CAP AND TRADE-OFF: Senate leaders revealed a new version of their cap-and-trade climate bill over the weekend, taking a slightly tougher stance on polluters but still giving away the majority of emissions permits for free. Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, issued the updated bill, which would cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, a bit more aggressive than the House version's 17 percent reduction target. It would also seek deficit neutrality by auctioning 25 percent of emissions allowances right off the bat, using the money to offset its cost and help whittle into the federal deficit. But like the House bill, the other three-quarters of allowances would still be given away for the next 20 years, an attempt to soften financial constraints on coal-reliant industries and communities. The Senate draft will go to full committee Tuesday, and could be altered further before hitting the Senate floor for a full vote. As the Obama administration and Senate Democrats continue gunning for more Republican and moderate Democrat votes, the AP's H. Josef Hebert reports that the radioactive issue of nuclear power is increasingly rising to the forefront. (Source: Washington Post, Associated Press)

 

MAN'S BEST ENEMY: Montana is one of two U.S. states that opened its doors to wolf hunters this year, marking the first legal wolf hunts since the predators were nearly wiped out of the mainland United States decades ago, named an endangered species in 1974 and then reintroduced during the 1990s. State and federal biologists say wolf populations are now healthy enough to withstand regulated hunting, but the killing last week of several popular Yellowstone wolves that wandered outside park boundaries — including the radio-collared alpha female, Wolf 527 — led Montana to call off the backcountry hunt along Yellowstone's northern border for the rest of the year. Still, the state's general wolf-hunting season opened Sunday, including other parts of the national park's border. With ranchers and hunters calling current wolf quotas too low and conservationists calling them hasty and dangerous, the LA Times examines the pitfalls in preventing Yellowstone's top hunters from becoming the hunted. (Source: Los Angeles Times)

 

EXTREME SCIENCE: The U.S. Energy Department launches a new program today aimed at lighting a spark under the nation's top energy innovators, funding projects that range from gasoline-producing bacteria to all-liquid metal batteries, which could smooth out the spastic power flow from wind turbines and solar panels. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or Arpa-e, is modeled after the Defense Department's similar-named Darpa program and was created by the Bush administration in 2007, although it was never given any funding. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel-winning physicist who co-wrote a 2006 paper calling for the agency's creation, says the move could have a "transformative impact" on the country's energy dynamics. The NY Times takes a look at some of the projects being funded in the first round of the program, which totals 37 grants worth a combined $151 million. (Source: New York Times)

 

ARAL FIXATION: Once the world's fourth-largest body of freshwater, the Aral Sea shrank 90 percent during the 20th century as the Soviet Union divided and redirected its tributaries to irrigate cotton fields. Even today, nearly 20 years after the Soviet downfall, the sea is a shadow of its former self (the NASA satellite photos at right show the sea in 1989, left, and 2003). But while Uzbekistan has given up on recovering its portion of the water, Kazakhstan is in the midst of engineering an astounding comeback for the nearly extinct Aral Sea. The AP's Peter Leonard describes the Kokaral dam as the centerpiece of the recovery, channeling enough water from the Syr Darya river to restore depth, reduce salinity and even noticeably cool down the surrounding climate. The former port town of Aralsk, which ended up 60 miles inland when the Aral dried up, is now just 15 miles away from the gradually returning water line, and the World Bank estimates it will be a port town again in six years. Locals are understandably excited, with a sign near the entrance of town beaming "Good News — The Sea is Coming Back." (Source: Associated Press)

 

SHRIMP EYES: The mantis shrimp, a small marine crustacean with the most complex visual system known to science, could soon help humans develop better technology in DVD and CD players, according to Australian researchers. Living on the Great Barrier Reef, the visually proficient mantis shrimp can see 12 colors, compared with just three visible to human eyes (red, yellow and blue), and can distinguish between different forms of polarized light. Specialized cells in the the shrimp's eyes act as "quarter-wave plates" — a key part of DVD players and other optical devices — by rotating the plane of a light wave's oscillations as it passes through the cell. If these cells' abilities could be translated to DVD and CD players, the researchers say, they could reach new heights of visual resolution. "What's particularly exciting is how beautifully simple it is," one of the study authors says. "This natural mechanism, comprised of cell membranes rolled into tubes, completely outperforms synthetic designs." (Source: ScienceDaily)

 

— Russell McLendon