Confronting climate change
Extreme droughts in the US, Africa and Australia, major floods and tropical cyclones in India and China, and extensive fires in Indonesia... the warning signs of the fallout are clear
Harish C Mehra
THE Earth and its resources have been under constant stress ever since the start of industrialisation over 200 years ago. The burning of fossil fuels has led to an enormous increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, forcing a rapid change in Earth’s climate. To top it all, forests are being cleared to make way for human habitations and agriculture.

The Earth has warmed by around 0.75 per cent since pre-industrial times. At the current rate of emissions, warming in this century is projected between 1.4 and 5.8 OC. Thinkstock

Tree rings help forecast extreme weather events
AN analysis of tree rings can enable scientists to get an insight into the past and forecast extreme weather events. For instance, tree rings may yield insights into the past 400 years of drought and flood in tropical parts of Queensland, and may help forecast future extreme weather events. Usually, one ring marks the passage of one year in the life of the tree.

Locust-inspired collision sensors to prevent car crashes
Scientists have created new revolutionary collision sensors, inspired by the locusts’s early warning system, which can help prevent car crashes. Researchers from the University of Lincoln and Newcastle University believe the work could provide the blueprint for highly accurate vehicle collision sensors, surveillance technology and even aid video game programming.

Trends
Computer glitch suspends NASA Mars rover operation
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: A computer glitch, possibly caused by radiation, has put on hold the Mars rover Curiosity's first attempt to analyse powder from inside an ancient rock, officials said. Engineers said they hope the NASA rover can resume limited science operations this week.

Prof Yash Pal

Readers can e-mail questions to Prof Yash Pal at palyash.pal@gmail.com

Confronting climate change
Extreme droughts in the US, Africa and Australia, major floods and tropical cyclones in India and China, and extensive fires in Indonesia... the warning signs of the fallout are clear
Harish C Mehra

THE Earth and its resources have been under constant stress ever since the start of industrialisation over 200 years ago. The burning of fossil fuels has led to an enormous increase in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, forcing a rapid change in Earth’s climate. To top it all, forests are being cleared to make way for human habitations and agriculture. Also, rise in population and rapid pace of development are eating into natural resources, which at the present rate of consumption only make these unsustainable.

Poor and developing nations, which contribute the least to climate change, suffer more in terms of death and disease brought about by higher temperatures, whereas developed nations that have cumulatively created higher concentration of emissions suffer the least.

The science of how human intervention is causing irretrievable damage to the planet is incontrovertible. During the Doha climate summit in December 2012, developed and developing nations bickered over who is to do what. After the deliberations, delegates only agreed to talk but not act.

Some past events

Global warming contributes to more than 1.5 lakh deaths and 50 lakh illnesses annually and these numbers are only set to rise in the future. Heat waves have already killed tens of thousands of people during 2003 in Europe; caused extreme droughts in the US and Australia; major floods and tropical cyclones in China and India; extensive fires in Indonesia; and extreme flood and droughts in Africa.

The Philippines has been hit by 17 typhoons over the past one year. Scientists attribute this to the impact of climate change. Hurricane Sandy — the largest ever storm to hit the US during October 2012 — with sustained wind speeds of 135 kmph resulted in halting of the transit system, closure of offices, schools and colleges besides rain, tidal wave surges and floods.

The Global Burden of Disease Study-2010, published by British medical journal The Lancet on December 13, 2012, suggests a fivefold increase in human mortality caused by climate change since 1970.

Events likely to happen

The Earth has warmed by around 0.75% since pre-industrial times. The last decade was recorded as the warmest globally and 2010 has turned out to be the warmest ever recorded in history. At the current rate of emissions, warming in this century is projected between 1.4 and 5.8 OC.

Higher temperatures lead to increase in heat waves, flooding caused by melting of glaciers, droughts and disasters, spread of infectious diseases, change in production of food and agricultural patterns, scarcity of water for drinking and irrigation, etc.

Heat waves cause increased spread of infections usually carried by mosquitoes in warmer and wetter weather conditions. Droughts enhance water-borne diseases such as cholera and severe diarrhoea by wiping out supplies of safe drinking water.

Millions of people depend upon mountain water for drinking and irrigation. Global warming initially threatens to cause extensive flooding, but by 2030 fresh water availability is set to fall short of the demand. Over-drawing of water and falling groundwater levels on the one side and low yields and poor storage and transport facilities on the other, the already plagued agricultural sector may be in for rough times in India, where higher yields are essential to keep pace with the growing population.

On account of higher global temperatures, sea levels have risen over the years slowly threatening low-lying islands like the Maldives and Lakshadweep.

Carbon dissolving in oceans forms carbonic acid, raising water acidity. Oceans will be 150% more acidic by 2050, thereby threatening food chain supporting marine. There is a great possibility of an ice-free Arctic Ocean in summer months if global temperature rises by more than 2 OC over the current levels. Changes in the polar sea cap can alter life on the Earth for the worse with more frequent hot spells unless the annual rate of gas emissions is halted or even reversed.

What must be done

The effects of global warming are most certainly not going to be mild. There are going to be changes in weather, economics, eco-systems, agriculture, rise in water levels of oceans and more importantly changes that in most probability will be irreversible.

The challenge is for all individuals, NGOs, communities, governments, etc. We must avoid wastage of food, water, electricity and use vehicles judiciously. Governments across the globe and business and financial institutions have to be involved actively to limit carbon emissions.

None of us should argue that there is nothing one can usefully do. As Edmund Burke said: “No one made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do little”.

Tree rings help forecast extreme weather events

AN analysis of tree rings can enable scientists to get an insight into the past and forecast extreme weather events. For instance, tree rings may yield insights into the past 400 years of drought and flood in tropical parts of Queensland, and may help forecast future extreme weather events. Usually, one ring marks the passage of one year in the life of the tree.

James Cook University’s Nathan English said it had been believed that because of the rapid growth of trees in the tropics, their rings did not reveal reliable information.

But English, from James Cook Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science, has been working on forecasting the future of flood and drought using multi-century tree-ring and isotope chronologies from the tropics, according to a James Cook statement. The rings are more visible in temperate zones. English said dendrochronology, or tree-ring science, was more difficult to study in the tropics. “Now we are having a second look at tropical trees for dendrochronology because we’re finding more and more tree species with good, annual rings, and the tropics are an important part of the global climate system,” he said. — IANS

Locust-inspired collision sensors to prevent car crashes

Scientists have created new revolutionary collision sensors, inspired by the locusts’s early warning system, which can help prevent car crashes. Researchers from the University of Lincoln and Newcastle University believe the work could provide the blueprint for highly accurate vehicle collision sensors, surveillance technology and even aid video game programming.

Locusts have a distinctive way of processing information through electrical and chemical signals, giving them an extremely fast and accurate warning system for impending collisions.

The insect has incredibly powerful data processing systems built into its biology, which can in theory be recreated in robotics.

Inspired by the visual processing power built into these insects’ biology, Professor Shigang Yue from the University of Lincoln’s School of Computer Science and Dr Claire Rind from Newcastle University’s Institute of Neuroscience created the computerised system.

Their findings are published in the International Journal of Advanced Mechatronic Systems.

The research started by understanding the anatomy, responses and development of the circuits in the locust brain that allow it to detect approaching objects and avoid them when in flight or on the ground.

A visually stimulated motor control system was then created which consists of two movement detector types and a simple motor command generator. Each detector processes images and extracts relevant visual clues which are then converted into motor commands.

“We created a system inspired by the locusts’ motion sensitive interneuron — the lobula giant movement detector.

This system was then used in a robot to enable it to explore paths or interact with objects, effectively using visual input only,” Yue said in a statement. — PTI

Trends
Computer glitch suspends NASA Mars rover operation

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida: A computer glitch, possibly caused by radiation, has put on hold the Mars rover Curiosity's first attempt to analyse powder from inside an ancient rock, officials said. Engineers said they hope the NASA rover can resume limited science operations this week.

‘Mind melds’ move from science fiction to science in rats

NEW YORK: The scientists call it a “brain link”, and it is the closest anyone has gotten to a real-life “mind meld”: the thoughts of a rat romping around a lab in Brazil were captured by electronic sensors and sent via the Internet to the brain of a rat in the US. The result: the second rat received the thoughts of the first, mimicking its behavior, researchers reported on Thursday in Scientific Reports, a journal of the Nature Publishing Group.

Deep underground, worms and ‘zombie microbes’ rule

OSLO: A dark realm far beneath the Earth's surface is a surprisingly rich home for tiny worms and “zombie microbes” that may hold clues to the origins of life, scientists said. “It’s an amazing new world,” said Robert Hazen, head of the Deep Carbon Observatory, a decade-long $500 million project to study the planet’s carbon, an element vital to life and found in everything from oil to diamonds.

Veteran explorer stakes Russia’s claim over the Arctic

MOSCOW: Russian polar explorer Artur Chilingarov made his name in the Soviet Union with a daring rescue of an ice-bound ship, then won international fame for planting Russia’s flag under the ice cap, angering governments with rival claims over the Arctic. Now at the age of 73, rather than folding away his maps, he is spearheading President Vladimir Putin's diplomatic push to secure more of the mineral-rich region. — Reuters

A Draganflyer X6, six-rotor remote controlled helicopter which can fly up to 20 mph and travel up to a quarter mile away and 400 feet high, is pictured at the Grand Valley Model Airfield in Mesa County, Colorado, on January 31. The Draganflyer X6 is a property of Mesa County Sheriff’s Department. As the US prepares for the introduction of thousands of unarmed drones into its airspace in 2015, police, first responders and experts already flying domestic drones have begun to confront some of the privacy, regulatory and safety concerns that are beginning to surface. — Reuters photo