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Latest Articles: Science/Tech
Magnitude 7.0 - Vanuatu, Pacific ocean - west
Post Date: 2008-03-12 16:45:52 by robin
6 Comments
Click for Full Text!
Invasive species create dangerous 'genetic hotspots'
Post Date: 2008-03-10 17:03:33 by Tauzero
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Invasive species create dangerous 'genetic hotspots' 16:00 10 March 2008 NewScientist.com news service Phil McKenna The secret of invasive species' notoriously destructive power may have been discovered. Genetic analysis of an introduced snail suggests that successive waves of invasion create a "hotspot" of evolutionary potential that means conservationists should be even more vigilant against invading species. Patrice David of France’s National Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology in Montpellier and colleagues examined key physiological and behavioural attributes, or "life history traits" of an invasive population of freshwater snails ...
California cows start passing gas to the grid
Post Date: 2008-03-09 17:08:13 by robin
3 Comments
RIVERDALE, California (Reuters) - Imagine a vat of liquid cow manure covering the area of five football fields and 33 feet deep. Meet California's most alternative new energy. On a dairy farm in the Golden State's agricultural heartland, utility PG&E Corp began on Tuesday producing natural gas derived from manure, in what it hopes will be a new way to power homes with renewable, if not entirely clean, energy. The Vintage Dairy Biogas Project, the brainchild of life- long dairyman David Albers, aims to provide the natural gas needed to power 1,200 homes a day, Albers said at the facility's inauguration ceremony. "When most people see a pile of manure, they see a pile ...
For Those Who Want To Share Large Files
Post Date: 2008-03-09 15:14:12 by James Deffenbach
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If you want to share files larger than 10mb (I think that is the usual cutoff in most free email programs), you might want to check out RapidShare. Click on the url source if you want to check it out.
Britain makes camera that "sees" under clothes
Post Date: 2008-03-09 15:03:03 by robin
5 Comments
LONDON (Reuters) - A British company has developed a camera that can detect weapons, drugs or explosives hidden under people's clothes from up to 25 meters away in what could be a breakthrough for the security industry. The T5000 camera, created by a company called ThruVision, uses what it calls "passive imaging technology" to identify objects by the natural electromagnetic rays -- known as Terahertz or T-rays -- that they emit. The high-powered camera can detect hidden objects from up to 80 feet away and is effective even when people are moving. It does not reveal physical body details and the screening is harmless, the company says. The technology, which has military and ...
They Criticized Vista. And They Should Know
Post Date: 2008-03-09 12:43:18 by Horse
28 Comments
ONE year after the birth of Windows Vista, why do so many Windows XP users still decline to “upgrade”? Microsoft says high prices have been the deterrent. Last month, the company trimmed prices on retail packages of Vista, trying to entice consumers to overcome their reluctance. In the United States, an XP user can now buy Vista Home Premium for $129.95, instead of $159.95. An alternative theory, however, is that Vista’s reputation precedes it. XP users have heard too many chilling stories from relatives and friends about Vista upgrades that have gone badly. The graphics chip that couldn’t handle Vista’s whizzy special effects. The long delays as it loaded. The ...
San Francisco’s Green Building Nightmare
Post Date: 2008-03-07 10:38:54 by Indrid Cold
20 Comments
The idea of “green” buildings is a terrific marketing concept. In San Francisco, it has helped grease the political roadway for massive, view-blocking luxury condominiums, implying that building these structures is more environmentally sustaining than leaving land vacant. Few seem to care whether green buildings can be a nightmare for those having to work inside high-rise structures lacking heat or air conditioning. The new Thomas Mayne designed Federal Building at 7th and Mission Streets in San Francisco is a case in point. Lauded by the New York Times as a building that “may one day be remembered as the crowning achievement of the General Services Administration’s ...
MAGPUL Flash-light Machine Gun (hehehe)
Post Date: 2008-03-06 20:38:02 by noone222
3 Comments
Poster Comment:Everyone that walks their dog needs one of these Mo-Fo's
Peak Oil - True or False
Post Date: 2008-03-06 06:13:51 by Stephen Lendman
11 Comments
Peak Oil - True or False - by Stephen Lendman The arguments are so one-sided, it's practically a given that "peak oil" is real and threatening. Or is it? This article examines both sides. It lets readers decide and deals only with supply issues, not crucial environmental ones and the need to develop alternative energy sources. First some background. The name most associated with "peak oil" is M. King Hubbert. He became the world's best known geologist when he worked for Houston-based Shell Oil Company from 1943 to 1964. His theory goes something like this. Oil is a finite resource. Peak oil, or Hubbert's peak, is the point at which maximum world production ...
Scary or sensational? A machine that can look into the mind
Post Date: 2008-03-05 20:59:22 by robin
2 Comments
Scary or sensational? A machine that can look into the mind James Randerson, science correspondent The Guardian, Thursday March 6 2008 Article history About this articleClose This article appeared in the Guardian on Thursday March 06 2008 on p1 of the Top stories section. It was last updated at 00:07 on March 06 2008. MRI scans Scientists have developed a computerised mind-reading technique which lets them accurately predict the images that people are looking at by using scanners to study brain activity.The breakthrough by American scientists took MRI scanning equipment normally used in hospital diagnosis to observe patterns of brain activity when a subject ...
Record warm winter for northern Europe
Post Date: 2008-03-05 19:16:30 by angle
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Icebreakers sit idle in ports. Insects crawl out of forest hideouts. Daffodils sprout up from green lawns. Winter ended before it started in Europe's north, where record-high temperatures have people wondering whether it's a fluke or an ominous sign of a warming world. "It's the warmest winter ever" recorded, said John Ekwall of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute. In December, January and February, the average temperature in Stockholm was 36 degrees—the highest on record since record-keeping began in 1756. Record winter highs were set at 12 other locations across the country, according to the national weather service, ...
Rare Gray Wolf Appears in Western Mass.
Post Date: 2008-03-05 19:09:25 by angle
2 Comments
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- When more than a dozen lambs and sheep were slaughtered on a Shelburne farm last fall, wildlife officials suspected either a wolf that had escaped from captivity or a rogue mutt on a hungry rampage. But after the culprit animal was killed and examined, they found themselves with a bigger mystery: How did a wild eastern gray wolf, an endangered species absent from the state for more than a century, find its way to western Massachusetts? Thomas J. Healy, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Northeast regional office, said Tuesday recent DNA tests at the agency's Oregon labs confirmed it is the first gray wolf found in New England since a 1993 case ...
Climate Skeptics Roast Gore On Global Warming
Post Date: 2008-03-05 17:07:56 by farmfriend
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Climate Skeptics Roast Gore On Global Warming NEW YORK - Al Gore, who won the Nobel Peace Prize and an Oscar for his environmental advocacy, was the main target on Monday at a conference of dissident scientists skeptical of his views on global warming. Several speakers at the conference on climate change whose theme was "Global warming is not a crisis," took pot-shots at the ex-vice president and his film, "An Inconvenient Truth," which won last year's Academy Award for best documentary. "Whether we like it or not, it was extremely effective propaganda," said Timothy Ball, an environmental consultant and former climatology professor at the University of ...
Future 'quantum computers' will offer increased efficiency... and risks
Post Date: 2008-03-05 15:45:51 by farmfriend
5 Comments
Contact: Zenaida Gonzalez Kotala zkotala@mail.ucf.edu 407-823-6120 University of Central Florida Future 'quantum computers' will offer increased efficiency... and risks UCF Professor makes unique discovery, may revolutionize encryption technology An unusual observation in a University of Central Florida physics lab may lead to a new generation of “Quantum Computers” that will render today’s computer and credit card encryption technology obsolete. The observations are documented this week in the online version of Nature Physics under Advance Online Publication (http://www.nature.com/nphys/index.html ). The title of UCF Professor Enrique del Barco’s paper is ...
Our Solar System isn't What it Used to be
Post Date: 2008-03-05 07:08:43 by YertleTurtle
2 Comments
WASHINGTON — Move over, Copernicus. Your once-revolutionary idea — that the Earth revolves around the sun rather than the other way around — has been eclipsed. Recent years have brought a sweeping new revolution in solar system astronomy. The Earth still orbits the sun, as Copernicus declared 400 years ago, but the planetary system in the textbooks you studied is now out of date. ``The entire view of astronomy you learned in high school has changed dramatically,'' said Alan Stern, NASA's associate administrator for science. ``We're really in a new age of discovery.'' The changes go well beyond the International Astronomical Union's controversial ...
Linear Tactics in a Chaotic War
Post Date: 2008-03-05 05:54:00 by Ada
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One of several dead hands the First Generation of Modern War lays on contemporary state militaries' throats is linearity. Most state militaries both seek and expect linearity on and off the battlefield. Sometimes, this manifests itself in tactics that offer magnificent if unintentional tableaux vivants. I recall a field exercise years ago with the Second Marine Division at Camp Lejeune where, rounding a bend, we found a lieutenant had built a perfect 19th-century fortress wall across the road, complete with firing step. The division sergeant major, in whose jeep I was riding, said, "My God, it's the siege of Vicksburg!" More often, linearity manifests itself in a military ...
Opel Eco Speedster
Post Date: 2008-03-04 21:00:38 by rack42
0 Comments
Opel 2 seater: 113mpg at 140mph http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvKYUM5NkWk 1.3 Liter turbocharged Diesel, 5-speed semi-auto transmission Pictures: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/the-opel-eco-speedster.php Of course, this is a GM vehicle. GM is notorious for producing project vehicles that they later crush, ie, physically demolish. Back in the late '60's Pontiac made a two-seater version of the Firebird. It trounced the Corvette in all aspects. It was crushed.
Poster Comment:This vehicle was run on the track shown in the video in 2005. There were comments regarding the CEO of GM that should be put out to pasture after his screwing of Chrysler; or shot.
China's Guangdong to build nation's largest off-shore wind farm
Post Date: 2008-03-04 08:34:24 by angle
1 Comments
GUANGZHOU, March 3 (Xinhua) -- South China's Guangdong Province plans to build the nation's largest off-shore wind farm, in a bid to quench its power thirst. The facility, with a sea area coverage of 240 square kilometers, will be co-sponsored by the Lufeng Municipal Government and Guangdong Baolihua New Energy Stock Co.,Ltd. The plan includes a 1.25 million kilowatt wind farm, an 8 million kw supercritical power plant and a dock construction project. The facility is expected to "relieve the energy pressure and optimize the energy structure" in the booming province, local government officials said. China began to work on its second west-to-east natural gas transmission ...
'Long-life' genes found in 100-year-old humans
Post Date: 2008-03-03 17:44:41 by Tauzero
9 Comments
'Long-life' genes found in 100-year-old humans 22:00 03 March 2008 NewScientist.com news service Andy Coghlan It's not quite the elixir of life, but researchers have at last identified gene variants that make people live longer. Men may miss out, as all carriers identified so far are women. They are also slightly shorter than average. "We are moving closer to understanding why some people live longer," says Nir Barzilai of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, New York, US, head of the team that identified the two gene mutations in centenarians of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Both mutations affect the receptor for insulin-like growth factor 1 ...
Will global warming increase plant frost damage?
Post Date: 2008-03-03 01:36:52 by farmfriend
1 Comments
Will global warming increase plant frost damage? Widespread damage from 2007 Eastern US spring freeze attributed to earlier warming Contact: Holly Menninger hmenninger@aibs.org 202-628-1500 American Institute of Biological Sciences Widespread damage to plants from a sudden freeze that occurred across the Eastern United States from 5 April to 9 April 2007 was made worse because it had been preceded by two weeks of unusual warmth, according to an analysis published in the March 2008 issue of BioScience. The authors of the report, Lianhong Gu and his colleagues at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and collaborators at NASA, the University of Missouri, and the National Oceanic and ...
Why a bird-brained partner causes stress
Post Date: 2008-03-02 22:54:18 by Tauzero
3 Comments
Why a bird-brained partner causes stress By ROBIN DUNBAR HAVE you been struggling yet again with your partner's faults and foibles? Do you find relationships really hard work? Well, it seems you are in good company. A recent study of brain size in a wide range of birds and mammals has revealed the species with the biggest brains relative to body size are precisely those that mate monogamously. Those that live in large anonymous flocks or herds and mate promiscuously have much smaller brains. It seems living with a partner is demanding and needs a lot of brain power. The birds make it clear the real issue is maintaining strong, resilient pairbonds. Birds that mate monogamously come ...
Does faith healing really work?
Post Date: 2008-03-01 11:05:46 by gengis gandhi
19 Comments
Print Health Written by Danny Penman faith_healing-1 After six years of agonising pain, Ailsa Marsh was stunned to the core when a spiritual healer managed to banish her suffering in an instant. "It was gone in the blink of an eye," says Ailsa, a 28-year-old complementary medicine student from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. "It felt as if he had put his hands inside my shoulders and turned off a tap." "Before the healing I was constantly wracked with tortuous pain. I was bed-ridden with ME and couldn't leave the house. All of my senses became hypersensitive. If somebody spoke to me it felt as if they were shouting. I couldn't bear the light so my parents hung ...
Military heat ray gun zaps 60 Minutes reporter
Post Date: 2008-03-01 06:52:10 by robin
36 Comments
"You have to feel the ray gun to believe it," says 60 Minutes correspondent David Martin, speaking about a non-lethal weapon the Pentagon has developed, "and there's only one way to do that." Martin was reportedly "zapped" 17 times for this piece, demonstrating the effects, as well as the possibility that a person could reduce the impact with shields of various materials. "The gun is really an antenna which shoots out this very high-frequency radio beam that penetrates the skin to a depth of 1/64 of an inch, which is just deep enough to hit the nerves," says Martin. "And it creates this instantaneous sensation of heat which makes anyone who ...
Study Shows Bacteria Are Common in Snow
Post Date: 2008-03-01 03:41:50 by farmfriend
2 Comments
Study Shows Bacteria Are Common in Snow By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Fri Feb 29, 6:16 PM EST Those beautiful snowflakes drifting out of the sky may have a surprise inside — bacteria. Most snow and rain forms in chilly conditions high in the sky and atmospheric scientists have long known that, under most conditions, the moisture needs something to cling to in order to condense. Now, a new study shows a surprisingly large share of those so-called nucleators turn out to be bacteria that can affect plants. "Bacteria are by far the most active ice nuclei in nature," said Brent C. Christner, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Louisiana State University. Christner ...
Feds Want More Critical Habitat for Lynx
Post Date: 2008-03-01 03:35:56 by farmfriend
4 Comments
Feds Want More Critical Habitat for Lynx By CATHERINE TSAI, AP Fri Feb 29, 6:16 PM EST Federal wildlife managers said Thursday they want to increase by more than 20-fold the amount of land designated as critical habitat for the threatened Canada lynx, to nearly 43,000 square miles in six states. Only 1,841 square miles in three national parks in Minnesota, Montana and Washington were designated as critical habitat for the long-haired mountain cat in 2006. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reconsidered that decision and those involving seven other species after allegations of interference from Julie MacDonald, a deputy assistant secretary of the interior. She has resigned. The ...
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