Update: May 1, 2007

LIGHT, PREDATORS AND MUD

By Pam Eastlick for THE DEEP on line

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

There were several interesting science stories in the news this week and I thought I’d feature them all.  They all relate to the environment, some in good ways and some in bad.

The first is a good story brought to us by Ghassan Jabbour and Jian Li, two research scientists at the University of Arizona.  They’ve developed a new lighting device with “100 percent internal quantum efficiency”.  Ah, those clever scientists with their $5.00 words.  But when you translate that phrase into English you discover something cool (literally!).  If you have an incandescent light bulb handy, and it’s turned on, put your hand near it.  Feel the heat?  That bulb puts out light, but only 5 percent of the expensive electricity that enters the light bulb’s base emerges as light.  The rest is emitted as heat and you have to pay for more expensive electricity for your air conditioner to get rid of the heat.  Incandescent light bulbs are so inefficient that Australia will ban them by 2010.

The cost to run incandescent bulbs is one of the reasons fluorescent lights are so popular.  They convert more of the electricity that runs them to light, but the maximum efficiency achieved by fluorescents is still only about 15 percent.  Eighty-five percent of the energy that powers a fluorescent is still emitted as heat.

The researchers at the University of Arizona claim that their new devices have “100 percent internal quantum efficiency” and this means that all the electrical current that goes into the device comes out as light.  Not five percent, not 15 percent; all of it. 

If these devices replaced your incandescent light bulbs at home, you’d pay five percent of what you now pay to light your house.  And your air conditioning costs would drop too.  Here’s hoping Drs. Jabbour and Li get their devices on the market SOON!

We turn now from a promising story about the environment to the tale of a menacing predator.  Our neighbors to the west are having a terrible time with a noxious predator that caused problems for us not so terribly long ago.  The crown-of-thorns starfish is on the move and out of control in the Philippines.  Many of us remember the devastating outbreak of this starfish on the reefs of Guam in the 1980’s.  No one forgets the sight of coral reefs that look as though a small lawn mower has been deployed on them, leaving only a dead white trail across the coral heads.  Now these nasty predators are decimating large tracts of coral reef throughout the Philippines. Not only do they wipe out large tracts of living coral, they’re dangerous to people as well.  The crown-of-thorns starfish is covered with spines that are covered with toxins.  If one pokes you, it means instant searing pain that can last for hours.  You’ll also probably be in for some nausea and vomiting.  The area around the punctures may turn dark blue and swell and the swelling can last for days.  Crown-of-thorns starfish are certainly not nature’s friendliest creatures!

Crown-of-thorns starfish have had outbreaks all over the world (they’re found in almost all tropical seas) and despite intense study; we still don’t know what causes their populations to explode.  The most commonly cited reasons are agricultural run-off and a dip in their predators.  Yes, incredibly enough, there are creatures that are willing to eat a crown-of-thorns.  Not the adults, though, apparently nobody is that stupid.  But several fish and the giant clam eat the eggs, larvae and small adults.

The World Wildlife Fund in the Philippines is asking beachgoers to help reduce the number of starfish in an infested area.  The most recent action netted hundreds from the world-class diving site of Apo Reef off the west coast of the island of Mindoro. According to a WWF survey, outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish have been reported at Apo Reef and Puerto Galera in Mindoro, as well as at Mabini in Batangas, Roxas in Palawan, Bolinao in Lingayen Gulf, and Kiamba and Glan in Sarangani Bay.  Here’s hoping this latest outbreak goes away quickly.  The Philippines have had enough environmental hits recently.

And speaking of environment hits, how about that mud volcano in Indonesia?  The villagers had named it Lusi, but more and more, it’s coming to be called the Lapindo Mud Volcano.  That’s because of the extremely strong suspicion that Lusi is not a natural phenomenon.  Just about everybody (except those responsible) is convinced that Lusi happened when Lapindo Brantas, one of Indonesia’s largest oil companies, drilled into a water aquifer that also contained pressurized gas, while the lower part of the borehole was exposed and not protected by casing.  As a result, rocks fractured and a mix of mud and water worked its way to the surface.  And worked its way to the surface and worked its way to the surface.  Lusi (or Lapindo) erupts over 5 million cubic feet of mud each and every day and it shows no signs of stopping.

There was a plan to stop or reduce the flow of mud by dropping 1,000 chains, each with four concrete balls that weigh roughly 700 pounds, into the throat of the volcano.

The aim was not to plug the hole, which could divert the pressure elsewhere, but to slow the flow by restricting the size of the conduit.  In the end, the same volume of mud will probably be pumped out but the rate will slow down.  The innovators claimed the flow rate would fall by 75%, giving Lapindo Brantas more time to reinforce embankments, channel the mud to a nearby river and take other measures to spare the local inhabitants.  Unfortunately, although at least 500 chains have made the trip into the volcano’s mouth, it seems to be having little effect..

AP photo

Just last week, workers were racing to repair the massive wall that holds back the sludge that has already flooded hundreds of homes.  Cracks appeared in the man-made embankment around the volcano, prompting authorities to declare the whole area off-limits.  Declaring the area off-limits has had an unexpected effect on a part of this disaster that hasn’t gotten a wide amount of news coverage, probably for a very good reason.  One of the areas threatened by the effects of the Lapindo volcano is the Dolly District of Surabaya. The Dolly District isn’t an area of factories or a housing development.  It’s one of the largest red-light districts in Southeast Asia, home to more than 2,000 ladies (and no doubt, gentlemen) of the evening.  The numbers of visiting clients to the Dolly District (named for its first and most famous madam) have dropped by as much as 80%. The mudflow has forced the repeated closure of the main toll road between Sidoarjo and Surabaya when earth dams protecting the highway have burst.  Even when the toll road is open, there are huge traffic jams, and as a result, commuters like businessmen and even sex tourists can’t reach the city. Environmental disasters.  They ultimately affect us all.

Ariel view of the Lapindo Mud Volcano