Scientific Minds Want To Know
From Treehugger:
Photo via Flickr
As anyone who has ever left an open can of soda out too long knows, some things are just better with a little fizz, and the world's oceans may be no exception. One physicist from Harvard University thinks that he's found a solution that may help curb the rate of global warming--and it comes in the form of tiny bubbles pumped into our planets water sources. Such microscopic bubbles, says the scientist, act as "mirrors made of air," reflecting sunlight from the water, generating a cooling effect that could be quite dramatic. Although computer models show the method would be effective, implementing it may be another story, so don't crack the champagne just yet--it may go flat before you see it happen.
Amphibious Hyposmocoma larvae on silk line underwater by Patrick Schmitz, Rubinoff Lab
Scientists at the University of Hawaii have discovered the first truly amphibious insect. Daniel Rubinoff and Patrick Schmitz observed larvae from the endemic moth genus Hyposmocoma surviving for weeks in fast moving streams across the Hawaiian archipelago - without coming up for air. Rubinoff and Schmitz say that at least 12 out of 400 species in the genus have the ability to live underwater or on dry land during the insect's larval stage.
We think that's pretty cool, but their research uncovered something else.
photo: Karunakar Rayker via flickr.
In the wake of this year's reassessment of the speed with which Himalayan glaciers are melting, and what year most of them might be gone, the Indian Space Research Organisation has released some new data showing that the region's glaciers have retreated 16% in the past 50 years.
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