Google
Web eco site
 
suggest article | suggest link
news comment science business society recreation talk
SCIENCE PAGE 1 | PAGE 2 | PAGE 3 | PAGE 4 | PAGE 5 | PAGE 6 | PAGE 7 | PAGE 8
A child dies from poverty every 3 seconds

Green mini-car to

tackle congestion

Clever car prototype

A tiny, three-wheeled car that could help solve city congestion has been demonstrated at the University of Bath.

The prototype Clever (Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport) car is one metre wide and less polluting than normal vehicles. It has a top speed of 100 km/h (60mph) and uses a novel tilting chassis to make it safe and manoeuvrable. The traffic-busting two-seater is the result of a 40-month project by researchers in nine European countries. The three-year, £1.5m EU-funded research project aimed to produce a totally different class of private motor vehicle specifically designed for the urban environment. "The only solutions at the moment are motorbikes or cars" said Ben Drew, a research officer at the University of Bath, one of the institutions involved in the project. The idea is to try to marry the small size and efficiency of a motorcycle with the comfort and safety of a standard car," he said.

Source - BBC

What is the Gaia Hypothesis?

Over the next few years we are going to hear more and more about the Gaia hypothesis. But what is it?

The Gaia Hypothesis is that our world can be viewed as a living organism on a massive scale, with some ability to self regulates its climate and environment. The rocks are Gaia’s body, the forests its lungs, and humanity its developing brain, sometimes its consciousness, sometimes its base, unaware ego. The Gaia hypothesis was put forward by the visionary scientist James Lovelock. Its application, along with systems analysis, explains much about how our world works, and it offers one of the most amazing insights into what is really happening on planet Earth.

The concept of Gaia, the Earth Goddess, has been picked up by some as a quasi religion. This may be taking things too far, but it becoming clear than in trying to understand what is occurring due to climate change, the Gaia hypothesis is a useful tool for analysis. James Lovelock commented about the role of humanity:

“As the transfer of power to our species proceeds, our responsibility for maintaining planetary homeostasis grows with it.”

For a review of James Lovelocks "The Revenge of Gaia" see Recreation page 5

 

“If you take a frog from its pond and put it in a pan of hot water, it will jump out. If you put it in a pan of cold water and heat it slowly on the stove, the frog will sit there until it boils to death. The frog’s senses are equipped to measure only large differences in temperature, not gradual ones. Today, the human race has a lot in common with the frog in the pot.”

-The New Scientist.

Kangaroo farts to save the world

Australian scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, researchers say.

Thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, kangaroo flatulence contains no methane and scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep who emit large quantities of the harmful gas. "Fourteen percent of emissions from all sources in Australia is from enteric methane from cattle and sheep," said Athol Klieve, a senior research scientist with the Queensland state government. "Not only would they not produce the methane, they would actually get something like 10 to 15 percent more energy out of the feed they are eating."

Frog Crazy
The common frog (Rana temporaria). Image: Froglife
BBC  

The charity Froglife is asking Britons to count the common frog to find out how seriously it is being affected by two key diseases, Chytridiomycosis and ranavirus, which may prove as devastating in the UK as they have globally, with a third of species facing extinction.

"It's easy to view frogs as everyday garden residents," said Froglife's wildlife information officer Victoria Micklewright, "but being sensitive to changes in both land and water, amphibians are drastically important indicators of the quality of our environment."

Twin threats

Globally, the disappearance of habitats, pollution, climatic changes and hunting for food have seriously affected many of the 5,743 known amphibian species; up to 122 have disappeared within the last 25 years.

.

The Frogwatch project is asking people to document and report sightings of the common frog (Rana temporaria), and to indicate if he animals which they see show any signs of viral or fungal infection.

Ranavirus infection is sometimes called "red leg disease"; it is characterised by ulcers or bleeding, with legs becoming thin and in some cases the extremities falling off.

Symptoms of chytridiomycosis include lethargy, a thickening and reddening of the skin, convulsions and occasional ulcers.

Froglife would like as many responses as possible, but estimates it will need at least 1,000 to provide a scientifically sound snapshot.

"The long-term future of British amphibians is still very much in the balance," said Victoria Micklewright, "and simple data about our common frog could be a crucial tool in amphibian conservation in the future." Froglife is asking people to download a questionnaire and report sightings.It says it needs a thousand responses to draw up an accurate picture of trends across the country.http://www.froglife.org/
Front page: home page
News: page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Comment: page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Science: page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Business: page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Society: page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Recreation: page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
Talk: page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8


Visit The Green Network

Laptop fuel cells

Soon you could be running your laptop computer all day without a recharge as commercial versions of fuel cells go on sale. Taiwanese hi-tech firm Antig says its fuel cells should be on the shelves of computer shops by early 2007.

The first versions of the methanol-using units should keep a laptop going for up to nine hours. Fuel cell technology got a boost recently when international air flight regulators changed rules that banned passengers from carrying flammable methanol onto aircraft.

Linnet Tsai, deputy marketing manager for Antig, said the first fuel cells to go on sale would marry familiar lithium-ion batteries with the methanol-based technology.

Instead of storing power, fuel cells generate electricity by breaking down methanol via an electrochemical process. The fuel cells can be recharged by topping them up with methanol from a cartridge.

These "hybrid" devices will work with existing laptops and will fit into the media bay - typically the location of the CD/DVD drive.

| front page | top of page | contact us ©2005 eco. All rights reserved