Natural Sequence Farming in Australia

It is nice to see that they arepaying attention.  I believe though thatthe important quick fix remains the implementation of the biochar protocol toboth increase soil carbon and general nutrient retention.

It is good to see the attentionbeen also paid to supporting the hydrological cycle.

The combination can restore soilvitality everywhere and through back dry lands to at least historicalreaches.  Australia is particularly promisingin these terms.

In the meantime, paying attentionto natural cycles should be a given and imitated as much as possible while alsobeen careful to take the right lessons from it all.

Natural Sequence Farming.

by Staff Writers

Washington DC (SPX) Mar 18, 2011

http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Natural_Sequence_Farming_999.html

Improving land management and farming practices in Australia could have an effect onglobal climate change,according to a study published in the International Journal of Water.

Natural Sequence Farming is a descriptor used when sustainableagriculture mimics the once highly efficient functions of the Australianlandscape. NSF pioneer Peter Andrews of Denman in New South Wales andcoordinator of the NSF movement, Duane Norris of Hardy's Bay, New South Wales explain how NSF techniquescould re-couple environmental carbonand water cycles not only to improve farming yields but to avoid soil erosionand reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Agricultural practices such as clearing, burning, plowing, draining,and irrigation, have become commonplace across the Australian continent, asthey have elsewhere.

Their effect on the organic carbon content of soil has led to a declinein soil quality across farmland on the continent with levels currently a tenthof what they were 200 years ago prior to the major European settling ofAustralia.

Andrews and Norris point out that this has had implications foratmospheric carbon dioxide levels and will continue to impact on global warmingif farming practices are not modified.

"Soils hold twice as much carbon as the atmosphere, and threetimes as much as vegetation," the team explains, "But carbon in soilexposed by common agricultural practicesleads to the oxidation of the carbon and the release of carbon dioxide into theatmosphere."

Estimates suggest that soils that once contained carbon matter 4,000 to10,000 years old, are now holding carbon that is a mere two years old becausepoor management of livestock grazing leaves soil de-vegetated and in anoxidizing state.

Plants extract carbon from carbon dioxide in the air by photosynthesis,the team says. This carbon is critical to soil health and plant fertility, butit is lost when a ploughed paddock is left bare with no plant cover. Morecarbon is released when grassland and trees are cleared.

However, when vegetation is allowed to break down, even if it is weedycover, the carbon content of the soil is raised and growing conditions improve.

But plants also have another critical function - relevant to bothsoil fertility and to climate stabilization. This is the atmospheric coolingthat takes place through the evaporation of moisture from leaves, as it risesto form rain clouds,and then falls again restoring of the small water cycle to a local area. Inthis respect, hands-on NSF research in Australia converges with cuttingedge scientific research elsewhere.

The team adds that careful water management, planting, and mulchfarming all work together in NSF practices so remediating eroded land. NSFtechniques have been developed to restore ecosystems by re-coupling the carbonand water cycles and could overcome the calamitous decline in soil carboncontent caused by oxidation, soil erosion and loss to the sea because offast-running water flows and floods.

There are four guidelines for Natural Sequence Farming:

+ First, restoring fertility held by nutrients and organic matter toimprove the biological function of soils.

+ Second, reinstating the hydrological balance to increase groundwaterstorage in the floodplain aquifer, increasing freshwater recharge and hencereducing saline groundwater discharge.

+ The third principle is to re-establish natural vegetation successionthrough pioneer species to promote the healthy growth of native plantcommunities. The fourth guideline is to understand the hydrological andbiogeochemical processes that drive the natural landscape system, which willallow their management to restore ecological function.

The researchers recognize that Australians cannot turn the clock back100,000 years to recreate the forested continent of mega fauna and sediment-carryingflood plains that existed before humans arrived.

Finger Prick Cancer Test

The promise of this approach wasapparent in the mid eighties but was never advanced because it was simply tooearly.  I participated in a startup at thetime trying to make it all happen.  Nomatter, we now are on the way to having a pin prick blood test able to discernprostate cancer.

Right behind that we should beable to produce similar tests for each and every cancer type.  Perhaps in the end we will end up with a handheld testing device which is able to read out the results then and there.  Dr McCoy would be pleased.

Once this falls into place, acheck up at proscribed times should allow all cancers to be tackled very earlyin their careers when they can be readily cured.  Discovery through secondary effects hasproven to be mostly too little and too late.

All told, this is good news forthe war on cnacer.

Biomarker research could lead to finger-prick cancer test

By TannithCattermole

17:11 March 28, 2011

http://www.gizmag.com/finger-prick-cancer-test/18234/

Biomarker research could lead to finger-prick cancer test (Photo: AlishaV viaFlickr)

A new interdisciplinary breakthrough could see cancer being diagnosedthrough a quick finger-prick test. After five years of research, the team ofbiologists, clinical oncologists, pathologists and information scientists from ETH Zurich, UniversityHospital Zurich and the Cantonal Hospital of St. Gallen have determined abiomarker for prostate cancer – a particular pattern of proteins in theblood that indicate the presence of cancerous disease.

A common precursor to prostate cancer in both mice and men is theinactivation of the "Pten" gene, which can lead to uncontrolled cellgrowth. Thus mouse models were used in the hope that subsequent steps would becommon between species. The researchers began by examining prostate surfaceproteins and comparing protein sets in both healthy and cancerous mice that haddeveloped the disease following Pten inactivation. From this they determined apattern of proteins that is typical of the mutated version of Pten and thusalso for prostate cancer.

Examining tissues and serum samples from human prostate cancersufferers and a control group, and using the list of specific proteins drawn upusing the mouse model, the scientists were able to identify 39 correspondingproteins in humans that indicated the presence of cancer. The informationscientists then calculated the four most reliable proteins as cancer indicatorsusing 20,000 models.

"We then used this biomarker pattern to examine a cohort ofpatients whose blood had never previously been analyzed," says WilhelmKrek, professor of Cell Biology at ETH Zurich."We were able to predict with precision, stability and reproducibilitywhether they were suffering from prostate cancer."

It is presumed that the onset of cancer is often triggered by amutation, such as the deactivation of a gene, which can lead to a change in theprotein pattern of the affected organ. Separating off surface proteins of certaintissues allows 20 percent of these protein patterns to be detected in theserum, allowing a reliable method of diagnosis.

Currently, cancer is diagnosed by tumor antigens in the blood, butthese methods are often misleading and can involve expensive and painfulbiopsies.

The identification of a reliable biomarker that indicates cancer hasbeen the subject of advanced studies by scientists for many years, but oftenother factors were found to skew the results. "The protein patterns thatwere determined may have reflected the patients' eating habits, but were unableto provide any indication about whether or not a cancerous disease waspresent," explains Krek. By contrast, the biomarker pattern method isextremely precise, and even conveys information about the type of tumor whichhelps to identify the best therapy to combat it. Other cancer

The biomarker signature needs to be validated in further clinicaltrials, and the ETH Zurichspin-off company ProteomedixAG is currently developing a diagnosis kit. However it is hopedthat the study can be applied to other forms of cancer, bringing better earlydetection and more focused therapy. The collaborative work by theinterdisciplinary team highlights the progress that can be made when groups ofscientists work together. The work is to be published in the next issue of PNAS.

Organic Farming Triumphant in Thirty Year Field Trial

This is an extremely importantreport.  I have included Philpott’s takeon it and the article from the Rodale institute.

The take home is that unequivocally,industrial synthetic farming is clearly inferior to industrial organic farmingand rather importantly will continue to diverge because of the persistentdecline in carbon content in the synthetic soils.

This removes any further need tohedge ones choices.  An organic protocolwill out perform its competitor consistently. Read the articles carefully.  Thereis a lot of specific data that needs to be understood.

I personally go a lot further andalso call for application of biochar soil dressing as an ongoing soil buildingprotocol to sharply reduce the need if not eliminate the need for adding anyform of fertilizer at all.

Most noteworthy, we discover thatthe organic soils are slowly increasing their carbon content, so even withoutthe biochar, the soils improve.

Organic farming just as productive as conventional, and better atbuilding soil, Rodale finds 

BY Tom Philpott

25 MAR 2011 6:07 PM

http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-25-rodale-data-show-organic-just-as-productive-better-at-building

Organic agriculture is a fine luxury for the rich, but it could neverfeed the world as global population moves to 9 billion.

That's what a lot of powerful people -- includingthe editors of The Economist -- insist. But the truth could wellbe the opposite: It might be chemical-intensive agriculture that's thefrivolous luxury, and organic that offers us the right technologies in aresource-constrained, ever-warmer near future.

That's the conclusion I draw from the latest data of thePennsylvania-based Rodale Institute's Farming Systems Trial (FST), which Rodalecalls "America'slongest running, side-by-side comparison of conventional and organicagriculture." Now, Rodale promotes organic ag, so industrial-mindedcritics will be tempted to dismiss its data. But that would be wrong -- itstest plots have an excellent reputation in the ag research community, and theInstitute often collaborates withthe USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

Housed on Rodale's 330 acre farm, the FST compares three systems forgrowing corn and soy, the first two organic and the third conventional: 1) onebased on rotating feed crops with perennial forage crops for cows, andfertilizing with manure; 2) another based on rotating grains with cover crops,with fertility coming from nitrogen-fixing legumes; and 3) a system reliant onsynthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Rodale's researchers have been comparing crop yields and taking soilsamples on these test plots for 27 years. Their latest findings? The threesystems have produced equivalent corn yields over the years, while"soybean yields were the same for the manure and conventional system andonly slightly lower for the legume system."

So the old canard about how organic ag produces dramatically less foodthan chemical ag has been debunked, yet again.

Corn in the organic-legume (left) and conventional (right) systemduring the dry summer of 1995. Both were planted on the same day, with the samevariety but only the conventional corn is showing signs of water stress.Organic corn yields that year were 29 percent higher than those of theconventional corn.Photo and caption: Rodale InstituteBut it gets moreinteresting. As the globe warms up, increased droughts are likely to reduceglobal crop yields. The ag-biotech industry is scrambling to come out with"drought-resistant" GMO crops. But organic ag might already have thatcovered: "In 4 out of 5 years of moderate drought, the organic systems hadsignificantly higher corn yields (31 percent higher) than the conventionalsystem."

Moreover, while conventional ag struggles with the "superweed" problem,brought on by Monsanto's herbicide-tolerant GMO crops, organic ag is showing itcan coexist with weed pressure without sacrificing yield: "Corn andsoybean crops in the organic systems tolerated much higher levels of weedcompetition than their conventional counterparts, while producing equivalentyields." Meanwhile, herbicide use in the conventionally managed plotfouled groundwater:

Herbicides were only detected in water samples collected from theconventional system. In years when the conventional rotation had corn followingcorn, during which atrazine was applied two years in a row, atrazine levels inthe leachate sometimes exceeded 3 ppb, the maximum contaminant level set by EPAfor drinking water. Atrazine concentrations in all conventional samplesexceeded 0.1 ppb, a concentration that has been shown to produce deformities infrogs.

\

In terms of building robust ag systems in an era of climate change, theresults related to soil are probably the most interesting. It turns out, theorganic outperformed conventional in both building organic matter and retainingsoil nitrogen. In the past 15 years of the study, the organic systems havecontinued building soil carbon, while the conventional system actually lostcarbon. (For more on the question of soil carbon and soil, see mypiece from last year's special series on nitrogen.)

The soil-carbon factor probably explains why organic outperformsconventional in drought years: carbon-rich soil tends to retain water better.And indeed, the results bear that out:

Water volumes percolating through each system were 15-20% higher in theorganic systems than the conventional system, indicating increased groundwaterrecharge and reduced runoff under organic management.

Inevitably in the comments section below, someone will ask about themanure. How much land does it take to support sufficient cows to produce enoughmanure to replenish organic fields? But the Rodale results show thatnitrogen-fixing legume crops can greatly reduce the contribution needed fromlivestock.

And anyway, let me turn that question around. Where do industrialagriculturalists intend on getting the synthetic nitrogen for their system --from what energy source? The main feedstock is natural gas; but the easynatural gas has been tapped in the United States. That leaves usreliant on geopoliticallyunstable foreign suppliers -- or on domestic shale gas, which relieson the water-foulingprocess of hydrofracturing. And where do they plan on getting phosphorous?

In the end, organic ag looks like the robust and wise approach toresponding to population growth and climate change, and chemical ag looks likethe gambler's approach -- a luxury for the well-heeled folks who own shares inthe agribiz industry.

Tom Philpott is Grist’s senior food and agric

Rodale Institute Farming Systems Trial

http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/fst

Founded in 1981, the Farming Systems Trial (FST) is America’s longest running, side-by-side comparison of conventional and organic agriculture. The project shows the feasibility of making a transition to organic production and the multiple economic, environmental and energy conservation impacts. FST has shown the potential of organic agriculture to improve our soil and water, while at the same time produce crop yields and net returns that are comparable (or better) than conventional systems. About the trial We selected corn/soybean production as our research focus because large tracts of land, particularly in our region and the Midwest, are devoted to the production of these crops for animal feed. Throughout its long history, the FST has contained three core farming systems, each of which features diverse management practices including: a manurebased organic system, a legume-based organic system, and a synthetic-based conventional system. Essential guiding principles for each core system can be characterized as: Manure Organic This system represents an organic dairy or beef operation. It features a long rotation including both annual feed grain crops and perennial forage crops. The system’s fertility is provided by leguminous crops and periodic applications of manure. This diverse rotation also creates a primary line of defense against pests. Legume Organic ‘ This system represents an organic cash grain system. It features a mid-length rotation consisting of annual grain crops and cover crops. The system’s sole source of fertility is leguminous crops and the rotation provides the primary line of defense against pests. Synthetic Conventional This system represents the majority of grain farms in the U.S. It relies on synthetic nitrogen for fertility, and weeds are controlled by synthetic herbicides selected by and applied at rates recommended by Penn State Extension. Some key findings include: Yields Corn yields over 27 years of the trial were equivalent between the organic and conventional systems. Soybean yields were the same for the manure and conventional system and only slightly lower for the legume system. In 4 out of 5 years of moderate drought, the organic systems had significantly higher corn yields (31% higher) than the conventional system. Corn and soybean crops in the organic systems tolerated much higher levels of weed competition than their conventional counterparts, while producing equivalent yields. Corn in the organic-legume (left) and conventional (right) system during the dry summer of 1995. Both were planted on the same day, with the same variety but only the conventional corn is showing signs of water stress. Organic corn yields that year were 29% higher than those of the conventional corn. The soil Soil carbon and nitrogen have increased significantly in the organic systems, but not in the conventional system. Based on preliminary 2009-2010 soil sampling data, the organic systems have shown the largest increases in soil carbon since the beginning of the trial. In terms of carbon sequestration the manure system is leading, followed by the legume system. Increases in soil carbon were greatest in the first 13 years of the trial. Soil carbon continued to build in both organic systems during the 15 years following 1994, but at a slower rate than the first 15 years. The conventional system has shown a loss in carbon in more recent years. Water Water volumes percolating through each system were 15-20% higher in the organic systems than the conventional system, indicating increased groundwater recharge and reduced runoff under organic management. Overall, nitrate-nitrogen leaching was fairly low and the same for all systems. Water leachate samples from the conventional system more frequently exceeded the legal limit of 10 ppm for nitrate-nitrogen concentration in drinking water compared to the organic systems. Herbicides were only detected in water samples collected from the conventional system. In years when the conventional rotation had corn following corn, during which atrazine was applied two years in a row, atrazine levels in the leachate sometimes exceeded 3 ppb, the maximum contaminant level set by EPA for drinking water. Atrazine concentrations in all conventional samples exceeded 0.1 ppb, a concentration that has been shown to produce deformities in frogs (Hayes et al., 2002). Energy Total energy use in the organic systems was less than in the conventional system. Energy use in the conventional corn-soybean system was dominated by the production of nitrogen fertilizer and herbicide inputs, while seed and fuel use generated the greatest energy demands in organic systems. Economics Several economic studies of the early years of the Trial (1980’s and 1990’s) showed that net returns for the two grain operations, the legume and conventional system, were the same (assuming that all farm products received the same price at market). Seed inputs and equipment costs were higher in the legume system whereas fertilizers and pesticides were the most costly inputs in the conventional system. (These economic analyses do not include the manure system; only cash grain systems were compared.) Even with the inclusion of the transition costs (such as potential loss of yields in start-up years) and family labor costs, the organic price premium required to equalize the organic and conventional returns was only 10% above the conventional product. Throughout the 1990s, the organic price premium for grains exceeded that level, and premiums ranged between 65% and 140%. Agronomic, environmental, energy and economic analyses of the systems are all currently being updated to include the new rotations and tillage regimes as well as current information regarding inputs and prices.

Death Bed Experiences

This helps elucidate the DBEsomewhat.  My interpretation on thephysical component is that the mind often reaches an understanding that deathis now at hand.  At that point it isoften able to redirect remaining energies to the brain and head to make finalcontact with those in attendance.

The reports of light and of thosewho have gone before is common to most reports and now may also be fed byexpectation.  Sometimes we get out ofbody reports and I even seen a possible confirmation report in which somethingwas reported not otherwise possible.

Perhaps we need to set up hiddenartifacts to be reported on if ever possible. Certainly the interest is there and they could be even manufactureditems able to be broadly sold and distributed.

Going into the light

The Irish Times - Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A new study of deathbed experiences has found a surprising number ofsimilarities, writes FIONOLA MEREDITH 

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2011/0322/1224292769193.html

GIVEN THAT many of us shy away from talking about death and dying, itis not surprising that we know so little about what happens in the last hours ofa person’s life. But an unusual new study, funded by the Irish HospiceFoundation, aims to break through the taboo of the deathbed.

The study – Capturing the invisible: exploring Deathbed Experiences inIrish Palliative Care, by researchers Una MacConville and Regina McQuillan –examines the strange visions that often accompany the dying process, askingmembers of the Irish Association of Palliative Care to report theirexperiences. The results are startling.

In one frequently reported scenario, the dying person spoke of seeingdeceased relatives or religious figures, or of experiencing a radiant whitelight in the room. Perhaps because they defy explanation, these deathbedphenomena are rarely discussed by healthcare professionals, despite being afamiliar occurrence.

Yet rather than avoiding the topic, MacConville says education aboutsuch experiences could raise awareness of the phenomena and help palliativecare professionals to normalise them for patients and families as a common andeven comforting part of dying.

After all, as MacConville points out, there is nothing new in thesevisions: accounts of deathbed experiences (DBE) are common throughout historyand across cultures.

 William Shakespeare makesreference to them, and the earliest medical encyclopaedias recognise suchphenomena as indications that death is close. In most cases, they have apositive effect, bringing peace, comfort, calmness and joy to the patient.

One nurse who responded to the study said, “I have often heard patientsrefer to seeing someone in their room or at the end of their bed, oftenrelatives, and also it is not a distressing event for them. Family are usuallyshocked by hearing it and want to know the significance of it.”

Another odd but quite frequently reported occurrence – 31 per cent ofrespondents mentioned it in this study – is when a dying person unexpectedlyemerges from a coma, suddenly becoming sufficiently alert to communicate withfamily and friends.

A respondent reported that, “In one incident the patient, who had beenin a coma, opened his eyes and smiled at his three daughters and wife. Profoundcalmness and peace filled the room. It was special to be part of thatexperience. In another incident the patient said he saw a light, a brightlight; he died shortly afterwards.”

Less dramatically, the dying person may also experience vivid dreamsthat have particular significance for them, sometimes helping them resolveunfinished business in their lives. Others report a sudden and unexplainedsmell of roses, or claim to see angels appearing in their room.

However you explain them, most of these experiences sound benign, evenreassuring. But MacConville says that deathbed phenomena sometimes can befrightening encounters for the dying person and their relatives: “Familymembers may become distressed because they realise that death is imminent, andthe dying person may be disturbed by the visions because they don’t understandthem.”

One respondent told MacConville and McQuillan that relatives oftenbecome “upset and emotional if patient talks to them as they realise time isvery short”.

Neither is a deathbed experience any kind of guarantor of a peacefuldeath. In the study, only 24 per cent of respondents agreed or strongly agreedthat patients experiencing DBE have a peaceful death as a result. Some 59 percent were neutral and 17 per cent disagreed.

MacConville says deathbed experiences are rarely talked about preciselybecause it’s not clear what these visions are. One common sense explanation maybe that the visions are drug- or fever-induced hallucinations. But 68 per centof respondents agreed, or strongly agreed, that DBE have different qualitiesfrom such hallucinations.

MacConville says there appears to be a difference in the quality of thevisions: they appear with greater clarity, and they are experienced asmeaningful, with significant associations, rather than random, as they would bein drug-induced cases.

An earlier study also indicated that patients experiencing deathbedphenomena are usually calm and composed. In contrast, drug- or fever-inducedhallucinations can be disturbing and frightening, with other symptoms ofdrug-induced toxicity and high temperature present as well.

Reflecting on the deathbed phenomena, one anonymous palliative carenurse admitted that such visions “do not often have a rational explanation”.Nonetheless, “I don’t believe people’s experiences can be discounted ordisputed. It is individual, intense and real for many patients and families.”

Being able to put a name to these experiences, and to talk about themopenly, is one important step towards overcoming the fear and confusion thatsurrounds the last hours before death.

Una MacConville is interested in hearing from healthcare professionalsand members of the public about such experiences as this research iscontinuing. E-mail her at U.macconville@bath.ac.uk or call 086-8175530.

Viscous Cycle of Quartz

The title is a bit misleading,but what we learn is that quartz acts as a mechanism for stress release inrocks by releasing and I suspect reabsorbing water, thus shifting in and out ofa viscous state.

Perhaps, it certainly provides amechanism for healing rocks back together. It is noteworthy that quartz often jumps through structures and this isoften seen as replacement, while simple intrusion is just as satisfactory.  The actual fluids are the water basedsolutions that often are associated with quartz structures.

Thus stressed rocks crack and arethen rehealed by viscous quartz. This can happen repeatedly to form a largequartz rich structure.

Thus we gain a useful model for copperporphyry.  An intrusive quartz stockworkrises into a host rock inducing heavy cracking while providing hot mineralizedfluids that precipitate throughout the fracturing. The flow of mineral isongoing through the quartz over geologic time frames and it precipitates intothe halo of fractured rock as the chemistry changes.  This nicely ends my confusion over the propergenesis of such deposits.

The bigger the better as thatmeans a larger heat source and longer life.

Thus any attempt to understandgeological ‘viscosity’ begins rightly with the quartz content.  Making new quartz is another importantmatter.

Viscous Cycle: Quartz Is Key To Plate Tectonics

by Staff Writers

Washington DC (SPX) Mar 18, 2011

Quartz may play a major role in the movements of continents, known asplate tectonics. Credit: USGS

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Viscous_Cycle_Quartz_Is_Key_To_Plate_Tectonics_999.html

More than 40 years ago, pioneering tectonic geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilsonpublished a paper in the journal Nature describing how ocean basins opened andclosed along North America's eastern seaboard.

His observations, dubbed "The Wilson Tectonic Cycle,"suggested the process occurred many times during Earth's long history, mostrecently causing the giant supercontinent Pangaea to split into today's sevencontinents.

Wilson's ideas were central to the so-called Plate Tectonic Revolution,the foundation of contemporary theories for processes underlyingmountain-building and earthquakes.

Since his 1967 paper, additional studies have confirmed thatlarge-scale deformation of continents repeatedly occurs in some regions but notothers, though the reasons why remain poorly understood.

Now, new findings by Utah State Universitygeophysicist Tony Lowry and colleague Marta Perez-Gussinye of Royal Holloway, University of London, shed surprising light on theserestless rock cycles.

"It all begins with quartz," says Lowry, who publishedresults of the team's recent study in the March 17 issue of Nature.

The scientists describe a new approach to measuring properties of thedeep crust.

It reveals quartz's key role in initiating the churning chain of eventsthat cause Earth's surface tocrack, wrinkle, fold and stretch into mountains, plains and valleys.

"If you've ever traveled westward from the Midwest's GreatPlains toward the Rocky Mountains, you mayhave wondered why the flat plains suddenly rise into steep peaks at aparticular spot," Lowry says.

"It turns out that the crust beneath the plains has almost noquartz in it, whereas the Rockies are veryquartz-rich."

He thinks that those belts of quartz could be the catalyst thatsets the mountain-building rock cycle in motion.

"Earthquakes, mountain-building and other expressions ofcontinental tectonics depend on how rocks flow in response to stress,"says Lowry.

"We know that tectonics is a response to the effects of gravity,but we know less about rock flow properties and how they change from onelocation to another."

Wilson's theories provide an important clue, Lowry says, as scientistshave long observed that mountain belts and rift zones have formed again andagain at the same locations over long periods of time.

But why?

"Over the last few decades, we've learned that high temperatures,water and abundant quartz are all critical factors in making rocks flow more easily,"Lowry says. "Until now, we haven't had the tools to measure thesefactors and answer long-standing questions."

Since 2002, the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded EarthscopeTransportable Array of seismic stations across the western United States has provided remotesensing data about the continent's rock properties.

"We've combined Earthscope data with other geophysical measurementsof gravity and surface heat flow in an entirely new way, one that allows usto separate the effects of temperature, water and quartz in the crust,"Lowry says.

Earthscope measurements enabled the team to estimate the thickness,along with the seismic velocity ratio, of continental crust in the AmericanWest.

"This intriguing study provides new insights into the processesdriving large-scale continental deformation and dynamics," says GregAnderson, NSF program director for EarthScope. "These are key to understandingthe assembly and evolution ofcontinents."

Seismic velocity describes how quickly sound waves and shear wavestravel through rock, offering clues to its temperature and composition.

"Seismic velocities are sensitive to both temperature and rocktype," Lowry says.

"But if the velocities are combined as a ratio, the temperaturedependence drops out. We found that the velocity ratio was especially sensitiveto quartz abundance."

Even after separating out the effects of temperature, the scientistsfound that a low seismic velocity ratio, indicating weak, quartz-rich crust,systematically occurred in the same place as high lower-crustal temperaturesmodeled independently from surface heat flow.\

"That was a surprise," he says. "We think this indicatesa feedback cycle, where quartz starts the ball rolling."

If temperature and water are the same, Lowry says, rock flow willfocus where the quartz is located because that's the only weak link.

Once the flow starts, the movement of rock carries heat with it andthat efficient movement of heat raises temperature, resulting in weakening ofcrust.

"Rock, when it warms up, is forced to release water that'sotherwise chemically bound in crystals," he says.

Water further weakens the crust, which increasingly focuses thedeformation in a specific area.

Wind Power Cheaper Than Nuclear

The shoe has dropped.  In a straight out economic fight withnuclear, wind wins.  And worse, once paidoff, and they do get paid off, it is practically free.

Worse, they can be all done inmonths wherever it make sense and offshore is looking better every day.

The wind industry is mature andcan support a flat out building program that can make it the dominant source ofenergy.  Recall also that we are enteringthe age of superconducting power lines that will shift power across a continentat no real cost.  Thus a shortfall in Hungary will be replaced by power from Spaineasily.

Variable as it may be in terms oflocal output, tens of thousands of windmills throughout Europeonly experiences the average effect and that is never variable.

And it all comes down tocost.  Windmills are getting larger andtherefore cheaper in terms of cost to output. They never need fuel and that hand wave disappears.  They become ideal for pension funds to investin.

In fact they are perfect.  Buy a windmill at age twenty five with fortyyears amortization and at sixty five you owe no money and you sell your powerat the prevailing rate.  You even getdepreciation to use tax money to pay it off. In fact, in the years I have spent around investments, this is asperfect a retirement asset as one could hope to own.   Even better it is immune to inflation and thelike.

Wind power cheaper than nuclear, says EU climate chief

Connie Hedegaard says declining cost of offshore wind energy makes itgenuine alternative to crisis-hit nuclear industry

Thanet wind farm off the coast of Ramsgate, Kent. Photograph: GarethFuller/PA

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/17/wind-cheaper-nuclear-eu-climate

Generating energy from wind turbinesat sea would be cheaper than building new atomic power plants, Europe's climate chief has said, in the latest challengeto the crisis-stricken nuclear industry.

ConnieHedegaard, the EU climate change commissioner, said: "Some people tendto believe that nuclear is very, very cheap, but offshore wind is cheaper thannuclear. People should believe that this is very, very cheap."

Offshore wind energy has long been seen as an expensive way ofgenerating power, costing about two to three times more than erecting turbineson land, but the expense is likely to come down, while the costs of nuclearenergy are opaque, according to analysis by the European commission.

The nuclear crisis in Japanhas led the UK, France and other countries to tell theirnationals to consider leaving Tokyo, in response to fears of spreading nuclearcontamination. The crisis also prompted the EU's energy commissioner, GüntherOettinger, to say: "There is talk of an apocalypse, and I think the wordis particularly well chosen."

Hedegaard told the European Wind Energy Association's annual conferencein Brussels that the problems facing nuclear power put renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar power, back in thespotlight.

"There are 143 nuclear power plants in Europeand they are not going to disappear," she said. "But when it comes tonew energy capacity that discussion is likely to be very much influenced bywhat is happening in Japan."

She suggested that the Japanese nuclear incidents, which have not yet been brought under control, would"automatically" turn attention to renewable power.

However, she was careful to insist that it was up to member states todecide on their energy mix, as long as they adhered to the Europe-wide targetsof cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 and generating 20% of energyfrom renewable sources by the same date.

Hedegaard published a "roadmap to 2050" this monththat showed the EU was on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% ifcurrent policies are implemented. She said this strengthened the case put bysome member states that the EU's current target of cutting carbon dioxide by20% by 2020 should be toughened to 30%.

China and Germany have put nuclear projectson hold after the incidents at several Japanese nuclear reactors.

Europe's biggest nuclear operator, EDF of France, insisted that plansto build a new generation of reactors in Britainshould not be held back by the problems in Japan.

Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of EDF Energy, said:"While we understand the importance of adjusting the timetable to takeinto account the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate report [on the Japanesecrisis], it is also equally important that establishing the framework for newnuclear should not be subject to undue delay. The events in Japan do not change the need for nuclear in Britain."

He said meetings this week with local authorities regarding places suchas Hinkley Point in Somerset,where EDF wants to build a new reactor, had still been positive.

De Rivaz told the Nuclear Development Forum, including the energysecretary, Chris Huhne, that there was "local determination to press aheadwith our project, and the strong feeling that whilst we should learn anylessons we may need to from Japan, we should not delay our progress".

Saving 37 Million Lives

The serious point been made here isthat all this is easy and cheap and really needs little more today than thesimple will.

Ten years ago, the problem was overwhelminglogistical issues.  Today, the cell phonehas cut that Gordian knot.

With the cell phone, aresponsible agency can merely fund a bounty for confirmed delivery if it is amatter of delivering live bodies.  Thatis cheap and direct.

All the fixes are first a matterof education and that can be done by the cell phone.  An informed consumer then drives the market.

This item identifies a host ofobvious and cheap fixes.  The payoff ishuge and should drive governments to make it all so.

Saving 37 million lives per year, boosting IQ by 20 points for 4billion people and a better world economy - micronutrients, vaccines, airpollution control and more

MARCH 24, 2011

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/03/saving-37-million-lives-per-year.html

WHOestimates that better use of existing preventive measures could reducethe global burden of disease by as much as 70%. Affordablesteps can be taken to reduce the burden of disease and accidents. 

More creativity is needed to identifying and better solve these problems. Theproblems can be more difficult to solve then expected on a first pass.TheEconomist describes how it requires some stealth to get needed micronutrientsinto foods that people will eat. The healthier choiceneeds to be in an automatic process. The solution need to just happen withoutresistance or dodging.

- One hundred thousand non-grid connected generators and refrigerators couldhelp maintain the cold chain for vaccines. This would help reduceunder-vaccination and save 5 million lives per year. This also has a trickycomponent in that many people avoid vaccination because of misinformation andincorrect beliefs.

A richer and healthier society is safer and stronger (more robust). Japan was hit by an earthquake and tsunami thatwas 100 times stronger than the one that hit Haiti. Japan had over ten times lowerdeaths. Many aftershocks that hit Japanwere stronger than the initial Haitiearthquake.

37 million lives per year are very savable. The UN millennium projectsare a good start. More creativity is needed. The problems have multiplevulnerabilities to be more deeply and creatively analyzed and exploited. TheWorld economy could be sustainably increased several times.

Micronutrients

Helping people/companies/governments get more creativeabout getting enough micronutrients to people would save millions of lives andincrease intelligence and boost local and world economies. There would bedirect boosting of health forlower medical costs and higher productivity and then the increased IQ wouldalso boost economies.

If everyone had optimal levels of micronutrients then the IQ of over half ofthe worlds population would be increased by up to 20 IQ points. (Enough Iodineand Zinc.)Energy levels, productivity and health would also be improved. Also, preventingbrain damage from pollution like lead would also help. Increased IQ provideseconomic benefits and reduced crime levels. It is like a massive initial"transhumanist boost" by giving half the world a 20 point IQ boostover a few decades.

Under-nutrition,including micronutrient deficiencies, accounts for up to 3.5 million maternaland child deaths annually and has life-long consequences on health,productivity and economic growth.

Public health and nutrition are correlated to per capita GDP.

Public health (disease reduction during childhood and teenage development andnutrition) determines about 70% of average IQ and average IQ (and the IQ of thetop 5%) determines a lot of per capita GDP. For each one-point increase in acountry’s average IQ, the per capita GDP was $229 higher. It made an evenbigger difference if the smartest 5 percent of the population got smarter; forevery additional IQ point in that group, a country’s per capita GDP was $468higher.

Among the most severe consequences of micronutrient deficiencies are:

* 670,000 child deaths annually from vitamin A deficiency

* 38 million newborns at risk of falling victim to iodine deficiency disorders,which cause permanent brain damage, every year

* 115,000 maternal deaths annually from iron deficiency

* 1.5 million child deaths from diarrhoea, which could be easily treated withzinc and oral rehydration therapy

* An estimated 250 million preschool children are vitamin A deficient andit is likely that in vitamin A deficient areas a substantial proportion ofpregnant women is vitamin A deficient.

* An estimated 250 000 to 500 000 vitamin A-deficient children become blindevery year, half of them dying within 12 months of losing their sight.

Air pollution and safer energy

I also discuss lowering deaths per TWH from energy generation

Applying air pollution control devices onto coal, oil and natural andindustrial facilities and devices and checks on cars and trucks for ensuringbetter control of particulates could save hundreds of thousands of the800,000-1.2 million deaths per year from particulates.

An article that explains how much particulates pass through yourlungs every year

- applying stronger air pollution controls (affordable with good payback,economic for governments and societies)

- Helping developing countries to have safe indoor stoves and heaters (there isa UN program for this but it needs to be expanded (would save 1.9 millionpeople per year)

Stronger buildings and better construction codes

Improved low cost building construction would prevent the vulnerability shownin Haitito fragile buildings. Simple and affordable steps can be taken with things likehurriquake nails

Summarizing some other steps to prevent avoidable deaths

* 6 million deaths could be avoided by stopping the use of Tobacco. (requiresmore creativity)

* Poor water quality continues to pose a major threat to human health.Diarrhoeal disease alone amounts to an estimated 4.1 % of the total DALY globalburden of disease and is responsible for the deaths of 1.8 million people everyyear (WHO, 2004)

* Spend $136 billion/year on sanitation and clean water or create a cheap andeffective diahrrea vaccines so that people can tolerate dirty water. Still workon clean sanitation but vaccinations could be 20 times cheaper and save 80-90%of the lives.

* 1.3 million people die each year from traffic accidents. Automation (roboticdriving) even partial automation could help a great deal in reducing thesedeaths and injuries. Partial Automation: detection of imminent crash andauto-avoidance or reduction of crash severity (auto-brake), automation atintersections where disproportionate accidents occur.

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