According to new research, the number of people who will suffer as a result of extreme droughts is expected to increase to more than 2 times its current levels in the latter half of this century.

This new information comes from research performed by a global network of scientists begin led by a team at Michigan State University. More than 20 helped to author the results.

Currently about 3 percent of the world population is greatly impacted by severe drought. Much more than just a lack of clean water, the drought conditions lead to food shortages for those in the areas.

The new research predicts that this number will increase to around 8 percent by the late 21^st century. The results were recently published in Nature Climate Change.

“More and more people will suffer from extreme droughts if a medium-to-high level of global warming continues and water management is maintained in its present state,” said Yadu Pokhrel – civil and environmental engineer and lead author of the research paper.

“Areas of the Southern Hemisphere, where water scarcity is already a problem, will be disproportionately affected. We predict this increase in water scarcity will affect food security and escalate human migration and conflict.”

Additionally, the scientists are projecting that two-thirds of the planet will see a large reduction in natural land water storage. This includes the water which normally accumulates in snow and ice, rivers, lakes and reservoirs, wetlands, soil and groundwater. All of which is being driven by climate change.

This land water storage, represents critically important components of the world’s water and energy supply. “Our findings are a concern,” Pokhrel said.

“To date, no study has examined how climate change would impact land water storage globally. Our study presents the first comprehensive picture of how global warming and socioeconomic changes will affect land water storage and what that will mean for droughts through the end of the century.”

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Bordeaux is well known for its structured, age-worthy red wines, made with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, with few other varieties as supporting actors, including Petit Verdot and the rarer Malbec and Carménère.

Although Bordeaux may not want to change its ways, global warming is real, and that means adapting or death. With increasing temperatures during the grapes’ growing season, the future does not look bright for Bordeaux producers.

Early January 2021, the INAO, the department in charge of French wine’s quality, finally authorized a set of new grapes for Bordeaux: Arinarnoa, Castets, Marselan and Touriga Nacional. Two white grapes were included as well, Alvarinho and Liliorila.

While this may not sound like much to the average person, this is a very big deal. For wine purists, this is like saying Italians will now make pizza with apple puree instead of tomato sauce. What does this mean for Bordeaux wines? It means survival trumps tradition, and that climate change affects us in more ways than we thought.

Wine books will have to be rewritten, and wine lovers will need to reassess their knowledge about classic wine regions and their grapes, starting with Bordeaux.

The world of wine is ever-evolving, and nothing is set in stone. Do you think you know Bordeaux? Think again.

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A recent report in Nature describes a Room-Temperature Superconductivity breakthrough by a team at the University of Rochester and the University of Las Vegas, Nevada.

A superconductive material is one in which there is basically no resistance flow of electric current. This means that there is no power loss as a current travels through a circuit.

Until now, achieving superconductivity in materials was only possible at extremely low temperatures. This has made them impractical for use in today’s tech. This breakthrough however, could change everything.

The research team is led by physicists Ranga Dias and Ashkan Salamat of  the University of Rochester and UNLV respectively. Their research is being funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

“It’s a game changer,” said Salamat.

“The discovery is new, and the technology is in its infancy and a vision of tomorrow, but the possibilities are endless. This could revolutionize the energy grid and change every device that’s electronically driven.”

Instead of using ultra low temperatures (close to -273 Celsius) to achieve superconductivity, the teams did it with pressure. Extremely high pressure – similar to the crushing pressure near the Earth’s core.  

The researchers are still at an early stage in their work. But if they can continue to see success as they try to use less or no pressure, a whole new wave of technological advances lies ahead.

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According to data published in Nature, for the first time in almost decades, a positive change in the environmental conditions has been observed. 

The conditions of lock-down caused by COVID-19, and the prevailing work-from-home situation appears to be driving the drop in CO2 emissions. Transport-led emissions lead the way with a recent report suggesting that transport emissions have reduced by 40% worldwide.

The power and industry sectors have seen the second largest reduction in carbon emissions, behind transportation, with a decline reported as 22% and 17%, respectively.

The reduction may seem to be a good sign. Unfortunately, this effect will undoubtedly be temporary. As people return to work after completion of lock-downs, there will likely be a corresponding increase in the related CO2 emissions.

If the policymakers in corporations continue to find ways for their employees to be effective while working remotely, this could become a permanent change. The key is to see this period of lockdown as a preparatory phase to ensure that this new-found lifestyle becomes the ‘new normal’ and sustains for the years to come.

It will help the employees save on transportation costs and the companies on the travel allowances, but it will also help keep the CO2 levels reduced. This policy change may be just what is required for making Earth a sustainable place to be.

Scientists collected real-time data by compiling the daily flight statistics and monthly production data of about 42 countries. It also includes the hourly production records of electricity of some 31 countries, and others.

All these datasets have painted a picture that tells how important it is to curtail the actions that, though contributing to economic development, are going unjustifiably against the well-being or good health of the planet. 

As the pandemic lock-down has started to lift, there has been a corresponding rebound in the levels of CO2 emissions. Perhaps this pandemic, and the shutdown, have shown us a way to reduce CO2 emissions permanently – while still being productive.

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Penrose received the award “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity.” While Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez were cited by the Nobel Assembly as well “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.”

Many may recognize Roger Penrose for the ‘Penrose Staircase.” This was the inspiration behind the famous staircase drawing by Escher – a staircase that seems to loop back on itself never really going anywhere.

But In 1965, Roger Penrose was the first to prove mathematically that Black Holes are in fact a natural consequence of relativity theory. Einstein had predicted Black Holes, but it was Penrose who proved they were real.

The three Nobel Prize recipients all received funding from the Nation Science Foundation.

Penrose developed his ‘black hole formation’ theory at Rice University. Gentzel uses his NSF funds working with infrared astronomy at the University of California-Berkeley.

Meanwhile, at UCLA, Ghez and her team have used the NSF money on the development of instrumentation for the W.M. Keck Observatory. Using this powerful observatory, they have been able to track the orbit of a star circling the supermassive black hole which sits at the center of Milky Way galaxy in which we live.

In a statement, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said, “Few phenomena in the universe have captivated the imaginations of both the public and the scientific community like black holes, and thanks to these researchers, all of whom have received NSF support, we have to rely on our imaginations a little less.”

“They used mathematics and innovative astrophysics techniques to explore the nature of these incredible objects and reveal the supermassive black hole at the center of our own galaxy.”

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Extracting hydrogen from water is nothing new. It’s a simple process known as electrolysis. Using electricity, the positive Oxygen atoms in H2O are attracted to the negative electrode. Conversely, the negative Hydrogen atoms are attracted to the positive electrode. In this way, water can be separated into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas.

The hydrogen gas can then be used in a variety of ways to produce energy. It can be used to boil water in a power plant, instead of using coal or natural gas.  

It can be combined with oxygen to produce power in a fuel cell (battery). These are in use today on the space station. Hydrogen fuel can even be used in current automobile engines instead of gasoline.

Technical Hurdles to Success

There are 2 primary technical hurdles to obtaining enough hydrogen to make it a widely available fuel source.

First, is the electricity needed for electrolysis. It doesn’t make sense to use electricity from a coal powered plant, for example, to produce hydrogen to be used to power another plant. The solution is to use solar, wind, or wave energy to power the separation process.

In a way, the hydrogen produced is basically storing the solar, wind or wave energy that produced it. This also solves the current issue with how to store, for example, solar energy for use when the sun is not shining.

The second technical hurdle is the salt in the sea water.  Unless the salt is removed before electrolysis, the chloride ions in seawater turn into toxic chlorine gas, which degrades the equipment and seeps into the environment. This desalination process is expensive.

Fortunately, research scientists at Penn State appear to have solved this issue. They have developed a design for a seawater electrolyzer. It uses an electric current to split apart the hydrogen and oxygen in water molecules, but also incorporates a membrane which first removes the chloride ions.

“Hydrogen is a great fuel, but you have to make it,” said environmental engineer Bruce Logan. “The only sustainable way to do that is to use renewable energy and produce it from water. You also need to use water that people do not want to use for other things, and that would be seawater. So, the holy grail of producing hydrogen would be to combine the seawater and the wind and solar energy found in coastal and offshore environments.”

The thin, semipermeable membrane that the team is using was originally developed for purifying water in the reverse osmosis treatment process. Using high pressure on the water, it is pushed through the membrane, leaving the salt behind.

The team’s test results were published in Energy & Environmental Science. If they are successful in their continued development of a system, it could literally change the world.

“The world is looking for renewable hydrogen,” Logan said. “For example, Saudi Arabia has planned to build a $5 billion hydrogen facility that is going to use sea water. Right now, they have to desalinate the water. Maybe they can use this method instead.”

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Published in the Nature, the study is based on work done by scientists from the University of Buffalo. Researchers, led by geologist Jason Briner, developed models of the ice melt. These models are able to reconstruct the climate thousands of years ago, and use that information to produce their findings.

With their data and the models, they are able to more accurately understand the Greenland ice sheet. Not only do the models let them better understand the past in the area, but also better predict the future.

What they have found in their predictions of the future, and their understanding of the present, is astounding.

“Basically, we’ve altered our planet so much that the rates of ice sheet melt this century are on pace to be greater than anything we’ve seen under natural variability of the ice sheet over the past 12,000 years,” says Briner.

“We’ll blow that out of the water if we don’t make severe reductions to greenhouse gas emissions.”

The results of this study, add to the mountains of climate change data that scientists have amassed in recent years. Unfortunately, many politicians still choose to ignore or discount the findings.

Based on their data, Briner and his team are urging leaders in countries world-wide to make the necessary changes to slow the decline of ice sheets and their impact on sea level rise.

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The Nobel Prize for CRISPR has been cited as a “development of a method for genome editing.”

Doudna’s research and method is nothing new however. 20 years ago, she was recognized for this breakthrough methodology when she, and her team, received Alan T. Waterman award.

According to Doudna, CRISPR began as a basic science, curiosity-driven project.

The CRISPR method is not limited to a cure for cancer. Although its impact on that disease will surely have a dramatic effect on ridding our planet of the disease.

This also has applications across a wide array of fields including bioengineering, medicine, agriculture — even manufacturing.

In the coming years, it is expected to impact other areas as well.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has been a large supporting force behind this new scientific tool for decades. In addition to the Waterman award, the NSF has provided Doudna and her team with other funding grants.

CRISPR provides a way for scientists to more readily edit genes. This allows for enhancement but, perhaps more importantly, allows for the removal of thigs which lead to disease.

The acronym stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. This is a family of sequences in the genomes of prokarotic bacteria. These are able to detect and destroy DNA from similar bacteriophages during subsequent infections.

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A recent article in National Geographic references a government sponsored report that has revealed the problem. Large portions of the US could see as much as a 30% reduction of fresh water supplies in the next 50 years.

The primary driver of the impending shortage is the excess use and waste of freshwater. In many regions, America will soon find itself in a situation where freshwater basins will not meet the water demand.

On average, Americans use over 345 billion gallons of water every day. With the high increase in population, the shortage of water is going to be a serious problem for country. Of the 204 water basins which provide fresh water to Americans, 96 are already suffering from evaporation and water demand.

Some studies say that the effects of shortages could be felt as early as next year. Forty states in the US are facing a dry forecast due to water shortages by next year. California stands out in one of the worst droughts in recent history.

While historically dry areas are becoming drier, recent sudden climatic changes are also leading to wet regions becoming wetter. The result are natural disasters at both ends of the spectrum.

According to the experts, the best thing for Americans to do is to focus on water conservation and reduce waste. For the next generation, this will be a must.

In 80 years, the population will have increased by 200 million in the US. With half a billion people then living in the country, resources will be greatly strained.

The recent report indicates that by 2071, half of America’s freshwater and rivers will not meet the monthly water demands.

With an anticipated 5.7-degree average temperature increase expected in the near future, the water shortage problem will only get worse without action.

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However, one team of researchers may have found a way to do just that. They’ve developed a more effective way to specifically target and kill only the cancer cells.

The researchers developed their approach working out of labs at the Washington School of Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

The approach sounds very simple. Step one – is to effectively paint a ‘target’ on each and every cancer cell – and only on the cancer cells.

Step two. Send in a cancer killing agent that will lock-on to these targets, like a laser guided missile, and kill the cancer cells. The unmarked cells are left untouched.

Because there are often on a few subtle differences between cancerous cells and healthy ones, targeting can be challenging.

To overcome the challenge, the team designed nanoscale devices made of synthetic proteins. They are able to program these ‘molecular computers’ to identify the cancer cells by their key differences.

Researchers named their creation Co-LOCKR (Colocalization-dependent Latching Orthogonal Cage/Key pRoteins). When the proteins in of Co-LOCKR land on a target cell, they combine with each other to essentially form a target.

Now, with the ‘laser painting the target’, it’s time to launch the missile.

For their missile, the team chose Cancer-killing CAR T cells, which are currently used in cancer treatment.

Once released into a mixed environment of both healthy cells and Co-LOCKR targeted cancer cells, the T cells locked-on to their marked targets and killed only the cancerous cells.

Complete results were published in the journal Science.

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