| Need to Sniff Out Water Pollution? Call in the Dogs To the long list of jobs that dogs do for humans, add another: the detection of water pollution.Meet Sable, a German shepherd mix with a nose for sewage . [More] rss.sciam.com |
Can A Number Solve the Climate Change Conundrum? Author Bill McKibben never saw this coming. Founder of 350.org, an environmental campaign aimed at holding atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations below 350 parts-per-million, McKibben sent word that this Saturday would be the day to take to the streets.The call went viral in ways far beyond anything McKibben and fellow organizers imagined: As of Thursday morning some 4,317 actions and rallies are planned in 171 countries, with 300 events in China, 1500 across the United States, 500-plus in Central and South America. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Recommended: Secrets of the Universe: How We Discovered the Cosmos Secrets of the Universe: How We Discovered the Cosmos by Paul Murdin. University of Chicago Press, 2009 [More] rss.sciam.com |
Awash in Awareness: Knowing a Product's "Water Footprint" May Help Consumers Conserve H2O If you think your morning cup of joe only has 12 ounces (35 centiliters) of water in it, you're sorely mistaken--it has closer to 40 gallons (150 liters). Conservation scientists say it's time consumers become aware of the quantity and source of water that goes into growing, manufacturing and shipping food. [More] rss.sciam.com |
Laying Odds on the Apocalypse: Experts Assess Doomsday (preview) With all due respect to T. S. Eliot, maybe the world really does end with a bang, not a whimper. Whether of our own creation (nuclear holocaust) or of nature’s (asteroid impact), plenty of cataclysms could doom civilization--perhaps even putting the survival of the species in jeopardy. We assessed the likelihood of several doomsday scenarios, from oft-discussed threats such as climate change to more fanciful ideas such as quantum fluctuations that would destroy our universe. The probabilities listed here are not scientific fact--an impossible goal when estimating the possibility of unprecedented events--but informed conjecture based on researchers’ expert opinions. We also relied on those opinions to approximate how catastrophic each event would be, ranging from 1 (localized chaos) to 10 (good-bye, universe). KILLER PANDEMIC [More] Climate change - Environment - T. S. Eliot - Species - Probability rss.sciam.com |