CO2 emission can be reduced by 1 Billion Tonnes: HP

EmissionsSome of the solutions described in HP’s white paper include “Low Carbon IT Solutions,” that identifies the potential to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

No evidence of Water in Mars

Trench in MarsThe tests conducted so far by Phoenix on Martian soil, didn’t show any indications of water. During the past couple of days tests had been carried out on soil sample from Mars surface. Phoenix lander had collected samples from two digging sites named Dodo and BabyBear. The mysterious, unidentified white material exposed in the trench is still visible. Over the coming days, scientists will instruct Phoenix to heat the sample to 1000°C (1800°F). This will vaporize minerals that might be chemically bound to H2O, CO2 or SO2 and then use instrumentation to measure the vented gases. The twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have already found indications of water on previous missions.

Other Species Can Learn Foreign Language

honey beesThere are nine species of honeybees found worldwide and they do different type of dances as their “language” to tell each other the location of a tasty flower or nesting site.

The study leader Shaowu Zhang of The Australian National University mentioned that the duration of the waggle dances differs from species to species.

The research team mixed two species of honeybees, Asian and European together in a hive, and trained one species to fly to a feeder. The untrained species were able to identify the dances of by the trained cousins and interpret where the feeder was.

This study proved that these honeybees can learn to translate each others’ languages very effectively.

Hydrogen Fuel Stations.

Honda FCX ClarityHonda FCX Clarity is a zero emission sedan, which runs on hydrogen and electricity, emits only water and none of the noxious fumes believed to induce global warming. Limited number of cars will be leased to Southern Californians, which costs $600/month on a three year lease. Many automobile manufacturers have already begun developing hydrogen powered cars, BMW Hydrogen 7,Daimler AG — F-Cell,Focus FCV and GM HydroGen3 are some of them. But the main issue is the lack of hydrogen fuel stations. National Hydrogen Association developed a hydrogen fueling station database, this database contains only US and Canadian stations. Fuelcells.org has compiled a list of Hydrogen fuel stations which can be found here.

Clean the air as you drive

BMW HydrogenBMW unveiled a hydrogen-powered 7-series sedan which emits very low amount of Carbon Monoxide, in last month’s AE Congress in Detroit. The engine breaks down and converts carbon monoxide, essentially cleaning the air as it is driven. This green sedan of BMW features a six-liter hydrogen combustion engine. Car’s emissions are so low that they are undetectable by standard emissions tests.

Salt Water In Mars

MarsScientist have proved that Mars once had water, but they are still debating if the water was suitable to support life. After studying salt deposits left behind on the planet’s surface, Tosca and his colleagues state that the planet’s water would have been too salty for the organisms. Mars lost most of its surface over time and left with arid and cold desert. But it had been friendlier once. The origins of life on Earth is much easier than an acid pH and high salinity environment in Mars. It may be the reason why it might not have worked so well for the evolution of life on Mars.

Photo Source: www.daviddarling.info

Acid Rain Problem

rain Acid rain problem has not gone away. Acid rain is produced by the emissions of power plants throughout the Northeast of America, which declines the sugar maples and red spruce in the region. The soils are continuing to get worse, and levels of calcium ions in the soil had halved throughout the region while aluminum ions had doubled. Humans are replacing a nutrient by a toxic substance.

Last moments of Human

Dooms dayRenowned scientist Sir Martin Rees, a Royal Society Research Professor at Cambridge and Britain’s Astronomer Royal believes humans have only a 50% chance of making it through just the next century alone. In the book Our Final Hour, Rees argues aside from climate change humans are still in far greater danger from the potential effects of modern technology and our own inexplicably destructive natures than we commonly realize. Rees seems to think that the man-made disasters like engineered viruses, nuclear terrorism, and even a take-over by super-intelligent machines, are just as significant, if not more, of a threat to our long-term survival.

Humans Can Predict The Growler’s Body Size

dogFew animal listeners do not get the basic ‘back off’ message of a dog growl. A study done by Anna Taylor and her colleagues, states that the depth of the growl provides humans with the greatest cue. According to the study humans are “hardwired” to predict body size of the formants. We are better at predicting the body size of dogs than the body size of other humans by using vocalizations as the clue.

Photo Source: www.dogbreedinfo.com

Females Are Attracted By Males Who Wear Makeup

barn swallowA study published in journal Current Biology, proved that male barn swallows are considered sexy when their breast feathers are dark rust-color. So scientists placed makeup to turn the wimpiest of male barn swallows into sexiest males. These marked-up males were more attractive to females and mated more often than the others. Surprisingly, they have found that the more attractive appearance also triggered changes to the male’s body chemistry, and increased the testosterone level.

Photo Source: www.coffeecreekwc.org 

No Sex, Reproduction By Stealing DNA

bdelloid rotifersAccording to Irina Arkhipova and Matthew Meselson of Harvard University in Cambridge, a tiny freshwater organisms have sex-free lifestyle and survive via stealing genes from other creatures. These organisms get their genes from bacteria, fungi and plants. These are bdelloid rotifers, a minuscule animals that appear to have sex free life style for more than 40 million years.

Photo Source: www.microimaging.ca

Turnoff the PlayStation

Video Game ConsoleAccording to a study by the Australian consumer agency CHOICE, video game consoles and plasma flat-screen TVs are major electricity guzzlers. These equipments consume plenty of energy even when on standby. Study found that leaving a Playstation 3 on while not in use would cost almost  five times more than it would take to run a refrigerator for the same yearly period. Desktop computer comes in third next to video game console and Plasma TVs in electricity consumption.