Old demons remain, new emerge

Science and Technology - Briefs

CHEMISTRY Nano guard

Plants have proteins

When people hear calls for 25 per cent less industrial cattle ranching, or even calls for “Meat-Free Mondays”, their usual misgivings centre around protein. Protein needs vary somewhat with age, between men and women, infants, children, and during pregnancy and lactation, but a safe rule of thumb is 50 g/day.

Science and Technology - Briefs

COMPUTER SCIENCES Super disc Typical compact discs (CDs) store 600-700 megabytes (MB) of digital data. A new technology can now help develop CDs that can hold 2 terabytes or 2,000,000 MB of data. Instead of packing more data on the surface, the idea is to make an optical film with 64 data layers.

Climate of irrationality

The multilateral treaty to protect the ozone layer has been a successful environmental agreement. But an impasse over restricting the use of extremely potent greenhouse gases is set to mar the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Montreal Protocol on September 16.

Cattle burps

COWS are well-entrenched in the global climate change debate. Cud-chewing animals release methane, a greenhouse gas, when the fibrous matter breaks down and undergoes fermentation in their stomach. Though methane emissions are lower than CO2 ones, they are much more harmful—a kg of the gas has 21 times the effect of a kg of CO2.

Fertiliser’s true climate impact

NITROUS oxide is a potent greenhouse gas—it is 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in causing global warming. Though it reaches the environment through different sources like sewage treatment, livestock, vehicles and industries, use of fertilisers in agriculture is its biggest contributor.

Letters - March 31, 2012

Science restricted

Future shock

It is a definite recipe for disaster, barely short of apocalypse. Thousands may die, millions get affected, and assets worth billions of dollars get destroyed. As human-induced greenhouse gases increase, so will extreme weather events like floods, heat waves and droughts.

Time-out

At Durban, the European Union (EU) pushed hard for a legally binding agreement for all. The aim, it said, was that this legal instrument would bring the US on board, as it would include China, India and other big developing countries to commit to cut emissions.