Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment.
This week's featured story comes from CNN.
Obama's inaugural speech
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
And all this we must do.
H/T to DarkSyde for the link.
More science, space, and environment news after the jump.
Slideshows/Videos
Reuters: Ice shelf hangs by a thread
Jan 21 - An Antarctic ice shelf is on the brink of collapse with just a sliver of ice holding it in place, the latest victim of global warming that is altering maps of the frozen continent.
Reuters: Japan's eco-eye in the sky
Japan plans to launch its first satellite to monitor global greenhouse gas emissions this week, as environmental monitoring goes high tech.
Reuters: Antarctica research hopes
Jan 21 - As President Obama gave his inauguration speech in Washington, 15000 kilometres away in Antarctica geologists watched full of hope for the future.
Reuters: UAE hosts alternative energy show
Jan 21 - Thousands turn out for the second annual World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi.
Wired: Gallery: Robotic Sub Installs Deep-Sea Webcam
By Alexis Madrigal
The first deep-sea webcam was successfully installed on the floor of California's Monterey Bay Wednesday, and Wired Science brought it to you live via Twitter and Flickr.
The Eye-in-the-Sea camera will allow marine biologists Erika Raymond and Edith Widder, pictured above, to unobtrusively observe organisms in the deep ocean. In this gallery, you can watch as the system is flawlessly installed in the bay, and within a week, you'll be able to use their camera to peer into the deep.
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The remote monitoring system will take video and various scientific readings 24 hours a day, sending them via the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's new undersea data network, the Monterey Accelerated Research System, aka MARS.
National Geographic: PHOTOS: How Do Species Evolve?
Two hundred years after Charles Darwin's birth, National Geographic-supported scientists are discovering evidence of evolution in action in living things the world over.
National Geographic: PHOTOS: "Bizarre" Species Found--Predatory Squirt, More
Along a giant crack in the seafloor, the deepest ever expedition in Australian waters has found a slew of new species: a carnivorous sea squirt, a Medusa-like coral, and more.
Discovery Networks on YouTube: Why? Tell Me Why!: Methane on Mars
Methane seems to be the new buzz word when it comes to finding Martian life. Discovery Channel's Kasey-Dee Gardner finds out why that's the case.
Discovery Networks on YouTube: Top 5 Volcano Webcams and Videos
Volcanoes at work? Why not! James Williams counts down our top five favorite volcano webcams you can view on the Web.
Astronomy/Space
Wired: New View of Star Birth in a Nearby Galaxy
By Clara Moskowitz
Using the ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers observed a new swarm of stellar nurseries in the spiral galaxy NGC 253. Researchers identified 37 bright regions packed into the core of the galaxy that are popping out new stars at an intense pace. Each bright spot could contain as many as one hundred thousand massive stars.
"We now think that these are probably very active nurseries that contain many stars bursting from their dusty cocoons," said astronomer Jose Antonio Acosta-Pulido of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in Spain, in a press release.
Wired: Top 5 Most Extreme Exoplanets
By Clara Moskowitz
Searching for planets beyond our solar system is a bit like playing Goldilocks — we keep looking for that one that will be just right to host life. While astronomers haven't found a perfect fit yet, they have found plenty that are too big, too hot, too cold, too dense, too close to their star, or too distant.
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Of the planets discovered beyond our solar system to date, here are five of the most extreme
National Geographic: Mars and Mercury Formed From Planetary Scraps
Ker Than
for National Geographic News
Mars and Mercury were formed from the scraps of Earth and Venus, according to a radical new theory of rocky planet formation.
The model could explain some characteristics of Mars and Mercury that have long puzzled scientists, said Brad Hansen, an astronomer at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In this picture, Mars and Mercury are essentially byproducts" of Earth and Venus, said Hansen, who presented his research at a recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California.
Wired: (Re)name NASA's Next Martian Rover
By Alexis Madrigal
With the recent detection of seasonal Martian methane emissions — which microbes could be generating or eating, NASA's next robotic mission to the planet could become the most exciting unmanned mission in the history of the agency, especially if it discovers definitive evidence of extraterrestrial life.
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We think a rover with such a cool mission mission needs a better name. Even NASA honchos know: They are holding a kid-centric naming contest sponsored by Wall-E to replace the current dry moniker.
Right now, the number one choice is "Rick Astley." People aren't freeping that poll, they're rickrolling it!
Wired: Europe's Sexy New Gravity Satellite
By Clara Moskowitz
A sleek new European Space Agency satellite set to launch this year, perhaps as early as February, aims to map out the planet's gravitational field in unprecedented detail. The Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer, or GOCE, will gather data useful for research in oceanography, solid Earth physics and climate change.
"ESA's gravity satellite will measure Earth's gravity from place to place around the globe to provide a uniform global picture," said GOCE project scientist Mark Drinkwater in a press release. "It will do this with a level of detail and accuracy never before achieved. This fundamental reference dataset will give access to new scientific insights into ocean circulation and its impact on climate, as well as into the structure of the interior of the Earth in critical locations such as earthquake and volcanic zones."
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GOCE will use ultrasensitive instruments called accelerometers to measure tiny variations in Earth's gravitational tug due to the planet's rotation, the positions of mountains and ocean trenches, and variations in the density of Earth's interior.
Reuters: Astronauts board shuttle for launch rehearsal
By Irene Klotz
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Seven astronauts due to blast off next month to work on the International Space Station climbed inside their spaceship on Wednesday for a dress rehearsal for launch.
"We've been in training for almost a year, so we're very anxious to get going with the mission," said shuttle commander Lee Archambault.
The practice countdown is a routine part of all shuttle missions. NASA has nine flights remaining before the fleet is retired next year and the United States turns over the business of launching crews into orbit to the Russians until the U.S. agency's new spaceship is ready to fly in about six years.
Reuters: Fragments break off Soviet-era nuclear satellite
Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Alison Williams
Fragments have broken off a Soviet-era nuclear-powered satellite but do not pose a threat to the Earth's surface or the International Space Station, a senior Russian military official said.
The Cosmos-1818 military satellite, which was decommissioned shortly after its launch in 1987, shed "insignificant" fragments into space on July 4, 2008, the deputy head of Russia's Space Forces Alexander Yakushin said in a statement Wednesday.
Reuters: Japan launches satellites, eyes space business
By Chisa Fujioka
Japan launched a satellite on Friday to monitor greenhouse gases along with seven smaller satellites in a mission that could boost business for the country's cash-hungry space program.
The H-2A rocket, carrying the biggest number of satellites ever for a Japanese rocket, took off from the tiny island of Tanegashima 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo, after a delay of two days because of poor weather.
"The launch was a significant one for the peaceful use of space, since the satellite will contribute to tackling the universal issue of global warming," Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said in a news conference.
Reuters: Is that two moons around Saturn I see?
By Philip Pullella
Italian and British scientists want to exhume the body of 16th century astronomer Galileo for DNA tests to determine if his severe vision problems may have affected some of his findings.
The scientists told Reuters on Thursday that DNA tests would help answer some unresolved questions about the health of the man known as the father of astronomy, whom the Vatican condemned for teaching that the earth revolves around the sun.
"If we knew exactly what was wrong with his eyes we could use computer models to recreate what he saw in his telescope," said Paolo Galluzzi, director of the Museum of History and Science in Florence, the city where Galileo is buried.
Evolution/Paleontology
National Geographic: Lizards Evolving Rapidly to Survive Deadly Fire Ants
John Roach
for National Geographic News
Long legs and skittish behavior are recently evolved traits that allow fence lizards in the southeastern U.S. to co-exist with lethal and invasive fire ants, according to a new study.
The new findings could boost hopes for species whose habitats are quickly changing due to climate change, experts say.
The venom-packed stings of just 12 fire ants can kill a three-inch-long (eight-centimeter-long) fence lizard in a minute, according to lead study author Tracy Langkilde, a biologist at Pennsylvania State University. The ants have been known to strip animals as large as calves down to the bone.
National Geographic: "Hobbits" Were Separate Species, Skull Suggests
John Roach
for National Geographic News
The skull of the so-called hobbit discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003 suggests its owner was an archaic human ancestor, not a diminutive or diseased modern human, according to a new study.
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The conclusion stems from a comparison of the skull to the noggins of modern humans and apes, as well as the fossil brain cases of early human ancestors.
Biodiversity
National Geographic: PHOTO IN THE NEWS: New Climbing Catfish Identified
This fish out of water is a newly identified species from a remote region in Venezuela.
The catfish handily inches along rocks using its highly flexible pelvic fins (bottom, the two leg-like appendages) and wide mouth as grasping tools. Such climbing ken may be crucial for the fish, which live in strong, high-flow streams.
An anthropologist first collected the fish in the state of Amazonas about two decades ago, but the odd sample brought to Caracas's Instituo de Zoologíca looked "like it was run over by a truck," American Museum of Natural History ichthyologist Scott Schaefer said in a statement.
Biotechnology/Health
Wired: Graphic Encouragement to Wash Your Hands
By Aaron Rowe
A simple petri dish test revealed that by overlooking basic hygiene, a healthcare worker infected a quadriplegic Iraq war veteran with MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant bacteria that plagues hospitals.
The Cleveland VA medical center has an aggressive program to protect its patients from germs, and part of that effort includes regularly swabbing their noses to check for staph. In this case, the quadriplegic man had never tested positive before, so clearly something had gone wrong.
"All patients admitted to VA hospitals are screened to determine if they carry MRSA," says Curtis Donskey, the doctor in charge of infection control. "When carriers are identified, extra precautions are taken to decrease the likelihood that MRSA will be spread to other patients."
Reuters: Worm gene offers clues to nerve cell repair: study
Editing by Maggie Fox; Editing by Cynthia Osterman
Researchers believe they have found a potential way to regenerate nerves by stimulating a gene and said on Thursday they hope their work in worms may some day help people with spinal cord injuries.
The gene is part of a network, or pathway, of four genes that appear to be essential for nerve repair, they reported in the journal Science.
"We found a pathway that not only regenerates nerves in the worm, but also exists in humans, and we think it serves the same purpose," Michael Bastiani of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, who led the study, said in a statement.
Reuters: UK firm to launch pioneering stem cell trial
Reporting by Ben Hirschler; editing by Richard Chang
By Ben Hirschler
LONDON (Reuters) - A British biotechnology company, working with a team of doctors in Scotland, is to launch a pioneering clinical trial to assess whether stem cell therapy can help patients left disabled by stroke.
ReNeuron Group Plc said on Sunday it had received approval from the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to commence the clinical trial using its fetal stem cells.
The move is a victory for the company, which has so far failed to win approval for similar tests from U.S. regulators. It also represents a boost for Britain's position as a leader in developing stem cell treatments.
Reuters: Needles, not technique, may be acupuncture key
Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Dominic Evans
Acupuncture prevents headaches and migraines but faked treatments when needles are incorrectly inserted appear to work nearly as well, German researchers said on Wednesday.
Their findings suggest the benefits of acupuncture may stem more from people's belief in the technique, said Klaus Linde, a complementary medicine researcher at the Technical University in Munich, who led the analysis published in the Cochrane Review journal.
"Much of the clinical benefit of acupuncture might be due to non-specific needling effects and powerful placebo effects, meaning selection of specific needle points may be less important than many practitioners have traditionally argued," he said in a statement.
Reuters: Robot assistant as good as human in some surgery
Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Louise Ireland
LONDON (Reuters) - Using a robot to operate a camera in gall bladder operations is as safe as working with a human, British researchers said on Wednesday in an analysis that underscores the effectiveness of robot technology in surgery.
While robots may not be ready to take over, they offer vast potential to do things such as allowing doctors to perform emergency operations without having to wait for a human assistant, Kurinchi Gurusamy of the Royal Free Hospital in London and colleagues said in the Cochrane Review journal.
The researchers looked at key-hole, or laparoscopic, surgery in which an assistant operates a camera that acts as the surgeon's eyes during gall bladder removal. The surgery is quite common in the developing world where about 10 to 15 percent of people develop gallstones.
Reuters: New cream disables herpes virus: study
Reporting by Maggie Fox; editing by Mohammad Zargham
Researchers say they have developed a cream that might prevent herpes infection for as long as a week -- a potentially big step in protecting women from the sexually transmitted infection.
The cream uses a new kind of therapy called RNA interference to turn off genes that the virus uses to invade cells, the researchers reported on Wednesday.
The cream, being developed by Massachusetts-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc, protected mice from herpes simplex 2, the virus that causes genital herpes, Deborah Palliser of Harvard Medical School in Boston and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and colleagues reported.
Climate/Environment
Reuters: Antarctica is warming, not cooling: study
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
ROTHERA BASE, Antarctica (Reuters) - Antarctica is getting warmer rather than cooling as widely believed, according to a study that fits the icy continent into a trend of global warming.
A review by U.S. scientists of satellite and weather records for Antarctica, which contains 90 percent of the world's ice and would raise world sea levels if it thaws, showed that freezing temperatures had risen by about 0.5 Celsius (0.8 Fahrenheit) since the 1950s.
"The thing you hear all the time is that Antarctica is cooling and that's not the case," said Eric Steig of the University of Washington in Seattle, lead author of the study in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature.
Wired: Climate Change Killing America's Trees at Ever Faster Rates
By Michael Wall
Trees in western North America are dying at faster and faster rates, and climate change is likely to blame.
The mounting deaths could fundamentally transform Western forests because tree reproduction hasn’t increased to offset losses, according to a new study published Thursday in Science. New seedlings aren’t rising quickly enough to fill the gaps.
"If current trends continue, forests will become sparser over time," co-author Philip van Mantgem, an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said in a press conference call. This would be a setback in the fight against global warming because thinner forests with small, young trees store less carbon, so more heat-trapping carbon dioxide would cycle into the atmosphere.
Wired: Cleaner Air Worth Five Months of Life
By Brandon Keim
Clean air doesn't just give Americans a pleasant, smog-free view. It's added an average of five months to our lives.
In a study of three decades of health data from 51 U.S. cities, researchers found that people are living about three years longer than they did before. Controlling for changes in income, education, demographics and smoking, about five months of that can be chalked up to air improvements.
"Our efforts in the past 20 years to reduce air pollution through better technology and regulation have actually worked," said Majid Ezzati, an international health expert at the Harvard School of Public Health. "People are living longer as a result of it."
Reuters: Natural disasters cost China $110 billion in 2008
By Laura MacInnis
Natural disasters caused nearly $110 billion of damage in China last year, a warning to other emerging economies ill-prepared for potential hazards, the United Nations said on Thursday.
A May earthquake in Sichuan and extreme weather made China the most disaster-affected country in economic terms in 2008, said the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).
The U.N. body said the world economy suffered a $181 billion blow from naturally-occurring events such as floods, storms, volcanic eruptions, wildfires and droughts in 2008.
Reuters: Wood and dung fires feed Asia's brown cloud
By Michael Kahn
Wood and dung burned for home heating and cooking makes up most of a huge brown cloud of pollution that hangs over South Asia and the Indian Ocean during the winter months, researchers said on Thursday.
The study in the journal Science solves the mystery of what makes up the soot in the brown haze linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths -- mainly from lung and heart disease -- each year in the region, they said.
"Doing something about this brown cloud has been difficult because the sources are poorly understood," said Orjan Gustafsson, a biogeochemist at Stockholm University.
Reuters: Antarctic ice shelf set to collapse due to warming
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
WILKINS ICE SHELF, Antarctica (Reuters) - A huge Antarctic ice shelf is on the brink of collapse with just a sliver of ice holding it in place, the latest victim of global warming that is altering maps of the frozen continent.
"We've come to the Wilkins Ice Shelf to see its final death throes," David Vaughan, a glaciologist at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), told Reuters after the first -- and probably last -- plane landed near the narrowest part of the ice.
The flat-topped shelf has an area of thousands of square kilometers, jutting 20 meters (65 ft) out of the sea off the Antarctic Peninsula.
Reuters: Spring arriving earlier, study finds
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
Looking forward to spring? The good news is that it is coming two days earlier on average, but so are summer, autumn and winter, researchers said on Wednesday.
They found that on average, the hottest day of the year in temperate regions has moved forward by just under two days, and so has the coldest day of the year.
While the consequences of this shift are not clear, it is worrying, Alexander Stine of the University of California, Berkeley and colleagues said.
Geology/Geophysics
Science Daily: Danube Delta Holds Answers To 'Noah's Flood' Debate
Did a catastrophic flood of biblical proportions drown the shores of the Black Sea 9,500 years ago, wiping out early Neolithic settlements around its perimeter? A geologist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and two Romanian colleagues report in the January issue of Quaternary Science Reviews that, if the flood occurred at all, it was much smaller than previously proposed by other researchers.
Using sediment cores from the delta of the Danube River, which empties into the Black Sea, the researchers determined sea level was approximately 30 meters below present levels—rather than the 80 meters others hypothesized.
"We don’t see evidence for a catastrophic flood as others have described," said Liviu Giosan, a geologist in the WHOI Geology and Geophysics Department.
Science Daily: Continents Act Like Thermal Blankets: How Continental Drift Will Change Continents In 120 Million Years
Drifting of the large tectonic plates and the superimposed continents is not only powered by the heat-driven convection processes in the Earth's mantle, but rather retroacts on this internal driving processes. In doing so, the continents function as a thermal blanket, which leads to an accumulation of heat underneath, and which in turn can cause the break-up of the super-continents.
Science Daily: Off The Shelf Maps Help Mitigate Volcanic Hazards
When volcanoes erupt, pinpointing the regions at high risk for lethal hazards and deciding whether or not to evacuate a resistant population comprise the most difficult problems faced by hazards managers. Now a team of volcanologists has a program that maps potential problem areas quickly, taking much of the guesswork out of decision making and evacuations.
"We wanted to be able to predict the areas affected by pyroclastic flows from volcanoes," said Christina Widiwijayanti, post-doctoral fellow in geosciences. "Pyroclastic flows and surges are the phenomena that kill most people when volcanoes erupt."
Psychology/Behavior
Wired: Researchers Try to Cure Racism
By Brandon Keim
As the first African-American president in United States history takes office, researchers have shown that it may be possible to scientifically reduce racial bias.
After being trained to distinguish between similar black male faces, Caucasian test subjects showed greater racial tolerance on a test designed to to measure unconscious bias.
The results are still preliminary, have yet to be replicated, and the real-world effects of reducing bias in a controlled laboratory setting are not clear. But for all those caveats, the findings add to a growing body of research suggesting that science can battle racism.
Archeology/Anthropology
Wired: Gut Bacteria, Language Analysis Solve Pacific Migration Mystery
By Brandon Keim
By tracking the evolution of language and gut bacteria, scientists may have settled a debate over the spread of humans across the Pacific.
The evolutionary trajectory implied by words and bugs begins with an initial migration from Taiwan 5,000 years ago, with a first wave of people spreading to the Philippines and a second to western Polynesia.
The findings, writes University of Cambridge archaeologist Colin Renfrew, "mark a substantial advance in our understanding of human population history" — and they involve some cutting-edge archaeological sleuthing to boot.
Reuters: Heavy rains wash away 1000-year-old "fingers" in Peru
Posted by: Deborah Zabarenko
For more than a thousand years, the famous Nazca lines, giant geometric shapes and animal figures etched in the desert, have survived — virtually unchanged — delighting and baffling both researchers and tourists alike.
But people say nothing lasts. And maybe it’s true. Recently, a tiny part of the impressive lines — fingers on a pair of hands — were washed over by runoff from the pounding of unusually heavy rain.
Physics
Science Daily: Cosmic Rays Detected Deep Underground Reveal Secrets Of Upper Atmosphere
Cosmic-rays detected half a mile underground in a disused U.S. iron-mine can be used to detect major weather events occurring 20 miles up in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, a new study has revealed.
Published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters and led by scientists from the UK’s National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), this remarkable study shows how the number of high-energy cosmic-rays reaching a detector deep underground, closely matches temperature measurements in the upper atmosphere (known as the stratosphere). For the first time, scientists have shown how this relationship can be used to identify weather events that occur very suddenly in the stratosphere during the Northern Hemisphere winter. These events can have a significant effect on the severity of winters we experience, and also on the amount of ozone over the poles - being able to identify them and understand their frequency is crucial for informing our current climate and weather-forecasting models to improve predictions.
Chemistry
Reuters: Scientists develop test for melamine in milk
Editing by Will Dunham and Matthew Bigg
U.S. researchers have developed a quick way to test milk for the presence of melamine, an industrial chemical found last year in milk in China that killed at least six children and made thousands sick.
Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana said on Wednesday the method can detect tiny traces of the chemical in liquid and powdered milk in about 25 seconds.
The analysis method uses a simplified version of a mass spectrometer, a tool that can be used to separate and identify molecules in compounds.
Reuters: Researchers develop new semiconductor ink
By Julie Steenhuysen
U.S. researchers have developed a new type of semiconductor ink that brings companies a step closer to making bendable computer screens or inexpensive sensor tags to help retailers keep track of their inventory.
The discovery lies in the new material -- a soluble semiconductor ink capable of carrying a negative electrical charge, said Philippe Inagaki, chief executive officer of Polyera Corp, a specialty chemicals company in Skokie, Illinois, that makes materials for flexible and printed electronics.
In the traditional silicon world there are two fundamental types of semiconductors: P-type, which carry a positive charge, and N-type, which carry a negative charge.
Energy
CNet: GE invests in 'boats to blades' wind manufacturer
Posted by Martin LaMonica
Indian Wells, Calif.--General Electric is investing in a manufacturer, TPI Composites, that once made fiberglass boats but now has moved into making wind turbine blades and other industrial goods.
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The company makes composite materials for wind turbines, military vehicles, and other transportation applications. Its manufacturing process allows it to make materials that are strong and light, according to the company. It currently supplies turbine blades for some of GE's wind turbines and Mitsubishi Power Systems.
CNet: California utility PG&E to open wallet for solar
Posted by Martin LaMonica
INDIAN WELLS, Calif.--Pacific Gas & Electric, one of the country's largest and most progressive utilities, will invest directly in solar power plants and solar panels distributed in different California communities.
CEO Peter Darbee said the move represents the first time that PG&E--already a large purchaser of solar and other renewable energy technologies--will build and own solar installations. Right now, the utility purchases clean energy from third parties.
Darbee mentioned the solar initiative during a discussion on Wednesday here at the Clean-tech Investor Summit.
CNet: Ethanol firms clear deals for non-food feedstocks
Posted by Martin LaMonica
Two companies trying to lay claim to having the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the U.S. have secured financing to get closer to that goal.
Range Fuels on Monday said that it expects to receive an $80 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build an ethanol plant in Soperton, Ga.
The plant, which will use wood chips from neighborhood pine forests as feedstock, is on track to begin producing next year.
CNet: Turn trash into energy in your office parking lot
Posted by Martin LaMonica
When a school or office building thinks about distributed energy, it usually means solar panels propped up on a roof.
A small company called IST Energy has another vision: it's developed a shipping container-size contraption that turns your building's trash into electricity and heat. The company is expected to unveil the unit, called the Green Energy Machine (GEM), on Monday.
The idea behind the GEM is to offset a building's energy use while dramatically cutting trash disposal fees. The cost of trash removal can vary greatly, but a university or office park with a number of buildings could pay about $200,000 a year, according to IST Energy executives.
Reuters: Antarctic bases turn to renewables - even solar
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
ROTHERA BASE, Antarctica (Reuters) - Renewable energies are gaining a foothold in Antarctica, curbing fossil fuel use despite problems in designing installations to survive bone-chilling cold and winter darkness.
Wind and even solar power are catching on -- solar panels on the Antarctic Peninsula can collect as much energy in a year as many places in Europe.
Although there is little sunlight in the winter, the summer sun shines through crystal clear air and reflects off snow.
Science, Space, Environment, and Energy Policy
Reuters: Antarctic scientists hail President Obama
Editing by Sandra Maler
ROTHERA BASE, Antarctica (Reuters) - U.S. geologists working at an Antarctic base hailed President Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday and expressed hopes for a stronger focus on science.
"It's a very exciting time," David Barbeau, assistant professor of geology at the University of South Carolina, told Reuters after watching the inauguration at the British Rothera research station on the Antarctic Peninsula.
"There certainly is a feeling that this administration will have science pretty close to the forefront," he said in the base, by a bay strewn with icebergs with several seals sunning themselves on the ice.
Wired: FDA OKs First Human Trials of Embryonic Stem Cells
By Alexis Madrigal
The Federal Drug Administration has approved the first human trials of embryonic stem cells — a sign of a new, liberal attitude toward stem cell research, which was hamstrung by the Bush administration.
Starting this summer, the biotech firm Geron will treat a small group of spinal-cord injury patients using neurons derived from stem cells, marking the first time embryonic stem cells will be tested in humans.
The trial is designed to test the safety of the treatment, not how well it works. Nonetheless, it's a huge first step for the field.
Wired: IPCC Chief Calls Out Obama for Weak Greenhouse Gas Goals
By Brandon Keim
In an early conflict between the idea and the reality of Barack Obama's presidency, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chair Rajendra Pachauri has asked the president to get tougher on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
"I'd like him to suggest something akin to what the European Union set as a target," said Pachauri during a January 15 talk at the Worldwatch Institute, a sustainability think tank. "I think that really shows a level of seriousness in meeting this challenge, which is consistent with the position he's been taking."
CNet: A Dickensian view of clean-tech financing
Posted by Martin LaMonica
INDIAN WELLS, Calif.--There's a new cliche in the clean-tech investment community, and we can thank Charles Dickens for it.
As Dickens put it at the start of A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Who knew pulp fiction about pre-revolutionary France had lessons for 21st-century clean-tech investment?
Here at the Clean-Tech Investor Summit, investors say that signs indicating the energy business is poised for dramatic change have never been stronger, with an Obama administration making energy central to a massive stimulus package.
CNet: House panel approves green-tech portions of 'stimulus' bill
Posted by Stephanie Condon
WASHINGTON--House Democrats rebuffed Republican attempts to include more loan guarantees for nuclear and clean coal technologies into the so-called stimulus package, along with Republican efforts to make the energy sections more market-oriented.
By a largely partisan vote of 34 to 17, the House Energy and Commerce Committee ultimately approved the energy portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which spends about $25 billion on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and electricity transmission. (See our related story about the broadband portions of the bill.)
The legislation creates a loan guarantee program for renewable energy systems, and the committee on Thursday voted to extend the loan program to specifically apply to hydropower, as well as commercially viable "leading edge biofuel projects."
CNet: T. Boone Pickens: The U.S. needs a 'wind bank'
Posted by Martin LaMonica
INDIAN WELLS, Calif.--Billionaire and clean-energy proponent T. Boone Pickens said that the U.S. should establish a federally funded loan program, or bank, to finance large-scale wind developments.
Pickens spoke on Wednesday at the Clean-Tech Investor Summit here where he talked about his Pickens Plan for reducing imports of foreign oil. He also offered a number of energy policy recommendations.
His plan, launched in July, calls for spending $150 billion over the next 10 years to install turbines in the "wind corridor" of the Midwest United States, from Texas to Canada. The other major plank of the plan is to convert vehicles to run on domestic natural gas.
CNet: Why wireless Internet matters to small wind
Posted by Martin LaMonica
If you ask Andy Kruse, the CEO of wind turbine maker Southwest Windpower, about technology, he's more likely to talk about software and WiMax than turbine blades or inverters.
Kruse is in Washington this week lobbying to improve the subsidies for installing small wind turbines, one of the fastest growing segments in wind energy. Southwest Windpower makes a line of small wind turbines including the Skystream, which is sized for individual homes.
Changes in the stimulus package will lift the $4,000 cap on the federal tax credit for small wind purchases and other forms of clean-energy generation, according to Kruse. That means that consumers or businesses can get a tax credit worth 30 percent of the purchase price for a small wind turbine, geothermal heat pump, or solar hot water installation.
Reuters: EPA objects to coal plant, Sierra Club claims new day
By Bernie Woodall
Environmentalists claimed on Friday that a new era regarding coal-fired power plants had arrived with the Obama administration after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency turned back South Dakota's approval of a big coal-fired power plant in that state because of pollution concerns.
"EPA is signaling that it is back to enforcing long-standing legal requirements fairly and consistently nationwide," said Bruce Nilles, head of the Sierra Club's effort to stop coal power plants.
The EPA on Friday said the timing of the objection letter to South Dakota officials -- sent on Thursday in the third day of Barack Obama's administration -- was not related to the new president.
Reuters: Offshore drilling plan to go ahead: Interior Dept
Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe and Tom Doggett; Editing by Christian Wiessner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A proposal issued in the final days of the Bush administration to expand offshore drilling in previously banned areas will move forward under the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, an Interior Department spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday.
Shortly after being sworn in on Tuesday, Obama ordered all federal agencies and departments to halt pending regulations until they can be reviewed by incoming staff.
Hugh Vickery, a department spokesman, said the department has been notified by the White House that it will be able to proceed with a proposed draft of a five-year plan to lease areas in the Atlantic and Pacific waters for oil and natural gas drilling.
Reuters: U.S. intends to meet auto fuel rule: DOT nominee
Reporting by John Crawley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration intends to follow congressional orders and finalize sharply higher auto fuel efficiency standards by this spring, Transportation Secretary nominee Ray LaHood said on Wednesday.
"President Obama, as you know is very strong in this area and has spoken out on it," LaHood told Senate Commerce Committee members at his confirmation hearing.
LaHood, one of two Republicans selected by Obama for his Cabinet, said the agency would meet the standard for 2011-2015, and he would do everything possible, if confirmed, to finish the regulation by the April deadline set by Congress in the 2007 energy law.
Reuters: FACTBOX: U.S. state-level greenhouse gas reduction targets
Compiled by Michael Szabo; editing by Anthony Barker
U.S. states have taken the lead in setting greenhouse gas reduction targets in the absence of federal leadership on mandatory limits on the emissions scientists link to global warming.
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Here is a list of states that have set goals to reduce emissions along with those that are looking into adopting targets. Also included is the regional initiative to which they belong.
Reuters: First 100 Days: Obama’s first climate change target
By: Mary D. Nichols
After eight years of inaction on climate change by the federal government, we can now look forward to the Obama administration tackling global warming head on. With not a minute to lose, Lisa Jackson, the soon-to-be new head of the EPA, should move quickly to capitalize on the momentum of states that have so far been the leaders in fighting global warming. There is no better place to start than by establishing a national greenhouse gas emission standard for automobiles based on California’s landmark clean car law.
California has always been a pioneer in setting tough automobile emission standards. Our regulations paved the way for lead-free gas, the catalytic converter, and many other innovations that were later adopted as the national standard. As a result, we have eliminated 99 percent of harmful pollution pouring out of autos today compared to a 1960s era car, leading to clearer skies and cleaner air in our cities.
In 2002, California continued its track record of pioneering environmental legislation when it passed a law that directly addressed greenhouse gas emissions from cars. Personal vehicles produce 20 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gases, and so are increasingly being addressed by governments that are serious about averting catastrophic climate change. Thirteen other states have formally adopted and three states are considering adoption of California’s cost-effective and technologically doable program.
Reuters: "Green" tech a money saver in global downturn: U.N.
By Thin Lei Win
Business should use the global downturn to forge ahead with green technologies that will save hard pressed firms money as well as the planet, a U.N. environment agency said on Thursday.
Proven and commercially available technologies can cut buildings' energy use by 30 percent without a significant increase in investment cost, said Angela Cropper, deputy executive director of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP).
"Now is the time to pick up the pace in our efforts to address both climate change and economic development," she told a climate change business forum in Bangkok.
Reuters: EU to propose $200 billion climate tax on rich nations
By Pete Harrison and Gerard Wynn
BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - Rich nations could raise $200 billion in climate funds through a levy on their greenhouse gases from 2013-2020 to help poor countries prepare for global warming, the European Union will say next week.
The plan is set out in an EU paper outlining the bloc's position ahead of U.N.-led climate talks in Copenhagen in December, meant to agree a new, global climate treaty.
The fund-raising idea is the most specific yet from any rich country or bloc on how to persuade developing nations to agree binding, concrete steps to slow their greenhouse gas emissions -- one of the key obstacles in climate talks so far.
Science Reporting
Wired: WiSci Tweets Live from a Monterey Bay Research Boat
By Alexis Madrigal
A new camera will spy on sea creatures at the bottom of the Monterey Bay south of San Francisco starting Wednesday, if all goes as planned on the boat trip to install the Eye-in-the-Sea.
Wired Science will accompany the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute researchers on the installation expedition, which will link the new camera to the Monterey Accelerated Research System, a high-speed data hookup that brings unprecedented capabilities to its users.
Science is Cool
Wall Street Journal: Inaugural Balls Take On a Green Tinge
By ELIZABETH WILLIAMSON and BRODY MULLINS
Environmental interests took center stage away from those closer to the Bush administration, such as the petroleum, auto and financial industries, some of which appeared reluctant to throw big parties after receiving federal bailout funds. Hollywood stars flocked to events, as did big-name musicians.
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[A]at the Green Inaugural Ball, whose chairman was former Vice President Al Gore, guests sipped herbal martinis and nibbled hors d'oeuvres from a 12-page menu that included a butternut-squash bisque with roasted hazelnut lemon creme fraiche and curry oil.
The theme was "celebrating a renewed America." Some participants were also celebrating the $80 billion or so renewable energy and related companies stand to get in the new economic-stimulus bill working its way through Congress. Recycled-paper tickets sold out in 15 minutes for the carbon-neutral gala.
That looked to be more fun than Michigan's Inaugural Ball, which was very modest because of the state's economic woes. My college's Holiday party was more lavish.