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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 23, 2021 at 5:57am

A statement of the Nobel Laureates on the occasion of World Leaders meet on climate. 27 Nobel Chemists and 22 Nobel Physicists are signatories of this letter demanding "Keep the Fossil Fuels in the Ground" .

Part 1

Nobel Laureates’ Statement to Climate Summit World Leaders: Keep  Fossil Fuels in the Ground 

As Nobel Laureates from peace, literature, medicine, physics, chemistry  and economic sciences, and like so many people around the globe, we are  seized by the great moral issue of our time: the climate crisis and  commensurate destruction of nature. 

Climate change is threatening hundreds of millions of lives, livelihoods across every  continent and is putting thousands of species at risk. The burning of fossil fuels – coal, oil, and gas – is by far the major contributor to climate change. 

We write today, on the eve of Earth Day 2021 and the Leaders’ Climate  Summit, hosted by President Biden, to urge you to act now to avoid a  climate catastrophe by stopping the expansion of oil, gas and coal. 

We welcome President Biden and the US government’s acknowledgement in the  Executive Order that “Together, we must listen to science and meet the moment.”  Indeed, meeting the moment requires responses to the climate crisis that will  define legacies. Qualifications for being on the right side of history are clear. 

For far too long, governments have lagged, shockingly, behind what  science demands and what a growing and powerful people-powered  movement knows: urgent action is needed to end the expansions of fossil  fuel production; phase out current production; and invest in renewable  energy.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 23, 2021 at 5:56am

Part 2

The burning of fossil fuels is responsible for almost 80% of carbon dioxide  emissions since the industrial revolution. In addition to being the leading source of  emissions, there are local pollution, environmental and health costs associated with  extracting, refining, transporting and burning fossil fuels. These costs are often paid  by Indigenous peoples and marginalized communities. Egregious industry practices  have led to human rights violations and a fossil fuel system that has left billions of  people across the globe without sufficient energy to lead lives of dignity. 

For both people and the planet, continued support must be given to tackling climate  change through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and  its Paris Agreement. Failure to meet the Paris Agreement’s temperature limit of  1.5°C risks pushing the world towards catastrophic global warming. 

Yet, the Paris Agreement has no mention of oil, gas or coal. Meanwhile, the  fossil fuel industry continues to plan new projects. Banks continue to fund new  projects. According to the most recent United Nations Environment Programme  report, 120% more coal, oil, and gas will be produced by 2030 than is consistent  with limiting warming to 1.5°C. Efforts to meet the Paris Agreement and to reduce  demand for fossil fuels will be undermined if supply continues to grow.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 23, 2021 at 5:55am

Part 3

The solution is clear: fossil fuels must be kept in the ground. 

Leaders, not industry, hold the power and have the moral responsibility to take bold  actions to address this crisis. We call on world leaders to work together in a spirit of  international cooperation to: 

• End new expansion of oil, gas and coal production in line with the best available science as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and United Nations Environment Program; 
• Phase out existing production of oil, gas and coal in a manner that is fair and equitable, taking into account the responsibilities of countries for climate change and their respective dependency on fossil fuels, and capacity to  transition; 
• Invest in a transformational plan to ensure 100% access to renewable energy globally, support dependent economies to diversify away from fossil fuels, and enable people and communities across the globe to flourish  through a global just transition. 

Fossil fuels are the greatest contributor to climate change. Allowing the  continued expansion of this industry is unconscionable. The fossil fuel system  is global and requires a global solution – a solution the Leaders’ Climate Summit  must work towards. And the first step is to keep fossil fuels in the ground. 

https://fossilfueltreaty.org/nobel-letter

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 22, 2021 at 11:27am

NASA Extracts Breathable Oxygen From Thin Martian Air

: NASA has logged another extraterrestrial first on its latest mission to Mars: converting carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen, the U.S. space agency said on Wednesday.

The unprecedented extraction of oxygen, literally out of thin air on Mars, was achieved Tuesday by an experimental device aboard Perseverance, a six-wheeled science rover that landed on the Red Planet February 18 after a seven-month journey from Earth.

In its first activation, the toaster-sized instrument dubbed MOXIE, short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilisation Experiment, produced about 5 grams of oxygen, equivalent to roughly 10 minutes’ worth of breathing for an astronaut, NASA said.

The instrument works through electrolysis, which uses extreme heat to separate oxygen atoms from molecules of carbon dioxide, which accounts for about 95% of the atmosphere on Mars.

The remaining 5% of Mars’ atmosphere, which is only about 1% as dense Earth’s, consists primarily of molecular nitrogen and argon. Oxygen exists on Mars in negligible trace amounts.

Although the initial output was modest, the feat marked the first experimental extraction of a natural resources from the environment of another planet for direct use by humans.

https://www.reuters.com/article/space-exploration-mars-oxygen/nasa-...

https://science.thewire.in/spaceflight/nasa-extracts-breathable-oxy...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 22, 2021 at 10:27am

Flying a helicopter on Mars

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 22, 2021 at 10:15am

Microplastics affect global nutrient cycle and oxygen levels in the...

The effects of the steadily increasing amount of plastic in the ocean are complex and not yet fully understood. Scientists at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have now shown for the first time that the uptake of microplastics by zooplankton can have significant effects on the marine ecosystem even at low concentrations. The study, published in the international journal Nature Communications, further indicates that the resulting changes may be responsible for a loss of oxygen in the ocean beyond that caused by global warming.

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Climate 'tipping points' need not be the end of the world

The disastrous consequences of climate "tipping points" could be averted if global warming was reversed quickly enough, new research suggests.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 22, 2021 at 10:10am

Lifelong burden of high stress hormones in female baboons shortens life expectancy

Female baboons may not have bills to pay or deadlines to meet, but their lives are extremely challenging. They face food and water scarcity and must be constantly attuned to predators, illnesses and parasites, all while raising infants and maintaining their social status.

A new study appearing April 21 in Science Advances shows that female baboons with high life-long levels of glucocorticoids, the hormones involved in the 'fight or flight' response, have a greater risk of dying than those with lower levels.

Glucocorticoids are a group of hormones that help prepare the body for a challenge. While these hormones have many functions in the body, persistently high levels of glucocorticoids in the bloodstream can be a marker of stress.

Females with higher levels of glucocorticoids in their feces, either due to more frequent exposure to different types of challenges, or more intense stress responses, tended to die younger.

 F.A. Campos at University of Texas at San Antonio in San Antonio, TX el al., "Glucocorticoid exposure predicts survival in female baboons," Science Advances (2021). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.abf6759

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-lifelong-burden-higher-stress-hormone...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 22, 2021 at 10:02am

New process makes 'biodegradable' plastics truly compostable

Biodegradable plastics have been advertised as one solution to the plastic pollution problem bedeviling the world, but today's "compostable" plastic bags, utensils and cup lids don't break down during typical composting and contaminate other recyclable plastics, creating headaches for recyclers. Most compostable plastics, made primarily of the polyester known as polylactic acid, or PLA, end up in landfills and last as long as forever plastics.

Scientists have now invented a way to make these compostable plastics break down more easily, with just heat and water, within a few weeks, solving a problem that has flummoxed the plastics industry and environmentalists.

The new process involves embedding polyester-eating enzymes in the plastic as it's made. These enzymes are protected by a simple polymer wrapping that prevents the enzyme from untangling and becoming useless. When exposed to heat and water, the enzyme shrugs off its polymer shroud and starts chomping the plastic polymer into its building blocks—in the case of PLA, reducing it to lactic acid, which can feed the soil microbes in compost. The polymer wrapping also degrades.

The process eliminates microplastics, a byproduct of many chemical degradation processes and a pollutant in its own right.

Near-complete depolymerization of polyesters with nano-dispersed enzymes, Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03408-3

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-biodegradable-plastics-compostable.ht...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 21, 2021 at 10:41am

Should Facebook and Twitter review your posts before they're published?

The day is coming when your posts to social media may travel through checkpoints before the messages go public.

All of your posts to Facebook, Twitter, and other social platforms may be instantly examined by an artificial intelligence filter that roots out hate speech and misinformation. Some posts that have been flagged by artificial intelligence may then be reviewed by a human supervisor.

social media filters are needed because the platforms have grown and scaled faster than they can be regulated—with the result that social channels are now being accused of enabling hate speech and misinformation that contributes to violence.

comprehensive regulations will include heavy government fines for platforms that enable hate speech and misinformation. Such penalties will create additional incentives to invest in the necessary content moderation and technology.

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-facebook-twitter-theyre-publish...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 21, 2021 at 10:31am

Orbital debris threatens satellites: Time to act

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