Stern Review: Facts and Figures

From left to right: Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, Sir Nicholas Stern, and Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Royal Society (London).
Image: Associated Press

Former World Bank chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern has produced a comprehensive report on the effect of global warming on world economics. Stern argues that drought, encroaching coastlines, crop failure and other climate events will severly undermine world economics this century. Stern reports that 15-40% of species may face extinction after a warming of 2 degrees celsius, damaging economies based on wildlife. The full report and powerpoint presentation are available online.

--See the powerpoint by Sir Nicholas Stern
--Read the full report

Tony Blair: Global Warming Consequences "Disastrous"

Producing power releases the highest volume of carbon dioxide.

Image: BBC

Economist Sir Nicholas Stern warns that climate change could reduce the global economy by one-fifth. Stern is optimistic in spite of the sobering data, because he believes that immediate international cooperation can nullify some of the malevolent economic effects of global warming. One percent of global gross domestic product, Stern concludes, must be directed to reducing emissions. British Prime Minister Tony Blair is taking the issue very seriously, informing his people that "disaster" will come from continued environmental degradation.

--BBC has more information

Academy of Science: Viking Results from Mars Premature

The Viking lander on the Martian surface.

Image: Nasa

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science reports that the Viking data collected on the Martian surface in the 1970s was incomplete. The Viking landers detected no sign of organic life in the alien soil. However, a new study using Vikings' technology in Antarctica, Chile, and Peru also found no life. These geographic settings, similar to the Martian surface, do contain carbon, and newer instruments could detect carbon in these soils. Many scientists now believe the Viking data is flawed, resurrecting the possibility of current life existing on Mars.

--See Sharon Begley, "Earthlings Discover There Might Be Life on Mars After All," The Wall Street Journal (Tuesday, 24 October 2006), B1-B2

Darwin Goes Online

The HMS Beagle, the ship that took Charles Darwin round the globe.
Image: American Museum of Natural History

Cambridge University in the United Kingdom has digitized the works of Charles Darwin, including letters to and from Mr. Darwin. The site provides searchable text as well as high-quality scans of works and manuscripts. Darwin is best known for his monograph, On the Origin of Species (1859), which gave birth to the concept of speciation by natural selection. This online resource is an excellent tool for those in need of primary nineteenth-century science manuscripts.

--Visit Cambridge University's Darwin Correspondence Project

Iceland Breaks Ban

Iceland's first commercially-killed whale in twenty years is hosed down.
Image: Associated Press

Last week, Iceland announced that it was going to resume commercial whaling, breaking a 21 year ban set by the International Whaling Commission. Today, the Icelandic vessel Hvalur 9 hauled in a sixty-five foot fin whale. Criticism has increased, especially considering the fin whale is listed as an endangered species by the World Conservation Union. Some believe Iceland's tourism industry is going to suffer from the controversy. Norway and Japan are the only other countries that hunt whales.

--BBC has more information

BBC's Guide to Climate Change

Most scientists believe humans are causing global warming.

Image: Nasa

BBC provides an interactive multimedia feature concerning climate change. The site's maps, charts, videos, and diagrams--along with cited statistics--supply important information on global warming. Globe models also project best and worst case scenarios of climate change. Scientists forecast that the Earth will increase by 1.4-5.8 degrees Celsius before 2100, causing significant damage.

--Click here to visit the online feature

More on Whales

A humpback whale breaches the surface.

Image: Allen Wolman, NMML

The National Marine Mammal Laboratory, a United States government agency under the Department of Commerce, provides an image library of whales and dolphins for the public. This government site also has materials for further education and resources for marine mammal conservation.

--See the National Marine Mammal Laboratory online

Iceland to Resume Whaling

Whalers pull in a minke whale.
Image: Associated Press

The Icelandic fisheries ministry has announced that the nation will cull nine fin whales and thirty minke whales each year. The ministry defended the decision, saying whales are depleting Iceland's fisheries. Arni Finnson of Inca (Iceland Nature Conservation Association) is "surprised and disappointed" by the first pro-whaling resolution in two decades. Many conservationists believe the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has unnecessarily loosened its regulations.

--BBC.co.uk has more information

Photographing the First Exoplanet

An artist's rendition of the Jupiter-sized planet orbiting the star Epsilon Eridani.

Image: Nasa

A planet about 1.5 times the size of Jupiter is the closest planet outside our solar system. It orbits the young star Epsilon Eridani in a solar system only 10.5 light years away. Scientists hope the planet is close enough to be photographed by Hubble and other telescopes in 2007 when it closes in on its star. Fritz Benedict of the University of Texas believes the planet potentially may have moons with environments hospitable for life.

--USA Today has more information

Giant Camel Unearthed in Syria

The recently discovered species is twice the size of modern camels.

Image: BBC.co.uk

A Swiss-Syrian archaeology team in Syria has excavated the remains of an extinct camel species previously unknown to science. The giant camel bones are believed to be 100,000 years old. Remains of Homo sapiens from the same time period have also been found at the site. The human's bone structure, however, does not match the speciman's tooth, the latter find more Neanderthal in appearance. Scientists hope further excavation will yield more answers.

--BBC.co.uk has more information

Protecting the Shark

The grey nurse shark, known as the sand tiger shark in the USA, is threatened by extinction.

Image: Humane Society International

The grey nurse shark, known as the sand tiger shark in America, is a species under threat. Estimates put their numbers to less than 500 in Australian waters. Environmentalists argue that the species, a top predator, is crucial to the local ecosystem. The grey nurse shark has been protected since 1984, but their numbers are still falling. The decline is blamed on fisherman who mistakenly hook them. Though fierce in appearance, the species is not considered a man-eater.

--BBC.co.uk has more information

Sea "Monster" Found

Artist's depiction of the pliosaur.

Image: BBC.co.uk

Giant reptiles populated the seas at the time of the dinosaurs. Norwegian palaeontologists from the University of Oslo have uncovered fossils of gigantic creatures in the Arctic island chain of Svalbard. The fossils belong to plesiosaur and ichtyosaur skeletons. One speciman, believed to be a 26-foot pliosaur, has been dubbed "the Monster" because of its size. The Monster had teeth as large as bananas. The remains are thought to be from 150 million years before present.

--BBC.co.uk has more information

NASA Releases Images from Mars Rover

Photo of "Victoria Crater" on Mars captured by the rover Opportunity.

Image: www.jpl.nasa.gov

NASA's Mars rover Opportunity has returned images from "Victoria Crater" on the Martian surface. This crater is the rover's long-term destination, and scientists are thrilled with the images. The crater is some 800 meters (one-half a mile) wide and some 70 meters deep. Sandy ripples, created by weathering from Martian winds, form the bottom of the crater. The rocky heights on the left foreground are called "Cape Verde."

--NASA has more information and images

Armstrong Spoke Correctly

The first moon walk.
Image: BBC.co.uk

Neil Armstrong, astronaut during the first moon landing, has been accused of misspeaking his famous line, neglecting to say the letter "a" before "man." Critics say the quote was supposed to be: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Without the "a," the phrase is unintelligible. However, computer programmer Peter Shann Ford found the missing "a" during an audio analysis. Armstrong did say it, but the syllable was lost to static.

--BBC.co.uk has more information

Searching for the First Britons

A stone hand axe from Britain, credited to Neanderthal workers.
Image: BBC.co.uk

The second phase of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project has secured funds to begin. The project's first phase pushed human occupation of the island back 200,000 years, and scientists hope the next phase may yield further clues. Multiple species of humans have occupied Britain, including Homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthal man, and, of course, anatomically modern humans. Migrations occured over several hundred thousand years from the continent. The earliest site thus discovered is at Pakefield on the east coast of Britain, dating to some 700,000 years before present.

--BBC.co.uk has more information