Gizmorama
April 25, 2011
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Good Morning,
A new, fossilized find reveals the largest prehistoric
spider to be discovered. The specimen was well preserved
and gave paleontologists plenty to work with. Check out
the fourth article for all the details on this exciting
find.
Until Next Time,
Erin
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Sugarcane seen as global warming weapon
PALO ALTO, Calif. - Sugarcane, a source of biofuel in Brazil
yielding a quarter of the country's automobile fuel, may also
be a weapon against global warming, scientists say. In addi-
tion to significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions that
otherwise would be emitted from using gasoline, scientists
from the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology
have found that expansion of the sugarcane crop in areas
previously occupied by other Brazilian crops cools the local
climate. It accomplishes this by reflecting sunlight back
into space and by lowering the temperature of the surrounding
air as the plants "exhale" cooler water, a Carnegie release
reported Monday. The researchers used data from hundreds of
satellite images over 733,000 square miles to measure temp-
erature, reflectivity and evapotranspiration -- the water
loss from the soil and from plants as they exhale water vapor.
"We found that shifting from natural vegetation to crops or
pasture results in local warming because the plants give off
less beneficial water," Carnegie's Scott Loarie said. "But
the bamboo-like sugarcane is more reflective and gives off
more water -- much like the natural vegetation. It's a po-
tential win-win for the climate -- using sugarcane to power
vehicles reduces carbon emissions, while growing it lowers
the local air temperature." Conversion from other crops or
pasture to sugarcane, on average, cooled the surrounding air
by 1.67 degrees Fahrenheit, the researchers said.
Lasers could replace spark plugs in cars
BALTIMORE - After 150 years of sparking ignition in internal
combustion engines, spark plugs may someday be replaced by
laser igniters, Japanese researchers say. A switch to laser
igniters would yield cleaner, more efficient and more econ-
omical vehicles, they say. Previously, lasers strong enough
to spark the ignition of air-fuel mixtures in an engine were
much too bulky to fit under a car's hood, but Japanese re-
searchers say they've developed the first laser system small
enough to screw into an engine's cylinder head. Their finding
will be presented at the Conference on Laser and Electro
Optics to be held in Baltimore in May, a release from the
Optical Society of America said Wednesday. Takunori Taira of
Japan's National Institutes of Natural Sciences, one of the
presentation's authors, says the new laser system is made
from ceramics and could be produced inexpensively in large
volumes. The lasers promise less pollution and greater fuel
efficiency because they will allow engines to run cleaner,
burning more air and less fuel, the researchers say. This
would create less nitrogen oxide emissions, a component of
smog, they say.
New technology improves fuel cells
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - U.S. researchers say they've developed an
inexpensive substitute for expensive platinum that's been a
stumbling block to widespread use of hydrogen fuel cells.
Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists say eliminating the
need for platinum -- currently costing almost $1,800 an ounce
-- in fuel cells that convert hydrogen and oxygen into elec-
tricity could bring the price down for the environmentally
friendly devices that might replace current power sources
in everything from personal data devices to automobiles, a
Department of Energy release said Thursday. The Los Alamos
researchers have developed non-precious-metal catalysts
using carbon and inexpensive iron and cobalt instead of
platinum that have yielded high power output, good effic-
iency and longevity, the release said. "The encouraging point
is that we have found a catalyst with a good durability and
life cycle relative to platinum-based catalysts," Los Alamos
researcher Piotr Zelenay said. "For all intents and purposes,
this is a zero-cost catalyst in comparison to platinum, so it
directly addresses one of the main barriers to hydrogen fuel
cells."
Fossilized spider was biggest ever
LAWRENCE, Kan. - A 165-million-year-old fossilized spider
with a 6-inch leg span, found in China, is the largest pre-
historic spider ever found, a U.S. paleontologist says. Paul
Selden, a paleontologist from University of Kansas, said the
fossil he discovered in Inner Mongolia is of a Golden Orb
Weaver, giant spiders that can grow bigger than a human hand
and that are still extant, The Daily Telegraph reported
Thursday. The fossil is so perfectly preserved experts were
able not only to identify its species but confirm it was an
adult female. Golden Orb Weavers are "common and spectacular"
inhabitants of tropical and subtropical regions, with females
weaving webs of yellow silk 5 feet wide that shine like gold
in sunlight, Selden said. The fossil find, dubbed Nephila
jurassica, suggests the climate in northern China was warm
and humid millions of years ago, he said. The discovery means
"nephilids" are the longest-running genus known to man in
terms of age, scientists said.
Satellites can give advance hurricane info
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Satellites can monitor tropical storms and
predict surges in strength to warn when one is about to be-
come a hurricane, U.S. researchers say. Scientists at the
University of Illinois say one of the biggest problems facing
hurricane forecasters is identifying rapid intensification,
when storms suddenly transform into much stronger cyclones or
hurricanes. While there have been recent advances in fore-
casting technology to track the potential path of tropical
storms and hurricanes, meteorologists have had little success
in predicting rapid intensification, a university release
said Wednesday. UI researchers scoured data from microwave
satellites from 1987 to 2008 to see how hurricanes behaved
in the 24 hours before they underwent rapid intensification
and found that storm systems consistently formed a symmet-
rical ring of thunderstorms around the center of the system
about 6 hours before intensification began. As the system
strengthened into a hurricane, the thunderstorms deepened
and the ring became even more well-defined, they said. "Now
we have an observational tool that uses existing data that
can set off a red flag for forecasters, so that when they
see this convective ring feature, there's a high probability
that a storm may undergo rapid intensification," atmospheric
sciences Professor Stephen Nesbitt said. "This is really the
first way that we can do this in real time rather than
guessing with models or statistical predictions." Since mic-
rowave satellites orbit every 3 to 6 hours, meteorologists
can use them to track tropical storms and watch for the tell-
tale rings to give forecasters about a 30-hour warning before
a storm hits its maximum strength, the researchers said.
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