Category Environment/Geology

A new NASA study of ocean temperature measurements shows in recent years extra heat from greenhouse gases has been trapped in the waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans. Researchers say this shifting pattern of ocean heat accounts for the slowdown in the global surface temperature trend observed during the past decade. Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), CA, found a specific layer of the Indian and Pacific oceans between 300 and 1,000 ft below the surface has been accumulating more heat than previously recognized. They also found warm water movt has affected surface temps.

“Greenhouse gases continued to trap extra heat (in the 20th century), but for about 10 years starting in the early 2000s, global average surface temperature stopped climbing, and even cooled a bit,” said Willis...

It’s surface changes appearance automatically when exposed to water, whether directly, or via humidity. Pinecones open when dry and close when wet, to provide optimal conditions for spreading seeds. They do so by simply reacting to water—it seeps into the woody leaves (microsporophylls) and causes them to droop. Inspired by this simple process, student Chao Chen of the Royal College of Art in London dissected cones to see how they were put together and then used what he learned to create objects or coverings.

He has created an artificial pinecone, a wall hanging (or covering) that self-modifies when it gets wet to reveal artful coloring, an overhang that allows light to pass through when the sun is shining, but closes when it rains to keep those underneath dry and a strip for insert...

According to a new series of studies out of NYU Langone Medical Center, 2 chemicals increasingly used during manufacturing to strengthen plastic wrap, soap, cosmetics, and processed food containers have been linked to a rise in risk of high blood pressure and diabetes in children and adolescents.

Acetaldehyde accounts for most of the gaseous substances in cigarette smoke. “In cooperation with KT&G, KIST has developed a nano-catalyst filter coated with a manganese oxide-based nano-catalyst, which can be used in a smoking room to reduce and purify major harmful substances of cigarette smoke. The KIST-developed catalyst removes 100% of the particle substances of cigarette smoke, such as nicotine and tar, converting those into water vapor and carbon dioxide. According to the research team, the air cleaning equipment based on the newly-developed catalyst can purify over 80% of the cigarette smoke within 30 minutes and 100% of it within 1 hour in a 30 square meter smoking room, where 10 people are simultaneously smoking” said Dr...