REALscience » Video

Marine Biologists Find New Species

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:28:16 +0000

Marine biologists believe they have discovered several new species of underwater creatures, including sponges, corals and sea stars

Microsoft Imagine Cup Rewards Students Who Solve Global Problems

Michael Bradbury — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:45:05 +0000

The Imagine Cup, now in its eighth year, encourages high school and university students around the world to develop software aiming to solve global problems.

Team Skeek from Thailand took home the top prize for software design for creating a program that translates text into sign language using speech and facial recognition. Their application eyeFeel lets hearing impaired people communicate using a visual augmented reality environment.

Team Skeek Wins Top Prize at Imagine Cup, photo courtesy of Microsoft

SmarterME from Taiwan won the embedded development category with a device that targets the biggest energy-suckers in the home. The application lets homeowners see the appliances that use the most power and raise the electric bill.

By Implication from the Philippines won in game design for an X-Box enabled game that allows players to perform human intelligence tasks and gets young people interested in volunteering. It uses an X-Box controller and social media to encourage youth to help battle some of the worlds biggest problems, ranging from poverty to environmental disasters.

The game Wildfire was inspired byTyphoon Ketsana, a devastating storm that ravaged the island nation.

The winning team in each of the five categories took home $25,000. The other winners were:

WeiQiu Wen from China, IT Challenge
Mirror Vita from Taiwan, Digital Media
Jigga-Dongxi from Taiwan, Envisioning 2020 Award
Xormis from Jamaica, Interoperability Award
Wanna Be Alice from Korea, Next Generation Web Award
Team Note-Taker from the United States, Touch and Tablet Accessibility Award
Beastware from the United States, Windows Phone 7 Rockstar Award
Rhea from Poland, Internet Explorer 8 Award

Scientists Simulate BP Oil Spill Day 360

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:16:24 +0000

Simulation of BP Oil Spill, Day 360, courtesy of University of Hawaii

University of Hawaii scientists Researchers Axel Timmermann and Fabian Schloesser have been trying to answer a question that few will even dare to ask. They want to how not if but when the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will round the tip of Florida and race up the east coast, polluting beaches and destroying fisheries along the Atlantic seaboard.

Their answer may frighten many. After some serious number crunching and based on historical ocean current movement, they determined that the entire eastern shoreline of the U.S. will see signs of the BP oil spill within the next three months. And a year from he accident — April 20, 2011 — the oil will stretch across the Gulf of Mexico, up the Atlantic and be half way to Europe.

“After one year, about 20 percent of the particles initially released at the Deepwater Horizon location have been transported through the Straits of Florida and into the open Atlantic.” — Axel Timmermann, University of Hawaii at Manoa oceanographer

The School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology Computer Simulation

Disclaimer: The dispersal of the particles does not capture such effects as oil coagulation, formation of tar balls, chemical and microbial degradation. Computed surface concentrations relative to the actual spill may therefore be overestimated. The animation, thus, is not a detailed, specific prediction, but rather a scenario that could help guide research and mitigation efforts.

This simulation is also based on the estimated flow of oil from the spill of 50,000 barrels a day for 150 days.

Scientists Study Gulf Oil Spill Impact on Marine Life

Michael Bradbury — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:35:35 +0000

University of Florida’s Neil Hammerschlag is studying whether sharks along the Gulf Coast of Florida can sense oil and move away from it.

Hurley the hammerhead shark disappeared from satellite tracking two days after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as researchers were studying migration patterns of these misunderstood fish.

Now when the sharks for this study are caught and tagged, a tissue and blood sample is also taken and tested for hydrocarbons to see if they are absorbing any oil from the ongoing BP oil disaster.

There is likely to be enough work keeping researchers busy studying the effects of oil on sharks for decades.

A marine biologist from the National Aquarium in Baltimore is heading to Florida to study the potential impact of the BP oil spill near Sarasota.

National Aquarium’s Erik Rifkin wants to study the ecological disaster that the BP oil spill caused. He’s joined forces with scientists from Johns Hopkins and the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida.

The team will be deploying 100 devices to detect water pollution near Sarasota, Florida, an area that has not been affected by the oil spill yet. He says positioning the collectors there will help establish a baseline before the oil reaches that area. That way they can measure the impact if and when the oil does flow that way.

Even NASA is getting in on the animal cleanup action. Besides providing satellite images to help contain surface oil as it nears barrier islands near Louisiana, the first sea turtle hatchlings whose eggs were evacuated from the Gulf Coast oil spill to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center have been released into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Virginia Aquarium has been sending its staff down to New Orleans to help clean oil off stranded sea turtles. The aquarium’s stranding team is getting a first-hand look at the effects of oil on the keystone species of sea turtles.

For now members of the team are going to the turtles but soon the turtles may go to the Virginia Aquarium for rehabilitation.

“We expect to be dealing with the after effects of this for well over a year.” — Mark Swingle, Virginia Aquarium director of research and conservation

But it’s not just scientists and citizen scientists who are concerned about the effects of oil on marine life.

Even Federal Express is helping out.

The shipping company will work with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to ship up to 70,000 loggerhead sea turtle eggs from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic coast this summer, in an effort to move the eggs to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.

BP Replaces Oil Cap and Runs Pressure Tests to Stop Oil Leak

Michael Bradbury — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:03:59 +0000

With a tight new cap freshly installed on its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, BP planned gradual tests starting Tuesday to see if the device can stop oil from pouring into the sea for the first time in nearly three months.

The next step will be to slowly close the valves on that cap to see if it can withstand the pressure of the oil pushing out of the seabed.

“The goal is to slowly close that down and understand the changes in pressure.” — National Incident Commander Admiral Thad Allen

Some scientists, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu and U.S. Geological Survey’s Marcia McNutt are worried that when the new cap is tightly fitted, the pressure of oil trying to escape will cause tiny ruptures in the pipeline and cause oil to leak through rock formations in the seabed.

Update

A pivotal moment in the Gulf oil crisis hit an unexpected snag Tuesday evening when officials announced they needed more time before they could begin choking off the geyser of crude at the bottom of the sea.

Oil Gushes Freely for Two Days

Michael Bradbury — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:47:36 +0000

Robotic submarines removed the cap from the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, beginning a period of at least two days when oil will flow freely into the sea.

And BP isn’t convinced that putting the new Top Hat Number 10 cap on the leaking wellhead will solve the problem. If the new cap fails, the company is prepared to go to Plan B — placing a Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) cap on the damaged riser.

BP spokesman Mark Proegler told the Associated Press that he cap was pulled off Saturday so workers could begin clamping on a dome that can capture more of the oil and funnel it up to collection ships on the surface.

This move makes the worst oil spill in U.S. history even worse — at least until the new containment dome can be fitted, sometime early this week.

But BP is confident by removing the leaking cap and replacing it with a one that fits more tightly, less oil will leak into the Gulf as drilling on the relief well continues.

“Over the next two weeks or so we’ll get to about 60,000-80,000 barrels a day of containment.”– BP Senior Vice President Kent Wells

Capping the BP Oil Leak on the Horizon

Michael Bradbury — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 23:11:14 +0000

The BP oil leak could be completely contained as early as Monday if a new, tighter cap can be fitted over the blown-out well, the government official in charge of the crisis said Friday in some of the most encouraging news to come out of the Gulf in the two and half months since the disaster struck.

After several failures to cap the leaking oil gusher 5,000 feet below the Gulf of Mexico, BP is going to install a new cap, known as Top Hat Number 10 this weekend, in an effort to contain the oil spewing into the gulf.

Since the spill on April 20, underwater robots have done most of the heavy lifting at these depths. They will cut the damaged cap and replace it with the new 75-ton solution. While this will contain most of the oil, it will not stop the leak. The leak will stop when the oil company completes drilling of a relief well, sometime in early August.

A 175-foot low-flying blimp also joined the fight this week. It will seek out oily hotspots from the air so a new ship with actor Kevin Costner’s oil from water separation device can start cleaning up the surface of the Gulf.

Still 1.5-2.5 million gallons per day continue leaking leaking from the Horizon Deepwater oil disaster. When the robots uncap the well the oil and gas will rush into the gulf at full force –which scientists estimate at around 3.4 million gallons per day — until the new cap can be placed, hopefully by July 12.

“Everything done at that site is very much harder than anyone expects,” he said. Overton said putting on the new cap carries risks: “Is replacing the cap going to do more damage than leaving it in place, or are you going to cause problems that you can’t take care of?” — Louisiana State University environmental sciences professor Ed Overton

Mummies of World Unwrapped and Ready to Tour

Michael Bradbury — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:53:45 +0000

The “Mummies of the World” exhibit opens in Los Angeles featuring 150 specimens of human and animal remains and related artifacts from across the globe.

Mummy Science

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center partnered with the German Mummy Project to perform CT scans of the mummies included in the exhibition.

“If the mummy is from a culture where it is bandaged or wrapped in layers of textiles, it is always interesting to see what it under the wrappings.” — Heather Gill-Robinson, scientific curator for the German Mummy Project

Russian Supply Capsule Misses International Space Station

Michael Bradbury — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 23:15:51 +0000

An unmanned Russian space capsule carrying supplies to the International Space Station failed in a docking attempt. As a result, NASA says the Progress vehicle continued on its trajectory and glided safely past the space station.

At the time of the communication loss, the vehicle was approximately 3 km from the station. The unexpected cancellation was related to the KURS automated docking system. Russian ground teams are still analyzing data.

The ground team will attempt another docking on July 4.

Put Your Face in Space

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 20:34:09 +0000

NASA is giving anyone interested the opportunity to send a picture into space on one of the last two space shuttle missions. Go to the Face in Space website to upload an electronic picture to fly with astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery’s STS-133 mission or shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 mission.

“The Space Shuttle Program belongs to the public, and we are excited when we can provide an opportunity for people to share the adventure of our missions.” — Space Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon

Discovery and Endeavour’s missions are the final two flights remaining before the space shuttle fleet is retired. Discovery is scheduled to fly on November 1 and Endeavour will end the 28-year shuttle program with its final flight on February 26, 2011.

2010: A Space Policy

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:36:41 +0000

President Obama unveiled his new plan(PDF) for NASA. After scrapping the manned space program Constellation last fall the President pushed back plans to return to the moon and send a manned mission to Mars. This announcement and policy reversal struck some stargazers and scientists as disappointing.

The President’s plan reverses former President Bush’s plan for a new moon shot and focuses on private space flight, international cooperation and near-earth environmental observation.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says the new space policy will be good for business and inspire new jobs in the burgeoning private space industry.

“This policy is about energizing competitive domestic industries through innovation, entrepreneurship and technological leadership in space. It recognizes the sea changes occurring in the space community, with federal budgets tightening at the same time that commercial space capabilities and markets are gaining momentum.”– Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke

The new plan includes robotic probes to the sun, a manned mission to an asteroid and to Mars. It also puts new emphasis on near-Earth monitoring satellites to study climate and other environmental changes.

“Fifty years after the creation of NASA, our goal is no longer just a destination to reach. Our goal is the capacity for people to work and learn and operate and live safely beyond the Earth for extended periods of time, ultimately in ways that are more sustainable and even indefinite. And in fulfilling this task, we will not only extend humanity’s reach in space—we will strengthen America’s leadership here on Earth.”—President Barack Obama

Falcon Rocket, courtesy of SpaceX

Goals for Space Science, Exploration, and Discovery

The Administrator of NASA shall:
•Set far-reaching exploration milestones. By 2025, begin crewed missions beyond the moon, including sending humans to an asteroid. By the mid-2030s, send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth

•Continue the operation of the International Space Station (ISS), in cooperation with its international
partners, likely to 2020 or beyond, and expand efforts to: utilize the ISS for scientific, technological, commercial, diplomatic, and educational purposes; support activities requiring the unique attributes of humans in space; serve as a continuous human presence in Earth orbit; and support future objectives in human space exploration

•Seek partnerships with the private sector to enable safe, reliable, and cost-effective commercial spaceflight capabilities and services for the transport of crew and cargo to and from the ISS

•Implement a new space technology development and test program, working with industry, academia, and international partners to build, fly, and test several key technologies that can increase the capabilities, decrease the costs, and expand the opportunities for future space activities

•Conduct research and development in support of next-generation launch systems, including new U.S. rocket engine technologies

•Maintain a sustained robotic presence in the solar system to: conduct scientific investigations of other planetary bodies; demonstrate new technologies; and scout locations for future human missions

•Continue a strong program of space science for observations, research, and analysis of our Sun, solar system, and universe to enhance knowledge of the cosmos, further our understanding of fundamental natural and physical sciences, understand the conditions that may support the development of life, and search for planetary bodies and Earth-like planets in orbit around other stars

•Pursue capabilities, in cooperation with other departments, agencies, and commercial partners,
to detect, track, catalog, and characterize near-Earth objects to reduce the risk of harm to humans from an unexpected impact on our planet and to identify potentially resource-rich planetary objects.

BP Spins Kevin Costner Oil-Separating Centrifuge into Action

Michael Bradbury — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:44:25 +0000

“I’ve been to all the oil spill conferences around he country and all I see are booms and the latest helicopter. But I’ve never seen one machine that deals with getting the oil out. That’s me.” — Kevin Costner

Actor Kevin Costner was visibly frustrated when he testified before Congress earlier this month about the lack of ingenuity he was seeing when it comes to cleaning up the Horizon Deepwater oil spill which began on April 20. His $24 million idea uses a centrifuge to suck in polluted water and separate the oil then spit out the cleaned seawater.

And this week BP has signed on to use 32 of Costner’s devices — which can unmix oil and water at a rate of up to 200 gallons per machine per minute — to help clean up some of the oil that is polluting the Gulf of Mexico.

“It may seem an unlikely scenario that I’m the one delivering this technology at this moment in time. but from where I’m sitting it’s equally inconceivable that these machines are not already in place.” — Kevin Costner

Costner has been developing his centrifuge technology over the past 15 years, after watchingthe devastation following the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989.

Physicist Michio Kaku talked to CBS News about Costner’s solution and other innovations in late May.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

“In chemistry class we learned that oil and water don’t mix. Everybody knows that. But that’s not really true.” — Physicist Michio Kaku

Small Quake Rocks Cleveland

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:55:27 +0000

A magnitude 3 earthquake sent a small scare through northern Ohio yesterday. The quake measuring a 5.5 on the Richter Scale struck on the Ontario-Quebec border near Ottawa, Ontario just before 2:00 p.m. on June 23. The Cleveland Museum of Natural History captured the event on its seismograph.

This rare east coast quake shook buildings in Toronto, Montreal, Buffalo and upstate New York. No damage was reported but people ran into the streets, their nerves visibly rattled.

BP Flow Rate Technical Panelist Says Scientists Need Data Not Speculation

Michael Bradbury — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:27:12 +0000

Over the last few weeks, scientists — including those on the government’s Flow Rate Technical Panel — have been unable to pinpoint how many gallons of oil are flooding the Gulf of Mexico.

Ira Leifer who is part of a 12-scientist panel guiding the Obama administration as it tries to get a handle on how much oil is flowing from the ruptured well 5,000 feet below the surface in the nation’s worst environmental disaster.

For several weeks BP estimated that about 1,000 barrels of oil a day were leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. Then that number started to rise as the days wore on. In the last several weeks, the official number has been raised to 40,000 barrels a day. But the estimate does have a higher range — of 100,000 barrels a day, which Dr. Leifer says is BP’s worst case scenario. And he sees no reason to doubt those numbers.

Unfortunately scientists do not have all the data they need to take good measurements. So far BP has supplied the technical panel with 45 minutes of video and a few other documents but not enough data to determine how much oil is really flowing.

“We do not know what was happening five minutes before. We do not know what was happening five minutes afterwards.” — Ira Leifer, UC Santa Barbara

Add to that the complication that this is not a standard well. Besides the pressure differentials at this great depth, this well consists of a pipe punched into a geologic formation, which means the flow rate can fluctuate over time.

This resevoir is massive. It could easily flow that kind of oil for the next 20 or 30 years if it was left to go unattended. — Ira Leifer

100,000 barrels of oil is the equivalent of 4.2 million gallons.

Dr. Leifer is quick to point out that there is no way to say for sure that is how much oil is dumping into the Gulf but that is because he and other scientists need more data.

Even as scientists been creating and revising flow rate estimates for weeks, a new undated BP internal document was released this week showing that the company placed its worst case scenario at 100,000 barrels of oil a day.

PBS has created a Leak Meter to monitor the flow of oil but it needs to start with the right data to be accurate (numbers below are gross estimate)

John Glenn Wants To Keep Shuttles Flying

Michael Bradbury — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:22:06 +0000

America’s first hero astronaut is calling on the Obama administration to reverse course and keep NASA’s space shuttle program alive. John Glenn says retiring Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor later this year would ground U.S. manned space flight for at least a decade.

“Why terminate a perfectly good system that has been made more safe and reliable through many years of development? And the shuttles are not worn out. Far from it.” — Former senator and astronaut John Glenn

The new manned space program called Constellation is still years away. Glenn joins astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in asking President Obama to keep the shuttle program going.

Mystery of Hole Punch Clouds Explained

Michael Bradbury — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:49:08 +0000

New research from the National Center for Atmospheric Research has solved the mystery of so-called hole punch clouds. As turboprop and jet aircraft climb or descend under certain atmospheric conditions, they can inadvertently seed mid-level clouds and cause narrow bands of snow or rain to develop and fall to the ground.

“Any time aircraft fly through these specific conditions, they are altering the clouds in a way that can result in enhanced precipitation nearby.” — Andrew Heymsfield, NCAR scientist

Dr. Heymsfield flew through a hole punched cloud and realized that the air is forced back as a plane flies through it and cools rapidly, forming ice crystals. This can lead to bands of airplane-induces snow under the right conditions.

Ocean Watch Returns after Circumnavigating the Americas

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:17:21 +0000

pacsci on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

After a 13-month journey around North and South America the crew of Ocean Watch is returning to Seattle today. They have sailed around the Americas raising awareness about ocean health and conducting a few science experiments along the way.

Join the conversation here tomorrow as the crew of Ocean Watch participates the Marine Health Symposium at University of Washington in Seattle. Much of the symposium will be live-streamed from 1:00-5:30 p.m. PDT.

President Obama Addresses Nation from the Oval Office About the BP Oil Spill

Michael Bradbury — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:14:24 +0000

Full Transcript of President Obama’s speech, “A Faith in the Future that Sustains us as a People”

President Obama addressed the nation last night, assuring all Americans that he is working hard, with scientists, engineers, oil company executives and 30,000 volunteers and aid workers to help stop and clean up the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from the April 20 BP Horizon Deepwater oil rig explosion. The President called this the greatest environmental disaster in the history of the United States of America.

That’s why just after the rig sank, I assembled a team of our nation’s best scientists and engineers to tackle this challenge — a team led by Dr. Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and our nation’s Secretary of Energy. Scientists at our national labs and experts from academia and other oil companies have also provided ideas and advice.

He talked about the cleanup effort, already underway, to prevent oil from reaching beaches and shorelines along Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Because of our efforts, millions of gallons of oil have already been removed from the water through burning, skimming and other collection methods. Over five and a half million feet of boom has been laid across the water to block and absorb the approaching oil. We’ve approved the construction of new barrier islands in Louisiana to try to stop the oil before it reaches the shore, and we’re working with Alabama, Mississippi and Florida to implement creative approaches to their unique coastlines.

President Obama asked Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the Navy to lead the development of the Gulf Coast Restoration Plan.

The plan will be designed by states, local communities, tribes, fishermen, businesses, conservationists and other Gulf residents.

To ensure a disaster like this doesn’t happen again, the President has launched an investigation to find out why this oil spill happened. After issuing permits for experimental offshore drilling, he has placed a six-month moratorium on offshore drilling until he is satisfied that this type of deep-oil extraction can be done safely.

And so I’ve established a National Commission to understand the causes of this disaster and offer recommendations on what additional safety and environmental standards we need to put in place.

On Monday, President Obama appointed members of the new BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Commission, which consists of scientists, academics and environmental experts.

They are:

Frances Beinecke

Don Boesch

Terry D. Garcia

Dr. Cherry Murray

Fran Ulmer

President Obama took the opportunity the BP oil spill afforded to make a plea for all Americans to band together to wean ourselves off fossil fuels and to innovate toward a new alternative energy future.

So I’m happy to look at other ideas and approaches from either party -– as long they seriously tackle our addiction to fossil fuels. Some have suggested raising efficiency standards in our buildings like we did in our cars and trucks. Some believe we should set standards to ensure that more of our electricity comes from wind and solar power. Others wonder why the energy industry only spends a fraction of what the high-tech industry does on research and development -– and want to rapidly boost our investments in such research and development.

The President challenged the nation to turn this tragedy into an opportunity to do something unexpected and very difficult to secure a brighter energy future and at the same time reduce the effects of climate change.

But the one approach I will not accept is inaction. The one answer I will not settle for is the idea that this challenge is somehow too big and too difficult to meet. You know, the same thing was said about our ability to produce enough planes and tanks in World War II. The same thing was said about our ability to harness the science and technology to land a man safely on the surface of the moon. And yet, time and again, we have refused to settle for the paltry limits of conventional wisdom.

Oil-eating Microbes Could Help in Gulf Disaster

Michael Bradbury — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 23:41:34 +0000

A small bioremediation company in San Antonio is offering the use of its oil-eating microbes to help reduce the impact of the Horizon Deepwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The government is also looking for credible suggestions to sop up oil on facebook.

Health Concerns Rise Over Use of Oil Dispersant Corexit

Michael Bradbury — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:56:55 +0000

Seven Louisiana fishermen reported getting sick after exposure to the oil dispersant that is being used to thin the oil slick on the Gulf of Mexico.

Nalco, the company that makes Corexit, the dispersant used after the April 20 Horizon Deepwater oil spill, says it has faith in its product. It insists that the product is biodegradable and that when it breaks down into tiny droplets, microscopic organisms then eat the oil and dispersant, cleaning the ocean in the process.

“The use of COREXIT dispersants to break up the oil in the Gulf of Mexico has been widely acknowledged by government officials as a safe, effective and proven response. Its ingredients rapidly biodegrade, do not bio-accumulate and are commonly found in popular household products. And because the dispersant works by spreading oil particles evenly through the water column, it is extremely unlikely that individuals along the Gulf Coast would come into contact with it.” — Nalco Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Manian Ramesh

But after health concerns began emerging the EPA is trying to curb the use of Corexit. To date, BP has sprayed more than one million gallons of the dispersant to prevent a massive oil slick from reaching the shorelines of the gulf states.

Scientists Struggle To Narrow Oil Leak Estimate

Michael Bradbury — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:10:37 +0000

British Petroleum’s oil leak is dumping an Exxon Valdez worth of oil into the Gulf of Mexico every 8-10 days, according to new estimates by scientists who are watching the black geyser a mile beneath the surface very closely.
New estimates show the damaged well leaking twice as much oil as previously estimated but no one knows for sure.

Even scientists disagree–ranging from 12,000-50,000 barrels of oil a day. The one thing they do agree on is that BP has been grossly underestimating the damage so far.

On June 3, University of Washington scientists as part of a federal panel of experts placed the leak at 12,000-19,000 barrels a day before BP cut the riser pipe and capped it. Other scientists think those estimates are too conservative, placing the leak at between 25,000 and 50,000 barrels a day. But the new official estimate from the U.S. Geological Survey is somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 barrels of oil, much higher than BP’s original estimate of 5,000 barrels of oil a day.

The Washington Post has a story today about the varied estimates and explains why it is important to find out how much oil has polluted the Gulf of Mexico.

Reuters has the story as Jon Decker reports.

Oceanographers Join the Oil Spill Fight with Robot Subs

Michael Bradbury — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:41:25 +0000

An autonomous underwater vehicle from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute just returned from gathering important data about the gulf Oil spill as scientists begin to help figure out how much oil is continuing to leak day by day and what’s happening almost a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

BP Cap Collects Oil as Underwater Plumes are Mapped

Michael Bradbury — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:22:39 +0000

BP has begun to have some success in closing the Gulf of Mexico oil leak, CBC’s David Common reports

Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said the newly installed wellhead cap is now containing about 462,000 gallons of oil a day from leaking into the Gulf. The new cap is slowing the leak, up from about 441,000 gallons on Saturday and about 250,000 on Friday.

Officials previously estimated the ruptured pipe is leaking between 500,000 gallons and 1 million gallons a day.

Two University of Washington engineers have helped the U.S. government calculate the latest figures for the amount of oil flowing from pipes into the Gulf of Mexico. Mechanical engineers Alberto Aliseda and James Riley are among 10 academic experts who joined 12 government experts over the past two weeks.

The panel’s estimate, released last Thursday, was 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day. This widely reported number puts the spill to date at twice the volume of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

Oil Spill: BP Fails at Top Kill as Oil Continues to Flow

Michael Bradbury — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:03:04 +0000

The White House warns that oil from the Gulf of Mexico disaster will likely continue leaking until August after BP declares its ‘top kill’ operation a failure, the CBC’s David Common reports.

Editor’s note: Why doesn’t a consortium of structural, ocean and even geo engineers get together and start looking at quick and innovative approaches to stopping what is now the worst oil spill in U.S. history?

BP Starts Top Kill Procedure to Stop Oil Leak

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 27 May 2010 22:21:51 +0000

After over a month of spewing millions of gallons of oil deep into the Gulf of Mexico, BP has begun it’s “top kill” approach which requires jamming mud into the hole created on April 20. The trick is that the pressure of the mud being pushed into the pipe to stem the oil flow must exceed the pressure of the oil pouring out.

Scientists estimate that pressure to be about 5,000 psi (pounds per square inch)–more pressure than a scuba tank. And this procedure may force the oil to find new ways to escape through rock formations or by blowing a new hole in the pipe.

Buy Your Own Dinosaur

Michael Bradbury — Tue, 25 May 2010 22:58:19 +0000

A T-Rex tooth, Woolly Rhino, and Stegadon skull are set to go under the hammer in New York City.

Craig Venter Gives Life to First Synthetic Cell

Michael Bradbury — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:35:52 +0000

The CBC’s science correspondent Bob McDonald puts the world’s first synthetic cell into perspective.

Underwater Video Shows Oil Spewing into Gulf of Mexico

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:16:18 +0000

Five-thousand feet below the oily surface of the Gulf of Mexico a new vantage point at the site of the devastating oil spill shows the unending flow of crude live. Congressman Edwin Markey (D-MA) was tired of the little clips of video BP was releasing following the April 20 oil spill. So he started streaming it live from his congressional website. Here’s the feed to watch the oil spew.

Canadian Beavers Build Dam Visible from Space

Michael Bradbury — Wed, 05 May 2010 22:08:25 +0000

For the last 35 years industrious beavers have been building a wooden masterpiece that can be seen from outer space. Hidden in the wetlands of Northern Alberta, Canada few have seen the big dam up close.

Canadian scientist Jean Thie of EcoInformatics found the giant beaver dam when he was using Google maps as a tool to study the rate of permafrost melting in Canadian wetlands.

NASA Looks for Ways to Mop Up Space Junk

Michael Bradbury — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:08:11 +0000

One New Mexican is looking to clean up space, and NASA recently invited him to share his opinions at a national conference.

Methane Bubbles up from the Arctic

Michael Bradbury — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:00:52 +0000

Researchers at University of Alaska Fairbanks are afraid the permafrost in the Siberian continental shelf is beginning to fail. If it does the trapped methane below will release into the ocean and eventually into the atmosphere. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas — about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Dr. Natalia Shakhova says the concentrations of atmospheric methane measured in the Arctic are the highest in 400,000 years. More research is underway to determine how much methane is capped below the permafrost under the Arctic Ocean so scientists can better understand the near and long term consequences to the sudden release of trapped methane.

University of Alaska Fairbanks Professor Katey Walter Anthony takes us onto a frozen lake in Fairbanks, AK to demonstrate why methane gas has “exploded” onto the climate change scene. DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME.

EPA to Study Oil and Gas “Fracking”

Michael Bradbury — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:12:35 +0000

The Environmental Protection Agency is going to spend $1.9 million to study the practice of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” by the oil and natural gas industry to reach deep natural resources. The process injects water, sand and chemicals deep into the ground to get to buried oil and natural gas pockets.

The EPA will study the effects the process has on human health, water quality and the environment.

Chile’s Quake of the Century

Michael Bradbury — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:42:43 +0000

The 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck near the city of Concepcion, Chile over the weekend is the largest recorded quake in 50 years. Though more people were killed and left homeless after the Haiti earthquake in January, this quake was about 500 times more powerful.

Cameras captured the earthquake as it happened on Saturday.

The earthquake triggered tsunamis up and down the Chilean coast and warnings went out to places as far away as Japan and the west coast of the U.S.

Islands off the coast of Chile felt the full impact of the big temblor as 30-foot tsunami waves crashed through coastal villages, ripping homes apart and sending residents fleeing into the hills. Over 700 people are confirmed dead and more than two million are left homeless as aftershocks continue to keep the nation on edge.

Nearly 4,700 miles away a standing wave or seiche formed in Lake Ponchatrain near New Orleans, Louisiana, believed to be caused by the earthquake in Chile, which ties for the fifth strongest quake recorded since 1900. Chile also experienced the largest quake ever recorded — a 9.5 magnitude in 1960.

Mammoth Icebergs Could Alter Ocean Currents, Weather

Michael Bradbury — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:40:06 +0000

An iceberg about the size of Luxembourg, which struck a glacier off Antarctica dislodging another massive block of ice, could lower oxygen levels in the world’s oceans, affect ocean currents and even change global weather patterns.

With the equivalent of the world’s annual freshwater consumption frozen in these slow moving islands of ice, scientists believe it could take up to 30 years to reach warm enough waters where the bergs will melt away.

Right now, the freshly-calved iceberg that broke off from the Mertz Glacier in eastern Antarctica, is floating in the Southern Ocean with the larger iceberg which broke off in 1987. Both icebergs are heading in the general direction of Australia and New Zealand.

During the International Polar Year, scientists outfitted the new iceberg with GPS beacons so they can study the calving of large icebergs and measure their environmental impact. The two-year study is called Cooperative Research into Antarctic Calving and Iceberg Evolution or CRACICE.

Bloom Box May Rock Fuel Cell World

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:25:26 +0000

With California’s governor and a former Secretary of State on hand, Bloom Energy held its official launch. The clean-energy startup revealed some of its plans for making fuel-cell technology affordable enough for people to buy for their homes.

With roots in NASA’s Mars program, here’s what Bloom Energy says about its solid oxide fuel technology.

Derived from a common sand-like powder, and leveraging breakthrough advances in materials science, our technology is able to produce clean, reliable, affordable power,… practically anywhere,… from a wide range of renewable or traditional fuels.

The initial rollout is underway at big companies like eBay, Google and Bank of America but the plan is to get these generators to power homes in the near future.

Piecing Together the Temperature Puzzle

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:11:10 +0000

Each year, scientists at NASA’S Goddard Institute for Space Studies analyze global temperature data. The past year, 2009, tied as the second warmest year since global instrumental temperature records began 130 years ago.

Worldwide, the mean temperature was 0.57°C (1.03°F) warmer than the 1951-1980 base period. And January 2000 to December 2009 came out as the warmest decade on record.

Fixing Food with Science

Michael Bradbury — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:23:03 +0000

Cookbook author David Joachim shows how his book The Science Of Good Food can fix most any kitchen mess. And in this video you’ll learn how to turn a basic custard into a delicious orange flan.

Joachim says you can turn to the book when you are baking a cake and something goes wrong. He’ll show you how to use science to fix a food disaster. He and his co-authors offer 100 recipes and over 1,600 tips on using science to cook.

Rose Ellen’s Genetic Assist

Michael Bradbury — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:08:24 +0000

A cancer patient is helping doctors at the Mayo Clinic unlock a few genetic secrets. Rose Ellen Heley allowed oncologists to decode her DNA and map her genome.

Mayo Clinic researchers have learned something about her bone marrow cancer in the process that could help others suffering from cancer.

Dr. Keith Stewart says we are entering into the era of individualized medicine and using genetics will help treat all sorts of diseases including cancer.

NASAs WISE Eye in the Sky

Michael Bradbury — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:42:04 +0000

NASA launched a new satellite, called WISE, which stands for Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. It’s mission? Find asteroids or comets that could potentially hit Earth and map the whole sky by October. KMGH reporter Corey Christiansen has the story.

NASA Medley of WISE Images

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

Science of…Breaking Things

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:15:05 +0000

It’s every 15 year old boy’s dream — to be able to break things and not get into trouble. At the Fears Lab at University of Oklahoma, scientists and engineers come from all over the world to squeeze, shake, break and shatter all sorts of things. And it’s all in the name of science.

Most people go through work and daily life hoping nothing catastrophic happens. But at this unique laboratory researchers break very big things all the time and measure the results.

President Obama Speaks Live to Astronauts on International Space Station

Michael Bradbury — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:59:43 +0000

With the recent extension of the World Wide Web outside of this world, space is just a click away. And taking full advantage of the new ability to live stream to astronauts orbiting Earth on the International Space Station, President Obama congratulates the team for installing the last piece of the U.S. portion of the space station.

During the mission, astronauts installed the Tranquility node and a cupola with seven windows that provide a panoramic view of Earth, celestial objects and visiting spacecraft. The Tranquility installation and its cupola mark reaching the 90 percent point in fully building out the space station.

The president is also joined by 12 students on the live call to space whom he hopes will be inspired to pursue careers in math, science and engineering.

Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Science Determines King Tut’s Killer

Michael Bradbury — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:36:14 +0000

For years, people thought the Egyptian king was murdered but new DNA evidence is pointing to a different killer. the 3,300-year-old pharaoh King Tutankhamun likely died from complications of a broken leg that was exacerbated by malaria, according to a two-year study of his mummy and family members.

They found that the young king had a club foot and cleft palate and probably walked with a cane.

The Science of…The Winter Olympics

Michael Bradbury — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:31:57 +0000

San Francisco Bay area teachers are using the 2010 Winter Olympics to teach kids about math and science.

The Silicon Valley Education Foundation teamed up with NBC Learn — the educational arm of NBC News — and the National Science Foundation to provide free lesson plans and video clips.

For more information, visit Lessonopoly.org.

Scientists Invent Rice That Doesn’t Need Cooking

Michael Bradbury — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:04:15 +0000

Agricultural scientists in India say they have developed a variety of rice that requires no cooking and can be eaten simply after being soaked in water.

New Study Shows Accelerated Arctic Heating

Michael Bradbury — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:28:17 +0000

An ice-free Arctic in the summer may just be a few years away, according to preliminary Canadian Research that began during the International Polar Year.

And less sea ice this winter allowed the coast guard icebreaker Amundsen to spend the whole winter research season in the Arctic, studying the climate changes at are changing life in the high latitudes.

Science Remixed for the Masses

Michael Bradbury — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:55:45 +0000

Music is a powerful medium to convey big messages. But few have successfully spun science-themed songs into big hits.

John Boswell has created a new art form, merging the spoken word from superstar scientists with his own original music. And his Symphony of Science has become a big hit on YouTube.

We Are All Connected

A Glorious Dawn

Our Place in the Cosmos

The Unbroken Thread

NASA and GM Team Up to Build Robots

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:06:19 +0000

The Robonaut2 is being jointly developed by NASA and General Motors to help humans in space and on Earth. It’s the first step toward having supervised yet autonomous robots performing tasks in outer space and in automotive factories.

The R2 can lift four times as much as other robots and with fully functioning hands and fingers it is more dexterous than other bots.

Florida Freeze Kills Invasive Species

Michael Bradbury — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:29:39 +0000

Millions of tilapia, an invasive fish species, have been wiped out. It has put a temporary dent in commercial fishing, but now biologists say other fish will have a chance to flourish. The tilapia has made its home in Florida lakes for decades since being first brought in to control out of control vegetation.

But the recent cold blast in the Sunshine state wiped out most of the tilapia in Polk County when water temperatures in Lake Hancock dipped below 50 degrees, leaving behind a stinky reminder of the harsh winter.

Science Prepares for Alien Possibility

Michael Bradbury — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:37:15 +0000

A two-day conference at the Royal Society in London called The Detection of Extra-terrestrial Life and The Consequences for Science and Society gathered top astronomers to discuss the possibility that some life form on another planet will likely be discovered within our lifetime.

The all-star lineup included Dr. Frank Drake, the NASA radio astronomer has been listening to the Universe for signs of life as the founder of the SETI project. He’s been listening for 50 years but all that we’ve heard is eerie silence.

That puzzles some scientists who believe the universe is teeming with life. Paul Davies from Arizona State University thinks the problem could be that we’ve been looking in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in the wrong way.

He offers a new roadmap for the future of SETI, arguing that we need to be far more expansive in our efforts, by questioning existing ideas of what form an alien intelligence might take, how it might try to communicate with us, and how we should respond if we ever do make contact.

Scientists Return to Haiti to Study Quake

Michael Bradbury — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:59:13 +0000

A group of geoscientists from leading research universities just received a grant to travel to Haiti to study the aftermath of the 7.0 Haiti earthquake that devastated the capital of Port-au-Prince on January 12.

Led by Eric Calais from Purdue University, the team will take measurements of the changes along the fault line that ruptured during the quake and they will learn whether a bigger quake may be on the way.

Eric Calais talks about Haiti’s recent earthquake

You can follow along as they detail their experience in the Geophysicists in Haiti blog.