Signs & Portents
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Pagan News Beagle: Earthy Thursday, September 24
Could humble mushrooms save the bees? What do you think of scientists' plans to employ robot assassins to protect the Great Barrier Reef? Get into the thick of it with us for Earthy Thursday, our weekly take on science and Earth-related news. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
Could fungi be the answer to saving the world's bees? After a decade of decline in the population of bees, scientists are hoping the answer is yes. Read more at Northwest Public Radio about this unconventional answer to an unconventional problem.
Speaking of unconventional solutions, scientists elsewhere have one for a different kind of problem. Off the coast of Australia the Great Barrier Reef, a massive colonial structure of coral polyps which also serves as an important ecosystem in the south Pacific has come under attack by deadly Crowns of Thorns starfish. And in order to bring the population down scientists have turned to... killer robots.
Could the ocean harbor more than life though? Could it, in fact, be a source of clean, renewable energy? In Hawaii, engineers are working to construct the world's very first deep ocean thermal plant, which would, similar to a geothermal plant, harness ambient energy for power but underwater rather than on land.
Budgeting the government is never without sacrifices but sometimes the wrong sacrifices are made. Despite comprising only a tiny fraction of the U.S. budget, funding for NASA and space exploration have been slashed time and time again, hindering the agency's ability to put humans in space. Astronomer Phil Plait goes in more detail over the frustrating financial situation facing NASA.
And on that note... what exactly can the U.S. government do to support new technologies, like renewable energy? According to Ben Adler of Grist, quite a lot actually. Check out the article for his take on what the U.S. president can do and how they could be doing more.
Top image by Ballonboy101
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