Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Great Barrier Reef losses 50%: report - New York Daily News [fornadablog.blogspot.com]

Great Barrier Reef losses 50%: report - New York Daily News [fornadablog.blogspot.com]

Video via producer & author of Socialnomics @equalman/@ekutsko new video showcasing what technology will replace this digital decade. From checkbooks to car keys. Leaders will also be replaced by new Digital Leaders, which is the focus of @equalman's new book from McGraw-Hill | amzn.to Technology Will Kill


Clean technology is growing in the UK â€" about 80% of the UK's top new infrastructure projects can be classified as "green", according to the Labour party. But the UK's clean technology industry is acutely aware that future growth is not guaranteed â€" it ... Clean technology: what is the future of green energy?


[fornadablog.blogspot.com], Great Barrier Reef losses 50%: report - New York Daily News

Mark Kolb e/Getty Images

A Hawksbill sea turtle is swimming near Lady Elliot Island. The island is one of the three island resorts in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Some 50 percent of the Great Barrier Reef has vanished in under three decades, a study shows.

Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, has been reduced by 50 percent over the past 27 years, a new study found.

The reef  is vanishing due to climate change, predatory starfish and intense cyclones linked to a warming of the oceans, according to scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS) and the University of Wollongong.

Coral cover could fall to just 5 percent in the next decade,the study warns.

“This loss of over half of initial cover is of great concern, signifying habitat loss for the tens of thousands of species associated with tropical coral reefs," the study released on Tuesday said.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world and the only living thing on Earth visible from space. Stretching for 1800 miles parallel to Australia’s northeastern coast, it is a breeding area for humpback whales, home to thousands of sea species and is the biggest single structure made by living organisms.

Coral reefs have been disappearing around the world but the pace of decline of the Great Barrier Reef has been more pronounced, especially since 2006, scientists said.

"In terms of geographic scale and the extent of the decline, it is unprecedented anywhere in the world," AIMS chief John Gunn told Reuters.

REEF3N_2_WEB

Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

“This loss of over half of initial cover is of great concern, signifying habitat loss for the tens of thousands of species associated with tropical coral reefs," says the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences study.

Normally resilient, a coral reef can recover in 10 to 20 years from an extreme storm or bleaching â€" caused by warmer sea temperatures.

But an increased frequency in cyclones â€" 34 in total since 1985 â€" have caused nearly half the losses of the Great Barrier Reef, the report found.

So scientists are pushing for immediate attention in two other areas â€" cutting both greenhouse gas emissions and the predatory starfish population.

“We can't stop the storms but perhaps we can stop the starfish," AIMS chief John Gunn said.

Experts say reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must be an immediate priority.

Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere during the burning of fossil fuels and part of that gas is absorbed by the oceans. This leads to ocean acidification, disrupting the ability of corals to build their calcium carbonate structures, scientists said.

Another short-term option is through managing the growing starfish population, which has been boosted by nutrient-rich runoff from agriculture in the region, LiveScience reported.

Katharina Fabricius, a coral reef ecologist, told LiveScience that the introduction of “natural starfish disease,” could be an option.

"Starfish normally are rare," Fabricius said. "We want to help Mother Nature keep them rare.”

vcavaliere@nydailynews.com

Suggest Great Barrier Reef losses 50%: report - New York Daily News Topics


Question by Milk: Apparently a subject called "technology" is now taught in S.A. high schools. What exactly is taught in it? Apparently a subject called "technology" is now taught in South African high schools. What exactly is taught this subject? The name is just so broad! Is it what we used to refer to as technical drawing? Thanks to all who answer. Thanks to everyone for these great answers. It seems that you were all taught rather different things. - Is the course content largely up to the teacher in question? Best answer for Apparently a subject called "technology" is now taught in S.A. high schools. What exactly is taught in it?:

Answer by Byron Mulder
What I remember was we did technical drawings and designs and built structures. We also looked into nutrition and food

Answer by Rosaudio
You do it in up until Grade 10. Basically involves Woodwork.. building structures and plastics.

Answer by moya
It has alot to do with basic engineering - history, inventions etc.

Related Apparently a subject called "technology" is now taught in S.A. high schools. What exactly is taught in it? Topics

Fantastic video on the progression of information technology, researched by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Brenman, remixed By the way, I did not create this video! Search on the names above if you want more info - they are responsible. Did You Know?

Half of Great Barrier Reef has vanished, study finds - Fox News [fornadablog.blogspot.com]

Half of Great Barrier Reef has vanished, study finds - Fox News [fornadablog.blogspot.com]

An English version. Because everybody should know about this Lithuanian awesomeness! (written and directed by Tadas Vidmantas) Vytautas Mineral Water! It's Earth's Juice!


Methane in two Pennsylvania water wells has a chemical fingerprint that links it to natural gas produced by hydraulic fracturing, evidence that such drilling can pollute drinking water. The data, collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ... Cabot's Methodology Links Tainted Water Wells to Gas Fracking


[fornadablog.blogspot.com], Half of Great Barrier Reef has vanished, study finds - Fox News

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is a glittering gem â€" the world's largest coral reef ecosystem â€" chock-full of diverse marine life. But new research shows it is also in steep decline, with half of the reef vanishing in the past 27 years.

Katharina Fabricius, a coral reef ecologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science and study co-author, told LiveScience that she has been diving and working on the reef since 1988 â€" and has watched the decline. "I hear of the changes anecdotally, but this is the first long-term look at the overall status of the reef. There are still a lot of fish, and you can see giant clams, but not the same color and diversity as in the past."

To get their data, Fabricius and her colleagues surveyed 214 different reefs around the Great Barrier Reef, compiling information from 2,258 surveys to determine the rate of decline between 1985 and 2012. They estimated the coral cover, or the amount of the seafloor covered with living coral.

That overall 50-percent decline, they estimate, is a yearly loss of about 3.4 percent of the reef. [Photos of Great Barrier Reef Through Time]

They did find some local differences, with the relatively pristine northern region showing no decline over the past two decades.

Cyclones and starfish

'This is a really grim wake-up call.'

- John Bruno, a biologist at UNC Chapel Hill

The reef’s decline, detailed this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, can be chalked up to several factors, they found. The biggest factors are smashing from tropical cyclones, crown-of-thorns starfish that eat coral and are boosted by nutrient runoff from agriculture, and coral bleaching from high-temperatures, which are rising due to climate change. (Coral bleaching happens when ocean temperatures rise and cause the corals to expel their zooxanthellae â€" the tiny photosynthetic algae that live in the coral's tissues.)

Other coral experts say the precipitous decline matches what they have found. "This is a really grim wake-up call," said John Bruno, a biologist at UNC Chapel Hill. "The GBR [Great Barrier Reef], which only 10 years ago was considered the world's most pristine and resilient coral reef is clearly not better off and no less threatened than any other reef. I am bullish on the long-term survival of reefs, but science like this is challenging that outlook."

Saving the reef

As for what can be done to save the reef, or what's left of it, some say reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is key. "International efforts to cap and reduce CO2 emissions are equally critical and must occur at the same time as cleaning up local impacts," said Les Kaufman, a biologist at Boston University who is part of an international consensus statement on climate change and coral reefs.

Fabricius says not much can be done in the short term about the climate-change-driven frequency of cyclones â€" five category 5 storms in the past seven years have pounded the reefs â€" or high temperatures. However, there are efforts in place to stem the damage from starfish, which can grow up to 3 feet (0.9 meters) in diameter and sport long venomous spines and 21 arms. Young starfish feed on coral-making algae, and leave behind the coral's skeleton.

One project encourages farmers to adopt practices that limit the amount of nutrient-rich runoff draining into reef areas. Another would allow tour operators to manually remove starfish from tourist areas, which Fabricius admits isn't a solution, just a temporary fix.

Another option is to examine ways of harnessing natural starfish diseases that typically keep starfish numbers low. "Starfish normally are rare," Fabricius said. "We want to help Mother Nature keep them rare." The research shows that the reef could rebuild itself in 20-30 years despite the cyclones and bleaching, if the starfish population died back.

The experts agree that doing nothing is not an option at this point. "The problem is entirely soluble, and coral reefs can be saved through concerted effort over this and the following two or three generations," said Kaufman. "There is absolutely no excuse for failure to do this, and if we do fail our generation will forever be remembered for unimaginable, unforgivable stupidity and sloth."

Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Suggest Half of Great Barrier Reef has vanished, study finds - Fox News Topics


Question by Carlos: What would happen to a person if their water baptism became "useless water"? Is it unforgiveable if a person's water baptism became "useless water"? Best answer for What would happen to a person if their water baptism became "useless water"?:

Answer by Camille
it cannot happen and you are trying to mislead others. Stop it. because there is no way that it would be useless. Just your weird pizza dreams again.

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Follow on Twitter! - twitter.com Watch this one in HD! The slow mo guys are well aware that water balloons are always good in slow motion. In this video, Gav and crew try (and fail many times) to pop a 6ft giant red balloon. Slow motion is between 2500fps and 1000fps. Balloon bought from giantballoons.co.uk Giant 6ft Water Balloon - The Slow Mo Guys

Most scientific retractions involve fraud, not error - TG Daily [fornadablog.blogspot.com]

Most scientific retractions involve fraud, not error - TG Daily [fornadablog.blogspot.com]

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[fornadablog.blogspot.com], Most scientific retractions involve fraud, not error - TG Daily

There's been a ten-fold increase in the number of fraud-related retractions of biomedical papers since 1975, putting paid to the idea that it's usually just a case of owning up to an inadvertent error.

In a new analysis claimed to be the most comprehensive of its kind, a US team has concluded that misconduct - such as fraud or suspected fraud, duplicate publication and plagiarism - is responsible for two-thirds of all retractions.

"Biomedical research has become a winner-take-all game â€" one with perverse incentives that entice scientists to cut corners and, in some instances, falsify data or commit other acts of misconduct," says senior author Arturo Casadevall of Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

The study reviewed 2,047 papers retracted from the biomedical literature through May 2012, and consulted the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research Integrity and Retractionwatch.com to establish the cause.

And the team found that about 21 percent of the retractions were attributable to error, while 67 percent were due to misconduct, including fraud or suspected fraud (43 percent), duplicate publication (14 percent), and plagiarism (10 percent). Miscellaneous or unknown reasons accounted for the remaining 12 percent.

"What's troubling is that the more skilful the fraud, the less likely that it will be discovered, so there likely are more fraudulent papers out there that haven't yet been detected and retracted," says Casadevall.

Earlier studies that underestimated the extent of scientific misconduct, he says, have relied solely on the journals' retraction notices - which are written by the papers' authors.

"Authors commonly write, ‘We regret we have to retract our paper because the work is not reproducible,' which is not exactly a lie. The work indeed was not reproducible â€" because it was fraudulent," he says.

"Researchers try to protect their labs and their reputations, and these retractions are written in such a way that you often don't know what really happened."

Some labs appear to be more prone to malpractice than others. As many as 43 percent of all retractions came from just 38 labs - out of thousands worldwide. "So while we're not looking at a systemic disease, so to speak, in the scientific community, our findings do indicate a significant problem that needs to be addressed," says Casadevall.

Suggest Most scientific retractions involve fraud, not error - TG Daily Articles


Question by SF: What does this quote mean - "Ethics change with technology"? It was said by Larry Niven. "Ethics change with technology" What do you think it means? Best answer for What does this quote mean - "Ethics change with technology"?:

Answer by cyberdrea123
"Ethics" are, for the most part, a person's opinion towards what is right/wrong in consideration of general society (whereas morals tend to be an individual's own sense of right & wrong, for their own behavior). Most people's driver's license doesn't reflect their actual, current weight -- and they're lying (and ethic violation), but personally, I don't really care (a moral judgment). "Ethics change with technology" may mean that as technology advances, people have different opinions about what is right/wrong in terms of social behavior. Cyber-bullying, texting, texting language/spelling, cyber-stalking (hitting-up someone's facebook a thousand times is good/bad? Looking them up on spoke.com is better/worse?) -- all of these are examples of technology-based behavior that have become unacceptable OR "norm" as technology advances. In past days, it used to be considered poor form to not write with some semblance of "proper" grammar and sentence structure. Today, texting-- with its abbreviations, characters, and lack of grammatical structure-- is okay based on the medium used. I hope I didn't confuse more than help. Good luck. :)

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Monday, October 1, 2012

Countdown to 'Fearless' Felix's Supersonic Skydive Begins - Wired [fornadablog.blogspot.com]

Countdown to 'Fearless' Felix's Supersonic Skydive Begins - Wired [fornadablog.blogspot.com]

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[fornadablog.blogspot.com], Countdown to 'Fearless' Felix's Supersonic Skydive Begins - Wired

Felix Baumgartner, in the capsule he will ride to an altitude of 120,000 feet before skydiving back to earth during a jump slated for Oct. 8. He hopes to set a record for the highest jump ever recorded, and he plans to break the speed of sound during his descent. Photo: Jörg Mitter/Red Bull Content Pool

Skydiver Felix Baumgartner has made some craaaaazy jumps over the years, including BASE jumping from Petronas Towers and the Tapei 101 skyscraper. Impressive, but nothing compared to his plan to skydive from 23 miles above the Earth next week.

The Austrian adventurer will ascend to 120,000 feet in a pressurized capsule and, wearing only a spacesuit and a parachute, jump. As he plummets earthward in what will be the highest skydive ever, Baumgartner will become the first person to break the sound barrier in free fall.

Crazy? Perhaps. But ‘Fearless Felix’ already has made two practice jumps, from 13 miles and 18 miles, that went perfectly. Well, almost perfectly.

Baumgartner’s capsule was damaged during a hard landing after his leap from 97,145 feet in July, necessitating a complete overhaul. It was completed last week, and with everything up to par, Red Bull Stratos technical director Art Thompson has declared all systems go. The launch window opens Oct. 8.

“I feel like a tiger in a cage waiting to get out,” the 43-year-old skydiver, a veteran of more than 2,500 jumps, said in a statement.

Baumgartner hopes to break the unofficial record Joe Kittinger, a retired Air Force colonel from Florida, set in 1960 when he jumped from 102,800 feet. He expects to free fall for at least five minutes (another record) and exceed the speed of sound, around 700 mph at that altitude.

During his test jump in July, Baumgartner’s descent from 18 miles up took 10 minutes and 36 seconds, and he reached 536 mph during a freefall that lasted 3 minutes and 48 seconds.

Baumgartner will be carried aloft in a 2,899-pound capsule suspended beneath a 55-story helium balloon. The capsule looks like something you’d see atop a Saturn rocket, and the Red Bull Stratos team has spent years honing its design and construction. The 8-foot diameter capsule features a 6-foot diameter pressure vessel that will protect Baumgartner from the cold air and thin oxygen he’ll experience ascending to the edge of the stratosphere.

The Red Bull Stratos capsule took a beating after a test flight in July, so the crew had it overhauled. Here it is being shaken down in the pressure chamber at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Photo: Garth Milan/Red Bull Content Pool

Everything worked as planned during two earlier jumps, but the capsule landed on a rocky patch after July’s test flight, damaging its outer shell and framework. Ten days of testing confirmed that the capsule’s pressure sphere and electronics remained intact, but the Stratos team decided to replace some components of the life support system. The capsule was thoroughly shaken down in an altitude chamber at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonioin San Antonio, Texas, then sent back to Roswell, New Mexico, where Baumgartner will lift off on Monday.

There are more than bragging rights at stake here. The Red Bull team insists there is some scientific merit to the jump.

“Red Bull Stratos is an opportunity to gather information that could contribute to the development of life-saving measures for astronauts and pilots â€" and maybe for the space tourists of tomorrow,” Baumgartner said. “Proving that a human can break the speed of sound in the stratosphere and return to earth would be a step toward creating near-space bailout procedures that currently don’t exist.”

Of all the things that could go wrong, Baumgartner says the biggest challenge will be positioning himself for the fall to earth once he’s stepped into the void.

“I have to get myself into a stable position before I reach the speed of sound,” he said. “With all my experience in the air that shouldn’t be too much of an issue, but in order to stabilise my body I need wind resistance. The problem is that for around 30 seconds I will have no air cushion whatsoever, meaning that I won’t be able to control the way my body spins.”

What’s most interesting, though, is Red Bull claims Baumgartner’s heart rate will be highest as he’s reaching his peak altitude, not when he’s falling to Earth. In the moments before he opens the capsule door, he will follow a detailed technical procedure that includes more than 40 steps. “That is the moment when you realize that you are completely dependent upon technology, in a place where there really is nobody around to help you,” he said.

Once he opens the capsule door, the rest is just, well, falling.

“Directly before the jump my heart rate will drop, because that is the time when I am in control of most things going on,” he said. “Just before I set off I will know that I am heading home.”

Related Countdown to 'Fearless' Felix's Supersonic Skydive Begins - Wired Articles


Question by Kyle B: "How many moles of ions are released when 1.6 mol of calcium phosphate, is dissolved in water?"? Hi guys this is one of my homework questions. I am wondering if anyone can help me do it? "How many moles of ions are released when 1.6 mol of calcium phosphate, is dissolved in water?" Any help appreciated, thanks! Best answer for "How many moles of ions are released when 1.6 mol of calcium phosphate, is dissolved in water?"?:

Answer by Andrew G
Calcium Phosphate Ca3(PO4)2 When ionised, it produces 3 Ca2+ ions and 2 (PO4)3+ ions; 5 ions in total. Therefore (assuming the calcium phosphate dissociates completely) ... (I think you can work it out now)

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