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Friday, June 21, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Study identifies travel choices for a smaller carbon footprint
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Public release date: 17-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Katherine Leitzell
leitzell@iiasa.ac.at
43-223-680-7316
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Planes, trains, or automobiles: what's the most climate-friendly way to travel? A new study by researchers from IIASA and CICERO brings better estimates of how much personal travel impacts the climate.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology by researchers at IIASA and Center for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) calculates the climate impact for passenger trips of 500-1000 kmtypical distances for business or holiday trips. It shows that while air travel continues to have the biggest climate impact per distance travelled, the choices that people make about how they drive or take public transport make a big difference in how much they contribute to climate change.
"Traveling alone in a large car can be as bad for the climate as flying, but driving with three in a small car could have an equally low impact as a train ride," says IIASA's Jens Borken-Kleefeld. A 1000 km trip alone in a big car could emit as much as 250 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2), the researchers calculate, while a train trip or carpooling in a small car could emit as little as 50 kg of CO2 for each traveler.
Air travel has by far the biggest impact on climate per distance traveled, because it can lead to contrails and formation of cirrus clouds that have a strong climate impact, as well as ozone. These mechanisms have a strong effect on the climate, but cause warming over much shorter periods of time than CO2.
The study focused on the short-lived greenhouse gases and aerosols emitted by both ground transportation and airplanes. In addition, the researchers accounted for vehicle occupancy and efficiency, based on real-world emissions data from cars, buses, trains, and airplanes in Europe.
"These components have not been regulated in the Kyoto Protocol," says Terje Berntsen, climate researcher at CICERO. "This means they risk being overlooked when comparing the climate impact from different travel choices."
Previous work and publicly available carbon footprint calculators estimate only averages for the whole transport system, at best. That means that they can miss big differences in climate impact that come from other pollutants, personal choices, and local mitigation measures.
Technologies to control air pollutant emissions from cars, buses, power plants, and trains effectively minimizes their climate impact, the study also showsbenefiting not just air quality but also climate change mitigation efforts. The researchers say that mitigation efforts should concentrate on improving fuel efficiency and developing low-carbon fuels.
While this is also important for aircraft, they say, more needs to be done to avoid the contrail and cirrus clouds. For people wanting to minimize their climate impact, Borken-Kleefeld says, "Try to avoid flying, driving alone, and driving big cars. Instead, when you can, choose the train, bus, or carpool with 2 to 3 people."
###
Reference
Borken-Kleefeld, Jens, Jan Fuglestvedt, and Terje Berntsen, 2013. Mode, load, and specific climate impact from passenger trips. Environmental Science and Technology: Just accepted manuscript. doi: 10.1021/es4003713
For more information please contact:
Jens Borken-Kleefeld
IIASA Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases Program
Tel: +43 2236/807 570
borken@iiasa.ac.at
Terje Berntsen
Dept. of Geosciences, University of Oslo
Phone: ++47 22 85 87 71
e-mail: t.k.berntsen@geo.uio.no
Katherine Leitzell
IIASA Press Office
Tel: +43 2236 807 316
Mob: +43 676 83 807 316
leitzell@iiasa.ac.at
About IIASA:
IIASA is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policy makers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by scientific institutions in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. http://www.iiasa.ac.at
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 17-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Katherine Leitzell
leitzell@iiasa.ac.at
43-223-680-7316
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Planes, trains, or automobiles: what's the most climate-friendly way to travel? A new study by researchers from IIASA and CICERO brings better estimates of how much personal travel impacts the climate.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology by researchers at IIASA and Center for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) calculates the climate impact for passenger trips of 500-1000 kmtypical distances for business or holiday trips. It shows that while air travel continues to have the biggest climate impact per distance travelled, the choices that people make about how they drive or take public transport make a big difference in how much they contribute to climate change.
"Traveling alone in a large car can be as bad for the climate as flying, but driving with three in a small car could have an equally low impact as a train ride," says IIASA's Jens Borken-Kleefeld. A 1000 km trip alone in a big car could emit as much as 250 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2), the researchers calculate, while a train trip or carpooling in a small car could emit as little as 50 kg of CO2 for each traveler.
Air travel has by far the biggest impact on climate per distance traveled, because it can lead to contrails and formation of cirrus clouds that have a strong climate impact, as well as ozone. These mechanisms have a strong effect on the climate, but cause warming over much shorter periods of time than CO2.
The study focused on the short-lived greenhouse gases and aerosols emitted by both ground transportation and airplanes. In addition, the researchers accounted for vehicle occupancy and efficiency, based on real-world emissions data from cars, buses, trains, and airplanes in Europe.
"These components have not been regulated in the Kyoto Protocol," says Terje Berntsen, climate researcher at CICERO. "This means they risk being overlooked when comparing the climate impact from different travel choices."
Previous work and publicly available carbon footprint calculators estimate only averages for the whole transport system, at best. That means that they can miss big differences in climate impact that come from other pollutants, personal choices, and local mitigation measures.
Technologies to control air pollutant emissions from cars, buses, power plants, and trains effectively minimizes their climate impact, the study also showsbenefiting not just air quality but also climate change mitigation efforts. The researchers say that mitigation efforts should concentrate on improving fuel efficiency and developing low-carbon fuels.
While this is also important for aircraft, they say, more needs to be done to avoid the contrail and cirrus clouds. For people wanting to minimize their climate impact, Borken-Kleefeld says, "Try to avoid flying, driving alone, and driving big cars. Instead, when you can, choose the train, bus, or carpool with 2 to 3 people."
###
Reference
Borken-Kleefeld, Jens, Jan Fuglestvedt, and Terje Berntsen, 2013. Mode, load, and specific climate impact from passenger trips. Environmental Science and Technology: Just accepted manuscript. doi: 10.1021/es4003713
For more information please contact:
Jens Borken-Kleefeld
IIASA Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases Program
Tel: +43 2236/807 570
borken@iiasa.ac.at
Terje Berntsen
Dept. of Geosciences, University of Oslo
Phone: ++47 22 85 87 71
e-mail: t.k.berntsen@geo.uio.no
Katherine Leitzell
IIASA Press Office
Tel: +43 2236 807 316
Mob: +43 676 83 807 316
leitzell@iiasa.ac.at
About IIASA:
IIASA is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policy makers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by scientific institutions in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. http://www.iiasa.ac.at
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/iifa-sit061713.php
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Roche drug approved in Japan for treatment of brain cancer
On Monday, American track and field runner turned bobsledder Lolo Jones tweeted a Vine video that mocked her paltry bobsledding paycheck: $741.84, for seven months of training. It was a move intended to advocate for higher earnings for bobsledders, who are underpaid relative to track and field athletes, she says.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/roche-drug-approved-japan-treatment-brain-cancer-053905868.html
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Monday, June 17, 2013
Bomb in Syrian capital kills or wounds 20 troops
BEIRUT (AP) ? A car bomb targeting a checkpoint near a military airport in an upscale neighborhood of the Syrian capital has killed or wounded more than 20 soldiers, activists said Monday.
The attack, which took place late Sunday in the Mazzeh district in western Damascus, comes as President Bashar Assad's forces press ahead with an offensive to regain territory they lost to the rebels trying to topple his regime.
The army has scored major victories in key battlefields in western and central Syria in the past weeks, and is now setting its sights on the country's largest city, Aleppo, in the north, parts of which have been opposition strongholds.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday there were 20 casualties in the attack in Mazzeh. The upscale neighborhood houses several embassies and a military airport. The Observatory, which relies on a network of informants inside Syria, did not state how many were deaths or how many were injuries.
Syrian state media confirmed there was a blast near the military airport late Sunday but did not release any casualty figures.
At least 93,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict since it erupted in March 2011, according to a recent U.N. estimate.
Millions have been displaced and the civil war is increasingly being fought along sectarian lines, pitting Sunni Muslims against Shiites. It is also threatening the stability of Syria's neighbors, including Lebanon and Iraq.
Sunnis dominate the rebel ranks while the Assad regime is mostly made up of Alawites, an offshoot sect of Shiite Islam.
Sectarian divisions deepened in the conflict a few weeks ago, when Lebanon's Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah joined the fight inside Syria on the regime's side. Earlier this month, Assad's troops dealt a major blow to the opposition forces after they pushed the rebels out of the strategic town of Qusair near the Lebanese border, largely with Hezbollah's help.
The battle for Qusair shifted the balance of power on the battlefield in favor of the Damascus regime, which is now looking to keep the momentum and aims to take back control of Aleppo, the country's commercial hub. The rebels captured parts of the city last summer during an offensive in the north along the border with Turkey.
While the rebels had been able to capture territory from the government in the past month, they have been unable to hold on and govern it effectively because of the regime's superior firepower.
The opposition forces appealed to Western backers for weapons to be sent to them as soon as possible if they are to keep parts of Aleppo, where fighting raged on Monday, the Observatory said.
President Barack Obama authorized lethal aid to the rebels for the first time last Friday, after Washington said it had conclusive evidence that the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons. Syria accused Obama of lying about the evidence, and says he resorted to fabrications to justify his decision to arm the rebels.
Russia, one of Assad's main allies, also criticized Obama decision.
Syria and especially the increasingly opposed positions of the U.S. and Russia over the civil war are expected to be high on the agenda of G-8 leaders meeting in Northern Ireland on Monday. Obama is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The host, British Prime Minister David Cameron, met separately with Putin on Sunday in London, where both said they're hopeful Syria's warring factions can hammer out their differences at upcoming peace talks tentatively planned for next month in Geneva.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bomb-syrian-capital-kills-wounds-20-troops-064941392.html
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Think bigger, GBIF award winner urges biologists
Public release date: 17-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Sampreethi Aipanjiguly
saipanjiguly@gbif.org
Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Winner of GBIF science prize will design 'Ecotron' to test predictions of climate impacts on species; other awards support young researchers' work on bat 'nectar corridors' and identifying data gaps
Copenhagen A scientist from Portugal designing large-scale experiments to uncover the processes behind patterns of species distribution is the 2013 winner of the prestigious Ebbe Nielsen Prize, awarded annually by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
Miguel Bastos Arajo will use the 30,000 prize towards developing an 'Ecotron' experimental facility to test predictions for how environmental change will affect the combination of species found in different locations helping to inform conservation decisions.
The 2013 GBIF Young Researchers Award goes to a PhD student from Mexico, Emma Gomez-Ruiz, looking at bat 'nectar corridors' and a master's student from France, Nathan Ranc, identifying data gaps to help target mobilization of new data through GBIF.
Arajo is a research scientist at the Spanish Research Council's National Museum of Natural Sciences, and visiting professor at the University of vora, Portugal, and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
In making the selection, the GBIF Science Committee recognized Arajo's groundbreaking research in deploying biodiversity informatics to model and forecast environmental phenomena, specifically the effects of different climate change scenarios on regional and global biodiversity patterns.
Arajo believes the next step in improving our understanding impacts of climate change is to design ambitious experiments to test the predictions from theoretical models observing how species actually respond to environmental change under controlled conditions.
He is currently creating a 'mesocosm' of 120 artificial ponds in various parts of Portugal and Spain to observe how species interact in various contrasting environments. These ponds will be exposed to different stresses like heat and drought to see how the species communities respond simulating the impacts of climate change.
With the help of the GBIF prize, Arajo will develop a proposal for the 3m 'Ecotron', an artificial landscape designed to test mathematical models about the distribution of lizard species and how they may respond to change. It will consist of 48 chambers connected by corridors, in a fully controlled environment that will enable experiments on how lizards would distribute under different conditions. As well as climate, factors such as competition from other species and the presence of predators can be brought into these experiments.
Miguel Arajo believes ecologists have been thinking too small in the science they are doing. "In order to answer these big questions that we are facing, and that society is demanding us to answer, we need to think bigger. We need to work collaboratively, with big networks, and the budgets that we need to be aiming for are comparable to what the physicists and astrophysicists are getting.
"It's difficult to understand why so much money has been given to try to figure out if there is life on other planets, and so little money has been spent to understand life on our own planet."
The Science Committee also announced the two winners of the 4,000 Young Researchers Award, which fosters innovative research and discovery by graduate students at universities in countries participating in the GBIF network.
Emma Gomez-Ruiz, a Mexican PhD student currently based at Texas A&M University in the United States, plans to map the 'nectar corridor', the migratory path of the endangered Mexican long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris nivalis), using models derived from GBIF-mediated data. The nectar-feeding bats follow agave blooms during their annual migration from central Mexico to the southern United States, and are important pollinators for several plant species. Gomez-Ruiz aims to improve understanding of the corridor including the effects of climate change, to support conservation of the species.
Nathan Ranc, a French master's student at Stockholm University in Sweden, will assess biases in GBIF-mediated data by comparing records for 269 mammal species in the Mediterranean region, available through the GBIF network, with a database that he plans to draw up independently. Ranc's project, in association with La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, will help design data mobilization strategies by identifying species and areas for which there is little available data.
###
NOTES:
The Ebbe Nielsen Prize was established by the GBIF Governing Board to honour the memory of Dr Ebbe Schmidt Nielsen, who was an inspirational leader in the fields of biosystematics and biodiversity informatics.The prize is awarded annually to a promising researcher, usually in the early stages of his/her career, who is combining biosystematics and biodiversity informatics research in an exciting and novel way.The nominations are submitted by GBIF Participants to the GBIF Science Committee, which selects the recipient. The prize is awarded each year at the GBIF Governing Board meeting. It consists of 30,000 Euros, to be used by the recipient to further his/her research. For past winners, see http://www.gbif.org/communications/news-and-events/ebbe-nielsen-prize/
The Young Researchers Award (YRA) is an annual award aimed at graduate students from countries participating in the GBIF network. The objective of the award is to foster innovative research and discovery in biodiversity informatics, and to stimulate use of the data made accessible through GBIF. For past winners, see http://www.gbif.org/communications/news-and-events/young-researchers-award.
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility was founded in 2001 as an intergovernmental scientific infrastructure aimed at providing free and open access to biodiversity data, via the Internet. It currently offers a single online access point to 400 million biodiversity records from over 10,000 datasets published by nearly 500 institutions, ranging from museum specimens collected from the earliest days of natural history exploration, to current observations by 'citizen scientists' and monitoring from research expeditions. GBIF operates through a network of national and thematic 'nodes', and a secretariat based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
For more information including requests for interviews with Miguel Arajo, please contact:
Tim Hirsch
GBIF Secretariat
thirsch@gbif.org
+45 2875 1485
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 17-Jun-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Sampreethi Aipanjiguly
saipanjiguly@gbif.org
Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Winner of GBIF science prize will design 'Ecotron' to test predictions of climate impacts on species; other awards support young researchers' work on bat 'nectar corridors' and identifying data gaps
Copenhagen A scientist from Portugal designing large-scale experiments to uncover the processes behind patterns of species distribution is the 2013 winner of the prestigious Ebbe Nielsen Prize, awarded annually by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
Miguel Bastos Arajo will use the 30,000 prize towards developing an 'Ecotron' experimental facility to test predictions for how environmental change will affect the combination of species found in different locations helping to inform conservation decisions.
The 2013 GBIF Young Researchers Award goes to a PhD student from Mexico, Emma Gomez-Ruiz, looking at bat 'nectar corridors' and a master's student from France, Nathan Ranc, identifying data gaps to help target mobilization of new data through GBIF.
Arajo is a research scientist at the Spanish Research Council's National Museum of Natural Sciences, and visiting professor at the University of vora, Portugal, and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
In making the selection, the GBIF Science Committee recognized Arajo's groundbreaking research in deploying biodiversity informatics to model and forecast environmental phenomena, specifically the effects of different climate change scenarios on regional and global biodiversity patterns.
Arajo believes the next step in improving our understanding impacts of climate change is to design ambitious experiments to test the predictions from theoretical models observing how species actually respond to environmental change under controlled conditions.
He is currently creating a 'mesocosm' of 120 artificial ponds in various parts of Portugal and Spain to observe how species interact in various contrasting environments. These ponds will be exposed to different stresses like heat and drought to see how the species communities respond simulating the impacts of climate change.
With the help of the GBIF prize, Arajo will develop a proposal for the 3m 'Ecotron', an artificial landscape designed to test mathematical models about the distribution of lizard species and how they may respond to change. It will consist of 48 chambers connected by corridors, in a fully controlled environment that will enable experiments on how lizards would distribute under different conditions. As well as climate, factors such as competition from other species and the presence of predators can be brought into these experiments.
Miguel Arajo believes ecologists have been thinking too small in the science they are doing. "In order to answer these big questions that we are facing, and that society is demanding us to answer, we need to think bigger. We need to work collaboratively, with big networks, and the budgets that we need to be aiming for are comparable to what the physicists and astrophysicists are getting.
"It's difficult to understand why so much money has been given to try to figure out if there is life on other planets, and so little money has been spent to understand life on our own planet."
The Science Committee also announced the two winners of the 4,000 Young Researchers Award, which fosters innovative research and discovery by graduate students at universities in countries participating in the GBIF network.
Emma Gomez-Ruiz, a Mexican PhD student currently based at Texas A&M University in the United States, plans to map the 'nectar corridor', the migratory path of the endangered Mexican long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris nivalis), using models derived from GBIF-mediated data. The nectar-feeding bats follow agave blooms during their annual migration from central Mexico to the southern United States, and are important pollinators for several plant species. Gomez-Ruiz aims to improve understanding of the corridor including the effects of climate change, to support conservation of the species.
Nathan Ranc, a French master's student at Stockholm University in Sweden, will assess biases in GBIF-mediated data by comparing records for 269 mammal species in the Mediterranean region, available through the GBIF network, with a database that he plans to draw up independently. Ranc's project, in association with La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, will help design data mobilization strategies by identifying species and areas for which there is little available data.
###
NOTES:
The Ebbe Nielsen Prize was established by the GBIF Governing Board to honour the memory of Dr Ebbe Schmidt Nielsen, who was an inspirational leader in the fields of biosystematics and biodiversity informatics.The prize is awarded annually to a promising researcher, usually in the early stages of his/her career, who is combining biosystematics and biodiversity informatics research in an exciting and novel way.The nominations are submitted by GBIF Participants to the GBIF Science Committee, which selects the recipient. The prize is awarded each year at the GBIF Governing Board meeting. It consists of 30,000 Euros, to be used by the recipient to further his/her research. For past winners, see http://www.gbif.org/communications/news-and-events/ebbe-nielsen-prize/
The Young Researchers Award (YRA) is an annual award aimed at graduate students from countries participating in the GBIF network. The objective of the award is to foster innovative research and discovery in biodiversity informatics, and to stimulate use of the data made accessible through GBIF. For past winners, see http://www.gbif.org/communications/news-and-events/young-researchers-award.
The Global Biodiversity Information Facility was founded in 2001 as an intergovernmental scientific infrastructure aimed at providing free and open access to biodiversity data, via the Internet. It currently offers a single online access point to 400 million biodiversity records from over 10,000 datasets published by nearly 500 institutions, ranging from museum specimens collected from the earliest days of natural history exploration, to current observations by 'citizen scientists' and monitoring from research expeditions. GBIF operates through a network of national and thematic 'nodes', and a secretariat based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
For more information including requests for interviews with Miguel Arajo, please contact:
Tim Hirsch
GBIF Secretariat
thirsch@gbif.org
+45 2875 1485
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/gbif-tbg061713.php
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Instapuzzle: Your Friends' Boring Instagrams Are Better as Puzzles
Your endless stream of photos on Instagram is fun?for a while. But there's only so many times you can see a sepia-toned sunset before even the mere thought starts to induce nausea. Instapuzzle for iOS, though, puts a fun new twist on how you interact with your friends' filtered pics.
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Saturday, June 1, 2013
Egyptian tourist critically injured in Istanbul protests
In my apartment, the cordless phone sits right next to the 2,400 baud modem ... in my drawer of outdated gadgets. My last VCR sits at the bottom of a landfill, buried right next to my VHS copy of "Y2K: The Movie." But for some consumers right here in America, ancient technologies are still a part of everyday life as they continue to buy brand-new cassette tapes, subscribe to dial-up Internet and make calls from a pay phone.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egyptian-tourist-critically-injured-istanbul-protests-medics-134544867.html
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