World Tomorrow

A balanced summary on arctic methane

2011-12-20T23:20:00.001+02:00

Summarising different sources of information in a calm way and coming to conclusion that there most likely is no immediate methane catastrophe - but that we do need more scientific data to understand properly what is happening out there.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/arctic-methane-is-catastrophe-imminent/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Perhaps the klathrate melting alarm was too fast

2011-12-18T21:06:00.001+02:00

A less dramatic view on the arctic methane release process exist and is worth checking out. Apparently measurements of methane level in atmosphere are not supporting the view that big changes have taken place recently. Will be interesting to see how this develops

http://j.mp/vQcDFJ

Is the klathrate gun firing?

2011-12-17T11:10:00.003+02:00

Russian and American scientific survey is reporting several up to kilometer diameter locations in the Arctic Sea where methane is getting released to atmosphere. They have found these in the past as well but never in the scale and volume now reported.

Sad to say but this is a logical step in the process where the receding ice cover allows sea to slowly warm and melt previously frozen substances. If and when these substances are ice that binds methane that methane gets released into air. There is a lot of that material down there - enough to warm the atmosphere even more. Warming atmosphere makes that process only stronger, positive feedback running wild.

Is this the beginning of the end of the civilization as we know it?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/methane-discovery-stokes-new-global-warming-fears-shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-releases-greenhouse-gas-6276278.html

Durban results not enough

2011-12-11T23:18:00.000+02:00

So there is a frame for future negotiations and a possibility to set legally binding emission targets for countries.

Great.

However, the results are not enough to prevent 2C rise of temperature from pre-industrialized world say scientists. Going over 2C means irreversible processes kicking in and earth subjected to whole new set of climate conditions. Actions would be needed right now to get a chance to prevent it.

Thinking about legally binding limits I do have some difficulties in understanding how these could be really enforced by the global community. Perhaps the UN could make an embargo or allow military strikes against offending nations? What about countries that did not sign in the first place?

http://m.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/11/durban-climate-change-deal?cat=environment&type=article

Acidification of oceans bad for fish

2011-12-11T21:20:00.000+02:00

Not only coral and oysters will have it difficult when atmospheric CO2 increases towards the projected 1000 ppm or so over the coming one hundred years. CO2 in atmosphere gets soaked up by the oceans making it acid. According to recent studies published in the Nature acidification hits badly the fish when they have not yet grown to be tolerable to acification. End result is that sizable portion of the off spring - well - not to survive. Yet another reason to be worried about the increase of CO2 in atmosphere.

http://www.nature.com/news/acidic-oceans-threaten-fish-1.9607

Antibiotic resistant genes spreading

2011-12-07T20:34:00.000+02:00

Water released from sewage treatment facilities has been found contaminated with genes making bacteria resistant to antibiotic treatment. An unanticipated unwanted side effect of technology.

Are we essentially in the process of creating superbugs or superbacteria against which we have no effective cures or weapons? In quite big scale.

Instead of treating waste better and harder - should we find ways not to create waste in the first place?

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-sewage-treatment-contribute-antibiotic-resistance.html

Hyperwarming of climate possible

2011-11-22T23:07:00.000+02:00

New studies on long term climate changes reaching beyond 2100 suggest several mechanisms that may lead into hyperwarming of the climate. There still is possibility for people do something to make these developments less likely. There are concrete actions outlined and proposed in several climate management protocols. There is still hope. Then again, observing how we handle even lesser and more concrete global & national issues I have to admit that I would not bet my house on resolving this particular issue in elegant and civilised manner.

http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/424048/s/1a2c6df5/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg212283920B30A0A0Ehyperwarming0Eclimate0Ecould0Eturn0Eearths0Epoles0Egreen0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fenvironment/story01.htm

Methane levels increasing since 2007, CO2 at 393 ppm

2011-11-13T08:54:00.000+02:00

According to NOAA data atmospheric methane levels started to rise significantly after 2007. There was a ten year stable period before that.
Levels of CO2 reached unprecedented level of 393 ppm this summer according to latest data by Mauna Loa Observatory of Hawai.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/methane-growing-threat-arctics-changing-climate

Five years left to make change

2011-11-09T21:16:00.000+02:00

To change the course of events leading to 2C increase and more in global temperature we have five years to act according to new report of IEA.

If things continue as they are at the moment by that time we have built enough coal power to make it impossible to change - the increase would be automatic, unavoidable - the ultimate dooms day machine in action.

The 2C increase is generally understood as the point of no return which leads to start of irreversible and increasing changes and further warming.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-world-years-severe-iea.html

What really happens when arctic permafrost thaws

2011-11-06T23:29:00.000+02:00

In a study where the scientists examined what happens when samples of arctic permafrost soil thaw in a laboratory they found that there is an initial burst of methane. However, that subsidises in a couple of days due to methane eating organisms. Unfortunately releasing of CO2 was constant through the experiment.

http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20111106/sc_livescience/frozenmicroscopicworldscomealiveasearthwarms

Republicans vs science?

2011-11-06T17:53:00.000+02:00

Reading the New Scientist about the views and claims of Republican politicians and presidential hopefuls on science is scary.

What would the implications be when such a person would be choosing his or her cabinet members and key administrators? Would it mean - like already happened in Texas - that scientific results not agreeing with policy would be erased?

Less than 2 percent of Members of Congress having professional backgrounds in science is another worrying sign. I certainly do not mean that scientific background should be a requirement. However, it means that the legislature is ill equipped to handle difficult issues e.g. regarding environment where where understanding of scientific methods are important. Especially when almost half of the Members of Congress are lawyers trained to win arguments through rhetoric and selective use of facts.

If the USA was a small country somewhere in - well, anywhere - it would not be such a big issue for us non US subjects. Unfortunately USA still has enormous economic and military power and its decisions have global consequences.

I hope they make good decisions.

The link below may require subscriptio/ registration. Sorry about that

@newscientist: The US is a science powerhouse so why is the status of science in public life so low? http://t.co/ppck82V0

Autonomous military land based robots

2011-11-06T15:09:00.000+02:00

American military developing robots that could be dropped to a remote location to do their business on land. Remote control would be there but would most likely involve latencies making the robot vulnerable. This most likely will require development of some kind of autonomous operation. How far and to what decisions will that extend? Would not like to meet a robot gone crazy thinking I am its target.

http://www.newscientist.com/mobile/article/mg21228376.400-military-robots-can-leave-operators-at-home.html

Next step for Khan Academy

2011-11-06T09:13:00.000+02:00

The Youtube based academy of free learning has got some serious money to take it to the next level. Free learning provided you have access to internet. Does not make everybody equal for getting education around the world but making that a bit more possible,

http://www.hackeducation.com/2011/11/04/khan-academy-gets-5-million-to-expand-faculty-platform-to-build-a-physical-school/

Tablet patents worthless?

2011-10-30T13:55:00.000+02:00

Looks like several parties curremtly using their patents on tablet technologies to get royalties or to prevent other parties of their use may have a problem.Appears many of the items patented may have been publicly available ideas along with some live demonstrations of the said technologies. This may invalidate those patents making the technologies available free for all.

Patent laws being somewhat weird with what can and has been patented this either has or has not practical consequences. Nevertheless, it gives fresh insight into the world of patents and their real use.

Real details in the article http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110428171114719

Climate warming verified through comprehensive analysis of data

2011-10-28T21:47:00.000+03:00

Berkley Earth Surface study has analysed and combined large number of land temperature measurement data sets from different sources and is reporting that they agree on warming climate. One third of the data points show decrease but two thirds increase. Local variations mean that some places may be cooling even if as a whole climate is steadily warming up.

http://planetsave.com/2011/10/23/global-warming-is-real-says-new-comprehensive-study/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-planetsave+%28Planetsave%29

Dreaming? They know what you dream - awake or asleep - eventually

2011-10-27T20:20:00.000+03:00

First tests on identifyig what a sleeping person is dreaming about have been successfully conducted. Or at least the results have been promising even if the test was difficult in itself. There has already been quite a few promising studies with fully awake people.

I suspect there are quite a few hurdles ahead in these studies bit it may be that in principle, it is only about perfecting these techniques so that the equipment will be available in hospitals - or other institutions - for the benefit of man kind.

Still I feel that the risk of my privacy getting compromised in the best (or worst) scifi fashion in some (hopefully very) distant future has increased.

http://www.newscientist.com/mobile/article/dn20934-dreams-read-by-brain-scanner-for-the-first-time.html

Will there be consumers after global productivity improvements have minimised workforce size?

2011-10-23T14:58:00.000+03:00

Improving productivity leads into not needing the same number of people to produce the same amount of output as before. While improving productivity you create more and better with less.

Provided that there are no new industries created that can employ the people made redundant through improved efficiency we may end up in a dilemma: all those factories (and lawyers, translators, journalists etc) creating all that stuff - but ever increasing part of the population unemployed and not having means to consume.

Theory has been that new industries get created and people go there. But is the speed of change these days too fast for this to really help? Are the new industries and occupations such that they require very high level of education? And even there the time when basically everybody have a chance is not that long, pretty soon somebody finds the winning recipe and consolidates, walks over the competition and leverages on global resources.

The topic handled in length in the bog entry" Its Not China; Its Efficiency That Is Killing Our Jobs" at http://t.co/8u0sz9pO - interesting reading

Life on earth finished 1883 - almost

2011-10-17T20:35:00.000+03:00

According to a new analysis of observations made1883 in a Mexican observatory it is possible that planet Earth missed an impact with a few thousand Tunguska meteor sized objects by a few hundred kilometers. Had we got all those comet fragments on us - or on our ancestors - we probably would no be here now speculating about the possibility. Logic of the paper appears quite possible. Living in an interesting world where not all problems are always of human origin.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/27264/

Deleting scientific information not consistent with policy

2011-10-16T09:07:00.000+03:00

According to news Texas environmental officials have erased references to climate change from a scientific study on the grounds that the data was not consistent with policy.

The scientists that produced the report demand that their names are taken away from the report as the editing changes it fundamentally. The scientsts say that the data on climate change, rise of sea level and human impacts was not new but been already available through peer reviewed scientific journals.

Thinking about the heavy reliance of human kind on sience and technology it is alarming to learn over and over again how politicians are cherry picking what they want and do not want to use from scientific information.

Unfortunately we cannot blame the politicians only as in democratic societies it is us, the public, who have chosen those guys in office.

@EI_Climate: #climate US scientists accuse Perry officials of censorship: AFP http://t.co/4HTQI9m5 *should be imprisoned, not Pres

Global food price fluctuations linked to biofuels and speculation

2011-10-07T20:43:00.000+03:00

Modeling different factors impacting global food prices is strongly suggesting two key contributors

- conversion of remarkable portion of certain food crops from human consumption to bio fuel use
- influx of speculative money to crops markets

with the above the models show similar behaviour as has actually been observed.

http://m.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/10/food-price-rises/

Rapidly vanishing arctic ice

2011-10-02T08:30:00.000+03:00

An alarming Time piece reminding on the warming of the planet - or to be more precise - on the warming of Arctic which they say is observable in near real time. Arctic has warmed up since the 50s about four times more than the planet average over the whole 20th century. That is melting the ice so that this year the extent was second smallest in the record (2007 was smallest) but volume now is lowest ever. Low volume means thinner ice making next season most likely to start already with lower amount of ice than usual. And the dark ice free surface of Arctic Ocean has already absorbed warmth so that only exceptionally cold winters could start changing the trend. Some are estimating that we could have completely ice free Arctic Ocean before 2030. Would mean a few changes elsewhere as well.

@ClimateReality: Researchers warn that in the Arctic, the effects of climate change are visible "almost in real time" http://ow.ly/6G7t1

Autonomous and lethal on purpose

2011-10-01T11:29:00.001+03:00

Military scientists are hot on the development of autonomous killing machines - things that do not require remote control as the current versions do. You set the target and let it loose. I trust nothing here can go wrong, wrong, wrong..

http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/24/droning-on-towards-destiny/

Mechanical military pack animal

2011-10-01T08:44:00.000+03:00

A legged robot able to carry 200 kg equipment over difficult terrain has been demonstrated on a DARPA sanctioned video. The thing is called AlphaDog and appears to be next evolution phase from an earlier design.

No doubt it will eventually have other applications than simply carrying heavy equipment for the foot soldiers. I remember that once upon a time flying drones were only providing intelligence from enemy side.

@Alltop_science: Video: DARPA's AlphaDog Gets Up, Scrambles Over Rocks and Runs http://t.co/vgW64IiR Science.alltop

Minimising extinctions

2011-09-29T19:58:00.000+03:00

A model has been created to assist spending conservation money wisely in climate change. The intent is to minimiose mass extinctions.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/climate-extinction.html#cr

Minimising means to limit the extinctions. Not to prevent.

Integrating brain and computer chip

2011-09-27T20:34:00.000+03:00

Part or a rat's brain has been replaced with computer circuitry in a succesful experiment where the rat started to show simple basic learning functions when the chip was connected - and not without.
It seems conceivable that larger and larger parts could be replaced as technology improves and experience grows for instance to help people with brain injuries.
The Borg of Star Trek are perhaps not as far fetched science fiction after all. Provided that research can continue a few decades still.
RT @newscientist: Rise of the (rat) cyborg: Rodent gets a digital cerebellum http://t.co/5wFMn6Pu

Faster than light detected at CERN

2011-09-24T21:39:00.000+03:00

Every now and then there are sensational claims from reputable sources. There has been cold fusion, there has been signs of extra terrestial life and others which have then kind of faded away..

Now CERN is reporting on an experiment that has detected neutrinos cruising faster than speed of light.

If proven true by independent experiments this is big thing for physics - and all man kind. We have been constrained in this speed of light bubble for ages, denying even serious thinking of near instant communication over astronomical distances let alone travel.

If proven right there is some serious work to be done before practical applications are available. Neutrinos do not have mass and may be difficult to create and direct to speed up a rocket ship. And speeding something up from non relativistic speed to close to speed of light requires more and more energy.

It may well be that in the end speed of light will still be limit for us and the mechanisms that create neutrinos exceeding speed of light will be beyond our capabilities.

RT @washingtonpost: Before standing-room-only crowd, scientist explains observation: Particles that travel faster than light http://t.co/ik3L7MC0

Green and not so green in China

2011-09-18T10:55:00.000+03:00

Solar power technology is one of the possibilities to lessen our dependency on fossil fuels and the problems coming from their utilization starting from coal mines and oil platforms all the way to exhaust pipes of cars and factory chimneys spewing out green house gases that warm the environment.
Solar power should be the ultimate green technology converting sun's rays directly to electricity. And there has been good progress during last few years. And China is on the forefront of that development having gained an impressive slice of market.
Unfortunately it appears that at least in some cases progress has had and may still have a dark side as well. In the news of Reuters a photovoltaic company has been violating environmental regulations to the extent that local villagers are now rioting against it because of the damage pollution is causing to a river

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/18/us-china-solar-plant-protest-idUSTRE78H0FL20110918?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2Fenvironment+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Environment%29

In all fairness, there is no way to say if this is standard practice or isolated incident. Nevertheless, one gets worried.

Arctic ice volume record low

2011-09-03T20:50:00.000+03:00

According to NSCID report published August 16, 2011 even if the area of ice cover in Arctic is close but not quite at the record low level of 2007, it is thinner resulting in record low volume of ice. Melting season is still on for a few weeks more and what eventually happens depends now on weather.
Anyway, record low ice volume is not a good starting point for the next season. To get back to the same volume and area one would need a much colder winter that the last one. Starting the next melting season with less ice would not be a good thing and would increase the likelihood of a vicious circle of diminishing ice cover and warming Arctic waters
It may make it easier for all kinds of prospectors to access minerals and oil now protected by permafrost and ice - but it will make life quite challenging for people who are impacted by the consequences of changing climate.

Getting electricity from bug wings to power remote controls

2011-09-03T19:21:00.000+03:00

Bugs are only bugs and I have no big worries if I have to eliminate a troublesome individual if needed.

But I still feel quite uncomfortable about the research which is aiming at turning some of them into remote controlled cyborgs by inserting electrodes inside of them - and as in the linked article - making them to generate electricity needed to keep the control circuitry operational.

Sure, application of these technologies may help people with injuries in the future but I am worried about potential of more sinister usage as well.

Source @Alltop_science: Cyborg Beetles' Neural Implants Could Suck Power From Bugs' Wing Beats http://t.co/t63jBqj Science.alltop

Driverless car made 175 miles in real traffic in China

2011-08-13T08:53:00.000+03:00

Looks like the technology in moving fast. According to the article http://bit.ly/pf4fhs a Chinese driverless car was able to succesfully drive between two cities on an express way in the middle of traffic using its radar and video sensors only.

It could be that an express way is a special case and easier for algorithms than a winding dirt road through small villages full of random life.

But sounds like eventually this could actually be a feature in high end car cruise control. Perhaps not applicable for all roads and terrains but for highways or so only in the beginning.

3D printing is changing the world

2011-08-03T23:11:00.000+03:00

As the New Scientiast article suggests 3D printing may change a lot or everything when age old limits of tools and materials are broken and just about anything that can be described by computer can be created in material of choice

The technology that changes everything - tech - 03 August 2011 - New Scientist: http://t.co/3npEHLj

Million robots in three years at Foxconn

2011-08-01T18:25:00.000+03:00

They have currently 10 000 robots in place but intend to multiply that up to million units in only three years to save on production costs.

Source: @deantak: Foxconn plans to create a million robots to replace workers within three years | VentureBeat: http://t.co/GkK3WIF via @AddThis

Third of Russian permafrost gone by mid century

2011-07-29T21:38:00.000+03:00

Considerable amounts of greenhouse gases will get released to atmosphere increasing climate warming during the coming few decades. With impact on infrastructure, transportation and industry as well according to the Discovery article.

http://bit.ly/ndreIp

Physics behind extreme weather events

2011-07-26T00:02:00.000+03:00

Scientific American article (one of a series) highlights some physical mechanisms behind weather getting more extreme when climate gets warmer. The comment thread of the article is also worth checking.

"Global Warming and the Science of Extreme Weather": Scientific American http://j.mp/rfMeBk

Extreme weather myths busted

2011-07-25T01:02:00.000+03:00

Article in The Washington Post http://wapo.st/o6dqhB addresses the following five myths

1) This summer has been hotter than normal - well, yes but the same apparently applies to global average land temperature over three hundred consecutive months before that. Each has been warmer than 20th centtury average for that month. So this summer records will probably be beaten soon.

2) Hundred year weather events occur once a century - Apparently we have to recalibrate what happens every 100 years. Extreme droughts and floods that previously were thought to have 1% probability of yearly occurence seem now to be happening far more often than that.

3) extreme floods and droughts cannot both be due to climate change - according to climate models they can. And observations are strongly suggesting that what we are already witnessing is precisely this.

4) An extra one or two degrees in temperature is not a big deal - Actually it is. Even in Fahrenheit but very much so in Centigrade when we are talking about global averages. And here observations support theory nicely: the increase is there mostpart during a few last months.

5) Everyone complains about weather but nobody is doing anything - There are plenty of projects and parties doing good work.. However more is needed.,

Military researching synthetic telepathy for battlefield use

2011-07-24T09:39:00.000+03:00

Mind reading helmet connected to radio transmitter is a key goal of the research funded by US military. It would make communicating in difficult operational situations fast and effective. And - provided that the opponents are not able to intercept and decode the radio transmissions in real time -hidden.

Then there naturally are generic radio communication problems like poor propagation through obstacles like buildings and in caves. Risk of getting triangulated by your transmission signal etc. But the ability to sendi the message without having to open your mouth, without having to press a button and without any background noise certainly is an advantage in many situations.

Research is showing promise. Even if the systems are not quite near a helmet size (you need a full blown laboratory) and even if accuracy to pick words from brain is far far from perfect (slightly better than fifty-fifty for a limited set of simple phrases) they report making progress.

The Discover article http://m.discovermagazine.com/2011/apr/15-armys-bold-plan-turn-soldiers-into-telepaths/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C= is citing 100% success when morse code instead of words or sentences is been used.

Operational language of the military is terse, consensed, simplified. Thus it should be easier to read than everyday abstract thoughts.

But then there may be some practical problems: how do you make a difference between only thinking "fire the missiles to x.y" and actually ordering the same thing for real? Physical old fashioned act of opening your mouth or pressing a button are convenient safeguards between planning and acting. But without them the mind - especially when preparing a critical act - can create "interesting" results which in military context can be fatal.

According to the article the researchers are not too keen to discuss their work in public since they have experienced that the ethical questions raised are distracting their work. Even if they maintain that unethical use of the technology seems impossible as the subjects must willingly cooperate to calibrate the systems for use in the first place.

Arctic July 2011 started 6 to 8 degrees warmer than normal

2011-07-24T00:28:00.000+03:00

If the "heatwave" remains in place the 2007 record low Arctic sea ice will be easirly broken in September 2011 when ice is at its yearly minimum before winter.

Hopefully the winter in Arctic will be record cold for a few winters to neutralise the impact of this summer. Otherwise we are deeper and deeper in a positive Arctic and global warming feedback loop.

Source: @EI_Climate: #climate 'Heatwave' in Arctic decimating sea ice: Mongabay http://j.mp/qyVn8O Arctic sea ice could hit a record low by the end of the sum...

Alps are losing glaciers, Europe getting thirsty

2011-07-22T17:52:00.000+03:00

Glaciers have retreated for the last 150 years quite steadily with visible increse of speed since 1980s.

Impact of receding glaciers to major European rivers is bigger than previously understood is the result of a recent study published in "Water Resources Research".

The ability of the glaciers to buffer water between wet and cold seasons and warm and dry seasons is decreasing.

Even in the unlike best case climate scenario the glaciers are bound to decrease by 70% by end of the century. The flow of water from them is expected to increase up until around 2050 due to increased melting but then start to decrease as the size of remaining glaciers shrink further.

The forecast indicates challenges including water shortages. And clear need to manage well the water and its usage.

Source: @Earth_News: Alpine glacier retreat pushing Europe closer to water crisis http://bit.ly/p40fmI @guardian

Will our civilization end in a vast methane blurp as may have happened 200M years ago?

2011-07-22T15:32:00.000+03:00

A recent paleoechology paper in Science suggests that volcanic activity 200 million years ago may only have been a trigger but not direct cause of mass extinctions that took place. CO2 from volcanoes started warming of climate and the seas. And that warming then caused ice crystals holdin methane in the oceans to melt releasing increasing and ultimately vast quantities of the gas into the atmosphere in a positive feedback loop. More methane in the atmosphere means more warming.

The paper is careful in stating that the world today is different than then and that direct parallelisms cannot be drawn.

However, measurements are showing steady long term warming of the climate and oceans. Ice free regions in the arctic are increasing making it easier for sun radiation to absorb and warm the sea even more. Permafrost is thawing in the northern regions. And there are huge amounts of methane under the seas bound to ice still.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-07-paleoecologists-mass-extinction-due-huge.html

Insect cyborgs in the lab

2011-07-22T08:46:00.000+03:00

Balloon assisted flight of radio controlled biobot has been reported. The thing is an integration of a real live insect and electronics circuitry. Sure it probably is linked to research of finding better ways to treat humans, e.g. how to better intgrate artificial limbs etc.

Still, the experiment described feels quite controversial and even terrifying. What are the limits for the experiments? Are these for research only? What kind of animal/machine mixtures are we creating?

Source: @Alltop_science: NCBI ROFL: Bionic insect cyborgs: 90% insect, 10% robot, 100% terrifying. http://bit.ly/pEee3Y Science.alltop

Robots coming to the workplace

2011-07-22T08:26:00.000+03:00

Robots are qualifying for more jobs all the time. Not only blue collar jobs but white collar as well. They are not only supporting human beings but increasingly replacing them. The impact is not as big as that of off shoring work -yet. But with improvements in the technology it certainly is increasing. Types of work range currently from manual tasks like cutting timber to size and sealing windshields to "higher level" tasks like surgical operations and digesting and processing legal documentation. And more is coming.

Source: @Newsweek: "Robots continue to have an impact on blue-collar jobs, and white-collar jobs are under attack by microprocessors." http://bit.ly/nL4qjs

Maximum sustainable yield fishing may not be sustainable

2011-07-22T07:53:00.000+03:00

Food chain interconnections in the marine ecosystems have not been well known and still are not fully clear. Nevertheless, research is suggesting that the maximum sustainable yields defined for fisheries may be too high. This means that fishing up to those limits, intended to protect sustainable fishing, may actually remove too much fish from the food chain and lead to collapse of the fishery ecosystem.

The Time article is also pointing out that fish farming at the moment is not the solution to sustainable fishing since most species farmed for human consumption require other fish as their food - in substantial quantities.

Source: @TIME: We're really screwing up the food chain | http://ti.me/pSXZJN

Even if we stopped greenhouse gas emissions now the sea level will rise

2011-07-21T16:42:00.000+03:00

University of Arizona study indicates that the warming of seas and polar ice sheets will continue even if we made radical cuts in the emissions in near future. They estimate that the rise is up to three feet in a century and mainly coming from melting of the polar ice sheets. For some centuries to come.

Source: @EI_Climate: #climate Sea levels could rise for centuries to come: Summit Voice http://j.mp/pJGT4S Ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic will probabl...

East African famine may be linked to global warming

2011-07-21T00:26:00.000+03:00

Frequency of droughts seems to have been increasing in East Africa denying people time to recover from the previous one. Extreme weather conditions happening more often is expected from warming climate. Hard data analysis is missing but the link appears plausible.

Other factors contributing to famine now are local conflicts and high food prices. Global warming and biofuel industry can be linked to rising food prices.

Appears that there are also some problems in getting outside world to rapidly come up with additional funds needed to prevent starvation.

Source: @EI_Climate: #climate Tens of thousands starving to death in East Africa: Mongabay http://j.mp/qWwXp0 - coming to your neighorbood as ecocide hits

Competition for minerals under oceans

2011-07-21T00:06:00.000+03:00

The Chinese are starting experiments with a manned submersible Jiaolong in the international waters between Hawai and North America. They intend to reach the depth of 5000 meters. Ultimate target is to create capability to utilize minerals hidden in the deep sea floor to support the industries of China with raw materials.

http://mobile2.wsj.com/device/article.php?CALL_URL=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304567604576455930556290432.html?

One can only hope that future mining of minerals under deep seas is done so that we once again do not destroy something that we really do not understand yet.

US biofuel subsidies driving up price of food

2011-07-20T19:20:00.000+03:00

Corn and soybean are increasingly used to produce ethanol for biofuels encouraged by government subsidies. This is putting more demand on the limited availability of the crops - and driving the prices upwards. Even if wheat is not used as biofuel its price is linked to the price of corn the Guardian article says.

Source: @EI_Climate: #climate Biofuel demand in US driving higher food prices, says report: Guardian http://j.mp/nFTcqn - what sort of evil empire burns food

Removing an entire species from food chain with industrial efficiency and destabilising whole ecosystem

2011-07-19T22:22:00.000+03:00

Menhaden was once common and abundant fish in the US coastal waters. It was easy to catch in big quantities and even if it was not that suitable for human consumption it was used even before colonisation as a very useful fertilizer.

After WWII catching the fish became extremely efficient and effective industry with surveillance planes spotting menhaden schools in the sea for boats to go and take. There were many companies. There were many boats and planes.

It did not take many years until it became more and more difficult to find the fish. The menhaden stock collapsed. The companies merged, stopped and bankrupted.

At the moment there effectively is only one company remaining and continuing to suck menhaden from the sea. Fortunately the operation is restricted to one state on the Atlantic coast only, Virginia. Other states have banned fishing it.

The role of menhaden is critical in the coastal ecosystem / food chain. It is effectively purifying the water from excess plankton that feeds off the fertile waters of estuaries - and farms. And it isan important source of food for number of predatory fish.

Dwindling menhaden stock has been linked both to increase of oxygen depleted dead zones and to lack of nourishment and poor health of predatory fish along the east coast of USA.

Once again we have not understood the fragile interdependencies between different species sharing the world we live in. Being at the very top of the food chain we should be very cautious in endangering the existence of any species. We depend on them in ways we often do not really understand until it may be too late.
-----

Source: @GuamGuy: Annihilate An Entire Species of Fish, and Other Easy Ways To Really Mess Things Up http://tpt.to/adh3Fk #eco // A most troubling read

Ice free Arctic Sea summer by 2030

2011-07-17T10:32:00.001+03:00

Extent and volume of Arctic Sea ice is record low and data is indicating a downward spiral with high likelihood of ice free summers for Arctic Sea by 2030.

Source: @GuamGuy: Arctic ice at record low: NSIDC director Serreze: 'ice free summer by 2030/downward spiral' http://tpt.to/adm269

One third of shark species in danger of extinction

2011-07-17T08:39:00.000+03:00

70 million sharks get killed yearly for their fins. The rest is thrown back to sea as the fin is 100 times more valuable to the fishermen due to high demand of shark-fin soup. And with increasing number of wealthy Chinese the market for a traditional luxury food like shark-fin soup has increased as well.

Additionally tens of millions of sharks are estimated to get killed as by product of fishing other species like tuna.

Third of the species are under threat of extinction according to estimate of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The humans are far far bigger threat to sharks than sharks ever have been to humans.

Killing off a key predator like shark will have substantial impact for the ocean ecosystems. Especially thinking that they have been around for hundreds of millions of years.

According to the Time article
http://ti.me/poBu36 there are signs of rising awareness on cruelty and waste in shark-fin soup business with some countries banning the trade of shark fin products. And some influential Asians talking against the soup. But it may very well be too late and too little.

One third of shark species in danger of extinction

2011-07-17T08:25:00.000+03:00

Additionally tens of millions of sharks are estimated to get killed as by product of fishing other species like tuna.

Killing off a key predator like shark will have substantial impact for the ocean ecosystems. Especially thinking that they have been around for hundreds of millions of years.

Insurance industry tells global warming takes place

2011-07-16T18:27:00.000+03:00

2011 will be a record year of extreme weather disasters according to insurance companies. Factoring out increase of amount of insured property in areas naturally prone to difficult weather and regular cyclic climate patterns like El Nino / La Nina there still is a steady long term increasing trend attributed to global warming. Cost of insurance will rise.

http://ow.ly/5EpC3

Google may be bad for your memory

2011-07-15T07:54:00.000+03:00

A Columbia University study is suggesting that the use of Google is fundamentally changing the way we think. Memorizing information is replaced by learning how to find that ingormation via Google or other search engines.

http://zd.net/qhXtSo

Are there implications to higher learning, creativity,getting Alzheimer or anything else? The analysis is not ready yet.

Disturbing balance in Nature by killing top predators

2011-07-15T07:41:00.000+03:00

Serious knock-on effects from removing big predators from the top of the food chain reported in a recent Science issue and summarised in The Time article http://ti.me/nXUOBB.

Volves, sharks, cougars and others seem to have far reaching impact to the ecosystems they interact with which is seen when they are removed or significantly reduced.

Everything is connected but some species even more than others.

Health of oceans requires immediate actions on CO2

2011-07-14T09:32:00.000+03:00

Marine scientists who convened at University of Oxford under came to conclusion that climate change is already impacting eco systems in the oceans and that urgent CO2 cuts are needed.

The IPS article http://j.mp/oxpiph gives highlights in a clear Q&A format.

Fighting the spread of Sahara with a "Green Wall"

2011-07-14T07:14:00.000+03:00

Pan-African initiative launched 2007 is targeting to create a 15 km wide band of trees over the7500 km between Dakar in the west and Djibouti in the east to prevent desertification. The Time / Worldcrunch article http://ti.me/oRmMBG concentrates on Senegal, which is reported being the first of the eleven participating countries with concrete action and results.

The goals are important and noble - and vital for the long term existence of the countries. The approach taken by the Senegalese sounds realistic: trying to make the forest denser where possible, develop water retention and create natural reserves for fauna. All these should start helping local communities and transfer the Pan-African project into something that has real concrete value for people. That would be the key to scale up and perpetuate the process.

The work is of very long term, requiring unbreaking commitment year after year. Some of the countries involved are among the poorest in the world with a number of immediate short term emergencies to address. All this will not make success easy.

Warming oceans cannot hold as much carbon dioxide

2011-07-14T05:36:00.000+03:00

Important sink for atmospheric CO2 is getting weaker due to warming of the oceans according to study published in July. The scientists were able to cut through natural ocean variations by using a very long set of observational data starting 1981 and ending 2009 in North Atlantic area. Further studies in other regions and further improvements of the data sets are certainly needed as suggested by the scientists involved.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-07-ocean-carbon-dioxide-uptake-climate.html

However, the results are yet another indicator that warming climate will have feedback loops that most likely intensify the change. And that we may be observing some of these already.

Hopefully countries are not waiting with their actions until final conclusive scientific evidence is on the table as at that moment it will be too late. Nature's processes would have kicked in and the search for a new equilibrium would have started in a grand scale where human actions will have no impact whatsoever.

Tropics as or more vulnerable to global warming than polar regions?

2011-07-12T09:01:00.000+03:00

Species in tropics are in general specialised to the fairly constant level of temperature in their habitat around the year. Thus even small changes may be critical for them whereas species like polar bears can adapt to freezing cold and warm summers (at least to some degree).

Chances of migration for tropical species may be limited as the temperature there is mostly linked to elevation. In essence you can migrate higher up along a mountain - but in the end the top of the mountain will be the limit.

According to the Yale360 article http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_worlds_tropical_forests_are_already_feeling_the_heat/2397/ extreme heat conditions already have caused several recorded mass deaths of tropical animals. Warming climate is increasing the frequency of these events.

The article contains wealth of additional information very much worth checking.

Amazon species put into a future climate simulation

2011-07-12T08:21:00.000+03:00

An experiment with 25, 50 and 100 years from now simulated climate is starting. The purpose is to gain insight into the consequences of climate change especially on Amazon flora and fauna but in general as well. This is no computer simulation but uses real species captured from Amazon area and real rooms with contolled climate mimicing the estimated future conditions there.

This naturally does not tell the whole story of climate change as the experiment does not consider - at least I think it does not - the fact that the changing climate will make the species try to migrate to new places that probably are being vacated by their occupants as it is getting too hot or humid or dry or something for them. So mass migrations are to be expected in the nature as well.

Anyway, it will be interesting to learn what has happened to the Amazonian plants, insects, fish and other species after the "Adapta" experiment has been completed in the end of the year or so.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/07/species-placed-in-simulator-of-earths-future-climate.php?campaign=th_rss_science

Sustainable fishing may be possible in the Dutch way

2011-07-11T23:30:00.000+03:00

Cooperation between national retailers and NGOs has shown promise towards establishing sustainable fishing and fisheries in the Netherlands. Retailes were cautious of getting earmarked bad by Greenpeace and were elemental in setting a target where the wild fish sold would come from MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) approves fisheries only by end of 2012. Parliament agreed on support to that end and the results so far are promising. The concept is reported to show promise in places like Japan and Viet Nam as well.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/11/netherlands-sustainable-fishing?cat=environment&type=article

it is excellent to be able to make a note on positive developments when most of the news and stories caught are more and more depressing. Still, there is doubt and uncertainty. This will not change the world but perhaps this is a sign of many small positive things that add up into something big and truly meaningful.

Europe is depleting its fisheries

2011-07-11T08:41:00.000+03:00

It took six months this year for EU to need to rely on imported fish for its consumption, had all fish eaten so far been from EU fisheries. The EU Fish Dependency date this year was 2 July when last year it was 9 July. For some countries it was already in April or May. Estimated total catch was 200 000 tonness less than last year.

Europe is increasingly overfishing and consuming more than what the fisheries produce leading into dangerous practice risking collapse of the fisheries and the industy. And extending similar pressure on foreign fisheries as well.

According to The Independent article http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/huge-demand-for-fish-empties-british-waters-in-just-six-months-2311656.html European Fisheries Commissioner is now going to propose changes to Common Fisheries Policy. Hopefully it will result in improvements toward sustainable use of fisheries.

However, thinking about huge gap between current usage and what probably would be sustainable I am not optimistic. Perhaps we should in a radical way move from using wild fish to farmed fish. We have generally not been hunting for our meat for ages so why should we go after the wild fish either, especially in a big industrial way when we see that the stocks are not there?

June 2011 second lowest arctic ice cover in 32 years

2011-07-10T21:08:00.000+03:00

June 2007 had all time lowest. General trend over individual highs and lows points towards steady diminishing of arctic ice cover - and diminishing of volume of the ice. The article points to several additional pages worth checking out - including a site of warming sceptics.

http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/news-you-cant-use-about-arctic-ice-climate-change/

Global food security impacted by warming, melting glaciers

2011-07-10T09:16:00.000+03:00

Major food production sustaining rivers have their sources in high places with "eternal" ice and snow like Tibet, Himalaya, Andes, Sierra Nevada, Alps and such.

These sources of water are receding. For some time this may mean more irrigation water but eventually, if the events roll on as they seem to be doing, the glaciers will dry out. No more water from that direction for agriculture.

There is evidence that in several places aquifers are used faster than they are replenished, meaning that there is alimit to pumping water up from underground as well.

It has been estimated that by the end of the century sea level may rise due to polar melting and heat expansion by about two meters. Rise of one meter only will submerge substantial amount of global rice growing lowlands.

The future painted by the article http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56384 based on a book by Lester R Brown is grim and covers more nuances and details than highlighted above.

Plastic in the oceans killing whales

2011-07-10T08:42:00.000+03:00

Whales with hundreds of kilos of plastic debris in their stomacs have been reported stranded. Extent of the problem is not clear as all whale carcasses are not routinely examined in detail everywhere. However, the future looks bad since it has been found that whales like to feed in so called convergence zones formed by winds and currents - the places where plastic litter concentrates as well.

http://bit.ly/p31NVO

Agent Orange used to clear Amazon forests

2011-07-10T08:23:00.000+03:00

Vietnam War era chemicals are used as a discreet way of getting rid of forests in Amazon. Its use is harder to control than logging teams.

http://tinyurl.com/3ggeuyy.

It is difficult to see how the defoliated areas can be safely used as the chemical had some seriois side effects.

Four degrees more by end of century means apocalypse

2011-07-09T18:12:00.000+03:00

World will be able to carry less than a billion people if temperature increases by four degrees of centigrade by the end of the century according to scientists participating a conference on the topic in Melbourne. That is substantial drop from the estimated nine billion expected to be around by 2050 according to population growth extrapolations and will mean mass deaths, wars, coflicts, desperate migrations - all the bad things we certainly do not want to experience. And do not want our children to experience. That four centigrade increase appears to be, according to the Sydney Morning Herald articles, what happens if Australia reduces its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by 2020 and the rest of the world does as they have promised. Not that comforting forecast. Really hoping that the sceptics are right but have not seen credible material to support their views.

The articles in Sydney Morning Herald

http://j.mp/oF7uye THE last time the world was four degrees warmer than today .

http://j.mp/ojicdu Too hot to handle: Can we afford a 4-degree rise?: THERE is only one way to frame tomor...

Antimicrobial soaps and wipes making more bad than good?

2011-07-09T14:21:00.000+03:00

Scientific evidence is accordin to the Scientific American article http://bit.ly/l2gNn2 is suggesting that the good old soap properly used is for most people as effective as new antimicrobial materials. However, with people who already are weakened by ilness the new materials do not help but make the situation worse. It could be that the good old soap targets more the "bad" microbes on the skin and the new materials take away the "good" as well. Residues of the antimicrobial chemicals do certainly find their way to sewage and environment in general.

Several signs of global warming 2010

2011-07-09T10:57:00.000+03:00

NOAA State of the Climate 2010 report puts forward a number of evidences on intensifying global warming. summarised by Yale University blog http://j.mp/qMHJSJ

(found the link in a rweet of @EI_Climate)

Keys of population control

2011-07-09T06:06:00.000+03:00

Improving country's economy, ensuring education to girls and making contraceptives easily available have been found key ingredients in reducing family sizes and fighting population growth. Sustained political will and communal support are critical for success since family planning as such can be highly sensitive topic.

The Nature article http://ow.ly/5A78L is focusing on Rwanda but discusses experiences of Ghana and Bangladesh as well.

(found the article via a tweet of @yourdon)

Beginning of end for European Biodiesel Industry?

2011-07-09T00:40:00.000+03:00

EU studies show indirect negative impacts of biodiesel production largely negate the few positive gains. Land to be used for biodiesel need to be compensated by clearing new land for food crops elsewhere. This process will release sustantial amount of greenhouse gases.

According to Reuters the studies may be awkward for EU as they point out that the policy adopted 2003 has been wrong. This may be the reason EU did not provide the documents that nevertheless were subsequently leaked to Reuters.

http://reut.rs/qznwkz

Paperless schools in South Korea 2015

2011-07-08T08:31:00.000+03:00

Tablets are going to replace textbooks and paper in Korean schools by 2015 according to recently announced plan. Material will be delivered via cloud.

http://m.engadget.com/nock/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/03/south-korea-plans-to-convert-all-textbooks-to-digital-swap-back/&category=classic&postPage=1

Paperless schools in South Korea 2015

2011-07-08T07:05:00.000+03:00

Tablets are going to replace textbooks and paper in Korean schools by 2015 according to recently announced plan. Material will be delivered via cloud.

http://m.engadget.com/nock/article.do?artUrl=http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/03/south-korea-plans-to-convert-all-textbooks-to-digital-swap-back/&category=classic&postPage=1

Struggle for arctic riches - Russia planning to extend to north

2011-07-07T06:56:00.000+03:00

State backed news agency is reporting on plan to submit an application to United Nations to redraw Russia's northern boundary to include the underwater mineral rich Lomonosov ridge. This is likely to be challenged by other major Arctic players: US, Canada, Norway and Denmark.

http://ind.pn/pWyZqk

Yet another sign of commercial interests rising, big investments being prepared and done when warming climate is making previously ice locked minerals accessible.

Sarawak to double palm oil plantations by 2020

2011-07-07T06:32:00.000+03:00

Despite growing concerns about the impact of biofuel production on ecology and society the government of Sarawak has confirmed that they intend to keep their plan of converting one million hectares of indigenous people allocated land into oil palm plantations by 2020. Complaints by forest dependent people have typically not been succesful in these matters - not even in courts.

http://j.mp/r4hGMk

Water shortage in China increases cost of fuel

2011-07-07T01:10:00.000+03:00

Increased use of diesel generators in China is making the fuel less abundantly available - and more costly around the globe. This is because lack of water impacts directly hydroelectric and indirectly coal power.

Interesting reading http://t.co/L9u69AB

"Global warming good for Greenland"

2011-07-06T08:43:00.000+03:00

Melting ice opens mining opportunities in places that have been inaccessible under thick layer of ice before. Regulations hindering prospecting of radioactive ore in Greenland have been amended. Various companies from all corners of earth are increasing their activities in what is dubbed as "white gold rush" to find and claim promising mining opportunities.

According to The Guardian article http://j.mp/ncHw7m the sentiment amongst Greenland officials is that global warming is good for the country since it helps open its vast mineral resources for exploitation.

There are some references in the article to new and planned mining operations in Finland as well. They no doubt are real but are perhaps not in right context in the article. There is no permanent ice in Finland that is now melting and making mining possible so these are not directly linked to global warming.

Yellowstone oil spill

2011-07-05T10:44:00.000+03:00

Nature protection areas may not always be as protected as one would like them to be. In Yellowstone there is a crude oil pipe that has leaked into the river. Appears the scope is not yet fully clear but at least 159000 liters (1000 barrels) is in the river from the 20 years old Exxon Mobil Corp. pipeline.

http://on.msnbc.com/jqXfbj

Sulphur emissions from increased Chinese coal usage delayed global warming - temporarily

2011-07-05T00:40:00.000+03:00

Massive increase in the usage of coal by the Chinese during the first ten years of 21st century has produced peak in atmospheric sulphur. This acts as shield against sun's rays and can counterbalance the warming effect of carbon dioxide. This may explain the slowing down of global warming reported. If true this was a temporary delay only since atmospheric sulphur is short lived whereas carbon dioxide long living. Sulphur will fade away and not get replenished as carbon based power plants are being improved to reduce sulphur emissions due to their toxicity.

http://tw.physorg.com/229016674

When climate warms nature protection areas may need to adjust

2011-07-04T23:10:00.001+03:00

Species are likely to try migrate north from their protection areas to keep with the climate they need. This is will lead into conflicts between humans and the nature as the natural migration paths and suitable areas of relocation are most likely already occupied.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/preserving-land-for-northward-migration/?smid=tw-nytenvironment&seid=auto

Consequences of climate change are many - and there will be surprises.

Multiple stresses on oceans adding up to rapid ocean degradation

2011-07-04T11:54:00.000+03:00

Many marine species can be extinct within a generation due to different environmental stresses adding up to more than their sum total. Global warming, acidification of oceans related to increasing carbon dioxide emissions , overfishing, icreasing oxygen depletion zones in seas, polar melting, increasing pollution.. Degradation of oceans in taking place faster than thought before was the conclusion of the scientist who gathered at Univeristy of Oxford in April.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/oceans-are-at-dire-risk-team-of-scientists-warns/

China depleting its aquifers too fast

2011-06-30T18:11:00.001+03:00

Northern plains wheat production is reported to use ground water faster than it replenishes. More effective water usage may not be enough to reach sustainable state even if different options of water management are being investigated.
http://m.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/28/china-food-water?cat=environment&type=article
Only difficult and more difficult options ahead.

Oil and water shortages leading to wars and unrest - by 2025 or earlier

2011-06-30T17:02:00.000+03:00

According to a Canadian Defence forces long term vision study currently in reviews by senior staff there is no doubt about climate warming taking place and - along with oil energy getting less abundant - will cause rising tensions and wars within 15 years or so.

http://www.canada.com/mobile/story.html?id=5019945

Reflecting on the news items and various studies circulated on practically daily basis the conclusions of the Canadian study are by no means a surprise. But when wrapped into an armed forces memorandum it is kind of chilling reminder of "real politik" - preparation for a different world where competition for survival will be different from today.

It is getting warmer in the USA

2011-06-30T14:22:00.000+03:00

According to NOAA the 30 year period ending 2010 has been warmer than corresponding period ending 2000. Winters getting even more warmer than the summers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/warm-is-the-new-norm/2011/06/29/AGEEpyqH_blog.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost

Severe dry season in East Africa

2011-06-29T12:01:00.000+03:00

60 year record drought and rising cost of food is pushing people to hunger and unrest in several East African countries like Kenya, Somali and Ethiopia. This was highligted by UN this tuesday.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gACog4nDVD8yZ8RDDjs4FQjHII4g?docId=CNG.679c18672b4f8f02b892135db0d2dc79.d1

Will there be a new Band Aid or something similar? Or are all too deep in their own trouble to really bother? What would be an action that would really make a difference - not a short term quick fix? Stopping change of climate or changing the governments? Sending food may certainly be needed but structural changes to make the countries genuinely self supporting is a must.

Warming oceans are destabilising marine ecosystems

2011-06-29T07:57:00.000+03:00

Warming oceans are causing largest movement of marine species in two million years and changing the ecosystems with unforeseen consequences.

On top of the continuing movement of southern species like portuguese man of war further to North Atlantic there has been an influx of Pacific species taking a short cut through the passage north of Canada, from Alaska to West Greenland.

That passage has been open - first time for thousands of years - in 1998, 2007 and 2010 allowing different sizes of species between plankton and grey whales to migrate to Atlantic. With expected future warming the passage will be open more and more frequently allowing even more to come over.

These new species are now invading new territories and fighting for food with their existing occupants, changing the delicate northern webs of food chains. It is claimed that there already are clear signs of change.

And there will no doubt be serious consequences to existing commercial fisheries and the whole marine environment.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/8598597/Warming-oceans-cause-largest-movement-of-marine-species-in-two-million-years.html

So we are living exciting times. Nature will certainly find a new balance - but what that will be and when it will be reached will be quite interesting to say the least.

Global food system under severe strain

2011-06-26T09:47:00.000+03:00

Excellent NYT article on history and future of Green Revolution linked to global warming. About diminishing land area for crops due to new cities, about using irrigation water faster than water tables replenish, about need to have long term sustainable investment in finding crop varieties that withstand the warming and other extreme conditions ahead, about unrest rising already from rising food prices impacting a number of poorer countries.. Well worth reading even if will not make one feel particularly good.

Link to the article on http://bit.ly/in7SF1

Real money available for ideas how to get to another star

2011-06-25T09:46:00.000+03:00

The advanced research unit of US defence (DARPA) in setting up a competition on ideas how to make travel to other stars possible. Winner will get half a million dollars intended as seed to develop the idea further.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-06-pentagon-star-trek-interstellar.html

Cars will drive us where we want - hopefully

2011-06-24T17:34:00.000+03:00

According to the article "Volkswagon Shows Off Self-Driving Auto-Pilot For Cars - Slashdot" - http://j.mp/k4ial6 there have been good promising results from Google's and Audi's tests. And now Volkswagen is working on this as well.

Automatic parking function available in some cars today as well as systems to warn on veering off your lane could be seen as early glimpses of the technology that is being developed.

No doubt there are quite some challenges ahead still before autonomous cars are the norm - and all these are not technical.

Record dry 2011 in Europe hitting crops

2011-06-14T00:06:00.000+03:00

Dry weather impacting agriculture in many places of Europe.

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/06/13/13climatewire-europe-braces-for-serious-crop-losses-blacko-30023.html?smid=tw-nytenvironment&seid=auto

A pill to keep one young

2011-06-11T20:53:00.000+03:00

A leading aging researcher is suggesting that in ten or so years it is plausible to have pills available which with minimal side effects would extend life by five to ten years.

Already there has been experiment with mice where they renewed within a couple of months from human equivalent age of 80 to making baby mice again.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2002362/Forever-young-The-pill-youthful.html

CO2 emissions record high 2010

2011-06-11T13:09:00.000+03:00

Last year the CO2 emissions were higher than ever. Majority came from developed countries but biggest increases were made by China and India. It does not look promising thinking that we are coming closer and closer the yearly emission of 32 Gt/year which would cause warming of 2C if reached before 2020. Last year we hit 30.6 Gt and the increase to 2009 was 1.6 Gt.

http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/05/co2_emissions_climb_to_alltime.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+news%2Frss%2Fnewsblog+%28News+Blog+-+Blog+Posts%29

The thing with 2C and beyond temperature change is that certain mechanisms start to kick in and irreversible changes take place. At least in the time perspective of humans...

Seriously overfished

2011-06-06T23:36:00.000+03:00

The graphs visualise the change in fish stocks from 1900 to today. And it is substantial. The article points out that the attempts to restore the statu quo level of 20 years ago, which is a natural tendency over generations is flawed. The seas were over exploited already then. The futile attempts make the already unsatisfactory targets somehow good enouigh which they are not. And as the target is missed anyway, the base level gets more and more wrong every new generation.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jun/03/fish-stocks-information-beautiful?cat=news&type=article

Phising contributing RSA / Lockheed security breach

2011-06-04T09:52:00.000+03:00

Social media like Twitter or Facebook is being used increasingly as "innovator" for more sophisticated phising. Possibly contributing to the security breach at Lockheed and RSA.

One certainly has to be very careful about the messages one opens, especially thinking how ridicuously easy it is to fake the sender of an email.

Is this going to be the end of email as we know it? Do we need to start checking origin and safety of mail contents by phoning the sender first? Or are we finally going to implement the strong measures to automatically verify origins of messages and trustworthiness of web sites?

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=798974&single=1&f=24

Reading your inner thoughts

2011-06-01T23:35:00.000+03:00

This is getting scary. Looks like the scientists are dechiphering how speaking gets translated into motoric movements that in the end make sounds, audible voice. They have been able to identify what happens in brain before that. Meaning that they are close to being able to identify what you are saying inside of your head as you often "talk to yourself". Generating sounds is then only an extension of that process. So, thinking about Moore's Law this means that there is a likelyhood - far higher than zero - that by 2025 you can buy an affordable mind reader from eBay...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21028141.600-mind-readers-eavesdropping-on-your-inner-voice.html?full=true

Food crisis

2011-06-01T21:37:00.000+03:00

A short summary of and link to an Oxfam article on what is likely to take place: soaring price of food attributed among other things to "first world" excesses, trading on food options/futures & other financial gimmics and subsidising biofuels over food crops.

http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/06/01/the-looming-global-food-crisis-are-the-worlds-elites-to-blame/#0_undefined,0_

Rising sea levels will impact beyond coastal areas

2011-05-31T23:25:00.001+03:00

Yes, people will not remain in the coastal areas getting submerged. They will try to find new place to live in causing considerable migration movements with impacts in the target areas. The study attempts to analyse this using four areas in the USA as case studies.

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/05/27/human.impacts.rising.oceans.will.extend.well.beyond.coasts

Mind reading - or almost

2011-05-26T20:48:00.001+03:00

A system to identify a mental state has been created but its sophistication - at least for the time being - is not up to identifying what exactly a person is thinkig. Then again, in a controlled experiment they were quite good in identifying which of a few alternatives a person was thinking when the system had first been calibrated for these in advance.

http://www.newscientist.com/mobile/article/dn20516-mindreading-scan-identifies-simple-thoughts.html

Tohuku eartquake increases likelihood or other earthquakes in Japan

2011-05-25T20:43:00.000+03:00

The quake may have relieved tension at one place but increased it elsewhere say the scientists who have used the extensive data gatherewd on the Tohuku eargquake March 2011. For example the likelihood of a big one on Tokyo has increased according to the study. And the after shocks are bound to last months and years.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-japan-earthquake-quake-country.html

Tornadoes linked to climate change

2011-05-24T20:51:00.000+03:00

Appears today several web articles have linked the abundance of violent tornadoes to warming climate. The link below is an example.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/24/tornadoes-more-common-climate-change?cat=world&type=article

Arctic ice melting alarming pace

2011-05-23T08:20:00.000+03:00

There has been so many articles on faster than anticipated melting and higher than forecasted sea level rise that it is hard to keep up on whic reference point people are talking about.

Nevertheless, the linked article has many powerful points on the changing of the climate. And it sure does not look good.

http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=11-P13-00018&segmentID=1

Technologies with disruptive power

2011-05-22T19:31:00.000+03:00

The article was originally published in New Scientist and highlights some technologies that may have profound impact on society.

Robotravel where a person is represented by a robotic device at another location in real time. Videocamera and microphone - a teleconference - on wheels would be an interesting experience to have. And even more when robotic technology develops further taking human like forms.

Augmented cities where additional information is overlaid on a view you see when looking at buildings and other objects through special glasses or mobile phone camera. A proactive Google/wikipedia/whatever search on top of whatever you look at.

Evolution techniques and genetic algorithms to come up with new inventions and innovations automatically. Apparently these are already changing the fields of robot locomotion, computer security and drug design. Will be breaking into new fields of knowledge as our abilities to model problems and power available in our computers increase.

3D printers to create objects on demand. Already in use in fairly small scale but breakig into new fields. Perhaps one day one can even create replacement organs for oneself - but missing and lost replacement parts for rare equipment anyway. And when the costs of these devices drop to hobbyist level - well, limit is only the imagination of crowds and zillions of individuals. What would be the Linux of 3D printing like?

Direct interfaces betweem brain and machines. Well, this has vast possibilities but also potential of limitless ethical difficulties. Contolling or being controlled by? Being human or something else. Cyborgs, borgs.. Pandora's box of difficult existential and practical questions will be wide open.

Drawing forecasts from tweets and blogs and such available in real time in internet. Getting the mood of the planet and extrapolating what will happen next. What people are interested in, what they are afraid of - and what they most likely are going to buy or vote now. What will be the stock market this afternoon like?

And using digital wallets based on your mobile phone and near field communications technology. Bypassing credit card companies, perhaps banks as well. Possibly turning your mobile operator into your bank in a bigway. In some parts of the world this has already happened.

Interesting and thought provoking items. Each having real world applications already so we are not talking about pure science fiction - but things that have made to some extent their proofs of concept and seeking now productification and wide user bases.

http://sports.tmcnet.com/news/2011/05/14/5510168.htm

Future is interesting and hard to predict.