The rise in atmospheric CO2 levels has been a talked-about subject for quite some time, but while scientists and politicians are coming to what they call a “solution,” the impact on marine environments is being ignored.

Proposed emission cuts are aiming to significantly lower the amount of CO2 produced within the United States, but what impact does this value have outside the human world? Scientists say that even the lowest proposed percentages aren’t nearly enough to halt oceanic damage.

CO2 is a soluble gas that is easily absorbed into the ocean’s waters. When CO2 is combined with H2O, the reaction releases what is known as Carbonic Acid, or H2C03. When the carbonic acid is dissolved, it loses a hydrogen ion resulting in HCO3, leaving the H+ ion to move freely. This process is known as ocean acidification and is ultimately responsible for the rise in seawater acidity.

A new proposed spacecraft named MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) is expected to be launched in 2013, a $485 million mission to collect atmospheric data on Mars. The purpose of the NASA’s Mars Exploration Program is to gain further knowledge on the history of the planet’s climate and atmosphere, as well as the planet’s availability of water and its future habitability.

It used to be that 'eating like a pig' was an insult. A new scientific finding may put that old saying to rest.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute have successfully suppressed the appetite of pigs by removing the blood vessel that allows secretion of that pesky ghrelin hormone.

“There's no major surgery," says Aravind Arepally, M.D., of the John Hopkins University School of Medicine, using a new-ish procedure called GACE (gastric artery chemical embolization). In this procedure, blood vessels connecting the stomach and the fundus are disintegrated by a chemical known as sodium morrhuate. The removal of this blood vessel interferes with the creation of ghrelin since, without a constant blood supply, the fundus can no longer produce the appetite-inspiring hormone.