Monthly Archives: September 2011

CLIMATE CHANGE: Gov. Rick Perry fails on climate change and on other significant environmental issues

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Via NPR:

Perry is a strong opponent of the Environmental Protection Agency and he has expressed doubts that human activity is causing climate change.

JOHN BURNETT: Last month at a breakfast speech in Bedford, New Hampshire, when Rick Perry was asked about climate change, he gave this answer.

Governor RICK PERRY: There are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated…

BURNETT: Perry said there are a substantial number of scientists who’ve manipulated the data so they would have dollars rolling into their projects. The governor went on to say that weekly, indeed daily, scientists are abandoning the theory of manmade global warming. Perry has long been a climate science doubter, a position that has endeared him to certain factions of the electorate. In his book, “Fed Up!” – a screed against the federal government – Perry calls global warming a contrived phony mess that’s falling apart under its own weight.

His statement in New Hampshire prompted blowback from Andrew Dessler, a prominent professor of atmospheric sciences at Perry’s alma mater, Texas A&M University. Dessler fired off an angry editorial that appeared in papers around the country.

ANDREW DESSLER: Well, if Governor Perry wants to talk to us, we can explain to him that the science of climate change is nearly 200 years old and at this point, we have a really well validated and sophisticated understanding of how the climate system works.

BURNETT: The U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the science academy of every major industrialized nation believe that human activities, such as burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests, have contributed to increased concentrations of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere, which is heating the planet. Andrew Dessler says climate change is indisputably part of Texas’ current calamity.

DESSLER: And what that means is it makes the heat more extreme, it increases evaporation from the soil, that makes the drought more extreme. So we can be pretty confident that we’ve made the hellish summer that we just have gone through and we’re sort of still going through, we’ve made this worse than it would have been.

BURNETT: The Perry campaign did not respond to emails requesting clarification of his remarks on climate change. If Rick Perry disdains climate scientists, that’s nothing like his animosity toward the Environmental Protection Agency. Texas has more polluting industrial plants than any other state and Texas SUVs and coal-burning power plants spew out more carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, than any other state. The Perry administration has fought the regional EPA office in Dallas, which has been more aggressive under President Obama in trying to bring Texas polluters into line with federal regulations.

Continue reading this article at NPR.

CONSERVATION: Scientists are trying to turn stem cells into sperm and eggs cells in an attempt to save critically endangered species

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Northern white rhino image via Wikipedia

Due to poaching, the northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is on the brink of extinction. Today, it’s thought that there are fewer than five northern white rhinos remaining worldwide. However, scientists are trying to use stem cells to save this remarkable animal. More via New Scientist:

For the first time researchers have turned frozen skin cells from two highly endangered species – the northern white rhino and the baboon-like drill – into stem cells that can become any cell in the body, including sperm and eggs. These could be used to impregnate animals through techniques similar to in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

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Loring’s work is made possible by a menagerie on ice called The Frozen Zoo, a collection of skin cells from more than 8600 animals representing around 800 species at the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, California.

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Using viruses, the researchers introduced four genes that are highly expressed in human embryonic stem cells into the skin cells. This reverted the animals’ skin cells to their embryonic state. A few weeks later the researchers had colonies of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) for both drills and rhinos.

The researchers now hope to turn the drill iPSCs into sperm cells and the rhino iPSCs into egg cells, which could help preserve the species through techniques similar to IVF. They wouldn’t need a living drill or northern white rhino to carry the pregnancy – another primate could be a surrogate mother for a drill embryo, for instance.

Continue reading this article at New Scientist

EXTINCT SPECIES: Study determines that Tasmanian tiger’s jaws were too weak to kill sheep

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Image of a shot thylacine and thylacine cubs via Wikipedia

Scientists, with the help of computer software, recently discovered that the now-extinct Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, wasn’t the sheep-killer that ranchers made them out to be. Via the BBC:

This digital “crash test” revealed that thylacine’s jaws were simply too weak to have brought down an adult sheep.

“If a large carnivore – like a big cat for example – wants to take down a big prey item, it has to clamp down on its throat and suffocate it,” said Dr Wroe.

“A thylacine wouldn’t have been capable of this.”

The digital “crash test” revealed the weak points in thylacine’s jaws
Dr Wroe also explained that thylacine’s teeth were “built for slicing” rather than for crushing bone.

Comparing its skull performance with closely related, living species with known diets, the scientists were able to predict the likely body size of its prey.

“It probably fed on small animals, such as possums,” said Dr Wroe. “And its limited diet would have made it more vulnerable to extinction.”

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“The terrible loss of the thylacine signifies unjustified, negligent destruction of our native flora and fauna. It is a cautionary reminder of what we have lost, and that without urgent intervention other species will suffer the same fate.”

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Remains of a river delta discovered on Mars

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More via the European Space Agency:

Eberswalde crater contains a rare case of a martian delta. Channels which fed the lake in the crater are very well preserved. The delta deposits and channels together provide a clear indication of liquid surface water during the early history of Mars.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

CAN YOU SEE ME? | ANIMAL CAMOUFLAGE

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There are three camouflaged caterpillars in this image.

Image via Hopefoote, Ambassador of the Wow on Flickr

See more animal camouflage here on The Conservation Report.

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Photo source for attribution. The author or licensor of this image does not endorse my work or me, and their image is protected under an attribution license.