Earth Wise
Powassan encephalitis
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The number of tick-borne illnesses reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is on the rise. Lyme disease leads the pack, with some 35,000 cases reported annually. [Read more…] about Powassan encephalitis
Finding the signal before the collapse
What do earthquakes, heart attacks, seizures, and the collapse of stock markets and fisheries have in common? They’re all examples of what scientists call “tipping points” or “regime shifts.” [Read more…] about Finding the signal before the collapse
Tilting at windmills
Throughout the Midwest, wind energy has caught on. In that region, ten states produce more than 10% of their electricity from wind, and Iowa and South Dakota top 20%. For the country as a whole, wind energy supplies 3.5% of our electricity, and at the current rate of growth this could reach 20% by 2030. [Read more…] about Tilting at windmills
An electric highway
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A key issue facing the widespread adoption of electric cars is the need for infrastructure to support charging them on the road. On the west coast, the Department of Energy has teamed up with utilities and transportation departments in several states on a project called the West Coast Electric Highway. [Read more…] about An electric highway
Marijuana cultivation and fishers
Most of us are familiar with the stereotype of the peace-loving, tree-hugging hippy with a penchant for marijuana. So just how green is grass grown in sunny California? The answer might surprise you. According to a recent study in the journal Conservation Letters, illegal marijuana cultivation on public lands, such as California’s picturesque Sierra National Forest, is having a negative impact on wildlife. [Read more…] about Marijuana cultivation and fishers
The many faces of biofuel
Biofuels are broadly defined as fuels derived from plants or plant material. They are often thought better than fossil fuels, because as plants grow, they remove carbon dioxide from the air. When we burn them, we return carbon dioxide to the air, but the net effect can be close to zero. [Read more…] about The many faces of biofuel
Offshore wind and marine life
The growing number of offshore wind farms is starting to provide real-world data on the effects of these installations on marine life. Long a source of concern among wind power opponents, the impact of offshore turbines on birds, sea mammals, and various undersea creatures is being carefully monitored at various installations. [Read more…] about Offshore wind and marine life
Listen to the science
I’m amazed at the rancor that surrounds climate change debates. Recently, a local newspaper described some of my experimental work investigating how elevated carbon dioxide affects poison ivy. Like most studies, we found that poison ivy grows faster under high CO2 conditions. [Read more…] about Listen to the science
A grid for the 21st century
We are all familiar with the vulnerabilities of our power system. Events like Hurricane Sandy, the 2011 San Diego blackout, and other widespread outages are all-too common. Our power system depends on centralized generation and long-distance transmission— making it susceptible to massive failures. On an average day, nearly a half million Americans spend at least two hours without electricity. Brownouts and blackouts cost the country up to $188 billion annually. [Read more…] about A grid for the 21st century
Migration: Everybody’s doing it
Birds are famous for migration. Species ranging from ducks to hummingbirds gather in flocks in the autumn to travel to warmer climates—sometimes thousands of miles away. The arctic tern is a champion, traveling 44000 miles each year from northern Canada to the southern tip of South America, and back. [Read more…] about Migration: Everybody’s doing it
Energy from the deep earth
As one digs or drills into the Earth’s crust, temperatures increase at an average rate of about 25 C per kilometer or 60 F per mile. This heat stems from the molten conditions in the deep Earth, where magma is derived from Earth’s formation 4.6 billion years ago. [Read more…] about Energy from the deep earth
Our eye in the sky
Landsat 8, the latest satellite addition to the Earth’s observation system, recently received the ‘all clear’ to begin its 5-year mission recording global coverage of the landscape. And scientists around the world are breathing a collective sigh of relief. [Read more…] about Our eye in the sky
Energy poverty
A new report by a group of international agencies headed by the World Bank concludes that bringing electricity to all of Earth’s citizens by 2030 will require doubling or tripling the current annual spending of $400 billion a year. [Read more…] about Energy poverty
Avoiding a goose in the engine
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When we took to the air with our metal machines over a hundred years ago, the skies weren’t empty. They were full of birds. Orville Wright holds the distinction of being the first pilot to record a bird strike in 1905. Such incidents are now commonplace. [Read more…] about Avoiding a goose in the engine
Experimenting with a day off
In air pollution studies, it’s difficult to perform traditional science. Normally, we can’t stop running a city’s transportation system or power plants to assess the impact on our daily activities. But, inadvertently, we do perform some accidental experiments. [Read more…] about Experimenting with a day off
Vehicle-to-Grid
As the number of electric and plug-in hybrid cars starts to increase, people are thinking about ways to make use of a new potential power resource. Vehicle-to-grid or V2G is a system in which plug-in electric vehicles can communicate back and forth with the power grid in order to deliver electricity into the grid when it is needed and cut back their charging rate when it is scarce. [Read more…] about Vehicle-to-Grid
In defense of carbon dioxide
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A few weeks ago, an editorial appeared in the Wall Street Journal, entitled “In Defense of Carbon Dioxide.” Citing how carbon dioxide stimulates the growth of plants, the authors ask us to lighten up on our criticisms of rising carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere, where it will lead to global warming. [Read more…] about In defense of carbon dioxide
Geoengineering our planet
For years there has been public debate on whether human activity is the cause of global climate change. The consensus view now is that we have changed the climate, but doing so was not our intent. [Read more…] about Geoengineering our planet
When antibacterials go down the drain
