Readers discuss net zero carbon emissions and glass frogs

For a good measure

Cutting carbon dioxide emissions to curb climate change and achieve net-zero is possible but not easy; Alexander Witze reported in “The road to net-zero” (SN: 1/28/23, p. 22).

A report by Princeton University’s Net-Zero America project, released in 2021, estimates that wind and solar power generation will need to nearly quadruple by 2030 to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the United States by 2000; Witze he reported In the most ambitious scenario, he wrote, “wind turbines could cover an area the size of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma.”

Reader Mary Sweeney It should be noted that, while technically correct, the above statement could be mistaken. “What the Princeton report actually states is that the visual track of the hurricanes is equivalent to the combined locations of the states listed above. In other words, it reached that terrestrial figure considering the widest distance from which the longest hurricanes were visible.” Sweeney he wrote The actual land use would be only a small part of the visual footprint.

The act of disappearing

The glass frog hides almost all the red blood cells in the liver, while it sleeps, it hides the transparency of the animal; Susan Millius reported in “The glass frog’s blood vanishes” (SN: 1/28/23, p. 6).

Reader Len Yaeger They wondered what criteria researchers used to determine transparency in frogs.

Biologists think about transparency a little differently than physicists, he says Jesse Delia of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. “If each tissue transmits 90 percent of the light, they are – as far as biology is concerned – relatively completely transparent,” he says. The glassy green dorsal skin of the frogs “gives them the same diffuse transmission, like filtered light, if you were to see a tree canopy on a sunny day.”

What’s more, the translucence of the frog’s glassy skin appears throughout. Through the skin in the belly is a very clear vision, which helps to explain why it was done Delia some years ago they noticed the phenomenon of hidden cells in sleeping frogs. Delia frogs are often seen sleeping in the wild, their backs less translucent looking outwards, like frogs stuck to leaves. “It wasn’t until I saw them sleeping in glass captivity, I could see their bellies,” he said. “Then, you can see right into their organs.”

Since frogs can contain their red blood cells without clotting, the reader Mara Chen-Goldberg They wondered if the discovery would aid research into blood clot treatments for humans?

Many people ask the same question; Delia he says Frogs appear to somehow inhibit the blood clotting process typical of vertebrates. “But at this point we don’t know if that mechanism is directly translated to human medicine,” he said.

Correction

“Foxes capture foxes, stunning investigators” (SN: 11/5/22, p. 4) It was said that the fishing in the foxes was not observed. While the study featured in the history describes the first fishing record of the red fox, published in 1991 Polar Research He had previously reported on arctic fox fishing in Greenland. This falsehood also appeared in the year to the end of the round Science News‘ December 17, 2022 & December 31, 2022 are taking place.