Gizmorama - January 19, 2015

Good Morning,

Here's a story that will be music to your ears! Scientists are working on incorporating a songbird's hearing abilities into creating a better hearing aid.

Learn about this and more interesting stories from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- 'Social cost' of carbon emissions significantly underestimated --*
STANFORD, Calif. (UPI) - Economists trained in a wide range of traditions, from both ends of the political spectrum, agree that markets have failed to properly price carbon emissions. To account for the damage each ton of carbon dioxide does to the environment and atmosphere, economists and public policy makers suggest a tax on carbon -- a federally-backed market correction.

The idea is gaining steam in Washington, D.C. The only problem is that new research suggests the price that the federal government currently puts on a ton of CO2 -- the so-called "social cost" or carbon -- may be way too low.

Using the three most prominent pricing models, the government calculates the cost of each emitted ton of CO2 at $37. But scientists at Stanford say the current pricing models fail to account for all the economic damage each ton of CO2 causes near and longterm.

"We estimate that the social cost of carbon is not $37 per ton, as previously estimated, but $220 per ton," explained study co-author Frances Moore, a postdoc researcher at the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources in Stanford's School of Earth Sciences.

"If the social cost of carbon is higher, many more mitigation measures will pass a cost-benefit analysis," said co-author Delavane Diaz. "Because carbon emissions are so harmful to society, even costly means of reducing emissions would be worthwhile."

The central flaw in current pricing models, researchers say, is that the prediction mechanisms account only for the effects of environmental damages of economic output -- not economic growth.

"For 20 years now, the models have assumed that climate change can't affect the basic growth rate of the economy," Moore said. "But a number of new studies suggest this may not be true. If climate change affects not only a country's economic output but also its growth, then that has a permanent effect that accumulates over time, leading to a much higher social cost of carbon."

The study's authors are quick to point out where their research is lacking. Their prediction models doesn't account for the economic impact that climate change mitigation efforts might, and it's not ideal for trying estimate when and how less developed countries -- that may be more vulnerable to climate change -- should employ mitigation strategies. Per usual, more research is needed to work out such details.

"But this does not change the overall result that if temperature affects economic growth rates, society could face much larger climate damages than previously thought, and this would justify more stringent mitigation policy," Diaz concluded.

The new research was published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change.


*-- Songbirds may help scientists build a better hearing aid --*
BERKELEY, Calif. (UPI) - Studies suggest just 10 percent of those who could benefit from a hearing aid actually wear one regularly. That number could be higher, researchers say, if scientists are able to incorporate newly understood components of a songbird's hearing abilities into a new and improved device.

Sometimes, a person's hearing has declined so gradually, they don't notice the loss -- or it's so slight they'd just rather go without help. For others, the devices are simply too expensive. Traditional hearing aids can cost upwards of $6,000.

But the most common complaint from those who stand to benefit from hearing aids, (yet forego their use), is they are just too painful and unhelpful in places like concert halls, noisy restaurants and the like.

"In a crowded place, it can be very difficult to follow a conversation even if you don't have hearing deficits," University of California, Berkeley neuroscientist Frederic Theunissen explained in a recent news release. "That situation can be terrible for a person wearing a hearing aid, which amplifies everything."

The brain is capable of concentrating on the correct sounds as they're filtered by the human ear -- naturally honing in on a friend's voice across the dinner table while tuning out the jazz band at the back of the restaurant. But hearing aids complicate this process.

Songbirds, however, may offer a solution, researchers say.

"We were inspired by the biology of hearing," Theunissen said. "How does the brain do it?"

To find out, researchers took an in-depth look -- not at the human brain but the action-packed noggin of a songbird. Picking out the call of a mate in a crowded forest, after all, is much more biologically vital than hearing one's friend drone on about reality TV.

Scientists were able to isolate the neurons that allow songbirds to signal in on the songs of their mates, picking them out among a dozen or so other calls, regardless of surrounding volume. Researchers have since translated that neural process into an algorithm -- one they say could be incorporated into the next generation of hearing aids.

While that application process will be the work of other scientists, Theunissen and his colleagues are nonetheless pleased with their contribution.

"We are a lab doing basic science," he says. "There is a purist pleasure in solving problems, but also an excitement that there are real problems to be solved."

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