State of Science in the Union
In Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Bush focused on advancing US science and technology as a means to keeping the country competitive and independent. He announced the Advanced Energy Initiative, a 22% increase in federal alternative energy research to go toward powering homes and offices through coal, solar, wind and nuclear energy. The initiative also calls for powering cars by producing ethanol with alternative methods. Bush also announced the American Competitiveness Initiative, which he said will stimulate production in science and technology by providing grants and tax credits to researchers. He pledged to train more high school math and science teachers to improve education in those subjects. The president also called for a prohibition of what he called "the most egregious abuses of medical research," including human cloning and the buying and selling of human embryos. (See related article)
President Bush announced that alternative energy is close at hand, stating that competitive new fuels could be available within the next six years. Speaking in Nashville the day after his State of the Union address, Bush said he hopes the advances in technology will eliminate US dependence on Middle Eastern oil within his lifetime.
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James Hansen, the lead climate scientist at NASA, accused the White House of trying to silence him after he gave a lecture calling for the immediate curbing of greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. He says that the public relations staff at the space agency has been asked to review all his speaking engagements and publishable materials by the Bush administration. NASA public affairs representatives deny Hansen's claims.
Why Are We Silencing Hansen?
Greenhouse gases may have more severe consequences than previously thought, and there is only a small chance that they can be maintained below dangerous levels, says a new report issued by the UK government. The European Union has already set a goal of allowing global temperatures to rise no more than 2° C, but UK officials believe a warming of even that magnitude could cause the Greenland ice sheet to melt. That melting would cause a seven meter rise in sea levels over the next 1,000 years.
Global sea levels could rise by 30 cm this century, say Australian researchers, and the rate of rise has been accelerating. In the first study to confirm acceleration using historical data, researchers showed that the average sea level rise per year is 1.44 mm since 1870, 1.7 mm over the entire span of the 20th century and 1.75 mm just since 1950. This rate of acceleration suggests a 28 to 34 cm rise over the 21st century, which will result in the flooding of many low-lying areas.
Australia's coral reefs are undergoing another round of damaging coral bleaching. The process involves the expulsion of the symbiotic microscopic plants that color and feed the reefs by the stressed host. Scientists fear that unusually warm water temperatures may lead to damage comparable to that of the worst-ever recorded season in 2001—2002. The reefs are not only a huge tourist draw in the area, but are also essential to marine life.
Ornithologists discovered 11 spoon-billed sandpipers in Bangladesh. The endangered bird, whose population is estimated at between 300 and 350 pairs worldwide, is named for its bill, which resembles a wooden spoon. The scientists’ discovery of the birds, which are typically found in coastal mudflats, elevated hopes for the species’ survival.
Representatives from every country in which an Asian elephant population dwells gathered in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lampur to discuss how to protect the endangered species. Only 30,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild, and their habitats are continually being destroyed, forcing them to move to more human-populated areas. The number one cause of Asian elephant death is being poisoned or shot by farmers.
When Ice Attacks