• Molecules could help solve radioactive waste concerns

    One component of nuclear waste — called “minor actinides” — present an extreme hazard as they are intensely radioactive and long-lived nuclides; they must be safely stored for at least 100,000 years; researchers have discovered a class of molecules that can selectively extract minor actinides, making the eventual waste far less radiotoxic

  • Artificial volcanoes to reverse global warming

    British scientists are investigating a method to reverse the effects of climate change by creating an artificial volcano and suspending it 12.5 miles above the earth; the team’s goal is to recreate the cooling effect that a volcano has when it releases millions of tiny particles into the stratosphere that bounce some of the Sun’s rays back into space

  • The malaria mosquito is disappearing – researchers wonder why

    The incidence of malaria in many African countries south of the Sahara is falling rapidly; a research group has discovered that the mosquito carrying the malaria parasite has practically disappeared from villages without organized mosquito control; there are several hypotheses about the cause of the decline, but without proper data researchers cannot say whether malaria is being eradicated or whether it is just resting up before returning with renewed vigor

  • Common bacterium stops mosquitoes from transmitting Dengue virus

    Strains of a bacterium commonly found in fruit flies can prevent the Aedes aegypti mosquito from transmitting the virus that causes dengue fever, researchers have found; the discovery could lead to a more effective way to control dengue worldwide

  • Storing CO2 underground to extract electricity

    A team of scientists, led by the Berkeley Lab, hopes to become the first in the world to produce electricity from the Earth’s heat using CO2; They also want permanently to store some of the CO2 underground, where it can not contribute to climate change

  • Towing icebergs to provide fresh water for parched regions

    A third of the world’s population — more than two billion people — lives without access to clean drinking water, and studies show that the situation will only get worse; a French innovator has an idea: towing icebergs from the Greenland and Antarctica to regions most in need of fresh water; a computer simulation shows this solution to be viable and affordable

  • Solar-based method to provide safe water

    A revolutionary low-cost technique that uses sunshine to provide safe drinking water; solar disinfection (SODIS) of drinking water is an effective way of preventing water-borne diseases such as cholera, dysentery or polio — especially important in developing countries, where safe drinking water is often a precious rarity

  • Market forces to help reduce emission, increase storage of CO2

    New computer modeling work shows that by 2100, if society wants to limit carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to less than 40 percent higher than it is today, the lowest-cost option is to use every available means of reducing emissions — including using forests to store carbon

  • Melting ice sheets release toxic pollutants outlawed in 2001

    The melting of arctic ice sheets causes the rise in sea levels — but there is another danger: the melting causes dangerous chemicals, including the notoriously toxic DDT, to be freed from Arctic sea ice and snow; the chemical — known as “persistent organic pollutants” (POPs) — were widely used as insecticides and pesticides before being outlawed in 2001; they are extremely tough molecules that take decades to break down in nature; they also bio-accumulate, meaning that as they pass up the food chain, concentrations rise, posing a fertility threat to higher species

  • Cambridge U team intends to win the 2011 World Solar Challenge

    The World Solar Challenge, the “Formula One” of eco-friendly motorsport, consists of a 3,000 kilometer race across the Australian outback from Darwin to Adelaide; it will be held 16-23 October 2011; the University of Cambridge team believes it has a real chance to win with their newly designed Cambridge University Eco Racing (CUER) machine

  • Placement of wind-turbine increases power tenfold

    The power output of wind farms can be increased by an order of magnitude — at least tenfold — simply by optimizing the placement of turbines on a given plot of land; rather than build taller towers and bigger blades, efficient wind-based energy production should focus on the design of the wind farm itself, to maximize its energy-collecting efficiency at heights closer to the ground

  • Melting ice sheets chief cause of rising sea levels

    There are two causes for rising sea levels — melting ice sheets and thermal expansion of warming ocean waters; during the Last Interglacial Period, the former contributed much more to rising sea levels than the latter, a University of Arizona-led team of researchers has found; the results further suggest that ocean levels continue to rise long after warming of the atmosphere levels off

  • U.S. West Coast is rapidly eroding, with pace to accelerate

    The stormy conditions of the 2009-10 El Nino winter eroded beaches from San Diego to Seattle to often unprecedented levels; the higher sea levels expected due to global warming, and potentially even stronger winter storms, will likely to contribute to increased rates of beach and bluff erosion along much of the U.S. West Coast

  • Understanding deadly tornadoes

    Scientists at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) are analyzing radar data from 27 April 2011 — the day that saw of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history — then merging the information with detailed storm surveys and other data; they hope to learn more about how the storms formed, what made the storms so powerful and what might be done to make tornado warnings more effective

  • Creating genetic replacement for oil

    Scientists previously established that oil and coal have their roots in the organisms that lived on the planet over 500 million years ago, but researchers only are sure of one organism that directly contributed to these natural resources — that organism is the algae Botryococcus braunii; this algae is very slow growing, so it is not necessarily a good source for biofuels; scientists offer an alternative