Quando le notizie di disastri naturali e umani sono troppe, contrastare la “scienza alternativa” mi sembra ancora più irrilevante del solito. Poi mi rassicuro: sul sito dell’INGV nella pagina dell’aggiornamento sul terremoto di Ischia, c’è anche la rubrica “A proposito di terremoto corre voce che…”, nella quale i sismologi correggono la disinformazione con risposte personalizzate (sarei curiosa di sapere come risponderebbero a questa… h/t radioprozac)
Forse il loro debunking andrebbe riportato in una rubrica a parte, come per Terremotocentroitalia (per Ischia, al momento conviene seguirne i volontari su twitter e i comunicati della Prot. Civile). Forse potrebbe farlo anche l’ISPRA se non fosse stato deliberatamente mandato in rovina per favorire le start-up del Ministero per l’ambiente.
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In USA, intanto, il governo ha bloccato uno studio delle National Academies:
In an August 18 letter, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement informed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that it should cease all work on a study of the potential health risks for people living near surface coal mine sites in Central Appalachia. The letter states that the Department has begun an agency-wide review of its grants and cooperative agreements in excess of $100,000, largely as a result of the Department’s changing budget situation.
The National Academies will go forward with previously scheduled meetings for this project in Kentucky on August 21-23 — which are allowed to proceed according to the letter — and encourages the public to attend open meetings in Hazard and Lexington on August 21 and 22. The National Academies believes this is an important study and we stand ready to resume it as soon as the Department of the Interior review is completed. We are grateful to our committee members for their dedication to carrying forward with this study.
Per evitare che sia pubblicato e di dominio pubblico per legge, come quello sugli impatti climatici cestinato da Trump & Co. la settimana scorsa.
Curiosamente, lo stesso giorno Trump s’è rimangiato la promessa fatta al boss del carbone Robert Murray di esentarlo dalle norme sulla tutela dell’ambiente. Eppure:
President Donald Trump committed to the measure in private conversations with executives from Murray Energy Corp. and FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. after public events in July and early August, according to letters to the White House from Murray Energy and its chief executive, Robert Murray. In the letters, obtained by The Associated Press, Murray said failing to act would cause thousands of coal miners to be laid off and put the pensions of thousands more in jeopardy. One of Murray’s letters said Trump agreed and told Energy Secretary Rick Perry, “I want this done” in Murray’s presence.
Su Bob “eat shit” Murray, raccomando il monologo di John Oliver e sviluppi legali.
A proposito di energia, raccomando anche “Why don’t we have a nuclear toilet yet?”
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Il sogno di Ciamician
Matt McGrath della BBC che segue la conferenza dell’American Chemical Society a Washington, racconta la creazione di “batteri cyborg” a Harvard e all’UC-Berkeley
the new approach seeks to improve this efficiency [della fotosintesi clorofilliana] by essentially aiming to equip bacteria with solar panels.
After combing through old microbiology literature, researchers realised that some bugs have a natural defence to cadmium, mercury or lead that lets them turn the heavy metal into a sulphide which the bacteria express as a tiny, crystal semiconductor on their surfaces.
Con l’acqua, la CO2 e l’energia solare, alcuni producono acetato o precursori di carburanti o altre molecole utilizzabili, dipende dai metalli pesanti aggiunti nella loro vasca.