Teams from The Boeing Company in Huntington Beach, California, Lockheed Martin in Palmdale, California, and Northrop Grumman in El Segundo, California have come together and spent the last year studying how to reach the goals of NASA to build and develop a technology that will allow any forms of future aircrafts to use up fifty percent less fuel that current aircrafts that they have been using since 1998. They are also exploring how to integrate 75 percent fewer harmful emissions, and how to ultimately shrink the size of any geographic areas that are affected by excessive airport noise by 83 percent in total.

These flying machines, which they dub as “leaner and greener” are on tap for the year 2025. The three industry teams are currently under contract to the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project.

“The real challenge is we want to accomplish all these things simultaneously,” said ERA project manager Fay Collier in their press release. “It’s never been done before. We looked at some very difficult metrics and tried to push all those metrics down at the same time.”

The three teams have been awarded just under $11 million by NASA to put this challenge to work. They are assessing what kinds of aircraft designs and technologies could help reach the goals for the fuel use, emissions, and noise. The companies have just given NASA their results.

They are currently looking through the studies and seeing what their next steps are.

The Boeing Company’s advanced aircraft concept is built around the company’s signature blended wing body design that is also used in the sub-scale remotely piloted X-48. The X-48 has has been both wind tunnel tested at NASA’s Langley Research Center, as well as flown at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. A notable aspect of these design, compared to the others and the current airplanes that are used, is the placement of its Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines. These engines are placed on top of the plane’s back end, and flanked by two vertical tails to shield people on the ground from engine noise. In addition to the different placement of the engines, the aircraft also features an advanced lightweight, damage tolerant, composite structure; various technologies for reducing airframe noise; advanced flight controls; hybrid laminar flow control, which is a design to help reduce the amount of drag; and long-span wings which improve fuel efficiency.

Conversely, Lockheed Martin explored the aircraft from a different angle. The team proposed a completely different design, including box wings, which means the front wing is mounted on the lower belly of the plane and is joined at the tips to an aft wing mounted on top of the plane. The crew at Martin have studied the box wing concept for three decades, but has not put anything into fruition as they have been waiting for lightweight composite materials, landing gear technologies, hybrid laminar flow and other tools to make it a viable configuration. The proposal combines the unique design with a Rolls Royce Liberty Works Ultra Fan Engine, which has a bypass ratio that is approximately five times greater than current engines, spanning over current limits of turbofan technology.

The third company, Northrop Grumman, took some of their company history, aiming for the previous 1930s and 40s designs, which a flying wing reminiscent of its B-2 aircraft. The concept includes four high-bypass engines, provided by Rolls Royce and embedded in the upper surface of the aerodynamically efficient wing would provide noise shielding. Because of the company’s expertise in building planes without the benefit of a stabilizing tail, this ideally would be transferred to the commercial airline market. Their version of the aircraft also incorporates advanced composite materials and engine and swept wing laminar flow control technologies.

The three studies have revealed that though NASA’s three goals (to reduce emissions, fuel consumption, and noise), are doable but definitely a challenge. Though the three preliminary designs from The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman have all met the goal of reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides by 50 percent, the other two challenges (noise and fuel consumption) are still under research. They did have a reduction in fuel consumption (about fifty percent), but the noise aspect isn’t yet under control.

“All of the teams have done really great work during this conceptual design study,” say Mark Mangelsdorf, ERA Project chief engineer. “Their results make me excited about how interesting and different the airplanes on the airport ramp could look in 20 years. Another great result of the study is that they have really helped us focus where to invest our research dollars over the next few years,” he said.

NASA’s ERA project officials do believe that all of the goals can be met if small gains in noise and fuel consumption reduction can be achieved, in addition to those projected in the industry studies. The results of the three tests have brought forth research and conclusions on the current technology and design hurdles that airline manufacturers are facing in trying to design these leaner, greener flying machines. In turn, this will ultimately help guide NASA’s environmentally responsible aviation investment strategy for the second half of its six-year project.

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It can definitely be a challenge for some to reduce their household food waste. After all, we don’t tend to be terribly mindful of what we are tossing. It’s something we just do, especially during food-focused times of year, like the winter holidays.

There have been many studies published about food waste in the world. Last May, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations published a document, Global Food Losses and Food Waste, outlining the details about how the world connects with food waste.

Basically, consumers in North America and Europe toss about 209 to 253 pounds of food per person every year. Considering that according to the USDA the average American eats 4.7 pounds of food per day, the amount of food waste would feed each person for about two months at a time. Overall, one third of the food production for human consumption is lost, as well. Even developing countries tend to waste about the same.

However, the biggest difference is where the food waste occurs. While in industrialized countries, a lot of the waste is had at the retail and consumer levels, developing countries tend to lose it at the postharvest and processing level. So in other words, while we toss good food, theirs is spoiling. Our standards for appearance (really, Appearance Quality Standards causes human-grade to be exchanged for animal feed because it doesn’t “look” good (IE an oddly shaped potato).

Since in the United States food waste is at about 40 percent, it’s important to try to be more mindful of what we can do to change that. A 2002 study of American households indicated that families tossed out about fourteen percent of their food. While this number may seem low, that equates to about six hundred dollars per year–a significant chunk for most folks.

Food waste also impacts the national energy policy. A study from 2010 outlines that energy that is in the food waste exceeds what is available from most popular “efficiency” programs, such as the annual ethanol production output from drilling in the outer continental shelf. An estimated 300 million barrels of oil per year (equivalent to about four percent of the total oil) was used to for the production and transportation of food that was, you guessed it, wasted in some form.

Yes, food waste is a growing concern, and chances are, we all partake somehow. Here’s some ideas on how to change some of your routine in 2012.

• Grow your own vegetables, herbs, and fruit at home, and use these items first.
• Plan your meals for the week, see what you already have in the fridge, freezer, and pantry, then base a shopping list on how to round it out.
• Learn to store fruits and vegetables properly.
• Visit the local market and/or use a CSA farmer for some go-to weekly items.
• Visit the market every few days, purchase fresh food, and shop at the grocery store only for staples.
• Look for good quality, well-grown fruits and veggies… and who cares how they look?
• Buy bulk in terms of items that aren’t as perishable, such as grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes. Buy what you need for the upcoming meals, and you can also store nuts, seeds, and grains in the freezer for longevity.
• Eat and enjoy leftovers, or freeze them.
• Save vegetable and herb scraps for soup stock.
• Be mindful of what you are eating.

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According to researchers from the Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER), the University of Massachusetts, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the harsh winters that are currently evoked in the Northern Hemisphere could be caused by increasing temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic regions creates more snowfall and cold weather in the the later fall months at lower latitudes.

The team found that the strongest cooling trends in the winter were located with in the United States, southern Canada, and most of northern Eurasia. They believe that this is not entirely due in part by the natural variability of the climate system.

Previously, research has not come up with many solutions to extremely harsh, random weather conditions, such as unforeseen snowfall in more tropical areas. Instead, this new research suggests that because there has been a trend of increasingly cold winters over the last twenty years, it could be connected to the warmer temperature in the fall, skewing with what is a normal weather pattern. This causes temperatures to plummet in the winter season.

Through their studies, the team found that when there was a strong warming weather through summery July, August, and September, and then this continued through October and November, it seems to enhance the melting of sea ice in the Arctic.

In turn, this warmer weather, along with the melting of the sea ice, allowed the atmosphere in the Arctic to hold much more moisture. As a result, there is an increase in the possibility of precipitation over southern areas, such as Eurasia. This, then, falls as snow because of the temperatures are below freezing. This is also backed by the fact that over the last two decades, the snowfall has increased in the areas that were studied.

The group of researchers believe that because there is an increase in the snow cover, it affects the Arctic Oscillation. The Arctic Oscillation is an atmospheric pressure pattern that is found in the mid-latitudes to high latitudes, which causes it is remain in the “negative phase”.

This “negative phase” means that there is higher pressure over the Arctic region, which has  pushes cold air into the mid-latitude regions. Among these mid-latitude regions are the United States and northern Canada, which is why the colder winters are observed.

The researchers don’t doubt the facts we already know: the world is getting warmer. And yes, just because of the cold winters, it doesn’t mean that the warmer temperatures aren’t favored. However, they also believe that because there is more snow, this is somehow related. As it continues to get warmer in the fall, the snow will soon turn into rain, which may reduce and eventually eliminate winter cooling altogether.

One of the clearest reasons that there has been no research and activity on this done in the past is that most climate models do not pick up the rends in winter cooling, accounting for the snow cover. This study, then, focusing on the importance of snow cover, has brought this issue forward, which will now improve future accuracy of seasonal forecasts.

The research shows that by using the snow cover as a main focus in the seasonal forecast, it can provide a more accurate forecast overall. The current models fail to do this, and miss one of the most (or, perhaps, the most) important factors that relates to the influence of winter.

The study was published January 13, in the Institute of Physics Publishing’s journal Environmental Research Letters.

Researchers at the University of Miami discovered what might be causing these, notably, triggered by hurricanes and typhoons, and other tropical cyclones.

Scientists Shimon Wdowinski presented his findings at the 2011 AGU Fall Meeting in San Fransisco. As an associate research professor of Marine Geology and Geophysics at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, he has found this research information helpful and, perhaps, ground breaking.

The biggest trigger, they discovered, are events that end up producing large amounts of rain. The heavy type of rain can create thousands and thousands of landslides, which, in turn, creates severe erosion. This removes ground material from the Earth’s surface. When this occurs, there is not as much of a stress load, and all of a sudden, fault lines are encouraged to move.

Wdowinski, along with a colleague from Florida International University, took the time to analyze various data that stemmed from earthquakes topping a magnitude-6 and above. They specifically focused on earthquakes that hailed from Taiwan and Haiti. The duo found  a strong temporal relationship between the earthquakes, typhoons, and hurricanes. Basically, large, impactful earthquakes were occurring within four years after a particularly wet tropical cyclone season.

In the last fifty years there were three tropical cyclone events that were very wet. They were Typhoon Morakot, Typhoon Herb, and Typhoon Flossie. All three were followed within four years by major earthquakes in Taiwan’s mountainous regions.

The Morakot typhoon, which was in 2009, was followed by a M-6.2 earthquake that same year, and an M-6.4 in 2010. Over a decade before, the 1996 Typhoon Herb was followed by an M-6.2 earthquake in 1998 and an M-7.6 in 1999. Years before, the 1969 Typhoon Flossie had an  M-6.2 earthquake occur a few years later in 1972.

With these in mind, so does Haiti. In 2010, the M-7 earthquake occurred in the mountainous region just one and a half years following  two hurricanes, as well as two tropical storms, that completely flooded the area over a matter of twenty-five days.

The researchers involved in the study suggest that these landslides and excess rain results in eroded material being carried downstream. The result is that the surface load that is generally above the fault is decreased. This frees up the faults, which, in turn, can promote the activity of an earthquake.

The faults, which are actually fractures in Earth’s bedrock, build up stress as they try to make their way to slide past each other, periodically releasing the stress. This release of stress comes to fruition as an earthquake. In this case, it only is viable on any faults that are inclined, because have an significant vertical movement that is triggered.

There is a trend in the tropical cyclone/hurrican and earthquake patterning that exists in any earthquakes that are above M-5. Because of this newly found information, researchers can further analyze the various patterns in other areas that are struck by both natural disasters.

For more information, visit the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science.

The researchers looked at about three hundred stars using the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, with follow-up completed at the Fairborn Observatory in Arizona and the McDonald Observatory in Texas. They focused their research on what are called “retired” stars. These A-type stars are more than one and a half times more massive than the sun, and are just past the prime in their life, which is why they are retired. Now, they are puffing into what is called a subgiant star.

Until now, however, scientists have not fully been able to understand exactly how these changes in size take place.

Dr Andrew Hirst and his team from Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences explore this fascinating shrinking effect in more deatils, as well as determine how it actually happens in their study featured in the journal The American Naturalist.

The study was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. To test their theories, the team used data based on marine planktonic copepods. These tiny crustaceans are the main animal plankton that reside in the world’s oceans. They are also the important grazers of small plankton, as well as a necessary food source for larger fish, as well as birds and marine mammals.

More than forty years of total research has been put toward studying how the effect of differing temperatures affect these organisms. The team’s results show that growth rate (which is basically how quickly that the mass on their bodies is accumulated), and development rate (how fast the individual passes through the different life stages) are consistently decoupled in a range of pieces. Development is more of a factor when related to temperature than growth is.

Through the research, the team found that the growth and development increase at different rates as the temperature grows warmer. The problem with this is that when the warmer temperatures are reached, the species grows faster… but their development rate is even quicker. This means that they end up achieving a smaller adult size as the cycle continues.

The research team also found that by decoupling these rates, it could have important consequences for the individual species and the ecosystems that they reside in.

These interesting findings suggest that the rates that are fundamental to all organisms may not alter properly as the world becomes warmer. These rates include mortality, reproduction, and feeding, and if they fall out of sync, there many be consequences for the various species.

In truth, the team’s recent findings do disagree with previous discoveries that many macro-ecologists have found in the fast. They explain that, instead, these smaller sizes are associated with the “temperature-size rule” previously noted.

Hirst and his crew from Queen Mary’s School of Biological and Chemical Sciences hope that these findings and their ongoing work will help those who are researching the potential impact of climate change on the natural world.

According to researchers, light-skinned people who avoid sun exposure are twice as likely to develop vitamin D deficiency. The study followed 6,000 people at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Interesting to note in the study, using (or not using) sunscreen did not cause any significant difference in the blood levels of vitamin D. The researchers assume this might be due to using too little in the first place.

The study coincides with research pertaining to ongoing research about skin color and vitamin D recommendations. Researchers believe that they need to begin to tailor their   recommendations to the skin tones and lifestyles of different people.

Vitamin D is produced by the skin when exposed to the ultraviolet rays in sunlight. If a person receives too little of the vitamin, it can cause bone weakening, rickets and possibly contributes to chronic disease. Small amounts of vitamin D can be taken through diet, such as supplements, fortified foods, and fortified drinks. Experts believe approximately 30 to 40 percent of the United States population may be deficient.

The study analyzed population-base data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which was collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2003 to 2006. The survey included questions that covered  sun-protective behavior, such as clothes choices, hats, sunscreen, and retreating to the shade. It also asked them their race and  blood levels of a form of vitamin D called 25-hydroxyvitamin D.

The researchers sound found that Caucasians who avoided the sun, either through clothing or the shade had blood levels of vitamin D that were approximately 3.5 and 2.2 nanograms per milliliter lower than those who did not. However, when it came to the vitamin D levels in Hispanic or African-Americans, there seemed to be no association between sun avoidance and vitamin D levels. This may be because of the inherent pigmentation in darker skin, which acts as natural form of sun protection.

In the case of the study, vitamin D deficiency was based on any respondent with blood levels of 20 nanograms per milliliter or below. They discovered  that although about 40 percent of the survey participants were, indeed, deficient, the numbers increased to 53 and 56 percent among those who wore long sleeves and stayed in the shade. Caucasians who wore long sleeves and stayed in the shade were twice as likely to be deficient in the vitamin.

In the study, African-Americans who did not make an effort to stay out of the sun had an average vitamin D blood level of about 14.5 nanograms per milliliter. Hispanics had an average level of about 19.7. Caucasians, about 26.4. On the other side,  those who frequently stayed in the shade had average levels of 14, 19.2 and 22.8 nanograms per milliliter.

Further, the use of sunscreen did not seem to affect the levels, which is interesting to note, contradicting what researchers previous would have believed. They assume that they are not using it properly, not applying it often enough or generously enough.

The study was published online Nov. 4 in Cancer Causes and Control.

I completely understand and respect the premise of the article. People who live alone, the researchers explain, are the biggest users of energy, and because of this, we are creating an “environmental time bomb.”

The researchers, hailing from the University College, London, published a report in the journal Environment, Development and Sustainability, explaining that the dramatic increase in the total number of young people living alone is quite possibly going to cause a resource consumption crisis in England and Wales.

They furthered this by explaining that these findings should be taken into consideration by everyone. After all, it’s bound to affect everyone around them.

The thing is, single-person households are increasing rapidly. As someone who lives alone, I can venture this is because living with roommates and other people can be, well, pretty inconvenient. When I want silence, I want silence. When I want to cook, I want the kitchen. I don’t like to share. So a single-person household is just for me.

So yes, I’m part of the rise in the younger one-person households… of which are allegedly impacting our planet.

The study noted that the number of one-person households in the UK has increased significantly over the last 30 years. In 1971, the number was just shy of 18 percent; in 2011, it was 30 percent. Experts predict that come 2026, we’ll hit 38 percent.

The issue lay in the facts that, according to the research, those who live in a one-person household are the biggest consumers of energy, household, and land goods. Washing machines, refrigerators, televisions, and steroes are among the household goods that we waste. Further, us single dwellers use 38 percent more products, 42 percent more packaging, 55 percent more electricity and 61 percent more gas per capita than the average four-person household.

When it comes to waste, it gets even worse. The average four-person household produces about 1,000 kilograms of waste per person annually, while those living alone use 1,600 kilograms of waste. As a result, more carbon dioxide is created, too.

Now, I’m not sure how many people were studied here, but I’ll tell you this: my waste is pretty minimal. Living by myself, I recycle and compost daily, have thrown out trash less than 5 times (literally) in three years living here, and consciously try to be greener products and packages. I believe that these numbers can easily be inaccurate; how do we know how the the consumer is shopping and what they have in mind?

Because the study points out that the majority of one-person dwellers is between the ages of 25 and 44 and, probably, never married, they are pointing out that this demographic is more careless about the environment. These people spend 39 percent more on household goods, consume 13 percent more energy, and use 6 percent more space than one-person dwellers over the age of 60. (Really).

The study continues with ideas on how to make this trend fixed. Now, I think that most people are already moving in this direction: basically, be a little more eco-friendly. But they also go on with (what I think is) absurb ideas: collaborative lifestyles, such as co-housing, is one of them.

Co-housing? Are you kidding? I’d rather just turn down the heat, scrub my house with baking soda, use reusable bags, compost, and reduce my meat consumption (all of which I already do).

To add to this matter, the report also urges the British government to introduce an occupancy tax on the inefficient use of household space, and further suggests building more resource-efficient ecological homes, assuming that folks will want to invest in these because, after all, we’re “wealthy enough” to live on our own.

So what do you think? If you’re a single person dweller, do you think you’re making our planet’s health even worse?

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Since the passing of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention in 1972, the designation ‘World Heritage Site’ has been awarded to 911 properties of outstanding natural or cultural importance. These sites exhibit a natural beauty, outstanding biodiversity, and typically have a national-level designation such as National Park or Wildlife Preserve in addition to their World Heritage status.

Our friends at the Rainforest Alliance wanted us to fill you in on some exciting new research: a new study shows that World Heritage sites benefit from the Forest Stewardship Council Certification.

Here are the details:

A new study conducted by the Rainforest Alliance found that World Heritage Sites and other protected areas benefit when neighboring forests achieve Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. According to study co-author Deanna Newsom, “The FSC certification process required forestry operations located close to World Heritage Sites to take many actions that help protect the habitat of threatened and endangered wildlife and ward off invasive species. Other actions — such as hiring local people — reduce incentive for illicit activities within park boundaries, such as illegal logging and wildlife poaching.”

FSC requirements for certified forests that were found to benefit World Heritage Sites include the identification and conservation of high conservation value forests and habitats for threatened and endangered species, the prevention of fires and the movement of invasive species, decent pay for workers, the availability of jobs for local communities, access to the harvesting of non-timber forest products, and access to forests for cultural practices and traditional rituals.

“The key to conserving any area — whether it be a working forest or a World Heritage Site — is to ensure that community members have a direct interest in protecting it,” noted Tensie Whelan, president of the Rainforest Alliance. “Through FSC certification, local communities learn about the importance of protecting their natural resources and are provided with the financial incentive to do so.”

FSC certification requirements are widely considered the “gold standard” for sustainable forest management, and the Rainforest Alliance is the leading FSC certifier worldwide. The recent study conducted by Deanna Newsom and David Hughell evaluated nine FSC/Rainforest Alliance Certified forestry operations located within 12 miles of a World Heritage Site. These include: Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks and Waterton Glacier International Peace Park on the Canada/US border), Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve in Honduras, the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra in Indonesia, Central Sikhote-Amin in Siberia and Tikal National Park in Guatemala.

Since the adoption of UNESCO World Heritage Convention in 1972, the designation ‘World Heritage Site’ has been awarded to 911 properties of outstanding natural or cultural importance. According to the 2012 watch list recently published by the World Monument Fund, 67 World Heritage sites in 41 countries are currently threatened.

By targeting the areas around World Heritage Sites and other protected areas for FSC certification, the social and environmental benefits of certified forestry can extend beyond the forest’s boundaries and into nearby forests and communities, giving a measure of extra protection to some of the world’s most precious natural sites.

Scientists have long researched and explored the ideas around the impact on global climate from the water that is evaporated from trees and other vegetation.

This new research reinforces these ideas. The researches have found that not only does the evaporated water help cool the local areas around the trees, but also given back to the Earth as a whole. Therefore, the evaporation of water from the trees, lakes, and vegetation may have a cooling effect on the entire atmosphere.

These discoveries have major implications for making decisions when it comes to land use. The trees go through a process called Evaporative Cooling. This is when a local area is cooled by the energy that is used in the evaporation process: an energy that generally would have heated the area’s surface.

Research has already shown  that deforestation and creating more paves areas can contribute to global warming. This is because it decreases the local Evaporative Cooling. However, what researchers have not yet discovered is exactly whether this decrease in evaporation would also directly contribute to global warming.

Because of the emissions of carbon dioxide, the clearing of rainforests, the consumption of meat, the overuse of energy, and other factors, the Earth has been getting increasingly (and perhaps alarmingly) warmer over the past years. But these discoveries in water vapor were not well understood, especially in relation to the global climate effects they would have.

In addition, water vapor acts as a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, so researchers believed it was possible that this evaporation could have the opposite affect on the global climate: a warming one. The energy that is taken up in evaporating water is released back into the environment when the water vapor condenses. This, then, returns to earth, mostly as rain. This cycle of evaporation and condensation moves energy around, but because it cannot create or destroy energy, evaporation cannot directly affect the global balance of energy on our planet.

The researchers were led by George Ban-Weiss, and included Long Cao, Julia Pongratz and Ken Caldeira, and Govindasamy Bala. Using a climate model, the team found that increased evaporation actually had an overall cooling effect on the global climate.

This type of increase in evaporation tends to cause clouds to form in a lower area of the atmosphere, which acts as a reflection to the sun’s warming rays back out into space. This has a cooling nature on the environment.

Their new study shows that the evaporation of water from trees and lakes in urban areas helps keep our cities, as well as our whole planet, cool. The research further shows that it is necessary for us to understand how daily activities can change the climate both locally and globally.

The study was published September 14th in the journal Environmental Research Letter.

The monkey closely resembles the local titi monkey, while other features make it quite different. So different, in fact, that it is completely unlike any other documented primate.

Scientists are now studying the new animal and record all of its characteristics.

The team was traipsing through mid-western Brazil when they came across the new monkey. It has been dubbed as a type of titi, or Callicebus, and brought to researchers at the Emilio Goeldi Museum in the state of Para.

The new titi has features on its head and tail that they’ve never seen before of titis in the same area. The area, specifically, was between the Guariba River and the Roosevelt River in the northestern part of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

During the expedition, which took 20 days in total during December 2010, the researchers explored four different protected areas of the Guariba-Roosevelt Extractive Resrve, as well as the Tucuma State Park, and the Roosevelt River and Madeirinha River.

The group discovered forty-eight specifies of mammals in total, including aramadillos, anteaters, deer, monkeys, and others. Bird specie discoveries topped 313, including some that were only previously seen in other South American countries. They also turned up another new possible species of fish, including a catfish, tetra, and a piaus.

Among the threatened species were a giant anteater, giant armadillio, giant otter, jaguar, and ocelot.

The scientist who made the discovery, Julio Dalponte, officially handed over the specimen to the museum.

“By integrating this animal to a reputable collection such as that of the Goeldi museum we have taken an important step towards gaining better knowledge of the fauna in the northwest Mato Grosso region which is still a puzzle with many pieces missing”, Mr Dalponte explained in a statement.

The discovery of the new species increases the potential biodiversity of the northwest of Mato Grosso and the conservation in the area. He elaborated, “We do have some information on Protected Areas surrounding this region but little information on this part of the State itself. That means we must work to complete this map and fill in the gaps in our information on the region.”

The monkey sported a ginger-coloured beard with a bright red tail. The beard colour is common to titi monkeys, all of which are known for their bright or vivid facial hair. It isn’t too surprising of the new discovery: there are 28 types of titi monkeys; 25 of which have been found in the last 40 years. However, finding a completely new species is still very rare.

This is the second titi monkey to be found in the last three years; in 2008 the Caquetá titi was discovered in the Colombian Amazon.

The new titi will be the main part of studies that have been designed to provide a detailed description of its characteristics to mammalian zoology experts and primatologists worldwide, according to the WWF.

The studies will go on over the next six months. This will be followed by publications in about a year’s time.

That’s right. The answer may lay in panda poo solving one of science’s hurdles in producing biofuels. Researchers hope this will help expand the use of biofuels in the near future, which will in turn help reduce the dependency on using foreign oil. They also hope it will help out with wildlife conservation.

So why panda poo and no other poo? The researchers explained that the bacteria that is found in the poo from the giant panda is the best for breaking down the difficult and hardy plant material in switch grass, corn stalks, and wood chips. This plant material, lignocellulose, just can’t be defeated by any of poo. And because of this finding, it could help with the development of cellulosic biofuels that is from these tough plant materials so that it doesn’t rely on food crops such as soybeans, corn, and sugar (which are now what is used to make biofuel).

So why does this work so well? Giant pandas have specific bacteria in their digestive system that can easily break down the cellulose in plants and make it into useful nutrients. Bamboo is rich in this cellulose, making up for about 99 percent of their diet. In fact, an adult giant panda eats about 20 to 40 pounds of bamboo each day.

To do the research, the team collected and analyzed the fresh poo of a pair of male and female pandas who were stationed at the Memphis Zoo over the course of a year. They explored and discovered several types of digestive bacteria in the panda poo, including some types that are similarly found in termites (which we know are experts at chewing through wood).

Their studies suggest that bacteria species in these giant pandas may be more efficient at breaking down plant materials than even termite bacteria can. As well, the panda poo may prove to combat this in a way that is better for biofuel manufacturing purposes.

The researchers estimate that under specific conditions these gut bacteria can convert approximately 90 percent of plant biomass into simple sugars. The enzymes that are found in the bacteria are highly active substances which speed up chemical reactions, and are so powerful do not have the need for high heat, harsh acids and high pressures– all of which are currently used in biofuel production processes. Because the current processes for creating biofuel is also time intensive and takes a lot of energy, the panda bacteria is also a quicker and cheaper option.

The scientists are continuing their research by trying to figure out every intestinal bacterium that is found in the giant panda. That way, they can isolate the most powerful digestive enzymes, use them for biofuel production and create them into yeasts. These yeasts can then create the enzymes and be grown on a commercial scale to create the large amounts of biofuel needed.

The U.S. Department of Energy, The Memphis Zoological Society, the Mississippi Corn Promotion Board, and the Southeastern Research Center at Mississippi State provided funding for this study.

See the American Chemical Society for more information.

We convert the sun’s heat to electricity, but if we learn to store it in chemical form, it is advantageous. This is because it can be stored for a long period of time   without losing any of the stored energy.

Until now, the chemicals needed for this storage often degraded within a few cycles, or included an expensive and rare element called ruthenium.

However, last year, MIT associate professor Jeffrey Grossman and four co-authors solved how to use diruthenium, the top chemical for reversibly storing solar energy, to store this. This made it easier to understand the process and see which materials could be used this way.

Now, Grossman and fellow researcher Alexie Kolpak have solved how to do this. The duo used carbon nanotubes, small tubular structures of pure carbon, along with a compound called azobenzene. The resulting molecules were produced using nanoscale templates to control their physical structure and find new properties in the separate materials.

This new chemical system is less expensive than earlier options, as well as more efficient at storing energy.  These nanofabrication methods can control the molecules’ interactions, increasing the amount of stored energy, the length of time they can store it, with total, independent control.

This type of solar energy uses a molecule that changes structure when exposed to sunlight. It can forever remain stable in that form until a stimulus can quickly bring it back to its other form. This releases its stored energy in a burst of heat. This works similarly to a rechargeable battery.

An advantage of this new approach it combines energy harvesting and storage into a single step. This makes it much simpler. A limitation, however, is that while this can be used for heating, producing electricity would require an extra step.

The team is “very actively looking at a range of new materials,” Grossman says, and calls this the “tip of the iceberg.”

Yosuke Kanai, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says “the idea of reversibly storing solar energy in chemical bonds is gaining a lot of attention these days. The novelty of this work is how these authors have shown that the energy density can be significantly increased by using carbon nanotubes as nanoscale templates. This innovative idea also opens up an interesting avenue for tailoring already-known photoactive molecules for solar thermal fuels and storage in general.”

The team’s success is outlined in a paper with their new findings published online in the journal Nano Letters.

Read more from ScienceDaily.

If you’re buying organic foods purely for the health benefits, let it be known that it might not always be the case (read our article on that here).

But farmers are continually using pesticides and herbicides to keep our produce pest-free. And although this is easier for the farmer, it isn’t always healthier for us.

Pesticides are linked to killing organisms, sure, but they also lead to serious health problems in people.

Lucky for us, each year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) annually ranks a bevy of the most common fruits and vegetables found on grocery store shelves for their total pesticide load. The EWG analysts synthesize data collected from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. With these, their results include the final rankings of the total amount of pesticides people can consume safely.

The EWG highlighted the worst offenders, calling them the Dirty Dozen. This list includes the produce with the most pesticide residue. Conversely, they offer the Clean 15; you guessed it, the ones with the least damaging effects.

The guide is designed to  help consumers who are concerned about pesticides to make better choices among conventional produce. It doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy all organic; but instead, if you’re making your choices, then opt for these to be of the organic option.

The Dirty Dozen

Here are the Dirty Dozen, the 2011 edition:

1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines (imported)
7. Grapes (imported)
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries (domestic)
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/collard greens

Clean 15

And for you not to worry too much, here are the ones you can keep conventional.

1. Onions
2. Sweet corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplants
9. Cantaloupe (domestic)
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

Apples moved up to the top spot this year; 92% of apples contained two or more pesticides.

“We think what’s happening to apples is more pesticides and fungicides are being applied after the harvest so the fruit can have a longer shelf life,” EWG analyst Sonya Lunder told USA today. “Pesticides might be in small amounts, but we don’t know what the subtle, long-term effects of many of these pesticides are yet.”

The pesticides were measured in six different ways to calculate overall scores:

• Percentage of samples tested with detectable pesticides
• Percentage of samples with two or more pesticides
• Average number of pesticides found on a single sample
• Average amount (level in parts per million) of all pesticides found
• Maximum number of pesticides found on a single sample
• Total number of pesticides found on the commodity

If your diet includes just five servings of fruits and vegetables from the Dirty Dozen, it means you could be getting about 14 different pesticides per day. The clean list would deliver less than 2.

What would you rather put in your body?

David Cleveland, a professor of environmental studies at UC Santa Barbara, felt that his Santa Barbara County could implement the local food system and really help some of the issues at hand.

A recent article from ScienceDaily outlined how Cleveland and his students launched a comprehensive study of just how “localized” the agrifood system for fruits and vegetables is in Santa Barbara County. And in turn, they wanted to determine the effects of this localization of the food system on greenhouse gas emissions and nutrition.

It seems like a good place to do it–Santa Barbara County ranks in the top 1 percent of counties in the United States in value of agricultural products, with 80 percent in produce.

The results of their research, conducted in 2009-10, were published in a recent copy of the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

The team found that more than 99 percent of the produce grown locally is exported, and more than 95 percent of the produce consumed is imported. The study also found that if all of the produce that they consumed was grown locally, it would lower greenhouse gas emissions less than 1 percent of total agrifood system emissions. Even more, there would be no effect on nutrition.

Additional research has shown that the transportation doesn’t cause as much greenhouse gasses compared to other parts of the agrifood life cycle. Thus, localization doesn’t necessarily make for better produce and food… nutritionally and environmentally.

However, that doesn’t mean that it’s not good at all. Supporting the local farmers is a key step for building community, if nothing else at all.

The team also wants to explore to what extent local farmers depend on imported labour.

Cleveland and his students will be hosting a workshop discussing their food system, looking at localization as a strategy to eventually bring it toward reducing greenhouse gasses, ensuring locals can enjoy local food, increasing their nutrition, and, of course, bringing together the community and strengthening the local economy.

Read the full article here.

The team, from Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, feel it might be related to the origin of our planet.

The scientists Apostolos “Tolis” Christou and David Asher first saw the asteroid about  two months after the WISE infrared survey satellite spotted it. It is the exact same distance from the Sun as the Earth, with a mimicked orbit. Most asteroids that are similar have odd, oval orbits, but this one is circular so it remains the same close distance to our planet.

To solve stability issues of the orbit and how long the asteroid has been there was difficult. Normally they would have to track it for years. In this case, they created virtual copies of the asteroid, and simulated their evolution for two million years past and in the future.

They found the copies remained in the same location to the Earth, mimicking its movement.

There are currently three others that are similar and known to exist, however, they move onto other orbits after a few thousand years. This one, too, is also the largest.

Christou and Asher are seeking to find out its evolution, although they believe it might be from the Main Belt between Mars and Jupiter or a piece of the Moon that left the Earth-Moon system and moved into an independent orbit around the Sun. It could also have leaked from a population of objects near the triangular equilibrium points 60 degrees ahead of and behind Earth in its orbit.

They are also researching its physical properties from the ground. Colour, for example, measures its reflectivity across the electromagnetic spectrum, which can give some indication on its origin.

The study was published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

For more information visit Royal Astronomical Society (RAS).

Image courtesy of parabolicarc.com

With this, poor villagers could collect clean water near their homes, instead of bringing it over the course of hours from streams and wells that are farther away.

Chhatre, a doctoral candidate in chemical engineering at MIT, an MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a fellow at MIT’s Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship, has a lot on his plate, but he is determined to work this idea through

According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF,  nearly 900 million people worldwide live without safe drinking water. The burdens falls mostly on women and children to supply for their families.

Chhatre has created a fog-harvesting device that is made of a fence-like mesh panel. This panel attracts droplets and connects to receptacles into which water drips.

Chhatre’s training as a chemical engineer has helped him build a useful prototype.

One basic principle of an efficient device is that it must have a combination of surfaces that attract and repel water.

For larger versions, mesh does the job; these harvesters captured one liter of water per one square meter of mesh, per day in their field tests. The next steps are bringing this into the community.

Read more from web.mit.edu and the full report from Science Daily.

We hope shutting off your lights between 8:30pm and 9:30pm were part of it!

What is Earth Hour?

Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million people  and over  2,000 businesses turned their lights off for one hour. Why? To take a stand against climate change.

A year later Earth Hour became a global event, with over 50 million people across 35 countries/territories taking part.

In March 2009, hundreds of millions of people topped the charts for the number taking part in Earth Hour. Over 4000 cities in 88 countries/territories shut off the lights, making that year the world’s largest global climate change initiative.

In 2010, it was the biggest Earth Hour ever (seeing a trend here?) One hundred twenty-eight countries/ territories joined the movement.

This year, Earth Hour 2011 takes place on Saturday, March 26th, at 8:30pm local time.

Earth Hour is organized by WWF, whose mission is to end the degradation of the Earth’s natural environment and help build a future where people and nature live together in harmony.

How to help

Shut off your lights! Gather a couple clean-air candles, maybe a board game or two, go for a walk (if some daylight is available), and peek through the windows to see what your city is up to.

Social media is playing a large role in Earth Hour this year, too.

• Become a fan of Earth Hour on Facebook and invite all of your friends!
• Follow them on Twitter and and tweet with #earthhour or #60+ on what you’re doing during the hour.
• Use a Earth Hour Twibbon for your Twitter or Facebook avatar.
• Tell your MySpace friends to turn off their lights for Earth Hour.
• Get Earth Hour news on your cellphone at m.earthhour.org
• Add the  Earth Hour Logo to your website or blog, along with the Earth Hour Video.

Setting a record

The goal for this year is a forecasted 134 countries/territories across the globe.

Hundreds of landmarks, cities, individuals, organizations, and governments are pledging their commitment for the hour… and beyond.

Landmarks include the Eiffel Tower, the London Eye, Big Ben, the Empire State Building, Dubai’s Burj al Arab hotel, Grenada’s Alhambra, Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue, Athens’ Acropolis, India Gate, Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque, the Sydney Opera House, Niagara and Victoria Falls and Table Mountain in South Africa.

“As we head into the fifth Earth Hour, with a record number of countries and territories taking part, it is inspiring to see what we can achieve when we come together for a common purpose,” Andy Ridley, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Earth Hour said in a press release. “Imagine what we can achieve if we go beyond the hour.”

The event carries over the globe in 24 hours,starting across Fiji and New Zealand to and ending in Samoa. It will last longest in Russia, where 11 time zones are covered.

In the same release, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon pledged his support. He said, “Let us join together to celebrate this shared quest to protect the planet and ensure human well-being. Let us use 60 minutes of darkness to help the world see the light.”

Although this a statement, it isn’t enough. This year, Earth Hour has launched an online platform www.earthhour.org/beyondthehour to collect and showcase the action across the world.

Read more on how you can help after the fact, and information from Earth Hour 2011 at www.earthhour.org.

Image source

Lucky for us, researchers have found a genetic circuit that helps them make their decision.  

The researchers found that several genes have natural variations which how quickly a worm will leave its food. One of the genes, tyra-3, produces a receptor that is activated by adrenaline.

“What’s encouraging to us about this story is that molecules related to adrenaline are implicated in arousal systems and in decision-making across a lot of different animals, including humans,” explains Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Cornelia Bargmann of Rockefeller University in New York, who was the mentor of the work of graduate student Andres Bendesky.

This suggests that because there are different species that react in different ways, the decision-making ability is linked to the genetic make-up.

These worms, Caenorhabditis elegans, live in agricultural areas, such as orchards and crops. They feed on bacteria that comes from rotting produce. However, they might find some of these bacteria toxic or difficult to nosh on, so they need the ability to determine if they can use this bacteria or move on to the next.

The worms have only 302 neurons (as opposed to the human brain’s billions), and research has connected these neurons and their mapping throughout the worm’s nervous system. It was an easier study, due to the worm’s 20,000 or so genes, that have equivalents to human’s. What’s more, most of the worm’s 20,000 genes have equivalents in the human genome. Studying C. elegans made it easier to make connections between those levels.

The new study investigates how different changes in genes can change a worm’s behaviour. They placed hundreds of strains of the worms in Petri dishes lined with bacteria and tallied the rate they left the lawn.

From here, they connected with HHMI investigator Leonid Kruglyak and his postdoc Matt Rockman do “quantitative trait locus analysis”, which could analyze the specific genetic make-up of each strain. They they connected it with how often  each strain left its lawn.

Their findings helped them discover that the tyra-3 receptor is produced in sensory neurons. These neurons help determine external cues which can be connected to internal cues. In addition to their findings, the team also found another natural genetic variation in tyra-3. Basically, they found particular genetic variants lead to specific behaviors in reality.

The findings appeared online March 16, 2011, in the journal Nature.

“AquaBounty is a biotechnology company dedicated to the improvement of productivity in aquaculture.” They are also dedicated to making some GMO-salmon.GMO, that is, genetically-modified organisms, are finding their way into a “scientific breakthrough” called AquAdvantage salmon, the first GMO salmon safe to eat as per the FDA.

These fish grow at a rate twice that of regular salmon, thereby dubbed as improving the efficiency and economic viability of fish farms across the world.

Last September, the FDA stated that salmon hatched from these AquAdvantage eggs are safe to eat. Now the company, AquaBounty Technologies, is seeking final approval to sell the fish in American markets.

This is causing some concern.

Alaskan senators Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski recently introduced legislation to ban genetically modified salmon. A similar bill that would result in labelling all types of genetically modified fish has also been introduced.

Senator Begich claims it will pose a serious threat to wild Alaskan fish stocks, along with the premise that it will threaten the livelihood and safety of Alaskans. Many eco-groups agree; they claim these organisms are not fully understood and must be researched further before we eat them.

Concerns, such as fish escaping and breeding with other salmon, have been raised about the AquAdvantage salmon. It may also cause additional harm to the environment, causing more waste than “regular” salmon.

Because of this, the salmon have to be engineered to be sterile, another GMO-use. And AquaBounty claims that using this wouldn’t cause more planet farm, but instead “help reduce pressure on wild fish stocks suffering from over-fishing.”

AquaBounty is confident for a positive ruling from the FDA, given the agency’s previous approval of the salmon.

What do you think?

Read more from aquabounty.com.