Since the 1979 energy crisis, the question of whether to drill for ofshore oil in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge( ANWR ) has become a hot-button issue. Many ecologists, environmental groups, and Democrats have opposed it due to the possible threats to the natural wildlife.

So where is ANWR ?

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is just east of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska’s “North Slope,” which is North America’s largest oil field. It consists of 19,049,236 acres (79,318 km²) in the Alaska North Slope region.

• Currently, the Prudhoe bay area accounts for 17% of U.S. domestic oil production. 1998 studies released by the US Geological Survey have estimated significant deposits of crude oil exist within the land designated as the “1002 area” of ANWR, as well.
• According to a report, by the Energy Information Administration, if Congress gave the go-ahead to pump oil from Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the crude could begin flowing by 2013 and reach a peak of 876,000 barrels a day by 2025.
• U.S. Geological Survey - 1980. In 1980, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the Coastal Plain could contain up to 17 billion barrels of oil and 34 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

References : wikipedia, msnbc - Image via MSNBC

All of us want to end the food crisis, and the TIME has a great list to end it.

Despite countless warnings in recent years about the need to address a looming hunger crisis in poor countries and a looming energy crisis worldwide, world leaders failed to think ahead. The result is a global food crisis.

So, what should be done?

3 steps to end the global food shortage

1. Give farmers in poor countries high-yield seeds and fertilizer.
2. Stop the biofuel nonsense.
3. Help farmers protect crops from drought and other disasters.

[ How to End the Global Food Shortage - TIME ]

It is a science of small with huge opportunities.In future we may never have to wash our shirts, thanks to nanotechnology, and we may have nano-shoes that can absorb the shock of an exploding nuclear device.

This is one of many more far-reaching possibilities of nanotechnology, which basically means engineering of systems at molecular level.”It is material science at its best,” said Sivathanu Pillai, one of India’s top scientists,who is chief controller at the Defence Research and Development Organisation .

He envisages nano-bio-info machines, miniatures invisible to the naked eye but a complex of intelligent tubes and spheres made of a variety of materials. These nano devices can be as small as one nanometre (nm), which is one-billionth of a metre.

“Nanotechnology is the science that can ensure sustainability of agriculture and food production and give a solution to water and energy crisis,he says.

“It will give birth to a new world of industrial products, create about two million nanotechnology workers and improve healthcare.”

The Indian defence establishment has made some progress in nano research with a carbon nano-tube manufacturing plant in Kanpur. “Indian industry should wake up and begin thinking afresh on nanotechnology’s scope and applications if it wants to be a world leader in the years to come,” he said.