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Wednesday, November 20, 2013

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Spectacular Comet ISON Shines Bright in New Photo from Chile Telescope

A dazzling new image captures Comet ISON blazing up as it heads toward its highly anticipated close encounter with the sun next week. The photo, taken with the TRAPPIST national telescope at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile, shows Comet ISON streaking through space in the early hours of Nov. 15, a brilliant blue cloud of material surrounding its core. ISON was discovered in September 2012 by two Russian amateur astronomers. But folks hoping to catch a glimpse of Comet ISON don't need to wait until next month;

Sun Fires Off Powerful Solar Flare (Video)

The sun unleashed a powerful solar flare early Tuesday (Nov. 19), the latest in a series of intense storms this month from Earth's closest star. While the powerful solar flare was not aimed directly at Earth when it erupted, it did trigger a radio blackout at 5:26 a.m. EST (1026 GMT), officials with NOAA-led Space Weather Prediction Center said. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught sight of the solar flare and captured a high definition video of the solar eruption. The solar flare ranked as an X1-class event, one of the strongest types of storms the sun can have.

Global Warming Causes 'Acid Indigestion' for Sea Urchins

Spiny green sea urchins face a new challenge from climate change: As the oceans become more acidic, urchin larvae struggle to digest their food, new research finds. The study is the first to prove that ocean acidification can cause digestive problems for marine animals, though scientists have long been alarmed at the trend for other reasons. Earlier studies have focused on calcification, or the process by which marine animals draw minerals from the water to build shells and skeletons, study researcher Meike Stumpp, a former Ph.D. student at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research and the University of Kiel in Germany, said in a statement. Gastric pH is the level of acidity in the digestive system.

5 Ways Toilets Change the World

For example, about 290,000 gallons (1.1 million liters) of raw sewage goes into the Ganges River in India every minute, according to the World Health Organization.

'Dueling Dinosaur' Fossils Fail to Sell at Auction

NEW YORK — Discovered side-by-side in the Montana badlands, two fossilized dinosaurs failed to sell at auction here today (Nov. 19) in a packed room of prospective buyers, curious onlookers and reporters. Bonhams auction house, which handled the sale of the so-called Dueling Dinosaurs, had estimated the creatures would sell for between $7 million $9 million. "I am very confident that we're going to find scientific homes" for the fossils that didn't sell, said Thomas Lindgren, co-consulting director of the natural history department at Bonhams in Los Angeles, who put together today's natural history auction.

NASA's IceBridge Mission Back in Action Over Antarctica

NASA's Operation IceBridge campaign is officially underway in Antarctica, and researchers completed the mission's first science flight over the continent's icy expanse yesterday (Nov. 18), snapping a spectacular picture of the scenery while they were at it. During their first research outing, IceBridge scientists surveyed glaciers as they flew over the Transantarctic Mountains, which extend 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) across the continent, and divide East Antarctica from West Antarctica. This is the first time that NASA's Operation IceBridge mission has been stationed in Antarctica. In previous seasons, IceBridge flights took off from Punta Arenas in southern Chile, but mission managers say that operating directly from the icy southern continent will enable scientists to conduct longer flights, and to explore regions of Antarctica that were out of range until now.

NASA puts out call for commercial space taxis

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Despite budget uncertainties, NASA on Tuesday issued a solicitation for a commercially operated space taxi to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, an attempt to break Russia's monopoly on crew transport by 2017. The United States has been without a human space transportation system since 2011 when NASA retired its three-ship shuttle fleet due to high operating costs and fundamental safety questions. NASA's so-called Commercial Crew program is intended to address both cost and safety concerns, as well as return the capability to fly people to space from U.S. soil. The new solicitation asks for proposals for final design, development, test, evaluation and certification of a human space transportation system, including ground operations, launch, orbital operations, return to Earth and landing.

Dazzling Nighttime Rocket Launch Puts 29 Satellites In Orbit, a New Record

A spectacular rocket launch from Virginia's eastern shore late Tuesday (Nov. 19) lit up the night sky like an artifical sun, kicking off a record-breaking mission to put 29 satellites into orbit. The Orbital Sciences-built Minotaur 1 rocket launched into space at 8:15 p.m. EST (0115 GMT Wednesday) from NASA's Wallops Flight Faciltiy in Virginia to begin the ORS-3 mission, which is run by the U.S. military's Operationally Responsive Space Office. After a 45-minute delay caused by an issue with a downrange tracking station, the Minotaur 1 roared to life, carving an arc of flame into the night sky that was likely visible along the East Coast from Maine down to Florida, and from as far inland as Indiana and Michigan, according to viewing maps provided by NASA and Orbital Sciences. A so-called "PhoneSat" built by NASA and the first-ever satellite designed and built by high school students were among the spacecraft hitching a ride into orbit on the four-stage Minotaur 1 rocket.

Cosmonaut Alexander Serebrov, Veteran of 4 Space Missions, Dies at 69

Alexander Serebrov, a Soviet-era cosmonaut who once held the Guinness World Record for the most spacewalks and who was the first to test drive a "space motorcycle," has died at 69, according to Russia's federal space agency. Serebrov retired from the Russian space program in May 1995 to work as an advisor to then President Boris Yeltsin on issues relating to spaceflight.

Dueling dinosaur fossils fail to sell at New York auction

By Curtis Skinner NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fossils of two dinosaurs locked in a death match failed to sell at auction on Tuesday despite predictions they would fetch a record $9 million. The top bid for the dinosaur fossils was $5.5 million and did not meet the reserve price, Bonhams auction house said. The most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction is a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton named Sue, which fetched $8.3 million in 1997. Thomas Lindgren, co-consulting director of natural history for Bonhams, said he is confident that the dueling dinos will sell in the future.

What 11 Billion People Mean for Food Security

"We need to find new ways of growing food." One obstacle to increasing food production will be climate change, which is predicted to reduce crop yields in certain parts of the world.

Frankenstein to Star Trek: Sci-Fi Museum Coming to D.C.

Fans of Captain Kirk and Captain Nemo unite: A new science-fiction museum coming to Washington, D.C. "There really wasn't a comprehensive science-fiction museum here in the United States or internationally," said Greg Viggiano, executive director of the new venture. "I thought, maybe somebody should do something about this," Viggiano told LiveScience. The content will start with Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, considered by many the first sci-fi author, and run through to present-day material.

Dinosaur Bone Damaged in WWII Revealed with 3D Printing

During World War II, a bomb fell on the museum's east wing, collapsing the basement where dinosaur fossils were stored. Many fossils were reduced to dust in the bombing, and the ones that survived were scattered and mixed up. One expedition, in Tanzania, ran from 1909 to 1913 and brought back 235 tons of fossils, labeled with letters based on their locations. The other fossils came from a 1909 discovery in Halberstadt, Germany.

Double Nobel Prize winning biochemist Fred Sanger dies at 95

Fred Sanger, a double Nobel Prize-winning British biochemist whose work pioneered research into the human genome, has died at the age of 95, the University of Cambridge said on Wednesday. Sanger, who once described himself as "just a chap who messed about in his lab", worked with colleagues to develop a rapid method of DNA sequencing - a way to "read DNA" - which became the forerunner for the work on mapping the human genome. He won his first Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1958 for work on determining the structure of insulin, and the same Nobel 22 years later for his work on DNA, the material that carries all the information about how living things look and function. Colin Blakemore, a Cambridge professor of neuroscience and philosophy said Sanger was "a real hero of twentieth-century British science", adding it was "impossible to exaggerate" the impact of his work on modern biomedical science.

Spectacular Night Rocket Launch Wows Skywatchers on US East Coast (Photos)

A dazzling rocket launch that hurled a record 29 satellites into orbit from Virginia's eastern shore Tuesday night was also visible to potentially millions of observers on the U.S. East Coast, thrilling skywatchers who photographed the amazing space shot. The Orbital Sciences-built Minotaur 1 rocket launched a cornucopia of satellites into orbit Tuesday (Nov. 19) at 8:15 p.m. EST (0115 GMT Wednesday) from a pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. Because of the launch's trajectory, it was expected to be visible from northeastern Canada to Florida, and as far inland as Kentucky, according to Orbital Sciences officials. "What an amazing sight to see," skywatcher Debbie Stone, who watched the rocket launch from Charlton, Mass., told SPACE.com in an email. Stone's long-exposure view of the launch shows the Minotaur 1 rocket as an arc of light over a dark landscape.

Frederick Sanger, double Nobel winner, dies at 95

LONDON (AP) — British biochemist Frederick Sanger, who twice won the Nobel Prize in chemistry and was a pioneer of genome sequencing, has died at the age of 95.

People with Autism More Likely to Hear Colors, See Sounds

People with autism may be more likely than others to have synesthesia, a condition in which people experience a mixing of their senses, such as hearing tastes and shapes, and seeing numbers in colors, a new study from Europe suggests. Researchers tested 164 people with autism and 97 people without autism by giving them online questionnaires designed to evaluate whether they had synesthesia. They found synesthesia occurred in about 7 percent of people who didn't have autism, a figure within the range of previously reported rates. The findings may provide new insights into common factors that underlie brain development in these separate conditions, said study researcher Simon Baron-Cohen, a professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge in the U.K.

Brain Surgeons Get Practice Using Brains Made on 3D Printers

Now, by combining models of brains made on 3D printers and images of simulated surgery, faculty at the University of Florida (UF) are making sure their surgeons get just this kind of training. Researchers at the university have developed a unique "mixed reality" surgery simulator that gives doctors-in-training a chance to perform real surgery techniques on 3D-printed models derived from actual patients' brains and skulls. "We can create a physical model, so the residents learn to put their hands in the right position," said Dr. Frank Bova, head of the university's radiosurgery/biology lab, which produces the training simulators. The team is currently creating a comprehensive training curriculum by compiling a library of previous surgery cases to use in 3D models, Bova said.

Moms' Bacteria May Affect Brain Development in Baby Mice

The range of bacteria, or microbiome, that young mice are exposed to influences their brain development, the researchers said. In the new study, the researchers exposed pregnant mice to a range of stressors before the mice gave birth. For example, the researchers exposed the mice to the scent of a predator, or put marbles in their cage overnight, which "freaks the mice out," said study researcher Tracy Bale, a neuropharmacologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Furthermore, the stressed mothers' offspring had similarly lowered amounts of Lactobacillus bacteria in their guts.

Double Nobel Prize winning biochemist Fred Sanger dies at 95

Fred Sanger, a double Nobel Prize-winning British biochemist who pioneered research into the human genome, has died at the age of 95, the University of Cambridge said on Wednesday. Sanger, who once described himself as "just a chap who messed about in his lab", worked with colleagues to develop a rapid method of DNA sequencing - a way to "read DNA" - which became the forerunner for the work on mapping the human genome. He won his first Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1958 for work on determining the structure of insulin and the second 22 years later for his work on DNA, the material that carries all the information about how living things look and function. Only four people in history have been awarded the Nobel Prize twice.

New Cave-Dwelling 'Shrimp' Discovered in California

A translucent underwater cave dweller that looks like a skeleton and travels like an inchworm is the newest member of California's array of marine life. Scientists found a new species of skeleton shrimp — a group of tiny crustaceans that are actually caprellid amphipods, not shrimp — in vials collected from a small cave offshore of Southern California's Catalina Island. The two vials, one containing a male and one containing a female, were housed in the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. Lead study author José Manuel Guerra-García, a caprellid expert at the University of Seville in Spain, realized the "shrimp" were a never-before-recognized species during a 2010 visit to the museum.

Surgeons Get Practice Using Brains Made on 3D Printers

15 Years in Orbit: The International Space Station By the Numbers

After 15 years of construction, harrowing spacewalks and repairs the International Space Station is still going strong in orbit around Earth. Here are some interesting NASA facts about the teenage station as it embarks upon its 16th year in orbit:

International Space Station Celebrates 15th Birthday in Orbit

The International Space Station celebrates its 15th birthday today (Nov. 20), marking the day in 1998 when a Russian rocket lifted the first piece of what is now the largest manmade structure ever built in space. Today, the space station is about the size of a football field with roughly the same amount of liveable space as a six-bedroom house. The module that started it all, Zarya, also known as the Functional Cargo Block (FGB), is mostly used for storage now. But initially it was intended to serve as a central node of orientation control, communications and electrical power as other parts of the space station were added, according to NASA.

Why Monkeys and Apes Have Colorful Faces

For Old World monkeys and apes, species that live in larger social groups have complex, colorful facial patterns, whereas those that live in smaller groups have simpler, plainer faces, the study researchers found. "Faces are really important to how monkeys and apes can tell one another apart," study researcher Michael Alfaro, an evolutionary biologist at UCLA, said in a statement, adding, "We think the color patterns have to do both with the importance of telling individuals of your own species apart from closely related species and for social communication among members of the same species." In the study, Sharlene Santana, a postdoctoral fellow in Alfaro's lab, developed a way to quantify the complexity of primate faces in photographs. The team also took into account evolutionary relationships among the primate species.

Rich-poor divide deepens over aid to cope with global warming

By Nina Chestney WARSAW (Reuters) - Rich and poor were deadlocked on Wednesday over how to raise aid to help developing countries cope with the damaging effects of global warming, in a setback at United Nations climate talks in Warsaw seeking progress towards a 2015 accord. Bolivia and other developing countries accused the rich of failing to show willingness to discuss aid or compensation for losses and harm due to global warming, such as rising sea levels or creeping desertification. The two-week Warsaw talks, due to end on Friday, are trying to lay the foundations for a new global climate accord meant to be agreed in 2015 and enter into force from 2020. For many poorer countries, the devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines earlier this month has raised the urgency of compensation.

Military Vets & Celebrities Embark on Epic Race to the South Pole

Three teams of wounded military veterans and their celebrity teammates will soon begin a grueling race to the South Pole in an attempt to trek more than 200 miles (335 kilometers) in 16 days through the bone-chillingly cold conditions of Antarctica. The teammates completed cold-weather training in Iceland in March, team training throughout the summer, and recently finished a final round of snow preparation in October.

Haiyan Destruction in Philippines Visible from Space

From hills laid bare by winds to coastlines swamped by floodwaters, the massive swath of destruction across the Philippines city of Tacloban from Super Typhoon Haiyan is visible even from space.

Poll to Name National Zoo Panda Cub Closes Friday

There are just a few days left to cast a vote to name the newest giant panda cub at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C. These are the five candidates for the panda's name (in Mandarin Chinese) with their meanings: Combined this represents a sign of luck for panda cooperation between China and the U.S. According to the zoo's latest update, the 3-month-old panda cub now weighs 10.34 lbs. (4.7 kilograms) and is just starting to crawl and move around independently.

Textured Surface Could Create Ultra-Waterproof Materials

The new surface takes advantage of the fact that rougher, uneven textures cause water droplets to bounce off of them more quickly. The new method could be used for many applications, including waterproof clothing and sports gear, as well as anti-icing tech for airplane wings. But Kripa Varanasi, a mechanical engineer at MIT, and his colleagues, decided to take a look for themselves. They used a high-speed camera to film water droplets as they bounced off a silicone wafer sprayed with a highly water-repellent coating.

Ancient Siberian Skeletons Confirm Native American Origins

The DNA gleaned from two ancient Siberian skeletons is related to that of modern-day Native Americans and western Eurasians, new research suggests. The genetic material from the ancient Siberians provides additional evidence that the ancestors of Native Americans made the arduous trek from Siberia across the Bering Strait into the Americas. But it also reveals there were multiple waves of migrations in Asia around this time, said Mark Hubbe, a biological anthropologist at The Ohio State University who was not involved in the study. "This brings a new level of complexity to what we think happened in Asia," Hubbe told LiveScience.

Mars Meteorite Reveals 1st Look at Ancient Martian Crust

A meteorite found last year in the Sahara Desert is likely the first recognized piece of ancient Martian crust, a new study reports. The Mars meteorite NWA 7533 is 4.4 billion years old and contains evidence of long-ago asteroid strikes, suggesting that the rock came from the Red Planet's ancient and cratered southern highlands, researchers said. "We finally have a sample of the Martian highlands, that portion of Mars that holds all the secrets to Mars' birth and early development," lead author Munir Humayun of Florida State University told SPACE.com via email. "It's the part of Mars' history where the oceans and atmosphere developed, and where life would have developed if it ever did on Mars," Humayun added.

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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

FeedaMail: Science News Headlines - Yahoo! News

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NASA satellite launched to find clues about Mars' lost water

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday, sending a Mars orbiter on its way to study how the planet most like Earth in the solar system lost its water. Unlike previous Mars probes, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission, or MAVEN, will not be looking at or landing on the planet's dry, dusty surface. Instead, MAVEN will scan and sample what remains of the thin Martian atmosphere and watch in real-time how it is peeled away, molecule by molecule, by killer solar radiation. United Launch Alliance is a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Dueling Dinosaur Fossils Could Break Record at Auction

In 1997, a Tyrannosaurus rex nicknamed Sue shattered auction expectations when Sotheby's sold it to The Field Museum in Chicago for an unprecedented $8.36 million. That remains the highest price anyone has ever paid for a dinosaur fossil at a public auction. Bonhams, which is handling the sale, has estimated the fossilized pair could fetch a price between $7million and $9 million — and that amount is a conservative estimate, said Thomas Lindgren, who put together the natural history auction. "They could bring much more than that," Lindgren told LiveScience at a preview of the auction last week.

Stinky Seduction: Promiscuous Female Mice Have Sexier Sons

"If your sons are particularly sexy, and mate more than they would otherwise, it's helping get your genes more efficiently into the next generation," study leader Wayne Potts, a biologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, said in a statement. As Potts put it, "If you're worried about your sons impinging on your own reproductive success, then why make them sexy?" Even though the sons would pass on some their father's genetic material to future generations, the fathers could pass on more directly.

Ancient Arctic Algae Record Climate Change in 'Tree Rings'

From the medieval chill called the Little Ice Age to the onset of global warming in the 1800s, the coralline algae show how Arctic sea ice has responded to climate swings for the past 650 years. For the first time, researchers now have ancient sea ice information on a yearly scale, said lead study author Jochen Halfar, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Toronto in Mississauga, Canada. "This is important for understanding the rapid, short-term changes that are currently ongoing with respect to sea ice decline," Halfar said in an email interview. (However, algae are plants and coral are animals.) Because the algae go dormant in the winter, when sea ice blocks incoming sunlight, the calcite layers develop visible bands that are similar to tree rings, Halfar said.

'Meat Mummies' Kept Egyptian Royalty Well-Fed After Death

The royal mummies of ancient Egypt apparently did, as a new study finds that "meat mummies" left in Egyptian tombs as sustenance for the afterlife were treated with elaborate balms to preserve them. Mummified cuts of meat are common finds in ancient Egyptian burials, with the oldest dating back to at least 3300 B.C. The tradition extended into the latest periods of mummification in the fourth century A.D. The famous pharaoh King Tutankhamun went to his final resting place accompanied by 48 cases of beef and poultry. University of Bristol biogeochemist Richard Evershed and his colleagues were curious about how these cuts were prepared. The oldest was a rack of cattle ribs from the tomb of Tjuiu, an Egyptian noblewoman, and her courtier Yuya.

Breast MRIs Not Always Used Appropriately, Studies Suggest

The percentage of women undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams of the breast has increased in recent years, but often, the women who could benefit the most from the procedure aren't the ones getting it, new research suggests.

Preterm Birth Linked to Chemicals in Personal Products

Pregnant women exposed to phthalates, a group of hormone-mimicking chemicals found in personal care products and processed foods, may have an increased risk of preterm delivery, a new study suggests. The study included 130 women in the Boston area who had given birth early, before 37 weeks of pregnancy, and 352 women who delivered at full term between 2006 and 2008. What's more, when the researchers looked only at the 57 women who had "spontaneous preterm delivery," meaning they didn't have a medical condition that could explain their early delivery, they found the link between exposure to phthalates and risk of preterm delivery was stronger, according to the study published today (Nov. 18) in JAMA Pediatrics. "These data provide strong support for taking action in the prevention or reduction of phthalate exposure during pregnancy," the researchers wrote in their findings.

6-Minute Rocket Launch Aims to See Promising Comet ISON Tuesday

A small rocket designed to spy galaxies billions of light-years from Earth will gaze at the brightening Comet ISON during a brief launch on Tuesday (Nov. 19) to track the icy wanderer as it speeds through the inner solar system. The NASA-sponsored FORTIS rocket launch is set to blast off at 6:30 a.m. EST (1130 GMT) on Tuesday from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in its bid to spot Comet ISON. The mission's launch window lasts about 15 minutes and will send the suborbital FORTIS rocket 60 miles (97 kilometers) above the Earth's surface, far enough outside the atmosphere to get a good look at Comet ISON just before it disappears behind the sun. After the FORTIS rocket first launched in May to study distant galaxies, its mission team soon realized the rocket could also be used to seek out carbon monoxide, oxygen, hydrogen and other elements on Comet ISON, which is headed for a super-close encounter with the sun on Nov. 28.

Lab-Made Heart Represents 'Moonshot' for 3D Printing

The idea of a 3D-printed heart grown from a patient's own fat stem cells comes from Stuart Williams, executive and scientific director of the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute in Louisville, Ky. His lab has already begun developing the next generation of custom-built 3D printers aimed at printing out a complete heart with all its parts — heart muscle, blood vessels, heart valves and electrical tissue. Still, 3D printers can only do so much bioengineering when working at the tiniest scales.

Stunning Comet ISON Photos Captured by Amateur Astronomer (Images)

A spectacular set of photos taken by an amateur astrophotographer chronicles the evolution of Comet ISON over the last few months, which has seen the much-hyped icy wanderer brighten so much that it's now visible to the naked eye. "In September, ISON was just a smudge smaller than most stars," Mike Hankey wrote SPACE.com in an email. Hankey started imaging Comet ISON using a 14.5-inch RCOS telescope located at the Sierra Remote Observatories in Auberry, Calif. He spent roughly an hour each morning imaging the comet remotely from the California observatory while he was at home in Maryland. As the weeks went on, the comet grew brighter and larger," Hankey said.

Milky Way Galaxy, Eerie Airglow Paint Night Sky Amazing Colors (Photo)

The horizon glows a haunting green, silhouetting trees on the Isle of Wight as the band of the Milky Way shines overhead in this spectacular photo recently sent in to SPACE.com by a veteran photographer.

6 Party Drugs That May Have Health Benefits

The use of illegal drugs for medicinal reasons is a controversial topic, even as more states and jurisdictions allow the use of medical marijuana and other substances every year. Because of these risks, doctors strongly advise against the unregulated use of illicit drugs, which can do more harm than good. Nonetheless, medical researchers continue to find a surprising number of health benefits in drugs widely used for recreational purposes. There's also some evidence that small amounts of psilocybin can relieve the symptoms of cluster headaches, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression.

Two-Headed Ray Fetus Found in Australia

While checking up on the pregnant female rays that he was caring for in an aquarium, Australian researcher Leonardo Guida saw that some of the animals had given birth, in April of this year. As he made note of the baby rays, an "oddly shaped, pale object in the water" caught his attention. This is the first two-headed ray or shark discovered in Australia, and one of only a few examples worldwide of this rare birth defect found in sharks and rays, said Guida, who is a doctoral student at Monash University in Melbourne.

Wild 'Roll Cloud' Tumbles Across Texas Sky

An other-worldly "roll cloud" stretching from horizon to horizon appears to tumble across the Texas sky in a new video. The cloud video, taken by a couple in Timbercreek Canyon, south of Amarillo, Texas, shows a low, tubular cloud spinning horizontally like an upended tornado. These tubelike cloud formations are a type of arcus cloud, a group of low cloud formations. Known as roll clouds, they sometimes form on the edges of thunderstorms.

2013 Global Carbon Emissions to Reach Record Level

The world is on track to emit record levels of carbon dioxide this year, according to a new report announced yesterday (Nov. 18). The study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Earth System Science Data Discussions, found that the world is set to emit nearly 40 billion tons (36 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide by the end of 2013. The estimate represents a 2.1 percent increase over last year's emissions levels, and a 61 percent increase over 1990 levels. Earth is heating up, and there is scientific consensus that human activity — via the emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide — is the main culprit for global warming.

6 Ways to Feed 11 Billion People

The planet can definitely produce enough food for 11 billion people, experts say, but whether humans can do it sustainably, and whether consumers will ultimately be able to afford that food, are separate matters. A number of different strategies will be required, each of which will move humans a little bit closer toward closing the gap between the amount of food they have, and the amount of food they need. Beef in particular is not a very sustainable food to eat, said Jamais Cascio, a distinguished fellow at the Institute for the Future, a think tank in Palo Alto, Calif. According to Cascio's calculation, the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the production of cheeseburgers in the United States each year is about equal to the greenhouse gas emissions from 6.5 million to 19.6 million SUVs over a year.

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