Global warming accounted for around half of the extra hurricane-fueling warmth in the waters of the tropical North Atlantic in 2005, while natural cycles were only a minor factor, according to a new analysis by Kevin Trenberth and Dennis Shea of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The study will appear in the June 27 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, published by the American Geophysical Union. ‘The global warming influence provides a new background level that increases the risk of future enhancements in hurricane activity,’ Trenberth says. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, NCAR’s primary sponsor. The study contradicts recent claims that natural cycles are responsible for the upturn in Atlantic hurricane activity since 1995. It also adds support to the premise that hurricane seasons will become more active as global temperatures rise. Last year produced a record 28 tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic. Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma all reached Category 5 strength. Trenberth and Shea’s research focuses on an increase in ocean temperatures. During much of last year’s hurricane season, sea-surface temperatures across the tropical Atlantic between 10 and 20 degrees north, which is where many Atlantic hurricanes originate, […]
Wearing a condom is not convenient and to many men, it may not be something enjoyable. But a new study released Thursday says consistent use of condoms can help those who are sexually active protect against getting infected with human papillomavirus (HPV). The University of Washington study published in the New England Journal of Medicine says the risk reduction by condoms can be huge, depending on how they are used. HPV is a major factor causing cervical cancer in women while many healthy people can recover from the infection without much of adverse consequences. Condoms can help protect against transmission of H IV and some other sexually transmitted diseases although the protection can never be 100 percent, according to earlier studies. This current study may be the first to have found use of condoms help prevent transmission of HPV between men and women. The study found those women whose partners wore condoms every time they had vaginal sexual intercourse had less than half the rate of HPV infection as did those whose partners used condoms less than 5 percent of the time. The study was meant to investigate the effect of use of condoms by men […]
WASHINGTON — The Earth is the hottest it has been in at least 400 years, probably even longer. The National Academy of Sciences, reaching that conclusion in a broad review of scientific work requested by Congress, reported Thursday that the ‘recent warmth is unprecedented for at least the last 400 years and potentially the last several millennia.’ A panel of top climate scientists told lawmakers that the Earth is running a fever and that ‘human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming.’ Their 155-page report said average global surface temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere rose about 1 degree during the 20th century. The report was requested in November by the chairman of the House Science Committee, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., to address naysayers who question whether global warming is a major threat. Last year, when the House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, launched an investigation of three climate scientists, Boehlert said Barton should try to learn from scientists, not intimidate them. The Bush administration also has maintained that the threat is not severe enough to warrant new pollution controls that the White House says would have cost 5 million Americans […]
A magnetic device that seems to help depression and seizures may also short-circuit migraine headaches in their earliest stages, a new study finds. The transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) device, about the size of a hair dryer, was able to interrupt the development of migraines, according to data to be presented Thursday at the American Headache Society’s annual meeting, in Los Angeles. The study was funded by the device’s maker, NeuraLieve, of Sunnyvale, Calif. About 28 million Americans suffer migraine headaches and about 20 percent experience migraine with aura, characterized by changes in vision before the actual pain begins. Scientists now believe that migraine attacks start because of nerve cell hyper-excitability, which is followed by fatigue and malfunction of the nerve cells, or neurons. These phases seem to correlate with the aura. ‘This process spreads throughout the brain and the end result is the throbbing headache,’ said Dr. Yousef Mohammad, principal investigator of the study and an assistant professor of neurology at Ohio State University Medical Center. ‘If we can interrupt this with two pulses of magnetic stimulation, we can abort the headache,’ he added. The TMS device used in this study is approved […]
It may have been sold as a tax cut package, but the document that President George W. Bush signed into law on May 17 will mean an extra tax bite for many Americans who live abroad. Those expected to feel the most pain are expatriate workers who earn comfortable, but not lavish, livings and semi- retired workers earning some foreign income while drawing U.S. Social Security, pensions and other income from U.S. sources. Many of these expatriates will be pushed into higher U.S. brackets, as will employees and independent professionals in no-tax and low-tax areas like much of the Middle East, some Caribbean nations and Hong Kong. As Steven Horton, a certified public accountant practicing in Paris, put it: ‘The middle class will get hammered.’ Senior employees who collect generous expat benefits, like housing allowances and reimbursement for their children’s school fees, also are expected to have bigger U.S. tax liabilities – but their companies probably will pick up the costs as part of their benefit packages, tax experts said. The new law, however, does contain some good news. The foreign earned- income exclusion, which was under threat of extinction just three […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
