay, rock, rocks, sample, sea level change, sea-level rise, sediments, sidney r hemming, stuart n thomson, ty cobb, university of arizona

Antarctica’s topography began changing from flat to fjord-filled starting about 34 million years ago, according to a new report from a University of Arizona-led team of geoscientists.

Knowing when Antarctica’s topography started shifting from a flat landscape to one with glaciers, fjords and mountains is important for modeling how the Antarctic ice sheet affects global climate and sea-level rise. (more…)

Ancient Lamprey DNA Decoded

By Guest PostMarch 6, 2013Environment, Natureadaptive immune system, ancient lamprey dna, backbones, brain, bygone eras, cambrian period, canadian government, chu yin yeh, chung davidson, data, decode, evolution, fossil records, great lakes, invasive species, jeramiah smith, kaben nanlohy, michigan state university, modern era, modern humans, multicelled creatures, nature genetics, nervous system, pathways, prehistoric species, salmon, scot libants, sea lamprey genome, single celled organisms, spinal cords, spine, titus brown, trout, US, vertebrates, weiming li, yu wen

When it comes to evolution, humans can learn a thing or two from primeval sea lampreys.

In the current issue of Nature Genetics, a team of scientists has presented an assembly of the sea lamprey genome – the first time the entire sequence has been decoded. The data is compelling as the sea lamprey is one of the few ancient, jawless species that has survived through the modern era.

The paper not only sheds light on how the venerable invasive species adapted and thrived, but it also provides many insights into the evolution of all vertebrates, species with backbones and spinal cords, which includes humans, said Weiming Li, Michigan State University fisheries and wildlife professor, who organized and coordinated the team. (more…)

Changes in Cloud Distribution Explain Some Weather Patterns

By Guest PostMarch 4, 2013Environmentability to reflect, atmospheric sciences, black carbon, change in clouds, changes in cloud, climate change, cloud cover, cloud features, cloud properties, cumuliform clouds, distribution, global warming, heavy pollution, homogeneous, horizontal clouds, impact on temperature, jet stream, light, mid latitude, monsoons in india, northern india, rainfall, regional cloud changes, russia, ryan eastman, scientist, stephen warren, storm track, study clouds, thickness, tropics, university of washington, volume of data, weather patterns, weather stations

Regional cloud changes, such as those that result in less rain during monsoons in India and those that indicate a widening of the tropics, may be as important to watch as the overall amount of cloud cover, new University of Washington research indicates.

Authors of the paper, led by Ryan Eastman, a UW research scientist in atmospheric sciences, set out to examine observations collected from weather stations around the world as a way to study the distribution of clouds. The research was recently published in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate. (more…)

Category Archives: Environment