Seth Meyers - Future U.S. Elections, Mayonnaise-Flavored Ice Cream - Monologue - 7/19/18

The Daily Show: Barack Obama's Mandela Address & World Emoji Day

Stephen Colbert - Guest Rep. Joe Kennedy III: House Republicans Are Doing Nothing

Stephen Colbert - Monologue and Opening - 7/19/18

Deepwater Horizon oil spill: Oil biodegradation inhibited in deep-sea sediments

Degradation rates of oil were slower in the dark and cold waters of the depths of the Gulf of Mexico than at surface conditions, according to an international team of geoscientists trying to understand where the oil went during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

"There's no real precedent for the Deepwater Horizon since most previous big spills were in shallow, coastal waters," said Uyen Nguyen, a doctoral student in biogeochemistry at Penn State. "No one really knew how long it would take oil to biodegrade in the deep sea where it's cold, dark, and under high pressure -- factors that slow down microbial metabolism."

Naturally occurring bacteria and microbes consumed an estimated 12 to 25 percent of the 210 million gallons of oil released during the Deepwater Horizon disaster. This occurred through biodegradation.

The study used high-pressure laboratories at the Hamburg University of Technology in Germany to simulate deep-sea conditions present during spills. The researchers placed Gulf of Mexico sediment or water samples and oil in reactors with varying pressures and temperatures for 18 days to react. Afterwards, they sent the samples to Penn State to analyze how specific compounds of oil, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and n-alkanes, degraded as a result of naturally occurring bacteria. They report their results in a recent issue of PLOS ONE.

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"A major oil spill such as the one caused by the Deepwater Horizon accident cannot be perceived as a local problem, since it potentially has an effect over decades and across borders and continents," said Gabriela Valladares-Juarez, a research scientist from the Hamburg University of Technology.


More: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180719121748.htm



The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burns and collapses into the Gulf of Mexico, due to an explosion — blowout — of the Macondo Well on April 20, 2010. Credit: US DOD

Trump loyalists purge VA of longtime staffers who don't support agenda: report

Officials within the Department of Veterans Affairs have moved to root out staffers who are believed to be disloyal to President Trump and his agenda, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The news outlet reported that more than a dozen people have been reassigned from leadership positions ahead of Robert Wilkie's likely installment as head of the agency. Some of those recently reassigned employees had been with the department for decades, while others were Trump appointees.

A VA spokesman told the Post that Wilkie has not played a role in the changes.

The Post reported that acting Secretary Peter O’Rourke has largely led the charge in getting rid of staffers who are not considered loyal. A group of Democrats wrote a letter to O'Rourke after the Post published its story, calling his actions "reckless."


More: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/397816-trump-loyalists-purge-va-of-longtime-staffers-who-dont-support-agenda

Seth Meyers - GOP Refuses to Hold Trump Accountable on Russia: A Closer Look

The Daily Show: The Putin Plot Thickens with an Alleged Russian Spy

The Daily Show: Trump's U.K. Visit Unites the British

Seth Meyers - Trump Derangement Syndrome, Queen Elizabeth's Broach - Monologue - 7/18/18