Tag Archives: united states

Tropical forest carbon absorption may hinge on an odd couple

By Guest PostOctober 7, 2013Environmentabsorb, atmosphere, carbo loading bacteria, carbon absorption, carbon dioxide, carbon sink, component of biodiversity, david medvigy, dylan craven, Europe, excess nitrogen, human activities, infectious bacteria, jefferson hall, journal nature, lars hedin, legume family, michiel van breugel, models, nitrogen, nitrogen fixation, nitrogen fixing trees, non legume trees, North America, photosynthesis, princeton university, rhizobia, root nodules, sarah batterman, stri, tropical forest, united states

A unique housing arrangement between a specific group of tree species and a carbo-loading bacteria may determine how well tropical forests can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to a Princeton University-based study. The findings suggest that the role of tropical forests in offsetting the atmospheric buildup of carbon from fossil fuels depends on tree diversity, particularly in forests recovering from exploitation.

Tropical forests thrive on natural nitrogen fertilizer pumped into the soil by trees in the legume family, a diverse group that includes beans and peas, the researchers report in the journal Nature. The researchers studied second-growth forests in Panama that had been used for agriculture five to 300 years ago. The presence of legume trees ensured rapid forest growth in the first 12 years of recovery and thus a substantial carbon “sink,” or carbon-storage capacity. Tracts of land that were pasture only 12 years before had already accumulated as much as 40 percent of the carbon found in fully mature forests. Legumes contributed more than half of the nitrogen needed to make that happen, the researchers reported. (more…)

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

By Guest PostOctober 6, 2013Environmentberkeley lab, chemical oxygen demand, China, china energy databook, china energy group, CO2 emissions, comprehensive databook, david fridley, energy, energy consumption data, Environment, hongyou lu, john romankiewicz, level, lynn price, organic pollution, pollutant, power plants, solar power generation, sulfur dioxide, united states, water, world energy markets

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…)

Initial positive results reported on vaccine to treat genital herpes

By Guest PostSeptember 26, 2013Healthanna wald, chemotherapy in denver, chip clark, david koelle, epidemiology, gen 003, genital herpes, genocea biosciences, herpes simplex virus, human t cell, infectious diseases, matrix m, novavax, pathogens, placebo injection, positive result, protein subunit vaccine, scanning electron micrograph, sexually transmitted disease, t cell vaccines, transmission of infection, type 2, united states, university of washington, vaccine

Initial, positive results have been reported for a therapeutic vaccine candidate for treating patients with genital herpes. This first-in-class, investigational, protein subunit vaccine, GEN-003, is under development by Genocea Biosciences Inc.

Dr. Anna Wald, University of Washington professor of medicine and laboratory medicine in the School of Medicine and professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health, is among those leading clinical studies of GEN-003. The trials are also taking place at six other centers in the United States. (more…)

Today’s worst watershed stresses may become the new normal, study finds

By Guest PostSeptember 23, 2013Environmentboulder, cires, climate projection, demand for freshwater, ge sun, james meldrum, kristen averyt, noaa, peter caldwell, power plants, steve mcnulty, united states, university of colorado, us watersheds, watershed stresses, western water assessment

Nearly one in 10 U.S. watersheds is “stressed,” with demand for water exceeding natural supply, according to a new analysis of surface water in the United States. What’s more, the lowest water flow seasons of recent years—times of great stress on rivers, streams, and sectors that use their waters—are likely to become typical as climates continue to warm.

“By midcentury, we expect to see less reliable surface water supplies in several regions of the United States,” said the study’s lead author, Kristen Averyt, associate director for science at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder. “This is likely to create growing challenges for agriculture, electrical suppliers and municipalities, as there may be more demand for water and less to go around.” (more…)

Emotional attachment to robots could affect outcome on battlefield

By Guest PostSeptember 19, 2013Weaponsbiological, chemical, disarm explosives, disposal military, emotional attachment; robots, explosive ordnance, field robots, human robot attachment, jeremy l wood, julie carpenter, military, nuclear weapons, personnel, radiological, roomba, soldiers, united states

Too busy to vacuum your living room? Let Roomba the robot do it. Don’t want to risk a soldier’s life to disable an explosive? Let a robot do it.

It’s becoming more common to have robots sub in for humans to do dirty or sometimes dangerous work. But researchers are finding that in some cases, people have started to treat robots like pets, friends, or even as an extension of themselves. That raises the question, if a soldier attaches human or animal-like characteristics to a field robot, can it affect how they use the robot? What if they “care” too much about the robot to send it into a dangerous situation? (more…)

Movement of marine life follows speed and direction of climate change

By Guest PostSeptember 15, 2013Environmentbering sea, biological data, british columbia, changes in temperature, climate change, climate data, climate velocity, daniel pauly, direction, geological features, gulf of alaska, jorge sarmiento, malin pinsky, marine life, movement, ocean temperature move, predictions, princeton university, Rutgers University, simon levin, speed, survey data, temperature change, united states, university, warmer oceans

Scientists expect climate change and warmer oceans to push the fish that people rely on for food and income into new territory. Predictions of where and when species will relocate, however, are based on broad expectations about how animals will move and have often not played out in nature. New research based at Princeton University shows that the trick to more precise forecasts is to follow local temperature changes.

The researchers report in the journal Science the first evidence that sea creatures consistently keep pace with “climate velocity,” or the speed and direction in which changes such as ocean temperature move. They compiled 43 years of data related to the movement of 128 million animals from 360 species living around North America, including commercial staples such as lobster, shrimp and cod. They found that 70 percent of shifts in animals’ depth and 74 percent of changes in latitude correlated with regional-scale fluctuations in ocean temperature. (more…)

Effects of Climate Change on West Nile Virus

By Guest PostSeptember 11, 2013Environment, Healthandrew comrie, brain, canada, cdc, changes in climate, climate change, climate change models, climate-driven, cory morin, culex quinquefasciatus, effect, encephalitis, immune response, infectious cycle, inflammation, meningitis, mosquito population model, mosquito populations, North America, precipitation, southern us, species, temperature, united states, university of arizona, virus carrying mosquitoes, west nile vector, west nile virus

A study projects how climate change may affect virus-carrying mosquitoes across the southern U.S. Changes are expected to vary with region, and the southern states should see a trend toward longer seasons of mosquito activity and smaller midsummer mosquito populations

The varied influence of climate change on temperature and precipitation may have an equally wide-ranging effect on the spread of West Nile virus, suggesting that public health efforts to control the virus will need to take a local rather than global perspective, according to a study published this week in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

Spider Venom Reveals New Secret

By Guest PostAugust 31, 2013Natureaffect, brown recluse spider, cell membranes, chemical product, clark college, cyclic molecule, cyclical chemical product, daniel lajoie, genus loxosceles, greta binford, humans, loxosceles laeta, matthew cordes, north, phospholipid molecules, plastic surgeon, portland, protein, south america, species of loxosceles, spider bite, spider venom, syndrome, tissue damage, tissue suicide, toxin, united states, university of arizona, vahe bandarian

Venom of the brown recluse spider causes a reaction in the body that is different from what researchers previously thought, a discovery that could lead to development of new treatments for spider bites.

University of Arizona researchers led a team that has discovered that venom of spiders in the genus Loxosceles, which contains about 100 spider species including the brown recluse, produces a different chemical product in the human body than scientists believed.

The finding has implications for understanding how these spider bites affect humans and for the development of possible treatments for the bites. (more…)