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WE WANT to “set the kind of powerful example that can inspire the world” to tackle climate change. A bold statement from China and the US – so how are they doing? Earlier this month, the two nations, which between them produce 37 per cent of global emissions, pledged to work together to curb climate change. It seems like they are both making strides. According to a report from Australia’s Climate Commission, in the past year, China has halved its growth in electricity demand, continued to increase wind and solar energy production, and is in the process of developing seven emissions trading schemes that will cover a quarter of a billion people. 4 May 2013 | NewScientist | 7 rocket motor. The engine burn lasted 16 seconds. SpaceShipTwo sped up to 1470 kilometres per hour – Mach 1.2. Ultimately, the rockets will fire for 70 seconds, carrying the pilots and six passengers to the unofficial boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space – an altitude of 100 kilometres. For $200,000, people will experience about 5 minutes of weightlessness. “Suborbital is going to [be a] revolution for researchers, educators, and private individuals,” says Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Generation slacker IT’S time to buck up your ideas, kids. US children increasingly expect the good life science brings without contributing to the nation’s scientific prowess. “We don’t want kids just to be consumers of the amazing things that science generates,” President Obama told a meeting of the US National Academy of Sciences. “We want them to be producers as well. We’ve got to make sure we’re supporting the next generation of dreamers.” A penchant for consuming rather than producing was highlighted this week in a survey of 355,000 high-schoolers, aged 17 to 19, between 1976 and 2007. Kids surveyed from 2005 were most materialistic and least willing to work hard: 62 per cent said that having lots of money was important, compared with 48 per cent of those surveyed between 1976 and 1978. However, only 25 per cent said they thought hard work was important, compared with 39 per cent of those asked in the 70s (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, DOI: 10.1177/0146167213484586). Advertising may be one problem since it “rarely shows the work necessary to earn money to pay for products”, says Jean Twenge of San Diego State University. RIP cosmic explorer IT BROUGHT us snaps of galactic bubbles, stellar nurseries and Saturn’s watery rings in all their cosmic glory, but the time has come for the Herschel space telescope to say goodbye. Launched in 2009 by the European Space Agency (ESA), Herschel is the largest infrared telescope launched into space, offering astronomers “a new view of the hitherto hidden universe”, according to ESA researcher Göran Pilbratt. Among its many discoveries were dust-choked galaxies normally hidden from view and water on Jupiter. To detect temperature changes just a few degrees above absolute zero, Herschel had to cool its instruments with liquid helium. It left Earth with 2,000 litres of the stuff, but this has gradually boiled away into space. After a month of tests, the telescope will be parked in orbit around the sun. View some of its best snaps at bit.ly/15WWB9U. “Herschel discovered dust-choked galaxies normally hidden from view and water on Jupiter” The US is also doing well, although much of its improvement is indirect, coming from a shift away from imported oil in favour of domestic gas, and a slower economy. However, China’s emissions – the largest in the world – aren’t expected to peak until 2025 at the earliest. But the country did reduce its carbon intensity – the amount emitted per unit of GDP – by 5 per cent in 2012, so it is on track to meet its pledge of a 40 per cent reduction by 2020. ZhongXiang Zhang, an economist at Fudan University in Shanghai, says the US got lucky on low emissions, which are not entirely down to policy. Since the “US is now in an easy position”, it might push China towards stronger targets, he says. China: a powerful green example ZHAO GE/ XINHUA/EYEVINE 60 SECONDS Burning heart Roasting at more than 6000 Kelvin, Earth’s iron core is slightly hotter than the surface of the sun – and a bit warmer than earlier experiments suggested. To simulate the intense conditions deep inside our planet, a team in France squeezed a small piece of iron between two diamonds and heated it with lasers (Science, doi.org/mdh). This should help us to understand how heat flows through the Earth. Fine young cannibals When food is short, Drosophila larvae will turn to cannibalism, devouring their elders. It is the first time this behaviour has been seen in an experiment, and is thought uncommon in wild flies. The plan is to study the genetic basis of this complex behaviour in the lab (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/ ncomms2744). Piling on the pounds Tibet is gaining weight, and it’s all water. Satellite data shows that the Tibetan plateau has piled on 7 gigatonnes every year since 2003. Another analysis shows that extra rain falling into the plateau’s lakes accounts for most of the extra poundage (Geophysical Research Letters, doi.org/mdt). In hot water Tons of groundwater floods into the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan each day – water that becomes radioactive and needs to be pumped out and safely stored. A government panel is now studying a plan to install walls around the damaged reactor buildings to keep groundwater out. Ditch a soda a day... ...to keep diabetes at bay. Consuming just one can of sugary drink each day increases the risk of diabetes by 22 per cent compared with non-soda drinkers, according to a study of 16,000 Europeans (Diabetologia, DOI: 10.1007/s00125-013-2899-8). For daily news stories, visit newscientist.com/news –Putting the wind up the US–
