Environment

Development of new technologies for good quality sustainable agroenergy farming and ecodevelopment are interrelated with agroclimatic conditions and primary land productivity. Primary land productivity will denend not only on its soil nutrient status but also nutrient availability which will be regulated by several factors including soil microflora, e.g. phosphate solubilizing orgamism making phosphate available. Any planting activity will alter the soil pH and thereby alter nutrient cycle. The depleted soils will require not only replenishment of nutrients but also organic matter. Tropical…

P   lants accumulate extractable organic substances, in quantities sufficient to be economically useful as active medicinal constituent for the ailment of various diseases. In addition to primary metabolites which occur generally in bulk volume concentrated in seeds and other vegetational storage organs, fulfill the needs for physiological development of plant itself due to their role in basic metabolism. Secondary metabolites are those compound which are not directly involved in the normal growth, development or reproduction of plant cell but are of greater importance because…

Himalayan Hype : Reading Between The Lines A recent IPCC news release admitting a small instance of bad science has triggered a flurry of news stories and blog articles based on worse science.  The IPCC error in question took figures, not from the scientist concerned, Professor Syed Iqbal Hasnain, but from media reports of what he is claimed to have claimed.  Those media reports appear to have a common source: a 1999 New Scientist article by Fred Pearce. An averagely educated reader of newspapers may well have come to believe that the Himalayan glaciers are not melting, that Prof.…

Young people are all for saving the environment--as long as doing so makes economic sense, according to new research conducted at Michigan State University. Based on a survey of 18- to 30-year-olds, researchers from MSU's Eli Broad Graduate School of Management found that young consumers will not pay a premium price for an automobile simply because it is environmentally friendly. Instead, the determining factor – by far – is fuel efficiency. The findings reveal an eco-savvy generation that has grown up and is coming to grips with the economic reality of paying bills. "Generation Y is aging,…

Can The UK Met Office Weather The BBC Contract Storm? The UK's Met Office could lose its contract with the BBC, according to recent media reports. To the general public there is no difference between a weather forecaster, a media weather forecast  presenter, a meteorologist and a climatologist.  That is most unfortunate, since errors in forcasting tend accordingly to be taken as evidence against a person's personal choice of climate prediction. In this day and age,when climate is a major topic, meteorologists need to be on their toes, with their shoulders to the wheel and their…

 According to a new study in Nature that analyzed large sets of ozone data captured since 1984, springtime ozone levels above western North America are rising primarily due to air flowing eastward from the Pacific Ocean, a trend that is largest when the air originates in Asia. These increases in ozone could make it more difficult for the United States to meet Clean Air Act standards for ozone pollution at ground level. The study focused on springtime ozone in a slice of the atmosphere from two to five miles above the surface of western North America, far below the protective ozone layer…

It is hard to predict, especially the future. There is a saying going something like: Be careful what you wish for. You might get it. I have counted on this saying all my life. And that is the back ground for my predictions for Earth science the next decade. It is more of a wish list than anything else. Well, maybe not entirely. Based on my work within the Earth sciences, particularly in international organizations such as the Global Geodetic Observing System and GEO, I like to think I can offer you a mix of educated guesses  – and wishes.  Unfortunately, I do not see a big…

It is hard to predict, especiallythe future. There is a saying going something like:Be careful what you wish for. You might get it. I have countedon this saying all my life. And that is the back ground for mypredictions for Earth science the next decade. It is more of a wishlist than anything else. Well, maybe not entirely. Based on my work within the Earthsciences, particularly in international organizations such as theGlobal Geodetic Observing System and GEO, I like to think I can offeryou a mix of educated guesses – and wishes. Unfortunately, I do not see a bigrevolutionary…

Join The Navy : See A Nuke There was a time when a navy, merchant or military,  consisted of hundreds of ships, each manned by hundreds of crew.  When I was a child in the 1950s, Sheerness was a thriving dockyard town.  Everyone in town knew at least one soldier or sailor, either as a relative or as a friend. There was a saying: "Join the navy and see the world."  Todays sailors tend to see more of graphics displays.  Much of my childhood knowledge of other lands, peoples and languages was gleaned from conversations with people who had either travelled themselves or…

Low concentrations of oxygen and nutrients in the lower layers of the beaches of Alaska's Prince William Sound are slowing the aerobic biodegradation of oil remaining from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, according to a new study appearing in Nature Geoscience. In the first five years after the accident, the oil was disappearing at a rate of about 70 percent and calculations showed the oil would be gone within the next few years. However, about seven or eight years ago it was discovered that the oil had in fact slipped to a disappearance rate of around four percent a year and it is estimated that…