Walking mammal babies and brain development

Human babies require a full year before starting to walk. Until recently, scientists believed our slow motor development was due to an unusually complex brain. However, recent research shows that human babies begin walking at the same stage in brain development as most other walking mammals. A group of researchers from Lund University in Sweden studied the motor development of various mammals, using conception as their starting point. Despite humans having a larger brain, and a greater number of brain cells than most other mammals, the study revealed that brain development, with respect to walking, is quite similar among all mammals. Based on this finding, predicting when human babies will walk is a possibility. Additionally, the study contradicts the assumption that humans are unique among mammals regarding development and evolution of the brain. Although the final products of evolution differ, the study suggests that the building blocks of development are not variable amongst mammals.—Tahmina Nasserie

Source: Science Daily

The price of solar panels set to fall

New tests show solar panels expected to last 20 years will likely perform for at least 30 years, which will cause the lifetime price of solar panels to drop faster than expected.

Because solar panels use a free energy source, installation and purchase make up the bulk of solar project costs. Original price calculations spread these costs over a predicted 20 year energy-producing lifespan.

Instead, tests by the EU Energy Institute show 90 per cent of the panels installed 10 years ago will be able to perform well after they are 30 years old. The extra 10 years of performance can vastly improve the profitability of a solar project.

Forty year panels are expected to be available on the market soon.

Incentive programs have also decreased the cost of panels due to rising manufacturing volume. Solar panel prices dropped 30 per cent last year for this reason, in addition to a dip in orders due to the recession.

Financing the high upfront costs of solar panels may still prove difficult. To overcome this limitation, the EU Energy Institute suggests that banks offer mortgages on solar panels like those on homes given the stability of the investment.—Laura Tozer

Source: BBC News

Sperm whales act as a carbon sink

Sperm whales are punching above their 90,000-pound weight when it comes to the carbon cycle.

The huge mammals have been falsely accused of contributing to the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to the carbon dioxide they exhale, says researcher Trish J. Lavery of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.

While sperm whales do in fact breathe, previous calculations failed to take into account the impact of the whales’ feeding pattern. Sperm whales dive to the icy depths of the Southern Ocean to catch squid. These cold, bottom layers of the ocean act as storage for nutrients like iron that are in limited supply on the ocean’s surface.

The iron plumes near the surface cause an explosion of plankton growth. The plankton draw in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and drag it with them to the bottom of the ocean for storage when they die. This carbon sequestration process makes the world’s 210,000 sperm whales at least carbon neutral, if not carbon sinks for up to 5 million metric tons of atmospheric carbon per year.—LT

Source: Discovery News

Tar sands mining releasing carcinogens

There’s no hiding from it: tar sands mining is releasing carcinogens into the Athabasca River at levels almost two times higher than levels known to be toxic to fish embryos. Industry and government have long held that carcinogens, polycyclic aromatic compounds, are from natural sources and are not a result of the mining of the second largest oil reserve on earth. New evidence says that is not the case. Samples from the Athabasca River collected downstream of tar sand mining sites are 10 to 50 times more enriched in PACs then samples collected upstream of the mines or from Athabasca tributaries. Pollution could also be found in snow over 50 kilometres from oil processing facilities. When the snow melted, the pollution revealed itself as thick, black oil. Researchers on the study believe the current procedure of allowing the industry to monitor its own emissions to be insufficient and troubling.—Lia Cardarelli

Source: Nature Journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences