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In an effort to urge the Environmental Protection Agency to ‘cease its carbon dioxide reduction policies, programs, and regulations until climate data and global warming science are substantiated’ the Utah House of Representatives has passed a resolution (HRJ012) which basically states the climate change in a conspiracy and efforts to stop it will bankrupt the nation and are precursors to global governance. SolveClimate has a more level-headed, newsy interpretation of events, but here’s a more heated dissection of what I can only describe as an absurdist collective outburst: In addition to urging the EPA to do everything in quotes above, it all urges withdrawal of the ‘endangerment finding’, which basically states that CO2 is a form of pollution that can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. By All Means, Let’s Talk About the EPA Regulating CO2 Which is fine. If the duly elected representatives of the people of Utah think differently that the EPA on this that’s fine and good. The discussion of whether or not direct EPA action is the best way to combat climate change is an important one, and personally I’m not decided one way or the other on it. But I Really […]

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Tobacco plants could help wean the world from fossil fuels, according to scientists from the University of California, Berkeley. In a paper in the journal ACS Nano Letters, Matt Francis and his colleagues used genetically engineered bacteria to produce the building blocks for artificial photovoltaic and photochemical cells. The technique could be more environmentally friendly than traditional methods of making solar cells and could lead to cheap, temporary and biodegradable solar cells. ‘Over billions of years, evolution has established exactly the right distances between chromophore to allow them to collect and use light from the sun with unparalleled efficiency,’ said Francis. ‘We are trying to mimic these finely tuned systems using the tobacco mosaic virus.’ Synthetic solar cells don’t just grow on tobacco plants. They have to be programmed to grow on tobacco plants. Reprogramming every cell of a mature tobacco plant would be a massive undertaking for human scientists. For the tobacco mosaic virus, however, reprogramming adult tobacco cells to produce tiny structures the plant normally would not make is what the virus does best. The scientists tweak a few genes in the virus, spray it over a crop of tobacco plants, and wait. […]

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I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Google’s adding some fiber into its diet. Hang on, now: The G-Gang isn’t backed up, so to speak. We’re talking fiber-optics here — the stuff of high-speed Internet glory. Google Broadband InternetGoogle, you see, has just announced plans to build a series of uberfast broadband networks in cities across America. The Google broadband service would bring speeds up to a hundred times faster than what we currently use, the crew from Mountain View says, and it’d all be delivered directly to our homes. So what’s the deal? Are the days of independent ISPs behind us? Is the Internet about to change forever? Is Google finally turning evil and taking over the world? Hey, these kinds of questions always come up when Google reveals big plans. But not to fear, my compadres — we’ve got some answers. Eleven of ’em, in fact. Read on. 1. What exactly will Google’s broadband network do? Google’s broadband network will bring a faster form of Internet access to a handful of U.S. communities. Right now, it’s described as an experimental project, so it’ll reach only a small number of places to start. 2. […]

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Mothers can teach their children much about the world, but some mothers can do it without ever meeting their young. Take the field cricket Gryllus pennsylvanicus. A female cricket isn’t exactly a caring mother. Once she lays her eggs, she abandons them to their fate. But amazingly, she can also forewarn her young of the dangers they might face. If a pregnant female is exposed to a wolf spider, her experiences affect her unborn young. When they hatch, the baby crickets are more likely to freeze when they smell wolf spiders nearby. Cricket.jpgIf mothers sense a threat in their environment, there are clear advantages in being able to prepare her young to face those threats. Over the last decade or so, scientists have discovered that many animal and plant mothers do exactly this, even before their young are born. If pregnant water fleas are exposed to the smell of a predatory midge, they produce young that are armed with larger ‘crowns-of-thorn’, defensive spiky helmets that make them difficult mouthfuls. In the same way, aphids produce more winged offspring if they sense danger. Even the humble radish can generate a generation with sharp, spiky hairs. In all of these […]

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