World to exceed global warming limit: IEA

Global temperatures are on track to rise by more than double the two-degree Celsius warming goal set by the UN unless urgent measures are taken, the International Energy Agency warned Monday.

“The path we are currently on is more likely to result in a temperature increase of between 3.6 and 5.3 C,” IEA chief Maria van der Hoeven said in presenting a new report on greenhouse gases.

The Paris-based agency urged governments to act, saying the 2C target could still be met with little economic pain.

“Much more can be done to tackle energy-sector emissions without jeopardising economic growth, an important concern for many governments,” it said.

The IEA report was issued as nations gathered in Bonn for a second week of talks on forging a global pact to limit carbon emissions. It would be signed in late 2015 and take effect in 2020.

“Once again we are reminded that there is a gap between current efforts and the engagement necessary to keep the world below a 2C temperature rise,” UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said of the IEA report in a statement from Bonn.

“Once again we are reminded that the gap can be closed this decade, using proven technologies and known policies, and without harming economic growth in any region of the world.”

The United Nations is targeting a global average temperature rise of 2C from pre-industrial levels for what scientists believe would be manageable climate change, avoiding worst-case-scenario increases in droughts, storms, floods and sea level rises.

In its “Redrawing the Energy-Climate Map” report, the IEA said carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuel use rose by 1.4 percent last year to a record 31.6 billion tonnes.

The agency recommended four energy policies it said could halt the growth in energy-related emissions by the end of the decade, at no net economic cost.

Boosting energy efficiency in buildings, industry and transport could account for half of an eight-percent greenhouse gas reduction by 2020 envisioned under the plan, the report said.

Limiting coal-fired power stations would contribute another 20 percent of the reduction, cutting the escape of methane gas when extracting oil and gas 18 percent, and a partial phasing-out of fossil fuel subsidies another 12 percent.

The financial impact of such policies would show a net benefit, the agency said, with revenue from existing renewables-based and nuclear power plants increasing by $1.8 trillion (1.4 trillion euros) to 2035 –offsetting a decline from coal plants.

If its proposals were met, no oil or gas field currently in production would need to shut down prematurely, the IEA said.

But it warned that delay in tackling climate change “would result in substantial additional costs to the energy sector and increase the risk of assets needing to be retired early.”

It also cautioned “the energy sector is not immune from the physical impacts of climate change” — signalling threats from extreme weather, as well as more gradual changes such as rising sea levels.

Last month, the level of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere breached a threshold of 400 parts per million — a level never before experienced by humans and considered the absolute maximum for the two-degree target to remain within reach.

Observers said the IEA report was a timely reminder that something could still be done.

“The real energy-related threat to economic prosperity is no longer an oil shock but a climate shock,” said the Environmental Defense Fund, a US-based non-profit organisation.

But green campaigners WWF said the proposals did not go far enough.

“The IEA should back the full phasing out of all fossil fuel subsidies by 2020 globally,” it said.

Source: http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2013/06/10/world-set-to-exceed-global-warming-limit-iea

Discussing BAD NEWS with your kids

I’m trying, really. I’m really trying hard not to read the news or give my child a life that’s free of bad news. But, it cannot be ignored any longer.

Growing up, my parents were addicted to the news. Back then it was the nightly news bulletins. Nowadays, I have 24-hour news channels to contend with, the internet and an always-on access point to the world beyond our front door.

And, I have to. I need to keep informed about the world around us, because one day – I’ll need to explain it to my kid. One of the best ways for me to do that is to watch the news with her. At school, they regularly discuss current affairs and talk about how what happens “out there” has an effect on their lives. I’m glad for this sense of interaction – making news relevant to a child’s life helps them to understand the why and how of the way the world works.

The only thing is – the news isn’t always pretty. I can’t look forward to a good evening news bulletin that’ll show world peace, or people uniting to celebrate puppies or suchlike, or even highlight how someone cured cancer, forever.

I can’t show her the news that I want to – but I can show her the news that’s relevant. I’m selective, and through that, I make sure that there’s no way she reads or hears about news that isn’t somehow relevant to her life. She cares, quite deeply about the rhino crisis, and wildlife, so I’ll often make sure she is up to date on any newsworthy story related to animals.

But then, there are the big events. The global shakes and the scary disasters – they’re relevant because they change our world. Sometimes they are all too awful for even I to bear. And then I’m stuck – I want my child to grow up informed, but not harmed by current affairs. I want her to have a good grasp on the world around us, but not live in fear of it. It’s for that reason that I don’t tell her about gory situations, or I skip past the details where the scary parts lie. I always try to juxtapose awful news with uplifting stories. So, yes, when a natural disaster occurs, I am the one who is desperately trying to find out how the pets were rescued, and reunited with their families. I always make an effort to focus on overcoming a disaster, rather than the minutiae of the disaster.

Lastly, and this is what I find has been most crucial – always tell the truth. That doesn’t mean I need to include all the information available to us relating to a news story, but it does mean I can communicate with my kid about the news, openly. Sometimes, this means stripping a situation down to its bare facts, and sometimes it means making sure I can find a positive outcome to a situation. Either way – the truth needs to always shine.

Do you talk to your kids about the awful things that happen on the news?

Source: http://www.parent24.com/School_7-12/development_behaviour/Discussing-bad-news-20130607

How the brain forms long-term memories

A new discovery has revealed how an important protein helps translate learning into memory.

Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have deciphered how a protein called Arc regulates the activity of neurons providing much-needed clues into the brain’s ability to form long-lasting memories.

These findings, reported in Nature Neuroscience, also offer newfound understanding as to what goes on at the molecular level when this process becomes disrupted.

Led by Gladstone Senior Investigator Steve Finkbeiner, MD, PhD, this research delved deep into the inner workings of synapses. Synapses are the highly specialised junctions that process and transmit information between neurons. Most of the synapses in our brain will ever have are formed during early brain development, but throughout our lifetimes these synapses can be made, broken and strengthened.

Synapses that are more active become stronger, a process that is essential for forming new memories. However, this process is also dangerous, as it can over stimulate the neurons and lead to epileptic seizures. It must therefore be kept in check.

Neuroscientists recently discovered one important mechanism that the brain uses to maintain this important balance: a process called “homeostatic scaling.” Homeostatic scaling allows individual neurons to strengthen the new synaptic connections they’ve made to form memories, while at the same time protecting the neurons from becoming overly excited. Exactly how the neurons pull this off has eluded researchers, but they suspected that the Arc protein played a key role.

“Scientists knew that Arc was involved in long-term memory, because mice lacking the Arc protein could learn new tasks, but failed to remember them the next day,” said Dr. Finkbeiner, who is also a professor of neurology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), with which Gladstone is affiliated.

“Because initial observations showed Arc accumulating at the synapses during learning, researchers thought that Arc’s presence at these synapses was driving the formation of long-lasting memories.”

Genes switch on and off during memory formation

But Dr. Finkbeiner and his team thought there was something else in play. In laboratory experiments, first in animal models and then in greater detail in the petri dish, the researchers tracked Arc’s movements. And what they found was surprising.

“When individual neurons are stimulated during learning, Arc begins to accumulate at the synapses—but what we discovered was that soon after, the majority of Arc gets shuttled into the nucleus,” said Erica Korb, PhD, the paper’s lead author who completed her graduate work at Gladstone and UCSF.

“A closer look revealed three regions within the Arc protein itself that direct its movements: one exports Arc from the nucleus, a second transports it into the nucleus, and a third keeps it there. The presence of this complex and tightly regulated system is strong evidence that this process is biologically important.”

In fact, the team’s experiments revealed that Arc acted as a master regulator of the entire homeostatic scaling process. During memory formation, certain genes must be switched on and off at very specific times in order to generate proteins that help neurons lay down new memories. From inside the nucleus, the authors found that it was Arc that directed this process required for homeostatic scaling to occur. This strengthened the synaptic connections without over stimulating them thus translating learning into long-term memories.

Important discovery

“This discovery is important not only because it solves a long-standing mystery on the role of Arc in long-term memory formation, but also gives new insight into the homeostatic scaling process itself—disruptions in which have already been implicated in a whole host of neurological diseases,” said Dr. Finkbeiner.

“For example, scientists recently discovered that Arc is depleted in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center, in Alzheimer’s disease patients. It’s possible that disruptions to the homeostatic scaling process may contribute to the learning and memory deficits seen in Alzheimer’s.”

Dysfunctions in Arc production and transport may also be a vital player in autism. For example, the genetic disorder Fragile X syndrome a common cause of both mental retardation and autism, directly affects the production of Arc in neurons.

“In the future,” added Dr. Korb, “we hope further research into Arc’s role in human health and disease can provide even deeper insight into these and other disorders, and also lay the groundwork for new therapeutic strategies to fight them.”

Source: http://www.health24.com/Mental-Health/Brain/News/How-the-brain-forms-long-term-memories-20130610