Study shows three times more mercury in upper ocean since Industrial Revolution
Although the days of odd behavior among hat makers are a thing of the past, the dangers mercury poses to humans and the environment persist today.
Mercury is a naturally occurring element as well as a by-product of such distinctly human enterprises as burning coal and making cement. Estimates of “bioavailable” mercury—forms of the element that can be taken up by animals and humans—play an important role in everything from drafting an international treaty designed to protect humans and the environment from mercury emissions, to establishing public policies behind warnings about seafood consumption. (more…)
UD oceanographer reports on human-caused changes to carbon cycling
Carbon dioxide pumped into the air since the Industrial Revolution appears to have changed the way the coastal ocean functions, according to a new analysis published this week in Nature.
A comprehensive review of research on carbon cycling in rivers, estuaries and continental shelves suggests that collectively this coastal zone now takes in more carbon dioxide than it releases. The shift could impact global models of carbon’s flow through the environment and future predictions related to climate change. (more…)
Technology came along into the industries along with the Industrial Revolution. Through generations till date, the same is got carried and eventually got passed off from one generation to another, techniques changed with the course of time, but the idea of implementing technology in industries did not actually change. The same became the principle while its application happened to spread up its wings. Initially textile industries thrived on hand woven techniques, which needed huge labor and was even a time consuming task, but with the aid of technology, and newly designed machineries, the textile industry had its make-over with infrastructural changes, and got mechanized to serve its purpose fruitfully.
Initial days:
Initially the only machineries that emerged up to serve textile industries are the spinning and weaving machines. These were machines with limited facilities, and hence, the person who is actually using it had to put up a lot of effort to have results with full accuracy and precision. Spinning and weaving were even done in the house-holds, to run houses and satisfy the domestic needs, eventually, this got transformed when various small scale industries cropped up, which even got better day after day. (more…)
James Watson, a UA anthropologist, has published chapters describing how long-term environmental trends encourage stable adaptations within local environments.
Human/environment interactions have a history as long as the existence of our species on the planet.
Hominid ancestors began polluting their environment nearly 700,000 years ago with the control of fire, and humans have not looked back since.
The modern phenomenon of global warming is very likely the direct result of human pollution and destruction of the environment, said James Watson, a University of Arizona assistant professor in the School of Anthropology. (more…)
When Sifrhippus sandae, the earliest known horse, first appeared in the forests of North America more than 50 million years ago, it would not have been mistaken for a Clydesdale.
It weighed in at around 12 pounds–and it was destined to get much smaller over the ensuing millennia.
Sifrhippus lived during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a 175,000-year interval of time some 56 million years ago in which average global temperatures rose by about 10 degrees Fahrenheit. (more…)
*History of influence of industrial revolution hidden in glacial ice*
New clues about how Earth’s remote ecosystems have been influenced by the industrial revolution have been uncovered. Until now they were locked away, frozen in the ice of glaciers.
So say scientist Aron Stubbins of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography and colleagues. (more…)
*A forgotten artist’s work can help us understand ourselves, says U graduate*
“I am a detective of sorts,” Annika Johnson says. “And I find clues in paintings, documents, and letters that tell me about who the artist was that made them and when, where, and why they made them.”
Johnson, who received her art history degree from the U this past May and is now applying to graduate schools across the country, did undergraduate research on Clara Mairs—a little known Minnesota artist from the depression era. Johnson describes Mairs’ work as “playful yet psychological, monumental yet humble” and says she not only helped activate the state’s modern and avant-garde art movements but also was central in the early development of arts education in St. Paul. (more…)
*The recent returns of Atlantic salmon in the Thames are more likely to be a result of fish straying from nearby rivers rather than a consequence of expensive restocking efforts, according to new research by the University of Exeter.*
Lessons from the study could be applied to other rivers across the UK according to the co-author of the paper Dr Jamie Stevens, Associate Professor of Molecular Systematics at the University of Exeter. Dr Stevens says: “Traditionally, people – such as river owners and anglers – have wanted big fish swimming up their rivers. The easiest way to ensure this quickly has been to restock those rivers with exogenous fish (from outside the river system).” (more…)
