Animals are already dissolving in Southern Ocean acid

In a small patch of the Southern Ocean, the shells of sea snails are dissolving. The finding is the first evidence that marine life is already suffering as a result of man-made ocean acidification.

"This is actually happening now," says Geraint Tarling of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK. He and colleagues captured free-swimming sea snails called pteropods from the Southern Ocean in early 2008 and found under an electron microscope that the outer layers of their hard shells bore signs of unusual corrosion.

As well as warming the planet, the carbon dioxide we emit is changing the chemistry of the ocean. CO₂ dissolves in water to form carbonic acid, making the water less alkaline. The pH is currently dropping at about 0.1 per century, faster than any time in the last 300 million years.

Lab experiments have shown that organisms with hard shells, such as corals and molluscs, will suffer as a result. To build their shells, corals and molluscs need to take up calcium carbonate from the water, but more carbonic acid means more hydrogen ions in the water. These react with carbonate ions, making them unavailable to form calcium carbonate.

Aragonite shortage

The most vulnerable animals are those, like pteropods, that build their shells entirely from aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate that is very sensitive to extra acidity. By 2050, there will be a severe shortage of aragonite in much of the ocean.

Aragonite is still relatively plentiful in most of the ocean, but Tarling suspected that some regions might already be affected by shortages.

He visited the Southern Ocean near South Georgia where deep water wells up to the surface. This water is naturally low in aragonite, meaning the surface waters it supplies are naturally somewhat low in the mineral ? although not so much so that it would normally be a problem. Add in the effect of ocean acidification, however, and Tarling found that the mineral was dangerously sparse at the surface.

"It's of concern that they can see it today," says Toby Tyrrell of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK.

Aragonite-depleted regions are still rare, but they will become widespread by 2050, says Tarling. The polar oceans will change fastest, with the tropics following a few decades after. "These pockets will start to get larger and larger until they meet," he says.

Tyrrell says the Arctic will become undersaturated with respect to aragonite before the Antarctic. Patches of undersaturation have already been seen, for instance off the north coast of Canada in 2008.

The only way to stop ocean acidification is to reduce our CO₂ emissions, Tyrrell says. It has been suggested that we could add megatonnes of lime to the ocean to balance the extra acidity. However, Tyrrell says this is "probably not practical" because the amounts involved ? and thus the costs ? are enormous.

Journal reference: Nature Geoscience, DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1635

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Cops: Road rage theory in deadly I-95 crash

NBCWashington.com/Abingdon Fire Company

Handout image of the scene, provided to NBCWashington.com by the Abingdon Fire Company

By NBCWashington.com

Two people were killed and three others were hospitalized after an accident on Interstate 95 in Harford County, Maryland early Saturday morning.

Investigators say that the accident took place at around 2:00 a.m. on the northbound side of Interstate 95 at Maryland Route 24, near Abingdon.

Investigators believe one of the victims may have been involved in a road rage incident just prior to the accident, and are looking for the occupants of a dark-colored Jeep.

Maryland State Police say that 31-year-old Veney Tanner, Jr., of Abingdon, and 17-year-old Janelle Jackson of Baltimore were killed when the 2005 Lexus driven by Tanner was struck by a box truck while entering the fast lane of traffic. Authorities say the Lexus caught fire after traveling off the left side of the roadway.

Maryland State Police Corporal Kevin Watkins is credited with extracting Tanner, Jackson, and a third passenger -- 38-year-old Myron Doram of Randallstown, Md. -- from the burning car. Watkins was treated and released from Upper Chesapeake Hospital for smoke inhalation.

Tanner was pronounced dead at Chesapeake Hospital, while Jackson was airlifted to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where she was also pronounced dead.

Doram and the driver of the box truck, 63-year-old Clinton Griffin of Newark, Del., were taken to Bayview Hospital. There is no word on their condition.

Investigators believe Tanner may have been involved in a road rage incident involving the Jeep shortly before the accident. Authorities say that both vehicles were pulled over on the shoulder past the exit for Maryland Route 24 and at one point, people were seen getting out of the Jeep and walking toward the Lexus. According to investigators, at least one person was seen banging on the windows of the Lexus.

Police say that Tanner suddenly pulled out from the shoulder and back on to the highway just before the Lexus was struck by the box truck. The exact cause and nature of both the dispute and the crash is under investigation.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/25/15427417-cops-road-rage-theory-in-deadly-md-i-95-crash?lite

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This Robotic Water Snake is Both Graceful and Utterly Terrifying

Do snakes freak you out? How about the idea of being hunted down and killed by robots either of their own accord, or on orders from someone else? If you said yes to either of those questions, chances are you'll find this video a little freaky, but enthralling nonetheless. More »

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Kickstart Your Family Tree: Newspapers | Historic Indianapolis | All ...

Up to this point, we?ve been focusing on the basic facts (the names, dates, and places) of our ancestors? lives. But our relatives were more than just names and dates. They were real people with individual stories to tell. It?s time we started digging deeper to discover those stories.

While it may be more difficult, there are many ways to learn about our ancestors? characters and personalities.? Today we?re going to talk about one of those ways: newspapers.

About Newspapers

Just as they do today, newspapers of yesteryear reported the daily happenings of a community. This includes national and international news, like wars or elections, but it also includes local news, like high school football games and town events. If your ancestor participated in school events, owned a business, held an open house for any occasion, organized a church bazaar, or was arrested, it?s likely they appeared in the local paper.

?Accessing Newspapers

As I mentioned last week, most historical newspapers are not available online. However, that does not make them difficult to access. Most libraries keep copies of newspapers relevant to their local areas on microfilm, and these archives usually include the full duration of their publication. Accessing these archived copies simply requires traveling to the library that serves the area where your ancestor lived, or contacting that library to request that a search be done on your behalf (which they will typically do for a small fee).

You may also be able to access the publication you need at one of the larger public libraries in Indiana. For example, the Indiana State Library?and the Allen County Public Library??both offer access to many of Indiana?s historical newspapers in one location. University libraries, like that of IU, may also maintain collections of historical newspapers for the state of Indiana and beyond. Visit the library?s website or contact them directly to learn about their collections and their policies regarding access.

While accessing an archived newspaper is fairly easy, finding your ancestor in that newspaper is not. Most of us do not have the time or patience to read every newspaper published during the lifetime of our ancestors. Luckily some libraries have created indices that list names, businesses, major events, etc. to simplify our searches. These indices may be in book format, in a card catalog, or even online, like this one?provided by the Indiana State Library. To find out if the newspaper you?re searching in has been indexed, contact the library local to the area of publication.

If the newspaper you?re planning to research has not been indexed, then your job is going to be a bit more difficult. You may want to start by browsing the editions published around specific dates that are relevant to your ancestor?s life. For instance, browsing the days prior to and following a marriage may reveal a reception or marriage announcement. Browsing editions published around milestone birthdays may reveal announcements for open houses or birthday wishes published by other family members. It may be much more time consuming, but the joy of discovery makes it time worth spending.

?What You?ll Find

The list of specific types of information you may discover is virtually endless. However, all of your discoveries will shed light on the type of person your ancestor was. Some of it may verify or disprove family legend. Some of it may be a total surprise to you. There will likely be good things as well as bad. Through all of it, we must remember not to edit, but rather to accept our ancestors for what they were, mistakes and all.

?A Few Tips

• Though it is always a good idea to keep detailed records about both our fruitful and unfruitful searches, it is especially important to do so when searching microfilmed newspapers because of the time?commitment?involved. Write down the title and date of each newspaper you browse so that you?ll know not to waste your time browsing it again in the future.

• In addition to details about our ancestors personal lives, historical newspapers can also provide us with information about the time and location in which they lived. As you search, pay attention to what else is being reported by their local paper, and keep in mind that this likely?would have been their main source of news. All of these details add context to your ancestor?s story.

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Source: http://historicindianapolis.com/kickstart-your-family-tree-newspapers/

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How to Create More Cash Flow from Rentals and Lease Purchase ...

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Russia frees scientist jailed under Putin for spying

KRASNOYARSK, Russia (Reuters) - A Russian scientist freed on Saturday after nearly a decade in jail for selling secrets to China accused Vladimir Putin's "court" of turning the Kremlin leader into a tsar and of using the legal system to punish opponents.

Valentin Danilov, 66, looked pale and thin as he was released on parole from a prison colony on the edge of the industrial Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk after serving eight years of a 14-year sentence.

But he was defiant over a case which human rights activists say was politically motivated and part of an attempt by Putin to intimidate academics with ties to other countries during his first term as president.

"I would really appreciate it if somebody finally told me what state secret I sold," Danilov told reporters after he emerged from the prison colony's high corrugated walls and travelled by car through the snow-dusted streets of Krasnoyarsk to his daughter's apartment.

He declined to comment directly on President Putin but criticized Russia's political and judicial system nearly 13 years after the former KGB spy first rose to power and more than two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"As for President Putin, I guess everybody would be the same as him in his place. The court makes the tsar. In many cases it's the people around him that are guilty rather than him himself," said Danilov.

"The problem is not one of law but of how the judging is done ... We have three branches of power - the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. It's a fight between the legislative and executive with the court inbetween. They should pull in different directions so that the court works well, but if they all pull in only one direction, then what?"

Human rights activists see Danilov's case as an example of the Kremlin using the courts against its opponents though Putin, who was president from 2000 until 2008 and began a third term in May, has denied influencing the judiciary.

Critics say Putin is using similar tactics today too by pushing laws through parliament that could be used to crack down on what have been the biggest protests against him since the start of his 13-year domination of Russia.

Danilov, a researcher at Krasnoyarsk State University, was first arrested in 2001. He admitted selling information about satellite technology to a Chinese company but said the information had already been available from public sources.

An initial decision to acquit him was overturned and he was sentenced to 14 years in prison in a second trial in 2004. A Krasnoyarsk court granted him parole earlier this month.

Krasnoyarsk was once part of the Gulag prison camp system where Soviet dictator Josef Stalin sent many of his political opponents.

"POLITICAL PRISONER"

Danilov smiled, joked and laughed with reporters as he took frequent calls from well-wishers, although at times he seemed nervous. Asked about his health, the physicist said: "I'm fine. Otherwise I wouldn't be here."

He said he had been treated well by other prisoners and thanked human rights organizations for providing him with books, praising the messages of support he had received from U.S. physicists. He said he had received no such support from Russia's own Academy of Sciences.

Asked if he considered himself a political prisoner, he said: "Absolutely ... No money can compensate for 10 years of your life."

Explaining how he was accused of espionage, he said he had been the head of a scientists' exchange program with China under which Beijing had made the first payment. The charges against him, he said, were "fantasy" but he had no regrets.

Dressed formally in a red tie and grey jacket, Danilov declined to go into details about his life in prison except to complain that he had not been allowed access to the Internet.

He said he had no immediate plans to take on a public role and would spend time with family and friends.

He hoped to return to science but said he would avoid space, the area in which he was accused of spying.

Under the terms of his parole, he must check in with police once a month, and plans to live with his wife in their home in Novosibirsk, also in Siberia.

"Russia is my fate. How could I go anywhere else," he said.

(Writing by Gabriela Baczynska and Timothy Heritage; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-scientist-jailed-under-putin-walks-free-063717126.html

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Birth Control Pills Sold OTC? - Health News and Views

Istockphoto

Birth control pills should be sold over-the-counter (OTC), according to the nation?s leading group of obstetricians and gynecologists.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) said in a statement this week that the move would reduce an unacceptably high rate of unintended pregnancies that costs taxpayers about $11.1 billion each year. About half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended.

Health.com: 16 Worst Birth Control Mistakes

Other countries sell birth control pills without a prescription, including Jamaica, Mexico, Kuwait and Thailand.

Birth control pills do have some risks, including a small chance of a blood clot, but these risks don?t outweigh the benefits, says ACOG.

?Nothing in life is without risk,? says Jill Rabin, MD, chief of ambulatory care, obstetrics and gynecology and head of urogynecology at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, NY, who supports the move.

?In pregnancy, women produce more estrogen and progesterone than when they take a birth control pill,? she says. ?If you have a reproductive-age woman who doesn?t want to be pregnant either by choice or for a medical reason, it?s safer to take the pill rather than get pregnant.?

Health.com: 12 Types of Birth Control

Some questions remain unanswered though, including a big one about cost.

Thanks to President Obama?s Affordable Care Act, contraception?including birth control pills?is free for women who have employer-sponsored insurance (although woman may have a co-pay for some branded drugs, and those without insurance are out of luck).

Would making birth control pills available over-the-counter shift the bill back to women? Most insurance companies don?t cover non-prescription drugs, so it?s unclear who would pay if the pill was sold at the local pharmacy without a prescription.

And then there?s the question of whether a shift from prescription to over-the-counter status of birth-control pills would ever actually happen. Dr. Rabin, for one, believes it has ?a good chance of happening,? given the experience in other parts of the world.

Health.com: Birth Control For Women Over 30

While there are concerns that women who shouldn?t be taking the pill for health reasons might do so anyway if the drugs were available over-the-counter, research suggests this is unlikely, according to ACOG. Another concern?that women will skip important health checkups if they don?t have to see their doc for a prescription?also doesn?t hold up, they said.

Surveys have shown that women are able to ?self-screen? to determine if they are at higher-than-average risk for side effects. Pharmacists, too, were able to screen out inappropriate candidates using check lists.

In other countries where the pill is already available over-the-counter, studies show women still get their annual gynecological check-ups.

?Oral contraceptives have been out for many, many, many years in this country,? said Gerald F. Joseph, MD, ACOG?s vice president, practice activities, in a statement. ?And although no drug is perfectly safe, even aspirin has its side effects, that oral contraceptives are a relatively safe drug, the benefits far outweigh the risks.?

Source: http://news.health.com/2012/11/23/birth-control-pills-sold-otc-smart-move-doctors-say/

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