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astronomy

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Scientists Shift Search for Alien Technological Civilizations to Ancient Red-Dwarf Stars --"Twice Age of Earth"

“Red dwarfs the dim bulbs of the cosmos have received scant attention by SETI scientists in the past,” SETI Institute engineer Jon Richard said last week in a news release announcing the initiative. “That's because researchers made the seemingly reasonable assumption that other intelligent species would be on planets orbiting stars similar to the sun.”

“This may be one instance in which older is better,” said astronomer Seth Shostak of California-based SETI, a private, non-profit organization which stands for Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. “Older solar systems have had more time to produce intelligent species.” A super-Earth known as Kapteyn b that orbits an 11.5 billion-year-old red dwarf, for example, makes the star and the planet 2.5 times older than Earth (image below).

The srtistic representation shows the potentially habitable world Kapteyn b with the globular cluster Omega Centauri in the background. It is believed that the Omega Centauri is the remaining core of a dwarf galaxy that merged with our own galaxy billions of years ago bringing Kapteyn's star along. (PHL @ UPR Arecibo, Aladin Sky Atlas).

The SETI Institute belives that planetary systems orbiting red dwarfs — dim, long-lived stars that are on average billions of years older than our sun — are worth investigating for signs of advanced extraterrestrial life. The star that's closest to our sun, Proxima Centauri, is a red dwarf. A variety of observing efforts, including Cornell's Pale Red Dot initiative, are looking for habitable planets around Proxima Centauri (shown above).

The two-year project involves picking from a list of about 70,000 red dwarfs and scanning 20,000 of the nearest ones, along with the cosmic bodies that circle them using the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array in the High Sierras of northern California, a group of 42 antennas that can observe three stars simultaneously.

“We'll scrutinize targeted systems over several frequency bands between 1 and 10 GHz,” said SETI scientist Gerry Harp. “Roughly half of those bands will be at so-called ‘magic frequencies' — places on the radio dial that are directly related to basic mathematical constants. It's reasonable to speculate that extraterrestrials trying to attract attention might generate signals at such special frequencies.”

For a long time, scientists ruled out searching around red dwarfs because habitable zones around the stars are small, and planets orbiting them would be so close that one side would be constantly facing the star, making one side of the planet very hot and the other quite cold and dark.

But more recently, scientists have learned that heat could be transported from the light side of the planet to the darker side, and that much of the surface could be amenable to life.

“In addition, exoplanet data have suggested that somewhere between one sixth and one half of red dwarf stars have planets in their habitable zones, a percentage comparable to, and possibly greater than, for Sun-like stars,” said the statement.

The brightest of Red Dwarfs are a tenth as luminous as the sun, and some are just 0.01 percent as bright, but account for three-quarters of all stars, with 6 percent or more of all red dwarfs having potentially habitable, Earth-sized planets.

The Daily Galaxy via SETI Institute, and AFP

Image credits: NASA/Chandra X-Ray Space Observatory

Unusual News --From Around the Planet & Beyond (Promoted Site)

Today's 'Galaxy' Insight --"The Dominant Intelligence in the Universe May Be Non-Biological"

Today's 'Galaxy' Insight --The Search for Habitable Planets

astronomy

1467328643000

culture

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Basque culture, California music thrill at 2016 Folklife Festival

Traditional Basque dancers at the 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. (Flickr photo by Victoria Pickering)

On a bright, hot summer morning on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. the air was filled with more than just humidity. From inside the Smithsonian's Arts & Industries Building floated melodic strains of music from the diverse cultures of California and the Basque country, which is in the Pyrenees on the border between France and Spain.

Martha Gonzalez is doing double-duty during the Folklife Festival, playing with the band Quetzal and with the FandangObon group. Today she danced on the tarima platform with her son jarocho group. You can find them each day at the Sounds of California Stage & Plaza. (Photo by Walter Larrimore, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives)

Musicians were performing to kick off the 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, with themes this year covering “Basque: Innovation by Culture” and “Sounds of California.”

Speakers at the opening ceremony alluded to ideas of inclusion, acceptance, and understanding. They often reminded the audience that we are all human, and much is shared among us despite superficial differences.

Salar Nader is a master of the tablas. He, along with rubâb player Homayoun Sakhi, performed in the opening ceremony and again in the afternoon at the Sounds of California Stage & Plaza. (Photo by Ronald Villasante, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives)

Michael Mason, Director of Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, opened the ceremony by paraphrasing a quote from American poet and activist Muriel Rukeyser. “The world is not made of atoms, but of stories,” Mason said. He encouraged the crowd to listen to the stories being told at the festival, and to be brave enough to share their own.

Demonstration of a rural Basque sportthe object is to cut 6 slices of no more than 3 centimeters thick, as fast as possible. At the 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall. (Flickr photo by Victoria Pickering)

Smithsonian Secretary David Skorton began his remarks, “When we open up the newspapers every day, don't we need to see more things like the Folklife Festival?” The audience responded with cheers and applause. “Every day of this festival is magic, and we need this magic right now,” he said.

Richard Kurin, Smithsonian acting provost and undersecretary for museums and research, also stressed the ideas of knowledge, respect, and diversity. He decried ignorance and echoed President Barack Obama's remarks on immigration reform when he said, “We've all come from somewhere.”

U.S. Representative John Garamendi (D-Calif.) talked about his grandparents immigrating to the U.S. from the Basque country. “That's the story of America,” he said.

Irati Anda and Xabier Paya are bertsolariak, Basque poets who improvise songs on given topics. In today's “Berto Workshop,” they sang about arriving in Washington, their favorite sports, and Xabi's amuma (grandmother). (Photo by Maureen Spagnolo, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives)

The Folklife Festival, located on the National Mall between 4^th and 7^th Streets, is filled with concerts, music performances, craftsmen, language workshops, and cuisine. The Arts & Industries Building is host to the Folklife Festival Marketplace, where visitors can buy artisan products, books and clothing, and get a break from the heat.

FandangObon got the audience circling around the Sounds of California Stage & Plaza with a mix of Japanese and Mexican dance traditions. Want to join in? You have no choice! Just dance! (Photo by Francisco Guerra, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives)

The 2016 Smithsonian Folklife Festival runs this year from June 29-July 4 and July 7-10. Admission is free. Festival hours are from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, with special evening events beginning at 6:30 p.m. For more information: http://www.festival.si.edu.

he day evening with an evening concert by Basque accordion virtuoso Kepa Junkera. Dancers from Aukeran and visitors joined in kalejira, the Basque festival tradition of “going around singing and dancing.” Photo by Josh Weilepp, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

The post Basque culture, California music thrill at 2016 Folklife Festival appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

culture

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gaia

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'Green News Report' - June 30, 2016
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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: US, Canada and Mexico sign major clean energy pact; New report finds millions of Americans may be exposed to lead in drinking water; Germany bans fracking; PLUS: LED streetlights are keeping the American Medical Association up at night... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Florida's coral reef system in rapid decay; Conservative to Fund Republicans Who Back Climate Change Action; Stinging Lionfish Are Invading The Mediterranean; Arsenic, Other Toxins Found At Three Georgia Power Plants; Coal Ash Bedevils Oklahoma Town, Revealing Weakness Of EPA Rule; Should Pacific Bluefin Tuna Be Listed As An Endangered Species?; U.S. Virgin Islands To Withdraw Subpoena In Climate Probe Into Exxon; In California, Study Finds Drilling and Fracking into Freshwater Formations... PLUS: Fossil Fuel Industry Ramps Up Anti-Divestment Strategy... and much, MUCH more! ...

'Green News Report' is heard on many fine radio stations around the country. For additional info on stories we covered today, plus today's 'Green News Extra', please click right here to listen!

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Just Breathe (How I Became a Yogi)
I didn't go to The Ashram with the intention of becoming a yogi. I went to shed the remaining eight pounds I had gained after giving birth to my second son and to take a mini-break from Motherhood. With a handful of almonds and some modestly portioned vegetarian meals each day, the weight melted away quickly. In its place grew a love for yoga that I did not expect. And like most people and things with which we fall in love, my attachment to my practice happened quickly, altering the course of my life forever.

The Ashram is located in Calabasas in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains just a few miles from the beautiful Malibu beaches. There is nothing posh or luxurious about it; the lodging is modest save the spectacular views. A unique part of its program is for everyone to rise slightly before the sun and go to the meditation and yoga dome that sits atop a hill with a beautiful view of the mountains. There one of the counselors guides you through a one-hour yoga session.

Breathing Past The Resistance

As an exhausted new mother to my second child, with tight hamstrings from playing tennis and hiking, I was not particularly happy about this. But I was there for a reason, so that first morning, I entered the dome gritting my teeth and with a sleepy scowl on my face only to be greeted by a curly haired exuberant man who stood at six foot seven inches tall named JB. He proclaimed proudly to us all that after one week in his morning classes; he would turn us all into devoted yogis.

I didn't believe him. All I wanted to do was shed my weight and nurture my sleep deprived self. But again, I was there for a reason, and so I persevered through what seemed to be an endless series of sun salutations for the next hour.

On the way out, JB commended me on the wide variety of tense facial expressions that I had exhibited during class. He assured me that enlightenment comes from letting go and tonight's class would give me another opportunity to do just that. I still didn't believe him.

Finding Enlightenment

But somewhere in the middle of that food-deprived week, my aching body and stressed out spirit did find happiness in downward facing dog. I learned that there is peace in letting go and breathing into a cobra pose and through whatever resistance you encounter. The enlightenment that JB had promised me after that first morning and I didn't believe was possible from a standing forward bend had come to be.

That is not to say any of this is easy. To this day, sixteen years later, downward dog is still my most challenging and confronting pose. No matter how hot the room is or how little I've hiked, my hamstrings are always incredibly tight. Each time I stretch into that pose and wait for my heels to touch the ground, they still don't. But I continue to use my breath to push past that resistance.

A Life-Long Commitment

After a week of JB's voice guiding me through the poses, I took his number and followed up with him to continue my practices with a group of friends. Over the years, I have practiced various forms of yoga including Bikram, Flow, Yin Yoga, Iyengar, Ashtanga, and Hatha and am always discovering new ones. Last week I was introduced to a class by a friend taught by Suzanne Marlow at Yoga Soup. This practice called Insight Yoga, learned from her mentor Sarah Powers, combines the practices of Yoga, Buddhism, Taoism and Transpersonal Psychology with a Yin sequence of floor poses. Basically it took all of what I love about Yoga and meditation to create an appropriately named, insightful experience.

Like all practices, I now have my own unique formula, a little of this and a little of that, depending on the day and what my mind and body needs. I often go to group classes, but my regular practice is a private one that I do alone each morning and now combine with a thirty-minute meditation.

My commitment to my yoga practice is based on the fact that I need it to stay balanced in my life. Yoga keeps me grounded and focused and able to enjoy life no matter what challenges I am presented with simply by letting go and breathing into the stretches.

My Morning Practice Tips

When I start my practice, the first thing I do is to sit on my mat and thank my body for bringing me there. I write three things I am grateful for in my gratitude journal, and then I set an intention for my session, which usually comes from Mark Nepo's; The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have. As I go through my poses, I look for where my body is tight. When I find it, I breathe in and through the uncomfortableness. I know from years of practice that to get to the sweet spot, sometimes we have to go through the tough ones. Even the smallest bit of muscle release can open up a whole new cavern in my mind. Breathing through these places of resistance brings me to a sacred place, that place that JB promised that first day, a place of enlightenment.

Sixteen years later, my yoga and meditation practice are my life guides. They bring me happiness and refresh my soul. With so much uncertainty going on in our worlds, this has become a talisman for my life. If you've never practiced, I invite you to give it a try. Just learning to breathe may offer you a new perspective on life.

"2016-06-30-1467255678-3423091-pexelsphoto24746.jpg"

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1467321095000

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The SCOTUS Immigration Decision Has Aggravated a Humanitarian & Environmental Crisis
Those four Supreme Court justices showed no mercy on June 23rd by ruling against President Obama's executive orders on immigration and aggravating a national tragedy that impacts millions of people.

Justices John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito upheld a lower court decision blocking the President's initiatives that would have legally protected the undocumented parents of citizens and green-card holders. The remaining four justices ruled against the decision, and the ensuing tie automatically upheld the original ruling.

Today millions of undocumented workers remain in a distressing legal limbo and at the mercy of polluters throughout the country. For we must remember that Spanish-speaking undocumented immigrants remain the demographic most vulnerable to the impact of fossil fuel pollution.

According to a Washington State University study, "economically disadvantaged immigrant neighborhoods of non-English speaking Latinos are more likely to be exposed to cancer-causing air toxics than comparable communities of any other racial group in the United States."

And it adds: "Hazardous air pollutants can cause cancer or other serious reproductive and birth defects. Most originate from automobiles and industrial sources like factories, refineries and power plants."

As they live in the shadows of society in constant fear of being deported, these workers and their families remain mostly unaware of the great dangers of environmental degradation they are exposed to. They have only two basic priorities: never getting caught by immigration authorities and working in whatever job they can get to provide for their families, either here or in their countries of origin.

That's why three years ago, the Sierra Club supported immigration reform with a path to citizenship for these 11 million people.

"The Sierra Club supports a path to citizenship that will empower those in our nation who are among the most vulnerable to toxic pollution and the effects of climate disruption to fully participate in our democracy, fight back against polluters, and demand clean energy solutions," the group's statement said.

In these three years, the need to defend themselves against this daily toxic bombardment has become even more urgent, as scientific evidence shows.

Investigators from Sweden and Great Britain found that fossil fuel pollution --especially nitrogen dioxide-- increases the incidence of mental illnesses in children.

"Children are particularly sensitive to poor air quality probably because their lifestyles increase the dose of air pollution they are exposed too. A lower concentration of air pollution, first and foremost from traffic, may reduce psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents," concluded the study, which examined the pollution exposure of more than 500,000 youth.

The study was conducted in Sweden, a country with low or very low pollution levels. This suggests to investigators that in countries and regions with much higher pollution levels --such as undocumented communities in the US-- the impact on children's mental health could be much worse.

Our immigration system is broken. Undocumented workers are not only subject to a daily toxic bombardment but also to the rage and rejection of a growing anti-immigration movement that demonizes and denigrates them.

Those four Supreme Court Justices, and the entire federal government for that matter, ought to add a good dose of compassion and generosity to the formula that will eventually solve this humanitarian crisis.

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1467321094000

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Portion Size and Food Waste: A Growing Problem
Individually we are what we eat. Socially we are what we waste. We can apply Garrett Hardin's theory of the Tragedy of the Commons to this; individually we consider that our food choices benefit us alone, but the social cost of any waste is shared by everyone so we care about it less. However, if unchecked these negative externalities could lead to our demise.

When I moved to America from England, I was delighted by the beautiful, unblemished fruits and vegetables, and the huge portion sizes. Sandwiches particularly intrigued me. I imagined one would need jaws like a snake in order to open one's mouth sufficiently widely to take a bite from this exciting enormity.

I must admit that these generous portions excited me. But even then there were hints that all was not necessarily well in this beautiful food emporium of a country. I noticed how many people were seriously overweight. I also dined one night at a friend's house, who, when the meal was over, fed the very ample remains down the garbage disposal unit, rather than storing them in the refrigerator. What is worse; over-indulging with huge portion sizes? Or throwing away perfectly fresh, nutritious food? They are both a different way of wasting food. And the diminishing returns, exemplified through expanded waist lines and discarded foods are a tragedy.

There is much concern that now that our global population has climbed over seven billion, there is insufficient food to feed everyone. This is a justification for creating genetically modified food, and for factory farms using the Taylor model of assembly lines to maximize efficiency, only in this case it is sentient beings and not metal parts in the factory. Whereas both of these methods are praise-worthy for increasing the food supply, some dispute the view that we are running out of food, and say it's more a problem of distribution than of supply. People in inaccessible rural locations, or urban food deserts, have very poor access to fresh food, and means of distribution need to be improved to help alleviate this situation. But our problem of insufficient food is also clearly a matter of not wasting food in the first place. There is a finite amount of food in the pot; what we waste could have been distributed to others.

There are many stages at which food can be wasted; from fruits and vegetables left to rot in the fields possibly because they are bruised or blemished, to food wasted in supermarkets, especially because of confusion about "sell by" and "best by" dates, which leads many consumers not to select anything that seems too old, to food wasted at home. The American suburban lifestyle encourages us to drive to the supermarket, wheel an enormous cart down aisles of foods designed to tempt us by their bright colors, their labels claiming a variety of health benefits, their price incentives if we buy in bulk, and come away with bags upon bags of groceries as we stock up for a week for ourselves and our family. Inevitably some food gradually gets pushed to the back of the refrigerator, and when we later discover it, it is often too old and possibly moldy.

Some Strategies to Overcome Food Waste:
• Portion control: When we eat good quality food, and slow down and devote our attention to it, we often find we don't need to eat quite so much. Maybe our large consumption is because we don't focus on our food, distracted as we may be by electronic devices or TV or eating on the run, so we eat large amounts of food as a way to satisfy ourselves. Sitting down to a nice meal could surely be a way in which not only might we eat more appreciatively, but also we might waste less.

• Education: We need to educate the public, starting with children, about the sanctity of food. So many children think food originates in the supermarket, vacuum packed, or in colorful boxes, just waiting to be plucked off the shelf. All of us should develop a true respect for food; we should appreciate the richness of the soil, the glory of the sunshine and the clarity of the water that nourishes the crop. Farmers' markets are springing up in more communities, and it is a great way to shop for fresh local food, and learn a little from the farmers, too.

• Abolish Trays in Cafeterias: Trays enable us to carry many heaped plates of food. Without a tray we are less likely to get up and get more food. Rutgers, where I teach, abolished trays in their cafeterias a few years ago, and the overall reaction has been very positive and I see much less food wasted.

• Financial Consequences: Just as there are fines for industries which pollute, so too should we pay towards the costs of wasted food.

• Find Uses for Wasted Food: Feed any discarded food to animals with the appropriate digestive system, or use it as an energy source.

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This post is part of our "Reclaim" initiative, which showcases solutions to the issue of food waste and engages our readers to take action. You can find all the posts in this initiative, as well as feature pieces, investigative stories and video, here. Follow the initiative on Twitter at #Reclaim. And if you'd like to add your own thoughts to our series, sign up here for a HuffPost blog account.

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1467321092000

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The New World
The urge to succeed becomes an obsession, but thousands of kilometers and waves still lie ahead of me. At times, I am overwhelmed by bursts of emotion, quickly suppressed by my concentration in the present moment. Solar Impulse 2 needs to be steered with extreme precision. I need to circumvent a bad weather front, jump over a threatening barrier of clouds, cross an area of turbulence, and repair a software problem that is disconnecting my autopilot and preventing me from resting. It is a tactical flight, very different from the royal pathway I was offered over the Pacific between Hawaii and San Francisco. There had been neither clouds, nor turbulence. This leg is a completely different experience. The first transatlantic solar flight will have to be earned. Nothing is yet won and it is too early to rejoice.

The Atlantic - the ocean of all explorers - saw many sea and air navigators competing in the race to modernity. When Charles Lindbergh flew from New York to Paris, it was to promote commercial air transport. Then, he spent the rest of his life opening up airways and airports. For me, the symbol is the same, but the goal is different. I want to pave the way to a widespread use of modern clean technologies. This is what I have been dedicating my life to for 15 years and this mythical ocean may well allow me to do it.

The landing in Seville is approaching. The same city Christopher Columbus set off from to discover the New World. But today, the "Old" and the "New" Worlds are no longer geographical continents, they are states of mind: the old state of mind of fossil energy, pollution and depletion the Earth's resources; the new state of mind of renewables, cleantech and respect for the environment. When I look at my propellers, turning days and nights on end, activated solely by the sun, I feel like in a science fiction movie. Yet, it is today's reality; the one I want to promote. I can see the old world awaiting me around the corner, but fortunately I am going straight!

The arrival is magical. I am welcomed by the Swiss and Iberian colored smoke of the Spanish Air Force Team. After the landing, the press reports: historic first transatlantic flight of a solar airplane. However, this flight will really become historic if it contributes to opening the way to more clean technologies and renewable energies in our world. And this, only the future will tell...

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1467321091000

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The Climate Post: North American Leaders Commit to Clean Energy Goal
At the North American Leaders Summit on Wednesday, Mexico, Canada and the United States pledged to generate 50 percent of their energy from clean sources by 2025. The joint commitment by the three countries, according to White House Adviser Brian Deese, is "an aggressive goal" but one that is "achievable continent-wide."

"The Paris Agreement was a turning point for our planet, representing unprecedented accord on the urgent need to take action to combat climate change through innovation and deployment of low-carbon solutions," the leaders said in a statement. "North America has the capacity, resources and the moral imperative to show strong leadership building on the Paris Agreement and promoting its early entry into force. We recognize that our highly integrated economies and energy systems afford a tremendous opportunity to harness growth in our continuing transition to a clean energy economy. Our actions to align climate and energy policies will protect human health and help level the playing field for our businesses, households, and workers."

Last year, 32 percent of North America's overall power came from clean energy sources. The White House cited renewable energy, nuclear plants, and carbon capture and storage technology as possible avenues to achieving the 50 percent goal in the next nine years. In addition, measures will be taken to reduce greenhouse gases in the economies of the three countries through deployment of clean vehicles in government fleets, conduct research to accelerate clean energy innovation, support cross-border transmission projects, and examine adding more renewables to the power grid with a joint study of renewables opportunities and impacts

Mexico will join Canada and the United States in reducing methane emissions by 40 to 45 percent by 2025. Reduction strategies are planned for the agricultural and waste management sectors.

Could Brexit Complicate EU Effort on Paris Agreement?

Although the full effects of the United Kingdom's decision, last week, to leave the European Union (EU)--the so-called Brexit--are still unclear, some think it could have far-reaching effects on Europe's commitment to last year's landmark Paris climate agreement to hold the global average temperature increase to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The impending departure of the EU's second largest emitter and a leading advocate of increased EU ambition ahead of the Paris Agreement complicates Brussels' plan to divide up the EU's pledge to cut emissions at least 40 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2030 (subscription). The United Kingdom would have contributed significantly to meeting that pledge--under a 2008 domestic law it is on a pathway to cut its emissions 57 percent by 2030.

Assuming the United Kingdom stays in the Paris Agreement, its contribution would likely be based on its Climate Change Act. To abandon its current emissions reductions commitments would mean repealing the act.

For now, the United Kingdom remains a supporter of the Paris Agreement, and in the short term no changes are slated in its domestic emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2050. But the United Nations says that, once the United Kingdom leaves the EU, a "recalibration" of the Paris Agreement will be necessary.

"While I think the U.K's role in dealing with a warming planet may have been made harder by the decision last Thursday, our commitment to dealing with it has not gone away," said Amber Rudd, Britain's Energy Secretary. "Climate change has not been downgraded as a threat. It remains one of the most serious long-term risks to our economic and national security."

Studies Find Pink Snow Contributing to Climate Change; Humans Changing Vegetation Growth

A study in the journal Nature Communications links the pink-hued snow in higher altitudes in the Arctic to climate-change-related increases in algae blooms that are causing melting in the region at an unprecedented pace. The presence of red algae reduces the snow's ability to reflect light instead of absorbing it as heat (albedo), reducing albedo by as much as 13 percent in one season.

"The algae need liquid water in order to bloom," said the University of Leeds' Stefanie Lutz, lead author of the study. "Therefore the melting of snow and ice surfaces controls the abundance of the algae. The more melting, the more algae. With temperatures rising globally, the snow algae phenomenon will likely also increase leading to an even higher bio-albedo effect."

It is unclear how widespread these algae blooms can become, but based on her observations, Lutz said "a conservative estimate would be 50 percent of the snow surface on a glacier [will be covered by the algae] at the end of a melt season."

A separate study by NASA, which analyzed more than 87,000 satellite images, found extensive greening of land in Canada and Alaska while these area's Boreal regions were browning as a result of climate change.

"Whereas temperature limited tundra regions have almost ubiquitously increased productivity with warming temperatures ... trees in the boreal system do not respond well to high temperatures," said Scott Goetz, deputy director and senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. "It's not what most people typically think of as drought, related to soil moisture, but the effect is the same. Boreal trees are like living organisms anywhere, they will do what they need to do to survive... It's all finely tuned by centuries of evolutionary adaptation."

New research in the journal Nature Climate Change statistically attributes these changes human causes.

"Our findings reveal that the observed greening record is consistent with an assumption of anthropogenic forcings, where greenhouse gases play a dominant role, but is not consistent with simulations that include only natural forcings and internal climate variability," the authors write.

The Climate Post offers a rundown of the week in climate and energy news. It is produced each Thursday by Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

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How Marijuana Can (Potentially) Help Fight Against Alzheimer's
For several years, researchers have been looking for a way to defer the early onset of Alzheimer's. As the only disease in the top 10 causes of death unable to be prevented, cured, or even slowed, Alzheimer's disease is a top priority for many researchers, scientists, and doctors. Several conclusions and proposals have been brought up in the past decades, and several of them slipped out of our reach or are still being tested and evaluated. However, Salk Institute scientists have found preliminary evidence that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other compounds found in marijuana can promote the cellular removal of amyloid beta (Aβ), which happens to be a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer's disease. THC is the principal psychoactive constituent in marijuana and is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana's psychological effects.

In a news article from Salk Institute, Salk Professor David Schubert, the senior author of the paper, states that their study is the first to be able to demonstrate their conclusion.

"Although other studies have offered evidence that cannabinoids might be neuroprotective against the symptoms of Alzheimer's, we believe our study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both inflammation and amyloid beta accumulation in nerve cells,"says Schubert.

Even though the studies were conducted on neurons grown in the laboratory, this discovery nonetheless offers insight on the role of inflammation in Alzheimer's disease and paves a pathway for developing novel therapeutics for the serious disorder.

The disease is induced by amyloid beta proteins that accumulate within nerve cells as the brain ages. The heaping of these toxic proteins leads to the formation of plaque deposits in the brain, which is a large characteristic of Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's disease is a grave progressive brain disorder, destroying nerve connections in the brain, which makes it continuously more difficult to perform simple and basic tasks such as moving around, swallowing, and feeding yourself. Although there are several complications in the brain, this alone does not kill you. What does, is the complications that stem from it -- some common examples being aspiration pneumonia, bedsores, malnutrition, and sepsis infections.

Salk researchers had found that high levels of amyloid beta (Aβ ) were heavily associated with cellular inflammation and higher rates of neuron death. They also successfully demonstrated that exposing the cells to THC reduced the amyloid beta protein levels and eradicated the inflammatory response from the nerve cells induced by the protein, allowing the nerve cells to survive.

"Inflammation within the brain is a major component of the damage associated with Alzheimer's disease, but it has always been assumed that this response was coming from immune-like cells in the brain, not the nerve cells themselves," states Antonio Currais, a postdoctoral researcher in Schubert's laboratory and first author of the paper. "When we were able to identify the molecular basis of the inflammatory response to amyloid beta, it became clear that THC-like compounds that the nerve cells make themselves may be involved in protecting the cells from dying."

To add, physical activity results in the production of endocannabinoids and some studies have successfully shown that exercise may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. In a separate but relevant research study led by Schubert, his lab had found an Alzheimer's drug candidate called J147 producing similar results. This study had led the scientists to discover the beneficial effect of endocannabinoids like THC.

Although these results are only the beginning to finding a way to successfully fight Alzheimer's, the data from other existing research involving marijuana and Alzheimer's support these findings and make this a plausible treatment in the near future.

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Continental Shift: North America Doubles Down on Cooperation
The world is breathless about Brexit. I get it. If the United Kingdom leaves the European Union it will be very bad news for the British, European and world economies. It will also create big question marks for the environment because of the long-standing role of EU environmental laws in Britain. And, of course, the root causes of the shocking result are lessons we need to quickly learn in the United States and around the world about economic justice, xenophobia and demagoguery.

But let's not forget about the other important events that also occurred this week which, unlike Brexit, sent strong signals to the rest of the world about the power and momentum of international cooperation. Yesterday, at the North American Leaders Summit, the United States, Mexico and Canada -- a regional economy larger than Europe -- doubled down on working together, setting joint goals and collaborating to achieve them. And, they did it on the mother-of-all global challenges: averting climate collapse. As President Obama said yesterday in addressing the Canadian parliament, "there is one threat that we cannot solve militarily and we cannot solve alone - climate change."

Yesterday was the first time that these three national governments met when all were aligned on the urgent need to face climate disruption. With this dawning truth and growing support for action among their people, the three leaders announced a set of joint actions.

At the core are two new lode stars for North America- powering the continent with at least 50% clean electricity in less than a decade, and cutting the super-pollutant methane by 40-45% - also by 2025. These are not small goals. Achieving them will require particularly strong leadership from the United States, which is by far the largest consumer of electricity and source of methane among the three countries.

A shared North American vision for both electricity and methane is important because power and pipeline infrastructure doesn't stop at national borders - and neither do climate change impacts. Think disappearing ice in the US and Canadian Arctic to mega-droughts and wildfires raging along the Canadian and American west to the super-storms that batter the US and the Mexican coastlines.

By developing content-wide energy goals, our leaders are building a foundation of solidarity, rather than division, on the biggest challenge the world has ever seen. And, we'll reap enormous benefits from this holistic approach: by managing our electricity supply together, North America can push even faster toward an economy powered by 100% renewable energy, creating new jobs and leaving nuclear and fossil fuels fully behind.

This collaborative approach builds on momentum generated in Paris last December when world leaders created the first truly global agreement to fight climate change. While this agreement catapulted climate to the top of the world's agenda, and created huge momentum that is still being felt in energy markets and public conversation, it was not enough. There is a major gap between the emissions cuts agreed to in Paris and the ambition we need to get on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius - the new global goal set in Paris. This is partially because the Paris deal was mostly about what countries were willing to do on their own, rather than how to do more together.

The time has come for countries to work together to beat their targets by doing more cooperatively. Like moving your refrigerator or getting your car out of a ditch, confronting climate change is something individuals or countries cannot do alone. To avert climate collapse, we have no choice but to search high and low for ways to do more together.

Yesterday's agreement was a strong first step in that direction, but it should not be the last: there are more opportunities on the table for cooperation between US, Canada and Mexico. For example, in Paris, Mexico laid out plans to nearly double its proposed pollution reduction target with support from countries like its neighbors to the north. That wasn't included in yesterday's announcement. With the strong foundation established this week, North American leaders should take up this additional challenge of supporting Mexico in meeting its more ambitious goal.

By remembering our deep cultural connections, we can proudly step into the leadership position the world so desperately needs from Canada, Mexico and the United States of America. To paraphrase voices from Britain's wiser past, when it comes to averting climate collapse we can only get by with a little help from our friends.

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The Looking Glass by Maren Klemp

www.marenklemp.com