Global Warming

At the end of September the United Nations released their six-year update on the state of the climate. They stated in this update the they are 95% sure that global warming is due to human factors. They state many of the problems in their findings. Claiming that the carbon dioxide levels are at the highest they've been in the past 800,000 years. This is a very startling fact, but it makes sense. With the increased use of fossil fuels and many of the other things that put carbon dioxide into the air, it is no wonder the levels are so high. The United Nations also said that see levels are predicted to rise at a faster rate than over the past 40 years. It could rise anywhere from ten to thirty inches. This rising of the sea level could affect many coastal cities. The rising of sea level is no doubt because of the melting of the greenland and arctic ice shelfs and glaciers. All signs point to humans being the ones who have caused these problems. The only solutions would be to stop putting so many greenhouse gases into the air and let the earth fix itself. Unless there was a way to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere at a large scale. That could be a great area of research.

Energy in the News

             Korean researchers have started to modify microorganisms to produce gasoline. The research team modified E. Coli to convert the glucose that they are fed into gasoline. So far 1 liter of the modifed E. Coli can produce 580 milligrams of gasoline per hour. The major component in gasoline are hydrocarbons called alkanes. These are chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms, and gasoline has a short alkane chain while diesel has a longer chain. There has been earlier success in creating diesel fuel from E. Coli, but never gasoline. One of the big things with this development is that the product is gasoline and requires no extra steps to convert it into gasoline. Its amazing how they are able to just put in glucose and have gasoline come out. The E. Colie have enzymes that convert the glucose sugars into fatty acids which are then converted into alkane hydro carbons. So far the small amount of gasoline produced is not very practical. The korean research team’s next goal is to produce three grams of gasoline per liter per hour. This breakthrough in the study of modifying microorganism to produce gasoline will serve as a basis for more research regarding microorganisms producing fuel. In the near future the E. Coli will be able to produce more gasoline per liter. This advancement will make gasoline an easily renewed resource. If we are still using gasoline in the future  this will make the price of it very cheap because the gasoline will basically be the price of sugar. http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/4237/20130930/e-coli-bacteria-used-create-gasoline.htm

Science in the News

             Scientist have discovered how to read peoples minds. They are able to have a person look at an image and by reading their brain activity they can have the image they see appear on a screen. At the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour at Radboud University in The Netherlands, scientist have been able to use a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine (fmri) to see what people are seeing. The scientist put people in the scanner and monitored their brain activity in the occipital lobe as they looked at the letters B, R, A, I, and N on a screen. The machine would then translate the brain activity into an image. This could have many applications in the future. Since this is just a developing research area the technology does not currently produce a clear detailed picture. In the future when technology advances we will be able to see images more clearly. One of the things that i think this science would be interesting for would be in the area of dreams. The occipital lobe is very active even more so when you are dreaming, so this could be used to make videos of your dreams. That to me is very interesting.

Scientific Method

     The Scientific Method is a method that uses observation and experimentation to answer scientific questions. Many scientists use the scientific method. The steps of the scientific method are ask a question, research the topic, form a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, and analyze the data. One scientist that I talked to said that she used the scientific method in all of her experiments. Mrs Mcguffin, a science teacher at my old school, said that she would follow it step by step because that is how she was taught. She believes it to be the best way to answer a scientific question. Another scientist Mr. Striegel, who was a chemist for a tobacco company, said that he didn't follow the scientific method too strictly. He would conduct experiments but would not think about doing the scientific method. He roughly followed it, but he didn't go down the list and check off each step. My personal view of the scientific method is that it is a useful tool in answering questions, but I don't believe that it is the only way to go about things.

The Age of Denial Review

         The statistics that Adam Frank presents do not surprise me at all. He states that in 1989 63 percent of Americans thought that “climate change” was a problem. Almost twenty five years later the percentage dropped about 5 percentage points. I think this is just Americans questioning the things they are told. Frank wants people to believe whatever the scientists say and to not question it. He acts like doubting is a bad thing. I think doubting is one of the most important things that people could do when talking about people in a position of power. Mindless following is a bad thing. Learning about science is a good thing. Learning comes with doubting. When you doubt a assertion made by a scientist you can research the topic yourself, conducting your own scientific research. If a person likes science they will learn about science. Forcing science upon people will only turn them away from it. Frank says science is a tradition, and I agree with that. You shouldn’t mess with tradition. If people want science they will get science.