When the Heat's On, Some Fish Can Cope: Certain Tropical Species Have Greater Capacity to Deal With Rising Sea Temperatures Than Thought

ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2011) — Australian scientists have discovered that some tropical fish have a greater capacity to cope with rising sea temperatures than previously thought -- by adjusting over several generations.

The discovery, by researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University and CSIRO sheds a ray of hope amid the rising concern over the future of coral reefs and their fish under the levels of global warming expected to occur by the end of the 21st century.
Understanding the ability of species to acclimatise to rising temperatures over longer time periods is critical for predicting the biological consequences of global warming -- yet it remains one of the least understood aspects of climate science. The scientists were seeking to discover how fish would cope with the elevated sea temperatures expected by 2050 and 2100.

I got very interested with this article because last year I was learning about Climate Change, and how the sea temperatures may change. We are going through many changes that are affecting us now or will in the future, for me it is very important to be informed of the things that are happening around the world and the subject of this article talks about something that may affect me someday. We can see that a population of fish can affect the temperature of the sea.

The Areas of Interactions used in this article are, in my opinion, Environment, because what happens under the sea is also part of our environment and this may force us to do many changes that may affect the environment. I think that Health and Social Education are also used in this article because this article is to infomr us all of what is happening so this is social education and the population of fish may affect our health because some of them may be contamined or they may reporoduce with health deseases.
This is a very interesting article that we should all read and take some precautons and learn of what is happening out there.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205102631.htm

Science one step closer to less energy intensive artificial photosynthesis

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2011

Artificial photosynthesis is the process with the main purpose of converting carbon dioxide into some useful chemical(s), most notably fuel. The primary goal of artificial photosynthesis is not to find new ways to get more fuel but to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions and reduce climate change impact. The main problem with artificial photosynthesis has always been the fact that this process is too energy intensive. This mainly refers to the first step of artificial photosynthesis, namely converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide because this process requires so much electricity that the end result is that the bigger amount of energy is being used to produce the fuel than can be stored in the fuel.

Because of this issue science has a demanding task of finding a right catalyst that will improve artificial photosynthesis and make it less energy intensive.The latest research on this field comes from the University of Illinois where scientists have used an ionic liquid to catalyze the reaction which has significantly reduced the amount of energy needed to turn carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide because the ionic liquids stabilize the intermediates in the reaction so that less electricity is needed to complete the conversion.

http://sciencefactsandarticles.blogspot.com/

This article interested me a lot because everyday I reflect on how much I am contributing on climate change by using electricity and ¨producing¨carbon dioxide emissions. I worry a lot about thins things because I feel that I cannot make a change, but I see that everyday more people are worrying about this things , and this article talks about projects and things groups of people are coming up with to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the improvement of artificial photosynthesis and to make it less energy intensive. I really like knowing about projects that people are coming up with of how to make our Earth greener, so this article talked to me about one of the projects and I find it very interesting.

Obviously I can connect this article with my daily life because every day more and more companies, schools, houses, etc. are trying to reduce Co2 emissions and less polluting. Us, as individuals, are worrying more about this probloems because the changes in our environment are starting to affect us, so this article is giving us ideas of how to help our home (Earth.)

This article uses the 3 areas of interactions. Environment: This is about how our environment is affected and the plans and projects of how to resolve this problmes. Human Ingenuity: New creations humans are doing to help our planet become greener. Health and Social Education or Community and Service: This article educates people about the problems we are having now and the solutions for it and the group of poeple that are doing this projects are contributing to community and service because they are helping the community to have a better place to live. :)

BE GREEN!

Orbital Observations of Mercury Reveal Flood Lavas, Hollows, and Unprecedented Surface Details

ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2011) — After only six months in orbit around Mercury, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is sending back information that has revolutionized the way scientists think about the innermost planet. Analyses of new data from the spacecraft show, among other things, new evidence that flood volcanism has been widespread on Mercury, the first close-up views of Mercury's "hollows," the first direct measurements of the chemical composition of Mercury's surface, and the first global inventory of plasma ions within Mercury's space environment.

An example of a large crater (Tyagaraja, 97 km in diameter) with a floor partially covered by large numbers of coalesced hollows. (Credit: Courtesy of Science/AAAS)

For decades scientists had puzzled over whether Mercury had volcanic deposits on its surface. MESSENGER's three flybys answered that question in the affirmative, but the global distribution of volcanic materials was not well constrained. New data from orbit show a huge expanse of volcanic plains surrounding the north polar region of Mercury. These continuous smooth plains cover more than 6% of the total surface of Mercury.

This information turns out to be very interesting for me because new materials are being found in Mercury, everyday new things are discovered and the way scientists think change all the time because of the new discoveries. This information is completely new so if evidence of flood volcanism has been discovered maybe one day we can fin evidence of living things in Mercury or in other galaxies, and that would be very cool. This information may be of interest for some of us or maybe not because it doesn't necessarily affect us in any way. But for me is important to know about things that happen outside of my life, a lot of things happen around the world that may never affect me but I like knowing what is happening outside my window because someday it may affect me or it may be useful for me.

In my opinion the Areas of Interactions used in this article are: Environments an Social education because this discovery occurred in an environment and maybe more things can occur in that environment, and the other one is Social Education because this information its not only educating scientist that got to change their minds because of this but also the community to know that outside are planet many things happen that may affect us in a good or bad way.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110929150927.htm

Pooping pandas may make better biofuels

Gut microbes break down bamboo efficiently, inspiring new approaches to process raw plant materials for fuel - By Alexandra Witze
Web edition : 1:50 pm

ENLARGE

RAW FUELBamboo passes quickly through pandas’ gastrointestinal tracts thanks to powerful microbes that digest it, scientists have found. The trick could be useful someday for making biofuels.

Two giant pandas in the Memphis Zoo have dropped researchers a gift. Studies of the pandas’ poop show that their gut microbes break down bamboo efficiently — a trick that humans could co-opt to turn woody plant material into alternative energy sources. Pandas eat bamboo almost exclusively, but don’t have a multichambered stomach like cows to help digest all those plants. It’s basically in one end and out the other, and “anything residing there to break down woody material has to be very efficient,” says Candace Williams, a graduate student on Brown’s team.

This article interested me very very much because, first of all I really like Pandas and when I saw an article about it I wanted to read it. The title was very interesting, I would have never thought that pooping pandas may make better biofuels. Last year we were learning about biofuels and alternative energy sources so "pooping pandas"may help in the environmental issue and a new alternative energy source may be discovered. I have been thinking on helping worldwide to have a better environment in a future and this information may be useful.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/333896/description/Pooping_pandas_may_make_better_biofuels__