Group items tagged

Localized high concentrations of methane have been discovered by the Curiosity rover. This points to localized sources of methane of yet unknown nature. Maybe the ACT's odor source localization should be resurrected!

Here's the an English article on the topic: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/dec/16/methane-spikes-mars-fuel-speculation-life-nasa-curiosity

"climate policy-makers need to pay much more attention to restricting short-lived pollutants, such as methane, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and aerosols. This could create significant changes in the local and global climate quite quickly, whereas the effects of efforts to reduce emissions of long-lived carbon dioxide will not be seen for many years."

interesting indeed ... but coming at the right time before copenhagn?

These conclusions come too late to have a real impact on decisions that will be taken in Copenhagen, I assume. But I think it is a hot topic as climate change 'solutions' that work QUICKLY are more and more needed!!

New method for geoengineering? New insight into methanotrophs, bacteria that can oxidise methane, may help us develop an array of biotechnological applications that exploit methane and protect our environment from this potent greenhouse gas. Publishing in Nature, scientists led by Newcastle University have provided new understanding of how methanotrophs are able to use large quantities of copper for methane oxidation.

once more ... the Romans did it already 2000 years ago! this time: burning so much wood that they increased the methane level in a way we can still measure it in ice cores ...

Let's go to Titan !!!

I bet we'll find there a black monolith which will take us to the stars... No, wait, was it that moon?

Spectra of the atmosphere of the planet GJ436b in the constellation Loe show evidence for carbon monoxide. Theoretical studies using numerical models however predicted that this planet's carbon inventory should be stored in the form of methane rather than CO as its temperature is estimated to be 800K. Where this inaccuracy of atmospheric models comes from is not known and has to be investigated further.

The size of this river system might give a hint at the flow rate and in turn on the "methane/ethan"-cycle's strength...

of relevance to this discussion: Koomey's Law, a Moore's Law equivalent for computing's energetic efficiency http://www.economist.com/node/21531350 http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/09/13/2148202/whither-moores-law-introducing-koomeys-law

A possible way of teraforming some planets or moons?

doesn't look very ambitious with such choices!

title speaks for itself - so if it's not meteorites to blame, what is it?

link doesn't work for me

Let's keep a eye on this... Animals use odor cues to navigate through their environments, helping them locate targets and assess danger. Much of how animal brains organize, read out, and respond to odor stimuli across spatial and temporal scales is not well understood. To tackle these questions, Odor2Action uses a highly interdisciplinary team science approach. Our work uses fruit fly, honeybee, and mouse models to determine how neural representations of odor are generated, reformatted, and translated to generate useful behaviors that guide how animals interact with their environment.

reminds me of the methan smelling source finding study we did ...