Harmful hype?

President Barack Obama announced recently that he will initiate a series of executive actions to reduce the health effects of climate change. He says rising temperatures can lead to more smog, longer allergy seasons, more insect-borne illness, and increased incidence of extreme-weather-related injuries that put vulnerable populations, including children, asthma sufferers, the elderly, the sick, the poor, and some communities of color, at greater health risks.

Some believe the president chose to focus on alleged health risks of climate change because the American people have not warmed to the idea of costly environmental policies in response to dire warnings about risks to the planet. The Huffington Post reported that “polls consistently show the public is skeptical that the steps Obama has taken to curb pollution are worth the cost to the economy. So Obama is aiming to put a spotlight on ways that climate change will have real impacts on the body.”

H. Sterling Burnett, managing editor of Environment and Climate News, believes the president used alarmist tactics and based his grim predictions on unsound science. “Linking asthma and children’s health problems to climate change is the worst form of hype. The president has no credible evidence to back up his claims, but rather he tries to use scary threats to children to push his unpopular climate agenda. Obama’s climate actions are likely to cause far more harm to people, especially the poor, than any purported threats from global warming,” he said.

Obama linked climate change to health at the same time he began to seek support for his policies of strict emission limits on vehicles and power plants.

Robotic awakening

Researchers at Bielefeld University in Germany have developed software that they say allows a walking robot, modeled after a stick insect and affectionately known as Hector, to demonstrate various levels of higher consciousness. The researchers are still investigating to what extent Hector can be programmed for consciousness. They believe the robot will demonstrate emergent abilities; that is, capabilities that have not been preprogrammed but suddenly develop, sort of like learning.

The researchers will program Hector to solve problems by using imagined behavior. Instead of automatically performing a predetermined action, the robot will look for a new solution and then evaluate whether the action makes sense.

The researchers believe Hector may have the ability to judge the emotions of others. “It may be able to sense other people’s intentions or expectations and act accordingly,” said researcher Holk Cruse. “The robot may then be able to think: ‘What does this subject expect from me?’” —J.B.

Fuel of the future

Researchers at Virginia Tech discovered a method to make hydrogen fuel from the bounty of leftovers found in cornfields: cobs, husks, and stalks.

Hydrogen, which produces almost no greenhouse gas emissions, has traditionally been slow and costly to produce and distribute. But a new technique uses the sugars glucose and xylose simultaneously, increasing the rate hydrogen is released by threefold. Other methods must use the sugars sequentially, increasing production time and cost.

Furthermore, the use of corn byproducts reduces expenses by using a source that is readily available near the energy plants and reduces the required facility size to about that of a typical gas station.

The researchers hope the new technique will help speed the widespread use of hydrogen-fueled cars, displacing fossil fuels. —J.B.