Category: Science

Climate Change Controversy Continues

Dec. 03 Environment, Science no comments


The ongoing debate surrounding man-made climate change is one that has two distinct opposing sides: there are those who believe our CO2 emissions are damaging the earth’s atmosphere and adding to the rising temperatures, and those who believe that warming is a natural phenomenon that comes in cycles. A new report from the Global Carbon Project, which looks at emissions from industry across the world, has further inflated the debate by declaring that dangerous climate change – inducing adverse weather conditions and such – is now all but a certainty. The news will have startling effects on the views of many, and are bound to be counteracted by those who do not agree.

3.1% Growth in 2011

The report claims that CO2 emissions from world industry rose by 3.1% in the year 2011, and indicated that unless such growth is stemmed we are on a direct path to disaster. The warming could induce heatwaves, droughts and extreme weather patterns across the world, and cause a major global disaster. Corinne le Quere, a co-author of the report and an expert in climate research, said:

“I am worried that the risks of dangerous climate change are too high on our current emissions trajectory. We need a radical plan.”

The report continues in the same vein, stating:

“Unless large and concerted global mitigation efforts are initiated soon, the goal of remaining below 2C will soon become unachievable.”

China and the USA

It is notable that China, which is continuing with a programme of building new fossil-fuel power stations – saw its emissions rise by a massive 9.9% over 2011, just short of the figure achieved in the previous year, and the country now accounts for more than a quarter of all carbon emissions in the world. India is anointer country that contributes large amounts, with 7.5% increase in 2011. Conversely, emissions in the UK and the USA fell, but by largely inconsiderable amounts. With the aim of keeping warming to below two degrees centigrade being the ultimate mission it is looking as though a major argument may be about to break out between the pros and the cons, but there is no doubt that – whether man is the main contributor or not – the earth is currently seeing rising emissions of carbon dioxide. There are currently 200 countries involved in international climate talks in Doha, Qatar, and much will be made of these latest figures in the remainder of the meeting.

LUX Detector Nearing Activation for Dark Matter Observation in SD Mine

Oct. 20 Science, Technology no comments

A South Dakota mine is the venue where the Large Underground Xenon Detector, a device designed by scientists, would be activated to detect the presence of dark matter, a substance that makes up 25% of the existing universe, which has long eluded scientists for the past few decades. It was lowered this into a 70,000 gallon water tank nearly a mile beneath the earth’s surface insulated enough to help it insulate dark matter from cosmic radiation that masks the substance on the earth’s surface.

The discovery of dark matter will shake the entire scientific community as it can answer the origins of the universe and the behavior of reality. Harry Nelson, a physics professor in the University of California and also a principal investigator of the project, stated that the experiment might be brutal or expensive, but it would be as astounding as the discovery of the Higgs boson earlier this year.

Regular matter, such as in the physical world, makes up 4% of the physical universe. Dark matter makes up at least 25% of the universe and the other parts, such as dark energy, still remains a mystery to most scientists.

Right after the Homestake Gold Mine in the Black Hill’s Lead in South Dakota shut down, scientists applied for permissions to use the site for experiments, which had the LUX move into the Sanford Underground research facility which is 4850 feet below the earth’s surface.

The detector, roughly the size of a telephone booth, is submerged in water running through reverse osmosis to deionize and clean it to make it more sensitive to detecting dark energy. Xenon in both liquid and gas form will fill the detector and continuously circulate through a purifier, similar to an osmosis machine.