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aharlib@...
Fascinating science stuff.
Happy New Year.
Amy


www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-telescope_31dec31,1,6396217.story
chicagotribune.com

A cold, hard look at one of science's hottest mysteries
Dark energy -- it's gravity's worst enemy and the hottest mystery in
science. Now, a giant telescope at the South Pole could help us learn
more.

By William Mullen

Tribune staff reporter

December 31, 2007

AMUNDSEN-SCOTT STATION, Antarctica


Anywhere on Earth this would be a big telescope, as high as a
seven-story building, with a main mirror measuring 32 1/2 feet across.
But here at the South Pole, it seems especially large, looming over a
barren plain of ice that gets colder than anywhere else on the planet.
Scientists built the instrument at the end of the world so they can
search for clues that might identify the most powerful, plentiful but
elusive substance in the universe -- dark energy.

First described just nine years ago, dark energy is a mysterious force
so powerful that it will decide the fate of the universe. Having
already overruled the laws of gravity, it is pushing galaxies away
from one another, causing the universe to expand at an ever faster rate.

Though dark energy is believed to account for 70 percent of the
universe's mass, it is invisible and virtually undetectable. Nobody
knows what it is, where it is or how it behaves.

"If you see it in your basement," jokes University of Chicago
cosmologist Rocky Kolb, "you better get back on your medication." But
he knows better than most the high priority the world's governments
and scientists have placed on coming to a fuller understanding of the
invisible force.

"Many think dark energy is the most important problem in physics
today," said Kolb, who recently served as chairman of the Dark Energy
Task Force, convened in 2005 by the U.S. Department of Energy, NASA
and the National Science Foundation.

Figuring out what dark energy is would explain the history and future
of the universe and generate new understanding of physical laws that,
applied to human invention, almost certainly will change the way we
live -- just as breakthroughs in quantum mechanics brought us the
computer chip.

Swinging its massive mirror skyward, the South Pole Telescope for the
last few months has begun to search the southern polar heavens for
shreds of evidence of the elusive stuff. Controlled remotely from the
University of Chicago, the $19.2 million telescope has quickly
succeeded in its first mission: finding unknown galaxy clusters, clues
to the emergence of dark energy.

The construction crew

The U. of C. has a stronger astronomy presence at the pole than
perhaps any other institution, having built several smaller
experimental telescopes here over the last 20 years. This scope,
however, was by far the most ambitious project.

Its components had to be custom-built by scientists and craftsmen in
several different parts of the world, then shipped to Antarctica in
pieces for final assembly. The largest sections of the telescope were
carefully designed so each could fit into ski-equipped military
transport planes. It took 25 flights to ferry 260 tons of telescope
components.

Late last year, a crew composed mostly of graduate students spent
eight hours a day outdoors to help put them all together.

"It gets really, really cold, because you aren't moving much," said
Joachin Vieira, 28, a graduate student in physics. "There's steel
behind you, steel in front of you, and you're holding steel tools."

His crew was assembling a 10-meter aluminum mirror and attaching it to
a carbon fiber backing designed to keep the mirror rigid in the
powerful South Pole winds.

Earlier they had spent three months doing a dry run on the mirror
assembly in the blazing summer heat of Kilgore, Texas. At the pole,
temperatures never warmed beyond 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.
Crew members said it took hours after coming back indoors before their
fingers loosened enough to type on their computers.

"We have to get these pieces into place to within 1/2000th of an inch
of accuracy," said Jeff McMahon, 29, a postdoctoral physics student.
"If you move, you risk screwing it up, so you stand motionless at 20
degrees below zero."

Also out there, slinging two-by-fours alongside ironworkers putting
together the telescope's main structure, was John Carlstrom, a veteran
South Pole astronomer and University of Chicago astrophysicist who is
heading up the international team that designed and constructed the
telescope.

Senior scientists at six other institutions are collaborating with
Carlstrom's Chicago team, including the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, University of California at Berkeley, NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, and Harvard, Case Western Reserve and McGill
Universities. The project is funded mainly by the National Science
Foundation with additional money coming from two California donors --
the Kavli Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

A thoughtful, soft-spoken man, Carlstrom honed his skills at physical
labor by working in construction when he was a college student.

He seems genuinely excited to be in the middle of the hunt for an
elusive quarry, but still flummoxed by the astonishing new realities
that dark energy represents.

"It's odd that we find ourselves missing the density of 70 percent of
the universe," he said. "It's a hard pill to swallow, that this thing
dominates the universe, but there is a lot of evidence to say that it
is there."

Gravity overcome

The problems Carlstrom and his team are trying to solve are 21st
Century, and so is much of the technology they are using, but their
methodology is very old school.

For thousands of years astronomers have been puzzling out the size,
shape and chemistry of the universe, first by naked eye and then --
for the last 400 years -- with increasingly powerful and sophisticated
telescopes. Mostly they study the motion of very large objects and
apply the known laws of physics to analyze what they see.

The telescope can't go looking for dark energy directly. Instead, it
is gathering information researchers hope will lead to a better
understanding of the mysterious force, by tracing for the first time
how dark energy emerged and changed over billions of years.

To do that, scientists will use the South Pole Telescope to search for
enormous clusters of galaxies -- the last structures in the universe
to be forged by the force of gravity after the theoretical Big Bang.
First, gravity formed the stars, then the galaxies, and finally vast
clusters containing 50 to 1,000 galaxies.

But at some point, dark energy got the upper hand over gravity,
slowing down and stopping gravitational formations and instead
beginning to push galaxies away from one another.

"It's not incorrect to think of dark energy as acting like negative
gravity," Carlstrom said. In other words, it is a force that causes
all physical matter to push away rather than collapse together.

The idea behind the South Pole Telescope is to try to trace how many
galaxy clusters have formed at different periods in the history of the
universe, how they formed, and then when dark energy slowed or stopped
their formation.

"We're looking at a tug of war with dark energy and gravity trying to
expand or collapse the universe," said Carlstrom, 50.

Galaxy clusters are rare, holding perhaps just 1 percent of all the
stars in the universe, and most are so far away and faint that most
optical and radio telescopes cannot detect them.

Instead, scientists need to find tiny variations in temperature of the
cosmic microwave background, which is the remnants of the first light
in the universe, emerging 400,000 years after the Big Bang. Slightly
warmer spots in the background indicate the presence of the dim,
distant, hard-to-locate galaxy clusters.

And the South Pole, inhospitable as it is, is the best place on Earth
to do that.

Humidity in the atmosphere would distort signals the telescope
receives and, thus, the picture it makes. But there is very little
water vapor at the South Pole. Even though the pole sits on a massive,
million-year buildup of ice 10,000 feet deep, the area is a natural
desert -- the air is dry and it almost never snows.

In addition, because of the tilt of the Earth's axis, the pole for
nearly half the year is bathed in 24-hour-a-day darkness. That allows
researchers to focus the telescope continuously on one part of the sky
for long periods of time.

Pinpointing the clusters

To do its work the telescope takes advantage of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich
effect, a phenomenon named for two Russians who discovered it in the
1960s.

As the particles of light that make up the microwave background travel
through space, some encounter the hot gas cores of distant galaxy
clusters. The Russians predicted that about 1 percent of photons
passing through the gas cores would interact with electrons there,
slightly kicking up their energy.

The telescope's main mirror collects photons as they arrive at our
planet and sends them to an array of bolometers that record their
intensity. The bolometers, the most crucial elements in the scope,
contain sensors that can measure temperature differences up to 10
millionths of a degree.

Ironically, the weather at the South Pole is much too warm for the
bolometers to work. The cosmic microwave background has cooled to a
nearly uniform 454.765 below zero Fahrenheit, or 2.725 degrees on the
Kelvin scale.

To detect the photons' slight variations in temperature, scientists
had to plan for cryogenic freezers that would keep the bolometers just
a quarter-degree Kelvin above absolute zero, or 459.22 degrees below
zero Fahrenheit.

Ultimately the telescope produces a picture revealing slightly more
intense patches in the cosmic microwave background -- in effect, a map
pinpointing the location and mass of the galaxy clusters that heated
up passing photons.

Back in Chicago, the U. of C.'s Hyde Park campus receives and stores
all data from the telescope as it is generated, with backup storage
going to the U. of I.

Darkness falls

When the sun went down at the pole in March, the telescope passed all
its preliminary tests and began successfully searching out unknown
galaxy clusters in small patches of the sky, babied by two scientists
who remained with it through the long polar night.

"It's unusual for an instrument of this complexity to make good
observations so soon after deployment," said product manager Steve
Padin, 47, a senior U. of C. scientist who just left the pole after
staying there more than a year helping to work out technical issues.

One surprisingly low-tech hitch, however, will keep the telescope from
operating at 100 percent until early 2009.

The telescope is designed to nest inside a huge metal shield -- a
75-foot-high, 155-foot-wide bowl-shaped structure that will block
ambient light traveling from South Pole buildings two-thirds of a mile
away. Even those minute sprinkles of light can be enough to skew the
telescope's super-sensitive sensors in certain sectors of the sky.

Once the shield is in place, the telescope should complete its
exhaustive survey in two or three years. Designed for a 20-year life,
the telescope will be assigned to other tasks when the cluster survey
is done.

Carlstrom and his colleagues believe the survey will provide
breakthrough information on dark energy by documenting its first
interactions with ordinary matter. Just as important, the telescope's
cluster inventory will serve as a guide for other telescopes to glean
far more information on dark energy's attributes by zeroing in with
specialized detectors the South Pole scope lacks.

Eventually, when astronomers know more about how to look at dark
energy itself, the quest may require powerful space-based telescopes,
said Rocky Kolb of the Dark Energy Task Force.

"We in astronomy think dark energy is a billion-dollar question," said
Kolb. "We feel it is that fundamental. It is a big question that will
require a big effort to answer it."

- - -

Payoff may be nebulous now, vital to the future

Dark-energy projects like the South Pole Telescope are an exercise in
basic or theoretical research -- no payoff is expected other than
knowledge that will slowly chip away at science's mysteries.

But in the past, even very difficult basic research usually has richly
paid back the societies that supported it. Newly developed
technologies and research results often lead to products and processes
that can create new industries.

There's no guarantee the dark energy research will pay off this way,
said Rocky Kolb, chairman of the Dark Energy Task Force. Still, he
noted, in the 1920s nobody but physicists took notice at first of the
development of quantum mechanics, the study of the behavior of matter
and energy on the atomic and subatomic scale. That knowledge led to
transistors, computer chips and digitization.

"Nobody thought in 1926 that quantum mechanics would fill the shelves
of Best Buy," Kolb said.

University of Chicago astrophysicist John Carlstrom said he sees the
quest to understand dark energy as a part of the continuum of human
inquiry.

"I think it's absolutely amazing that we're out looking at origins of
the universe, and we are discovering new laws of physics as we go," he
said. "Who knows what you will find when you discover new laws of
physics? There are a lot of bright people who will see applications in
it, and who knows what they will come up with?"

-- William Mullen

----------

wmullen@...

IN THE WEB EDITION: See more photos and view a video slide show of
crews installing the telescope at chicagotribune.com/telescope

ANTARCTICA: SIGNS OF THE GREAT THAW

Read our three-part series about scientists who are measuring the toll
of global warming at the South Pole at chicagotribune.com/antarctica

Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

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aharlib@...



URL to an interesting article in Science Daily News
_http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071205131158.htm_
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071205131158.htm)



First few paragraphs
"
ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2007) — Planetary  scientists at UCL have identified
the point at which a star causes the  atmosphere of an orbiting gas giant to
become critically unstable, as reported  in this week's Nature (December 6).
Depending upon their proximity to a host  star, giant Jupiter-like planets
have
atmospheres which are either stable and  thin, or unstable and rapidly
expanding. This new research enables us to work  out whether planets in
other systems
are stable or unstable by using a three  dimensional model to characterise
their upper atmospheres.

____________________________________
  See also:
_Space &  Time_ (http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/)
     *   _Extrasolar Planets_
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/extrasolar_planets/)
     *   _Jupiter_ (http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/jupiter/)
     *   _Stars_ (http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/space_time/stars/)
_Computers &  Math_ (http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/computers_math/)
     *   _Computer Modeling_
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/computers_math/computer_modeling/)
     *   _Mathematical Modeling_
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/computers_math/mathematical_modeling/)
     *   _Mathematics_
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/computers_math/mathematics/)
_Reference_ (http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/)
     *   _Gas giant_ (http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/g/gas_giant.htm)
     *   _Red giant_ (http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/r/red_giant.htm)
     *   _Great Red  Spot on Jupiter_
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/g/great_red_spot.htm)
     *   _Red  supergiant star_
(http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/r/red_supergiant.htm)

Tommi Koskinen of UCL's Physics & Astronomy Department is lead author of
the
paper and says: "We know that Jupiter has a thin, stable atmosphere and
orbits the Sun at five Astronomical Units (AU) - or five times the distance
between the Sun and the Earth. In contrast, we also know that closely
orbiting
exoplanets like HD209458b - which orbits about 100 times closer to its sun
than
Jupiter does - has a very expanded atmosphere which is boiling off into
space.
  Our team wanted to find out at what point this change takes place, and how
it  happens.
"Our paper shows that if you brought Jupiter inside the Earth's orbit, to
0.16AU, it would remain Jupiter-like, with a stable atmosphere. But if you
brought it just a little bit closer to the Sun, to 0.14AU, its atmosphere
would
suddenly start to expand, become unstable and escape. This dramatic change
takes  place because the cooling mechanism that we identified breaks down,
leading
to  the atmosphere around the planet heating up uncontrollably."
Professor Alan Aylward, co-author of the paper, explains some of the factors
which the team incorporated in order to make the breakthrough: "For the
first
  time we've used 3D-modelling to help us understand the whole heating
process
  which takes place as you move a gas giant closer to its sun. The model
incorporates the cooling effect of winds blowing around the planet - not
just
those blowing off the surface and escaping.
"Crucially, the model also makes proper allowances for the effects of H3+ in
the atmosphere of a planet. This is an electrically-charged form of hydrogen
which strongly radiates sunlight back into space and which is created in
increasing quantities as you heat a planet by bringing it closer to its
star."

Chris

("The avalanche has started, it's too late for the pebbles to  vote.")




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aharlib@...
Cool science news.

Baby planet spotted near far-away sun


URL to an article in MSNBC
_http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22474726/_
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22474726/)


First few paragraphs

Astronomers say they have  discovered the youngest planet to date circling a
sunlike star, a find that will  be a boon to the field of planet-formation
theory.
The _extrasolar  planet_
(http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=080102-hyd\
rae-planet-02.jpg&cap=This+computer+graphic+shows+t
he+newly+discovered+young,+massive+planet+around+the+its+host+star+TW+Hydrae.+
The+planet+orbits+its+active+host+star+inside+the+inner+hole+of+a+dusty+circum
stellar+disk.+Credit+Johny+Setiawan/MPIA)  is an estimated 8 million to 10
million years old, a mere toddler  compared to Earth, which is 4.5 billion
years
old. Until now, the researchers  say, no planet younger than 100 million
years old has been detected circling a  sunlike star.
"It means we're opening up a new  field of trying to find planets around
very
young stars," said Alan Boss, a  planet-formation theorist at the Carnegie
Institution of Washington. "So it's  the very first example, and we hope
there
will be a lot more." Boss was not  involved in the discovery.

_Story continues  below ↓_
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22474726/#storyContinued)
____________________________________
  advertisement


____________________________________


The newly found world is so  infantile that it resides in the star's
"protoplanetary disk," a ring of gas and  dust circling the star. It has
been
cataloged as _TW  Hydrae b_
(http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=080102-sta\
r-hydrae-02.jpg&cap=The+discovered+young,+giant+planet+or
bits+its+host+star,+TW+Hydrae,+inside+the+inner+hole+of+a+dusty+circumstellar+
disk.+Credit+Johny+Setiawan/MPIA) .
"This demonstrates that planets  can form within 10 million years, before
the
disk has been dissipated by stellar  winds and radiation," the researchers
write in Thursday's issue of the journal  Nature.
Weighing in at nearly 10 Jupiter  masses, the planet circles at a distance
of
0.04 Astronomical Units from its  host star, TW Hydrae, in the constellation
Hydra. One AU is the average distance  between Earth and sun.
The gassy "hot Jupiter" takes 3.56  days to orbit its star. The host star is
located 180 light-years away from  Earth.
Planets are thought to form within  disks of dust and gas around newly born
stars. Catching a _planet_
(http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070611_mm_planet_floodgates.html)
in its childhood can give astronomers lots of
information about how planets  materialize.
"The discovery shows that what we  always call as 'protoplanetary' disks are
indeed protoplanetary; they form  planets," study researcher Johny Setiawan
of
the Max-Planck Institute for  Astronomy in Germany told Space.com. "There
are
many 'protoplanetary' disks  detected around young stars, but no planets so
far have been detected within  such young systems."
Around some young star systems,  however, astronomers have found _signs  of
planets_ (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/youngest_planet_040527.html)
by noting clear lanes of dust within the disks. In these cases,  it's
presumed
that young planets are forming and have scooped up the dust, but  the
planets
themselves have not been detected."

I created this cool friends network and added you to my friends network. Hit-up
now:
http://makerigirlfriend.googlepages.com/girlfriends.htm

aharlib@...



> View this message in HTML:
> <http://lists.grist.org/dm?id=9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
> DAILY GRIST
> 03 Jan 2008
> Environmental news from Grist
> www.grist.org
>
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> TOP STORY
>
> Crony Loves Chukchi
> Bush administration will offer oil leases in prime polar-bear habitat
>
> The U.S. Interior Department's Minerals Management Service plans to offer
> offshore oil and gas drilling rights to 29.7 million acres of Alaska's
> Chukchi Sea. The area is home to one of two U.S. polar bear populations;
> interestingly enough, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- also a part of
> the Interior Department -- is within days of deciding whether to list the
> polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. "The polar bear
> is in need of intensive care, but with this lease sale the Bush
> administration is proposing to burn down the hospital," says clever
> analogizer Brendan Cummings of the Center for Biological Diversity.
> Environmentalists and some congressfolk had asked the MMS to delay the
> lease sale plan for at least three years; its failure to do so, says Sen.
> John Kerry (D-Mass.), is "the height of irresponsibility and
> short-sightedness."
>
> sources:
> Reuters
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18724:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
> Associated Press
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18723:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
> The New York Times
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=1872F:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
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>
> It's the New Year all right, but will it be a greener year? Let Grist's
> eco-solutions be a part of your New Year's resolutions -- grab a copy of
> Wake Up and Smell the Planet, Grist's eco-guide to everyday life.
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18734:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> TODAY'S NEWS
>
> The G8 Warming
> Japan leads G8 in 2008, will focus on climate change
>
> A new year means a new country takes over leadership of the Group of Eight
> rich nations, and in 2008 it's Japan. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has
> promised to make climate change a top priority, proposing a goal for G8
> countries to cut emissions by 50 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. And
> while that may seem ambitious for a nation that just last month stood with
> the United States in opposition to specific reduction goals for a
> post-Kyoto treaty, the safe bet is on continued U.S. interference with
> specific emissions reduction goals at the G8, so there's little to lose by
> aiming for the same shot-down target as last year. Fukuda also announced
> plans to hold a climate-change meeting immediately preceding the July G8
> summit and has invited China, India, Indonesia, and South Korea to attend
> as well. Fukuda indicated that even after the climate-specific meet,
> "Environmental issues will be a big agenda" item at the regular old G8
> summit. "Japan hopes to lead the worldwide discussions in order to hand
> over clean skies to our children."
>
> source:
> Agence France-Presse
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18726:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
>
> Runaway Sue
> California, 15 states, and five nonprofits sue EPA over waiver decision
>
> California has made good on its promise to sue the U.S. EPA over the
> agency's refusal to allow the state to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions
> from vehicles, and 15 other states have made good on their promise to join
> in on the litigation. The swarm of states, along with five nonprofit
> groups, filed suit yesterday in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San
> Francisco. The presumed shared feeling of the group, as stated by
> California Attorney General Jerry Brown: "The denial letter was shocking
> in its incoherence and utter failure to provide legal justification for
> the administrator's unprecedented action."
>
> sources:
> Los Angeles Times
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=1875C:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
> East Bay Business Times
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18725:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
> Central Valley Business Times
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18727:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
>
> Here We Go Again
> Britain expected to back new construction of nuclear power plants
>
> Britain is expected next week to give a nod to new nuclear power plant
> construction. A judge overturned an initial go-ahead in February, saying
> the government had failed to properly consult the public; officials then
> undertook five months of public consultation. "Dozens of individuals and
> organizations have contributed to the consultation and we have taken
> account of everything they said," a senior source in the Department for
> Business and Enterprise told The Independent. "Given the circumstances we
> will be facing over the coming years, it is inconceivable that we should
> prevent nuclear from being part of our energy mix." Greenpeace, which sued
> over the first decision, says a new plan to boost nuclear power would
> still be illegal because the public was given flawed information and there
> is no plan for radioactive-waste disposal. Hmm, sounds familiar.
>
> sources:
> The Independent
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18728:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
> Reuters
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18722:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
>
> Lost and Foundations
> Charitable foundations move to align investments with philanthropic goals
>
> Charitable foundations have historically considered their philanthropic
> goals to be separate from their investments, often fearing that socially
> responsible investing could harm their returns. Recently, though, many
> foundations have started moving to harmonize the social and environmental
> effects of their investments with their charitable missions. The Ford
> Foundation, the second-largest in the U.S., and some smaller foundations
> have long been a minority seeking to align charitable and financial goals;
> executives and analysts say their influence has made a difference, in
> addition to well-publicized criticism of the Gates Foundation last year.
> Donna Dean, chief investment officer of the Rockefeller Foundation, sums
> up the new trend: "Increasingly, we look for investments that provide a
> social benefit as well as the financial return we expect."
>
> source:
> Los Angeles Times
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=1874B:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
>
> Moving Kite Along
> Cargo ship to use massive kite-like sail on trans-Atlantic voyage
>
> A huge cargo ship is set to cross the Atlantic Ocean this month with some
> help from a massive kite-like sail that could offset up to 15 percent of
> its fuel use on the journey. It's hardly a return to purely wind-powered
> shipping, but it's a start for the hugely polluting maritime shipping
> industry. "This is a serious attempt to reduce bunker [fuel] costs and
> polluting emissions," said a spokesperson for the Germany-based shipping
> company that is testing the roughly 1,700-square-foot sail. "The kite will
> be used whenever it is possible on the voyage, and we are convinced it
> will revolutionize cargo shipping. We would consider fitting them to all
> our ships." If testing goes well, much larger kites of over 50,000 square
> feet could soon offset a much larger share of fuel costs in the future.
>
> source:
> The Guardian
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18721:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
>
> Read more news ...
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18735:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> GRIST COLUMNS AND FEATURES
>
> Shake, Rattle, and Carol
> Carol Moseley Braun chats with Grist about her biodynamic food company
>
> Carol Moseley Braun is glad she's not in Iowa today; she's already had her
> run at becoming the first black president <em>and</em> the first woman
> president.  Now the former senator, ambassador, and presidential candidate
> has turned her energies to a field she says is much more satisfying than
> politics: healthy, organic, biodynamic food. In an interview with Grist,
> she chats about her company Ambassador Organics, the challenges of making
> healthy food available to all, the allure of biodynamic farming, and her
> favorite recipe.
>
> new in Grist: Shake, Rattle, and Carol
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18733:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
>
> Coming Friday:  The green take on the Iowa caucuses
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> OPINION & ANALYSIS
>
> Survey says ... Two-thirds of likely caucus voters in Iowa think
> conservation more important than coal.
> by Sean Casten
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=1872A:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
> John ... I am your father! Darth Nader endorses Edwards instead of Green
> Party candidate.
> by David Roberts
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=1872C:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
> Paging Nordhaus and Shellenberger. Please, can we lay off the calls for
> sacrifice in the face of climate change?
> by Adam Stein
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=1872E:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
> China, coal, and the U.S. economy. More evidence that we're exporting
> massive carbon emissions.
> by Tom Philpott
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=1872B:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
> The EPA papers. Cheney and Johnson probably conspired, ho hum.
> by David Roberts
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=18730:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
> How to diversify environmentalism? The movement's greatest challenge is
> its own lack of diversity.
> by Marcelo Bonta
> <http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=1872D:9C3D0A0750E36D129C93461FD3BC2E96>
>
>
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aharlib@...
Cool science stuff.

  Advanced life created in two ancient explosions


URL to an interesting article from MSNBC
_http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22491153/_
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22491153/)

First few paragraph
"
New study details rapid burst in evolution during the Ediacaran Period



By Dave Mosher



updated 2:53 p.m.  CT, Thurs., Jan. 3, 2008

Complex life on Earth may have  blossomed during two "explosions," not one,
a
new study suggests.
Earth's biggest species  diversification occurred 542 million years ago,
during what's called the  Cambrian explosion. But a similar and rapid burst
in
_evolution_
(http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/070816_gm_evolution.html)
occurred 33 million years prior, researchers now  think. They've dubbed the
event the Avalon explosion.
“It now appears that at the dawn  of the macroscopic life, between 575 and
520 million years ago, there was not  one, but at least two major episodes
of
abrupt morphological expansion," said  Shuhai Xiao, a paleontologist at
Virginia
Tech.





The new study, detailed in the  Jan. 4 issue of the journal Science,
examines
life during Ediacaran Period on  Earth, between 635 million years and 542
million years ago. The authors compared  200 different species to reveal
that
their body types — and richness of  diversity — appeared at around the same
time.
Despite the first boost in  diversity, however, the Ediacaran creatures all
but vanished before the Cambrian  explosion that followed.
"The Avalon explosion represents  an independent, failed _experiment_
(http://www.livescience.com/history/071204-life-sandwich.html)  with an
evolutionary
pattern similar to that of the  Cambrian explosion," the authors said."

aharlib@...



> EARTH MEANDERS
> Time to Stop the Greenwashing
>
> Global ecological sustainability depends upon identifying and
> acting upon ambitious, sufficient eco-policies now; and
> rejecting misleading, exploitative and inadequate reformist
> pandering
>
> Earth Meanders by Dr. Glen Barry
> http://earthmeanders.blogspot.com/
>
> January 4, 2008
>
> The Earth and all species including humans are threatened with
> imminent ecological ruin. You should be afraid, very afraid.
> Yet real hope remains that fundamental social change can avert
> looming failure of global ecosystems. The biggest current
> obstacle to such change is that now that everyone, every
> product and every business claims to be "green"; we have been
> diverted from urgent, adequate ecological change required to
> secure being.
>
> Many mainstream (and some "radical") environmentalists, most
> businesses and essentially all governments are greenwashing --
> misleading the public regarding the environmental benefits of
> their practices, policies and products. Certified FSC logging
> destroys ancient forests, climate and water. Coal is unlikely
> to ever be clean as existing plants emit into the atmosphere,
> and sequestration is unproven. Biofuels hurt the environment,
> geo-engineering will destroy remaining natural processes, and
> buying more stuff is rarely good for the environment.
>
> It is time to stop the greenwashing. After two decades of
> successfully raising awareness regarding climate change,
> forest protection and other challenges to global ecological
> sustainability; increasingly my time is spent reacting to
> dangerous, insufficient responses that fail to address root
> causes of ecological decline, provide a false sense of action,
> and frequently consolidate and do more environmental harm.
>
> Many "greenwash" to make money, some to be perceived as
> effective advocates, while others believe incremental progress
> without changing the system is the best that can be done. Yet
> all are delaying policies necessary simply to survive. The
> greatest obstacle to identifying, refining, espousing and
> implementing policies required to maintain a habitable Earth
> may come from "environmentalists" proposing inadequate half-
> measures that delay and undermine the rigorous work that must
> be done to bring humanity back into nature's fold.
>
> Sufficient policies required to save the Earth are massive in
> scope and ambition. Deep-seated change is required in how we
> house, feed and clothe ourselves; in our understanding of
> acceptable livelihoods and happy lives; and in our
> relationship with the biosphere and each other. To maintain a
> livable Earth there is no alternative to less people and
> consumption, a smaller and restorative economy, and an end to
> cutting natural vegetation and burning fossil fuels.
>
> Systematic failure of global ecosystems and social systems
> must be addressed in more than a token manner. A whole series
> of policy actions exist that we know are needed, would work,
> are sufficient, and could start immediately. These include
> massive investments into subsidizing renewable energy,
> implementing population controls, banning coal, ending old-
> growth logging and financing carbon emission reductions.
>
> Given the Earth has already exceeded what can be sustained in
> these regards, not only must the destruction stop, but massive
> regional scale ecological restoration must commence to
> establish rewilded and connected ecological reserves. Economic
> growth beyond steady-state use of natural capital must be
> stopped, and sustainable relocalized communities built around
> bioregions.
>
> Certainly ecologically positive technology has a role to play.
> Living in the country and needing a vehicle I recently chose
> the best transportation option society offers me and bought a
> Toyota Prius. But leading environmentalists touting technology
> as the primary emphasis to save our environment are dreadfully
> misinformed, and are obviously unaware of the ecological
> nature of being. They seem to have forgotten about the primacy
> of maintaining and restoring ecosystems.
>
> Even as we personally strive to live frugal, rich lives;
> necessary consumption should focus upon durable items that
> will last. Strong tools and minds are required to grow food,
> make a righteous living, and otherwise practice ecological
> living. Excessive consumption is a poor substitute for a
> truthful, fully aware, knowledge filled and experience rich
> life. All can and should enjoy some luxuries, rather than some
> enjoying all.
>
> Global ecological threats are intensifying -- oceans lifeless,
> forests tattered, water scarce, and the atmosphere perhaps
> irreparably damaged. This occurs even as a climate change
> backlash builds, largely as a result of truthful apocalyptic
> warnings presented without adequate policies that go beyond
> greenwash responses and actually promise a hope filled
> solution likely and able to succeed.
>
> Given this increased urgency and public awareness, the
> environmental community must espouse rigorous, sufficient
> polices "while the iron is hot"; and demand real actions that
> are sufficient to solve global ecological crises. And
> greenwashers beware: if you stand in the way of sufficient
> ecological responses to the greatest emergency of all times,
> you will be exposed as Earth destroying charlatans and
> resisted.
>
> ********************
> Dr. Barry is founder and President of Ecological Internet;
> provider of the largest, most used environmental portals on
> the Internet including the Climate Ark at
> http://www.climateark.org/ and http://www.EcoEarth.Info/ .
> Earth Meanders is a series of ecological essays that are
> written entirely in his personal capacity. This essay may be
> reprinted granted it is properly credited to Dr. Barry and
> with a link to Earth Meanders. Emailed responses are public
> record and will be posted on the web site unless otherwise
> requested.
>
> ---
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> Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1206 - Release Date: 1/1/2008
> 12:09 PM
>

Hello,

I'm writing today to draw your attention to a scientist
statement regarding the manipulation, censorship, and distortion
of science for political reasons. The deadline for signing the
statement is coming up soon.

We have seen political interference in science on issues from
toxic mercury pollution to global warming to prescription drug
safety. Because of these actions, decisions about our health and
environment are made without access to the best available
science.

Since 2004, more than 12,000 scientists, engineers, and public
health professionals have signed on to the scientist statement
on restoring scientific integrity to federal policy making. This
document continues to be regularly referenced by the media and
Congress as evidence of the scientific community's deep concern
about this problem.

For non-scientists, there's a citizen's call-to-action that
echoes the scientists' concerns and has earned support from tens
of thousands of non-scientists.

By signing these statements, you'll help demonstrate widespread
concern about this increasing problem among scientists and
non-scientists alike. And you'll have the option to receive
updates from the Union of Concerned Scientists with the latest
news about efforts to prevent the misuse of science on a variety
of issues--as well as what steps you can take to defend science
from political interference.

In 2008, UCS will be using these statements to encourage
presidential candidates to commit to restoring scientific
integrity to federal policy making. January 25, 2008, is your
last chance to sign! Click here to read the scientists' letter
and sign on today:

http://www.ucsusa.org/rsi_statement

Non-scientists who want to show their support for reform should
sign the scientific integrity call to action at:
http://ucsaction.org/campaign/Science_Idol_Call_to_Action?rk=41_Ara11BAgfW