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These sulfur compounds are also known to serve as odor signals to marine organisms and are likely to play an equally important role in marine ecology, said Gabrielle Nevitt, professor of neurobiology, physiology and behavior at UC Davis and senior author on the study. The researchers wanted to know if reef fish also respond to these chemicals.

DeBose released plumes of DMSP at low concentrations on reefs off the Caribbean island of Curacao, Netherlands Antilles.

"It was pretty impressive," she said. "We would be surrounded by hundreds of fish for up to 60 minutes." The plumes mostly attracted fish known to feed on plankton, such as brown chromis and Creole wrasse, and the researchers noted that these fish were mostly arriving from down-current as if they were following a plume of scent.

The fish are using scent to "listen" to the interaction between plant plankton and their predators, DeBose said.

"They’re not smelling food, but other cues that might lead them to food," she said.

DMSP is also given off by zooxanthellae, one-celled organisms that live inside coral polyps and allow them to photosynthesize. Stressed or damaged coral can lose its zooxanthellae and become "bleached," Nevitt said.

"DMSP is the smell of a productive, healthy reef," she said.

DMSP has mostly been studied in the context of atmospheric chemistry and global climate regulation, and not as a signaling molecule, Nevitt said. A better understanding of its effects could help in the recovery of damaged reefs, and understanding the links between climate change and the biological realm.

Sean Lema, Assistant Professor of Biology and Marine Biology, Center for Marine Science of the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, is also an author on the paper, published in the March 7 issue of the journal Science. The work was funded by the American Museum of Natural History and the Philanthropic Educational Organization.

Adapted from materials provided by University of California – Davis, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

The heart of the solar roadway concept is the solar road panel. Each individual panel consists of three basic layers, the road surface layer, which is translucent and high-strength yet rough enough to provide traction. The surface layer is capable of handling today’s heaviest loads under the worst of conditions and protect the electronics layer beneath it.

Next is the electronics layer, which contains a large array of cells, the bulk of which contain solar collecting cells with LEDs for "painting" the road surface. These cells also contain the "Super" or "Ultra" caps that store the sun’s energy for later use. Batteries are not used in the solar roadway. Since each solar road panel manages its own electricity generation, storage, and distribution, they can heat themselves in northern climates to eliminate snow and ice accumulation.

The third layer is the base plate layer, which distributes power (collected from the electronics layer) and data signals (phone, TV, internet, etc.) "downline" to all homes and businesses connected to the solar roadway. The power and data signals are passed through each of the four sides of the base plate layer. The base plate layer is directly attached to vertical risers, pneumatic or hydraulic pistons that raise or lower different points of individual solar road panels. Riser bases are installed beneath the frost line to avoid the "heaving" phenomenon common in colder climates where the ground freezes and thaws. This provides a natural earth ground for the electronics layer of the Solar Road Panels. The risers are controlled (raised, lowered, or locked) by the solar road panel’s microprocessor board. The microprocessor board communicates with each adjacent panel to ensure a seamless road surface.

Brusaw believes his system, if implemented from coast-to-coast in place of the tarmac on existing highways, could produce enough energy to meet the entire world’s electricity needs. But skeptics wonder whether such an expensive high-tech road surface can stand up to the rigors of everyday use-from overloaded 18-wheelers putting extra stress on the highway to oil spills seeping into expensive electronic circuitry-without having to be replaced or repaired often. Brusaw acknowledges that his system still needs fine-tuning, but in the meantime is developing a working prototype along a 45-mile stretch of road between the Idaho cities of Coeur D’Alene and Sandpoint.

This week the company is meeting with professors from the University of Idaho’s civil engineering faculty to discuss the development of the base plate (bottom layer). "U of I has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Transportation as one of the nation’s top transportation research universities," says Brusaw.

For the top layer, Solar Roadways has approached the nations top materials research labs, "Penn State University’s Materials Research Institute and the University of Dayton’s Research Institute [are] working of figures for developing the top layer," he says.

After the cost estimates are in, "we’ll be in position to approach our investors for funding. They seem far more interested in the time frame than the money required," says Brusaw. The company says that it has four interested investors at this time.

"It looks like 2008 is going to be our year. Everything seems to be falling into place at just the right time," says Brusaw.

Overseas, Europeans are also pioneering ways to use the sun’s rays to work as they beat down on roadways. The British firm Astucia has developed a road stud that contains small solar panels and emits LED light to illuminate dark roadways. On the 120 U.K. roads where the new studs have been installed, night-time accidents are down 70 percent.

And the Dutch firm Ooms Avenhorn Holding BV has developed a way to siphon solar heat from asphalt road surfaces and use it to de-ice roads and help power nearby buildings. A latticework of pipes under the road surface allows water to heat up during warm weather. The water is then pumped deep under ground where it maintains its higher temperatures and can be retrieved months later to keep road surfaces ice-free during winter months. Apartment buildings, industrial parks and an air force base have benefited from the innovation, and the firm is working on exporting its system to other countries in the coming years.

Portions of this article were originally published in EarthTalk, a syndicated column published by "E – The Environmental Magazine" and were reprinted with permission.

In Bali, he met Mike Fincken, Captain of the “Rainbow Warrior II”, who was so enthusiastic about the idea of touring the world emission free that he spontaneously invited the Solar taxi to find a temporary home on board of the Greenpeace ship – which was bound for Whangarei, New Zealand.

Now the solartaxi is going to arrive by boat, coming from Christchurch, on January 29, 2007. On his return to Switzerland, Mr. Palmer will have travelled through 5 continents, more than 40 countries and over 40,000 km – and will have shared the two-seater cabin with ministers, hoboes, journalists, backpackers, and a Jordanian prince.

It took 3 years to build the solartaxi. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and three Swiss Universities of Applied Sciences have been involved in its making, integrating top-notch technologies – and a flexible steering-wheel that allows the passenger to take control of the vehicle running at a maximum speed of 90 kph the sustainable way.

The car pulls a trailer equipped with high-efficiency solar panels from his main sponsor Q-Cells which generate roughly 50% of the electricity needed to run the car. The other half is generated through solar panels on top of the headquarters of sponsor Swisscom and reaches the solartaxi through the grid – symbolized by the fact that the solar taxi recharges its batteries at Swiss embassies, whenever possible. The grid works like a bank, from where Palmer can withdraw his earlier deposits when travelling by night or on a cloudy day.

From the travel Diary

A record performance for the Solar Taxi. Louis Palmer drives 375 kilometres across the deserted Nullarbor Plain. As always, he is accompanied by animals – just managing to avoid crashing into a dead kangaroo.
"Be careful, there are kangaroos all over the road at night", the woman in the roadhouse at Eucla warns me. But I want to go another 70 kilometres today, even though the sun has already set. Of course I don’t see a single kangaroo, especially not in the glaring headlights of oncoming road trains, but I have my headlights on high beam. SOLAR TAXI: NEAR MISS WITH A DEAD KANGAROO
Help! I wrench the steering wheel round and shoot out into the gravelly darkness. There’s a dead kangaroo in the middle of the road. I don’t want to think about what might have happened if I hadn’t had the headlights on high beam. Hitting it would not only have shattered the car body, but may also have pulled off a wheel or my solar cell trailer and sent me hurtling out me into the bushes.

A Desert Full of Trees

Kangaroos can grow up to two metres high, so road trains sport huge steel grilles called "bull bars". Maybe I should get a "bull bar" too. The only problem would be that it would weigh as much as the whole Solar Taxi.
I drive cautiously on, followed by the stink of cadaver and a cool tailwind. My escort bus is somewhere up ahead. Erik and Laura are constantly on the lookout for power for their laptops so they can cut the newest action video. Today they unpack a roll of long, silky fabric. We want to re-film the most famous scene of the Australian road movie "Priscilla – Queen of the Desert". But the place where we want to film this desert scene is not desert at all, it’s forest. For hundreds of kilometres in all directions. What about the "Null Arbor", literally translated from Latin as "no trees"? Anyway, filming is cancelled for today.

Half Time for The Solar Taxi

But mostly I have the highway entirely to myself. I drive for four hours at a stretch. The occasional glimpse in the rear view mirror, keeping an eye on the thunderous approach of road trains, and a quick look at the battery temperature – nothing else to do. If I kept driving like this every day, the Solar Taxi would be home again in 10 weeks, but we want to be on the road for another nine months. We’ve now been on the road for just one eight months. Next week we celebrate our first milestone – half way through our trip. The next sign shows the distance to our party: 850 km to Perth!

From the ABC

The Federal Government has reversed a key part of the controversial Murray-Darling Basin takeover plan, saying it will allow the states to retain their rights to manage annual water allocations in the catchment area.

Federal Water Minister Penny Wong made the announcement after a meeting with her state counterparts in Sydney today.

Ms Wong says a cap on water extractions will be set by the Federal Government after discussions with scientists.

But she says the states are best-placed to decide how that water is allocated.

"We want to take national leadership and we will do so by ensuring that there is a basin-wide plan," she said.

"But we are absolutely committed to a cooperative approach and that includes ensuring that the states retain those rights which are necessary for good water management within the basin."

Ms Wong says despite the positive meeting, Victoria remains the only state not willing to hand its powers for managing the basin over to the Commonwealth.

"What we’ve announced today is an agreement with all of the basin states, including Victoria on their key issues," she said.

"We will continue to discuss the detail of arrangements.

"Clearly we do have more more negotiations to go but I am very pleased with the steps that have been taken today."

MONTREAL – Frogs have been around for millions of years, but if humans keep ruining the planet, these important members of the food chain face extinction, biologists around the globe are warning.

One-third to one-half of the world’s 6,000 species of amphibians – frogs, toads and salamanders – could disappear if nothing is done, the experts warn, a loss some are calling the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs.

"In the past 50 years, 120 different species have disappeared forever," David Rodrigue, director of the Ecomuseum in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Que., said Friday.

Do away with frogs and there will be more mosquitoes and, therefore, more possible carriers of viruses like West Nile, he said.

"When you hear less and less frog noise at the chalet, that’s a sign frogs are disappearing at an alarming rate," said Rachel Leger, director of Montreal’s Biodome.

Air and water pollution, loss of habitat, climate change and pesticides are some of the causes for their disappearance.

Frogs drink through their skin, so if water is polluted, they can be poisoned. They are cold blooded, meaning their body temperature is the same as the air. Global warming can drive their internal temperature to harmful levels.

A fast-growing disease spread by the amphibian chytrid fungus is ravaging frog populations, particularly in tropical areas.

Global conservation groups have declared 2008 the Year of the Frog, and the six Quebec organizations hope to raise awareness of the threat to frogs, spur people to action, and raise much-needed cash to fund research.

The Ecomuseum, the Biodome, the Granby Zoo, Parc Safari, le Parc Aquarium of Quebec City and the Zoo Sauvage of St. Felicien are all starting educational programs to teach visitors about saving frogs.

They are breeding certain endangered species of frogs in captivity and funding research into fighting the fungal disease.

"There are 500 other species that will become extinct in our lifetime, no matter what we do," Rodrigue said.

"The message isn’t just that there’s a crisis, but that we have to act quickly."

The presence of frogs is a clear sign of balance in the ecosystem, Rodrigue added.

Frogs and other amphibians control the population levels of insects, both agricultural pests and disease carriers.

Development is encroaching into wetlands, destroying frog habitats. Pollution of lakes, rivers and streams, as well as air pollution, is taking a toll.

"Any effort to help the environment, either recycling, cleaning up the shoreline or not using pesticides – anything – will help," Rodrigue said.

Ecomuseum visitors Olivier Mathieu, five, and Cedric Marcil, 11, got up close Friday to the largest species of frog in North America, the bullfrog, common in the St. Lawrence River valley.

At this point, bullfrogs aren’t endangered.

"It had a gooey feel," Olivier said.

"I didn’t like it; it was slippery and soft," Cedric said.

For more information, go to the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums website at www.caza.ca and click on Year of the Frog

asutherland@thegazette.canwest.com

© Montreal Gazette

Sweden will aim to get nearly half its energy from renewable sources by 2020 as part of an EU-wide plan, says Energy and Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson.

Olofsson said in Washington that Sweden had been tasked with increasing its share of renewable energy to 49 per cent from a current 40 per cent as part of binding targets set by the European Union.

"This would be the highest share in the world," Olofsson said in the text of a speech.

"Today Sweden has an almost fossil-free energy system – except for the transportation sector.

"Renewable energy makes up 40 per cent of our energy consumption. Oil’s share of energy supply is less than a third and it will continue to decrease."

The EU plan calls for a 30 per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 within an international framework.

An official for Olofsson’s department said work had started to prepare national legislation for Sweden as part of this drive.