Ocean Acidification Will Threaten Our Food Supply, UK Environment Secretary To Warn

Thousands of Glassfishes swim on the edge of the coral reef near Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. Marine species are at risk of extinction due to rising acidity levels in the oceans

From The Daily Mail:

Humanity's food supply will be threatened by the acidification of our oceans unless climate change is tackled, Hilary Benn is to warn as the UN climate summit today.

The UK environment secretary will say acidification provides a 'powerful incentive' to cut carbon emissions.

The comments follow a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which has warned acidification will cause the mass extinction of marine species unless immediate action is taken.

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Nanocrystals Create An Insulator Better Than Pure Vacuum

Better Vacuum Thermos Ain't no party like a lunar tea party: an Apollo astronaut holds a thermos for collecting lunar regolith NASA

From Popular Science:

Photonic crystal insulation could have exciting applications.

Vacuum's emptiness doesn't just pose a problem for space travelers -- a vacuum lining is also one of the best known insulators on Earth, and may help keep those holiday drinks and soups warm in your thermos. Now scientists have found that layering photonic crystals within the vacuum lining can even prevent heat loss from invisible infrared radiation.

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Google Demonstrates Quantum Computer Image Search

D-Wave chips could make searching much faster
(Image: Copyright © 2005 – 2008 D-Wave Systems Inc.)

From New Scientist:

Google's web services may be considered cutting edge, but they run in warehouses filled with conventional computers. Now the search giant has revealed it is investigating the use of quantum computers to run its next generation of faster applications.

Writing on Google's research blog this week, Hartmut Neven, head of its image recognition team, reveals that the Californian firm has for three years been quietly developing a quantum computer that can identify particular objects in a database of stills or video.

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How Global Warming Could Change The Winemaking Map

Photo: Members of the Vignerons Indépendants wine growers associated clinked their bottles to express concerns over the consequences of inaction on climate change. Alexandra Fleurantin / Greenpeace France

From Time Magazine:

Many Bordeaux winemakers are declaring 2009 the best vintage in 60 years, but Yvon Minvielle of Château Lagarette isn't celebrating. Like many vintners across France, Minvielle is feeling uneasy after another unusually warm summer and early grape harvest. "They say everything is going great in Bordeaux, but take a closer look," he says. Heat-stressed vines ripened at unequal rates this year, and only skillful picking spread over a full month allowed Minvielle to gather a mature crop.

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Buy A Custom Robot That Looks Just Like You (PHOTO)

From The Huffington Post:

If you're wondering what to put on your wishlist for the holidays, here's a gift idea you might not have considered: your robot twin -- a robotic double that looks, and talks, just like you.

Japanese department store Sogo & Seibu has announced that they are selling two, customizable robots that can be tweaked to look exactly like you (or the person of the buyer's choosing).

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Black Hole Found to Be Much Closer To Earth Than Previously Thought

An international team of astronomers has accurately measured the distance from Earth to a black hole for the first time. (Credit: Image courtesy of SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Dec. 14, 2009) — An international team of astronomers has accurately measured the distance from Earth to a black hole for the first time. Without needing to rely on mathematical models the astronomers came up with a distance of 7800 light years, much closer than had been assumed until now. The researchers achieved this breakthrough by measuring the radio emissions from the black hole and its associated dying star.

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Real Christmas Trees 'Greener' Than Fake

From Live Science:

It may not sound like "tree-hugging," but cutting down a real tree for Christmas is actually greener than going with the artificial kind, one scientist says.

"It is a little counterintuitive to people," said Clint Springer, a biologist at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

Because of concerns over deforestation around the world, many people naturally worry that buying a real tree might contribute to that problem, Springer says. But most Christmas trees for sale these days are grown not in the forest but on tree farms, for the express purpose of being cut.

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Super-Earths Orbit Neighboring Stars

Astronomers have found up to six new planets orbiting stars that resemble the sun, paving the way forward for the discovery of a truly extraterrestrial Earth. NASA

From Discovery News:

The discovery of up to six planets breaks new ground in the search for worlds like our own.

The race to find Earth-like planets around stars similar to our sun edged closer to a finish with the announcement on Monday that up to six "super-Earths" have been found orbiting sun-like neighbor stars.

The smallest of the bunch weighs in at about five times the mass of Earth and orbits a star known as 61 Virginis, which is visible with the naked eye in the constellation Virgo. The star is 28 light-years from Earth and closely resembles the sun in size, age and other attributes.

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Wine Tastes Better In Blue Or Red Lit Rooms

From The Telegraph:

Wine tastes better if a room is backlit with red or blue ambient lights, a psychologist has found.

Drinkers' brains are tricked into thinking a glass of white wine is better and more expensive tasting when exposed to the red or blue background lighting than those in rooms with green or white background lighting.

And connoisseurs are warned to be wary of unscrupulous bar owners who try to pass off cheap plonk in trendy lit bars.

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The 100,000 Words A Day That Are Changing Our Brains And Ruining Our Concentration

From The Daily Mail:

Having trouble concentrating on this story? It could be because your brain is bombarded with more than 100,000 words a day.

The average adult hears or reads 100,500 words a day, research shows.

And the 'day' takes into account only waking hours outside work - meaning the true figure is much higher.

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Will The Google Phone Change the Mobile Game By Being Entirely Ad-Supported?

Google NexusOne, Built by HTC As leaked to Engadget

From Popular Science:

Which may sound altogether unappealing, until you realize it could be how Google plans to give away their Google Phone for free and potentially shake up the whole mobile industry in the process.

The last few days have seen Google's perceived positition regarding a Google-branded Android phone do an almost complete 180. Contrary to their previously publicized lack of interest in releasing a phone of their own, the Wall Street Journal this weekend reported on details of the Nexus One, a phone to be marketed directly to consumers as the "Google Phone" in the first quarter of 2010.

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Learning To Love To Hate Robots

Low expectations are easily surpassed (Image: Steve Olson/Getty)

From New Scientist:

ROBOTIC helpers are not yet in every home. But in recent years robots have steadily marched into the real world to perform tasks such as cleaning floors, delivering drugs or simply entertaining.

That has let anthropologists and roboticists give these mechanical workers their first report cards - and results are mixed. Despite evidence that we can find robots useful, even lovable colleagues, they can also trigger annoyance and violence. The results should help make future robots easier to work with.

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Russia Reigns Over Its Weather

Snow may be an icon of Russian winters, but city officials in Moscow say it's too expensive to clear. They're considering a cloud-seeding process that would prevent heavy snowfalls in the capital. (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times / December 8, 2009)

From The L.A. Times:

Moscow officials have already chased away clouds on public holidays. Now they're considering cloud seeding to keep snow-removal costs down in the winter. Neighboring towns may get dumped on.

Reporting from Moscow - In the snow-hushed woods on Moscow's northern edge, scientists are decades deep into research on bending the weather to their will. They've been at it since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin paused long enough in the throes of World War II to found an observatory dedicated to tampering with climatic inconveniences.

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Growing Body Parts

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U.S. And Russia In Secret Cyber Warfare Talks

Russia and the US are in talks to combat the threat of cyber warfare, according to the New York Times
Photo: CLARE KENDALL

US And Russia In 'Secret' Cyber Warfare Talks -- The Telegraph

Russia and the United States are discussing how best to safeguard the internet against hostile attacks.

The talks, which are taking place between the US, Russia and a United Nations arms control committee, are aimed at finding ways of strengthening internet security and limiting the military use of cyberspace, according to a report in the New York Times.

Online attacks against government websites, corporate computer systems and other business-critical infrastructures have increased in the last two years. Anonymous hackers have managed to access the Pentagon's computers and overwhelm government websites, and President Obama has ordered an urgent review of the United States' internet security.

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More News On These "Cyber Warfare Talks"

U.S and Russia in Talks to Heighten Security of Cyberspace -- FOX News
Russia and US in secret talks to fight net crime -- The Guardian
NY Times report: US and Russia in secret talks to deal with cyber-crime -- Top News
US, Russia talks on cyberspace security: report -- AFP
U.S., Russia discuss cybersecurity -- Times Of The Internet/UPI
US and Russia begin cyberwar limitation talks -- The Register
In Shift, U.S. Talks to Russia on Internet Security -- New York Times
U.S., Russia in Cyberweaponry Talks -- Gov. Info Security

Apple’s Next Media Frontier Will Be Streaming Video

From Gadget Lab:

Video entertainment was “the one that got away” from Apple, but recent moves reveal the company is taking a second stab at the category, and that streaming video will play a major role.

The addition of video cameras to Apple’s latest iPhone and iPod Nano were just the first hints of the company’s new personal-media strategy. The company is also building a 500,000 square-foot data center in North Carolina, which could provide the massive bandwidth required for ubiquitous streaming video. And Apple’s recent acquisition of Lala suggests it’s interested in rebooting iTunes into a streaming service, according to Wall Street Journal. That means music, in Lala’s case, but the same infrastructure could be shared with streaming video.

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Understanding Apples' Ancestors

Researchers study wild Malus orientalis in the Caucasus region.
(Credit: Photo by Phil Forsline)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Dec. 14, 2009) — Wild Malus orientalis -- species of wild apples that could be an ancestor of today's domesticated apples -- are native to the Middle East and Central Asia. A new study comparing the diversity of recently acquired M. orientalis varieties from Georgia and Armenia with previously collected varieties originating in Russia and Turkey narrows the large population and establishes a core collection that will make M. orientalis more accessible to the breeding and research communities.

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Turtles Act Like Chameleons

A dark-colored midland painted turtle darkens to adapt to its surroundings.
Credit: John Rowe.

From Live Science:

Freshwater turtles’ skin and shells often match the color of their habitat’s substrate, which may help them deceive predators and prey alike. But what happens if turtles change abodes, from a black swamp, say, to a sandy-bottomed pond?

John W. Rowe, of Alma College in Michigan, and three colleagues collected gravid female midland painted turtles and red-eared sliders from the wild, brought them to the lab, and injected them with oxytocin, a hormone that induces egg laying.

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Barley + Space = Space Beer!

From Wired Science:

I love beer, and I love space. So how could I not love beer from space? I’m not usually one for beer gimmicks, but somehow Sapporo’s Space Barley is an exception.

The beer was made with grains descended from barley that spent five months in the Zvezda Service Module on the International Space Station. The very limited results, just 250 precious six-packs, will be sold through a lottery for 10,000 yen ($110) each. But only people living in Japan are eligible. Sigh.

Why are the Russian Academy of Sciences, Okayama University and presumably Russia’s space agency Roscosmos aiding this scheme? Well, science of course. And charity.

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Carnival Of Space 133 With North Pole Mysteries, Astronomy And Future Space Colonization

From Next Big Future:

1. Above is a piece of the 370 megapixel image of 500,000 galaxies.

Phil Plait, the bad astronomer, discusses the huge image just released by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey Deep Field #1, a ginormous mosaic of the night sky.

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