http://www.vimeo.com/5341410
When Jean-Michel Cousteau came to give a presentation at Nightlife this spring, we had the great opportunity to interview him for Science in Action.
Because of his work to help establish the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument in 2006, we thought this would be a good subject to have him discuss. California Academy of Sciences researchers were instrumental in the monuments declared earlier this year and we wanted to do a story on it.
These designations, covering over 325,000 square miles of ocean, represent former President Bush’s so-called Blue Legacy. A very surprising legacy, indeed.
Marine National Monuments:
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http://www.vimeo.com/5277596
A voyage across the ocean in a plastic boat seems an unlikely way to fight the buildup of plastic in the ocean. Yet that is just what David de Rothschild and team are planning as they build a 60 foot boat made entirely from recycled plastic. Dubbed “Plastiki”, after Thor Hyerdahl’s “Kon-Tiki” that made a similar voyage in 1947, the vessel is being manufactured out of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - the same material used to make water bottles. Their goal is to change the public view of plastic as a one-use material into one that sees plastic for what it really is - a cheap and versatile raw material that can be reused time and time again.
The voyage calls attention to the toxic soup created from decades of dumping used plastic into the ocean. The mess created by our throw-away society has been consolidated by the winds and currents of the North Pacific Gyre into vast floating garbage patches. Much of the plastic is visible - bottles, toys, bags, netting, etc., but most of what is floating is invisible, because over time, plastic breaks apart into micro-particles. In some areas of the gyre the ratio of plastic to plankton is as high six to one. Birds, fish and mammals choke on and are poisoned by the bigger pieces, while the tiny particles are ingested by small marine life and enter the food chain. To make matters worse, the micro-particles attract and absorb toxic chemicals that are ingested as well.
As de Rothschild likes to say, the solution to pollution is not dilution. We need to change our thinking about the life cycle of plastic. The voyage of Plastiki demonstrates that plastic is not the problem – it’s how we use plastic. We don’t think of steel as a material to be dumped in the ocean after a single use. Steel is melted down and reformed. We can do the same with plastic - it is a matter of changing how we view it.
-Pete
Plastics in our Oceans:
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http://www.vimeo.com/5276764
When discussing the swine flu development in our weekly content team meeting, we tried to think of how we could tell the story and give a different angle to it. It’s been in the news so much.
Virus mutation is incredibly exciting to the scientists who study it. So why not try to explain it?
How did we do? What do YOU think?
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(photos by John Kane)
Last night’s Science in Action at Nightlife was a hit! Kishore Hari led a great conversation about the worldwide amphibian decline with Dr. Tyrone Hayes and Allison Argo. Allison’s film, Frogs: The Thin Green Line had three popular screenings in the Forum Theater and Tyrone walked around the Academy like the scientist rock star he is.
Did you hear the conversation? See the film? What did you think? What will you do to help frogs?
Do you have topics you’d like to discuss at Nightlife? Let us know.
http://www.vimeo.com/4984220
Why not use micro-organisms (bacteria, viruses, fungus, etc) to create sustainable energy and fuel? There are a lot of ideas currently being researched and put to use; for example, PG&E has started turning cow manure into natural gas.
Cow poop? Not another gross-out story, you’re probably thinking. Just wait. When we interviewed Dan Kammen of UC Berkeley for this piece, he even mentioned harnessing cow farts in the barn at night.
We’re going to need fuel and energy from just about any creative source soon. So why not e coli? Why not termite bacteria? Why not cow poop and farts? Bring it on!
-Molly
