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A Fragrant New Biofuel

By Guest PostMarch 16, 2012Environmentagricultural waste, biofuels industry, diesel fuel, energy rich molecules, methyl ketone synthesis, methyl ketones, renewable fuel

JBEI Researchers Develop a New Candidate for a Cleaner, Greener and Renewable Diesel Fuel

A class of chemical compounds best known today for fragrance and flavor may one day provide the clean, green and renewable fuel with which truck and auto drivers fill their tanks. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have engineered Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria to generate significant quantities of methyl ketone compounds from glucose. In subsequent tests, these methyl ketones yielded high cetane numbers – a diesel fuel rating comparable to the octane number for gasoline – making them strong candidates for the production of advanced biofuels. (more…)

Study Links Past Changes in Monsoon to Major Shifts in Indian Civilizations

By Guest PostMarch 15, 2012Environmentasia, band of heavy rain, bay of bengal, camilo ponton, civilizations, climate change, cmz, core monsoon zone, dorian fuller, drilling vessel, drought, equator, eth, global warming, godavari river, harappan civilization, humid monsoon, India, indian monsoon, indian peninsula, insolation, inter tropical convergence zone, itcz, joides resolution, liviu giosan, modern agriculture, monsoon, northern hemisphere, ocean, paleo climatic information, plankton fossil, sahara desert, sediment core, solar radiation, tim eglinton, tropical forest, vegetation, whoi, zurich

A fundamental shift in the Indian monsoon has occurred over the last few millennia, from a steady humid monsoon that favored lush vegetation to extended periods of drought, reports a new study led by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The study has implications for our understanding of the monsoon’s response to climate change.

The Indian peninsula sustains over a billion people, yet it lies at the same latitude as the Sahara Desert. Without a monsoon, most of India would be dry and uninhabitable. The ability to predict the timing and amount of the next year’s monsoon is vital, yet even our knowledge of the monsoon’s past variability remains incomplete. (more…)

Fukushima Lesson: Prepare for Unanticipated Nuclear Accidents

By Guest PostMarch 12, 2012Environmentalexandra navrotsky, davis, decontamination, earthquake, edward h kraus, electricity, Environment, fission, fukushima, fukushima daiichi, fukushima reactor, human health, hydrogen gas, Japan, japanese government, knowledge, magnitude, nuclear fuels, nuclear power plant, nuclear waste, peter burns, radiation, radioactive fallout, rehabilitation, rodney ewing, seawater, tepco, tsunami, university of california, university of michigan, university of notre dame, uranium dioxide, zirconium alloy

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A year after the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, scientists and engineers remain largely in the dark when it comes to fundamental knowledge about how nuclear fuels behave under extreme conditions, according to a University of Michigan nuclear waste expert and his colleagues.

In a review article in this week’s edition of the journal Science, U-M’s Rodney Ewing and two colleagues call for an ambitious, long-term national research program to study how nuclear fuels behave under the extreme conditions present during core-melt events like those that occurred at Fukushima following the March 11, 2011, magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami. (more…)

Hot Meets Cold at New Deep-Sea Ecosystem: “Hydrothermal Seep”

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2012Environmentdeep sea ecosystem, hot meets cold, hydrothermal seep, hydrothermal vents, jaco scar, rethink the boundary, tectonic plate margin

*Habitats overlap at Jaco Scar in depths off Costa Rica*

Decades ago, marine scientists made a startling discovery in the deep sea. They found environments known as hydrothermal vents, where hot water surges from the seafloor and life thrives without sunlight. (more…)

One Year Later: Japan Quake, Tsunami a Cautionary Tale for Pacific Northwest

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2012Environment, Generalalki, british columbia, cascadia subduction zone, earthquakes, hokkaido university, Japan, jody bourgeois, john vidale, long beach peninsula, magnitude 9, northern california, ocean shores, one year anniversary, oregon, pacific northwest, prediction, puget sound, sapporo, seattle fault, seismometer readings, sunday, tohoku earthquake, tsunami, tsunami evacuation, united states, university of washington, Washington

Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, killing more than 16,000 people and causing billions of dollars in damage.

University of Washington scientists say the event has some important lessons for the Pacific Northwest – most notably, not that a similar event can happen here but that it WILL happen here, and that this region is still much less prepared than Japan was a year ago. (more…)

Beauty And Horror

By Guest PostMarch 8, 2012Environment, Literatureact of storytelling, environmental author, environmental classic, fragility of life, mckay jenkins, refuge, terry tempest williams

Environmental author Terry Tempest Williams finds beauty in the midst of devastation

From the devastation of disasters such as last year’s Japanese earthquake and tsunami or accidents such as the Gulf oil spill or human brutality such as the Rwandan genocide, beauty can emerge, environmental author and activist Terry Tempest Williams told an audience of about 250 at Mitchell Hall last week. (more…)

Responding to the Radiation Threat

By Guest PostMarch 7, 2012Environment, Scienceactinides, actinium, berkeley lab, biomimetic approach, cancerous, cold war, curium, dahlia an, decontamination, dirty bomb, dtpa, eleanor blakely, event, fukushima daiichi, glenn seaborg, health threats, hopo, hydroxypyridonate ligands, iron, japanese official, kathleen bjornstad, ken raymond, lawrencium, mass contamination, models, multidentate hydroxypyridonate ligands, natural chelators, new york times, nobel laureate, nuclear power plant, nuclear reactor accident, patricia durbin, periodic table, plutonium, radiation exposure, radioactive chemical elements, radioactivity, rebecca abergel, terrorist attack, tokyo metropolitan area, triple meltdown, university of california, uranium

*Berkeley Lab Researchers Developing Promising Treatment for Safely Decontaminating Humans Exposed to Radioactive Actinides*

The New York Times recently reported that in the darkest moments of the triple meltdown last year of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japanese officials considered the evacuation of the nearly 36 million residents of the Tokyo metropolitan area. The consideration of so drastic an action reflects the harsh fact that in the aftermath of a major radiation exposure event, such as a nuclear reactor accident or a “dirty bomb” terrorist attack, treatments for mass contamination are antiquated and very limited. The only chemical agent now available for decontamination – a compound known as DTPA – is a Cold War relic that must be administered intravenously and only partially removes some of the deadly actinides – the radioactive chemical elements spanning from actinium to lawrencium on the periodic table – that pose the greatest health threats. (more…)

In Conversation: Sir Peter Crane

By Guest PostMarch 6, 2012Environment, Sciencebuckingham palace, Chicago, energy, England, environmental changes, environmental issues, epa, evolutionary biologist, field museum, ginkgo, glaciation, interdisciplinary component, j gustave speth, liquid natural gas, manhattan, nature conservancy, nuclear plant, peace corps, Prince Charles, royal botanic gardens, school of management, sir peter crane, som, state department, street trees, ted snyder, urban system, Wall Street, world wildlife fund

Evolutionary biologist Sir Peter Crane has been dean of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) since 2009. A former director of Chicago’s Field Museum and chief executive of England’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, he recently spoke with Yale News about F&ES’ internationalism, the role of business in environmental management, and what it was like to be knighted at Buckingham Palace, among other topics. The following is an edited version of that conversation. (more…)

Category Archives: Environment