Research
The Key to Running the World on Solar and Wind Power
Image: Chart of energy density per energy type
energytrendsinsider.com - April 30th, 2013 - Robert Rapier
Perhaps the biggest shortcoming of solar and wind power is their intermittency. In locations like Hawaii, where I live, wind and solar power are already competitive on price. My fossil-fuel supplied electricity typically costs above 40 cents a kilowatt-hour, and wind and solar power can compete with that. But since they can’t supply power that is available on demand (firm power) they must be backed up by power sources that can provide power when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.
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The Limits of the Earth, Part 2: Expanding the Limits
Image: Limits of Earth logo.
blogs.scientificamerican.com - April 18th, 2013 - Ramez Naam
As part one of this series showed, we are up against incredible challenges: feeding a world with a rapidly growing appetite, the continuing loss of the world’s precious forests, the ongoing collapse of fish species in the oceans, the rapid depletion of our fresh water resources, and the over-arching threat of climate change, which makes all others far worse.
Ending growth isn’t a realistic option. Billions of people in the developing world want access to more resources, deserve those resources as much as those of us in the rich world do, and need them in order to rise out of poverty.
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The Limits of the Earth, Part 1: Problems
Image: Limits of Earth logo.
blogs.scientificamerican.com - April 17th, 2013 - Ramez Naam
The world is facing incredibly serious natural resource and environmental challenges: Climate change, fresh water depletion, ocean over-fishing, deforestation, air and water pollution, the struggle to feed a planet of billions.
All of these challenges are exacerbated by ever rising demand – over the next 40 years estimates are that demand for fresh water will rise 50%, demand for food will rise 70%, and demand for energy will nearly double – all in the same period that we need to tackle climate change, depletion of rivers and aquifers, and deforestation.
One view of these looming threats is that we’ve exhausted planet’s resources.
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Verily: Crowdsourced Verification for Disaster Response
irevolution.net - by Patrick Meier - February 19, 2013
Social media is increasingly used for communicating during crises. This rise in Big (Crisis) Data means that finding the proverbial needle in the growing haystack of information is becoming a major challenge.
QCRI and Masdar have launched an experimental platform called Verily. We are applying best practices in time-critical crowd-sourcing coupled with gamification and reputation mechanisms to leverage the good will of (hopefully) thousands of digital Samaritans during disasters.
Veri.ly
http://www.veri.ly/
Flu virus can tell time
Submitted by Luis Kun
mountsinai.org - January 17th, 2013
Scientists have discovered that that the flu virus can essentially tell time, thereby giving scientists the ability to reset the virus' clock and combat it in more effective ways. According to researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the flu knows how much time it has to multiply, infect other cells, and spread to another human being. If it leaves a cell too soon, the virus is too weak. If it leaves too late, the immune system has time to kill the virus.
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CIA-commissioned report on climate change released
Image: 2010 Drought in Russia. (c) New York Times.
foreignpolicyblogs.com - November 10th, 2012 - Mia Bennett
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and National Research Council (NRC) have released a report commissioned by the CIA and various other American intelligence agencies on the security threats posed by climate change. The report’s goal is to inform intelligence agencies as to how to best carry out monitoring to anticipate climate-related disasters, help prevent them from occurring, and, when they do, respond to emergencies. The report investigates how climate change could potentially induce social and political stresses that will affect U.S. security over the next decade.
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Water research thrives as discrepancy between supply and demand for water grows
submitted by Samuel Bendett
www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com - August 28, 2012
Research into water is growing faster than the average 4 percent annual growth rate for all research disciplines, claims a new report presented by Elsevier and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) during the 2012 World Water Week in Stockholm. The report, The Water and Food Nexus: Trends and Development of the Research Landscape, analyzes the major trends in water and food-related article output at international, national, and institutional levels. An Elsevier release reports that Elsevier and SIWI worked closely together on creating the report, which is based on the analysis of Scopus citation data by Elsevier’s SciVal Analytics team.
Tracking Down an Epidemic’s Source - Online Social Networks
physics.aps.org - August 10, 2012
Researchers find the source of an epidemic using relatively little information. Their technique could also help authorities track down contamination in water systems or locate problems in electrical grids.
Epidemiologists often have to uncover the source of a disease outbreak with only limited information about who is infected. Mathematical models usually assume a complete dataset, but a team reporting in Physical Review Letters demonstrates how to find the source with very little data. Their technique is based on the principles used by telecommunication towers to pinpoint cell phone users, and they demonstrate its effectiveness with real data from a South African cholera outbreak. The system could also work with other kinds of networks to help governments locate contamination sources in water systems or find the leaders in a network of terrorist contacts.
(MIT Video - Emergence of Superstars in Online Social Networks)
Cholera Superbug Found
CDC - Emerging Infectious Diseases -August 2012
Volume 18, Number 8
Abstract - Study - Conclusions
Third-Generation Cephalosporin–Resistant Vibrio cholerae, India
Cholera Superbug Found
In a major cause for concern, a new strain of cholera bacterium resistant to third generation antibiotics has been found to be circulating in India.
This cholera bacterial strain contains two super bug genes, including the notorious New Delhi Metallo beta-lactamase-1 (blaNDM-1). The other super bug gene is plasmid-mediated beta-lactamase-1 (blaDHA-1).
Thanks to these two super bug genes, the new cholera bacterial strain (O1 El Tor Ogawa) has developed resistance to a majority of known antibiotics.
Third-Generation Cephalosporin–Resistant Vibrio cholerae, India
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/8/11-1686_article.htm
4 Videos: Failed States Index 2012 Launch
fundforpeace.org
The FSI is a leading index that annually highlights current trends in social, economic and political pressures that affect all states, but can strain some beyond their capacity to cope. Apart from the impact on their people, fragile and failed states present the international community with a variety of challenges. In today's world, with its globalized economy, information systems and security challenges, pressures on one fragile state can have serious repercussions not only for that state and its people, but also for its neighbors and other states halfway across the globe.
Linking robust social science with modern technology, the FSI is unique in its integration of quantitative data with data produced using content-analysis software to process information from millions of publicly available documents. The result is an empirically- based, comprehensive ranking of the pressures experienced by 177 nations. The FSI is used by policy makers, civil society, academics, journalists and businesses around the world.
Video: Failed States Index 2012 Launch
The Fund for Peace Event
July 13, 2012
Washington, D.C.
