methane

NASA's original concept for a balloon scout on Saturn's moon Titan called for using waste heat from a radioisotope power system. But such systems come with the major downside of not providing enough heat for sudden course changes -- a problem that one company plans to solve by using hot air balloon technology, The Register reports.

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Bacteria naturally turn carbon dioxide into methane gas over billions of years. Now Japanese researchers want to give that process a speed boost, to help counter global warming and create some much-needed natural gas. Agence France-Presse reports that Japan hopes to reduce the transformation period from billions to about 100 years.

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A haze of methane enshrouds Saturn's largest moon, Titan, and prevents scientists from seeing most sunlight reflections off the surface. But NASA's Cassini orbiter managed to snap a stunning image of sunlight glinting off a huge, liquid methane lake -- a smoking gun that confirms liquid in the northern hemisphere.

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The idea of extraterrestrial boating comes from planetary geologist (and sailing enthusiast) Ellen Stofan, who points out that one of Saturn's moons, Titan, is covered with lakes, and in fact is one of only two places in our solar system known to have surface liquid (the other being Earth, of course). So why not launch a floating probe? After all, to date all extraterrestrial endeavors have involved either flight or land navigation, so perhaps it's time to switch it up a little.

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Gavin Schmidt, NASA climate scientist and one of the nonsense-dispelling bloggers at RealClimate, teamed up with photographer Joshua Wolfe to create the new book Climate Change: Picturing the Science. According to its creators, the book illustrates climate change science through "arresting images and lucid explanations of the science of global warming and the pursuit of global cooperation in adopting new, sustainable ways of living."

Check out a selection of the book's most breathtaking images in PopSci.com's Gallery: Climate Change Never Looked So Good.

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Poo is powerful stuff. That’s cow poo to be exact, though scientists say other animals' waste could also be used as an environmentally friendly energy source. 121 facilities in the U.S. are already turning their manure into electricity, and a report from the university of Texas says that the total potential across the country from existing cows could potentially serve 3% of our national energy use. And, a new bill was recently proposed asking for tax incentives for even more biogas production. This poo power stuff is really catching on.

If you're still finding it hard to visualize the transition from cow pies to flickering light bulbs, we delve into the poo-power basics here in graphic exposition.

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Despite all the talk about carbon capture, carbon footprints and carbon trading, carbon dioxide only causes nine to 26 percent of the greenhouse effect. That means that the majority of warming results from gases with a much lower media profile than the paparazzi-trailed starlet of global warming, CO₂. In honor of last weeks’ report in the Journal of Geophysical Research, which identified a brand new greenhouse gas, PopSci.com counts down the gases that bring us bikini weather in Antarctica and beachfront property in Montana.

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In a lush pasture near Buenos Aires, this cow and its compatriots are digesting important information: how much methane—a greenhouse gas 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide—is released by the country’s 55 million bovines. Researchers from Argentina's National Institute of Agricultural Technology connected inflatable tanks to the cows’ first stomach, where methane is made, through a small hole between their ribs.

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A company called Environmental Power is building the country's largest facility for converting cow manure into natural gas. The company is constructing eight enormous tanks outside Stephensville, Texas, that will each be able to hold 916,000 gallons of manure. The plan: Add high-carb materials, cook to above 130 degrees Fahrenheit, and let the bacteria start converting all that refuse into methane. There's a great, detailed piece on the company's plans for turning poop into profit on Xconomy.—Gregory Mone

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