Last Friday’s NPR-Science Friday podcast features an interview with Boston University researcher and energy expert Robert Kaufman, exploring the economic realities of offshore oil drilling.  President Bush recently reversed a longstanding ban on offshore drilling in an effort to increase oil supply and lower prices.  For much of the US coastline, with the exception of several Gulf states, offshore drilling is off-limits.

Some interesting tidbits from the interview:  Kaufman estimates that offshore drilling would only increase US oil production by 1-4% over the next decade, insufficient to make a dent in gas prices.  In fact, he says opening up all protected lands for oil drilling would only be a drop in the bucket compared to our total energy needs.

Kaufman further speculates that one of the reasons that the oil lobby is pushing for access to the protectedArctic National Wildlife Refuge is to increase the economic “lifespan” of their expensive Trans Alaska Pipeline, which has essentially been paid for by all the oil it has already transported. So the push is not to increase oil supply, but rather to increase profit margin.

When one considers the environmental risks that come with drilling in protected Alaskan wilderness or offshore, it seems we really need to focus on conservation and renewable energy sources, not finding more oil.

Original Article

In a speech yesterday, 2007 Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore called for a national effort to convert our electricity production from oil-based sources to renewable sources like wind, solar, and biofuels.

“Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years. This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative. It represents a challenge to all Americans – in every walk of life: to our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers, and to every citizen.”

Can it be done?  Monetarily, he claims that it will cost between $1.5 and $3 trillion - an amount that he says the United States will need to invest in new power plants anyway, just to meet the burgeoning demand for electricity. Scientifically, he points out that enough sunlight falls on the earth every hour which, if harnessed, could meet our energy needs for a year. The trick, of course, is harnessing the energy in an economically viable way.

A PDF transcript of his speech can be found here.

Developing new approaches for solar energy is a major focus of researchers at Northwestern and Argonne National Labs, through the ANSER project. Read a summary of the project.

Original Article

Northwestern researcher Vadim Backman was recently funded by the National Cancer Institute to continue his work on technology that may lead to a less expensive and less invasive test to detect colon cancer.

Backman’s group has developed a molecular flashlight, of sorts.  Using light from a xenon bulb, they have devised a method to detect miniscule changes in a cell’s structure that are diagnostic for cancer.  The technique is able to detect these changes before they can be seen with a microscope.  As is true for all cancers, early detection is a key factor in survival rate. 

Backman, professor of biomedical engineering at McCormick, is also working on a screening method for pancreatic cancer.  This project was featured in a recent SiS Research Digest article, found here.

Original Article

Modern genetics is revealing an ever-clearer picture of mankind’s ancestral migration out of Africa tens of thousands of years ago.  This Scientific American article summarizes the science and the interesting conclusions of contemporary human evolutionary studies.

In addition to providing important details about our origins, these studies are changing our concepts of race. According to Pasteur Institute genetics researcher Lluis Quintana-Murci, “There is no race … What we see [from the standpoint of genetics] is geographical gradients. There are no sharp differences between Europeans and Asians. From Ireland to Japan, there is no sharp boundary where something has changed completely.”

Original Article

This Scientific American article explores the purported benefits of corn-based plastics (also known as polylactic acid, or PLA) over the more conventional petroleum-based plastic.  The results may surprise you.

Although PLA is technically renewable, saves oil, and is less polluting to manufacture, its biodegradability is far from perfect.  It’s also a headache for recyclers because PLA “contaminates” the conventional plastic recycling process.  The two must be separated, leading to higher costs for recycled plastic and lower overall demand.

Some experts have also suggested that the marketing of PLA as “green” plastic has led to rampant overpackaging and a proliferation of single-serving plastic containers.

A related 2006 Smithsonian Magazine article can be found here.

Original Article