Researchers develop rapid method to measure carbon footprints

ScienceDaily (Sep. 13, 2012) ? Researchers have developed new software that can rapidly calculate the carbon footprints of thousands of products simultaneously, a process that up to now has been time consuming and expensive. The methodology should help companies to accurately label products, and to design ways to reduce their environmental impacts, said Christoph Meinrenken, the project's leader and associate research scientist at Columbia University's Earth Institute and Columbia Engineering. A new study, published online in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, describes the methodology.

The project is the result of a collaboration between the institute's Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy and PepsiCo, Inc. Its original aim was to evaluate and help standardize PepsiCo's calculations ofthe amount of carbon dioxide emitted when a product is made, packaged, distributed and disposed of. Started in 2007, it resulted in the first U.S. carbon footprint label certified by an impartial third party, for Tropicana orange juice. PepsiCo has been pilot-testing the methodology for other uses since 2011.

Meinrenken and his team used a life-cycle-analysis database--a tool used to assess the environmental impact of a product--that covered 1,137 PepsiCo products. They then developed three new techniques that work together, enabling them to calculate thousands of footprints within minutes, with minimal user input. The key component was a model that generates estimated emission factors for materials, eliminating manual mapping of a product's ingredients and packaging materials. Meinrenken said the automatically generated factors enable non-experts "to calculate approximate carbon footprints and alleviate resource constraints for companies embarking on large-scale product carbon footprinting." He said the software complies with guidelines sponsored by the nonprofit World Resources Institute, which provides standards against which carbon footprints can be audited.

Up until now, life-cycle-analysis has mostly been performed one product at a time. This imposes large requirements for personnel, expertise, and time, and few companies have enough employees with specialized expertise. Meinrenken said that some have tried to overcome this bottleneck by reverting to aggregate data and calculations, but they usually miss out on the microscopic level of detail that a proper analysis requires.

The researchers' approach was inspired by fields outside environmental science, Meinrenken said. "At companies like Facebook or Netflix, engineers employ statistical wizardry to mine vast datasets and essentially teach computers to predict, for instance, who will like a particular movie," he said. He used similar methods to mine detailed product and supply chain data. "For an environmental engineer, using such data to estimate how much the environment will 'like' certain products and services is especially rewarding," he said. "Consumers will be able to make more informed choices." The information can also help companies design and assess ways to lessen products' impacts, he said.

Al Halvorsen, senior director of sustainability at PepsiCo, said, "The newly developed software promises to not only save time and money for companies like PepsiCo, but also to provide fresh insights into how companies measure, manage, and reduce their carbon footprint in the future."

Klaus Lackner, director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, said, "Fast carbon footprinting is a great example of how academic methodologies [coupled] with modern data processing and statistical tools can be brought to life and unlock their power in the real world." Meinrenken's team is now looking at transferring the methodology from carbon to other arenas, such as water use.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Earth Institute at Columbia University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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. Christoph J. Meinrenken, Scott M. Kaufman, Siddharth Ramesh, Klaus S. Lackner. Fast Carbon Footprinting for Large Product Portfolios. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 2012; DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2012.00463.x

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/2yazD27foBo/120913151132.htm

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Looking at you: Face genes identified

Friday, September 14, 2012

Monozygotic twins have almost identical faces and siblings usually have more similar faces than unrelated people, implying that genes play a major role in the appearance of the human face. However, almost nothing is known about the genes responsible for facial morphology in humans.

This study, carried out on behalf of the International Visible Trait Genetics (VisiGen) Consortium, used head magnetic resonance images together with portrait photographs to map facial landmarks, from which facial distances were estimated. The researchers then applied a genome-wide association (GWA) approach, with independent replication, to finding DNA variants involved in facial shapes in almost 10,000 individuals.

Three of the five genes identified have been implicated previously by other approaches in vertebrate craniofacial development and disease; of these three, one was reported to be involved in facial morphology in a GWA study on children published earlier this year. The remaining two genes potentially represent completely new players in the molecular networks governing facial development.

Professor Manfred Kayser from the Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, the leading author of the study, said: "These are exciting first results that mark the beginning of the genetic understanding of human facial morphology. Perhaps some time it will be possible to draw a phantom portrait of a person solely from his or her DNA left behind, which provides interesting applications such as in forensics. We already can predict from DNA certain eye and hair colours with quite high accuracies."

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Liu F, van der Lijn F, Schurmann C, Zhu G, Chakravarty MM, et al. (2012) A Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Five Loci Influencing Facial Morphology in Europeans. PLoS Genet 8(9): e1002932.doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002932

Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org

Thanks to Public Library of Science for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/123509/Looking_at_you__Face_genes_identified_

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Spherical Wheel Motorcycle Makes It Easier To Dangerously Weave Through Traffic [Design]

Taking their inspiration from the spherical wheeled Audi RSQ concept seen in the Will Smith film, I, Robot, a group of students at the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering at San Jose State University have created a similar concept, but with just two wheels. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/UohRykFR_vk/spherical-wheel-motorcycle-makes-it-easier-to-dangerously-weave-through-traffic

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Obama Being Pressed to Respond on Climate

A large group of Democratic donors is threatening to withhold money from President Obama?s reelection campaign unless he breaks his silence on climate change and responds directly to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney?s denigration of the issue at the Republican National Convention last week.

The donors want Obama to reject the advice of his campaign operatives and affirm his support for addressing climate change in his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, said Betsy Taylor, a Democratic strategist and president of Breakthrough Strategies & Solutions.

?We?ve been working on behalf of a network of about 100 political donors who maxed out to the Obama campaign in 2008, and only about 25 percent have maxed out this election cycle,? Taylor said. ?The whole focus has been on elevating the climate issue. We do feel that it?s imperative that the president respond to Mitt Romney?s mocking and that he do so forcefully with a clear statement.?

In his acceptance speech at the Republican convention last week, Romney drew cheers from the delegates when he ridiculed Obama?s stance on climate change. ?President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet,? Romney said. ?My promise is to help you and your family.?

Obama has been largely mum on the issue of climate change in 2012 after promising to aggressively tackle the problem in his 2008 campaign. This year, in an election focused on the economy, Republicans have attacked any efforts to address climate change as ?job-killing regulations? and the White House has been reluctant to respond, despite recent polls showing most voters support action on climate change.

Taylor criticized the Obama campaign?s strategy on the issue. ?I think the president is getting very bad counsel,? she said. ?The people surrounding the president are giving him old advice. It?s not taking into account the new polling that shows people are considering a drought worse than anything we?ve seen in 50 years, wildfires raging through the Midwest?this isn?t speculative, this is science.

?His failure to talk about climate change?the silence is staggering in the wake of this summer?s extreme weather,? Taylor said. ?If he fails to stand up in the face of the mocking of the Republican convention, he will not get the kind of support he needs from independents, young people, and his donors.?

A poll conducted in 10 swing states last month by Yale University found that 55 percent of voters will consider candidates? views on global warming when deciding how to vote, and that 88 percent support U.S. action on climate change even if it has economic costs.

The Yale survey also found that 84 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of independent voters, and 67 percent of Republicans support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant. The poll concluded that being ?pro-climate? wins votes among Democrats and independents, and has little negative impact with Republican voters.

Other polls this year also have found that most Americans believe global temperatures are rising and weather patterns have become more unstable in recent years. An April Gallup poll found majority support for stricter pollution standards, government clean-energy efforts, and controls on greenhouse-gas emissions.

?Based on what I?ve seen of the polls, and of the campaigns, I?m perplexed,? said Edward Maibach, a co-author of the Yale study. ?Climate change does not appear to be the radioactive issue that politicians often believe it is. It?s very much in the president?s interest to take a pro-climate stance, because it will win him votes.... For Republicans, that stance will alienate some in their own party, but they?ll win as many independent voters, so it?s a wash.?

Maibach said that Romney?s remarks on climate change may come back to haunt him. ?Mocking climate change or taking an anti-climate stance plays to the extreme conservative base,? he said. ?If the point is to rally the base, then belittling the notion that the climate is changing is effective. But it has a cost. It will likely lose you votes that you need to get elected from independents in the middle.?

Both campaigns and their surrogates declined to answer questions about the polls on climate change. But Obama?s campaign advisers said the script of his Thursday speech remains a work in progress, and it?s an open question as to whether climate change will be mentioned.

There are signs that Obama is starting to elevate the issue of climate change. In three speeches last week, he highlighted his administration?s new fuel-economy standards, which require automakers to build cars with an average fuel economy of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. ?That will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by a level roughly equivalent to a year?s worth of emissions from all the cars in the world,? he told audiences in Iowa, Colorado, and Virginia?each time to applause.

Strategists from both parties say that the reason the GOP has veered so hard to the right on energy and climate issues is the influx of new spending by outside groups and super PACs, many of which have ties to fossil-fuel companies that oppose climate regulations. One of the most influential groups is Americans for Prosperity, backed by energy conglomerate Koch Industries.

The president of Americans for Prosperity, Tim Phillips, spoke with National Journal by phone from a bus in North Carolina, where the group is on a tour highlighting ?Obama?s Failing Agenda.?

?There?s no question? that Romney?s remarks will resonate positively with voters, Phillips said. ?It?s no wonder the president is silent on this. They know what we know. It?s not something the American public supports.?

It?s expected that both candidates will have to answer questions on climate change during the presidential debates, the first of which is scheduled for Oct. 3 in Denver. Some scientists say that Colorado, which has been hit by swarms of pine beetles and devastating wildfires this summer, has seen?one of the earliest and most visible impacts of climate change in the U.S.

?The issue could be extra-salient in Colorado and at the Denver debate, where related issues have been hot (pun intended),? wrote Colorado-based Republican strategist Mark McKinnon in an e-mail to National Journal.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-being-pressed-respond-climate-193544755--politics.html

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Scientists design molecule that reverses some fragile X syndrome defects

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Scientists on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have designed a compound that shows promise as a potential therapy for one of the diseases closely linked to fragile X syndrome, a genetic condition that causes mental retardation, infertility, and memory impairment, and is the only known single-gene cause of autism.

The study, published online ahead of print in the journal ACS Chemical Biology September 4, 2012, focuses on tremor ataxia syndrome, which usually affects men over the age of 50 and results in Parkinson's like-symptoms?trembling, balance problems, muscle rigidity, as well as some neurological difficulties, including short-term memory loss and severe mood swings.

With fragile X syndrome, tremor ataxia syndrome, and related diseases, the root of the problem is a structural motif known as an "expanded triplet repeat"?in which a series of three nucleotides are repeated more times than normal in the genetic code of affected individuals. This defect, located in the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene, causes serious problems with the processing of RNA.

"While there is an abundance of potential RNA drug targets in disease, no one has any idea how to identify or design small molecules to target these RNAs," said Mathew Disney, a Scripps Research associate professor who led the study. "We have designed a compound capable of targeting the right RNA and reversing the defects that cause fragile X-associated tremor ataxia."

Preventing Havoc

In tremor ataxia syndrome, the expanded triplet repeat leads to the expression of aberrant proteins that wreak widespread havoc. The repeats actually force the normal proteins that regulate RNA splicing?necessary for production of the right kind of proteins?into hiding.

The compound designed by Disney and his colleagues not only improves the RNA splicing process, but also minimizes the ability of repeats to wreak havoc on a cell.

"It stops the repeat-associated defects in cell culture," Disney said, "and at fairly high concentrations, it completely reverses the defects. More importantly, the compound is non-toxic to the cells. It looks like a very good candidate for development, but we're still in the early stages of testing."

Overall, this study reinforces Disney's earlier findings showing it is possible to identify and develop small molecules that target these traditionally recalcitrant RNA defects. In March of this year, Disney published a study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society that described a small molecule that inhibited defects in myotonic dystrophy type 1 RNA in both cellular and animal models of disease.

"We've gotten very good at targeting RNA with small molecules, something a lot of people said couldn't be done," Disney pointed out. "Our approach is evolving into a general method that can be used to target any disease that is associated with an RNA, including, perhaps, fragile X syndrome itself."

The new compound also works as a probe to better understand how these repeats cause fragile X syndrome and how they contribute to tremor ataxia, Disney added.

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Scripps Research Institute: http://www.scripps.edu

Thanks to Scripps Research Institute for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/123223/Scientists_design_molecule_that_reverses_some_fragile_X_syndrome_defects

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Barker 'fine' with exclusion from 'Price' special

FILE - In this June 6, 2007 file photo shows game show host Bob Barker gesturing during the taping of his final episode of "The Price Is Right" in Los Angeles. The 40th anniversary special of the popular daytime game show aired Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 on CBS. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)

FILE - In this June 6, 2007 file photo shows game show host Bob Barker gesturing during the taping of his final episode of "The Price Is Right" in Los Angeles. The 40th anniversary special of the popular daytime game show aired Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 on CBS. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)

FILE - In this June 6, 2007 file photo shows game show host Bob Barker gesturing during the taping of his final episode of "The Price Is Right" in Los Angeles. The 40th anniversary special of the popular daytime game show aired Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012 on CBS. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Bob Barker hosted "The Price Is Right" for 35 years, but he wasn't invited to participate in the game show's 40th anniversary special.

The 88-year-old TV personality says the show's producers "chose to ignore me, which is fine."

"They haven't even offered me a DVD," Barker said in an interview Tuesday. Show producers had no comment.

The 40th anniversary special episode aired Tuesday morning and featured returning contestants from the past 40 years. Barker is shown in several clips but was not invited to appear on the program or attend the taping.

Barker announced his retirement in 2006 and hosted his final show in 2007. He was replaced by Drew Carey.

Barker made a special appearance on the show ? which is taped at CBS' Bob Barker Theater ? in 2009.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-09-04-People-Bob%20Barker/id-d6ec56bf26d84926bb9e64655db733c2

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