WASHINGTON - Lower levels of oxygen in the Earth’s oceans, particularly off the United States’ Pacific Northwest coast, could be another sign of fundamental changes linked to global climate change, scientists say. They warn that the oceans’ complex undersea ecosystems and fragile food chains could be disrupted. In some spots off Washington state and Oregon, the almost complete absence of oxygen has left piles of Dungeness crab carcasses littering the ocean floor, killed off 25-year-old sea stars, crippled colonies of sea anemones and produced mats of potentially noxious bacteria that thrive in such conditions. Areas of hypoxia, or low oxygen, have long existed in the deep ocean. These areas - in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans - appear to be spreading, however, covering more square miles, creeping toward the surface and in some places, such as the Pacific Northwest, encroaching on the continental shelf within sight of the coastline. ‘The depletion of oxygen levels in all three oceans is striking,’ said Gregory Johnson, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. In some spots, such as off the Southern California coast, oxygen levels have dropped roughly 20 percent over the past […]
China’s central bank chief laid the groundwork for an appreciation of the renminbi at the weekend when he described the current dollar peg as temporary, striking a more emollient tone after months of tough opposition in Beijing to a shift in exchange rate policy. BEIJING — Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, gave the strongest hint yet from a senior official that China would abandon the unofficial dollar peg, in place since mid-2008. He said it was a ‘special policy to weather the financial crisis. ‘This is a part of our package of policies for dealing with the global financial crisis. Sooner or later, we will exit the policies. Mr Zhou’s comments contrasted with recent Chinese comments on its currency policy in the face of international criticism that the renminbi was undervalued. In December, premier Wen Jiabao said: ‘We will not yield to any pressure of any form forcing us to appreciate. Chinese officials have repeatedly emphasised the need for a stable exchange rate. However, while the recent increase in consumer prices in China has strengthened the hand of those officials who think the currency should now rise, it is not clear that […]
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A team of scientists at MIT have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through minuscule wires known as carbon nanotubes. The discovery could lead to a new way of producing electricity, the researchers say. The phenomenon, described as thermopower waves, ‘opens up a new area of energy research, which is rare,’ says Michael Strano, MIT’s Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, who was the senior author of a paper describing the new findings that appeared in Nature Materials on March 7. The lead author was Wonjoon Choi, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering. Like a collection of flotsam propelled along the surface by waves traveling across the ocean, it turns out that a thermal wave - a moving pulse of heat - traveling along a microscopic wire can drive electrons along, creating an electrical current. The key ingredient in the recipe is carbon nanotubes - submicroscopic hollow tubes made of a chicken-wire-like lattice of carbon atoms. These tubes, just a few billionths of a meter (nanometers) in diameter, are part of a family of novel carbon molecules, including buckyballs and graphene sheets, that […]
Divine Command: Many creationists believe only God has the power to effect the climate. Critics of the practice of teaching evolution in science classrooms are taking up a new strategy: going after the teaching of global warming. By linking the global warming debate with these other issues, proponents of the legislation have a two-pronged motive. First, it strengthens their legal argument. Courts have ruled that singling out evolution for criticism violates the separation of church and state, so going after global warming gives them a broader agenda and thus opens a legal loophole. Second, by riding the coattails of rising public doubt about climate science, creationists hope to legitimize their stance against the scientific establishment in general. ‘Wherever there is a battle over evolution now, there is a secondary battle to diminish other hot-button issues like Big Bang and, increasingly, climate change. It is all about casting doubt on the veracity of science – to say it is just one view of the world, just another story, no better or more valid than fundamentalism,’ physicist Lawrence M. Krauss of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State University told the New York Times. And the bill in Kentucky […]
If the sign says ‘Catholic,’ then, by golly, it had better be by-the-book Catholic. That’s what U.S. bishops and agency heads are saying as they make moves across the country to ensure the Church’s directives, particularly on marriage and sexuality are followed to the letter by everyone who flies the brand flag. Today’s news is that Catholic Charities in the five-county Archdiocese of Washington D.C. will no longer offer health insurance to spouses of new employees (current employees on the plan retain the benefit). It’s timed to the legalization of same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia, which takes effect this week, and the announcement that neighboring Maryland recognize gay marriages performed out of state. Catholic Charities, which gets 22 million from the District, has already spun off foster care services rather than confront rules that allow gay foster parents. According to The Washington Post’s William Wan, the agency’s president, Edward J. Orzechowski said these moves allow the agency to … continue providing services, comply with the city’s new requirements and remain faithful to the church’s teaching. When Germany’s Joseph Ratzinger became the new Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, he named Archbishop […]
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Remote Viewing the Year 2060
