Recycling negated by driving SUVsAmerican environmental scientists have found the amount of energy saved by recycling household containers during the last 20 years is far outweighed by the energy lost to the increasing inefficiency of U.S. vehicles, with popular SUVs, minivans and light trucks largely to blame. While many believe recycling is the best thing they can do for the planet, in fact choices about transportation have a much bigger effect. Government policy, however, tends to emphasize “the three R’s” far more than choosing fuel-efficient vehicles or using public transit. “Public policy is driven by a very superficial understanding of the relevant issues,” said engineering professor Tillman Gerngross.Sources: Dartmouth College, EurekAlert—Matt AsmaBrain on a chipA silicon chip that would perform the function of the brain’s hippocampus is being tested in the U.S. The hippocampus is the most ordered part of the brain, and therefore the easiest to test for function. The neural prosthetic, initially to be tested on rat tissue and live animals, could prove useful to those who have suffered the effects of a stroke or Alzheimer’s disease. The technology also raises ethical issues as the hippocampus is the centre of memory and emotion, functions that are not reproduced by the chip.Source: New Scientist—Leena KendhariSea dries up, people are sadToronto physician Eric Crighton and colleagues recently reported on the psychological conditions of people living in Karakalpakstan, a region of Uzbekistan that borders on the Aral Sea. Soviet-era irrigation projects resulted in a drastic drop in water level, and now the inland sea has only one-third the surface area it had in 1960. Salt, pesticides and chemical fertilizers are so concentrated in the water that the number of fish in the sea is almost zero, and people living nearby are suffering major health problems. The study’s surprising conclusion was that environmental devastation and poor health make people unhappy.Source: Social Science & Medicine—Matt Asma
