Environmental Science: Deforestation

According to the World Wildlife Fund – WWF, the effects of global warming and deforestation can cause more than half of the Amazon rainforest to be destroyed or severely damaged by the year 2030.

A report made by the group concludes that in the next 22 years, 55% of the world’s largest rainforest stands to be severely damaged from drought, agriculture, logging, fire and livestock ranching. Reduced rainfall may also cause another 4% increase in damage due to global warming. 80% of wildlife habitat in the region will be destroyed.

Global warming may cause rainfall in the Amazon to drop by 20% by 2100 and temperatures are expected to increase by 2 degrees Celsius. This combination will accelerate the pace of deforestation because of the increased occurrence of forest fires.

Half of the planet’s surviving rainforest is in the Amazon. It is a key stabilizer of global climate. The report notes that losing 60% of it would accelerate the pace of global warming, affecting rainfall as far away as India.

Ecological recovery for the Amazon rainforest can reach the “point-of-no-return” in only fifteen to twenty years in the future, according to WWF. Recovery will be impossible and it will come much sooner than has previously been supposed.

Due to the dual threats of climate change and deforestation, the Amazon is on a knife-edge. It is imperative for countries to discuss the global climate change at an international conference  to take the importance of forests into account.

Through the international negotiations,  all governments must agree to a process which results in ambitious reduction of global emissions. It is crucial to include a strategy to help break the cycle of deforestation and reduce emissions from forests.

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Controversial Science: Cloning

There are different types of cloning and cloning technologies can be used for purposes other than producing the genetic twin of another organism. It is important to take an informed stance on current public policy issues by understanding the different types of cloning thus making the best possible decisions. There three types of cloning technologies: recombinant DNA technology or DNA cloning, reproductive cloning, and therapeutic cloning.

Recombinant DNA technology, DNA cloning, molecular cloning, and gene cloning all refer to the transfer of a fragment of DNA from one organism to a self-replicating genetic element such as a bacterial plasmid. A foreign host cell is used to propagate the DNA of interest. Since the 1970’s, this technology has become a common practice in molecular biology labs today.

Reproductive cloning is a technology used to generate an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as another currently or previously existing animal. In a process called “somatic cell nuclear transfer”, scientists transfer genetic material from the nucleus of a donor adult cell to an egg whose nucleus, and thus its genetic material, has been removed. The reconstructed egg containing the DNA from a donor cell must be treated with chemicals or electric current in order to stimulate cell division. When a suitable stage is reached by the cloned embryo, it is transferred to the uterus of a female host where it continues to develop until birth.

Embryo cloning or therapeutic cloning is the production of human embryos for use in research. This process is used to treat disease and study human development by harvesting stem cells. The stem cells are important to biomedical researchers because they can be used to generate virtually any type of specialized cell in the human body. Many researchers hope that one day stem cells can be used to serve as replacement cells to treat Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease and other diseases.

Earth Science: How Hurricanes are Formed

Scientists call hurricanes as “strong Tropical Cyclones”. They are formed when large areas of the ocean become heated, and the air pressure over that area drops. Thunderstorms and strong surface winds are made. Cyclones develop over tropical or sub-tropical waters. When they gather energy from the ocean as they travel long distances they are likely to be classified as strong Tropical Cyclones. The storm is classified as hurricane when the winds of a tropical storm reach 74 mph.

At least three conditions are required for the formation of a hurricane. To provide the potential fuel for the hurricane, the ocean waters must first be warm enough at the surface to put enough heat and moisture into the overlying atmosphere. Second, heat and energy combined with the atmospheric moisture from sea water evaporation forms the powerful engine needed to propel a hurricane. A third condition is the wind pattern that must be near the ocean surface to spiral air inward. Air becomes warmer and rise higher into the atmosphere when bands of thunderstorms form. The beginning of a hurricane is formed if the winds at these higher levels are relatively light and this structure can remain intact to grow stronger.

The development of a hurricane is triggered by a pre-existing weather disturbance in the tropical circulation. The most destructive and largest hurricanes originate from weather disturbances that form as squall lines over Western Africa and move westward off the coast and over warm water, where they gradually intensify into hurricanes.

Hurricane winds in the northern hemisphere circulate in a counterclockwise motion around the hurricane’s center or “eye,” while hurricane winds in the southern hemisphere circulate clockwise.

Natural Science – Global Warming

While some would call global warming a theory, others would call it a proven set of facts. Opinions differ vehemently. Let us consider global warming to be both a premise that the environment of the world as we know it is slowly, but very surely increasing in overall air and water temperature, and a promise that if whatever is causing this trend is not interrupted or challenged life on earth will dynamically be affected.

The prevailing counter opinion is that all that is presently perceived to be global warming is simply the result of a normal climactic swing in the direction of increased temperature. Many proponents of this global warming ideology have definitive social and financial interests in these claims.

Global warming and climate change are aspects of our environment that cannot be easily or quickly discounted. Many factions still strongly feel that the changes our Earth is seeing are the result of a natural climatic adjustment. Regardless of one’s perspective the effects of global warming are  a quantifiable set of environmental results that are in addition to any normal changes in climate. That is why the effects of global warming have catastrophic potential. Global warming may well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It could turn out to be the difference between a category three hurricane and a category four. Global warming as caused by greenhouse gas emissions can lead us to a definite imbalance of nature.

The premise of global warming as an issue of debate is that industrial growth coupled with non-structured methods we as humans use to sustain ourselves has created a situation where our planet is getting progressively hotter. We have seemingly negatively effected our environment by a cycle of harmful processes that now seem to be feeding upon themselves to exponentially increase the damage to our ecosystem.

Health Science – Nasal Congestion

Does your nose feel stuffed up and congested?  The annoying feeling of nasal obstruction is related to the humidity and temperature of inhaled air. There are findings that suggest sensory feedback from nasal airflow which contributes to the sensation of congestion. Researchers can use this knowledge to design and test treatments that are more effective for this familiar symptom of nasal sinus disease.

Usually caused by infection or allergy, nasal sinus disease is one of the most common medical conditions in the United States, afflicting approximately 33 million people with over $5.8 billion in healthcare costs annually. Individuals seek medical assistance when there is nasal congestion and the associated feeling of obstruction. Symptoms of nasal congestion have been difficult to treat effectively because patient reports of congestion often have little relationship to the actual physical obstruction of nasal airflow.

It was reported that volunteers experienced reduced nasal congestion after breathing from both a cold air box and a dry air box as compared with the room air box, with the cold air box decreasing reports of congestion most effectively. This revealed that humidity also was an important factor, with lower humidity there is decreased feelings of congestion.

It is speculated that humidity and temperature interact as air moves through the nasal cavity to influence nasal cooling. It is this cooling that is then detected by ‘cool sensors’ inside the nose to influence the feeling of air flow as being either easy or obstructed.

Future studies will examine patients reporting nasal obstruction to see if the sensory findings reported here can explain their symptoms, and also explore how sensory factors interact with other predictors of nasal obstruction.