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Rainwater harvest study finds roofing material affects water quality
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on March 8th, 2011
Science Centric: For the past few years, one of the most common questions facing the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) hasn't been over contentious water rights or proposed water projects; it's been from homeowners wanting to know what type of roofing material is most suitable for collecting rainwater for indoor domestic use.
'Rainwater harvesting is becoming fairly widespread, at least in Central Texas. There's interest born out of necessity because people are simply running out of water in rural areas or...
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Rising CO2 is causing plants to release less water to the atmosphere, researchers say
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on March 4th, 2011
Science Centric: As carbon dioxide levels have risen during the last 150 years, the density of pores that allow plants to breathe has dwindled by 34 percent, restricting the amount of water vapour the plants release to the atmosphere, report scientists from Indiana University Bloomington and Utrecht University in the Netherlands in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (now online).
In a separate paper, also to be published by PNAS, many of the same scientists describe a model...
Brazilian beef – greater impact on the environment than we realise
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on March 4th, 2011
Science Centric: Increased export of Brazilian beef indirectly leads to deforestation in the Amazon. New research from Chalmers and SIK that was recently published in Environmental Science and Technology shows that impact on the climate is much greater than current estimates indicate. The researchers are now demanding that indirect effect on land be included when determining a product's carbon footprint.
'If this aspect is not taken into consideration, there is a risk of the wrong signals being sent to policy...
New study to look at economics, groundwater use of bioenergy feedstocks
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on March 4th, 2011
Science Centric: Biofuel feedstock production in the Texas High Plains could significantly change the crop mix, which could affect regional income and groundwater consumption, according to Texas AgriLife Research and Texas AgriLife Extension Service economists.
Dr Steve Amosson, AgriLife Extension economist in Amarillo, and Dr Seong Park, AgriLife Research economist in Vernon, are joining other economists to model the socio-economic effects of climate change on the Ogallala Aquifer.
The project, Economics and...
Queen’s University scientists behind safer drinking water in US
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on March 1st, 2011
Science Centric: Pioneering technology by scientists at Queen's University Belfast, which is transforming the lives of millions of people in Asia, is now being used to create safer drinking water in the United States.
The award-winning system - Subterranean Arsenic Removal - removes arsenic from groundwater without using chemicals. It was developed by a team of European and Indian engineers led by Dr Bhaskar Sen Gupta in Queen's University School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering.
The technology,...
Overfertilising corn undermines ethanol
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on February 26th, 2011
Science Centric: Rice University scientists and their colleagues have found that when growing corn crops for ethanol, more means less.
A new paper in today's online edition of the American Chemical Society's journal Environmental Science and Technology shows how farmers can save money on fertiliser while they improve their production of feedstock for ethanol and alleviate damage to the environment.
The research has implications for an industry that has grown dramatically in recent years to satisfy America's...
Parasitic protozoons survive waste water and drinking water treatment plants in Galicia
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on February 23rd, 2011
Science Centric: 'The presence of two resistent forms of protozoons, the oocysts from the Cryptosporidium genus and cysts of the Giardia genus, is one of the greatest public health problems in water supply, because these parasites can easily survive our water treatment systems,' Jose Antonio Castro Hermida, a scientist at the Galician Institute for Food Quality in the Xunta de Galicia (regional government), tells SINC.
A team led by this researcher took 232 water samples in 55 Galician towns, and confirmed the...
Climate projections show human health impacts possible within 30 years
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on February 20th, 2011
Science Centric: A panel of scientists speaking today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) unveiled new research and models demonstrating how climate change could increase exposure and risk of human illness originating from ocean, coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems, with some studies projecting impacts to be felt within 30 years.
'With 2010 the wettest year on record and third warmest for sea surface temperatures, NOAA and our partners are working to uncover how...
Multiple approaches necessary to tackle world’s food problems
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on February 19th, 2011
Science Centric: Researchers need to use all available resources in an integrated approach to put agriculture on a path to solve the world's food problems while reducing pollution, according to a Penn State biologist. Changes in national and international regulations will be necessary to achieve this goal.
'Using resources more efficiently is what it will take to put agriculture on a path to feed the expected future population of nine billion people,' said Nina Fedoroff, Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and Willaman...
Fishing down food web leaves fewer big fish, more small fish in past century: UBC research
Posted by Science Centric: None Given on February 18th, 2011
Science Centric: Predatory fish such as cod, tuna, and groupers have declined by two-thirds over the past 100 years, while small forage fish such as sardine, anchovy and capelin have more than doubled over the same period, according to University of British Columbia researchers.
Led by Prof. Villy Christensen of UBC's Fisheries Centre, a team of scientists used more than 200 marine ecosystem models from around the world and extracted more than 68,000 estimates of fish biomass from 1880 to 2007. They presented...