Climate warming 'seesaws' between the poles: "Antarctic ice-drilling reveals linked cycle of warming and cooling."

(Via Nature Science Update.)

another article on the increase in global carbon emissions

Far from slowing down, global carbon dioxide emissions are rising faster than before, said a gathering of scientists in Beijing on Friday.

Between 2000 and 2005, emissions grew four times faster than in the preceding 10 years, according to researchers at the Global Carbon Project, a consortium of international researchers. Global growth rates were 0.8% from 1990 to 1999. From 2000 to 2005, they reached 3.2%.

Though alarming, the figures confirm expectations. "They make intuitive sense to me," says Jim Watson, deputy leader of the energy programme at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, UK.

Carbon emissions rising faster than ever - earth - 10 November 2006 - New Scientist Tech

China Space White Paper

Full text: China's Space Activities in 2006

The Information Office of China's State Council on Thursday issued a white paper titled "China's Space Activities in 2006".

The following is the full text of the document: China's Space Activities in 2006 Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China October 2006, Beijing Contents Preface I. Aims and Principles of Development II. Progress Made in the Past Five Years III. Development Targets and Major Tasks for the Next Five Years IV. Development Policies and Measures V. International Exchanges and Cooperation

People's Daily Online -- Full text: China's Space Activities in 2006

Rumours on an ambitious Indian Moon Programme

An Indian will walk on the moon in 2020. Or so the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) maintains.

At a forthcoming meeting of the country's top scientists on November 7, ISRO will, for the first time, unveil two of its ambitious plans - to send an Indian into space around 2014 and then to have one walk on the moon about six years later. Both missions will be accomplished without any foreign assistance. ISRO will even find a Sanskrit word equivalent for the US's 'astronaut' and Russia's 'cosmonaut' to describe the Indian in space.G Madhavan Nair, chairman, ISRO, said the proposed missions would be a national endeavour, with the best of the country's laboratories and research-and-development organisations chipping in with technical know-how.

Plan to put Indian on moon in ’20 : HindustanTimes.com

quantum communicating (in chineese) ...

CAS researchers have been successful in achieving the quantum teleportation of a two-qubit composite system, marking an important stride towards teleportation-based quantum computation with photons. The feat was reported as the cover story in the Oct. issue of Nature Physics.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences

more active moon than thought ... new scientist article ...

Blasts of gas from deep beneath the lunar surface are giving the Moon a surprisingly fresh-faced look, suggests a new study. If they are, our picture of the Moon’s geological past will have to change just as dramatically.

The Moon was thought to be geologically inactive. The last volcanoes erupted on it nearly a billion years ago and meteor impacts were believed to be the only thing that could change its surface today. That belief is set to change.

How the Moon sheds its skin - space - 08 November 2006 - New Scientist Space

looks like a very nice idea ....

Pumping carbon dioxide through hot rocks could simultaneously generate power and mop up the greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuel power stations, according to a new study.Harnessing geothermal power involves extracting heat from beneath the surface of the Earth. Normally, this means pumping water down through hot rocks and extracting it again. But the new analysis suggests carbon dioxide could extract heat from rocks more efficiently than water.

Karsten Pruess, a hydro-geologist at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in the US, carried out the study and says carbon dioxide could theoretically boost the amount of energy produced by hydrothermal plants by 50% or more. At the same time, Pruess calculates that the technique could be used to dispose of the carbon dioxide produced by conventional power plants, which contribute to global warming.

Geothermal power plants could also consume CO2 - tech - 08 November 2006 - New Scientist Tech

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another strong message .... from the very top

As Climate Changes, Can We?

By Kofi Annan

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

If there were any remaining doubt about the urgent need to combat climate change, two reports issued last week should make the world sit up and take notice. First, according to the latest data submitted to the United Nations, the greenhouse gas emissions of the major industrialized countries continue to increase. Second, a study by a former chief economist of the World Bank, Sir Nicholas Stern of Britain, called climate change "the greatest and widest-ranging market failure ever seen," with the potential to shrink the global economy by 20 percent and to cause economic and social disruption on par with the two world wars and the Great Depression.

The scientific consensus, already clear and incontrovertible, is moving toward the more alarmed end of the spectrum. Many scientists long known for their caution are now saying that warming has reached dire levels, generating feedback loops that will take us perilously close to a point of no return. A similar shift may be taking place among economists, with some formerly circumspect analysts saying it would cost far less to cut emissions now than to adapt to the consequences later. Insurers, meanwhile, have been paying out more and more each year to compensate for extreme weather events. And growing numbers of corporate and industry leaders have been voicing concern about climate change as a business risk. The few skeptics who continue to try to sow doubt should be seen for what they are: out of step, out of arguments and just about out of time.

Kofi Annan - As Climate Changes, Can We? - washingtonpost.com

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European Ecological Footprint

Footprint Network News - Global Footprint Network - Advancing the Science of Sustainability

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hopefully never necessary ....

We started looking at this also ... not yet conclusive but it seems reasonable to look at all options, even when hoping that humanity would manage to get to reason and change our consumption and GHG emission patterns in time ...

For the past year, Angel has been looking at ways to cool the Earth in an emergency. He's been studying the practicality of deploying a space sunshade in a global warming crisis, a crisis where it becomes clear that Earth is unmistakably headed for disastrous climate change within a decade or two.

Roger Angel

Angel presented the idea at the National Academy of Sciences in April and won a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts grant for further research in July. His collaborators on the grant are David Miller of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nick Woolf of UA's Steward Observatory, and NASA Ames Research Center Director S. Pete Worden.

Space Sunshade Might Be Feasible in Global Warming Emergency

what a choice ...

Evolutionary trade-off between weapons and testes

It has long been recognized that male mating competition is responsible for the evolution of weaponry for mate acquisition. However, when females mate with more than one male, competition between males can continue after mating in the form of sperm competition. Theory predicts that males should increase their investment in sperm production as sperm competition is increased, but it assumes that males face a trade-off between sperm production and other life-history traits such as mate acquisition. Here, we use a genus of horned beetle, Onthophagus, to examine the trade-off between investment in testes required for fertilizations and investment in weapons used to obtain matings. In a within-species study, we prevented males from developing horns and found that these males grew larger and invested relatively more in testes growth than did males allowed to grow horns. Among species, there was no general relationship between the relative sizes of horns and testes. However, the allometric slope of horn size on body size was negatively associated with the allometric slope of testes size on body size. We suggest that this reflects meaningful evolutionary changes in the developmental mechanisms regulating trait growth, specifically in the degree of nutrition-dependent phenotypic plasticity versus canalization of traits. Finally, we show how this resource allocation trade-off has influenced the evolutionary diversification of weapons, revealing a rich interplay between developmental trade-offs and both pre- and postmating mechanisms of sexual competition.

From the Cover: Evolutionary trade-off between weapons and testes -- Simmons and Emlen 103 (44): 16346 -- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

who voluneers?

Another brain research study that probably would not have passed the french ethical committee approval ...

Zapping sleepers’ brains boosts memory

Applying a gentle electric current to the brain during sleep can significantly boost memory, researchers report.

A small new study showed that half an hour of this brain stimulation improved students’ performance at a verbal memory task by about 8%. The approach enhances memory by creating a form of electrical current in the brain seen in deep sleep, the researchers suggest.

Zapping sleepers’ brains boosts memory - health - 05 November 2006 - New Scientist

ACT - Advanced Concepts

ACT - Advanced Concepts