Seawater

Between 1900 and 2000 the world population increased from 1.5 to 6.1 billion people (Max Roser) and by the end of 2100 the population is expected at 11 billion people, this rapid acceleration means large scale environmentally friendly energy is needed sooner rather than later (The Guardian). Fusion energy will be a future energy source, with the ITER machine under construction based on the ‘Tokamak’ concept of magnetic confinement. ITER is predicted to start operating in 2019, with electricity…

A science born from the hearts of the hottest starts, fusion sets its eyes on energy domination in the twenty-first century. Unfortunately, fusion research is severely underfunded and is met by criticism from many, arguing that it is unviable or even impossible and that the payoff isn’t worth the initial cost. Although they may argue this they ignore the fact that fusion is extremely efficient, could solve environmental woes, and that fusion produces massive amounts of energy from readily…

Nature is at once worthy of awe and fear. Each day, natural forces impact people around the globe, usually in a relatively harmless way. However, natural events can quickly become disasters in the right conditions, as is the case with tornadoes and hurricanes. In the middle of the United States, “Tornado Alley” stretches roughly from Texas to upper South Dakota. This coincides with the Great Plains—an area of flat, open land that practically bisects the continental United States. Here,…

that mummification was caused by natural desiccation (Vreeland Jr 1998). They cite the aridity of the environment as a reason not to have to artificially mummify. The external wrappings around the corpses were held tight with a combination of salty seawater and sun exposure (Guillén 2004). This provided an extra layer of covering for protection from the elements. Tello also hypothesized that the body cavities were eviscerated and the extremities were…

Climate change is one of the main concerns of the contemporary world due its various impacts in social, economic and environmental dimensions. One of the consequences of this global phenomenon is the change of availability of water resources through the planet, resulting in water-stressed regions. Therefore, water security has been increasingly approached in decision making processes on politics and, in order to adapt to this new reality, some measures must be taken on infrastructure such as the…

Environmental Changes Affecting Organisms The world's climates is being affected by our way of life. Many of these changes aren't just hurting the plants and animals indigenous to these climates, it is also hurting us. Freshwater lakes and ponds, the Arctic ice caps, and humans are being affected by what is going on in the world. Many of the organisms in these freshwater lakes and ponds respond to the changes in their climate in two ways. They either can not respond, therefore, the number of…

All from a simple glass of water. In most parts of the world, water is a scarce resource. That might seem strange, because there is so much water on Earth. Almost all of the water on Earth, more than 97 percent of it, is seawater in the oceans. The rest is called fresh water, because it does not have a high salt content. Almost all of the fresh water that is available for human use is either contained in soil and rock below the surface, called groundwater, or in rivers…

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia supports over half of the hard coral species and one third of the soft coral species in the world; however, the cumulative impact of human activities such as agriculture, mining, and industrial development have caused an estimated 50% loss of coral cover (Grech et al., 2015). Ocean acidification is one of the primary causes of this loss and is arguably one of the most detrimental consequences of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem. With…

On 11 March 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami occurred off the east coast of Japan. The tsunami resulted in extensive flooding along the east coast of Japan. Located near the towns of Ōkuma and Futaba on the east coast of Japan the Tokyo Electronic Power Company’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) sustained substantial damage. The FDNPP consists of six individual nuclear power reactors. Planned maintenance was being performed on reactors 4, 5 and 6.…

Introduction: Galaxiids are freshwater fish belonging to the galxiidae family. There are migratory and non-migratory species found in New Zealand. The migratory galaxiid fish that are native to New Zealand, are the Giant kōkopu (Galaxias argenteus), short-jaw kōkopu (Galaxias postvectis) and the banded kōkopu (Galaxias fasciatus) (DOC, 2010). Galaxiids generally breed in Autumn and their breeding and migratory patterns differ depending on the species (DOC, 2010). The adults of kōkopu species…