Methane may be answer to 56-million-year question: Ocean could have contained enough methane to cause drastic climate change

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2011) ? The release of massive amounts of carbon from methane hydrate frozen under the seafloor 56 million years ago has been linked to the greatest change in global climate since a dinosaur-killing asteroid presumably hit Earth 9 million years earlier. New calculations by researchers at Rice University show that this long-controversial scenario is quite possible.

Nobody knows for sure what started the incident, but there's no doubt Earth's temperature rose by as much as 6 degrees Celsius. That affected the planet for up to 150,000 years, until excess carbon in the oceans and atmosphere was reabsorbed into sediment.

Earth's ecosystem changed and many species went extinct during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) 56 million years ago, when at least 2,500 gigatonnes of carbon, eventually in the form of carbon dioxide, were released into the ocean and atmosphere. (The era is described in great detail in a recent National Geographic feature.)

A new report by Rice scientists in Nature Geoscience suggests that at the time, even though methane-containing gas hydrates -- the "ice that burns" -- occupied only a small zone of sediment under the seabed before the PETM, there could have been as much stored then as there is now.

This is a concern to those who believe the continued burning of fossil fuels by humans could someday trigger another feedback loop that disturbs the stability of methane hydrate under the ocean and in permafrost; this change could warm the atmosphere and prompt the release of large amounts of methane, a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Some who study the PETM blame the worldwide burning of peat, volcanic activity or a massive asteroid strike as the source of the carbon, "but there's no crater, or any soot or evidence of the burning of peat," said Gerald Dickens, a Rice professor of Earth science and an author of the study, who thinks the new paper bolsters the argument for hydrates.

The lead author is graduate student Guangsheng Gu; co-authors are Walter Chapman, the William W. Akers Professor in Chemical Engineering; George Hirasaki, the A.J. Hartsook Professor in Chemical Engineering; and alumnus Gaurav Bhatnagar, all of Rice; and Frederick Colwell, a professor of ocean ecology and biogeochemistry at Oregon State University.

In the ocean, organisms die, sink into the sediment and decompose into methane. Under high pressure and low temperatures, methane molecules are trapped by water, which freezes into a slushy substance known as gas hydrate that stabilizes in a narrow band under the seafloor.

Warmer oceans before the PETM would have made the stability zone for gas hydrate thinner than today, and some scientists have argued this would allow for much less hydrate than exists under the seafloor now. "If the volume -- the size of the box -- was less than today, how could it have released so much carbon?" Dickens asked. "Gu's solution is that the box contains a greater fraction of hydrate."

"The critics said, 'No, this can't be. It's warmer; there couldn't have been more methane hydrate,'" Hirasaki said. "But we applied the numerical model and found that if the oceans were warmer, they would contain less dissolved oxygen and the kinetics for methane formation would have been faster."

With less oxygen to consume organic matter on the way down, more sank to the ocean floor, Gu said, and there, with seafloor temperatures higher than they are today, microbes that turn organic matter into methane work faster. "Heat speeds things up," Dickens said. "It's true for almost all microbial reactions. That's why we have refrigerators."

The result is that a stability zone smaller than what exists now may have held a similar amount of methane hydrate. "You're increasing the feedstock, processing it faster and packing it in over what could have been millions of years," Dickens said.

While the event that began the carbon-discharge cycle remains a mystery, the implications are clear, Dickens said. "I've always thought of (the hydrate layer) as being like a capacitor in a circuit. It charges slowly and can release fast -- and warming is the trigger. It's possible that's happening right now."

That makes it important to understand what occurred in the PETM, he said. "The amount of carbon released then is on the magnitude of what humans will add to the cycle by the end of, say, 2500. Compared to the geological timescale, that's almost instant."

"We run the risk of reproducing that big carbon-discharge event, but faster, by burning fossil fuel, and it may be severe if hydrate dissociation is triggered again," Gu said, adding that methane hydrate also offers the potential to become a valuable source of clean energy, as burning methane emits much less carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels.

The calculations should encourage geologists who discounted hydrates' impact during the PETM to keep an open mind, Dickens said. "Instead of saying, 'No, this cannot be,' we're saying, 'Yes, it's certainly possible.'"

The United States Department of Energy supported the research.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rice University.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Guangsheng Gu, Gerald R. Dickens, Gaurav Bhatnagar, Frederick S. Colwell, George J. Hirasaki, Walter G. Chapman. Abundant Early Palaeogene marine gas hydrates despite warm deep-ocean temperatures. Nature Geoscience, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1301

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111109111542.htm

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Twitter-enhanced Firefox 8 officially available for download, Android version updated

Those watching the FTP servers may have been able to snag it a bit early, but Mozilla's now announced that Firefox 8 is officially available for Windows, Mac and Linux computers. The big addition, such as it is, is built-in Twitter search, which will let you search for topics, hashtags or usernames right in the main search box. You'll also get the usual raft of performance and security improvements, as well as some new ways to manage tabs and add-ons. Alongside it comes a new version of Firefox for Android, which includes a new password manager, and the ability to add home screen icons for bookmarked pages or web apps.

Twitter-enhanced Firefox 8 officially available for download, Android version updated originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/08/twitter-enhanced-firefox-8-officially-available-for-download-an/

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Poll: Which email services are you using on your iPhone?

Poll: Which email services are you using on your iPhone?So which email services are you using on your iPhone? Apple gives away iCloud‘s me.com addresses for free now, geeks love their Gmail (though not the app!), Yahoo! mail is still going strong, even if Yahoo! isn’t,...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/bJCV098Q1gw/story01.htm

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Looking for a roleplay or partner(s)

Hello, my name is Chris (for short) and I'm looking for partners to do roleplays with. I currently have a lot of time on my hands and wouldn't mind getting involved in a few roleplays. Here are my details to make things easy:

I try to be as literate as possible, however I don't mind sacrificing a few misspelled words for creavitity. I also can play post by post in which there would be about a paragraph or two of writing, or IMing in which there will be about a paragraph or less so that there is enough time for every player(s).

Genres I play are basically anything except any gore, horror, or animal type roleplays. I can play just a bout anything. A story about survival, a story that takes place in medieval times, a fantasy or sci-fi or historical. But I do not play wolves, zombies, or slaves of any kind.

Okay, I hope this gives a quick picture about what type of roleplayer I am. Hope to hear from you soon,

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?Gorilla man? goes unheard

Tracking a conversation can block out peripheral sounds

Web edition : 3:25 pm

SEATTLE ? Good listeners inadvertently turn a deaf ear to unexpected sounds. Attending closely to a conversation creates a situation in which unusual, clearly audible background utterances frequently go totally unheard, says psychologist Polly Dalton of the University of London.

This finding takes the famous ?invisible gorilla effect? from vision into the realm of hearing, Dalton reported November 4 at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society. More than a decade ago, researchers observed that about half of volunteers watching a videotape of people passing a basketball fail to see a gorilla-suited person walking through the group if the viewers are instructed to focus on counting how many times the ball gets passed (SN: 5/21/11, p. 16).

An ability to prioritize what sounds and sights to monitor supports daily activities, but it can also wipe out perceptions of obvious peripheral happenings. ?We?re not aware of as much in the world as we think we are,? Dalton said.

Dalton and her colleagues created a 69-second recording of two men talking as they prepared food for a party and two women chatting as they wrapped a party gift. Headphones delivered one conversation to each ear of 41 volunteers, creating a sense of the four characters moving around a room as they talked. Partway into the recording, a man dubbed ?gorilla man? by the researchers appears in the acoustic scene for 19 seconds saying ?I?m a gorilla? over and over.

Participants were assigned to pay attention either to the men?s or the women?s conversation.

Nearly all of those following the women and almost one-third of those tracking the men didn?t hear gorilla man at all. The intrusive ape passed closer to the gabbing men in the acoustic scene, partly explaining why his voice was heard more often by those listening to the men, Dalton suggests.

But the problem wasn?t that gorilla man spoke too softly. Only one participant failed to hear the talking gorilla in a second trial, when volunteers were asked to track the men?s conversation and listen for anything unusual.

Psychologist Jeremy Wolfe of Harvard Medical School suspects that, given the power of focused attention to erase peripheral sounds, volunteers would fail to hear gorilla man even if the unseen primate made gorilla sounds or played a flute.

That?s the kind of experiment that will make some noise in the wake of gorilla man?s first silent stroll.


Found in: Humans and Psychology

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/335904/title/%E2%80%98Gorilla_man%E2%80%99_goes_unheard

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Peterson's 99-yard return gives Arizona OT win

 Patrick Peterson,  Brandon Lloyd,  Rashad Johnson,  O'Brien Schofield

By BOB BAUM

updated 8:33 p.m. ET Nov. 6, 2011

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Patrick Peterson sure delivered a dramatic end to his team's six-game losing streak.

The rookie cornerback returned a punt 99 yards for a touchdown in overtime to give the Arizona Cardinals a stunning 19-13 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday.

Peterson, whose pass interference penalty moments earlier seemed to set up the Rams (1-7) for a game-winning field goal, fielded the ball at the 1. He evaded and bounced off tacklers over the next 30 yards or so, then outran everyone, striding the last few yards in celebration of his third punt return TD of the season as Arizona (2-6) won for the first time since the opening week of the season.

It was the second punt return in NFL history to win a game in overtime. The other was 86 yards by Tamarick Vanover of Kansas City to beat San Diego on Oct. 9, 1995.

Arizona's Calais Campbell blocked Josh Brown's 42-yard field goal attempt as regulation ended to force the overtime.

John Skelton, starting in place of Arizona's Kevin Kolb, gave up safeties on consecutive plays in the third quarter, then threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald with 4:51 to tie the game at 13-13.

Brown had field goals of 48, 37 and 41 yards.

Steven Jackson rushed for 130 yards in 29 carries and Sam Bradford, back after missing two games with a high ankle sprain, completed 23 of 36 for 255 yards. Skelton was 20 of 35 for 222 yards for the Rams.

Donnie Jones twice pinned the Cardinals inside their 10-yard line in the third quarter to set up the safeties. The first punt was downed at the 2. Arizona moved it to the 5, then James Hall burst through for a sack for a safety that boosted St. Louis' lead to 11-6. Arizona got the ball at its 9 the next time, and Skelton was called for intentional grounding on a rollout pass, giving the Rams a 13-6 lead.

It was the first time a player yielded two safeties in a quarter since Aaron Rodgers did it against Minnesota on Nov. 9, 2008. The last player to have safeties on consecutive plays was Kordell Stewart of Pittsburgh against Jacksonville on Oct. 3, 1999.

The safeties marked the first time in NFL history that a team had scored a total of four points in a quarter.

Skelton, a 2010 fifth-round draft pick out of Fordham, brought the Cardinals back. He completed 5 of 7 passes for 47 yards and scrambled twice for 28 on a nine-play, 84-yard drive for the game's only touchdown on a leaping grab by Fitzgerald in the back of the end zone.

The Rams took the subsequent kickoff and drove to the Arizona 32, where they had third-and-1, but twice Jackson was stopped for no gain, the first time by O'Brien Schofield, the second by Darnell Dockett.

The Cardinals couldn't take advantage, though, because Skelton fumbled but recovered for a 15-yard loss and Arizona had to punt with a minute to play in regulation.

Bradford's 23-yard pass to Austin Pettis moved the ball to the 42, then a 5-yarder to Pettis moved it to the 37. Cornerback Michael Adams was injured on the play and had to be carted off. St. Louis tight end Lance Kendricks and wide receiver Greg Salas had been taken off on carts earlier.

The pass interference penalty on Peterson ? against Brandon Lloyd, who caught five for 80 yards ? moved the ball well within Brown's range. But the 6-foot-8 Campbell knocked it away.

Peterson's game-winning play came a day after his college team, No. 1 LSU, defeated then No. 2 Alabama 9-6 in overtime.

The Rams dominated the first half statistically but led only 9-3.

Bradford was sacked three times in the first half, two of them to stall drives and force St. Louis to settle for field goals. Adrian Wilson stopped Steven Jackson four a four-yard loss to at the 19 to stall the other Rams drive.

St. Louis outgained Arizona 189-58 in the first half and had a 13-4 advantage in first downs. That all turned around in the second half.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Aaron Rodgers threw touchdown passes to four receivers, Green Bay returned two Philip Rivers interceptions for scores and the Packers withstood a wild finish to hold off the San Diego Chargers 45-38 Sunday and remain the NFL's only undefeated team.

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Eli Manning hit Jake Ballard for a 1-yard touchdown pass with 15 seconds left, giving the New York Giants a 24-20 win over the New England Patriots on Sunday, repeating a comeback victory similar to the 2008 Super Bowl between the teams.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45156426/ns/sports-nfl/

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Tornado plows through southwest Oklahoma, destroys farm (Reuters)

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) ? A tornado destroyed an Oklahoma dairy farm, a home and the rural office of a state university agricultural office on Monday and briefly trapped two people and a dog in a cellar, officials said.

No people were reported injured, but an undetermined number of cows were caught in the twister and killed when the dairy farm was destroyed, said Jeff Rector, emergency manager for Tillman County, Oklahoma.

The tornado was about a quarter-mile wide and was on the ground for about 25 minutes in Tillman County before it continued north, he said.

Hail also pelted the region as severe thunderstorms swept over the area, the National Weather Service said.

Rector said the trapped couple and their dog were rescued from the cellar by deputies and fire-and-rescue officers after downed trees and other tornado debris blocked their exit.

The Oklahoma State University facility that was destroyed is a former residence that was converted into an office for the university's agriculture program.

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111107/us_nm/us_tornado_oklahoma

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Suicide bomber kills 2 in northwestern Pakistan (AP)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan ? A suicide bomber detonated his explosives Monday as a former government official greeted others outside a mosque in northwestern Pakistan on an important Islamic holiday, killing the official and his guard, police said.

Malik Hanif Khan Jadoon had just finished morning prayers celebrating Eid-al-Adha at the mosque in Swabi district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when the attack occurred, said Ijaz Khan, a senior local police officer. Jadoon and his guard were killed and nine others were wounded, including the former official's son, said Khan.

Jadoon used to be a senior official in Swabi and was a member of the Awami National Party, a Pashtun nationalist party whose members have often been targeted by the Pakistani Taliban.

There has been no claim of responsibility yet for Monday's attack.

The Pakistani Taliban is also predominantly made up of Pashtuns, but they resent the secular Awami National Party, which is the ruling party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The party has opposed the spread of the Taliban in the province and supported military operations against them.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111107/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

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HBT: Cardinals interview Matheny, not Francona

Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that while the Cardinals interviewed former catcher and fan favorite Mike Matheny for their managerial vacancy today, they didn?t meet with Terry Francona.

John Dennis of WEEI in Boston, who was all over the Theo Epstein situation, reported yesterday that Francona was en route to St. Louis for an interview, but that apparently didn?t happen. However, it?s not yet clear if the Cardinals simply intend to interview the former Red Sox manager at a later date or if he is no longer under consideration for the job.

In addition to Matheny, the Cardinals met this week with Triple-A Memphis manager Chris Maloney and new White Sox third base coach Joe McEwing. More candidates could surface in the coming days, but Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo and Cubs legend and Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg are also expected to get interviews.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/04/the-cardinals-interviewed-mike-matheny-not-terry-francona-for-manager-today/related/

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Apple seeds iOS 5.0.1 beta 2 to developers, beta 1 was so yesterday...

If you downloaded yesterdays iOS 5 beta you might want to check that iPhone / iPad / iPod touch for an OTA update. No word on what's new in 9A404 -- a mere two builds from yesterdays 9A402 -- but the updated build should still bring solace to those suffering from battery-drain issues. We're getting errors trying to download the developer notes, but we'll update if we find anything new or noteworthy.

[Thanks, Haseeb]

Apple seeds iOS 5.0.1 beta 2 to developers, beta 1 was so yesterday... originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/04/apple-seeds-ios-5-0-1-beta-2-to-developers-beta-1-was-so-yester/

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