Of course the media being generally scientifically illiterate rarely understands the implications of the turns and reversals in scientific opinions, predictions and directions - even major ones. One of the most - if not the most critical and significant this year was by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Research Council (NRC) which it funds. For the past decade there has been a strong push to sell algae biofuels (actually researched for the past 80 years) as a replacement for fossil fuels along with billions of dollars of gov. grants supporting the efforts.
What was missed by all the single minded would be biofuel developers, most scientist, and our scientifically illiterate government leadership was the simple 1st step in any energy source evaluation - a mass balance analysis and life cycle analysis - all of which has consistently shown (at least four such studies over the past two years) that algae biofuels and terrestrial biofuels all require NPK fertilizer to have any significant impact volume wise on the global energy deficit left by the declining, finite and environmentally hazardous fossil fuel industry. They completely ignored the commonly known fact that NPK is itself is petroluem dependent in its component production. No one seemed to make the connection that 95% of global food production is also dependent on petroleum/NPK relationship and that an NPK dependent global biofuel industry (estimated to require 4X the NPK of the current global food production effort) would not only dramatically raise food prices, but could also put the ever expanding global human population at risk to serious food shortages - and the chaos that comes with them (remember the minor food price/availability riots of 2008?).
The announcement by the NAS/NRC that algae biofuels are a non-renewable and non-sustainable source for large scale energy production is a major departure from the majority of rhetoric and wishful thinking by gov. scientist and science advisors in recent years - and as well the it is the handwriting on the wall for those companies feeding off of gov. grants for biofuel development. When you consider the long term affect of developing biofuels without understanding their drain on the remaining petroleum resources and the affect on global food availability this was a major aversion of global catastrophe and which if it had happened - could have made all the 10 items above comparatively superfluous to our species at that point. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-usa-biofuels-algae-idUSBRE89N1Q820121024
Scientific American named the top ten science stories of 2012 — a list that touches on big topics like climate change, technology and daredevil attempts that stretch the limits of humanity.
Tell us what you think of them, or what else you would add, in the comments below.
10. Exploring the depths and heights
The magazine named as notable the skydive that Felix Baumgartner made from 23 miles in the air — the highest ever — and James Cameron’s dive (photos) almost 36,000 feet below sea level, to the ocean’s deepest point. SciAm said:
The success of both feats hinged not only on the cutting-edge gear that protected the men from either thin air or crushing pressure, but also on clever thinking to reach their destinations.
9. The debunking of calorie-restricted diets for longevity
While previous studies have indicated that animals such as rats and roundworms had aged more slowly if they consumed fewer calories, a study conducted over 25 years comparing rhesus monkeys on a restricted-calorie diet to those on a normal diet found no difference. However, two factors did seem to make a difference: genetics and eating healthy food. And here are some others studies showing just what kind of food is healthy: not eating red meat, eating a Mediterranean diet or even avoiding fatty food.
8. The commercialization of space travel
As the U.S. ramped down its space shuttle program in 2011 (and China ramped up its own), private companies took up the slack. Most notably, SpaceX made a cargo delivery to the International Space Station (photos of launch).
7. Avian flu genes revealed
In 2011, two research groups identified what mutations could make a feared avian flu virus, H5N1, transmissible by air — and much more contagious. For a few months, the government, scientists and journal editors held off publishing them for fear the information would fall in the wrong hands, though others argued such information could help epidemiologists identify and fight any dangerous mutations in the wild. Eventually, they published the information.
6. Arctic sea ice reached an all-time low
On September 16, the area of ice covering the Arctic was at its smallest since record-keeping began in 1979. In recent years, scientists have said the lack of ice up north was creating strange weather patterns in the northeastern U.S. and Europe. This year, some even said the same of Hurricane Sandy:
Some scientists ventured to say that the loss of sea ice helped Hurricane Sandy “turn left” from the Atlantic Ocean into New Jersey and New York City. Such a shift in direction had never been recorded before. A “blocking high pressure system” in the North Atlantic—a likely result of the lack of ice—prevented Sandy from heading northeast out to sea, as hurricanes would typically do.
5. ‘Obamacare’ mostly upheld by Supreme Court
The health care ruling will have a large effect on scientific research, as SciAm reports:
the law contains provisions to boost comparative- and cost-effectiveness research (via the newly established Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute). Such research could lead to medical and public health advances that will help the largest number of people.
4. Publication of Encode, Encyclopedia of DNA Elements
Following on the publication of the human genome project 12 years ago, the Encode project, which stood for Encyclopedia of DNA Elements. As we wrote in September, it is helpful in understanding the behavior of cells, tissues and organs:
The news could drive drug research and help us understand the environmental influence of disease risk and even explain why one twin gets a disease while the other doesn’t.
3. The landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars
Curiosity has a pretty big mission: to look for evidence of whether life could have existed on the Red Planet. But it’s landing was itself a big deal, involving some complex maneuvering whose success caused an eruption of cheers at NASA and around the world. Here are some photos of what Curiosity saw on Mars in its first few weeks, and the first color, panoramic photos.
2. The finding of the Higgs boson
It was one of the biggest physics breakthroughs in the last century: the detection of the elusive “God particle,” the Higgs boson. As SciAm said:
The Higgs represents the final chapter in the story of 21st-century particle physics. It completes the Standard Model, the theoretical description of all the known particles and forces (and by some metrics the most successful theory in the history of science)
1. Hurricane Sandy’s destruction of the U.S.’s East Coast
“Meteorologists dubbed Sandy a “frankenstorm” for its meteorologic mash-up of a hurricane moving up from the south, a winter storm moving in from the west and a ridge of high pressure forcing the systems to merge and move inland,” says Scientific American. The superstorm caused $250 billion worth of damage and claimed about 250 lives.
Related on SmartPlanet:
- James Cameron on his dive: ‘culmination of a lifelong dream’
- James Cameron’s launch and dive surface (photos)
- SpaceX makes history with commercial space flight
- The historic SpaceX Shuttle launch (photos)
- Government asks journals to censor details of deadly bird flu
- ‘Dark matter’ DNA could boost drug research
- The mission of NASA’s latest Mars rover, Curiosity
- Curiosity’s first high-res, color, panoramic images from Mars
- CERN scientists find new subatomic particle; could be Higgs
via: Scientific American
photo: James Cameron, post-dive. (Mark Thiessen/National Geographic)
