Showing posts with label mass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mass. Show all posts

Nuclear Physics to Track Australian Waterbirds

Nuclear physics used to track Australian waterbirds.
Australia's native birds are on the decline - those damn humans! Yes, we are destroying the planet and we have to do something about it.  Obtaining data on bird numbers is paramount. Nuclear physics is the answer.  Researchers are examining feathers recently dropped by waterbirds. It provides information on where birds have been and what they have eaten.  The I-TRAX Core Scanner shows chemical changes over time. A mass spectrometer is also used to determine oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen isotopes.
Australian waterbirds
Feathers are composed of keratin like hair. Water sources have different chemical composition. This is stored in the keratin, so a map can be created of where birds have been living. The method of feather analysis is much cheaper than leg banding or satellite tracking.

Members of the public can contribute. At present scientists are picking up feathers then posting them to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). Anyone can do this to further the body of data on birds.
 
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WATERBIRD DATA
australian, waterbirds, water, birds, number, population, track, Nuclear, Science, Technology, Organisation, ANSTO, mass, spectrometer articles news politics economics society anthropology historiography history sociology free news sex
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Mass Extinction Has Begun

You may stop fearing an asteroid colliding with the Earth. Man himself could be the cause of the next mass extinction. People who harp on about climate change being a religion and an article of faith are like those who ignored Noah.
Remember that humans got down a few hundred individuals in the past. We are very lucky to be here today. Of course the world would have gone on without us: it would be a very different world. There would be no pollution anywhere.

Ebola is out of control. Antibiotics are failing. A world-wide plague could be on the cards. Danger to Man is not the only issue. Twenty five per cent of mammals could soon disappear. Forty per cent of amphibians are at risk.

Because species are already dying off, a mass extinction could have already begun. The hottest decade on record shows that life is declining. When animals die off the food supply for other creatures also goes. So the path of extinction of predator species becomes real as well.

Carbon is the major cause of extinctions. It is in most things and when pumped into the air it warms up the planet. Seemingly mundane thing also pollute. Coke is fizzy due to carbonic acid. This is getting into the oceans, changing the pH level and destroying life.
✴ Science by Ty Buchanan ✴
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Australia's Coast Will Be Lost

Australia could return to what it was millions of years ago - a cluster of islands covering a gigantic area.  The continent is very flat.  Mountains only occur on the east coast.  With rising sea level, first to go will be the large cities on the coast.  These are the major population centers.

After this, an inland sea will form.  There is no doubt that the Poles are melting.  This water has to go somewhere.  The population will fall by 80 per cent.  Even if many flee inland, there are no water and food resources there to feed everyone, unless of course Aboriginal culture still remains.  Most Aboriginals today are urbanized and have lost much of the their culture.

This will not be a solely Australian problem.  Most major cities in the world are on the coast, growing from estuaries where a large river flows into the sea. 

On the Gold Coast, high rise building are only meters from an unpredictable sea.  After storms, councils are called upon to repair the damage with money they don't have.  In a short time these buildings will have to be abandoned as councils condemn them as being too dangerous to live in.

There is no immediate worry because the rise in ocean level will  be steady.  This will give people time to move out.  There will be great financial loss to the nation though.  Natural disasters just consume GDP.  Nothing is produced from them.  In fact resources are drawn away from productive projects.
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Environment by Ty Buchanan
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Young Australian Student Discovers Missing Mass in the Universe

A young 22 year old Australian lady finds the answer to missing mass in the universe. Amelia Fraser-McKelvie is not even a post-graduate researcher. She is studying for an Aerospace Engineering/Science degree. She was in a research team when the mysterious substance showed up in her data.

In theory, there should be a lot more observable mass in our local universe. It was thought to be "hidden" in shoelace-like filaments. When the data were first analysed they were dismissed in the usual manner as not showing anything, but Amelia suggested they check it again and the strings were there for all to see in the X-ray wavelength.

Though the achievement was mainly her's, Amelia gives credit to Dr Kevin Pimbblet and Dr Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway the other members of the team. This is a dream start toward a future career for the young student.
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