No More Power Lines?

Sign of the past? Superconductor cables could replace transmission lines,
such as these in Los Banos, Calif. Newscom/file

From The Christian Science Monitor:

Buried super-cooled electrical cables may replace towering transmission lines and carry solar and wind energy efficiently over long distances.

Abundant solar and wind power lies across America’s vast plains and deserts, but getting that distant renewable energy to cities without wrecking vistas and raising lawsuits over transmission lines is a sizable hurdle for green-leaning utility companies. Thousands of miles of towering electrical lines will be needed before big alternative-energy projects can take hold. Yet such power lines portend years of legal snarls over the not-in-my-backyard problem.

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'Grey Goo' Food Laced With Nanoparticles Could Swamp Britain

Photo: Prince Charles derided nanoparticles as 'grey goo' food

From The Daily Mail:

Britain is on the brink of a massive expansion in foods containing controversial 'grey goo' nanoparticles, according to the former head of the Food Standards Agency.

Low-calorie chocolate and beer that doesn't go flat could be on sale within just five years, Lord Krebs said last night.

However, he and other peers believe there will be no requirement for the hi-tech products to be labelled as containing nanoparticles - microscopic compounds that can worm their way into the brain, liver and kidneys with unknown consequences.

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You Won't Find Consciousness In The Brain

Consciousness in action? It is tempting to think that's what is going on - but wrong
(Image: Hans Neleman/Getty)

From New Scientist:

MOST neuroscientists, philosophers of the mind and science journalists feel the time is near when we will be able to explain the mystery of human consciousness in terms of the activity of the brain. There is, however, a vocal minority of neurosceptics who contest this orthodoxy. Among them are those who focus on claims neuroscience makes about the preciseness of correlations between indirectly observed neural activity and different mental functions, states or experiences.

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Hominids Went Out of Africa On Rafts

From Wired Science:

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Human ancestors that left Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago to see the rest of the world were no landlubbers. Stone hand axes unearthed on the Mediterranean island of Crete indicate that an ancient Homo species — perhaps Homo erectus — had used rafts or other seagoing vessels to cross from northern Africa to Europe via at least some of the larger islands in between, says archaeologist Thomas Strasser of Providence College in Rhode Island.

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'Wildlife In Crisis' In Frozen UK

From The BBC:

Britain's wildlife is being pushed to "the brink of a crisis" as sub-zero temperatures continue to grip the nation, according to conservationists.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is organising emergency feeding of several threatened species, including bitterns and cirl buntings.

The RSPB is also asking people to feed garden birds, which are struggling to find food in the freezing weather.

The harsh winter could hit bird numbers "for many years to come", they warn.

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Warmer Climate Could Stifle Carbon Uptake By Trees, Study Finds

A surprising new CU-Boulder study indicates subalpine forests in the West will soak up less carbon dioxide as the climate warms and the growing seasons lengthen. (Credit: Image courtesy Steve Miller, CIRES)

From Science Daily:

Science Daily (Jan. 8, 2010) — Contrary to conventional belief, as the climate warms and growing seasons lengthen subalpine forests are likely to soak up less carbon dioxide, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.

As a result, more of the greenhouse gas will be left to concentrate in the atmosphere.

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As Elvis Turns 75, Celebrity Worship Alive And Well

From Live Science:

If Elvis were alive, he'd be 75 on Friday. While his musical style and gyrations may have been unique, Elvis Presley's stardom and swooning fans can be explained by simple psychology, trends in technology and pop culture, and a look at our ancestors, all of which reveals why celebrity worship is on the rise.

"The Elvis phenomenon is only a case study of a wider psychological phenomenon," said James Houran, a clinical psychologist and president of 20/20 Skills, a human resources company.

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Why "Green" Wine Is Catching On

From CBS News:

California Wineries Try To Set An Example Of What's Possible With Existing Technologies.

(AP) John Conover was looking for the best place to grow the Napa Valley's famous cabernet sauvignon grapes. Turns out the same southwest-facing, sunny hillside that gives him great grapes also raises a mean crop of solar panels.

"We wanted to be as green as we can be," says Conover, a partner in the Cade winery, which is on track for Gold certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

Green wine is catching on.

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Got A New Computer? Install These Nine Programs Right Away

New computer? Feed it a healthy diet of powerful software.
Heather McKinnon/The Seattle Times/Newscom

From Christian Science Monitor:

’Tis the season for a new computer. Whether Santa sneaked a PC under the tree or you’ve decided to install Windows 7 onto an older machine, millions of Americans this month will be booting up a fresh start.

What better time to get your computer on a healthy diet of lean but powerful software and to throw out the bloated junk food that comes preinstalled on many machines? Here are some free programs that’ll help your new PC chug along for many winters to come.

(Disclaimer: While most of the Monitor’s software suggestions cover both PCs and Macs, Apple fans will need to sit this article out.)

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Microsoft Unveil HP Slate Just Weeks Before Launch Of Apple Tablet

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer holds the Hewlett-Packard slate PC during his keynote speech.

From The Daily Mail:

Microsoft and HP have unveiled a new touch-screen tablet computer they hope will overshadow a similar device that Apple is expected to launch this month.

To add insult to injury Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer referred to the gadget as a 'slate.' Technology pundits think Apple will call their gadget 'iSlate' after filing for the trademark.

The 10inch HP tablet is a touch screen computer that runs Windows 7.

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Robot Border Guards To Patrol Future Frontiers

Walls alone won't seal US borders (Image: KPA/Zuma/Rex Features)

From New Scientist:

A MIGRANT makes a furtive dash across an unwalled rural section of a national border, only to be confronted by a tracked robot that looks like a tiny combat tank - with a gimballed camera for an eye. As he passes the bug-eyed droid, it follows him and a border guard's voice booms from its loudspeaker. He has illegally entered the country, he is warned, and if he does not turn back he will be filmed and followed by the robot, or by an airborne drone, until guards apprehend him.

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Crack New Scanner Looks For Bombs Inside Body Cavities

From The Danger Room:

The “underpants bomber” has renewed calls for new and more invasive security measures. Already, there’s a push to install scanners that show travelers’ naked bodies through clothing, using either millimeter wave or backscatter X-ray imaging. But even those scanners might not have caught the terrorist who nearly brought down Northwest flight 253.

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Thieves Use Google Earth To Find And Plunder Wineries' Solar Panels

Solar-Powered Vineyards "Just leave me in peace to tend to my wine" Langetwins Winery and Vineyards

From Popular Science:

Google's "do no evil" motto fails to halt heartless bandits.

Hot on the heels of news about Google's new energy venture comes this sorrowful tale about renewable energy. NPR reports on enterprising thieves who used Google Earth to do evil, and specifically to find California wineries with solar panels for the taking.

Yes, even the criminal underworld has embraced clean tech in the 21st century. Many thieves have reportedly used trucks to simply crash winery gates and steal up to 70 panels at a time. Local sheriff deputies speculate that online tools such as Google Earth might make it particularly easy to locate possible targets -- more than 400 panels worth over $1,000 each were stolen from Napa Valley vineyards in 2009.

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Coral Reefs Are Evolution Hotspot

The reefs are centres of evolution as well as biodiversity.

From The BBC:

Coral reefs give rise to many more new species than other tropical marine habitats, according to a new study.

Scientists used fossil records stretching back 540 million years to work out the evolution rate at reefs.

They report in the journal Science that new species originate 50% faster in coral reefs than in other habitats.

The team says its findings show that the loss of these evolution hotspots could mean "losing an opportunity to create new species" in the future.

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Greatest Finds Of The Year

From The Independent:

It’s been another fascinating and prolific 12 months in archaeology, with discoveries - ranging from a multi-million pound medieval gold hoard to a lost Roman city, a “missing link” in human evolution and a prehistoric erotic figurine - coming thick and fast from the four corners of the globe.

They’ve been made by all from hard-working heritage experts, after years of slaving at the archaeological coal-face, to fluky amateurs on their very first treasure hunt.

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How Earth Survived Its Birth: New Simulation Reveals Planet Migration Prevents Plunge Into Sun

New simulations show that variations in temperature can lead to regions of outward and inward migration that safely trap planets on orbits around their sun. (Credit: iStockphoto/Kirill Putchenko)

From Live Science:

Science Daily (Jan. 8, 2010) — For the last 20 years, the best models of planet formation -- or how planets grow from dust in a gas disk -- have contradicted the very existence of Earth. These models assumed locally constant temperatures within a disk, and the planets plunge into the Sun. Now, new simulations from researchers at the American Museum of Natural History and the University of Cambridge show that variations in temperature can lead to regions of outward and inward migration that safely trap planets on orbits.

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Polar Bears Forced To Land And Water

Polar bears depend on sea ice for hunting, breeding and denning. The bears wait for seals to pop up through breathing holes in the ice, but since the ice is melting earlier and earlier in the year, polar bears are shifting there habitat to land and water, and may be missing out on hunting opportunities. Credit: USGS

From Live Science:

As Arctic sea ice melts, polar bears are changing their habitat, shifting from their preferred ice hunting grounds to land and open water, according to a new long-term study.

The findings have implications for people as well as polar bears, since the shift makes it more likely that humans will encounter these large animals on land, the researchers say.

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Dark Roasted Blend: Weird & Wonderful Things in 2009

From The Dark Roasted Blend:

Promoting "sense of wonder" and intense exploration of our world and beyond, shamelessly cynicism- and nihilism- free, "Dark Roasted Blend" is happy to serve our readers since 2006. As a sort of overview, but mostly trying to highlight the themes and articles of 2009 that you might have missed, here is a roundup of the most popular and interesting posts on DRB (arranged by months):

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Top 10 Places You Can’t Go

#1: RAF Menwith Hill

RAF Menwith Hill is a British military base with connections to the global ECHELON spy network. The site contains an extensive satellite ground station and is a communications intercept and missile warning site and has been described as the largest electronic monitoring station in the world. The site acts as a ground station for a number of satellites operated by the US National Reconnaissance Office, on behalf of the US National Security Agency, with antennae contained in a large number of highly distinctive white radomes, and is alleged to be an element of the ECHELON system. ECHELON was reportedly created to monitor the military and diplomatic communications of the Soviet Union and its Eastern Bloc allies during the Cold War in the early 1960s, but since the end of the Cold War it is believed to search also for hints of terrorist plots, drug dealers’ plans, and political and diplomatic intelligence. It has also been involved in reports of commercial espionage and is believed to filter all telephone and radio communications in the nations which host it – an extreme violation of privacy.

From List Verse:

The world is full of secret and exclusive places that we either don’t know about, or simply couldn’t visit if we wanted to. This list takes a look at ten of the most significant places around the world that are closed to the general public or are virtually impossible for the general public to visit.

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100 Quotes Every Geek Should Know

Image by Wikimedia user Xander.

From Geekdad:

One thing that every geek can do is quote their favorite geek-culture media, whether it’s movies, books, television, theater or music. The GeekDads have tried to compile a list of such quotes for your enjoyment. This list is certainly not definitive. Indeed, it’s only the beginning! Feel free to add your own (clean) ones in the comments below.

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