A Science News Aggregator That Covers Stories in the World Of Science And Technology.
Friday, November 27, 2009
3-D Renderings Bring Ancient Hominids to Life
From Wired Science:
For decades, paleoartists have told the story of human evolution through sculpture and drawing. Now their tools have evolved, too.
Computers allow a level of detail and control that isn’t possible with other media. Their creations can come closer than ever to bringing our ancestors to life.
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50 Practical Tips To Save You Half A Lifetime
When I was 16 I didn’t want agony-aunt advice on sex and love, but real advice on spots and shaving – like this . . .
Dear Sir. Dear Madam. Dear me.
As a lamentation rather than a greeting, “dear me” occurred as I flicked through a clever book (proceeds to the Elton John Aids Foundation) recommended by my colleague Libby Purves. “Dear Me — a letter to my sixteen-year-old self” is an anthology of letters to themselves from a range of famous people. Some are moving, some self-pitying, some funny, many patronising, and a few verbose. All are intriguing.
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Mass Extinction: Why Did Half Of N. America's Large Mammals Disappear 40,000 To 10,000 Years Ago?
From Science Daily:
Science Daily (Nov. 27, 2009) — Years of scientific debate over the extinction of ancient species in North America have yielded many theories. However, new findings from J. Tyler Faith, GW Ph.D. candidate in the hominid paleobiology doctoral program, and Todd Surovell, associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming, reveal that a mass extinction occurred in a geological instant.
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Diabetes Cases to Double in 25 Years
From Live Science:
If Americans don't eat better and exercise more, diabetes cases will double by 2034 and costs to care for the patients will triple, according to a new report that paints a bleak picture of the future.
With diabetes, the body fails to metabolize glucose, or blood sugar. Diabetes is the leading cause of amputations, blindness, and end-stage kidney disease.
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The Science And Magic Of Breadmaking
Graham Turner/Guardian
From The Guardian:
As winter sets in, warm your senses by baking your own fresh bread. Andy Connelly guides you through the magical process that turns flour and water into heavenly food.
When I think of bread my mind goes back to cold Saturday mornings with ice on the inside of the patio doors and cartoons blazing on the television. My dad would get up early and, after eating his porridge, would begin to make bread.
He would mix all the ingredients in a large ceramic bowl that was crystal-white on the inside and biscuit-brown on the outside. I would watch as the flour became dough and the dough grew and grew in the warm kitchen. I would linger near the oven to smell the earthy fresh bread as it baked, waiting for the treat of eating the crusty end slice of the loaf with a thick slab of butter.
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Trend Watch 2010: Mobile Movies
As we move toward 2010, there is little question that mobile devices and smartphones will continue to have a huge impact on the market. Research firm Nielsen predicts that smartphones will dominate market share by the end of 2011, with the iPhone and Android-based phones taking the lead spots by a wide margin over traditional cell phones.
As devices mature, Wi-Fi connections become more ubiquitous, and 3G networks become more reliable, consumers will start looking for new ways to use their smartphones as replacements for other larger devices, such as PCs and TVs. One area that has been called out for growth is mobile video and TV, as well as streaming movies directly to a mobile device.
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Space Shuttle Atlantis Returns To Earth
From Reuters:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Space shuttle Atlantis touched down at its Florida home port on Friday, wrapping up an 11-day mission to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, one of NASA's final supply runs before the shuttle fleet is retired next year.
Gliding through clear, blue skies, commander Charles Hobaugh circled Atlantis high over the Kennedy Space Center to burn off speed, then nosed the 100-ton space plane toward a 3-mile (4.8-km) concrete runway framed by palm trees and marshlands.
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2011 Ferrari 458 Italia Supercar Test Drive
From Popular Mechanics:
MARANELLO, Italy—Ferarri's new lust-worthy 562-hp supercar hits 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. It's indisputably attractive, but it is also derivative, as though it had been concocted from the best parts of previous great Ferrari designs. Let's see what it can do on real roads.
The Specs:
Ferrari's early cars were dominated by V12 engines. But the Italian sports car maker inherited its first V8 from Lancia in 1955, and its mid-engined V8 sport coupes have been the backbone of the company's model range for the last 35 years. Strictly speaking, the first road-going production-V8 Ferrari was the wedge-shaped, Bertone-designed Dino GT4 of 1973. The most recognizable was of course the Pininfarina-designed 308 launched at the 1975 Paris Motor Salon—a car that starred quite prominently in the hit TV series Magnum PI.
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Sea Lions Help U.S. Navy Handcuff Enemy Divers and Sweep Mines
From Popular Science:
What you gonna do when the sea lions come for you?
Californian sea lions have become U.S. Navy recruits alongside dolphins and human divers, as seen in this amazing picture. The Daily Telegraph reports that this particular fellow put on a display for officials at the NATO Underwater Research Center in La Spezia Bay, Italy.
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Energetic Gamma Rays Spotted From 'Microquasar'
From New Scientist:
After decades of searching, astronomers have confirmed that a gluttonous stellar remnant that glows brightly in X-rays can create high-energy gamma rays as well. The tiny powerhouse could serve as a nearby laboratory to study how particles are accelerated in the universe's biggest black holes.
Cygnus X-3, a pair of objects that sit some 30,000 light years from Earth, has long been a puzzle. The system is thought to contain the dense remnant of a star – either a black hole or a neutron star – that is feeding on a disc of material stolen from a companion star.
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Military-Style Drones Set To Patrol Coastline To Spot Drug Smugglers And Illegal Immigrants
From The Daily Mail:
Unmanned military-style drones like those used by British troops in Afghanistan could soon be used to help combat illegal immigration and drug smugglers along Britain's coastlines.
The pilotless aircrafts, known as Unmanned Autonomous Systems (UAS), have been used by troops to pinpoint dangers and monitor enemy actions.
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UK Plutonium Cuts Strategy 'In Disarray' - Scientists
From The BBC:
The UK's plan to cut its stockpile of separated plutonium is in "disarray", a group of scientists has warned.
The British Pugwash Group (BPG) says the way 100 tonnes of the deadly powder is being stored is "ludicrous".
Its experts fear the stockpile at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria - the largest in the world - could be a target for terrorists.
The government said the plutonium was stored safely and securely but recognised the need to make progress.
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Thursday, November 26, 2009
Ladybugs Taken Hostage by Wasps
From Science Daily:
Science Daily (Nov. 26, 2009) — Are ladybugs being overtaken by wasps? A Université de Montréal entomologist is investigating a type of wasp (Dinocampus coccinellae) present in Quebec that forces ladybugs (Coccinella maculata) to carry their larvae. These wasps lay their eggs on the ladybug's body, a common practice in the insect world, yet they don't kill their host.
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Americans Toss Out 40 Percent of All Food
From Live Science:
While many Americans feast on turkey and all the fixings today, a new study finds food waste per person has shot up 50 percent since 1974. Some 1,400 calories worth of food is discarded per person each day, which adds up to 150 trillion calories a year.
The study finds that about 40 percent of all the food produced in the United States is tossed out.
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U.N. Finally Draws Link Between Population Bomb And Climate Change
Credit: iStockphoto
From Cosmos:
PARIS: Slowing population growth would help battle global warming, says an unprecedented U.N. report that links demographic pressure and climate change.
"Slower population growth... would help build social resilience to climate change's impacts and would contribute to a reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in the future," the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) says.
Its 104-page document emphasises that population policies be driven by support for women, access to family planning, reproductive health and other voluntary measures.
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The Brain Humanity's Other Basic Instinct: Math
From Discover Magazine:
New research suggests that math has evolved its way right into our neurons—and monkeys', too.
Numbers make modern life possible. “In a world without numbers,” University of Rochester neuroscientist Jessica Cantlon and her colleagues recently observed in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, “we would be unable to build a skyscraper, hold a national election, plan a wedding, or pay for a chicken at the market.”
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4 Wildly High-Tech Military and NASA Research Projects
From Popular Mechanics:
The Redstone Arsenal is an engineers' playground. The massive base hosts NASA and Army researchers involved in spacecraft and weapons-systems testing, from moonbound rockets to America's Army video-game development. During a recent tour, Popular Mechanics was shown—and stumbled across—research tests and demonstrations that highlight the scope of science and engineering that is performed every day within the Huntsville, Ala., secured location.
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My Comment: I have made it a point of knowing where every U.S. military research center is .... and a general idea on what they are doing. But Redstone Arsenal is one in which some serious s___ is happening. Therefore .... I am more than surprised that Popular Mechanics was permitted on the grounds.
NASA Scientists Say Martian Meteorite May Have Brought Life to Earth
From Popular Science:
New analytical data supposedly backs the case for Martian life having once existed.
Martians may have already landed on Earth, at least in ancient microbial form. The same NASA team that discovered the controversial Allen Hills meteorite has shared new data that points to a biological origin for structures within the Martian rock, Spaceflight Now reports. NASA headquarters plans to officially address the new findings within days.
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Nuclear Fuel: Are We Heading For A Uranium Crunch?
(Image: Robert Francis/Robert Harding/Rex Features)
From New Scientist:
AS THE world prepares for the largest investment in nuclear power in decades, owners of uranium mines last week raised the prospect of fuel shortages. To make things worse, the reliability of estimates of the amount of uranium that can be economically mined has also been questioned.
Volatile oil and gas prices, along with the threat of global warming, have pushed governments to reconsider nuclear energy, partly because it is a low-carbon technology and partly because uranium supplies seem plentiful.
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The Amazing Images From The Space Shuttle's Seven-Day Stint At The International Space Station
Tools in hand, astronaut Randy Bresnik works on the exterior of the Columbus module of the International Space Station during the Atlantis crew's second spacewalk
From The Daily Mail:
Tomorrow the Space Shuttle Atlantis is due to touch down on Earth after a successful seven-day mission to deliver vital equipment to the International Space Station.
During the past week as astronauts stockpiled the outpost and performed maintenance a series of stunning images were taken which we reveal here.
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Spin-Based Electronics Gets Boost
From The BBC:
The next generation of computers may make use of the "spin" of electrons instead of their charge.
Spintronics relies on manipulating these spins to make them capable of carrying data.
The technique has been shown in a number of materials at low temperatures before.
But researchers writing in Nature have made use of these "spin-polarised" electrons in silicon at room temperature for the first time.
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Bioengineers Succeed in Producing Plastics Without the Use of Fossil Fuels
From Science Daily:
Science Daily (Nov. 26, 2009) — A team of pioneering South Korean scientists have succeeded in producing the polymers used for everyday plastics through bioengineering, rather than through the use of fossil fuel based chemicals. This groundbreaking research, which may now allow for the production of environmentally conscious plastics, is published in two papers in the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering.
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Top 5 Surprising Turkey Facts
From Live Science:
The average American eats 17.6 pounds of turkey per year, more than double the figure for 1970, according to the National Turkey Federation. To feed the growing appetite, some 273 million turkeys will be raised in the United States in 2009, and a good number of them will be consumed on Thanksgiving, after which many Americans will loll about, overstuffed, sleepy and in many cases intoxicated.
This is not what the Pilgrims had in mind.
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Astronauts Celebrate Thanksgiving in Space on Two Spaceships
This image from the Space Station looks down over the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and the docked space shuttle Atlantis, with Earth's horizon forming the background. Photo from The Daily Mail
From Space.com:
A dozen astronauts in orbit will pause for a weightless Thanksgiving Thursday, despite the fact that they're flying on two different spaceships.
The space shuttle Atlantis, with seven crewmembers onboard, left the International Space Station early Wednesday, capping off a week-long visit to stock the outpost with spare equipment. The orbiter is slated to land Friday at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
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The Latest in Spy Tech
Watch CBS News Videos Online
From CBS News:
(CBS) In the final part of our "Somebody's Watching You" series, CBS News science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg shared the latest and greatest in hi-tech spy and anti-spy tools.
In fact, Sieberg even wore several surveillance gadgets on his person - a lapel camera pin, a watch camera and a tie remote-controlled camera.
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10 Geeky Things to Be Thankful For
From Geek Dad:
Next Thursday is, of course, Thanksgiving Day in the United States. While we celebrate the holiday with our families, along with turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie (or whatever traditions you may have), many of us like to think of all the good things in our lives for which we’re thankful.
No matter how rough things are for you, you almost surely have some things in your life that make you feel lucky. Whether or not you believe in a deity or deities to whom to give thanks for the good things in your life, it can be good to take a little time out to consider how much you have that makes you happy.
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2009 Hurricane Season Quietest in Decades
From National Geographic:
As the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season comes to an end November 30, it will be remembered as one of the quietest in almost two decades, meteorologists say.
That's because persistent, upper-level winds linked to El Niño—unusually warm waters that sometimes form off the northwestern coast of South America—hampered tropical storm formation. Just 9 storms took shape, instead of an average of 15.
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Russian Space Program Facing Same Issues as NASA
Russian space program must shift gears and begin to seriously think about the coming years
The U.S. space program reportedly isn't the only one that has issues related to research and development, leading to a possible shake up among space nations over the next two-to-three years.
Similar to the current problem plaguing NASA, the Russian space program also has an aging spacecraft, the Soyuz spacecraft, with no specific details of a new next-generation shuttle on the horizon. The Soyuz already is used to transport astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), but will be unable to reach Mars or any other planets at this current stage.
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Air Pollution Maps Of The United States
From The Next Big Future:
Map of coal power by state. Note: about of third of the air pollution can go thousands of miles from the plant. There is more impact on air quality and health of those near the plants. Air pollution has been improved in the USA since the 1950s and 1960s. There is still a negative effect. 24,000 coal impacted deaths and a total of 60,000 air pollution impacted deaths out of 2.5 million deaths from any cause. Cigarette smoking and obesity have larger negative effects, which is seen in West Virginia's health statistics. The bad air pollution states are ending up at or near the bottom of state health rankings.
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Bendable Magnetic Interface
From Technology Review:
A sensing surface developed by Microsoft researchers offers new ways to use computers.
Computer users have been typing on keyboards and clicking on mice for more than 20 years. An experimental new interface under development at Microsoft could give them a completely new way to use their system.
Multi-touch and motion-sensing devices have recently emerged from research labs, offering new ways to operate computers. Microsoft's experimental tactile interface takes things further still, letting users interact by squashing, stretching, rolling, or rubbing.
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Drinking Red Wine May Prevent Cavities
From Discovery:
A toothbrush may not be handy at the holiday dinner table, but new research suggests moderate consumption of red wine helps to rinse teeth clean of bacteria during and after meals.
The findings, accepted for publication in the journal Food Chemistry, add to the growing list of health benefits associated with drinking wine. Prior research has linked moderate red wine intake with everything from improved longevity to diminished risk of cardiovascular and neurological diseases.
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Hydrogen-Economy On The Way? New Hydrogen-Storage Method Discovered
From Science Daily:
Science Daily (Nov. 25, 2009) — Scientists at the Carnegie Institution have found for the first time that high pressure can be used to make a unique hydrogen-storage material. The discovery paves the way for an entirely new way to approach the hydrogen-storage problem.
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Paper-Thin Batteries Made From Algae
From Live Science:
Imagine wrapping paper that could be a gift in and of itself because it lights up with words like "Happy Birthday." That is one potential application of a new biodegradable battery made of cellulose, the stuff of paper.
Scientists worldwide are striving to develop thin, flexible, lightweight, inexpensive, environmentally friendly batteries made entirely from nonmetal parts. Among the most promising materials for these batteries are conducting polymers.
Read more ....
Industrial Thanksgiving: Science Takes Mom’s Recipes to the Assembly-Line
From Wired Science:
Thanksgiving is about eating, and though local, organic food might be what the cool kids are eating, most people are still eating products of the industrial food system.
Whether you’re talking turkey, cranberries or potatoes, industrial-scale processes have been developed to drive down food costs, drive up corporate profits and feed America’s incredible hunger for novel food items.
But most consumers of these manufactured meals have little or no knowledge of the machines and methods used to freeze turkeys, turn potatoes into fake potatoes, and cranberries into TV-dinner cranberry sauce. It’s not always pretty, but food scientists’ epic battle to scale up your mom’s recipes without making them taste nasty is worth examining, if not giving thanks for.
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Thanksgiving Day Facts: Pilgrims, Dinner, Parades, More
It may be called Turkey Day, but the U.S. Thanksgiving Day is about more than just the bird. Learn about a holiday myth—the first "real" Thanksgiving wasn't until the 1800s—and how we celebrate Thanksgiving dinner today.
Key to any Thanksgiving Day menu is a fat turkey and cranberry sauce.
Some 250 million turkeys were raised in the U.S. in 2009 for slaughter, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Those birds were worth about U.S. $4.5 billion.
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Chandra Hosts A Carnival Of Space
From the Chandra Blog:
This week, the United States marks the Thanksgiving holiday. For most of us, this means lots of time with family (sometimes too much), friends, and vast amounts of food. It also causes all productivity to cease anywhere close to Thursday and the days that follow. That said, however, science and space never sleep – not even from an overdose of tryptophan. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with this word, it has to do with pseudo-urban legends surrounding the American overconsumption of turkey on this holiday.) Now, off to our spin around the blogs.
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Intelligence and Technology Achievement and Productivity
There are some rare individuals with IQs in the 200's and their brains are not larger than regular people.
Highest IQs Ever
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Arming The Immune System Against H1N1
From Technology Review:
Researchers are working to treat pandemic flu by recruiting a patient's own immune cells.
Viruses multiply incredibly quickly once they've infected their victim--so fast that antiviral medications such as Tamiflu are only effective if given during the first few days of an infection. After that, the viral load is just too high for a single drug to fight off. But researchers are working on a treatment for the H1N1 virus (or swine flu) that uses a different approach. Rather than disabling the virus with a drug, they're creating a vaccine that can activate and steer a patient's own immune cells to attack the invader.
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Shuttle Atlantis Departs From Space Station
From Space.com:
The space shuttle Atlantis cast off from the International Space Station early Wednesday after almost a week linked to deliver vital spare parts.
The shuttle detached from the orbiting laboratory at 4:53 a.m. EST (0953 GMT), and flew in a circle around the station so that astronauts on the orbiter could snap detailed photographs to check on the state of the outpost.
"It's a pretty exciting thing to do, be able to see the station you were living in again now on the farewell," STS-129 commander Charlie Hobaugh said in a preflight interview. "Just having it gives us a new snapshot in time of the condition of the vehicle at that point."
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Utility Energy Storage No Longer Just Giant Batteries
From CNET News:
If you need more evidence that energy storage is much more than lithium ion batteries, take a look at the latest smart-grid utility storage projects.
The Department of Energy on Tuesday announced that $620 million in stimulus funding is going to 32 smart-grid programs, which will be coupled with another $1 billion in private money. A total of $770 million from government and industry sources in the next few years will go to energy storage, giving a number of storage technologies a dose of real-world experience. (See this PDF for details.)
Cookbook Reveals Secrets of Space Cuisine
From Discovery:
Retired NASA space foodie Charles Bourland dishes about astronaut cuisine in a new book.
Pining for some thermostabilized chicken fajitas this Thanksgiving? That's what some of the shuttle Atlantis astronauts will feast on this holiday, which falls one day before their scheduled homecoming on Friday.
Colleagues left behind on the International Space Station, who hosted the shuttle crew for a week, plan a bit more of a traditional meal, with turkey, trimmings and a wide variety of side dishes.
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Violent World Of Raptors Explored
From Science Daily:
ScienceDaily (Nov. 25, 2009) — A journey that started with a box of bird feet carried three Montana State University graduate students into the gruesome world of raptors and led to their findings being published in a prominent journal.
Normally focused on dinosaurs, the students compared the claws and killing methods of four types of raptors and published a paper about their research in the Nov. 25th issue of PLoS ONE, a scientific journal published online by the Public Library of Science. The birds of prey that were studied live in North America and Europe and include eagles and hawks, owls, osprey and falcons.
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5 Myth-Busting Facts For A Safe Turkey
From Live Science:
Whether you're a seasoned cook or it's your first time stuffing a turkey, you likely want the end result to be tasty and easy on the belly. Yet even experts admit Thanksgiving dinner can be challenging.
"It's a complicated meal," said Ben Chapman, food safety specialist and assistant professor of food science at North Carolina State University. "You're cooking with something you might only cook once or twice a year. And you're cooking for a large group. As a meal, it's one of the ones that's harder to manage."
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Bloodhound Supercar On The Trail Of 1,000mph Record For Britain
From The Daily Mail:
British engineers have started building what they hope will be the world's fastest car - capable of reaching 1,000mph.
The Bloodhound SSC (Supersonic car) will be powered by a jet engine from Eurofighter Typhoon being positioned above a hybrid rocket. This combination should produce 135,000 horsepower — equivalent to the power of 180 Formula One cars.
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Organic Wine-Makers Look to Greener Packaging
From Scientific American:
More and more wineries offer organic varieties to lower their eco-footprints. It's no surprise that they're looking at their product packaging's environmental impacts, as well.
With more and more wineries offering organic varieties to lower their eco-footprint, it’s no surprise that they’re looking at the environmental impacts of their packaging as well. The making of conventional glass bottles (and the corks that cap them) uses significant quantities of natural resources and generates considerable pollution. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the process of manufacturing glass not only contributes its share of greenhouse gas emissions but also generates nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and tiny particulates that can damage lung tissue when breathed in.
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DOE Announces $620 Million in Smart Grid Project Grants
From Popular Science:
While the Smart Grid we needed years ago is still years away, the Obama administration took a step forward today as Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $620 million in stimulus awards for 32 Smart Grid demonstration projects benefiting 21 states. A decidedly feel-good video that is nonetheless educational was released along with the announcement and explains (in broad terms at least) what the DOE aims to achieve with its Smart Grid investment. View it after the jump.
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Birthplace Of Cosmic Guitar Pinpointed
From New Scientist:
IT'S the biggest guitar in the galaxy. The Guitar pulsar is a stellar corpse that is tearing through interstellar gas and creating a guitar-shaped wake of hot hydrogen (pictured). Its birthplace may now have been found.
Little is known about the origins of such wayward stellar remnants. To hunt for the pulsar's birthplace, Nina Tetzlaff at the University of Jena in Germany and colleagues projected the paths of 140 nearby groups of stars backwards in time over 5 million years.
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Video: Saturn’s Spectacular Aurora in Action
From Wired Science:
How can you not love Cassini? The latest treat NASA’s spacecraft has provided us is the first ever movie of Saturn’s incredible aruroras.
The high-resolution video was assembled from 472 still images, spaced over 81 hours in October, that show the phenomenon in three dimensions. The lights can be seen as a rippling, vertical sheet up to 750 miles high above Saturn’s northern hemisphere.
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Lost: Darwin's Missing Notebook
From The Telegraph:
An appeal has been launched to track down one of Charles Darwin's most important notebooks, which was probably stolen in the early 1980s.
English Heritage wants anyone who might know of the whereabouts of Darwin's 'Galapagos notebook' to come forward.
It is launching the appeal today to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species.
To mark the anniversary, English Heritage is also publishing online Darwin's 14 other notebooks from his time aboard HMS Beagle between 1831 and 1836.
Harnessing The Power Of Sea Water, Norway Unveils World's First Salt Power Generator
From The Daily Mail:
The world's first salt power generator was today unveiled in Norway.
The system which harnesses the energy produced when fresh water and sea water mix was devised by the energy company Statkraft.
It has been estimated that globally, salt power could produce 1,600-1,700 terawatt hours, equivalent to half of the European Union's total annual power production.
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HIV Infections And Deaths Fall As Drugs Have Impact
Greater access to anti-retroviral drugs has helped cut the death toll from HIV by more than 10% over the past five years, latest figures show.
The World Health Organization and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids) say an estimated 33.4 million people worldwide are infected with HIV.
That figure is up from 33 million in 2007 because fewer are dying with HIV.
The latest report also shows there has been a significant drop in the number of new HIV infections.
Read more ....
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
How The Brain Filters Out Distracting Thoughts To Focus On A Single Bit Of Information
From Science Daily:
Science Daily (Nov. 23, 2009) — The human brain is bombarded with all kinds of information, from the memory of last night's delicious dinner to the instructions from your boss at your morning meeting. But how do you "tune in" to just one thought or idea and ignore all the rest of what is going on around you, until it comes time to think of something else?
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Bigger Brains Not Always Smarter
From Live Science:
More brains doesn't necessarily equal more smarts, a new comparison of animal noggins reveals.
Tiny insects could be as intelligent as much bigger animals, despite only having a brain the size of a pinhead, researchers argue in the Nov. 17 issue of the journal Current Biology.
The scientists found that past studies suggest larger animals may need bigger brains simply because there is more to control — for example they need to move bigger muscles and therefore need more and bigger nerves to move them, the authors say. But that may not equate to higher thought.
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One-Quarter of World's Population Lacks Electricity
From Scientific American:
Replacing wood and coal with electricity could help reduce poverty and pollution.
Some 130 years since Thomas Edison's breakthrough with artificial light, nearly a quarter of humanity still lacks electricity, a fact officials here want delegates to the upcoming U.N. climate talks to consider.
Vast swaths of the world also have no access to modern fuels like natural gas, kerosene or propane, relying instead on wood or charcoal as principal sources of energy. Switching to energy sources that are more efficient and less detrimental to human health is a prerequisite for raising billions out of poverty as nations promised to do, U.N. officials point out.
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NASA Robotic Rocket Plane To Survey Martian Surface
From Popular Science:
Since budget cuts and the inability to overcome problems like boredom and high radiation doses have ruled out any manned mission to Mars in the foreseeable future, NASA has shifted gears back towards a program of robotic exploration. To that end, NASA now wants a rocket-powered UAV to fly around the Red Planet, photographing the surface.
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Orion's Dark Secret: Violence Shaped The Night Sky
From New Scientist:
WHERE will astronomers stop in their love affair with the enigmatic substance called dark matter? First we were told it was essential to allow a galaxy to spin without falling apart. Then it was the glue that held clusters of galaxies together. Later it was said to have catalysed the formation of the galaxies in the first place. Now, surely, they have gone too far. If the latest theories pan out, dark matter has also given us some of the world's most enduring astrological myths.
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Apple 27-Inch iMac
Put one of Apple's new 27-inch Core i7 iMacs on your desk, and you run the risk of alienating yourself from your friends, co-workers and loved ones.
Sure, the sheer speed of the thing is amazing — the new Core i7 processor is outrageously fast — but it's the massive screen that will turn your brain into a gob of HD-saturated jelly. Seriously. The iMac's screen is so freaking huge, so bright and so crisp, it will render you dumb with child-like glee. You'll just want to sit there and watch movies all day and night.
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My Comment: I sampled one yesterday .... and I was impressed. It had 4 GB of RAM .... not 8 GB ....but it was still super fast. I give it a big thumbs up.