Description

This week on the Mr Science Show Podcast
we take a look at the latest climate change news, and start reflecting
on the science year that was, as we close in on 100 podcast episodes
(this is episode 92).

The news items we discuss this week are:

1. CO₂ build-up in the atmosphere may prevent a coming ice-age. Ice-ages occur roughly every 100,000 years
   and are possibly due to small shifts in Earth's orbit which change the
   amount of solar energy hitting the surface. A build-up of CO₂
   and its associated heating may warm the Earth so much that the next
   ice-age is skipped. Humanity has burnt about 300 gigatonnes of carbon
   from fossil fuels during its existence, and even if only 1000
   gigatonnes are eventually burnt (from total reserves of about 4000)
   then it is likely that the next ice age will be skipped, whilst the
   next five could be skipped if all recoverable fossil fuels were burnt.
   For more information, see the story at ABC Science;
2. The bouquet of wine reflects the amount of fossil-fuel derived CO₂ in the air at the time and place of the growing of the grapes. Carbon-14, an isotope of carbon, is made when Nitrogen atoms high in the atmosphere absorb neutrons from space (cosmic rays)
   . Over time, Carbon-14 decays to Nitrogen-14 , and so fossil fuels,
   made millions of years ago from decaying organic matter, contain almost
   no Carbon-14. Therefore, when fossil fuels are burned, the resultant CO₂ is almost Carbon-14 free. As CO₂
   is used by plants to grow, the amount of Carbon-14 in the atmosphere at
   the time of growing is reflected, in this case, in the wine's bouquet.
   A low level of Carbon-14 means there was a lot of fossil fuel generated
   CO₂ in the atmosphere at the time of growing. More information on Discovery Science;
3. Wind farms could steer storms.
   Future mega-wind farms for renewable energy generation could have a
   massive effect on the weather because the large wind speeds they
   generate could cause disrupted air-ripples that spread out like waves
   over massive areas. The waves could even steer storms on the other side
   of the globe. More information on Discovery Science;
4. Tibetan glaciers are melting faster than ever seen before.
   The Himalayan glaciers are melting so fast that the usual techniques
   for dating glaciers can't be used. Glaciers can be dated by looking for
   traces of leftover radioactivity from US and Soviet atomic bomb tests
   in the 1950s and 1960s. In the Tibetan samples, there are no signs at
   all of these tests, and the exposed surface of the glacier dates to
   1944. More information at ABC Science;

If you are gazing at the sky this weekend (Thanksgiving to our American friends), then look to the sky to see Jupiter, Mars and the moon all gathered together.

We
also start reflecting on the year that was with my much better-half
Eugenia, who had to put up with me recording this here little podcast,
and then having to listen to the episodes and smile! Her highlights
from the year?

• The no-brainer research that said in the UK you should wear thick-clothes, especially denim, to protect yourself from skin-cancer. We never saw the sun over the 2007 summer anyway...
• And on from this show, the Science of Sumo wrestlers - we employed the sumo diet on our recent travels.

Listen to his podcast here