A Science News Aggregator That Covers Stories in the World Of Science And Technology.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Google Reigns As Most Powerful 10-Year-Old
From ABC News:
When Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google Inc. on Sept. 7, 1998, they had little more than their ingenuity, four computers and an investor's $100,000 bet on their belief that an Internet search engine could change the world.
It sounded preposterous 10 years ago, but look now: Google draws upon a gargantuan computer network, nearly 20,000 employees and a $150 billion market value to redefine media, marketing and technology.
Perhaps Google's biggest test in the next decade will be finding a way to pursue its seemingly boundless ambitions without triggering a backlash that derails the company.
"You can't do some of the things that they are trying to do without eventually facing some challenges from the government and your rivals," said Danny Sullivan, who has followed Google since its inception and is now editor-in-chief of SearchEngineLand.
Google's expanding control over the flow of Internet traffic and advertising already is raising monopoly concerns.
Read more ....
Global Warming Trends
Scientists say permafrost blanketing the northern hemisphere contains more than twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, making it a potentially mammoth contributor to global climate change depending on how quickly it thaws. (Credit: iStockphoto/Oksana Perkins)
Bad Sign For Global Warming: Thawing Permafrost Holds
Vast Carbon Pool -- Science Daily
Vast Carbon Pool -- Science Daily
ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2008) — Permafrost blanketing the northern hemisphere contains more than twice the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, making it a potentially mammoth contributor to global climate change depending on how quickly it thaws.
So concludes a group of nearly two dozen scientists in a paper appearing this week in the journal Bioscience. The lead author is Ted Schuur, an associate professor of ecology at the University of Florida.
Previous studies by Schuur and his colleagues elsewhere have estimated the carbon contained in permafrost in northeast Siberia. The new research expands that estimate to the rest of the permafrost-covered northern latitudes of Russia, Europe, Greenland and North America. The estimated 1,672 billion metric tons of carbon locked up in the permafrost is more than double the 780 billion tons in the atmosphere today.
"It's bigger than we thought," Schuur said.
Read more ....
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Warmth Opens Arctic Routes, Scientists Say
From International Herald Tribune:
Leading ice specialists in Europe and the United States have agreed for the first time that a ring of navigable waters has opened all around the fringes of the cap of sea ice drifting on the warming Arctic Ocean.
By many accounts, this is the first time in at least half a century, if not longer, that the Northwest Passage over North America and the Northern Sea Route over Europe and Asia have been open simultaneously.
While currents and winds play a role, specialists say, the expanding open water in the far north provides the latest evidence that the Arctic Ocean, long a frozen region hostile to all but nuclear submariners and seal hunters, is transforming during the summers into more of an open ocean.
Global warming from the continuing buildup of human-generated greenhouse gases is almost certainly contributing to the ice retreats, many Arctic specialists now agree, although they hold a variety of views on how much of the recent big ice retreats is caused by human activity.
Last month, news reports said that satellites showed navigable waters through both fabled Arctic shipping routes.
Read more ....
Leading ice specialists in Europe and the United States have agreed for the first time that a ring of navigable waters has opened all around the fringes of the cap of sea ice drifting on the warming Arctic Ocean.
By many accounts, this is the first time in at least half a century, if not longer, that the Northwest Passage over North America and the Northern Sea Route over Europe and Asia have been open simultaneously.
While currents and winds play a role, specialists say, the expanding open water in the far north provides the latest evidence that the Arctic Ocean, long a frozen region hostile to all but nuclear submariners and seal hunters, is transforming during the summers into more of an open ocean.
Global warming from the continuing buildup of human-generated greenhouse gases is almost certainly contributing to the ice retreats, many Arctic specialists now agree, although they hold a variety of views on how much of the recent big ice retreats is caused by human activity.
Last month, news reports said that satellites showed navigable waters through both fabled Arctic shipping routes.
Read more ....
Deep Space Probe Completes Asteroid Flyby
From CBS News:
(AP) The Rosetta deep space probe successfully passed close to an asteroid 250 million miles from Earth, the European Space Agency said Friday night.
In a mission that may bring man closer to solving the mystery of the solar system's birth, the craft completed its flyby of the Steins asteroid, also known as Asteroid 2867 - now in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter - at around 3:15 p.m. EDT.
As planned, the spacecraft's signal was lost for about 90 minutes as engineers turned it away from the sun and because the craft was moving too fast for its antennas to transmit.
The resumption of the craft's signal transmission was greeted with cheers from ESA engineers and technicians.
Read more ....
For Sale: Moon And Mars
If you lived here, you could sell real estate, according to one legal analysis. NASA’s Spirit rover, the current occupant and photographer here in Mars’ Gusev Crater, has not tried subdividing it. (NASA)
From The New York Times Science Blog:
Would you like to buy some real estate on Mars or the Moon?
No, this would not be the equivalent of buying the Brooklyn Bridge, at least according to a review of legal precedents and treaties published in the Journal of Air Law and Commerce (.pdf). The authors, Alan Wasser and Douglas Jobe of the Space Settlement Institute, conclude that the international Outer Space Treaty prohibits nations from claiming sovereignty over the Moon or Mars, it does not preclude private land claims, and they point to legal precedents establishing the necessary condition for anyone making a land claim: living there.
Now, this might seem like a mere academic exercise for lawyers, given the current shortage of people ready to settle down on the Moon or Mars. But Mr. Wasser and Mr. Jobes argue that a formal recognition of the right to claim Alaska-sized chunks of land is the fastest and most practical way to promote extraterrestrial colonies.
Read more ....
Why The Early Earth Didn't Freeze Solid
From FOX News:
Early in Earth's history, our solar system was a much different place.
When the sun was very young, it was faint and provided little heat for the Earth. However, even in its chilly beginnings, the surface of the Earth was ice-free.
For years, scientists have proposed theories for this "faint young sun problem."
Most of these theories are based on the idea that the early Earth must have had extremely high amounts of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere in order to warm the planet.
According to a team of German scientists, geological evidence of atmospheric CO2 seems to indicate that levels were "far too low to keep the surface from freezing."
However, their new study may provide a new answer to the problem.
Read more ....
Strange New Comet Explains Old Mystery
This chart shows the orbital paths (looking along the plane of the solar system) for the comet 2008 KV42 as well as other objects in the outer solar system.
Why Does Halley’s Comet Orbit Backwards? New Find Hints
At The Reason -- MSNBC
At The Reason -- MSNBC
Halley's Comet, which lights up Earth's sky every 75 years with its glowing tail, is a bit of a scientific mystery.
So far, theories have been at a loss to explain how it acquired its extremely unusual backwards orbit — but the recent discovery of another odd comet orbiting farther out in the solar system may shed light on Halley's origins.
The newly discovered comet, 2008 KV42, circles the sun at a tilt of 104 degrees compared to the main plane in which most of the planets and asteroids travel. The newfound oddball also orbits in reverse compared to almost everything else. Scientists think it might represent an intermediate point between comets like Halley's and their progenitors in the far and totally uncharted reaches of the solar system.
Read more ....
10 Species You Can Kiss Goodbye
From Live Science:
Think the polar bear has it bad? Here are 10 critters who are even worse off than our favorite threatened Arctic resident. Listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List as critically endangered, meaning they face an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future, these animals may not live to see the end of the next decade without the a similar effort of human intervention that brought them to the brink in the first place.
Read more ....
Where Have Your Distant Relatives Lived In The World
Putting You On The Map: The Website That Pinpoints Where Your Name Is In The World -- The Independent
It Is a question that not even Google can answer: where in the world are all the other people with my name?
It sounds impossible, but it can now be answered thanks to a remarkable new website launched yesterday, which enables the names of most people in the English-speaking world, and a sizeable chunk of the rest of it, to be tracked to the places they live.
Set up by geographers at University College London (UCL), the site, www.publicprofiler.org/worldnames, will provide a remarkable tool for tracing family history and also a powerful aid for governments to keep track of intra-national and international migrations.
The database behind the site holds 300 million names of people in 26 countries, representing a population of about a billion, or nearly a sixth of the world.
Read more ....
Update: The Official Site World Names is here.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Hanna-Ike-Josephine Storm Trio Isn't An Anomaly
Hurricanes form through an exchange of warm, humid air and cold,
unstable air between the upper and lower atmosphere.
unstable air between the upper and lower atmosphere.
From The L.A. Times
Global warming can't be blamed for the trifecta -- headed toward the Southeast U.S. -- meteorologists say. It's just 'peak season in an active hurricane cycle.'
Despite the prospect of three major tropical storms heading toward the Southeastern United States, meteorologists say that the conga-line assault is not particularly unusual in the stormy history of the region.
"We're in peak season in an active hurricane cycle, and this is one of the results of that," said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist and public affairs officer with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
"We've had incidents where four or five storms have been stacked up."
The first of the storms, Hanna, was expected to reach the Carolina coast late Friday or early today with sustained winds of 65 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Hurricane Ike was on a path to reach southern Florida early next week, and Tropical Storm Josephine was on deck between the western coast of Africa and the Caribbean.
Read more ....
How Did Life on Earth Get Started?
From U.S. News And World Report:
On an arid outcropping of basalt in northwestern Australia, some of the oldest rocks on Earth lie exposed to the fierce sun. Formed at the bottom of an ancient ocean, this volcanic material shelters what one scientist calls the "oldest robust evidence" of life. At a scientific meeting at Rockefeller University in May, Roger Buick of the University of Washington said that the 3.5 billion-year-old rocks hold traces of carbon that once made up living organisms.
Even before Buick's discovery, ample evidence indicated that life on Earth began while our 4.5 billion-year-old planet was very young. Simple organisms certainly flourished between 2 billion and 3 billion years ago, and claims of older evidence of life have periodically surfaced. But none have been universally embraced, and Buick's claim is so new that other scientists haven't fully reviewed it.
Read more ....
The Incredible Journey Taken By Our Genes
From The Guardian:
Project maps humanity's voyage out of Africa to new continents and domination of the world
Sixty thousand years ago, a small group of African men and women took to the Red Sea in tiny boats and crossed the Mandab Strait to Asia. Their journey - of less than 20 miles - marked the moment Homo sapiens left its home continent.
The motive for our ancestors' African exodus is not known, though scientists suspect food shortages, triggered by climate change, were involved. However, its impact cannot be overestimated. Two thousand generations later, descendants of these African emigres have settled our entire planet, wiped out all other hominids including the Neanderthals and have reached a population of 6.5 billion.
Now scientists are completing a massive study of DNA samples from a quarter of a million volunteers in different continents in order to create the most precise map yet of mankind's great diaspora. Last week, in Tallinn, Estonia, they outlined their most recent results. 'As the ultimate ancestor begat son, who begat son and so on, they picked up mutations in their DNA that we can now pinpoint by gene analysis,' said project leader Dr Spencer Wells. 'When we look at these markers' distributions we can see how our ancestors moved about.'
Read more ....
How Pollution In Asia Affects Everyone
Asia Pollution May Boost U.S. Temperatures -- CNN
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Smog, soot and other particles like the kind often seen hanging over Beijing add to global warming and may raise summer temperatures in the American heartland by three degrees in about 50 years, says a new federal science report released Thursday.
These overlooked, shorter-term pollutants -- mostly from burning wood and kerosene and from driving trucks and cars -- cause more localized warming than once thought, the authors of the report say.
They contend there should be a greater effort to attack this type of pollution for faster results.
For decades, scientists have concentrated on carbon dioxide, the most damaging greenhouse gas because it lingers in the atmosphere for decades. Past studies have barely paid attention to global warming pollution that stays in the air merely for days.
Read more ....
Understanding Memory
For The Brain, Remembering Is Like Reliving -- New York Times
Scientists have for the first time recorded individual brain cells in the act of summoning a spontaneous memory, revealing not only where a remembered experience is registered but also, in part, how the brain is able to recreate it.
The recordings, taken from the brains of epilepsy patients being prepared for surgery, demonstrate that these spontaneous memories reside in some of the same neurons that fired most furiously when the recalled event had been experienced. Researchers had long theorized as much but until now had only indirect evidence.
Read more ....
How Far North Can You Grow Vegetables?
Amanda Joynt waters her garden in an old hockey arena converted to a greenhouse for growing vegetables 124 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. The half-pipe shaped facility is North America's northern-most commercial greenhouse, and a virtual necessity for anyone interested in eating a fresh vegetable in Inuvik that has not been shipped in from a warmer climate.
Raising Vegetables Above The Arctic Circle -- MSNBC
Greenhouse is a necessity for anyone interested in eating fresh vegetables
INUVIK, Northwest Territories - Amanda Joynt reached down and picked a fresh tomato from the vine. That's no small feat when you are living 120 miles above the Arctic Circle in Canada's Far North.
Joynt, a resident of Inuvik is a member of the town's community greenhouse, a former ice hockey arena that has been converted into an oasis of vegetables and flowers on the permafrost.
The building, shaped like a half-pipe, is North America's northernmost commercial greenhouse, and all but a necessity for anyone interested in eating a fresh vegetable in Inuvik that has not been shipped in from a warmer climate — at a startlingly high cost.
Read more ....
New Fingerprint Method Could Unlock Cold Cases
From Yahoo News/Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - It's a discovery that would make even Sherlock Holmes proud. British scientists have developed a new crime-fighting technique that allows police to lift fingerprints from bullets even if a criminal has wiped down a shell casing.
Authorities in Britain and the United States used the method to re-open three cold cases, including a U.S. double murder that police are now optimistic of solving, said John Bond, the physicist who developed the technique.
"In one case there was enough evidence that could lead to an identification of an offender," said Bond, a researcher at the University of Leicester and consultant at Northamptonshire Police in Britain.
The conventional method of taking fingerprints has been around for more than 100 years and involves creating a chemical reaction with the sweat left behind on an object to produce an image police can use.
Read more ....
The Big Question: Is Our Understanding Of The Universe About To Be Transformed?
From The Independent:
Why are we asking this now?
Next Wednesday the biggest machine and international scientific experiment ever built will be switched on. Called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), it is a giant $10bn "atom smasher" that has been constructed at the European centre for nuclear research (Cern) in Geneva.
It consists of an underground circular tunnel 27 kilometres in circumference, which is about the size of the Circle Line on the London Underground. At various points along the tunnel, four massive instruments have been positioned to act as sub-atomic microscopes for analysing the extremely high-energy collisions that will occur between two opposing beams of protons, the atomic nuclei of hydrogen atoms. The aim of the experiment is to understand the fundamental forces of nature and the sub-atomic particles that compose all matter in the Universe.
Read more ....
Farming In The Sky
From Popsci.com
Agriculture is broken. Traditional techniques use too much energy and produce too little food for our growing planet. One fix: skyscrapers filled with robotically tended hydroponic crops and lab-grown meat
By 2025, the world’s population will swell from 6.6 billion to 8 billion people. Climate simulations predict sustained drought for the American Midwest and giant swathes of farmland in Africa and Asia. Is mathematician Thomas Malthus’s 200-year-old prediction, that human growth will one day outpace agriculture, finally coming to pass? Advances in farming technology have kept us fed so far, but the planet’s resources are tapped.
The choice is clear—rethink how we grow food, or starve. Environmental scientist Dickson Despommier of Columbia University and other scientists propose a radical solution: Transplant farms into city skyscrapers. These towers would use soil-free hydroponic farming to slash demand for energy (they’ll be powered by a process that converts sewage into electricity) while producing more food. Farming skyward would also free up farmland for trees, which would help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Even better, vertical farms would grow food near where it would be eaten, thus cutting not only the cost but the emissions of transportation. If you include emissions from the oil burned to cultivate and ship crops and livestock in addition to, yes, methane from farm-animal flatulence, agriculture churns out nearly 14 percent of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions.
Read more ....
Friday, September 5, 2008
Google Is Turning 10 This Sunday -- Summary Of News Articles
Whither Google As It Turns Ten? -- CBS Science News
It Grew Exponentially From Startup To Superstar And Part Of Our Culture, But What's Ahead?
(CBS) It wasn't long ago that we weren't able to "Google" people, places and things.
But, observes CBS News Science and Technology Correspondent Daniel Sieberg, in just ten years, Google has grown exponentially from garage startup to Web juggernaut -- and a verb as well as a noun!
As Google marks its tenth anniversary this weekend, it's become "part of culture, much like Xerox," points out John Battelle, who wrote a best-seller about the rise of Google called "The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture."
He notes that the verb "google" quickly became synonymous with speedy learning on virtually every subject.
"Nearly anything and everything to get smart on any topic exists on the Web," says Battelle, "and Google does a good job of organizing it."
"Good," remarks Sieberg, "may be an understatement." These days, more people use Google than all other search engines combined.
Read more ....
Google at Age 10 -- New York Times
Ten tomorrow! Google celebrates birthday with plan to sink Microsoft -- Guardian
Google: 10 years from now -- The Guardian
Google reigns as world’s most powerful 10-year-old -- Boston Herald
Google Hits Double Digits -- Forbes
Google Turns 10 -- Slashdot
Search Party -- Search Party
Google turns 10: A look back -- Fortune
20 things you may not know about Google -- Daily News
Google reigns as world's most powerful 10-year-old -- AP
Google: Happy Tenth Anniversary--Now What? -- CNBC
At 10-Year Mark, Google's Glossy Facade Shows Cracks -- PC World
Google 10th birthday timeline -- Webuser
Google timeline: a 10 year anniversary -- The Guardian
Watching TV Shows And Videos On The Web -- A Doubling Of Traffic In Two Years
Viewers Stampede To Online TV -- Tech News World
Online viewing of video has doubled over the past two years, according to a study by The Conference Board and TNS. More network content has been making its way onto video-oriented sites, fueling the trend. Experts expect it to continue.
In the last two years, American households that use the Internet have doubled their online television viewing. Now, nearly 20 percent use the Internet to watch television broadcasts online, and no, it's not all on YouTube Latest News about YouTube.
Based on a survey of 10,000 households, The Conference Board and TNS report that 72 percent of online households have family members who log on for entertainment purposes on a daily basis -- but they're also logging on from multiple locations. Nearly 90 percent watch online broadcasts at home, 15 percent watch at work, and 6 percent watch from other locations.
"Most consumers are pressed for time and require flexibility in their daily schedules and TV viewing habits," noted Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center.
"Being able to watch broadcasts on their own time and at their convenience are clearly reasons why we are seeing a greater number turning to the Internet," she said, "and it is the reason why we would expect to see this trend continue."
Read more ....
More News On Online Viewing
Who Needs a TV? Web Video Viewing Doubles -- PC Magazine
Online TV Viewing Rising -- Information Week
US Internet-TV Viewing Doubles Since 2006 To Nearly 20% -- CNNMoney
Craving Convenience, Online TV Viewership Doubles -- Wired News
My Comment: I rarely watch TV now, and I am an old guy.
Study: People Without TVs Lean Toward Political Extremes
For FOX News:
For many Americans, the thought of life without TV is akin to forgoing food, shelter or, God forbid, the Internet.
But about 1 to 2 percent of Americans do abstain from the boob tube, and they might seem like strange bedfellows.
A recent study of those who live without found that about two-thirds fall into either the "crunchy granola set" or the "religious right, ultraconservative" camp, said researcher Marina Krcmar, a professor of communication at North Carolina's Wake Forest University.
Read more ....
My Comment: My family did not get a TV until I was 17. Hmmmm ..... this news article now explains a lot about me.
Should Babies Be Put on a Sleep Schedule?
From Live Science:
We had only one house rule when my daughter was born — sleep when the baby sleeps.
After watching countless sleep-deprived new parents, we figured that the only way to manage the unpredictability of an infant's sleep pattern was to follow her lead. This meant we napped a lot during the day, and woke up several times a night, but in the end we all seemed to get enough sleep. And we managed to avoid the glazed over eyes of the sleep deprived most of the time. As one friend commented on our parenting style, "You just don’t look tired enough."
Our rather laissez-faire approach to infant sleep was, of course, radical compared to all the other new parents who were putting their babies on sleep schedules and cleaning the house rather than napping. Their approach, based on a belief that babies "should" be "trained" to sleep in long bouts, alone, and mostly at night, is the accepted Western norm.
Read more ....
Carnival of Space - Universe from A to Z
From Discovery News:
A is for Aliens and their apparent British invasion,
B is for Breakdown of political persuasion.
C is for Commercial, the new way to space,
D is for Dark Matter, an admittedly acquired taste.
E is for Energy that comes from deep within,
F is for Federation, an alliance of future space kin.
G is for Green, which apparently does exist in space,
Read more ....
Friday Night Amusements -- Doctored Photos: 20 Memorable Picture Fakes
From The Telegraph:
The doctoring of photos, once considered the reserve of tyrants and UFO nuts, is becoming increasingly widespread.
With photo-editing software becoming ever more sophisticated, and the internet allowing instant distribution, it has never been easier to create and spread hoax images.
Below we present 20 of the most striking, interesting and controversial fake photos, most of them produced in the last five years.
Some were created to amuse, some to mislead, while others were an attempt to rewrite history.
And although the credulity of the internet has been blamed for allowing hoax photos to flourish, several of the fakes below were actually uncovered by bloggers after being distributed by mainstream media outlets.
Read more ....
1) Shark lunges at helicopter
2) World Trade Center tourist
3) Iranian missile test
4) Ann Widdecombe's mixed messages
5) Chairman Mao airbrushes out his former friends
6) Snowball the monster cat
7) Smoke over Beirut
8) Antelopes and trains in harmony
9) Tsunami captured from tower block
10) Bush reading upside down
11) Shark sneaks up on scuba divers
12) John Kerry with Jane Fonda
13) Giant skeletons discovered in India
14) Benito Mussolini, the fearless horseman
15) Karl Rove's 'secret file'
16) James Purnell doctored at hospital
17) Soldier doll held hostage in Iraq
18) Fidel Castro made to look like Hitler
19) Oil rig, tornado and lightning strike
20) Cottingley Fairies
The doctoring of photos, once considered the reserve of tyrants and UFO nuts, is becoming increasingly widespread.
With photo-editing software becoming ever more sophisticated, and the internet allowing instant distribution, it has never been easier to create and spread hoax images.
Below we present 20 of the most striking, interesting and controversial fake photos, most of them produced in the last five years.
Some were created to amuse, some to mislead, while others were an attempt to rewrite history.
And although the credulity of the internet has been blamed for allowing hoax photos to flourish, several of the fakes below were actually uncovered by bloggers after being distributed by mainstream media outlets.
Read more ....
1) Shark lunges at helicopter
2) World Trade Center tourist
3) Iranian missile test
4) Ann Widdecombe's mixed messages
5) Chairman Mao airbrushes out his former friends
6) Snowball the monster cat
7) Smoke over Beirut
8) Antelopes and trains in harmony
9) Tsunami captured from tower block
10) Bush reading upside down
11) Shark sneaks up on scuba divers
12) John Kerry with Jane Fonda
13) Giant skeletons discovered in India
14) Benito Mussolini, the fearless horseman
15) Karl Rove's 'secret file'
16) James Purnell doctored at hospital
17) Soldier doll held hostage in Iraq
18) Fidel Castro made to look like Hitler
19) Oil rig, tornado and lightning strike
20) Cottingley Fairies
How Bad Is Global Warming Affecting The Ice Flows Up North?
Adventures In Arctic Kayaking - Update: We’re Stuck
-- Watts Up With That?
-- Watts Up With That?
UPDATE: kayakers already “stuck” in ice at 80.52397 degrees N
I had this post up for all of an hour before this news rolled in from PolarDefense. Hat tips to Tom Nelson, who’s report is presented below, and to Brian Koochel in comments. - Anthony
Polar Defense Project » We’re Stuck
“We’re stuck”
I have slept poorly. The floating ice, while thin, is so prevalent that, throughout the night, it grinds noisily against the side of the boat in a slightly alarming fashion - imagine someone scraping their nails across an old-fashioned blackboard.The then begins earlier than normal and, unusually, I am not woken by Robbie bounding into my room. Instead the ship’s engine roars to life earlier than normal - at around 5.30 - and the MV ‘Havsel’ begins to judder ominously. I clamber out of bed and scramble up to the bridge - all the ship’s crew are there, and they look serious. I look outside and I can see why. The sea is almost entirely congested with ice floes - I would estimate 80% plus of the sea is covered by them. There is a real risk that we could get stuck up here. We have drifted in the night into a much icier area than where we stopped last night. I wake up the team, and everyone groggily makes their way to the bridge. There’s a mixed reaction in the team to the prospect of getting stuck up here.
See the location on Google Maps, 80.52397, 12.21224
After awaking to find their vessel frozen in ice the team are steaming around looking for a path that’s navigable by kayak.
No paddling today.
At about 69 miles per degree of latitude, it would seem that they’re still 600+ miles from the North Pole.
Read more ....
Do Love And Science Mix?
From The Guardian:
There's now good evidence to justify my fling with a dad-alike. But I'm not sure reducing passion to rules is the right approach
For a short time a couple of years ago, I dated a nice young man who looked exactly like my father. In my defence – a defence that I had to voice quite often after my dependably hilarious parents located a photograph of the nice young man on the internet and emailed me a near-identical picture of my father, circa 1974 – we met on a blind date. I felt that this detail rendered our liaison less creepy than if I had fallen him after spotting him from across a crowded room. But only a little less creepy. Sometimes, despite my best efforts to ignore the familiarity of the structure of his cheekbones, the shape of his nose, and the placement of his eyebrows, I would find myself gazing at my suitor's handsome face, quite smitten, but also quite worried that he might be my half-brother.
Read more ....
More Problems With Wind Power
Spinning To Destruction -- The Guardian
Wind power may be one of the cleaner, greener energy sources available, but turbine and blade failures point to dangers that were not anticipated, says Michael Connellan
David Campbell and his family were asleep in their farmhouse in Northern Ireland when the 16-foot blade from the wind turbine crashed through the roof of his home one windy night in January last year. "It was like a bomb hitting the roof," he told the Belfast Telegraph. "It shattered the tiles and the blade disintegrated itself."
Campbell was not the only person to see the direct effects of a turbine failure. Just over a year later, in February, a 200ft Vestas wind turbine near the Danish city of Ã…rhus disintegrated spectacularly in high winds when a blade came loose and smashed into the central tower, causing the whole structure to collapse. The incident was captured on video camera and footage has been viewed thousands of times on YouTube.
Just two days later a turbine close to the town of Sidinge, in Denmark, sent a blade flying more than 300ft before it hit the ground. Keld Boye, a farmer whose land is near the structure, told Danish television: "I drive my tractor and my wife rides horses out there. Just think if we'd been out there when it happened."
Read more ....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)