Tag Archives: China

New Results from Daya Bay – Tracking the Disappearance of Ghostlike Neutrinos

Daya Bay neutrino experiment releases high-precision measurement of subatomic shape shifting and new result on differences among neutrino masses

The international Daya Bay Collaboration has announced new results about the transformations of neutrinos – elusive, ghostlike particles that carry invaluable clues about the makeup of the early universe.  The latest findings include the collaboration’s first data on how neutrino oscillation – in which neutrinos mix and change into other “flavors,” or types, as they travel – varies with neutrino energy, allowing the measurement of a key difference in neutrino masses known as mass splitting.

“Understanding the subtle details of neutrino oscillations and other properties of these shape-shifting particles may help resolve some of the deepest mysteries of our universe,” said Jim Siegrist, Associate Director of Science for High Energy Physics at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the primary funder of U.S. participation in Daya Bay. (more…)

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Berkeley Lab Releases Most Comprehensive Databook on China’s Energy and Environment

In the five years since the China Energy Group of the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) released its last edition of the China Energy Databook, China has achieved two dubious distinctions: it surpassed the United States in energy consumption and it surpassed the United States in energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide, becoming the world leader on both scores.

With these important shifts in the global energy landscape, the eighth edition of the China Energy Databook is being released this week. The Databook is the most comprehensive publicly available resource known to exist covering China’s energy and environmental statistics. The China Energy Group researchers have amassed an enormous trove of data from firsthand sources and organized much of it into a relational database, making it far more useful for research and analytical purposes. (more…)

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Mercury levels in Pacific fish likely to rise in coming decades

ANN ARBOR — University of Michigan researchers and their University of Hawaii colleagues say they’ve solved the longstanding mystery of how mercury gets into open-ocean fish, and their findings suggest that levels of the toxin in Pacific Ocean fish will likely rise in coming decades.

Using isotopic measurement techniques developed at U-M, the researchers determined that up to 80 percent of the toxic form of mercury, called methylmercury, found in the tissues of deep-feeding North Pacific Ocean fish is produced deep in the ocean, most likely by bacteria clinging to sinking bits of organic matter. (more…)

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Schleppender Start für den Meeresschutz: UN-Treffen zur biologischen Vielfalt der Meere

Die erste Meereschutzkonferenz nach Rio+20 ist vorbei. Und das Schiff scheint Segel gesetzt zu haben, zwar langsam und gehemmt von eisigem Gegenwind, aber es ist in See gestochen. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt das Bündnis „High Seas Alliance“ (HSA), an dem sich neben anderen Meeresschutzorganisationen auch Greenpeace beteiligt.

Im Zentrum der Verhandlungen stand ein neues Durchführungsabkommen im Sinne des Seerechtsübereinkommens der Vereinten Nationen (SRÜ). Dieses erhielt von vielen Staaten starke Unterstützung, darunter die G77 und China, die Europäische Union, Australien, Mexico und Neuseeland. Trotzdem verlangsamten die Blockadeversuche einer kleinen Minderheit dieses Prozess deutlich. (more…)

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Cool heads likely won’t prevail in a hotter, wetter world

Should climate change trigger the upsurge in heat and rainfall that scientists predict, people may face a threat just as perilous and volatile as extreme weather — each other.

Researchers from Princeton University and the University of California-Berkeley report in the journal Science that even slight spikes in temperature and precipitation have greatly increased the risk of personal violence and social upheaval throughout human history. Projected onto an Earth that is expected to warm by 2 degrees Celsius by 2050, the authors suggest that more human conflict is a likely outcome of climate change. (more…)

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Do academic rankings create inequality?

A study led by a Michigan State University scholar questions whether higher education ranking systems are creating competition simply for the sake of competition at a time when universities are struggling financially.

Global rankings that emphasize science and technology research – such as the Academic Rankings of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University – have become increasingly popular and influential during the past decade, said Brendan Cantwell, lead author and assistant professor of educational administration. (more…)

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China has potential to be leader in global sustainability

China, with its enormous cities and vast countryside, is a potential star in the ongoing global drama of slashing carbon emissions.

In this week’s Nature, a Michigan State University researcher and an international team of sustainability experts propose a script.

China already is a star in unleashing carbon dioxide emissions. In 2011, it accounted for a quarter of the world’s total. The problems – air pollution, squandered energy resources and economic stresses that squelch growth – also come with tremendous opportunity for China to be leader in slashing emissions. Along the way, China’s vast variety of economic and geographic circumstances offers a chance to set examples for its global neighbors. (more…)

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Made in IBM Labs: IBM Drives the Future of Renewable Energy with New Wind and Solar Forecasting System

Advanced solution combines big data analytics and weather modeling technology to predict output of individual wind turbines

ARMONK, N.Y., – 12 Aug 2013: IBM today announced an advanced power and weather modeling technology that will help utilities increase the reliability of renewable energy resources. The solution combines weather prediction and analytics to accurately forecast the availability of wind power and solar energy. This will enable utilities to integrate more renewable energy into the power grid, helping to reduce carbon emissions while significantly improving clean energy output for consumers and businesses. (more…)

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