Zark's

White-Nose Syndrome Continues to Spread

Gray Bat
Image Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

White-noise syndrome is an emerging disease that has killed over 5.5 million North American bats.  The immediate symptoms are a white fungus that grows around the muzzles and wings of hibernating bats. 

Culprit identified: fungus causes deadly bat disease tells that the white fungus is more than a symptom - it is the cause.  Named appropriately, Geomyces destructans, is a cold-thriving fungus that cannot grow above 75 degrees Fahrenheit.  (But how many caves have you entered that were warmer than 75 degrees?) 

The fungus is spread by direct contact rather than spores, and a study by USGS determined that 100 percent of the hibernating bats exposed to the fungus, contracted the disease.  It is deadly - the eastern states have lost 80 percent of their bat population and it is spreading rapidly through the midwest.

Bat killing fungus detected at Liberty Park, Summit County, OH, explains that biologists have confirmed the bats in Twinsburg, OH have contracted the disease.  A single dead brown bat was found on a trail, and since that time, bats have been observed congregating near the mouth of the cave.  However, it is winter, and the bats should be hibernating.  Speculation is that the fungus irritates the bats and awakens them from hibernation.  Once awakened, they become hungry and attempt to forage for food when none is available.  Sadly, they die of starvation.

White-nose syndrome spreads in Kentucky explains that spelunkers are assisting U.S. Fish and Wildlife personnel with a survey of caves.  They wish to emphasize the danger of contamination however, because humans can unknowingly pick up spores on their shoes and clothing and contaminate an otherwise healthy cave.

There is no practical way to stop the disease, which frustrates the nature community.  Let's hope it dies out quickly.

 

Sealant for Parking Lots is Unhealthy

A professional applicator applies coal-tar-based sealcoat to a test plot used to measure emission of polycyclic aromatic carbons (PAHs) into the air
Image Credit: Pete Van Metre, USGS

Perhaps you have walked on a parking lot that has recently been sealed.  It looks nice, but the smell is obnoxious.  You probably guessed that the fumes being released were not healthy, but you didn't know how unhealthy.

Coal-Tar Sealcoat a Major Source of PAHs to Air and to Children Living Nearby provides the answer.

In fact, coal-tar-based sealants may be releasing more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) into the air than vehicle emissions.  85 million gallons of coal-tar sealant is applied primarily in the central, southern, and eastern United States.  Coal tar is a known carcinogen and is more than 50 percent PAHs.

In the study, two hours after application, PAH emissions are 30,000 times greater than unsealed pavement.  Even six years after application, the parking lot emits more than 60 times that of unsealed pavement.  As you might expect, children who live in apartments adjacent to a sealed lot are exposed to a significant long-term dosage of PAHs. 

The USGS article explains there is an alternative to coal-tar-based sealant, asphalt-based.  The coal-tar products have 1000 times the emissions of the asphalt product.  The latter is most common on the west coast.  Minnesota, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin have enacted a ban coal-tar-based sealant.

 

 

2012 Budget Woes Turn NASA Away from Mars

The Planet, Mars
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), J. Bell (Cornell University), and M. Wolff (Space Science Institute, Boulder)

Similar to the hard choices being made at all federal agencies for the President's Budget, NASA has dutifully reduced costs, but as a consequence is reducing missions.

All of the NASA budget presentations and handouts are available at their website, but it is difficult to understand what the agency is not going to do.

Obama's budget would cut Mars program, solar system exploration tells that the cuts will cost two joint missions to Mars with the European Space Agency (ESA).  The 2016 mission, Trace Gas Orbiter was planned to survey the Martian atmosphere.  The 2018 mission would have landed a rover to collect rocks and return the samples to Earth.

Aside from the austere federal budget in general, NASA has two problem children: The James Webb Space Telescope and the Space Launch System (SLS).  The new space telescope is substantially over budget, with continuing cost and schedule risks.  The new heavy lift rocket and crew vehicle were mandated by Congress rather than a strong ownership by NASA.

I apologize for the quality of the graphic below, but I predict it will generate another fight with Congress.  NASA continues to press for funding commercial space exploration, while Congress considers national space technology more relevant.  In 2012 through 2015, note all of the commercial launches of SpaceX and Orbital.  My guess is that Congress will tell NASA to focus on its own Space Launch System and let would-be commercial space operators fund their own way.

NASA Launch Schedule - from the FY12 Summary Budget Briefing

Mmm.  I believe NASA and the Department of Energy represent the big engineering and science projects that the national government should fund.  Although it overlaps with the Department of Transportation, I would like additional research and development on new aviation technology.  The U.S. is particularly dependent upon aviation for transportation, and we need 'to break glass' with advancements that are too risky for commercial companies.

 

 

Exploding Lakes in Africa

In 1986, Lake Nyos, in the volcanic region of Cameroon, released a cloud of CO2 into the atmosphere
Image Credit: USGS

Although many of us favor carbonated beverages, carbon dioxide suddenly released from the Earth can be deadly to living organisms, including people.

Exploding Lakes in West Africa tells that volcanoes release 100 million tons of carbon dioxide annually into the atmosphere.  (To place this in perspective, human activity currently expels 30 billion tons into the atmosphere.)  Usually the CO₂ produced by volcanoes is released continuously and is quickly diluted as it escapes from the surface.

Sometimes though, the carbon dioxide becomes trapped and dangerous pressures develop.  Then, when crack or fissure develops, it bursts out, with volumes and concentrations that can kill nearby residents and livestock.  That happened in 1986, killing 1700 people and 3500 livestock.

Since that disaster, USGS and other national organizations have been monitoring CO2 levels and even installing piping to vent the CO₂ before it can achieve dangerous concentrations.  Lake Nyos is above an a volcanic vent and tends to trap the CO2 in a layer near the bottom of the lake.  The water pressure from the depth helps keep the CO2 in place, until something happens as in 1986.  SInce 2002, pipes have been carefully positioned to gradually vent the CO₂ trapped underneath the water for millennium.  A nearby lake, Lake Monoun, has been completely vented, although Lake Nyos has several more years of venting before it can be declared completely safe.

The USGS notes that the Mammoth Mountain in the U.S., has a dangerous releases of carbon dioxide and there is a noticeable death of vegetation near the gas vents. 

Losing a Dream

Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-11) at Argonne National Lab-West
Image Credit: Department of Energy

A breeder reactor is supposed to be as close to nirvana as we can achieve short of cold fusion.  The idea is that it can consume toxic nuclear waste, produce electricity, and also produce more nuclear fuel than it burns.

Japan losing hope for its pricey 'dream reactor' explains the nation has held that very vision for its next generation breeder reactor for almost four decades.  After an investment of over $13B, government officials are debating whether to kill the project.

The Washington Post article explains that America and Europe discontinued their experimentation with breeder reactors several years ago.  Today's technology requires liquid sodium as a coolant and western nuclear researchers decided the dangers of liquid sodium and nuclear were more than additive - it was an invitation to accident.  Japan however, has continued spending money on a smaller breeder reactor at Monju.  This reactor receives considerable criticism however, because it uses plutonium, considerably more dangerous than the uranium used by most commercial operators.

India's first fast breeder reactor to go critical early 2013 tells that energy-poor India is still betting on nuclear power.  It too, will be fueled with plutonium instead of uranium. 

Mmm.  There are many high-profile, big-science/engineering projects that are experiencing costly schedule delays.  These include the Japan breeder reactor, the Airbus A380, the Boeing Dreamliner, the Webb Space Telescope, and the next Blackberry phone.  (Okay, maybe not the last one.)  I wonder whether we expect too much, or whether the world has lost capability in engineering and science.

 

 

Tapping a Lake Not Seen in a Long, Long Time

Antarctica
Image Credit: MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

There are over 140 subglacial lakes in Antarctica.   As you would expect, those are lakes lying beneath the ice sheet.  The largest is Lake Vostok, which lies beneath the Russian outpost, Vostok Station. 

Lake Vostok occupies about the same area as Lake Ontario, but has about three times the volume.  Its water has been isolated for perhaps 15 to 25 million years.  The water is about 13,100 feet below the surface of the ice.  It is so deep below sea level that heat from the Earth's core warms the bottom of the lake.  The pressure of the ice sheet has dissolved oxygen and nitrogen into a supersaturated state - almost 50 times a normal freshwater lake.  Quite possibly it is like a carbonated soft drink can.  Punch a hole in the surface and it will spew like a geyser.

Adding to the mystery is the suspicion that the lake contains life. Wherever researchers have looked in Antarctica, they have discovered microbes.  Similarly, they believe the hidden lake could be teeming with life.

Scientists close to entering Vostok, Antarctica’s biggest subglacial lake tells that a Russian drilling team is within 40 feet of the lake's surface.  International scientists have been critical of the Russian drilling operations because they use kerosene to prevent the bore hole from collapsing.  Scientists fear contamination of the lake from the improvised drilling fluid.  ALso, some scientists are concerned that puncturing the surface cap could empty a third of the lake from spewing.

Perhaps  in a few days we will know.

 

The Incredible Voyager Story

Artist concept of NASA's Voyager spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Voyager 1 is 120 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Earth.  It was launched on September 5, 1977. 

The spacecraft is currently in the transition zone between our solar system and the rest of the galaxy.  After such a long journey, its nuclear power sources no longer have the energy to power all of the systems, so over the past several years, NASA engineers have been turning off systems to conserve electrical power and extend the mission.

Voyager Instrument Cooling After Heater Turned Off explains that another heater has been shut off, in the hopes of extending the mission to 2025. They are tracked and controlled by NASA's Deep Space Network, which has large radio telescopes at Goldstone, Canberra, and Madrid.  It is suspected that portions of the spacecraft are at -110 degrees Fahrenheit, but the temperature sensors do not have such an operating range.

As an engineer, I am in awe of this mission.  To have something work this long, in such a stressing environment, and no margin for error, is simply phenomenal.   And they are planning on at least another 13 years!

La Nina is Peaking

NASA’s Jason-2 satellite shows that the current La Niña is peaking in intensity.
Image credit: NASA/JPL Ocean Surface Topography Team

Mmm.  Wikipedia is blacked out tonight in protest of SOPA and PIPA, so I cannot determine whether we are for or against La Nina, Spanish for "the girl child."

Back to the topic.  See the blue patches southwest of the U.S. western coastline, toward the equator?  That indicates lower than normal levels of seawater, which directly correlate to cooler water temperatures.  This is the second straight year for these measurements. Although not as intense as last year, it still represents a strong La Nina event.

NASA climatologists explain this predicts a warmer and wetter Pacific northwest, and a rainless winter for southern California.  The southern regions of the nation are also likely in for a dryer winter and spring.  It also means stronger than normal trade winds.

This is going to stress those same regions of the country that have already been suffering several years of drought.

Eventually though, these cooler water temperatures will seesaw, bringing about the other extreme of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, or El Nino.

 

Martian Meteorites Identified

Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars
Image Credit: Viking Project

The Macovich Collection of Meterorites is described as the largest collection of iron meteorites in the world.  The website boasts that celebrities such as James Taylor, Steven Spielberg, Yo-Yo Ma, and others have purchased meteorites from the collection.  If you are interested, they have meteorites for sale on their website, but be forewarned - they can cost $500 a gram. 

Delivery mechanism of meteorites from the Moon and Mars explains that asteroids are known to have impacted the Moon and Mars, causing some particles of the Moon or Mars to be kicked out into space (remember the weak gravity).  To date, 65 lunar and 53 Martian meteorites have been identified.  The meteorites are matched against the chemical assays known for the two heavenly bodies, and both have radioisotope ratios different from Earth. 

On July 18, 2011, there was a meteorite shower in Tata, Morocco.  In October, nomads discovered about 15 pounds of meteorites.  Just before Christmas, American scientists announced that these meteorites orginated from the surface of Mars. This is the first time in 100 years that meteorites have been discovered, originating from Mars.

You can shuffle through a gallery of meteorites on the Macovich website.

Mmm. It just seems hard to believe that scientists can positively identify a meteorite as originating from Mars, but we cannot come up with a cure for the common cold!

 

 

Is there Danger in Genetically Modified Food?

Fused, dicentric chromosomes
Image Credit: Beth A. Sullivan, Duke University

Ribonucleic acid (RNA)is a long molecule of nucleotides, consisting of a nucleobase, ribose sugar, and a phosphate group.  Genetic information is encoded with the arrangement of the nucleotides.  Wikipedia tells that all cellular organisms use messenger RNA to generate the proteins necessary for life.  Viruses use RNA instead of DNA for their genetic base.  There are subtle differences between RNA and DNA, one of the most notable being that RNA is single-stranded.

No doubt your mother taught as early as you could listen, that "you are what you eat."  But something that has troubled people for a long time is whether the food we can change our DNA.  After all, researchers are using retro-viruses to modify a patient's genes. 

The Very Real Danger of Genetically Modified Food, tells that some plant RNA is able to survive the digestion process and then modify our genome.  The particular study had identified rice RNA in the blood and tissue of people who eat rice.  This RNA does make changes to the liver, demonstrating the fear that food can change our DNA is real.

Obviously genetically modified food is not the only source of possible changes to our DNA, but the human body has had time to develop defenses or adapt to natural RNA.  If RNA does survive digestion, then the possibility exists that genetically modified food could unleash mayhem about mankind.

The dilemma is that our world is dependent upon genetically modified food.  It is going to be difficult to turn back the clock.