The Daily Mail newspaper, on the 23rd November 2008, has an article about a new TV program that looks at how the earth was formed through many different catastrophes how they are likely to return.
Earth has been subjected to some apocalyptic events in its 4.5billion-year history. Volcanoes, meteors, fire and ice have almost obliterated all life and threatened the very existence of the planet itself.
Now, a new Channel 4 programme, Catastrophe, looks at the science behind the destruction and reveals the threat our planet could still be under.
A TOXIC CLOUD OVER BRITAIN
In 1783 in Laki, Iceland, a volcanic eruption occurred, spewing out gas and lava for eight months and covering an area of 200sq miles in molten rock.
The eruption sent a huge toxic cloud across Western Europe - it was the greatest natural disaster to hit modern Britain, with acid rain, smog and extreme weather continuing over the country for months.
Laki’s killer cloud took the lives of an estimated 23,000 British men and women. And it could happen again - Iceland has 18 volcanoes that have been active in recent centuries, the greatest concentration anywhere on the planet.
A SUPERVOLCANO ERUPTION
Scientists believe the next most likely supervolcano eruption will be at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, US.
Underneath the park is a vast chamber of molten lava beneath the Earth’s crust - 25km wide by 50km long and 8km deep. That’s 500 times the size of the City of London.
The Yellowstone caldera - a cauldron-like volcanic feature formed by a collapse of land after a volcano has erupted - has been rising three inches every year since 2004. Scientists believe this is a sign of an impending eruption.
The last big eruption at Yellowstone was 640,000 years ago. Similar eruptions have happened on a fairly regular basis over the past 2million years, so it could be said that the next is overdue.
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
Monday, 17 November 2008
Insecticide - An ecological disaster that will affect us all
The Independent newspaper, on the 15th of November 2008, has an article about the decline of insects and how it will create a disaster.
While the plight of mammals and birds commands the world's attention, insects are quietly but rapidly disappearing. Michael McCarthy explains why their loss is bad news for the planet.
The population declines among invertebrates in general and insects in particular are now greater than among any other group of living things, greater than declines in mammals, birds and plants. Yet although people get excited about endangered pandas, or eagles, or orchids, endangered insects generally remain below the level of their perception, Mr Shardlow says.
"There are more extinctions among invertebrates than in any other groups, and a greater proportion of the species are in decline, and the decline is steeper, than in plants, birds and mammals, wherever there is data."
"There are a whole set of different species, including beetles and flies, which are also undertaking unique and different pollination roles. You can't fix pollination by saving one species. You have to save the full gamut of invertebrate diversity. Insects are fundamental to the fabric of life, and if we start to tear that fabric apart, the consequences for all of the services that are provided from ecosystems will be severe."
While the plight of mammals and birds commands the world's attention, insects are quietly but rapidly disappearing. Michael McCarthy explains why their loss is bad news for the planet.
The population declines among invertebrates in general and insects in particular are now greater than among any other group of living things, greater than declines in mammals, birds and plants. Yet although people get excited about endangered pandas, or eagles, or orchids, endangered insects generally remain below the level of their perception, Mr Shardlow says.
"There are more extinctions among invertebrates than in any other groups, and a greater proportion of the species are in decline, and the decline is steeper, than in plants, birds and mammals, wherever there is data."
"There are a whole set of different species, including beetles and flies, which are also undertaking unique and different pollination roles. You can't fix pollination by saving one species. You have to save the full gamut of invertebrate diversity. Insects are fundamental to the fabric of life, and if we start to tear that fabric apart, the consequences for all of the services that are provided from ecosystems will be severe."
Thursday, 13 November 2008
Earth may face freeze worse than Ice Age
The Reuters website, on the 12th of November 2008, has an article about how the world may face a new Ice Age in as little as 10,000 years.
The planet could face a freeze worse than an Ice Age starting in as little as 10,000 years, giving future societies a headache the opposite of coping with global warming, scientists said on Wednesday.
The researchers, based in Britain and Canada, said that now-vilified greenhouse gases might help in future to avert a chill that could smother much of Canada and the United States, Europe and Russia in permanent ice.
They said the study, based on records of tiny marine fossils and the earth's shifting orbit, did not mean the world should stop fighting warming, stoked by human emissions of heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels.
"Historians of science hate to say 'this is a special time'," Crowley said.
"But when you go through the models, each step seems reasonable and you get to an astonishing conclusion that we are right at the end of a 50-millionyear evolution."
"It might not come for tens of thousands of years," he said. "I'm sure some headline writers will want to say 'CO2 good for the atmosphere', or 'CO2 is good for us'. That's not the case."
The planet could face a freeze worse than an Ice Age starting in as little as 10,000 years, giving future societies a headache the opposite of coping with global warming, scientists said on Wednesday.
The researchers, based in Britain and Canada, said that now-vilified greenhouse gases might help in future to avert a chill that could smother much of Canada and the United States, Europe and Russia in permanent ice.
They said the study, based on records of tiny marine fossils and the earth's shifting orbit, did not mean the world should stop fighting warming, stoked by human emissions of heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels.
"Historians of science hate to say 'this is a special time'," Crowley said.
"But when you go through the models, each step seems reasonable and you get to an astonishing conclusion that we are right at the end of a 50-millionyear evolution."
"It might not come for tens of thousands of years," he said. "I'm sure some headline writers will want to say 'CO2 good for the atmosphere', or 'CO2 is good for us'. That's not the case."
Monday, 10 November 2008
Carbon Dioxide Levels Already in Danger Zone
On the physorg.com website, around the 10th of November 2008, there is a report about how the levels of carbon dioxide are already at dangerous levels and that we need to reduce them and not just cut emissions.
If climate disasters are to be averted, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) must be reduced below the levels that already exist today, according to a study published in Open Atmospheric Science Journal by a group of 10 scientists from the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
“This work and other recent publications suggest that we have reached CO2 levels that compromise the stability of the polar ice sheets,” said author Mark Pagani, Yale professor of geology and geophysics. “How fast ice sheets and sea level will respond are still poorly understood, but given the potential size of the disaster, I think it’s best not to learn this lesson firsthand.”
While they note the task of moving toward an era beyond fossil fuels is Herculean, the authors conclude that it is feasible when compared with the efforts that went into World War II and that “the greatest danger is continued ignorance and denial, which could make tragic consequences unavoidable.”
If climate disasters are to be averted, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) must be reduced below the levels that already exist today, according to a study published in Open Atmospheric Science Journal by a group of 10 scientists from the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
“This work and other recent publications suggest that we have reached CO2 levels that compromise the stability of the polar ice sheets,” said author Mark Pagani, Yale professor of geology and geophysics. “How fast ice sheets and sea level will respond are still poorly understood, but given the potential size of the disaster, I think it’s best not to learn this lesson firsthand.”
While they note the task of moving toward an era beyond fossil fuels is Herculean, the authors conclude that it is feasible when compared with the efforts that went into World War II and that “the greatest danger is continued ignorance and denial, which could make tragic consequences unavoidable.”
Earth Can't Cope, New Planets Needed
The livescience.com website, on the 7th of November 2008, has an article about how mankind is using up too much of the Earths resources and at a too greater rate for it to cope.
"The Earth’s biocapacity is the amount of biologically productive area – cropland, pasture, forest, and fisheries – that is available to meet humanity’s needs.
"Since the late 1980s, we have been in overshoot - the Ecological Footprint has exceeded the Earth’s biocapacity - by about 25%.
"Effectively, the Earth’s regenerative capacity can no longer keep up with demand – people are turning resources into waste faster than nature can turn waste back into resources.
"A moderate business-as-usual scenario, based on United Nations projections of slow, steady growth of economies and populations, suggests that by 2050, humanity’s demand on nature will be twice the biosphere’s productive capacity."
"The Earth’s biocapacity is the amount of biologically productive area – cropland, pasture, forest, and fisheries – that is available to meet humanity’s needs.
"Since the late 1980s, we have been in overshoot - the Ecological Footprint has exceeded the Earth’s biocapacity - by about 25%.
"Effectively, the Earth’s regenerative capacity can no longer keep up with demand – people are turning resources into waste faster than nature can turn waste back into resources.
"A moderate business-as-usual scenario, based on United Nations projections of slow, steady growth of economies and populations, suggests that by 2050, humanity’s demand on nature will be twice the biosphere’s productive capacity."
'Clean-up' bees could save endangered hives
The newspaper The Observer, on Sunday 9th November 2008, has an article about a British scientist who is trying to breed a better Bee that will keep its hive clean from different types of diseases. This should help stop the decline in Bee numbers.
A British scientist is hoping to reverse the critical decline of the honeybee by breeding 'cleaner bees' to protect hives from potentially devastating diseases.
Francis Ratnieks, the UK's only professor of apiculture, is undertaking pioneering research based on a breed of worker bee genetically programmed to keep hives clean. So-called 'hygienic' bees are responsible for removing dead pupae and larvae from hives, but they only exist in very small numbers.
The Sussex University academic believes that, if more of them can be artificially bred, they will protect hives from parasites such as the varroa mite which last year killed two billion honeybees and wiped out one in three colonies.
'Hygienic bees have a strong tendency to clean things up, removing pupae and larvae if they are dead or dying,' said Ratnieks, who has been studying bees, ants and wasps for 25 years. 'What this hygiene can do is control certain types of disease, particularly diseases of the brood like chalkbrood, American foulbrood and varroa mite.’
There is still the false idea that declining Bee numbers will have a disastrous affect on crops, but this has all happened before and to a much greater scale. At the beginning of the 20th century 90% of honeybees were wiped out.
A British scientist is hoping to reverse the critical decline of the honeybee by breeding 'cleaner bees' to protect hives from potentially devastating diseases.
Francis Ratnieks, the UK's only professor of apiculture, is undertaking pioneering research based on a breed of worker bee genetically programmed to keep hives clean. So-called 'hygienic' bees are responsible for removing dead pupae and larvae from hives, but they only exist in very small numbers.
The Sussex University academic believes that, if more of them can be artificially bred, they will protect hives from parasites such as the varroa mite which last year killed two billion honeybees and wiped out one in three colonies.
'Hygienic bees have a strong tendency to clean things up, removing pupae and larvae if they are dead or dying,' said Ratnieks, who has been studying bees, ants and wasps for 25 years. 'What this hygiene can do is control certain types of disease, particularly diseases of the brood like chalkbrood, American foulbrood and varroa mite.’
There is still the false idea that declining Bee numbers will have a disastrous affect on crops, but this has all happened before and to a much greater scale. At the beginning of the 20th century 90% of honeybees were wiped out.
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