| Research teams spend the summer picking through the "Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch" It isn't the most picturesque of locations, but a number of scientists spent their summer taking in the 25.9-million-square-kilometer oval of the Pacific Ocean known as the North Subtropical Gyre, or "Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch," located about 1,600 kilometers off California's coast. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Frozen Antarctic lakes yield new viruses In the chilly depths of one of Antarctica's freshwater lakes, a surprising number of novel viruses thrive. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Is Algae Worse than Corn for Biofuels? Growing algae for use in biofuels has a greater environmental impact than sources such as corn, switch grass and canola, researchers found in the first life-cycle assessment of algae growth.Interest in algae-based biofuels has blossomed in the past year, sparking major investments from Exxon Mobil Corp. and Dow Chemical Co. , and it has gained steam on Capitol Hill, as well. But the nascent industry has major environmental hurdles to overcome before ramping up production, according to research published this week in Environmental Science and Technology . [More] rss.sciam.com |
Diminutive, but not disappeared: Rare dwarf lemur rediscovered 100 years after last sighting Last week, we told you about some of the bad news in Madagascar, a nation whose political troubles have created a thriving illegal economy for rare wildlife species. But here's some good news from that same country: a species of lemur not seen in 100 years has been rediscovered . [More] rss.sciam.com |
In the Market for Pollution: Carbon Trade or Carbon Con? NEW YORK--A company recycles a product, doing its part for the environment through reuse, only to be told it's worth more to destroy it. Welcome to the wonderful world of the carbon market, especially for a company that deals in refrigerants.These gases, culprits in no less than two environmental crimes--the ozone hole and climate change--are required to efficiently cool your food and beverages. Yet, chlorofluorocarbons, to give them their proper name, are potent molecules that both exacerbate the blanket of greenhouse gases warming the world as well as chew up the stratospheric ozone layer protecting the planet's inhabitants from excess doses of ultraviolet sunlight. [More] Climate change - Ozone layer - Greenhouse gas - Environment - Chlorofluorocarbon rss.sciam.com |