Science has both helped create global climate change, and led us to understand how and why it is occurring. But according to writer and philosopher Jacob Needleman, solving the problems that face the planet now will require a different sort of human intelligence.

Jacob NeedlemanPart of the emotional core of humans, Needleman says, is an innate urge toward service, even at the expense of more immediate self-interest.

Dr. Needleman will talk about his book and engage in conversation at the Community Church in Sebastopo on Thursday eveing , Nov. at 7 pm., The event is sponsored by Copperfield's Books.

Even if the Nobel Prize committee overlooked Sonoma County this year, our local university is home to one professor who recently received a prestigious national prize for his work on poverty and deforestation in developing lands. The Cozzarelli Prize is sponsored by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, recognizing work of exceptional quality and significance.

One result of the work by Merlin Hanauer and colleagues was the creation of "suitability maps," showing where protected areas could be established in the future to promote both conservation and economic development

Hear more about Hanauer's work in a podcast from PNAS. (Images courtesy of Merlin Hanauer/SSU.)

Solar and wind are attractive sources of renewable energy, but neither one is available constantly. But there's another resource that is, and projects to tap into it are heating up.

California already has a leg up on most other areas in the development of geothermal power, observes Karl Gawell, Executive Director of the Geothermal Energy Association. He expects that will only expand, as the state ramps up renewable energy production in order to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets.

But the proliferation of geothermal production sites in the future will look quite different than large, concentrated facilities such as The Geysers, Gawell predicts. Instead, they will be smaller, less visible, and scattered across the state.

Such a future is entirely plausible, even expected, for much of California and the West, Gawell says, while other areas, farther removed from areas of geothermal activity, may still regard it as something speculative or far-fetched.

You can expect to be hearing more about geothermal energy this week, as the GEA is hosting its Geothermal Energy Expo 2012 in Reno, NV.

A specially trained dog with a sensitive nose is the newest weapon being deployed in regional efforts to protect Northern California's lakes from some small but highly destructive, invasive mussel species.

Popeye, the specially trained dog that will be sniffing around boats at Lake Sonoma this weekend, is something of a trend-setter, according to Sonoma County Supervisor Mike McGuire. The rapid spread of the unwanted mussels has created a burgeoning demand for dogs with this skill.

The invasive mussels do have some natural predators, says UGSG biologist Amy  Benson, but the fish and ducks that will feed on them aren't nearly numerous enough to contain the spread of the little bivalves. And once the mussels are established, she adds, eradication is barely possible in the best of circumstances.

What happens when zebra or quagga mussels are found on a boat? Supervisor McGuire cites the practice at Lake Tahoe, where an aggressive inspection program is already active.