Passing the carbon buck

EU's emphasis on carbon credits is a zero-sum game; it will not reduce emissions

Noah's ark redux

New science predicts climate is changing faster than estimated

Climate lore

Variations in climate history pinpoint biodiversity hotpots ecologists are yet to discover all the biodiversity-rich areas on this earth. One way is to map out each region after physical observation. But mapping inaccessible mountainous terrains like the Himalayas is a challenge. A scientific team claimed studying the climatic history of a region can help locate species-rich areas. The study also revealed that there could be areas of low and high species diversity within a biodiversity that has already been mapped.

Recycling carbon

Scientists propose burying it below oceans WORLD carbon dioxide levels are rising. The future is expected to be exceptionally warm. Many technologies are being proposed to tackle it. Efficiently reducing global warming requires carbon capture in large amounts. Furthermore, the captured carbon has to stay that way for thousands of years.

Save oceans from acidifying

Fish can do it by producing and excreting carbonates THE marine carbon cycle is undergoing rapid changes. An excess of unregulated carbon will eventually acidify the oceans. A new study demonstrates that fish have the potential to save the marine carbon cycle.

Albedo is the measure

Of how leaves can affect global warming

On hold

Experiment to sink carbon into ocean AN Indo-German experiment to induce a green algal bloom on the surface of the South Atlantic Ocean has been called off for the time being following protests from environmentalists. Scientists with the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany and the National Institute of Oceanography (nio) in Goa were trying to prove that algae can be grown to absorb carbon and counter climate change.

Science & Technology - Briefs

technology Mediaeval books dated by DNA testing

Tropical myth

They're cooler than predicted THOSE studying global warming are often baffled by one observation: in the past three decades, the atmosphere over the tropics has not warmed as much as predicted. Climate change skeptics use this discrepancy in observed and predicted temperatures to argue against human contribution to global warming. A study has now identified the reason for this discrepancy and shown the way to resolve it.

According to report

black fortune: China's reliance on cheap coal to fuel its economy cost US $248 billion in 2007 through damage to the environment, strain on the healthcare system and manipulation of the commodity's price, said a report released by Greenpeace. Coal accounts for 70 per cent of the country's energy use but its supplies have been strained.