Weekend Briefing

GARBAGE PATCH KIDS: A team of ocean researchers held a press conference Thursday after returning from a three-week voyage to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, calling what they found "shocking." The garbage patch is formed by ocean currents that carry trash from thousands of miles in all directions into a giant vortex of seawater, known as an ocean gyre, in the North Pacific. Most of the debris found there is plastic, which breaks down very slowly, often killing birds and sea creatures in the meantime. [For more, see MNN's feature "What is the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?"] The scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography collected samples of the trash, much of which is tiny bits of plastic that are unfortunately "the right size to be interacting with the food chain out there," lead researcher Miriam Goldstein tells the AP. The team was surprised at how easy trash was to find in the planet's largest ocean, and plans to take another trip next year — this time to the even bigger South Pacific Ocean Gyre. "We are afraid of what we're going to find in the South Pacific, but it's time to go," Scripps director Tony Haymet said during the press conference. (Sources: Associated Press, San Diego Union-Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Reuters)

 

DANNY DOWNGRADES: Tropical Storm Danny has weakened in the western Atlantic, according to the National Hurricane Center, and is barely a tropical storm anymore. But it's still expected to create dangerous conditions along the U.S. East Coast over the weekend, including violent waves and life-threatening rip currents. Danny's maximum sustained winds are down to about 40 mph as of Friday morning, and it's located about 355 miles south of Cape Hatteras, N.C. (Sources: NOAA, Philadelphia Inquirer)

 

LACK OF SHELF CONFIDENCE: It will be at least another year before wind turbines begin popping up on the U.S. continental shelf, Obama administration officials tell the LA Times. Offshore wind power has been a top priority of President Obama's (what hasn't?) since he took office, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said earlier this year that turbines off American coastlines could meet the entire country's current electricity demand. Salazar also resolved a long-running jurisdictional battle between his agency and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but the LAT reports that bureaucracy, as well as "regulatory underbrush" left by the Bush administration, continues to hinder the efforts. (Source: LA Times)

 

ENERGETIC SUPPORT: Despite the raucous rancor surrounding the health-care debate, Americans still like how Obama and congressional Democrats are handling energy issues, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. Nearly 60 percent of poll respondents approve of proposed changes to U.S. energy policy being hashed out by Congress and federal agencies, while 55 percent support how Obama himself is dealing with the issue (compared with 30 percent who don't). While still less controversial than health-care reform, cap-and-trade is the least popular of the potential energy regulations, with 52 percent supporting it and 43 percent opposing it. (Source: Washington Post)

 

NEPAL: More than 3.4 million people in Nepal already face dire food shortages because of climate change, Oxfam International warned Friday, adding that some Nepalese farming communities only have enough food stocks to last a few months. "Communities told us crop production is roughly half that of previous years," one Oxfam worker says. "Last year many could only grow enough [food] for one month's consumption." By raising temperatures too high, melting Himalayan snowpack too early and altering weather patterns too severely — including the region's famous monsoons — climate change has begun dismantling the country's ability to feed itself, Oxfam says. The organization recommends that farmers start trying different crop varieties and work on improving water management. (Source: AP)

 

NO LAUGHING MATTER: Earth's ozone layer was rescued from a death spiral in 1987 by the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to limit emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals like CFCs, but it may be in trouble again. NOAA researchers report today in the journal Science that nitrous oxide — better known to dental patients and wayward slackers as laughing gas — is emerging as the No. 1 artificial cause of ozone loss. "Right now, nitrous oxide is the most important ozone-depleting gas that is emitted," says the study's lead author. "It will continue to be so unless something is done." N2O is released naturally as bacteria digest nitrogen in soil or water, but humans are adding an extra dose thanks to the breakdown of fertilizers, sewage and the burning of fossil fuels. (Sources: New York Times, New Scientist)

 

STICKY SITUATION: Honeybees have been dying and disappearing across the United States for several years, and scientists are just beginning to piece together the puzzle. Researchers announced earlier this week that affected bees had chunks of ribosomal DNA in their stomachs — a sign that they caught DNA-eating viruses, possibly from the invasive varroa mite. Another research team reported Thursday that high-fructose corn syrup, which is often fed to commercial honeybees to boost reproduction and honey-making, produces potentially dangerous amounts of a toxic substance when it's exposed to heat. While the rate of colony collapse disorder has slowed lately, it's still a major problem — the kind that only a tongue-in-cheek rap video can solve. Funded by ice-cream maker Häagen-Daaz, which uses a lot of honey, five brothers produced the following video to build up buzz over the plight of the honeybee. (Sources: ScienceDaily, Huffington Post)

 

 

— Russell McLendon