- Email: [email protected]
China makes move to put out its coal fires
Laif / CAMERA PRESS
UPFRONT
Ending China’s coal fires IS THIS, finally, the end for the gigantic coal fires that have been burning in Inner Mongolia, China, for 50 years? The province’s government announced earlier this month that it would spend 200 million yuan ($29.4 million) a year through to 2012 on extinguishing over 60 fires that burn, unchecked, at seven of its coalfields. The fires can be ignited naturally by lightning or forest fires but more often are lit by sparks from mining equipment or burning waste. Some are at the surface, but they can also burn below ground, making them hard to spot and control. The fires are difficult to extinguish, as oxygen can seep into cracks and reignite hot coal several metres below the surface. China has the worst underground coal fires. Each year, around 20 million
tonnes of coal go up in smoke, emitting up to 100 million tonnes of greenhouse gases. As China’s main coal-producing area, Inner Mongolia is home to the severest fires. “If Inner Mongolia invests 200 million yuan, another 400 million can be expected from the central government,” says Jianzhong Zhang of the German Aerospace Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, who studies the fires. “That will be enough to put out almost all the fires in Inner Mongolia.” This is the first time that the regional government has made a concerted effort to control its fires. It plans to remove nearby coal to stop fires spreading and bury burning coal in sand and slurry. The plan’s low-tech nature makes some environmentalists wonder why it didn’t happen earlier.
Doubt is spreading
the same questions as in previous years, plus new ones about recent controversies. Of the 32 per cent of respondents who had heard about climategate, just 29 per cent thought the unguarded comments in the leaked emails meant climate scientists should not be trusted. The survey showed a long-term drop in the proportion of people who believe that global warming has been happening, from 84 per cent in 2007 to 74 per cent this year. A UK poll by researchers at Cardiff University shows a similar drop, from 91 per cent in 2005 to 78 per cent this year.
–Burning unchecked for 50 years–
US stem cell block
“Stem cell lines carrying mutations for cystic fibrosis could be denied US government funding” RGI submitted its lines for clearance to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in October 2009. But last week, an advisory committee to 4 | NewScientist | 19 June 2010
SHAMSHAHRIN SHAMSUDIN/epa/Corbis
NUMEROUS lines of human embryonic stem cells carrying mutations responsible for conditions such as cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease are set to be denied US government funding, because of a problem in donor consent forms. The 42 lines were created by a team led by Yury Verlinksy of the Reproductive Genetics Institute (RGI) in Chicago. Verlinsky, who died in 2009, was a pioneer of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis: screening IVF embryos for genetic mutations. Some couples also donated embryos carrying the mutations, allowing Verlinsky’s team to extract stem cells for research.
NIH director Francis Collins recommended that the lines be excluded from federal funding. The problem is a single sentence in the consent forms, which waives any rights to sue for negligence or harm arising from the donation. As New Scientist went to press, Collins had yet to make a final decision, but he seems to have little room for manoeuvre as such waivers are forbidden under US government rules. The lines are very valuable, says Alan Trounson of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in San Francisco.
“CLIMATEGATE” and the flaws in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s last report have not greatly influenced US public opinion about global warming. That’s according to a survey from Stanford University, California. But this and other polls – including one carried out in the UK – also show a steady decline in belief that the planet is warming. Jon Krosnick has run polls on global warming each year since 2006. In his latest, 1000 randomly selected adults in the US were asked
Bendy sheep ANIMAL experimenters in the US, beware: you may find yourselves facing criminal charges. That’s what has happened to nine staff at the University of WisconsinMadison, who could go to jail or pay heavy fines for carrying out decompression experiments on sheep for the US navy. Some sheep died in the experiments, which aimed to find new ways to save divers from “the –Mice develop ethical awareness– bends”. Antivivisectionists at the
UPFRONT
Ending China’s coal fires IS THIS, finally, the end for the gigantic coal fires that have been burning in Inner Mongolia, China, for 50 years? The province’s government announced earlier this month that it would spend 200 million yuan ($29.4 million) a year through to 2012 on extinguishing over 60 fires that burn, unchecked, at seven of its coalfields. The fires can be ignited naturally by lightning or forest fires but more often are lit by sparks from mining equipment or burning waste. Some are at the surface, but they can also burn below ground, making them hard to spot and control. The fires are difficult to extinguish, as oxygen can seep into cracks and reignite hot coal several metres below the surface. China has the worst underground coal fires. Each year, around 20 million
tonnes of coal go up in smoke, emitting up to 100 million tonnes of greenhouse gases. As China’s main coal-producing area, Inner Mongolia is home to the severest fires. “If Inner Mongolia invests 200 million yuan, another 400 million can be expected from the central government,” says Jianzhong Zhang of the German Aerospace Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen, who studies the fires. “That will be enough to put out almost all the fires in Inner Mongolia.” This is the first time that the regional government has made a concerted effort to control its fires. It plans to remove nearby coal to stop fires spreading and bury burning coal in sand and slurry. The plan’s low-tech nature makes some environmentalists wonder why it didn’t happen earlier.
Doubt is spreading
the same questions as in previous years, plus new ones about recent controversies. Of the 32 per cent of respondents who had heard about climategate, just 29 per cent thought the unguarded comments in the leaked emails meant climate scientists should not be trusted. The survey showed a long-term drop in the proportion of people who believe that global warming has been happening, from 84 per cent in 2007 to 74 per cent this year. A UK poll by researchers at Cardiff University shows a similar drop, from 91 per cent in 2005 to 78 per cent this year.
–Burning unchecked for 50 years–
US stem cell block
“Stem cell lines carrying mutations for cystic fibrosis could be denied US government funding” RGI submitted its lines for clearance to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in October 2009. But last week, an advisory committee to 4 | NewScientist | 19 June 2010
SHAMSHAHRIN SHAMSUDIN/epa/Corbis
NUMEROUS lines of human embryonic stem cells carrying mutations responsible for conditions such as cystic fibrosis and Huntington’s disease are set to be denied US government funding, because of a problem in donor consent forms. The 42 lines were created by a team led by Yury Verlinksy of the Reproductive Genetics Institute (RGI) in Chicago. Verlinsky, who died in 2009, was a pioneer of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis: screening IVF embryos for genetic mutations. Some couples also donated embryos carrying the mutations, allowing Verlinsky’s team to extract stem cells for research.
NIH director Francis Collins recommended that the lines be excluded from federal funding. The problem is a single sentence in the consent forms, which waives any rights to sue for negligence or harm arising from the donation. As New Scientist went to press, Collins had yet to make a final decision, but he seems to have little room for manoeuvre as such waivers are forbidden under US government rules. The lines are very valuable, says Alan Trounson of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in San Francisco.
“CLIMATEGATE” and the flaws in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s last report have not greatly influenced US public opinion about global warming. That’s according to a survey from Stanford University, California. But this and other polls – including one carried out in the UK – also show a steady decline in belief that the planet is warming. Jon Krosnick has run polls on global warming each year since 2006. In his latest, 1000 randomly selected adults in the US were asked
Bendy sheep ANIMAL experimenters in the US, beware: you may find yourselves facing criminal charges. That’s what has happened to nine staff at the University of WisconsinMadison, who could go to jail or pay heavy fines for carrying out decompression experiments on sheep for the US navy. Some sheep died in the experiments, which aimed to find new ways to save divers from “the –Mice develop ethical awareness– bends”. Antivivisectionists at the