Hurricanes May Increase in Gulf as El Nino Shifts in Pacific

(Bloomberg) -- A shift of warming patterns in the Pacific Ocean may mean more seasons of increased hurricane activity in the Atlantic and more storms entering the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico, according to a study in the journal Science.

The warming of Pacific waters -- a phenomenon called El Nino -- has been moving toward the central Pacific, meaning more storms will form in the Gulf and Caribbean, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology said in the study. Traditionally, when the eastern Pacific warms up, hurricane activity in the Atlantic falls.

Kurt Cobb: Is the United States drifting toward "war socialism"?

Jay Hansen is a well-known voice on issues of peak oil and sustainability. A systems analyst by trade, he established one of the first web sites (dieoff.org) to discuss these issues in depth in the mid-1990s. His latest web venture is a site called War Socialism on which he describes a form of governance which might become the only viable one in the coming age of scarcity unless we can muster unprecedented global cooperation to manage the decline.

By discussing "war socialism" I am not endorsing it. In fact, Hansen proposes an alternative, a global government that severely restricts human use of the global commons, that is, the natural resources upon which all of us depend. But Hansen is no lightweight. He has thought very deeply about our ecological predicament. He has tried to square what he knows about human behavior with what he believes needs to be done in the world we now face. It is clear from the organization and emphasis of his new site that he does not believe it is probable that the kind of global cooperation he would prefer will actually emerge.

‘Coal-eating’ bugs may solve energy crisis

Craig Venter, the controversial American scientist who helped decode the human genome, has announced the discovery of ancient bacteria that can turn coal into methane, suggesting they may help to solve the world’s energy crisis.

The bugs, discovered a mile underground by one of Venter’s microbial prospecting teams, are said to have unique enzymes that can break down coal. Venter said he was already working with BP on how to exploit the find.

Venter even suggested the discovery could open up the world’s coalfields to an entirely new form of mining, where coal is infected with the bacteria, allowing methane to be harvested “without even digging up the coal”.

Iran’s Oil Exports So Far Spared by Protests

It may have been no coincidence that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran used a petrochemical facility as the backdrop for his first major speech since the elections to blast President Obama and strike a note of defiance after Iran’s controversial election results.

Oil is Iran’s mainstay and the source of 70 percent of the government’s revenue. High prices have enabled the government’s assertive foreign policy in recent years.

But at a time of intense internal divisions within the ruling clique, the presence of the oil minister, Gholamhossein Nozari, at Mr. Ahmadinejad’s speech on Thursday was important, given the speculation that the Iranian president is seeking to tighten his grip on the oil ministry. Mr. Nozari’s deputy, Akbar Torkan, was fired on Monday, apparently for political reasons, and various reports from Iran on Thursday suggested more reshuffling within the strategic ministry.