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New Projection Shows Global Food Demand Doubling by 2050

By Guest PostNovember 24, 2011Economy, Generalagricultural land, agricultural practices, agronomic practices, belinda befort, carbon dioxide, christian balzer, david tilman, earth, ecosystems, Environment, environmental effects, extinction of species, global agriculture, global food demand, greenhouse gas emissions, human prosperity, jason hill, nitrogen, nitrogen fertilizers, poorer countries, saran twombly, technology transfer, united states, university of minnesota, yield

*Increasing yield in poorer countries could decrease adverse environmental effects*

Global food demand could double by 2050, according to a new projection reported this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The analysis also shows that the world faces major environmental challenges unless agricultural practices change.

Scientists David Tilman and Jason Hill of the University of Minnesota (UMN) and colleagues found that producing the amount of food needed could significantly increase levels of carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the environment, and may cause the extinction of numerous species. (more…)

Scientists Uncover Mechanism That Regulates Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Metabolism

By Guest PostNovember 16, 2011Scienceadenosine triphosphate, atp, body cells, california institute for regenerative medicine, carbon dioxide, carla koehler, cell differentiation, cell functions, chicken or the egg question, cytoplasm, electron transport chain, energy, energy generation by mitochondria in pluripotent stem cells, glycolysis, glycolytic and biosynthesis pathways, human pluripotent stem cells, inactive mitochondria, jin zhang, kim irwin, mature cells in children and adults, metabolic activities, method of generating energy, michael teitell, mitochondria, oxidative phosphorylation, protein, respiration, stem cells, sugar fermentation, ucp2, uncoupling protein 2, visual appearance

Human pluripotent stem cells, which can develop into any cell type in the body, rely heavily on glycolysis, or sugar fermentation, to drive their metabolic activities.

In contrast, mature cells in children and adults depend more on cell mitochondria to convert sugar and oxygen into carbon dioxide and water during a high energy–producing process called oxidative phosphorylation. (more…)

Geologist Finds Fiery Volcano Offers Glimpse into Land That Time Forgot

By Guest PostOctober 22, 2011Science2009 expedition, birth of a subduction zone, boninite, carbon dioxide, chemical and mineralogical variations in a pristine specimen, david and lucile packard foundation, deep sea volcano, exploding rock and molten lava, fiji, gaseous water, geological and geochemical cycles, geologist, global geochemical cycles, glowing magma, joseph resing, kenneth rubin, lau basin, lava, noaa, nsf, oceanographer, relic volcanos, robert embley, samoa, southwest pacific ocean, submarine volcanic activity, sulfur dioxide, tectonic plate, tonga, university of hawaii at manoa, university of washington, west mata volcano

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa geologist Kenneth Rubin is among the first scientists to witness exploding rock and molten lava from a deep sea volcano, seen during a 2009 expedition. He is co-author of a paper reporting that the eruption was near a tear in the Earth’s crust that is mimicking the birth of a subduction zone.

Scientists on the expedition collected boninite, a rare, chemically distinct lava that accompanies the formation of Earth’s subduction zones. (more…)

U.S. Rivers and Streams Saturated With Carbon

By Guest PostOctober 19, 2011Environmentatmosphere, carbon cycling, carbon dioxide, climate, coastal waterways, david butman, efflux of carbon dioxide, gasoline, global scales, henry gholz, national science foundation, nsf, peter raymond, rivers and streams in the united states, source of atmospheric carbon dioxide

*Significant amount of carbon in land is leaking into streams and rivers, then to the atmosphere*

Rivers and streams in the United States are releasing substantially more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than previously thought.

This according to researchers publishing their results in the current issue of the journal Nature Geoscience. (more…)

Links in the Chain: Global Carbon Emissions and Consumption

By Guest PostOctober 19, 2011Environmentburning fuels, carbon dioxide, carbon dioxide emissions, carbon-based fuels, carnegie institution for science, earth’s atmosphere, fossil energy resources, gross domestic product, ken caldeira, national academy of sciences, natural gas, steven davis

Washington, D.C. — It is difficult to measure accurately each nation’s contribution of carbon dioxide to the Earth’s atmosphere. Carbon is extracted out of the ground as coal, gas, and oil, and these fuels are often exported to other countries where they are burned to generate the energy that is used to make products. In turn, these products may be traded to still other countries where they are consumed. A team led by Carnegie’s Steven Davis, and including Ken Caldeira, tracked and quantified this supply chain of global carbon dioxide emissions. Their work will be published online by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of October 17. (more…)

Bacterial Communication Could Affect Earth’s Climate

By Guest PostOctober 15, 2011Environmentatmospheric carbon dioxide, bacteria, bacterial communication, benjamin van mooy, british columbia, canada, carbon cycle, carbon dioxide, clayoquot sound, climate, heat trapping greenhouse gas, laura hmelo, marine plants, microscopic bacteria, ocean, particles, particles of carbon rich detritus, phytoplankton, planet, rose kantor, source of carbon, tiny marine animals, tracy mincer, university of washington, vancouver island, vessel barnes, whoi, woods hole oceanographic institution, zooplankton

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists have discovered that bacterial communication could have a significant impact on the planet’s climate.

In the ocean, bacteria coalesce on tiny particles of carbon-rich detritus sinking through the depths. WHOI marine biogeochemists Laura Hmelo, Benjamin Van Mooy, and Tracy Mincer found that these bacteria send out chemical signals to discern if other bacteria are in the neighborhood. If enough of their cohorts are nearby, then bacteria en masse commence secreting enzymes that break up the carbon-containing molecules within the particles into more digestible bits. It has been suggested that coordinated expression of enzymes is very advantageous for bacteria on sinking particles, and Hmelo and her colleagues have uncovered the first proof of this in the ocean. (more…)

Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels at End of Last Ice Age Not Tied to Pacific Ocean, As Had Been Suspected

By Guest PostOctober 9, 2011Environmentalan mix, carbon dioxide, co2 levels, coast of southwestern oregon, continental ice sheets, david lund, deep ocean, glacial times, heat trapping greenhouse gas, irvine, john southon, last ice age, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, microscopic shells, oregon state university, paleoclimatologist, plankton, radiocarbon dating, reservoir of carbon during glacial times, sediment core, university of california, university of michigan, ventilation rate

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— After the last ice age peaked about 18,000 years ago, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide rose about 30 percent. Scientists believe that the additional carbon dioxide—a heat-trapping greenhouse gas—played a key role in warming the planet and melting the continental ice sheets. They have long hypothesized that the source of the gas was the deep ocean.

But a new study by a University of Michigan paleoclimatologist and two colleagues suggests that the deep ocean was not an important source of carbon during glacial times. The finding will force researchers to reassess their ideas about the fundamental mechanisms that regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide over long time scales. (more…)

First Global Picture of Greenhouse Gases Emerges from Pole-to-Pole Research Flights

By Guest PostSeptember 10, 2011Environmentandy watt, anne-marie schmoltner, Antarctic, Arctic, black carbon particles, britton stephens, carbon dioxide, climate, concentrations of greenhouse gases, earth, global distribution of gases, gulfstream v aircraft, harvard university, hiaper, hiaper pole to pole observations, high performance instrumented airborne platform for environmental research, hippo, Houston, industrial age, los angeles, national science foundation, natural carbon dioxide uptake and storage, new zealand, nsf, pacific, particles in the atmosphere, portrait of greenhouse gases, ryan spackman, steven wofsy

*Three-year series of scientific missions from Arctic to Antarctic produces new views of atmospheric chemistry*

A three-year series of research flights from the Arctic to the Antarctic has successfully produced an unprecedented portrait of greenhouse gases and particles in the atmosphere.

The far-reaching field project, known as HIPPO, ends this week, and has enabled researchers to generate the first detailed mapping of the global distribution of gases and particles that affect Earth’s climate. (more…)

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