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Latest Articles: Science/Tech
Comprehensive Picture of the Fate of Oil from Deepwater Horizon Spill
Post Date: 2012-01-11 06:37:02 by Tatarewicz
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When combined, the data tell a story about the fate of the oil and gas in the air, on the surface and in the ocean and enabled a new chemistry-based spill rate estimate of an average of 11,130 tons of gas and oil compounds per day -- close to the official average leak rate estimate of about 11,350 tons of gas and oil per day (equal to about 59,200 barrels of liquid oil per day). In total, approximately 4.2 million barrels of oil were released from the well. Ryerson and his colleagues determined that the visible surface slick represented about 15 percent of the total leaked gas and oil; the airborne plume accounted for about another 7 percent. About 36 percent remained in an underwater ...
Plant found in Brazil capturing worms underground
Post Date: 2012-01-11 06:20:04 by Tatarewicz
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BEIJING Jan. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Scientists have found a plant in Brazil using leaves to capture the tiny worms in the soil, according to Monday's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. The plant, named Philcoxia, was found in the tropical grassland of Brazil, where the biodiversity is well conserved. As the scientists searching for the answer of why the plant grows the leaves underground, they found the 1.5 millimeters-wide leaves can trap the worms and produce a digestive enzyme to help its roots to absorb the nutrition. Although it is not the first meat-eating plant to be discovered, the finding has still "broaden up our perception about plants," ...
Company announces low-cost DNA decoding machine
Post Date: 2012-01-11 02:15:01 by Tatarewicz
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NEW YORK (AP) — A biotechnology company announced it has developed a machine to decode an individual's DNA in a day for $1,000, a long-sought price goal for making the genome useful for medical care. Life Technologies Corp. said Tuesday it was taking orders for the technology, which it expects to deliver in about a year. The Carlsbad, Calif., company said three major research institutions had already signed up for the $149,000 machine: the Baylor College of Medicine, the Yale School of Medicine and the Broad Institute of Cambridge, Mass. A second company, Illumina of San Diego, also introduced a new technology Tuesday that it said will decode an entire genome in about 24 hours. ...
Volcanic mercury contributed to mass global extinction
Post Date: 2012-01-10 22:18:19 by Tatarewicz
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Canadian scientists probing ancient chemical deposits on the shores of a High Arctic lake have shed new light on the greatest mass extinction in Earth history — the "Great Dying" that wiped out about 90 per cent of the planet's species 250 million years ago. Sampling layers of sediment on Nunavut's Axel Heiberg Island that contain fallout from a series of colossal volcanic eruptions in Siberia during that time, researchers with the University of Calgary and Geological Survey of Canada found evidence of enough mercury pollution to have "overwhelmed" marine ecosystems and contributed to the massive global die-off at the end the Permian age. "No ...
Moon-powered electric generator
Post Date: 2012-01-10 03:38:42 by Tatarewicz
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Waves at the Wedge are legendary for hurling bodysurfers into the air and sweeping tourists off their feet. But the walls of water that rise up at the end of the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach also could serve a far more utilitarian purpose: producing electricity. A pair of Newport Beach entrepreneurs have been testing a wave-powered turbine near the famed bodysurfing spot for years and have now approached city officials for permission to set up a more permanent prototype, possibly off one of the city's two piers. But because of strict regulations and high costs, Mark Holmes and David New, partners in Green Wave Energy Corp., say it will be a long time before their generators can ...
Avoiding fracking earthquakes: expensive venture
Post Date: 2012-01-09 04:53:15 by Tatarewicz
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NEW YORK, Jan. 3, 2012 (Reuters) — With mounting evidence linking hundreds of small earthquakes from Oklahoma to Ohio to the energy industry's growing use of fracking technology, scientists say there is one way to minimize risks of even minor temblors. Only, it costs about $10 million a pop. A thorough seismic survey to assess tracts of rock below where oil and gas drilling fluid is disposed of could help detect quake prone areas. But that would be far more costly than the traditional method of drilling a bore hole, which takes a limited sample of a rock formation but gives no hint of faults lines or plates. The more expensive method will be a hard sell as long as irrefutable ...
Wearable computer to be sold in March
Post Date: 2012-01-08 01:04:03 by Tatarewicz
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Photo taken on Jan 6, 2012 shows the folding keyboard, the mainframe, the micro-monitors and the mouse of a wearable computer designed by a company in Southwest China's Yunnan province. The wearable computer, designed and made by a sci-tech company in Yunnan, includes an eyeglasses-shaped mainframe, a mouse and a folding keyboard. The computer, the first of its kind in China, will be mass-produced and sold in March. [Photo/Xinhua]
Inside the typical commercial jet engine, the fuel burns in the combustion chamber at up to 2000 degrees Celsius. [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2012-01-07 23:14:01 by lead.and.lag
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A Universe Designed for Life (Chapter 10 of "Human Devolution - A Vedic Alternative To Darwin's Theory" by Michael Cremo)
Post Date: 2012-01-07 06:43:22 by wudidiz
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A Universe Designed for Life The universe itself appears designed for life. Certain fundamental constants of nature, certain ratios between the forces of nature, appear to be very finely tuned. If their numerical values were even slightly different, the universe as we know it would not exist. Stable atoms, stars, and galaxies could not form (Barrow and Tipler 1996, p. 20). And thus, life itself, as we know it, could not exist.The values of the constants and ratios appear to be entirely arbitrary. In other words, as far as scientists today can tell, the values are not determined by any law of nature or property of matter. It is as if the values had been set by chance. But the odds ...
Hawking on the future of mankind
Post Date: 2012-01-06 04:52:13 by Tatarewicz
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To mark his 70th birthday, physicist Professor Stephen Hawking answered a selection of questions from listeners to Radio 4's Today Programme. Topics ranged from the origins of the universe to the prospects for extra terrestrial life and the impact on Einstein's theory of relativity should neutrinos be confirmed to travel faster than light. Cannot play media. You do not have the correct version of the flash player. Download the correct version It seems clear that Professor Hawking believes we we will have to colonise space if we are to avoid catastrophe, but he is upbeat about the prospects for self-sustaining colonies on Mars and believes the human race will eventually spread out ...
Top ten tech predictions for 2012 … and how to interpret them
Post Date: 2012-01-05 06:41:49 by Tatarewicz
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Around this time of year you see plenty of articles (such as this one) reflecting on notable technologies and events of the year now gone. Such pieces will also attempt to predict the events of the year just started. When reading these articles, it’s worth considering how the technologies being described are never taken in isolation. Instead, these technologies always need to be seen in terms of how they interact with and impact our personal and social lives. How technology does this, however, can be subtle and extremely complex. In fact, there is a significant amount of research – past and present – that focuses on why we do or don’t use software and technology. Most ...
Shot of Young Stem Cells Makes Rapidly Aging Mice Live Much Longer and Healthier, Researchers Report
Post Date: 2012-01-05 04:39:31 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceDaily (Jan. 3, 2012) — Mice bred to age too quickly seemed to have sipped from the fountain of youth after scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine injected them with stem cell-like progenitor cells derived from the muscle of young, healthy animals. Instead of becoming infirm and dying early as untreated mice did, animals that got the stem/progenitor cells improved their health and lived two to three times longer than expected, according to findings published in the Jan. 3 edition of Nature Communications. Previous research has revealed stem cell dysfunction, such as poor replication and differentiation, in a variety of tissues in old age, but it's not ...
Fly parasite turns honeybees into zom-bees
Post Date: 2012-01-04 02:57:23 by Tatarewicz
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Some bees leaving their hives, then dying after wandering about in a stupor If deadly viruses and fungi weren't enough, honeybees in North America now must also deal with a fly parasite that causes them to leave their hive and die after wandering about in a zombie-like stupor, a new study shows. Scientists previously found that the parasitic fly, Apocephalus borealis, infects and ultimately kills bumblebees and paper wasps, while the "decapitating fly," an insect in the same genus, implants its eggs in ants, whose heads then pop off after the fly larvae devour the ants' brains and dissolve their connective tissues. Now researchers have discovered honeybees parasitized ...
Japan developing anti-virus cyber weapon
Post Date: 2012-01-02 05:43:45 by Tatarewicz
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Japan developing cyber weapon: report Japan has been developing a virus that could track down the source of a cyber attack and neutralise its programme, the daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported Sunday. The weapon is the culmination of a 179 million yen ($2.3 million) three-year project entrusted by the government to technology maker Fujitsu Ltd to develop a virus and equipment to monitor and analyse attacks, the daily said. The United States and China are reported to have put so-called cyber weapons into practical use, Yomiuri said. Japan will have to make legal amendments to use a cyber weapon as it could violate the country's law against the manufacture of a computer virus, the daily said. ...
Electric Eel vs Caiman: High-Voltage Showdown in Brazil
Post Date: 2011-12-31 14:36:33 by HOUNDDAWG
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Electric Eel vs Alligator: High-Voltage Showdown in Brazil A fisherman in Brazil was reeling in a surprise catch... an electric eel. However, another hunter also had (sic) an eye on the eel: an alligator (Actually, it looks more like a caiman, but moving right along). The alligator (or caiman) bites the electric eel, and the electric eel demonstrates why it's called an "electric eel". (The video is correctly titled, "Peixe Elétrico Mata Jacaré -Electric Eel Kills Jacare-HD) Poster Comment:The Yacare caiman (Caiman yacare, Jacaré in Portuguese) is a species of caiman found in central South America, including northeastern Argentina, Uruguay eastern ...
Spintronics - the next paradigm shift in computing?
Post Date: 2011-12-31 07:08:53 by Tatarewicz
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Forbes called this next breakthrough one of the "Ten Things That Will Change the Way We Live." They compared it to the plow, the printing press, cars, planes, and the telephone. Toshiba says that within the next five years, the market for this one discovery could be as big as the entire multi-billion dollar market for computer chips is today. And the experts at London’s Institute of Physics even put a number on it, saying this could be worth as much as $100-billion a year. Other insiders whisper about this technology that I'm about to reveal to you right now as the "holy grail" of computing. No, I'm not talking about the iPads or "smart" ...
Wealth potential of new fuel-making technologies
Post Date: 2011-12-31 06:58:49 by Tatarewicz
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We may never have to worry about running out of oil. I know that sounds crazy. It's the opposite of everything you've ever seen or heard. But I'm telling you now, it's true. And the reason why could make a few investors extremely wealthy. Yes, worldwide, we're thirsty for crude. And yes, it's all running out. What's more, what's left is either trapped in a war zone or in a dying well. At least that's the message you get from the news. But can I tell you what nobody else is talking about these days? See, there's an upside to every crisis. And the crisis over desperate oil demand and high oil prices is no different. How so? For one thing, the most ...
Hackers could hijack mobile phones
Post Date: 2011-12-31 05:19:51 by Tatarewicz
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A tech expert has figured out a way that hackers could take control of mobile phones and make calls or send out unlimited numbers of text messages. Karsten Nohl, who runs Security Research Labs in Germany, told the Reuters news agency that while hackers have been able to stage such attacks on a small scale, he believes multiple phones powered by GSM technology could be compromised at the same time. “We can do it to hundreds of thousands of phones in a short time frame,” he told Reuters. Roughly 80 percent of world mobile phone users, including practically everyone in Germany, use GSM networks. Mass attacks against phones in the networks could be particularly insidious because ...
Sony uses shredded paper as a bio-battery power source
Post Date: 2011-12-30 03:44:20 by Tatarewicz
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At the moment, the rechargeable batteries we rely on in our gadgets don’t contain the most environmentally-friendly materials, and aren’t the type of thing anyone should be throwing away. They should be recycled at a specialist recycle center. What would be much more eco-friendly is a way to create power from waste products, but at a level where an individual could do it themselves. Sony has been working to create these so-called bio-batteries, and has just shown one off at the Eco-Products 2011 environmental products fair in Tokyo. Sony’s idea is to provide a battery where by the user adds their own fuel sourced from waste materials. In this case, the proof of concept ...
Bugs may be resistant to genetically modified corn
Post Date: 2011-12-29 03:22:15 by farmfriend
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Bugs may be resistant to genetically modified corn By RICK CALLAHAN, AP One of the nation's most widely planted crops — a genetically engineered corn plant that makes its own insecticide — may be losing its effectiveness because a major pest appears to be developing resistance more quickly than scientists expected. The U.S. food supply is not in any immediate danger because the problem remains isolated. But scientists fear potentially risky farming practices could be blunting the hybrid's sophisticated weaponry. When it was introduced in 2003, so-called Bt corn seemed like the answer to farmers' dreams: It would allow growers to bring in bountiful harvests using ...
ASU cosmologist suggests studying moon for alien artifacts
Post Date: 2011-12-27 16:32:52 by PSUSA2
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(PhysOrg.com) -- If you were part of a team sent to explore an unknown planet; and that planet had a natural orbiting moon, wouldn’t it make sense to use that moon as a base camp or remote observation post? Especially if you didn’t want those being observed to know you were there? Professor Paul Davis and research technician Robert Wagner think so, and that’s why they’ve published a paper in Acta Astronautica that suggests we humans begin taking a little closer look at our own moon to see if any alien life forms might have left behind some evidence of their visit. Though some might see it as farfetched, or heaven forbid, lunacy, Davis and Wagner are convinced that ...
from Texas_Engineer, posting at The Oil Drum [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2011-12-26 18:29:06 by lead.and.lag
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Human beings are not creatures of facts and logic - they are people who live in stories. This is not new - it has always been that way. We have certain collective narratives that almost everyone automatically accept without further thought. It is how we make sense of the world. These narratives keep us sane by allowing us to filter out the hurricane of information swirling around us daily and making some sense of it. The current narrative that most people subscribe to is that economic growth will eventually return or we have plenty of oil but the government is not letting is drill for it. For that reason I am not convinced that you will ever convince the average citizen (not a technical ...
Neuroscientists identify a master controller of memory
Post Date: 2011-12-26 02:02:08 by Tatarewicz
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One gene appears to regulate the brain’s ability to form new memories. When you experience a new event, your brain encodes a memory of it by altering the connections between neurons. This requires turning on many genes in those neurons. Now, MIT neuroscientists have identified what may be a master gene that controls this complex process. The findings, described in the Dec. 23 issue of Science, not only reveal some of the molecular underpinnings of memory formation — they may also help neuroscientists pinpoint the exact locations of memories in the brain. The research team, led by Yingxi Lin, a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, focused on the Npas4 ...
The Internet is 21 years old Today (Dec 25th)
Post Date: 2011-12-25 08:53:15 by Shoonra
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The internet began 21 years ago today, with a first transmission on December 25th 1990. www.is ra elnationalnews.co....aspx/151049#.TvckIDUV1Lc
Releasing Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Poses Unknown Risks To Florida
Post Date: 2011-12-25 06:25:26 by HOUNDDAWG
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Saturday, December 24, 2011 Releasing Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Poses Unknown Risks To Florida Aedes Aegypti mosquito - CDC/Wiki image Brandon Turbeville Activist Post A recent announcement made by a UK-based biotechnology company known as Oxitec has caused quite a stir in some Florida communities as of late. This is because Oxitec plans to release 5,000 to 10,000 genetically modified mosquitoes over an as-of-yet undisclosed 36-acre block in the Florida Keys, most likely Key West near the Key West Cemetery. The experiment is being presented to the public under the guise of an attempt to eradicate mosquito-borne illnesses, specifically Dengue fever. The mosquitoes have been ...
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