Large quantities of carbon in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane are trapped within and beneath polar permafrost, the layer of frozen ground that has not thawed for millennia. But this ground is now becoming destabilized as warmer temperatures due to a changing climate are causing the permafrost to melt, releasing the trapped greenhouse gases. If the melting is uneven it can cause … Continue reading Craters in Siberia – A Cause for Concern?
The history of modern physics contains several examples of crazy and successful new ideas. Unfortunately for scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, their “impossible” space engine may not be one of them. Why? Simply put, it violates Isaac Newton’s third law of motion. NASA’s experiment involved placing a radio antenna inside of a sealed, metal container. Once turned on, radio waves produced by … Continue reading NASA’s Physics-Defying Space Engine More Fiction Than Fact?
From Snails Are Dissolving in Pacific Ocean (original article here) Image courtesy of Arctic Exploration 2002, Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, NOAA/OER Recent findings show that CO2 emissions are increasingly acidifying oceans, causing snail shells in the Pacific Ocean to dissolve! This may have far reaching impacts on ocean life, affecting a variety of organisms, especially those within the same food chain. The world’s … Continue reading Increasingly Acidic Oceans Are Dissolving Snail Shells
While there’s been much debate in the media about the causes and effects of climate change, many scientists agree that changes in climate will impact our lives. However, demonstrating such impact is scientifically challenging because of the many different factors that are involved and the difficulty of making predictions about the future, as well as politically charged because of the implications any findings will have … Continue reading Malaria in a warming world: How high will it go?
The UN has released a report reiterating that sufficient data exists to conclude that not only is climate change occurring, but that human use of coal, oil, and natural gas is the primary cause. This report highlights the stark fact that poorer populations disproportionally live in regions most vulnerable to climate change. Developed areas will be affected too. New York City, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, is already focusing on “climate-proofing” its electrical system. Read on to learn more! Continue reading UN reaffirms man-made climate change. What’s next?
Ever thought about keeping a wolf? Probably not… To understand how wolves evolved into modern dogs and started living with humans, researchers wanted to find out exactly where and when this happened. Using many samples from prehistoric and modern dogs and wolves, they isolated the genetic material in mitochondria. By comparing those DNA sequences, they find that the origin of dogs most likely lies in … Continue reading From howling to fetch: how did we get our first pets?
Should the discovery of an infectious virus in the permafrost worry us? Scientists have uncovered a so-called ‘giant virus’ in permafrost that has melted as a result of progressive climate change. The virus, Pithovirus sibericum, was isolated from melted samples of Siberian permafrost and was able to infect amoebas even after being frozen for thousands of years. Could ancient human pathogens also be uncovered and … Continue reading Killer viruses lurking in permafrost? Probably not, but here’s what they can teach us…
Presented by Ethan Butler, Karen McKinnon, Andy Rhines Extreme weather events, from hurricanes to heat waves, seem to be in the news with increasing regularity.But are extreme events actually increasing in frequency? And do they have a connection to our changing climate? Ethan will begin the lecture with an overview of some recent extreme weather events, and their impact on humans, whether due to flooding, … Continue reading Extreme Weather: Causes, Effects, and Connections With Climate
Presented by Jessica Kunke, Lei Zhu, Stephen Portillo The natural world is so complex and unpredictable that it might seem math could never be a sufficient tool to understand it. Our lecture aims to widen this view of math and explore how mathematical models and chaos theory give us insights into nature. The first part of our lecture introduces the concepts of math models and … Continue reading Math in Nature: Finding order in chaos
Presented by Katherine Rosenfeld, Laura Schaefer, Anjali Tripathi For millennia, our understanding of Earth came from our own experiences on the planet. Today, with the ability to observe other planets in the Solar System and planets around other stars, we have a better sense of our place in the Universe and how the Earth formed and evolved. This evening’s lecture will begin with current knowledge … Continue reading Earth Formation: The making of planet earth