Category: Enviroment

STUDY: BRAIN SCANS REVEAL HIDDEN CONSCIOUSNESS IN PATIENTS


A  standard brain scanning technique is showing promise for helping doctors distinguish between patients in a vegetative state and those with hidden signs of consciousness.

A study released Thursday is the latest to investigate using technology to help meet the challenge of making that distinction, which now is generally based on a doctor’s bedside exam.

Patients in a vegetative state have open eyes and show periods of sleep and wakefulness, but they are unaware of themselves or others and unable to think, respond or do anything on purpose. Patients in a minimally conscious state show only intermittent and minimal signs of awareness of themselves or their environment.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MED_BRAIN_SCANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-05-26-12-37-26

Opinion: Negative interest rates put the global economy on a razor’s edge


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Negative rates are now the policy of the European Central Bank, with a deposit rate of minus 0.40%. Ditto for Switzerland, where the rate is minus 0.75%. In Sweden, the rate is minus 0.35%. The Bank of Japan too has announced negative interest rates, of 0.10%.
More than $26 trillion of government bonds now trade at yields of below 1%, with around $7 trillion currently yielding less than 0%. Government bonds in Germany with a maturity of seven years are trading at negative yields, while Swiss and Japanese government bonds out to 10 years trade at negative yields.

Negative yields mean that if an investor places a deposit with a bank, at maturity the investor receives an amount less than the original investment. In effect, the depositor pays to place money with the bank. In the case of bonds, negative yields mean that investors accept an economic loss, as the price paid by the investor is greater than the present value of the interest payments and principal repayment for a security.

Negative real rates entail return on the amount invested but loss of purchasing power because inflation rates are greater than the return. Negative nominal rates involve a guaranteed loss of capital invested.

Yet negative rates so far have not boosted growth or inflation. Instead the policy is creating serious economic and financial distortions.

The lack of impact on the real economy reflects the failure of these policies to materially increase consumption and investment. Heavily indebted or increasingly cautious households are reluctant to borrow to fund spending. Low business investment reflects lack of demand, over-capacity, and a reluctance to increase debt in a potentially deflationary environment.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/negative-interest-rates-put-the-global-economy-on-a-razors-edge-2016-03-29

Exclusive: California gas leak spotlights shoddy regulation of aging storage wells


Related: U.S., ENVIRONMENT, GLOBAL ENERGY NEWS

Long before a natural gas storage well sprung a disastrous leak near Los Angeles, California, utilities and national industry groups were raising alarms about the danger of aging underground storage infrastructure.

The leaking well’s owner, Southern California Gas Co, warned state utility regulators in 2014 of “major failures” without a rate hike to pay for comprehensive inspections of 229 storage wells.

Twenty-six of its wells were “high risk” and should be abandoned – even though they complied with state regulations, the utility wrote in a rate filing.

The previous year, Pacific Gas & Electric pointed to an absence of safety standards for storage wells as reason to launch its own monitoring program that went beyond state rules, according to an internal document obtained by Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-losangeles-gas-leak-regulation-exclus-idUSKCN0V00DM

 

 

Exclusive: California gas leak spotlights shoddy regulation of aging storage wells


Related: U.S., ENVIRONMENT, GLOBAL ENERGY NEWS

Long before a natural gas storage well sprung a disastrous leak near Los Angeles, California, utilities and national industry groups were raising alarms about the danger of aging underground storage infrastructure.

The leaking well’s owner, Southern California Gas Co, warned state utility regulators in 2014 of “major failures” without a rate hike to pay for comprehensive inspections of 229 storage wells.

Twenty-six of its wells were “high risk” and should be abandoned – even though they complied with state regulations, the utility wrote in a rate filing.

The previous year, Pacific Gas & Electric pointed to an absence of safety standards for storage wells as reason to launch its own monitoring program that went beyond state rules, according to an internal document obtained by Reuters.

The industry’s rising concern underscores the scant oversight of 400 underground natural gas storage facilities in 30 U.S. states. Most storage fields are regulated by states, but national industry groups have pushed for federal oversight – unusual in an industry better known for fighting regulation.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-losangeles-gas-leak-regulation-exclus-idUSKCN0V00DM?utm_source=twitter

Monster winter storm bears down on Washington D.C. area


Related: U.S., ENVIRONMENT

A powerful storm barreled toward Washington, D.C., and much of the East Coast on Friday, threatening to bury the region under as much to 30 inches (76 cm) of snow after blasting Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky with a wintry mix.

The National Weather Service said the storm had the potential to cripple a broad swath of the Northeast, with about 2 feet (61 cm) of snow due to hit the Baltimore and Washington metro areas starting on Friday afternoon. Western suburbs could get even more snow.

“I want to be very clear with everybody. This is a major storm,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said as the nation’s capital braced for what could turn out to be one of the worst storms in its history.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-weather-idUSKCN0UZ25C?utm_source=twitter

 

 

India Worries It Compromised Too Much on Climate Treaty


Smoke rises from chimneys of brick kilns on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

As the world celebrates reaching an unprecedented global climate treaty, India is praising nations’ willingness to compromise for the good of the planet. But many in the country—which had been among the most strident during the negotiations—worry they had to compromise the most.

In the hours after the treaty was finalized in Paris, India’s environment minister gave a speech that verged toward complaint, saying that the “actions of developed countries are far below their historical responsibilities and fair share.”

“While give-and-take is normal in negotiations, we are of the opinion that the agreement could have been more ambitious,” Prakash Javadekar said.

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1919834-india-worries-it-compromised-too-much-on-climate-treaty/

US proposes 17-year delay in start of Hanford nuclear cleanup — until 2039


The department submitted the 29-page plan in federal court as part of a suit to amend an agreement with the state that requires the plant to start operating in 2022.

A series of serious technical questions about the plant’s design have caused one delay after another. Two of the major facilities at the cleanup site, which resembles a small industrial city, are under a construction halt ordered in 2013 by then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

The plant, located on a desert plateau above the Columbia River, is designed to transform 56 million gallons of radioactive sludge, currently stored in underground tanks, into solid glass that could theoretically be stored for thousands of years.

The waste was a byproduct of plutonium production, which started with the Manhattan Project during World War II.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-11-year-hanford-nuclear-cleanup.html#jCp

Powerful storm hits Taiwan, millions without power, six dead


Related: WORLD, ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL DISASTERSPeople hold umbrellas in heavy rain as Typhoon Soudelor approaches, in Hangzhou A woman holds her umbrella while walking against strong winds as Typhoon Soudelor approaches Taiwan in Taipei People walk against strong winds as Typhoon Soudelor approaches Taiwan in Taipei

A powerful typhoon battered Taiwan on Saturday with strong wind and torrential rain, cutting power to 3.62 million households as the death toll rose to six.

Four people were missing and 101 were injured, authorities said. Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled and more than 9,900 people were evacuated from their homes.

Television footage trees uprooted and power poles toppled over, a moped being swept into the air by wind and shipping containers piled on top of each other at a port.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/08/us-taiwan-typhoon-idUSKCN0QD03V20150808

Environmental workers spill a million gallons of waste into Colorado river


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A team of US regulators investigating contamination at a Colorado goldmine accidentally released a million gallons (3.8 million liters) of orange-hued waste water containing sediment and metals into a local river system, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/07/environmental-workers-spill-a-million-gallons-of-waste-into-colorado-river