research

8 Million Lives And $1 Trillion Could Be Saved By Vegan Diet

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A research study has found that 8 million human deaths and $1 trillion in healthcare costs each year could be saved if more people adopted a vegan diet. Oxford University researchers examined four different diets and found that vegan one was better for human health and the planet. “We do not expect everybody to become vegan. But climate

The IPCC's Blockbuster 5th Climate Assessment

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BREAKING: Late this evening (8 pm EST, or tomorrow, March 31, at 9 am in Tokyo), something large and unpleasant will hit the fan about climate change. At a press conference in Yokohama, the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will release its Fifth Assessment Report on impacts of human activities on current and

Review: The Long Shadow Of Chernobyl

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Though we try to keep a very positive focus here, PlanetSave isn’t just a blog about the wonders of the natural world and the glory of Mankind’s inventions. It also offers knowledge and a caution about our failures as individuals and as a species. We’ve all made mistakes before, big and small. By acknowledging anthropogenic

Los Angeles Council Unanimously Puts Off Fracking

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When the hydraulic fracturing measure passed the Los Angeles City Council today, several tweeters posted photos of this meeting (source of the above: Walker Foley on twitter). The City Council of Los Angeles, second-most populous metro in the United States, voted 10-0 today to prohibit hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and other “unconventional” deep-underground drilling methods to produce

What's "Sustainable Development"? Free Online Course!

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On his blog “I see a change,” Nigerian Youth Development Expert Olumide Idowu presents the elements of sustainable development (source: olumideidowu.blog.com). Not all online courses provide all they promise you, but here’s one that should answer all your questions about environmentally sustainable, socially inclusive economic development. It will also challenge you to find out more.

International Radio Broadcast Equivocal About Geoengineering

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In a spot aired this afternoon called “Geoengineers: Who will rule the climate?” the world’s third largest radio station, Voice of Russia, seems to be wobbling on whether or not wholesale scientific experimentation could alter the destructive path of anthropomorphic climate change. VOR, reportedly the first radio station to broadcast internationally, serves about 109 million listeners of

New HIV/AIDS A3/02 Strain Faster, Deadlier

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“Determining the HIV-1 subtype of infected individuals could be important in the management of HIV-1 infections,” say A3/O2 study authors.‪ (Photo: GIZMODO) Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, appears to have generated the newest strain of the HIV/AIDS virus. In recent years, health experts have begun to think of HIV/AIDS as a treatable, nonlethal disease. Seventeen people treated

Long-jawed Croc Fossil Comes To Life In 3-D, Full-color, Micro Detail

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Thoracosaurus neocesariensis, a fossil crocodile that lived 65 million to 100 million years ago, when the oceans were higher, in the ancient warm, carbon-dioxide-rich mangrove swamps of present-day southern New Jersey. Crocodiles have been chasing fish for a very, very long time–since the Late Cretaceous, in fact–says paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara of Philadelphia’s Drexel University. The

Autism Risk May Be Increased By High Pollution Levels

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A new Harvard School of Public Health study found that pregnant women could be twice as likely to give birth to an autistic child if they were exposed to high levels of air pollution. Specifically, exposure to chemicals such as lead, manganese, mercury, methylene chloride and diesel particulates have been known to impact brain function

Emotional Intelligence Increased With Horses

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A research study conducted at the University of Kentucky found that working with horses could increase emotional intelligence. The total number of research subjects in the study was 21, and they were all nurses. Ten were from a neuroscience surgery service unit and eleven worked in trauma and acute care at a hospital. The group

97% Of Research Papers Say Global Warming Is Manmade

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A recent study of research papers published from 1991 to 2011 that took a view on human-related climate change found 97% of them were in agreement that humans are a factor. The study was published in Environmental Research Letters, Volume 8, Number 2. A large team of researchers made up the study group, which had

Six-Foot Robot Invades Greenland, For Science

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There is nothing better in life than a good robot story, and what’s even better is when that robot is named GROVER. GROVER stands for both Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research — which must have just really made the NASA scientists day, when they realised — and is set to

Cutting Emissions Of Certain Pollutants Could Slow Down Sea Level Rise

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New research has shown that rising sea levels could be greatly slowed if certain fast cycling pollutants are cut from the numerous emissions being pumped into the atmosphere. According to the research, published in the journal Nature Climate Change this week, cutting levels of methane, soot, refrigerants, and gases that lead to the formation of ground-level ozone,

Critically Endangered Leopard Numbers Increase

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Amur leopards in eastern Russia increased to about 48-50 individuals according to a new survey. In 2007, in the same area there were just 27-34. These very rare cats live in a region near the Chinese, North Korean and Russian borders. Nearly half dwell in the Land of Leopard national park which is almost 700,000

Robot Jellyfish Could Be Powered By Seawater

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Researchers at Virginia Tech, the University of Texas at Dallas and some other universities are working on the development of robotic jellyfish for a project funded by the US Navy. The propulsion mechanism for the artificial jellyfish employs hydrogen and oxygen mixed with seawater. A chemical reaction results, which causes material in the robotic jellyfish

Explaining The 2011 Arctic Ozone Hole

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The loss of ozone over Antarctica in the southern hemisphere is relatively well documented and popularly known, especially within Australia where for residents of southern states (like the island state of Tasmania) venturing out into the sun during summer is downright dangerous. Simply put, conditions in the Arctic — on the other side of the

Antarctica Moved From Flat To Fjord 34 Million Years Ago

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Often, understanding what the planet’s climate will do and why requires study into fields that we as laymen might consider irrelevant. Thankfully, there are those out there who have dedicated their lives to the sciences and are not so quick to discuss a particular field or aspect of science as irrelevant. So when geoscientists from the University

Penn State Scientists Utilise Innovative Approaches In Antarctic Research

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The National Science Foundation recently noted that the researchers working on the Pine Island Glacier project are one of three Antarctic science initiatives that have achieved technological milestones with innovative approaches to drilling. Specifically, in an attempt to map the cavity beneath the 37 mile long Pine Island Glacier ice shelf, Penn State graduate student

Samples Taken From Isolated Antarctic Lake Beneath The Ice

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An Antarctic research team has accomplished what no other team has ever accomplished previously by drilling through 800 metres (2,600 feet) of Antarctic ice to reach an isolated subglacial lake and taking water and sediment samples. Isolated from our atmosphere for thousands of years, the samples taken from the subglacial lake may have evolved in

2012 Continues Long-Term Warming Trend

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The long-term warming trend so many of us have been concerned about received further confirmation in the eyes of NASA scientists who noted that 2012 was the ninth warmest of any year since 1880 and another in the long-term warming trend. The nine warmest years in the 132-year record — with the exception of 1988

Climate Change At Fault For Massive Andes Glacier Melting

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New research into the continued decline of glaciers around the planet is not new, yet nevertheless these studies remain critically important to understanding our impact upon the environment and the sort of world we will be living in ten years from now. The most comprehensive review of Andean glacier observations to date was conducted by

Scientists Discover Third Type Of Volcanic Eruption

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There have been two types of volcanic eruptions for some time now – explosive or effusive. An explosive eruption is marked by a violent and explosive eruption, such as the Mount St. Helens eruption of 1980. An effusive eruption is marked by the outpouring of lava onto the ground.  However, new research has uncovered a previously undocumented type of eruption

Titan Is Perpetually Being Swept Clean By Dunes

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Using observations from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn, researchers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center have discovered that Titan — Saturn’s largest moon — has dunes of hydrocarbon sand which are slowly but steadily filling the impact craters left on the moon’s surface, giving it a deceptively younger appearance than its brothers and

New Antarctic Geological Timeline Sheds Light On Future Sea Level Rise

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Understanding the future of sea-level rise has been at the forefront of climate scientists’ minds for years now, and new research studying fossilised marine animals found in Antarctica’s seabed sediments are providing new clues as to what we might expect from a melting Antarctica. The immediate conclusion of the research is that the melting changes

Monthly Heat Records Have Increased By A Factor Of Five

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That temperature records are being broken at an all-time high is probably not ground breaking news to anyone who has been paying a modicum of attention to the news lately. However the rate at which we have been breaking records is frighteningly distressing. According to new research, monthly temperature extremes have become much more frequent,

Will Arctic And sub-Arctic Mammals Survive Climate Change?

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Climate changes poses a problem for many species of animal on our planet. As environments shift, animals will need to follow their preferred climate. New research points out that the current rate of climate change up until 2080 will actually benefit most mammals that currently live in northern Europe’s Arctic and sub-Arctic land areas, but

Magma Forms Deeper than Previously Thought

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New research results from a team led by geologist Rajdeep Dasgupta of Rice University have shown that magma forms much deeper than geologists had previously thought. The scientists put minute samples of peridotite – a rock derived from Earth’s mantle – under very high pressures in a laboratory and found that the rock can and does liquify

Scientists Drill Through Antarctica's Ice to Bedrock

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Science is awesome! A team of scientists made up from nine separate countries and led by Victoria University have successfully drilled through 760 metres of ice to reach bedrock on the Antarctic island of Roosevelt Island in the Ross Sea. The project was led by Dr. Nancy Bertler of Victoria University’s Antarctic Research Centre and

Links Between Climate Change and Drought Not as Cut and Dried

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The natural conclusion is that as global warming gets worse so too will the droughts. We’ve even had evidence of it, right? Droughts in Australia, the US, and horribly dry conditions throughout Europe. However, new research from Princeton University and the Australian National University in Canberra suggest things may not be as cut and dried

Researchers Team Up With Greenland Native Seals to Study Rising Seas

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  Here’s a scientific dilemma for you to put your mind to for a moment: what do you do when you need specific readings from locations all-but impossible to reach by any traditional human means? Turns out, if you are David Holland, a professor at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, you recruit

Rapid Environmental Changes May Have Driven Human Evolution

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  New research from Penn State and Rutgers University has reshaped the idea of what drove human evolution 2 million years ago, pointing the finger at a series of rapid environmental changes in East Africa rather than one single environmental change. “The landscape early humans were inhabiting transitioned rapidly back and forth between a closed

Greenland Winds Affect Ocean Circulation in North Atlantic

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  A new climate diagnostic tool has revealed gale-force winds whipping around the Greenland coast are driving ocean circulation by affecting ocean waters, deep sea currents and sea ice behaviour. “We now have a more complete understanding of the complexity of the climate system,” says Moore, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Physical

Piece of Great Barrier Reef Could Break Up and Create Tsunami

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Researchers from the James Cook University in Australia have come across a huge slab of sea floor near the Great Barrier Reef that is in the early stages of collapse. When the one cubic kilometre slab finally breaks away, it will fall one kilometre into the adjacent basin causing a localised tsunami along the Queensland

Stronger Snowfall Increases Ice Loss on Antarctica

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  Here’s one of those science stories that seem to make no sense on the surface: according to new research Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) increased snowfall over Antarctica as a result of climate change is actually countered by an increase in ice-flow to the ocean, up to three times. Thus, Antarctica’s contribution

Removing Sea Defences Could Reduce Impact of Flooding on Coastal Regions

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  It might sound counter-intuitive, but a new study has shown that removing sea defences and allowing natural erosion may in fact in times of rising sea level flooding. Robert Nicholls, Professor of Coastal Engineering at the University of Southampton and co-author of this study, says the research shows that protecting our coastline from erosion simply

Columbia Glacier Expected to Stop Retreating in 2020

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The spectacular Columbia Glacier in Alaska is expected to halt its retreat in 2020 when it reaches a new stable position approximately 15 miles upstream from the stable position it had held prior the 1980s. Currently 425 square miles, the multi-branched Columbia Glacier will halt at a new stable position in 2020, and measuring in

Predicting Environmental Collapse

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Predicting when an ecosystem is likely to collapse has benefits for foretelling crises in agriculture, fisheries and even social systems, and scientists from the University of Southampton in the UK are pioneering a new technique that may be able to do just that. The research applies a mathematical model to a real world situation, in

La Nina Only Temporarily Halted Sea Level Rise

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In late 2010 residents of Australia would be able to tell you very clearly the impact a strong La Nina can have on the coast: rain. Lots and lots of rain! However, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Colorado Boulder will be able to tell you that the same La Nina had

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