June 18, 2011

Good Morning,

There is a very exciting story in this issue that covers
the unveiling of the worldâ??s most powerful, revolutionary
magnet ever constructed. Check out the third article for
all the details on this project and what it means for the
future of scientific research.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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Glaciers very sensitive to climate change

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Glaciers that calve, or break off, into the sea are particularly sensitive to climate change, U.S. researchers say. Geologists from the University at Buffalo in New York working in Greenland say such large, marine-calving glaciers have the ability not only to shrink rapidly in response to global warming, but to grow at a remarkable pace during periods of global cooling, a university release reported Thursday. A study of the Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier, extending from Greenland's west coast, showed the glacier -- which retreated about 25 miles inland between 1850 and 2010 -- expanded outward at a similar pace about 200 years ago during a time of cooler temperatures known as the Little Ice Age. As one of the world's fastest-moving glaciers releasing huge amounts of Greenland's ice into the ocean, Jakobshavn Isbrae has been the focus of intense scientific interest. Researchers say changes in the rate at which the glacier calves off icebergs could influence global sea level rise.


Frequent harvesting of forests urged

SEATTLE - U.S. researchers say harvesting forests for wood products could quadruple the amount of carbon dioxide taken out of the atmosphere in 100 years. Trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow, but rather than just letting the forest sit there for 100 or more years, harvesting regularly and using the wood in place of steel and concrete that devour fossil fuels during manufacturing could significantly lessen atmospheric CO2, University of Washington researchers said. "Every time you see a wood building, it's a storehouse of carbon from the forest. When you see steel or concrete, you're seeing the emissions of carbon dioxide that had to go into the atmosphere for those structures to go up," Bruce Lippke, a professor of forests resources, said. Sustainably managed forests are essentially carbon neutral, researchers say. The gas trees absorb while growing eventually goes back to the atmosphere when, for example, a tree falls in the forest and decays, trees burn in a wildfire or a wood product goes to a landfill and rots. The best approach for reducing carbon emissions, they said, involves growing wood as fast as possible, harvesting before tree growth begins to taper off and using the wood in place of products that are most fossil-fuel intensive. "While the carbon in the wood stored in forests is substantial, like any garden, forests have limited capacity to absorb carbon from the atmosphere as they age," Lippke said. "And there's always a chance a fire will sweep through a mature forest, immediately releasing the carbon dioxide in the trees back to the atmosphere. "However, like harvesting a garden sustainably, we can use the wood grown in our forests for products and biofuels to displace the use of fossil-intensive products and fuels like steel, concrete, coal and oil."


World's strongest magnet unveiled

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The world's most powerful magnet with the potential to revolutionize scientific research in a variety of fields has made its debut in Florida, researchers say. The custom-built, $2.5 million "split magnet" system at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University is operating at a world-record 25 tesla, an FSU release said Wednesday. "Tesla," named for early 20th-century inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla, is a measurement of the strength of a magnetic field. The previous record for this type of magnet was 17.5 tesla set in France in 1991. In addition to being 43 percent more powerful, the new magnet has 1,500 times as much space at its center, allowing room for more flexible, varied experiments, FSU researchers said. Scientists use high magnetic fields to probe the unusual properties of materials under extreme conditions of heat and pressure. Unique phenomena arise at especially high magnetic fields, when certain atoms or molecules become more easily observable, for example, or exhibit properties that are difficult to observe under less extreme conditions, the researchers said. "The Mag Lab has developed numerous world record magnets; however, the split magnet makes the largest single step forward in technology over the past 20 years," said Mark Bird, director of the laboratory's Magnet Science and Technology division.


U.N.: Renewable energy growing

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. - The renewable energy sector is performing well despite a sluggish global economy, cuts in incentives and low natural-gas prices, a U.N. report says. The report by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, backed by the United Nations' environment program, shows the renewable sector supplied an estimated 16 percent of global energy in 2010, a U.N. release said Wednesday. The sector also delivered close to 20 percent of the world's electricity production, the REN21 report said. Global solar power generation doubled in 2010 compared with 2009 thanks to government incentive programs and the continued fall in the price of photovoltaic solar panels, the report said. "The global performance of renewable energy despite headwinds has been a positive constant in turbulent times," said Mohamed el-Ashry, chairman of REN21's Steering Committee. "Today, more people than ever before derive energy from renewables as capacity continues to grow, prices continue to fall, and shares of global energy from renewable energy continue to increase." Globally, the report said, wind power added the most new capacity, followed by hydropower and solar, but for the first time ever Europe added more solar than wind capacity. Renewable energy policies continue to be the main driver of the renewable energy growth, the report said, with at least 119 countries instituting some type of policy target or renewable support policy at the national level.

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