Dec. 30, 2011: For thousands of years, permafrost has trapped Siberia's carbon-rich soil, a compost of Ice Age plant and animal remains. But global warming is melting the permafrost and exposing the soil, causing highly flammable methane to seep out. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.
By Miguel Llanos, NBC News
All the back and forth over climate change negotiations hasn't dealt with a looming problem: melting permafrost could account for more than a third of all warming emissions by 2100, experts warned Tuesday, and yet nations haven't factored it into reduction targets.
"Permafrost is one of the keys to the planet?s future because it contains large stores of frozen organic matter that, if thawed and released into the atmosphere, would amplify current global warming," U.N. Environment Program Director Achim Steiner said in announcing the report by top permafrost scientists.
"Continuing to ignore the challenges of warming permafrost" is not an option, he added.
The report was released as nations gather in Doha, Qatar, this week for the latest round of climate treaty talks that aim to limit warming by the year 2100 to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures.
"Permafrost has begun to thaw," lead author Kevin Schaefer, a researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado-Boulder, told a news conference in Doha.
"Permafrost emissions could ultimately account for up to 39 percent of total (greenhouse gas) emissions," he warned.?"This must be factored into treaty negotiations ...?or we risk overshooting the 2 degrees Celsius maximum warming target."
Permafrost, defined as ground that stays frozen for at least two years in a row, stores vast quantities of carbon dioxide and methane, both gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect warming the Earth.
United Nations Environment Program
This map shows one scenario of permafrost melt using climate models. The scenario shows a nearly 59 percent loss in near-surface permafrost by 2100.
Widespread thaw would create a vicious circle, since the release of more CO2 and methane would trap more heat in the air and in turn accelerate the melting. That, in turn,?could bring an irreversible, runaway effect.?
The experts predicted an irreversible loss of between 30 and 85 percent of permafrost near the surface. That was based on a forecast of Arctic temperatures rising by 6 degrees C (10.8 F) through 2100.
The permafrost report follows reports by the World Bank and the U.N. Environment Program warning?that rising world greenhouse gas emissions, even without permafrost contributions, were on track to push up temperatures well beyond 2 degrees C by 2100.?
At Doha, nations are negotiating around extending the Kyoto Protocol ? a legally-binding emissions cap that expires this year.?
Many rich countries such as Japan, Russia and Canada have refused to endorse an extension and want a completely new treaty. The United States was the lone industrialized country not to join the original pact in 1997 because it did not include other big emitters like China.?
The frozen ground that covers the top of the world has been thawing rapidly over the last three decades. But there is cause for concern beyond the far north, because the carbon released from thawing permafrost could raise global temeratures even higher. NBC's Anne Thompson reports for "Changing Planet," produced by NBC Learn in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
Japan insists it would be better to focus on a new treaty by 2015.
"Only developed countries are legally bound by the Kyoto Protocol and their emissions are only 26 percent," Masahiko Horie, speaking for the Japanese delegation, said in Doha. "If we continue the same, only one quarter of the world is legally bound and three quarters of countries are not bound at all."
Related story: Rich-poor split persists at climate talks
But developing countries like Brazil are warning that it will be difficult for poor nations to do their part if they continue watching industrialized nations shy away from legally-binding pacts like Kyoto.?
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
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Manning throws 3 TD passes as New York wins first game in the month
By BARRY WILNER
updated 11:30 p.m. ET Nov. 25, 2012
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Adam Merchant had a wish and a command for the New York Giants.
The 15-year-old fan from Barre, Vt., attended practice and then Sunday's game with the Packers thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He wanted the Giants to snap their two-game slide and get out of their offensive funk.
So he ordered the Giants to "play like world champions," and they delivered a 38-10 rout of the Green Bay Packers.
"That was the theme of our meetings," coach Tom Coughlin said.
Eli Manning came back from the bye week with a rested arm, and that offensive slump was tossed aside. The Giants (7-4) said they turned things around for themselves, and for Merchant, who has cancer.
"They have one wish," Manning said after throwing for three scores to set a team record with 200 TD passes for his career. "It is sad when you think about it - they have one wish, what you want to do, and he wanted to come to Giants practice ... and to a game.
"He said, `Go show everybody you are the world champions and why you are the world champions and play that way.' Everybody got fired up and played the way we know we can."
The Packers (7-4) certainly did not. The showcase game was decided early as the Giants outscored the Packers 31-10 in the opening half to end Green Bay's five-game winning streak. While New York took a two-game lead in the NFC East, Green Bay fell out of a tie with Chicago atop the NFC North.
The Packers were missing such key starters as linebacker Clay Matthews, defensive back Charles Woodson and receiver Greg Jennings, and it showed. After being manhandled in last season's playoffs by the Giants, who went on to win the Super Bowl, the Packers weren't much more competitive this time. Aaron Rodgers was sacked five times, including twice by Mathias Kiwanuka, who spent much of the game at defensive tackle rather than in his usual linebacker spot.
"When your quarterback is under pressure like that, it affected me tonight," coach Mike McCarthy said of his play-calling. "I probably didn't call the best game I've called. You have to protect your quarterback. It's your No. 1 responsibility. That's not what we're looking for."
New York's balanced attack was guided by Manning, who had his first strong game in a month with 249 yards passing.
"I never thought my arm was tired, never felt like it," Manning said. "After a week off, you come back to practice, it felt good, alive, balls coming out with a little pop on it.
"After 10 weeks, it definitely needed a little rest."
Coughlin knew Manning would return with some extra verve.
"There was no doubt he was going to come back and play well," Coughlin said. "I think the rest really helped him. ... Eli said he felt as if he was coming back for the start of the season. I was very confident he would come back and be Eli."
Ahmad Bradshaw gained a combined 119 yards and scored a touchdown. He had the first big play of the night to begin the offensive onslaught.
New York struck early with a brilliantly conceived screen pass to Bradshaw off a fake reverse to Victor Cruz. Bradshaw sped down the field before being caught at the Green Bay 2, a 59-yard pickup that led to Andre Brown's scoring run.
Brown later broke his leg; Coughlin did not say which leg after the game.
"It will be a tough loss, he is an important player," Manning said.
Green Bay didn't flinch, with Jordy Nelson getting behind Corey Webster in single coverage down the right sideline for a 61-yard TD reception from Rodgers.
The scoring flurry went back in the Giants' favor - and pretty much stayed there - when Manning hit Rueben Randle in the back of the end zone for a 16-yard TD. It was the first score for the rookie and Manning's first touchdown throw in four games, and he set it up with, of all things, a scramble in which he laid his shoulder into Packers cornerback Tramon Williams for a 13-yard gain.
"It sparked our sideline," Coughlin said. "It would not be the recommended way. To see him do that kind of sent the message to the rest of our team: Whatever you have to do to succeed, do it."
Webster's interception led to Lawrence Tynes' 43-yard field goal late in the first quarter for a 17-7 lead, and the Giants weren't nearly done. Manning's 9-yard connection with Cruz tied him for the club record with 199 TD passes, and after Osi Umenyiora's strip-sack of Rodgers was recovered by Jason Pierre-Paul at the Green Bay 23, Bradshaw scored from the 13.
The 31 points were the most New York scored in a half all season and nearly equaled the 33 it scored in its two losses before the bye.
And the Giants had more offense in them. Manning threw his 200th TD pass to move ahead of Phil Simms, a 13-yarder over the middle to Hakeem Nicks, who stretched the ball over the goal line as he was tackled.
"There was a different enthusiasm in practices," Manning said, "and I think that paid off in the game."
It paid off for the Giants, and for their young fan.
"It kind of hit home," Justin Tuck said. "You got this kid that don't know us from James and watches us on TV every Sunday and it's so profound."
NOTES: The Giants lost safety Kenny Phillips with a knee injury in the third quarter. He was making his first appearance since Week 4, when he was sidelined with a knee problem. ... Giants right tackle David Diehl sustained a stinger in the first half. ... Green Bay lost safety M.D. Jennings (rib), DE C.J. Wilson (knee), and RB Johnny White (concussion). ... Rodgers was 14 of 25 for 219 yards, one TD, one interception and one lost fumble.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Cutler returns with roar for Bears
Jay Cutler threw for 188 yards and a touchdown after missing a game because of a concussion, and the Chicago Bears broke it open early in a 28-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Chris Graythen / Getty Images
Kaepernick starts, leads 49ers past Saints
Ahmad Brooks and Donte Whitner returned interceptions for touchdowns, the 49ers sacked Drew Brees five times, and San Francisco ended the New Orleans Saints' three-game winning streak, 31-21 on Sunday.
Funneling the sun's energy Public release date: 26-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline McCall cmccall5@mit.edu Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT engineers propose a new way of harnessing photons for electricity, with the potential for capturing a wider spectrum of solar energy
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. The quest to harness a broader spectrum of sunlight's energy to produce electricity has taken a radically new turn, with the proposal of a "solar energy funnel" that takes advantage of materials under elastic strain.
"We're trying to use elastic strains to produce unprecedented properties," says Ju Li, an MIT professor and corresponding author of a paper describing the new solar-funnel concept that was published this week in the journal Nature Photonics.
In this case, the "funnel" is a metaphor: Electrons and their counterparts, holes which are split off from atoms by the energy of photons are driven to the center of the structure by electronic forces, not by gravity as in a household funnel. And yet, as it happens, the material actually does assume the shape of a funnel: It is a stretched sheet of vanishingly thin material, poked down at its center by a microscopic needle that indents the surface and produces a curved, funnel-like shape.
The pressure exerted by the needle imparts elastic strain, which increases toward the sheet's center. The varying strain changes the atomic structure just enough to "tune" different sections to different wavelengths of light including not just visible light, but also some of the invisible spectrum, which accounts for much of sunlight's energy.
Li, who holds joint appointments as the Battelle Energy Alliance Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and as a professor of materials science and engineering, sees the manipulation of strain in materials as opening a whole new field of research.
Strain defined as the pushing or pulling of a material into a different shape can be either elastic or inelastic. Xiaofeng Qian, a postdoc in MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering who was a co-author of the paper, explains that elastic strain corresponds to stretched atomic bonds, while inelastic, or plastic, strain corresponds to broken or switched atomic bonds. A spring that is stretched and released is an example of elastic strain, whereas a piece of crumpled tinfoil is a case of plastic strain.
The new solar-funnel work uses precisely controlled elastic strain to govern electrons' potential in the material. The MIT team used computer modeling to determine the effects of the strain on a thin layer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a material that can form a film just a single molecule (about six angstroms) thick.
It turns out that the elastic strain, and therefore the change that is induced in electrons' potential energy, changes with their distance from the funnel's center much like the electron in a hydrogen atom, except this "artificial atom" is much larger in size and is two-dimensional. In the future, the researchers hope to carry out laboratory experiments to confirm the effect.
Unlike graphene, another prominent thin-film material, MoS2 is a natural semiconductor: It has a crucial characteristic, known as a bandgap, that allows it to be made into solar cells or integrated circuits. But unlike silicon, now used in most solar cells, placing the film under strain in the "solar energy funnel" configuration causes its bandgap to vary across the surface, so that different parts of it respond to different colors of light.
In an organic solar cell, the electron-hole pair, called an exciton, moves randomly through the material after being generated by photons, limiting the capacity for energy production. "It's a diffusion process," Qian says, "and it's very inefficient."
But in the solar funnel, he adds, the electronic characteristics of the material "leads them to the collection site [at the film's center], which should be more efficient for charge collection."
The convergence of four trends, Li says, "has opened up this elastic strain engineering field recently": the development of nanostructured materials, such as carbon nanotubes and MoS2, that are capable of retaining large amounts of elastic strain indefinitely; the development of the atomic force microscope and next-generation nanomechanical instruments, which impose force in a controlled manner; electron microscopy and synchrotron facilities, needed to directly measure the elastic strain field; and electronic-structure calculation methods for predicting the effects of elastic strain on a material's physical and chemical properties.
"People knew for a long time that by applying high pressure, you can induce huge changes in material properties," Li says. But more recent work has shown that controlling strain in different directions, such as shear and tension, can yield an enormous variety of properties.
One of the first commercial applications of elastic-strain engineering was the achievement, by IBM and Intel, of a 50 percent improvement in velocity of electrons simply by imparting a 1 percent elastic strain on nanoscale silicon channels in transistors.
###
The work was done with Ji Feng of Peking University and Cheng-Wei Huang, and was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Written by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Funneling the sun's energy Public release date: 26-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline McCall cmccall5@mit.edu Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT engineers propose a new way of harnessing photons for electricity, with the potential for capturing a wider spectrum of solar energy
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. The quest to harness a broader spectrum of sunlight's energy to produce electricity has taken a radically new turn, with the proposal of a "solar energy funnel" that takes advantage of materials under elastic strain.
"We're trying to use elastic strains to produce unprecedented properties," says Ju Li, an MIT professor and corresponding author of a paper describing the new solar-funnel concept that was published this week in the journal Nature Photonics.
In this case, the "funnel" is a metaphor: Electrons and their counterparts, holes which are split off from atoms by the energy of photons are driven to the center of the structure by electronic forces, not by gravity as in a household funnel. And yet, as it happens, the material actually does assume the shape of a funnel: It is a stretched sheet of vanishingly thin material, poked down at its center by a microscopic needle that indents the surface and produces a curved, funnel-like shape.
The pressure exerted by the needle imparts elastic strain, which increases toward the sheet's center. The varying strain changes the atomic structure just enough to "tune" different sections to different wavelengths of light including not just visible light, but also some of the invisible spectrum, which accounts for much of sunlight's energy.
Li, who holds joint appointments as the Battelle Energy Alliance Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and as a professor of materials science and engineering, sees the manipulation of strain in materials as opening a whole new field of research.
Strain defined as the pushing or pulling of a material into a different shape can be either elastic or inelastic. Xiaofeng Qian, a postdoc in MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering who was a co-author of the paper, explains that elastic strain corresponds to stretched atomic bonds, while inelastic, or plastic, strain corresponds to broken or switched atomic bonds. A spring that is stretched and released is an example of elastic strain, whereas a piece of crumpled tinfoil is a case of plastic strain.
The new solar-funnel work uses precisely controlled elastic strain to govern electrons' potential in the material. The MIT team used computer modeling to determine the effects of the strain on a thin layer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a material that can form a film just a single molecule (about six angstroms) thick.
It turns out that the elastic strain, and therefore the change that is induced in electrons' potential energy, changes with their distance from the funnel's center much like the electron in a hydrogen atom, except this "artificial atom" is much larger in size and is two-dimensional. In the future, the researchers hope to carry out laboratory experiments to confirm the effect.
Unlike graphene, another prominent thin-film material, MoS2 is a natural semiconductor: It has a crucial characteristic, known as a bandgap, that allows it to be made into solar cells or integrated circuits. But unlike silicon, now used in most solar cells, placing the film under strain in the "solar energy funnel" configuration causes its bandgap to vary across the surface, so that different parts of it respond to different colors of light.
In an organic solar cell, the electron-hole pair, called an exciton, moves randomly through the material after being generated by photons, limiting the capacity for energy production. "It's a diffusion process," Qian says, "and it's very inefficient."
But in the solar funnel, he adds, the electronic characteristics of the material "leads them to the collection site [at the film's center], which should be more efficient for charge collection."
The convergence of four trends, Li says, "has opened up this elastic strain engineering field recently": the development of nanostructured materials, such as carbon nanotubes and MoS2, that are capable of retaining large amounts of elastic strain indefinitely; the development of the atomic force microscope and next-generation nanomechanical instruments, which impose force in a controlled manner; electron microscopy and synchrotron facilities, needed to directly measure the elastic strain field; and electronic-structure calculation methods for predicting the effects of elastic strain on a material's physical and chemical properties.
"People knew for a long time that by applying high pressure, you can induce huge changes in material properties," Li says. But more recent work has shown that controlling strain in different directions, such as shear and tension, can yield an enormous variety of properties.
One of the first commercial applications of elastic-strain engineering was the achievement, by IBM and Intel, of a 50 percent improvement in velocity of electrons simply by imparting a 1 percent elastic strain on nanoscale silicon channels in transistors.
###
The work was done with Ji Feng of Peking University and Cheng-Wei Huang, and was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Written by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Updated at 11:11 a.m. ET -- A dive team from the New Mexico State Police was resuming its search near the dam at Vallecito Reservoir on Monday for Dylan Redwine, a 13-year-old boy who disappeared from his father's home during a court-ordered visitation over Thanksgiving in southwestern Colorado.
La Plata Co. Sherrif's Dept.
According to The Durango Herald, the divers began the search Sunday in an area that cadaver dogs had flagged Saturday while aboard watercraft.
No remains had been found by Monday morning.
Cadaver dogs and patrols were also going out around the 12 miles of shoreline, La Plata County Sheriff?s Office spokesman Dan Bender told NBC News on Monday.
"It's been devastating for the family," Bender said.
Dylan was reported missing on Nov. 19 by his father, Mark, who said he left the house in Vallecito, La Plata County, about 7:30 a.m. and returned a few hours later to find his son gone.?
Boy, 13, missing in Colorado after court-ordered holiday visit
Dylan was described as 5 feet tall, 105 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes with a fair complexion.?He was last seen wearing a blue and white Duke Blue Devils baseball cap, a black Nike T-shirt, black basketball shorts, black Jordan tennis shoes and a black backpack.
On Saturday, about 200 volunteers and law enforcement officials went door to door in the region and?searched hills near Vallecito Lake, the Denver Post said.
"Every time someone sees a young male child with light hair or with a black backpack we're getting calls," Bender said, adding that there had been no confirmed sightings of Dylan.
The Herald said police are also looking to speak with two boys who were seen by a postal worker on Nov. 19 at the Vallecito Lake Country Market, according to Bender.
The postal worker, who knows Dylan, said one of the boys looked like him, adding that both teens were also wearing black backpacks. As of Monday morning, Bender said police had not heard from the two boys.
According to a news release, the La Plata County Sheriff?s Office is ?working with local representatives of the FBI to share information and resources as they continue to develop leads on where Dylan may be," The Herald reported.
?Scenarios from abduction to runaway are being examined,? the release said. ?Without any new clues, we have to continue to consider any and all possibilities." The FBI has not officially taken over the investigation, Bender told NBC News.
Dylan, his mother and his brother had moved to Colorado Springs this summer, NBC station KUSA of Denver reported.
Vallecito is more than 7,000 feet above sea level in the middle of rugged terrain. The weather in the area in the past few days has been clear and cool, with highs in the 50s and lows below freezing.?
Anyone with information on Dylan's whereabouts is asked to contact La Plata County Sheriff's Office investigators at 970-382-7015 or 970-382-7045.
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SYLVIA HUI, Associated Press
LONDON???Could computers become cleverer than humans and take over the world? Or is that just the stuff of science fiction?
Philosophers and scientists at Britain's Cambridge University think the question deserves serious study. A proposed Center for the Study of Existential Risk will bring together experts to consider the ways in which super intelligent technology, including artificial intelligence, could "threaten our own existence," the institution said Sunday.
"In the case of artificial intelligence, it seems a reasonable prediction that some time in this or the next century intelligence will escape from the constraints of biology," Cambridge philosophy professor Huw Price said.
When that happens, "we're no longer the smartest things around," he said, and will risk being at the mercy of "machines that are not malicious, but machines whose interests don't include us."
Fears that machines could overtake humans have long been the subject of science fiction ? the computer HAL in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey," for example, is one of film's best-known computer threats.
Price acknowledged that many people believe his concerns are far-fetched, but insisted the potential risks are too serious to brush away.
"It tends to be regarded as a flakey concern, but given that we don't know how serious the risks are, that we don't know the time scale, dismissing the concerns is dangerous. What we're trying to do is to push it forward in the respectable scientific community," he said.
While Price said the exact nature of the risks is difficult to predict, he said that advanced technology could be a threat when computers start to direct resources towards their own goals, at the expense of human concerns like environmental sustainability.
He compared the risk to the way humans have threatened the survival of other animals by spreading across the planet and using up natural resources that other animals depend upon.
Price is co-founding the project together with Cambridge professor of cosmology and astrophysics Martin Rees and Jann Tallinn, one of the founders of the internet phone service Skype.
The university said Sunday the center's launch is planned next year.?
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Public release date: 26-Nov-2012
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