Technology
Forecasting Future Infectious Disease Outbreaks
From Ebola and bird flu to Lyme disease and West Nile virus, most emerging infectious diseases are transmitted from animals to humans, with more than a billion people suffering each year. Safeguarding public health requires effective surveillance tools. But to date, most outbreaks are dealt with as they happen.
[Read more…] about Forecasting Future Infectious Disease Outbreaks
Useful Byproducts From Coffee Roasting
Coffee is the second most valuable commodity in the world after oil. This $100-billion-dollar-a-year industry plays a major role in the global economy. It also has a significant impact on the environment. Processing coffee produces more than 2 billion tons of byproducts annually.
Natural Sunscreen
We have all learned about the dangers of too much sun exposure. Sunscreen products are a multi-billion dollar market across the globe. We are careful to limit our hours in the sun. Meanwhile, many animal species spend their entire lives outdoors and apparently don’t suffer from too much exposure to the sun.
Renewable Energy And Jobs
There is no doubt that the renewable energy industry is booming. Renewable energy sources are seen as the primary and best way to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and other forms of environmental pollution that threaten human health and the world’s ecosystems. For this reason, investment in and deployment of renewable energy has been an area of tremendous growth.
Hybrid Batteries At Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park is now the site of the first ever commercial energy storage installation that uses recycled hybrid car batteries.
Carbon Taxes And Canada
Economists around the world are recommending that we move towards systems that reward low-carbon, innovative, resource-efficient production. One way this is likely to happen is through carbon taxes: directly taxing for fossil fuel use and carbon emissions.
Texas Wind Power
Texas has a reputation for conservative politics, a powerful oil and gas industry, and a fair amount of skepticism about human-caused climate change. Despite all of this, Texas now leads the United States in wind power production.
The Biofuel Crop Dilemma
The demand for biofuels continues to grow. Producing fuels from plant matter is considered to be a carbon-neutral way to get energy and is an important part of efforts to move away from fossil fuels.
The Tesla Battery
Tesla recently announced its new product – the Powerwall – a battery energy storage system for the home or small business. The sleek wall-mountable unit goes on sale later this year at a starting price of $3000.
Always On Is Expensive
We have heard for years that electronic devices in our homes that stay on even when we are not using them waste a lot of energy. These so-called “vampire loads” have become more prevalent all the time as our gadgets become smarter and more connected.
The Downside Of Nitrogen Fertilizer
Yesterday, we introduced the topic of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer. Anyone with a lawn or a garden is familiar with the product. But prior to the 1950s, it use was not the norm.
Too Much Of A Good Thing
Bags of garden fertilizer are labeled with three numbers, such as 15-4-5. These numbers indicate the percent of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the product. The remainder of the bag is filler that helps the fertilizer disperse.
Record CO2 Concentrations
Two years ago, we talked about a report out of the observatory on Mauna Loa in Hawaii of the first modern measurements of carbon dioxide levels greater than 400 parts per million. But it was only in that location and only for a brief period of time.
An Advance In Artificial Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is nature’s great energy conversion system. Plants and other organisms convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy in the form of carbohydrate molecules, which are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water.
Affordable Jet Fuel
The aviation industry contributes a relatively small percentage of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions – less than 2%, in fact. But jet fuel represents a major expense for the industry that makes it vulnerable to price fluctuations and geopolitical forces.
Airguns In The Atlantic
Seventy-five scientists have issued a plea to President Obama to halt the use of seismic airguns in the Atlantic Ocean. The guns are used for oil and gas exploration mapping, and create a blast of air and sound underwater.
How Much Room Is There For Solar Power?
California has mandated that it will get at least a third of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and that it will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. To meet these goals, the state has been installing solar power at a staggering rate.
Leaky Pipes And Polluted Waters
Most of us don’t spend a lot of time thinking about our wastewater. We want our toilets to flush and our dirty wash water to go down the drain. We assume this water is efficiently routed to a treatment facility, where it is cleaned up and returned to the environment. But reality doesn’t measure up to our expectations.
Saving Sheep By Helicopter
