By Gretchen Cuda Kroen (NPR) Pouring water into clear plastic bottles and placing them in the sun can kill disease causing organisms in about six hours. It’s a simple and cheap method that’s been around forever, and it helps. (Who says sun tea isn’t safe?)

But there’s a hitch – the water has to be clear enough for the sun’s rays to penetrate – and much of the world’s water supply is murky from the clay soils in riverbeds and lake bottoms that mix with the water. Enter the scientists.

“Basically, you need to be able to read a newspaper through it. That means it’s clear enough for the UV radiation to penetrate and kill the pathogens. If you can’t see through it, it just won’t work,” explains Joshua Pierce, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Michigan Tech.

Pierce and his colleagues discovered that by adding a little table salt to this murky water, they could get the particles of clay to stick together and settle to the bottom, making the water clear enough to purify using the solar disinfection method. They also found that the addition of salt works best for certain kinds of clay soils, namely bentonite, and not so well with others. But when they added a little bentonite along with salt to water that contained other types of clay soils, it worked just as well.

via Recipe For Safer Drinking Water? Add Sun, Salt And Lime : The Salt : NPR.

By Steve Hargreaves (CNN) The Empire State Building is on an energy diet.The hulking building, a symbol of American power and, to some, excess, has cut its energy use by 20%.And thats just due to changes to the buildings exterior. Once retrofits are made to tenant spaces on the inside, the second tallest building in Manhattan will be nearly 40% more efficient.

The retrofits will cost $20 million once theyre complete, and are expected to save the owners $4.4 million in annual energy costs.”After one year, we have proven that investing in energy efficiency gives building owners a dollars-and-cents advantage,” said Dave Myers, a president at Johnson Controls, which conducted the retrofit.

The changes to the Empire State include:

• Filling the existing windows with an energy saving gas and adding an additional plastic pane.
• Upgrading the buildings cooling system.
• Using computerized “smart” energy management technology that can adjust temperatures floor by floor.
• Provide tenants with detailed energy use in their space.
• Automatically shut off lights in unused areas.

via Empire State Building cuts energy use 20% – May. 7, 2012.

The study is based on studies of strawberry plants on twelve farms in the county of Skåne, Sweden. On the farms with KRAV organic certification, where neither pesticides nor non-organic fertiliser are used, 45 per cent of the strawberry flowers were fully pollinated. On the conventional farms, the corresponding figure was 17 per cent.

“The results show that the pollination service is benefited by organic cultivation methods, which is an important factor in the development of sustainable agriculture”, says Georg Andersson, a doctoral student in environmental science at Lund University.

The research also shows that the positive effects of organic cultivation are evident within 2-4 years of the farm receiving KRAV certification.The research results have been published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031599

via Organic strawberries better pollinated.

Bright idea: Soraa's MR16 LED matches the output of a 50-watt halogen.

LED lightbulbs promise a highly efficient, nontoxic, long-lasting alternative to today’s incandescent and halogen lightbulbs. Lighting entire rooms using LEDs has, however, proved both technically challenging and expensive.

Soraa, a startup based in Fremont, California, has developed a new type of LED that it says generates 10 times more light from the same quantity of active material used in other LEDs. The company’s first product is a 12-watt bulb that uses 75 percent less energy than a similarly illuminating 50-watt halogen bulb. Company officials would not disclose the cost of the bulb, but say it will pay for itself in less than one year through energy savings.

LEDs contain a semiconducting material that lights up when current passes through it, and are commonly used for low-light applications such as illuminating computer screens.

via LEDs that Burn 10 Times Brighter – Technology Review.

Participate in the Arizona Scitech Festival

What do baseballs, robots; telescopes and chocolate have in common? They are part of a short roster of what Arizona’s first annual science and technology festival will bring people of all ages for family fun using science, technology and innovation. The nearly six-week-long ARIZONA SCITECH festival, taking place from late January through March 14, 2012,  will showcase over 300 colorful events, demonstrations, tours, games, activities and workshops across the state featuring the career opportunities of the future and the latest technologies right here within our state’s borders.

Whether it’s the Mad Science of Baseball at Scottsdale’s Spring Training Festival, gazing at far-off stars through some of the world’s most powerful telescopes at Mesa Community College’ Astronomy Night, touring some of Arizona’s premiere technology companies at the Chandler Tech Crawl, meeting Galileo at the Arizona Renaissance Festival, seeing science come to life in Downtown Tucson or witnessing first-hand the illuminated works of art brought together by mixing art and science during Phoenix’ First-Friday Art and Science Fusions, there is something for everyone. Science is everywhere!

It has been said, that as Arizona’s science and technology fields continue to evolve, the state is positioned to receive greater recognition for its leadership, achievement and innovation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. According to a 2006 Morrison Institute study, 90 percent of Arizonans believe it is important for the state to seize national and international leadership in these fields, with nearly 2/3 of residents looking for ways to engage the scientific community.

The Arizona SciTech Festival will do just that. Science festivals, large celebrations of science and technology, establish science as part of local culture and connect science professionals with the public. The grassroots initiative is aimed at exciting and informing Arizonans of all ages about how science, technology and innovation will drive the state well into the next century through a series of hands-on activities and workshops, conversations and debates, stunning exhibitions, concerts, guided walks and tours. Spearheaded by the Arizona Technology Council Foundation in partnership with Arizona State University and Arizona Science Center, the Festival is a collaborative effort involving over 250 public and private organizations from industry, business, education, arts and culture, philanthropy and the community working together to highlight the scientific and technological innovations occurring throughout Arizona; build excitement among students for STEM opportunities; and attract industry and opportunity to Arizona.

Under the theme The Next 100 Years of Innovation, the first Arizona SciTech Festival launches in concert with the state’s 2012 Centennial celebration. Modeled on San Diego’s highly-successful Science Festival, more than 300 activities will take place in diverse neighborhoods throughout Arizona with events highlighting the innovative character of each region (e.g. aerospace, technology, and bioscience) through exhibitions and shows. Additionally, the Festival includes up to 20 neighborhood science hubs providing workshops and discussions in neighborhood locations as well as in-field experiences at science and technology facilities throughout the state. To complement community learning opportunities, the Festival also will include in-school projects, workshops and competitions.

The Arizona SciTech Festival will help the state position itself as an emerging world leader in science, technology and innovation as it showcases collaboration between scientific, education and business communities, builds excitement for STEM education and inspires a generation of Arizonans to become leaders and innovators in science and technology.

‘We want to encourage transparency and accuracy in carbon, energy, water and waste reporting.’ —Robert Clarke, CEO of Ecodesk.

The Village of St. Mary’s, Alaska

The village of St. Mary’s, Alaska where USGS scientists conducted interviews with hunters and elders to document their observations of climate change. The village lies in the Yukon River Basin on the banks of the Andreafsky River, a tributary of the Yukon River.

Photo Credit: School District of St. Mary’s, Alaska. (High resolution image)

The USGS coordinated interviews with Yup’ik hunters and elders in the villages of St. Mary’s and Pitka’s Point, Alaska, to document their observations of climate change. They expressed concerns ranging from safety, such as unpredictable weather patterns and dangerous ice conditions, to changes in plants and animals as well as decreased availability of firewood.

“Many climate change studies are conducted on a large scale, and there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding how climate change will impact specific regions,” said USGS social scientist Nicole Herman-Mercer. “This study helps address that uncertainty and really understand climate change as a socioeconomic issue by talking directly to those with traditional and personal environmental knowledge.”

By integrating scientific studies with indigenous observation, these multiple forms of knowledge allow for a more comprehensive understanding of the complex challenges posed by climate change. The indigenous knowledge encompasses observations, lessons and stories about the environment that have been handed down for generations, providing a long history of environmental knowledge. These observations can also help uncover new areas for scientists to study.

The Arctic and Subarctic are of particular interest because these high latitudes are among the world’s first locations to begin experiencing climate change.

The most common statement by interview participants was about warmer temperature in recent years. It was observed to be warmer in all seasons, though most notably in the winter months. In previous generations, winter temperatures dropped to 40 degrees Celsius below freezing, while in present times temperatures only reach 25 C or 30 C below freezing. Moreover, in the rare case that temperatures did drop as low as they had in the past, it was a brief cold spell, in contrast to historic month-long cold spells.

The considerable thinning of ice on the Yukon and Andreafsky Rivers in recent years was the topic of several interviews. Thin river ice is a significant issue because winter travel is mainly achieved by using the frozen rivers as a transportation route via snow machines or sled dogs. Thinning ice shortens the winter travel season, making it more difficult to trade goods between villages, visit friends and relatives, or reach traditional hunting grounds. One interview participant also discussed how the Andreafsky River, on whose banks their village lies, no longer freezes in certain spots, and several people have drowned after falling through the resulting holes in the ice.

The unpredictability of weather conditions was another issue of concern, especially since these communities rely on activities such as hunting, fishing and gathering wild foods for their way of life. One does not want to “get caught out in the country” when the weather suddenly changes.

Vegetation patterns were also observed to be shifting due to the changes in seasonal weather patterns, and this leads to increased difficulty in subsistence activities. Interviews showed the unpredictability from year to year on whether vegetation, particularly salmonberries, could be relied upon. Those interviewed spoke of a change in the range of species of mammals (moose and beaver) as well as a decrease in the number of some bird species (ptarmigan). This is of special concern because of the important role these animals play in the subsistence diets of Alaska Natives. Many also rely on hunting or trapping for their livelihoods.

Participants also discussed lower spring snowmelt flows on the Andreafsky and Yukon Rivers, meaning less logs are flowing down the river. This hampers people’s ability to collect logs for firewood and building materials, placing a strain on an already economically depressed region through increased heating costs and reliance on expensive fossil fuels.

Released: 9/13/2011 12:30:35 PM

Contact Information:
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Office of Communications and Publishing
12201 Sunrise Valley Dr, MS 119
Reston, VA 20192 Nicole Herman-Mercer 1-click interview
Phone: 303-541-3012

Jessica Robertson 1-click interview
Phone: 703-648-6624

An article on this topic was published in the journal, Human Organization. The full article with additional quotes and observations from indigenous people is available online.

Links and contacts within this release are valid at the time of publication.

via USGS Release: Observations of Climate Change from Indigenous Alaskans (9/13/2011 12:30:35 PM).

The ruling from the European Court of Justice came after several Bavarian beekeepers demanded compensation from their government for honey and food supplements that contained traces of pollen from genetically modified maize.

The beekeepers had their hives close to fields where the Bavarian government was growing Monsanto’s MON 810 maize for research purposes.

via The Associated Press: EU court puts limits on modified honey.

Read the rest Electronics recycling for cash | MNN – Mother Nature Network.

By John Vidal (Guardian UK) One of the world’s most prominent scientific figures to be sceptical about climate change has admitted to being paid more than $1m in the past decade by major US oil and coal companies.

Dr Willie Soon, an astrophysicist at the Solar, Stellar and Planetary Sciences Division of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, is known for his view that global warming and the melting of the arctic sea ice is caused by solar variation rather than human-caused CO2 emissions, and that polar bears are not primarily threatened by climate change.

But according to a Greenpeace US investigation, he has been heavily funded by coal and oil industry interests since 2001, receiving money from ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Insitute and Koch Industries along with Southern, one of the world’s largest coal-burning utility companies. Since 2002, it is alleged, every new grant he has received has been from either oil or coal interests.

In addition, freedom of information documents suggest that Soon corresponded in 2003 with other prominent climate sceptics to try to weaken a major assessment of global warming being conducted by the UN’s leading climate science body, the Nobel prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Soon, who had previously disclosed corporate funding he received in the 1990s, was today reportely unapologetic, telling Reuters that he agreed that he had received money from all of the groups and companies named in the report but denied that any group would have influenced his studies.

via Climate sceptic Willie Soon received $1m from oil companies, papers show | Environment | guardian.co.uk.