Beware of Moisture, Dryness
Add another scary side effect to the list of global warming consequences: the bubonic plague. Rising temperatures could create an environment more favorable for Yersina pestis, the bacteria that cause plague, as well their gerbil hosts. Warmer and moister weather in Central Asia could increase cases of the now-marginalized illness, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences. A temperature increase of as little as 1° C would be enough to cause a 50 percent increase in the bacteria's prevalence, the University of Oslo team says.
China, Mongolia, and other Asian countries must act fast to avoid losing land because of spreading deserts, say experts from the United Nations. The U.N. Environmental Program estimates that desertification—which is caused by over-harvesting, overgrazing, deforestation, and climate change—costs about $42 billion dollars per year in crops. The U.N. urges countries to integrate desertification prevention measures into their economic policies to avoid suffering its effects on agriculture, the economy, health, and society.
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A future in which nations wage war over the world's dwindling water supplies is largely a myth, experts at last week's conference on water management said. Although the media has given much coverage to such water wars, in reality, a number of bi- and multi-lateral agreements already exist for water sharing, said the academics gathered in Stockholm, Sweden. In total, one-third of the world's river basins are shared—145 countries share at least one river basin. According to the United Nations, between 1948 and 1999, there have been 507 recorded international conflicts over water and 1,228 examples of cooperation.
Storm Watch for NASA
A study backed by NASA has placed radar devices at locations in Senegal, Niger, and the Cape Verde Islands to investigate the West African origins of hurricanes that end up striking the U.S. shoreline. More than 80 percent of storm systems that hit the U.S. originate as tropical disturbances near Africa. The scientists want to look into the possibility that Saharan dust might inhibit some disturbances from developing into major storms.
After a string of delays caused by tropical depression Ernesto, NASA announced that the shuttle Atlantis will launch Wednesday. Fearing damage to the orbiter, last week NASA had sent the shuttle crawling back toward its hangar, only to reverse its decision when the shuttle was halfway there. Atlantis will be carrying the largest piece of the International Space Station ever to go into orbit. The piece will be installed in an 11-day mission made possible by a last-minute deal in which Russia agreed to delay its own trip to the ISS.
Vitaly Davydov, deputy head of the Russian Space Agency announced Tuesday that the International Space Station will be replaced in 2015. A new, improved orbiting station would allow 10 times more Russian land to be monitored from space, he said. (Currently, only 10 percent of Russia is visible from the station.) Additionally, the new space station could be used to produce materials that cannot be manufactured on Earth.
Fuel For All
Thursday's deadline for Iran to halt its program of uranium enrichment came and went, with Iran giving no indication that it was prepared to give in to the United Nations Security Council's demands. Instead, Iran took the opportunity to begin a new round of uranium enrichment, announce plans to build a new light water reactor and open a plant to produce heavy water. (One of the byproducts of a heavy water reactor is bomb-grade plutonium.) Meanwhile, inspectors uncovered evidence that Iran has already produced highly-enriched uranium.