New study documents the natural relationship between CO2 concentrations and sea level

New study documents the natural relationship between CO2 concentrations and sea level

Thursday, January 3, 2013

By comparing reconstructions of atmospheric CO2 concentrations and sea level over the past 40 million years, researchers based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton have found that greenhouse gas concentrations similar to the present (almost 400 parts per million) were systematically associated with sea levels at least nine metres above current levels.

The study determined the 'natural equilibrium' sea level for CO2 concentrations ranging between ice-age values of 180 parts per million and ice-free values of more than 1,000 parts per million.

It takes many centuries for such an equilibrium to be reached, therefore whilst the study does not predict any sea level value for the coming century, it does illustrate what sea level might be expected if climate were stabilized at a certain CO2 level for several centuries.

Lead author Dr Gavin Foster, from Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton which is based at the centre, said, "A specific case of interest is one in which CO2 levels are kept at 400 to 450 parts per million, because that is the requirement for the often mentioned target of a maximum of two degrees global warming."

The researchers compiled more than two thousand pairs of CO2 and sea level data points, spanning critical periods within the last 40 million years. Some of these had climates warmer than present, some similar, and some colder. They also included periods during which global temperatures were increasing, as well as periods during which temperatures were decreasing.

"This way, we cover a wide variety of climate states, which puts us in the best position to detect systematic relationships and to have the potential for looking at future climate developments," said co-author Professor Eelco Rohling, also from Ocean and Earth Science at the University of Southampton.

The researchers found that the natural relationship displays a strong rise in sea level for CO2 increase from 180 to 400 parts per million, peaking at CO2 levels close to present-day values, with sea level at 24 +7/-15 metres above the present, at 68 per cent confidence limits.

"This strong relationship reflects the climatic sensitivity of the great ice sheets of the ice ages," said Dr Foster. "It continues above the present level because of the apparently similar sensitivity of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, plus possibly some coastal parts of East Antarctica."

According to the study, sea level stays more or less constant for CO2 changes between 400 and 650 parts per million and it is only for CO2 levels above 650 parts per million that the researchers again saw a strong sea level response for a given CO2 change.

"This trend reflects the behaviour of the large East Antarctic ice sheet in response to climate changes at these very high CO2 levels. An ice-free planet, with sea level 65 metres above the present, occurred in the past when CO2 levels were around 1200 parts per million."

Professor Rohling said, "Sea level rises to these high values will take many centuries, or even millennia, but the implications from the geological record are clear ? for a future climate with maximum warming of about two degrees Centigrade, that is with CO2 stabilized at 400 to 450 parts per million, sea level is set to steadily rise for many centuries, towards its natural equilibrium position at around 24 +7/-15 metres, at 68 per cent confidence. In Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change terms, this is a likely rise of at least nine metres above the present. Previous research indicates that such rises above present sea level may occur at rates of roughly one metre per century."

Based on these results, which document how the Earth system has operated in the past, future stabilization of CO2 at 400-450 parts per million is unlikely to be sufficient to avoid a significant steady long-term sea level rise.

###

The study is published this week online ahead of print in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS manuscript # 2012-16073R).

National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (UK): http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk

Thanks to National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (UK) for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126109/New_study_documents_the_natural_relationship_between_CO__concentrations_and_sea_level

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Home Brewed Kombucha | Swiss Paleo

For Christmas this year, my sneaky husband ordered a SCOBY from the UK (from here), bought a big glass jar and then secretly started brewing a batch of kombucha in his office. I have the best husband ever.?He even wrapped it and put it under the tree?.with very strict instructions not to shake it, touch it, pick it up or even breathe on it.

I had kombucha for the first time this past summer while we were in Boston attending the Ancestral Health Symposium (which you can read about here, here, here and here). It seems pretty widely available in the States and we found it at every health food store we went into. The only kombucha I?ve found here in Switzerland is a drink called Carpe Diem which is?pasteurized?and probably no longer has any of the benefits of real kombucha. I?ve been wanting to make my own, but have been a little intimidated by the whole process. Besides, all my friends already think I?m just a little crazy with the whole paleo thing. They would think I was truly off-my-rocker, lola-granola hippie crazy if I started growing bacteria cultures in my closets, right?

I?m not going to go into all of the health benefits of kombucha, I?ll leave that to the experts over at Kombucha Kamp. If you would like to learn about kombucha, have a look at their informative page here.

Here is the recipe we followed and here?are some important tips to be aware of before you get started:

What You Need

• A glass container/jar of some description, we used a big glass cookie jar with a glass lid that holds approx 2 to 2.5 liters.
• Tea bags ? we used organic back tea, and it is imperative that all brewing is done using a base of ?real? tea, be it green, black, white etc. The acids in fruit and herbal teas aren?t good for your scoby.
• Sugar. We used organic raw cane sugar. The sugar is the food for the bacteria cultures (scoby). They eat it all and not much is actually left in your finished kombucha.
• A SCOBY, of course!
• Jars or bottles to store your finished kombucha in. I use mason jars.

What to do

1. Place your tea bags (we used 7 bags for 2.5 liters of water) and 230 grams of sugar in a large pot, NOT the glass jar you ?will be brewing in.
2. Boil a kettle of water. We used 2.5 liters of boiling water.
3. Pour your boiling water over your tea bags and sugar and let it steep for 30 minutes before removing tea bags.
4. Stir after steeping to make sure all of the sugar is dissolved.
5. Wait until the tea is cool to touch, by that I mean, if you stick your little finger in, it feels no more than barely warm, and closer to cold. This could take several hours.
6. Pour your cool tea into the glass brewing jar and then slide your scoby in.
7. Cover the opening of your glass jar. You can use an upside down plate or some cotton fabric (cut from an old t-shirt) secured with a rubber band. Our glass jar happens to have a lid that covers the opening but still allows air in and out (which is what you want). The idea is to have a cover that is unsealed but provides protection from dust and bugs.
8. Now you need to put your kombucha someplace out of direct light (in the closet or a cupboard). It should also be kept from any extreme temperatures.

Your Kombucha will take between eight and ten days to brew. Take a look at the color of the tea when you first put your Kombucha into it, then note how the liquid becomes cloudier over the passing days. My recommendation is that, after six days you pour a very small amount into a glass (or stick a straw in) and have a sip. If the brew tastes fruity and not tea like, it?s ready, if not, leave it another day and try again. Everybody will have a different preference for the ?doneness? of their kombucha. It?s ready when it tastes good to you.

Day 7

You can bottle it up and drink as is at this point, or you can go on to do a second fermentation to add a little bit more fizz or to add a flavor. We left half our batch plain and added 2 slices/per jar of mango to the other half and went on to a second fermentation.

To make different flavors, you?ll go on to complete a?second?fermentation:

• Once the kombucha is at a desired level of tartness/sweetness from the first round of fermentation, pour it into your bottles or mason jars.
• Next, you can add fruit slices, whole berries, fruit puree or herbs/spices (like ginger or lavender). We added mango this time around, but you can bet we will be trying all sorts of flavors! Then close the jars and re-place them in a dark, cool spot. Allow them to ferment another 5-7 (or more) days to your taste.

  The ?Mango Brew?

Flavor Combinations I?m going to try soon:

• lemon-ginger
• ginger-blueberry
• raspberry-apple
• strawberry-banana

Leave a bit of the tea in your brewing jar with your scoby and put it back in the cupboard until you are ready to add more tea and brew another batch. Don?t put your scoby in the fridge. Our scoby made a ?baby??a whole new layer of scoby on top of the original. Now we can brew two batches at once?as soon as I can get my hands on a second jar!

The top layer is the baby scoby, the bottom is the original

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Source: http://swisspaleo.ch/home-brewed-kombucha/

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UN says more than 60,000 dead in Syrian civil war

This citizen journalism image taken from video provided by Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a wounded man being pulled from the site of a Syrian government airstrike on a gas station in the eastern Damascus suburb of Mleiha, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. Activists say dozens of people have been killed or wounded in an air raid on a gas station near the capital Damascus. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

This citizen journalism image taken from video provided by Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a wounded man being pulled from the site of a Syrian government airstrike on a gas station in the eastern Damascus suburb of Mleiha, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. Activists say dozens of people have been killed or wounded in an air raid on a gas station near the capital Damascus. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

This citizen journalism image taken from video provided by Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a fire burning at the site of a Syrian government airstrike on a gas station in the eastern Damascus suburb of Mleiha, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. Activists say dozens of people have been killed or wounded in an air raid on a gas station near the capital Damascus. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

This citizen journalism image taken from video provided by Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a wounded man at the site of a Syrian government airstrike on a gas station in the eastern Damascus suburb of Mleiha, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. Activists say dozens of people have been killed or wounded in an air raid on a gas station near the capital Damascus. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

This citizen journalism image taken from video provided by Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows people gathered at the site of a Syrian government airstrike on a gas station in the eastern Damascus suburb of Mleiha, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. Activists say dozens of people have been killed or wounded in an air raid on a gas station near the capital Damascus. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

A Syrian rebel plays football in the Saif al-Dawlah neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. The United Nations estimated Wednesday that more than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria's 21-month-old uprising against authoritarian rule, a toll one-third higher than what anti-regime activists had counted. The U.N. human rights chief called the toll "truly shocking." (AP Photo/Andoni Lubacki)

BEIRUT (AP) ? The United Nations gave a grim new count Wednesday of the human cost of Syria's civil war, saying the death toll has exceeded 60,000 in 21 months ? far higher than recent estimates by anti-regime activists.

The day's events illustrated the escalating violence that has made recent months the deadliest of the conflict: As rebels pressed a strategy of attacking airports and pushing the fight closer to President Bashar Assad's stronghold in Damascus, the government responded with deadly airstrikes on restive areas around the capital.

A missile from a fighter jet hit a gas station in the suburb of Mleiha, killing or wounding dozens of people who were trapped in burning piles of debris, activists said.

Gruesome online video showed incinerated victims ? one still sitting astride a motorcycle ? or bodies torn apart.

"He's burning! The guy is burning!" an off-camera voice screamed in one video over a flaming corpse.

It was unclear if the government had a military strategy for attacking the gas station. At least one of the wounded wore a military-style vest often used by rebel fighters. Human rights groups and anti-regime activists say Assad's forces often make little effort to avoid civilian casualties when bombing rebel areas.

Syria's conflict began in March 2011 with protests calling for political change but has evolved into a full-scale civil war.

As the rebels have grown more organized and effective, seizing territory in the north and establishing footholds around Damascus, the government has stepped up its use of airpower, launching daily airstrikes. The escalating violence has sent the death toll soaring.

The U.N.'s new count of more than 60,000 deaths since the start of the conflict is a third higher than recent estimates by anti-regime activists. One group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more than 45,000 people have been killed. Other groups have given similar tolls.

"The number of casualties is much higher than we expected, and is truly shocking," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement.

She criticized the government for inflaming the conflict by cracking down on peaceful protests and said rebel groups, too, have killed unjustifiably. Acts by both sides could be considered war crimes, she said.

She also faulted world powers for not finding a way to stop the violence.

"The failure of the international community, in particular the Security Council, to take concrete actions to stop the bloodletting shames us all," Pillay said. "Collectively, we have fiddled at the edges while Syria burns."

The U.S. and many European and Arab nations have demanded that Assad step down, while Russia, China and Iran have criticized calls for regime change.

The new death toll was compiled by independent experts commissioned by the U.N. human rights office who compared 147,349 killings reported by seven different sources, including the Syrian government.

After removing duplicates, they had a list of 59,648 individuals killed between the start of the uprising on March 15, 2011, and Nov. 30, 2012. In each case, the victim's first and last name and the date and location of death were known. Killings in December pushed the number past 60,000, she said.

The total death toll is likely to be even higher because incomplete reports were excluded, and some killing may not have been documented at all.

"There are many names not on the list for people who were quietly shot in the woods," Pillay's spokesman Rupert Colville told The Associated Press.

The data did not distinguish among soldiers, rebels or civilians.

It indicated that the pace of killing has accelerated. Monthly death tolls in summer 2011 were around 1,000. A year later, they had reached about 5,000 per month.

Most of the killings were in the province of Homs, followed by the Damascus suburbs, Idlib, Aleppo, Daraa and Hama. At least three-fourths of the victims were male.

Pillay warned that thousands more could die or be injured, and she said the danger could continue even after the war.

"We must not compound the existing disaster by failing to prepare for the inevitable ? and very dangerous ? instability that will occur when the conflict ends," she said.

The U.N. refugee agency said about 84,000 people fled Syria in December alone, bringing the total number of refugees to about a half-million. Many more are displaced inside Syria.

While no one expects the war to end soon, international sanctions and rebel advances are eroding Assad's power. Rebels recently have targeted two pillars of his strength: his control of the skies and his grip on Damascus.

Rebels in northern Syria attacked a government helicopter base near the village of Taftanaz in Idlib province, activists said. Videos posted online showed them blasting targets inside the airport with heavy machine guns mounted on trucks.

All videos appeared genuine and corresponded with other AP reporting on the events.

In recent weeks, rebels have attacked three other airports in north Syria. They clashed Wednesday with forces inside the Mannagh military airport near the Turkish border as well as near the Aleppo international airport and adjacent Nerab military airport, halting air traffic there for the second straight day.

The fall of those airports to the rebels would embarrass the regime but not fully stop the airstrikes by government jets, many of which come from bases farther south.

In another blow to the regime and to Syria's economy, a company based in the Philippines that handled shipping containers at Syria's largest port said it was canceling its contract, citing an "untenable, hostile and dangerous business environment."

The Manila-based International Container Terminal Services Inc. said the amount of port traffic had gone down, hurting business, while conditions in Syria grew more dangerous.

The company's departure will significantly limit cargo services at the Tartus port.

Also, Wednesday, the family of American journalist James Foley revealed that he has been missing in Syria for more than a month. Foley was providing video for Agence France-Press when he was abducted Nov. 22 by unknown gunmen, his family said in a statement.

"His captors, whoever they may be, must release him immediately," said AFP chairman Emmanuel Hoog.

Covering Syria has been a challenge for journalists. The government rarely gives visas to journalists, prompting some to sneak in with the rebels, often at great danger.

___

Jordans reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Elaine Ganley in Paris, Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, and Juergen Baetz in Geneva contributed reporting.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-02-Syria/id-8cc34cbe42da4967bef1ed9fcfa2be78

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Scarlett Johansson Is Feeling ?Meh? About Marriage

?I got married when I was young and it was incredibly romantic and I liked being married, actually. But it is different. It?s hard to put into words.?To me, being in a functioning relationship doesn?t mean you have to be married. I never think about marriage. Is that weird? The only time I ever think about it is when people ask me would I get married again. It?s really not important to me. It has no relevance to me right now.?

?Scarlett Johansson gives Elle UK an update on her current feelings about marriage, which, if I may say so, are definitely not weird. In fact, I feel quite similarly and wish more people would focus on building healthy relationships instead of rushing into marriage. Scarlett has been dating French journalist Romain Dauriac for the past couple months, while?ex-husband Ryan Reynolds apparently never lost his enthusiasm for holy matrimony, and married Blake Lively a few months back. [The Today Show]

Source: http://www.thefrisky.com/2013-01-03/scarlett-johansson-is-feeling-meh-about-marriage/

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10 Home Improvements to Boost Home Security | Home Security ...

Home improvement projects can improve your home security and protect against intruders and other dangers.?Home improvements range from simple maintenance of old rooms to completely refurbishing them. Here are ten easy ways to make your home not only more beautiful and up-to-date, but a safer place to live.

1. Replace old, rusted locks. About 34 percent of burglars enter through the front door and 30 percent do it through unlocked doors. The more wear a lock has, the easier it is for burglars to break in, even if you remembered to lock up before you leave. Installing new locks will also ensure that you are the only one with keys to your home. For more up-to-date technology, you can try using electronic locks that take passcodes, or alarm monitoring allows you to lock and unlock your door whenever you want.
2. Check your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Having these helpful devices around the home can save your life in an emergency. Most people won?t wake up during a fire, and carbon monoxide is almost undetectable by humans. You can also look into installing heat sensors and flood sensors for extra protection.
3. Add lighting around your home. Burglars never want to be seen, so installing lights around your home will stop them from approaching. You will also feel safer walking back home at night or driving up to a well-lit area. Light timers can also come in handy. Possible places to implement more lighting are along the sidewalks and driveway, on your porch and around potential points of entry, such as doors and windows.
4. Use a home security system. Today?s home security systems are sleeker, more convenient and more affordable. Wireless systems allow you to place discreet sensors wherever you want, and many system interfaces use touchscreens and extra features such as temperature, weather reports and home automation. Having a security system makes your home easier to control, as well as three times less likely to experience a robbery.
5. Upgrade your doors. If any of them look run-down or damaged, replace them with new ones of metal or solid core. Burglars most often enter through doors and windows, and if they are old and worn, breaking in is quicker and easier for them. Invest in deadbolts for each door to add another level of security.
6. Install a mail slot. With a mail slot, you can ensure that no one is taking your private mail when you are not around. People can access your checks and your personal information from your mailbox if it is right outside your house. Also, a large pile of uncollected mail is a good indicator of an empty home.
7. Clean up with some yard work. A homeowner?s lawn plays a very important role in whether or not a burglar targets the house. Having a well-kept lawn will deter criminals as well as raise property value. Trim down trees and overgrown hedges to remove hiding places for burglars. Store away tools and toys scattered around the yard so potential burglars won?t be tempted to approach your house. You can even have trees completely removed if you think a burglar could climb to the second story, or if they could fall over in a severe storm.
8. Drill a peephole in your door. This way you can check who is at the door without having to open it. Not only is it more safe, peepholes will allow you to avoid answering door-to-door sales people, solicitors and other potentially dangerous or threatening visitors. Drilling and installing a peephole can take less than 15 minutes to finish.
9. Check your windows. Twenty-three percent of burglars enter a home through a first story window, and nine percent through a second story window. Use blocking devices for windows and sliding doors so burglars can?t get in. Putting in security bars for your windows can also be effective, and you can look into decorative patterns to match your home.
10. Buy a safe for your valuables. Burglars know the hiding places people use for their valuables, including the freezer, the bedroom closet, drawers, under the mattress and many more. A safe provides extra guarded protection for the things you want to keep secured, and makes it harder for a burglar to find what he or she is looking for. Make sure the safe is too heavy to be moved, and conceal it in a discreet hiding place.

Home improvements can be a great opportunity to add new home features and increase your personal protection. With these handy tips, you can improve your home along with your sense of security!

This entry was posted in Featured, Home Security Blog and tagged alarm monitoring, doors and windows, home improvement, home security, safety. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://blog.safemart.com/2013/01/02/10-home-improvements-to-boost-home-security/

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New method for uncovering side effects before a drug hits the market

Jan. 2, 2013 ? Side effects are a major reason that drugs are taken off the market and a major reason why patients stop taking their medications, but scientists are now reporting the development of a new way to predict those adverse reactions ahead of time. The report on the method, which could save patients from severe side effects and save drug companies time and money, appears in ACS' Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling.

Yoshihiro Yamanishi and colleagues explain that drug side effects are a major health problem -- the fourth-leading cause of death in the U.S. -- which by some estimates claim 100,000 lives every year. Serious side effects are the main reason why existing drugs must be removed from the market and why pharmaceutical companies halt development of new drugs after investing millions of dollars. Current methods of testing for side effects are costly and inaccurate. That's why the scientists sought to develop a new computer-based approach to predicting possible side effects.

They show the usefulness of their proposed method on simultaneous prediction of 969 side effects of 658 drugs that already are in wide medical use. The method is based on knowledge about chemical and biological information about ingredients in these medications. They also used the approach to identify possible side effects for many uncharacterized molecules. Based on that work, the scientists conclude that the new method could be helpful in uncovering serious side effects early in the development and testing of new drugs, avoiding costly investment in medications unsuitable for marketing.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Yoshihiro Yamanishi, Edouard Pauwels, Masaaki Kotera. Drug Side-Effect Prediction Based on the Integration of Chemical and Biological Spaces. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 2012; 52 (12): 3284 DOI: 10.1021/ci2005548

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/_RiMVv7JaC0/130102140516.htm

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50 million Android and iOS devices activated in last week of December alone

Despite reaching a fiscal cliff deal that will shield 99 percent of Americans from an income tax increase, more than three quarters of American households will still face higher federal tax bills in 2013. That's because legislators failed to renew a temporary reduction in payroll taxes, worth about $1,000 to a worker earning $50,000 a year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/50-million-android-ios-devices-activated-last-week-180023769.html

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