Planetwater News
Here are some more links to planetwater related issues I found in the last little while:
Water and Sky Pollution
Here’s an article written in quite alarming words on high PCB levels in the Rhone River
Years of unchecked pollution in France’s Rhone River have taken their toll with the recent discovery of PCB levels at 10-12 times the safe limit in the river’s fish.
PCB is a well known contaminant in the environment. There are a lot of contaminants transported by water both in the subsurface and in rivers that until very recently have not gotten much attention. That’s why they are sometimes called “emerging contaminants”. Examples for emerging contaminants are medical drugs. Weird has recently published an overview article on that topic. Update 2008-03-18, 3:31pm: Weird also reports that there is some drive to test water more often and more carefully for emerging contaminants.
Like water, the sky is not a sterile environment. Some research indicates that bacteria serve as “nucleators”, little particles that help water to freeze in higher regions of the atmosphere. The frozen water melts as it falls towards the earth’s surface where it then can appear as rain.
Climate Change
This Report, entitled
“Impacts of Climate Change and Variability on Transportation Systems and Infrastructure: Gulf Coast Study”, analyzes how Gulf Coast roads and highways, transit services, oil and gas pipelines, freight handling ports, transcontinental railroad networks, waterway systems, and airports are likely to be harmed by heat waves, extreme precipitation events, sea level rise, increased hurricane intensity, and storm surge damage associated with climate change. The report outlines why changes must be incorporated in transportation planning now in order to avoid serious future problems.
Other Ramblings
According to this post, the first pieces of evidence based on bugs adapting to genetically engineered plants are available demonstrating that genetic evolution faster than technology
It’s not only me that says that computer clusters are the future. More on the initiative of google and IBM is available at the NSF and at google