Sunday 24 August 2014

A new look at what’s in ‘fracking’ fluids raises red flags

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As the oil and gas drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) proliferates, a new study on the contents of the fluids involved in the process raises concerns about several ingredients. The scientists presenting the work at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) say that out of nearly 200 commonly used compounds, there’s very little known about the potential health risks of about one-third, and eight are toxic to mammals. William Stringfellow, Ph.D., says he conducted the review of fracking contents to help resolve the public debate over the controversial drilling practice. Fracking involves injecting water with a mix of chemical additives into rock formations deep underground to promote the release of oil and gas. It has led to a natural gas boom in the U.S., but it has also stimulated major opposition and troubling reports of contaminated well water, as well as increased air pollution near drill sites. “The industrial side was saying, ‘We’re just using food additives, basically making ice cream here,’” Stringfellow says. “On the other side, there’s talk about the injection of thousands of toxic chemicals. As scientists, we looked at the debate and asked, ‘What’s the real story?’” To find

The post A new look at what’s in ‘fracking’ fluids raises red flags has been published on Technology Org.

 
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We could find alien life -- but Congress doesn't have the will

Science Focus

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The Conversation

While alien life can be seen nightly on television and in the movies, it has never been seen in space. Not so much as a microbe, dead or alive, let alone a wrinkle-faced Klingon.

Despite this lack of protoplasmic presence, there are many researchers — sober, sckptical academics — who think that life beyond Earth is rampant. They suggest proof may come within a generation. These scientists support their sunny point of view with a few astronomical facts that were unknown a generation ago.

In particular, and thanks largely to the success of NASA's Kepler space telescope, we can now...

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 » see original post http://theweek.com/article/index/266264/we-could-find-alien-life--but-congress-doesnt-have-the-will
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New dates rewrite Neanderthal story

Science Focus

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A new study suggests that modern humans and Neanderthals co-existed in Europe 10 times longer than previously thought. 
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 » see original post http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28693371#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Helix Nebula, Galaxies and Stars Stickers

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: star nurseries, star clusters, galaxies, stars, astronomy, nebulae, helixneb, helix nebula, starfields, european southern observatory, heavens, eso, vista

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series A fantastic colour-composite image of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293). It was created from images obtained using the Wide Field Imager (WFI), an astronomical camera attached to the 2.2-metre Max-Planck Society/ESO telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile.

The blue-green glow in the centre of the Helix comes from oxygen atoms shining under effects of the intense ultraviolet radiation of the 120 000 degree Celsius central star and the hot gas.

Further out from the star and beyond the ring of knots, the red colour from hydrogen and nitrogen is more prominent. A careful look at the central part of this object reveals not only the knots, but also many remote galaxies seen right through the thinly spread glowing gas.
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image code: helixneb

ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA www.eso.org
Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

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Mercury's Transit: An Unusual Spot on the Sun

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Zazzle Space Gifts for young and old

Crab Nebula Hubble Space Wall Skins

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: crab nebula, nasa, universe, stars, outer space, nebula, hubble telescope, cosmos, nature, cool astronomy, esa, hubble space telescope, astronomy, astronomical, cosmology, crab nebula photo, space, natural, science, abstract, space picture, space photo, space image, nebula picture, nebula photo, nebula image, blue, turquoise, cyan, space gifts, space products, cool space

Hubble photograph of the Crab Nebula

This is a composite photograph produced from 24 individual images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, and is the most detailed image of the Crab Nebula that has been produced to date.
Credit: NASA, ESA and Allison Loll/Jeff Hester (Arizona State University). Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin (ESA/Hubble)

You can personalise the design further if you'd prefer, such as by adding your name or other text, or adjusting the image - just click 'Customize it' to see all the options. IMPORTANT: If you choose a different sized version of the product, it's important to click Customize and check the image in the Design view to ensure it fills the area to the edge of the product, otherwise white edges may be visible.

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Nebulae Photo by Hubble Telescope Case For The iPad Mini

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


tagged with: nebulae, nebula, images of nebulae, photos of nebulae, space, deep space, hubble, hubble telescope, hubble telescope photos, images from hubble telescope, photos from hubble telescope, hubble nebulae, nasa photos, space photos, astronomy photos, astronomy, images of space, photos of space, pictures of space

Photo of nebulae taken by the Hubble Telescope. A stunning colorful photo of deep space.

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Rooting out skin creams that contain toxic mercury

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As countries try to rid themselves of toxic mercury pollution, some people are slathering and even injecting creams containing the metal onto or under their skin to lighten it, putting themselves and others at risk for serious health problems. To find those most at risk, scientists are reporting today that they can now identify these creams and intervene much faster than before. Authors of the research are speaking at the 248th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). The meeting, organized by the world’s largest scientific society, features nearly 12,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics and is being held through Thursday. “In the U.S., the limit on mercury in products is 1 part per million,” says Gordon Vrdoljak, Ph.D., of the California Department of Public Health. “In some of these creams, we’ve been finding levels as high as 210,000 parts per million — really substantial amounts of mercury. If people are using the product quite regularly, their hands will exude it, it will get in their food, on their countertops, on the sheets their kids sleep on.” Identifying the toxic products has been a slow process, however. So, Vrdoljak turned to an instrument that uses a

The post Rooting out skin creams that contain toxic mercury has been published on Technology Org.

 
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Carina Nebula - Breathtaking Universe Sticker

Here's a great sheet of stickers featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: stlrnrsry, star clusters, galaxies, starfields, awesome astronomy pictures, constellation puppis, the stern, star nurseries, exploring outer space, universe pictures, european southern observatory, nebulae, eso, vista

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series

A gorgeous set of oval stickers showing the area surrounding the stellar cluster NGC 2467, located in the southern constellation of Puppis ("The Stern"). With an age of a few million years at most, it is a very active stellar nursery, where new stars are born continuously from large clouds of dust and gas.

The image, looking like a colourful cosmic ghost or a gigantic celestial Mandrill, contains the open clusters Haffner 18 (centre) and Haffner 19 (middle right: it is located inside the smaller pink region - the lower eye of the Mandrill), as well as vast areas of ionised gas.

The bright star at the centre of the largest pink region on the bottom of the image is HD 64315, a massive young star that is helping shaping the structure of the whole nebular region.

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Image code: stlrnrsry

ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA www.eso.org
Reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

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Eye Of God Wall Stickers

Here's a great wall decal featuring a beautiful image from deep space


tagged with: space, nebulae, astronomy, outer space, planetary nebula, milky way galaxy, space exploration, universe, cosmic, science

This composite image of the Helix Nebula (also known as The Helix, NGC 7293, or Caldwell 63) was created from several images obtained using the the Wide Field Imager (WFI), an astronomical camera attached to the 2.2-metre Max-Planck Society/ESO telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile. The blue-green glow in the centre of the Helix comes from oxygen atoms shining under effects of the intense ultraviolet radiation of the 120 000 degree Celsius central star and the hot gas. Further out from the star and beyond the ring of knots, the red colour from hydrogen and nitrogen is more prominent. A careful look at the central part of this object reveals not only the knots, but also many remote galaxies seen right through the thinly spread glowing gas. The nebula doesn't naturally appear with these colors, the tinting of the image is artifical. This image was created from images through blue, green and red filters and the total exposure times were 12 minutes, 9 minutes and 7 minutes respectively.
The name "Eye Of God" was coined by an admirer of the photo due to the nebula's resemblance to a human eye. The image was NASA's "Astronomy Picture of the Dat" for May 10th 2003.
Credit: ESO

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Orion Nebula's Hubble Pink iPad Case

Here's a great iPad case from Zazzle featuring a Hubble-related design. Maybe you'd like to see your name on it? Click to personalize and see what it's like!


tagged with: hubble, space, telescope, milky, galaxy, astronomy, cloudy, purple, girlie

The Orion Nebula's biggest stars, taken with NASA's Hubble Telescope.

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