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Latest Articles: Science/Tech
Overpowered: Too much solar electricity makes Chile give it away for free
Post Date: 2016-06-05 10:45:57 by Ada
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Chile’s main solar power plants are supplying so much electricity that they have to give it away for free or face prices going down. The glut has been driven by the country’s booming copper industry. Chile’s growing energy demand has prompted the development of 29 solar farms to supply the central grid. Booming mining production and economic growth have been the main drivers. The country is expected to install almost 1.4 gigawatts of solar power this year, up from 371 megawatts in 2015, according to Bloomberg , which is enough to supply hundreds of thousands of homes. Read more Reuters / Jorge Cabrera Solar panels can power the world – MIT study However, paradoxically, ...
Company behind BC-made electric car confident about July launch
Post Date: 2016-06-04 07:38:39 by Tatarewicz
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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Excitement is building in the lead up to the official launch of a BC-made electric car, that is promising to be a game changer for commuters. The Electra Meccanica Solo is expected to be introduced in late July. As its name suggests, this car is for driver only, with room in the back for a shopping cart full of groceries. CEO Jerry Kroll says its range is less than half of what the newly introduced Tesla 3 offers at 160 kilometres between charges, but he stresses for the average working Canadian, and for the price tag, the Electra Meccanica will have a huge market. “It addresses the 83 per cent of people who commute by themselves 30 kilometres or less ...
We can now 'cut and paste' RNA in addition to DNA, and it could disable viruses
Post Date: 2016-06-04 06:00:39 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceAlert... You've probably heard of CRISPR - the gene editing tool that essentially lets scientists cut and paste DNA, removing things like HIV and muscular dystrophy from our cells - and now scientists have discovered a way to edit RNA with just as much precision. RNA is DNA's close biological cousin, responsible for translating messages from the nucleus to the rest of the cell, and being able to change it could open up all-new disease-fighting possibilities. Just like CRISPR/Cas9 editing, the new procedure selectively cuts up RNA, which gives us microscopic control over genetic information, and the researchers behind it say it could open up the method could be used to ...
SpaceX could send people to Mars by 2024, Elon Musk says
Post Date: 2016-06-03 06:49:52 by Tatarewicz
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UPI... LOS ANGELES, June 3 (UPI) -- SpaceX Chief Elon Musk is predicting his company will be able to launch humans to Mars by 2024. Speaking at Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. on Wednesday, Musk said if there are no delays, there could be a human colony on Mars by 2025 and promised to give more details of his company's "architecture for Mars colonization" at a global space conference in September. "What really matters is being able to transport large numbers of people and ultimately millions of tons of cargo to Mars," Musk said. "That's what's necessary in order to create a ... growing city on Mars." SpaceX announced plans in April ...
Physicists think they finally know what Planet Nine is: an exoplanet stolen from another star
Post Date: 2016-06-01 04:46:12 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceAlert... Everything about Planet Nine is weird. There’s the fact that something 10 times more massive than Earth and four times its size might have been lurking on the outer edges of our Solar System this whole time, and we’ve only just noticed it. And what about its super-elongated orbit, which appears to take an incredible 10,000 to 20,000 years to complete? But forget all that, we don’t even really know if it even exists yet! The good news is scientists are finally narrowing in on this shady character, and a new study suggests something pretty extraordinary - Planet Nine is actually an exoplanet from a neighbouring planetary system that our Sun stole from another ...
Valdez Fly-In 2016
Post Date: 2016-05-31 18:40:00 by X-15
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200,000-Year-Old Soil Found at Mysterious Crater, A 'Gate to the Subterranean World'
Post Date: 2016-05-30 10:30:48 by Ada
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Locals have heard 'booms from the underworld' in a giant ravine but now scientists say it holds secrets of the planet's past. Many Yakutian people are said to be scared to approach the Batagaika Crater - also known as the Batagaika Megaslump: believing in the upper, middle and under worlds, they see this as a doorway to the last of these. The fearsome noises are probably just the thuds of falling soil at a landmark that is a one-kilometre-long gash up to 100 metres (328 feet) deep in the Siberian taiga. Batagaika started to form in 1960s after a chunk of forest was cleared: the land sunk, and has continued to do so, evidently speeded by recent warmer temperatures melting ...
The sea levels are now reducing in the “hotspots of acceleration” of Washington and New York
Post Date: 2016-05-30 09:59:42 by Ada
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Hopefully everybody remember Sallenger’s “hot spots” of sea level acceleration along the East Coast of the US. Asbury H. Sallenger Jr, Kara S. Doran & Peter A. Howd, Hotspot of accelerated sea-level rise on the Atlantic coast of North America, Nature Climate Change 2, 884–888 (2012), doi:10.1038/nclimate1597 This was one of the many examples of bad science misinterpreting the sea level oscillations by cherry picking the time window. As 6 more years of data have been collected, let see if the hotspots are now the “hottest on record” or if they have cooled down. The logic of Sallenger & co. was based on the comparison of the rate of rise of sea levels ...
Study shows how different brain cells process positive, negative experiences
Post Date: 2016-05-29 04:35:45 by Tatarewicz
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SAN FRANCISCO, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Researchers at Stanford University have combined two research techniques to show how prefrontal brain cells, built specifically to process positive and negative experiences, are distinctly and fundamentally different. The researchers, led by Karl Deisseroth, a professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, reported their findings in a paper published online in Cell. The prefrontal cortex, which plays a mysterious yet central role in the mammalian brain, has been linked to mood regulation, and different cells in the prefrontal cortex seem to respond to positive and negative experiences. How it governs these opposing processes of ...
Enormous Elevated Bus Unveiled in China
Post Date: 2016-05-29 04:20:04 by Tatarewicz
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C2C... Engineers in China have designed a novel new transportation method in the form of an enormous elevated bus which may make traffic jams a thing of the past. The innovative vehicle, dubbed the 'Transit Elevated Bus,' would cruise along Chinese highways passing over cars and trucks that are driving below it. Propelled via rails embedded in the road, the giant bus is designed to seat an incredible 1,200 passengers in its three massive carriages. The engineer tasked with implementing the project contends that construction of the bus should cost a fraction of what it would take to build a new subway and accrue considerably less maintenance costs as well. And, despite its ...
A LEADING astronomer has discovered our universe may not be the only one and that there might be a parallel or alternate universe.
Post Date: 2016-05-29 02:18:04 by Tatarewicz
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Parallel universe BREAKTHROUGH: Expert discovers we could be part of alternate reality Ranga-Ram Chary was recently mapping the Cosmic Microwave Background – the light which was left from the Big Bang – when he noticed a “mysterious glow”. Chary says that typically when scanning the Cosmic Microwave Background, you would find nothing but noise, but he added in his research paper that the bright spots were 4,500 times brighter than they should be. He wrote in the study, Spectral Variations of the Sky: Constraints on Alternate Universes, that there is a 30 per cent chance that the glow is nothing out of the ordinary, but claimed that there is a chance it is being caused ...
Is the Sun DISINTEGRATING? NASA spots monster hole open up on our star
Post Date: 2016-05-28 08:45:36 by Ada
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NASA has revealed that a massive hole, measuring more than ten per cent of the Sun's surface area, has opened up on our star. The enormous hole takes up much of the top half of the star The remarkable footage was captured by the US space agency's Solar Dynamics Observatory between May 17 and 19. The video shows a giant dark area on the star's upper half, known as a coronal hole. A NASA spokesman said: "Coronal holes are low-density regions of the sun’s atmosphere, known as the corona. It's massive: The footage was recorded between May 17 and 19 Our Sun ROBBED Mars of its ATMOSPHERE and it 'COULD happen to... "Because they contain little solar ...
Chang'e 5 lunar probe to land on moon and return in 2017
Post Date: 2016-05-27 03:50:00 by Tatarewicz
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BEIJING, May 26 (Xinhua) -- China will send lunar probe Chang'e 5 to land on the moon and return with lunar samples in the second half of 2017, according to State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) on Friday. It will be the first time a Chinese probe to land on the moon, collect samples and return to Earth, and the third stage of China's lunar exploration endeavor, said the SASTIND. The first stage of lunar expedition was achieved by sending Chang'e 1, a circumlunar satellite, in 2007. China landed its first lunar probe Chang'e 3 on the surface of the moon in 2013. China is also planning to be the first country to land on ...
Stoned sheep high on CANNABIS go on ‘psychotic rampage
Post Date: 2016-05-27 03:28:12 by NeoconsNailed
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Sheep on drugs have gone on a “psychotic rampage” after eating cannabis plants dumped in a quiet village, it is feared. The remains of an illegal cannabis factory was fly-tipped on a Welsh village road – and worried locals think the sheep have been chowing down on the psychotropic herbs. County councillor Ioan Richard said sheep have been “roaming the village” and causing havoc by breaking into homes and getting killed by cars as they stumble about in what appears to be a druggy haze. Mr Richard said: “There is already a flock of sheep roaming the village causing a nuisance.......... Click for Full Text!Poster Comment:"Fly-tipped"? Is that where ...
This Dutch town will grow its own food, live off-grid, and handle its own waste
Post Date: 2016-05-26 03:01:39 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceAlert: It's no secret that today's aggressive agricultural techniques can take a heavy toll on the environment, both on the land used for crops and livestock, and in the surrounding atmosphere. But a new vision of a more sustainable 'integrated neighbourhood' community is being implemented in the Netherlands, with the first of a series of high-tech farm villages set to be completed next year. The project, being built just outside of Amsterdam, is the brainchild of California-based developer ReGen Villages, and after its pilot community is finished in 2017, the company plans to bring the concept to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Germany. Of course, communal farms ...
Russia Will Not Send U.S. Astronauts to ISS After 2018
Post Date: 2016-05-25 22:55:35 by Tatarewicz
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PravdaMainForum... NASA has few other options for sending people to the space station. Russia will not conduct any more space launches to send U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station after 2018, according to a release issued by the country’s TASS news agency. “We are working with our partners under the effective contracts, but we have no plans for concluding new ones,” Sergey Saveliev, the deputy chief of Russia’s state-run space agency Roscosmos, told TASS. Without question, Russian-American relations are at an all time low since the end of the Cold War. One of the brighter points to this conflict has been the fact that NASA and Roscomos have continued to ...
Otto Wants Big Rigs to Drive Themselves 'Exit to Exit' - And Has a Plan to Make it Happen Fast
Post Date: 2016-05-23 01:23:14 by Tatarewicz
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LatinPost... What do you get when a couple dozen former Google, Apple, and Tesla employees get together? A startup called Otto -- quite possibly the most disruptive tech since the Internet. Until this week, when Backchannel published the first report about the company, Otto was a so-called "stealth startup." Led by 15 former Google engineers, including some behind Google's self-driving car and maps projects, the startup's approximately 40 employees have been working in secrecy on a different (and bigger) kind of self-driving technology. On late Monday night, Otto unveiled itself and its mission: To replace the country's fleet of (human-piloted) big rigs with the ...
World’s Largest Solar Plant Just Torched Itself
Post Date: 2016-05-22 02:15:37 by Tatarewicz
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Gizmodo... Misaligned mirrors are being blamed for a fire that broke out yesterday at the world’s largest solar power plant, leaving the high-tech facility crippled for the time being. It sounds like the plant’s workers suffered through a real hellscape, too. Damaged steam ducts and water pipes. (Image: San Bernardino County Fire Department via AP) A small fire was reported yesterday morning at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) in California, forcing a temporary shutdown of the facility. It’s now running at a third of its capacity (a second tower is down due to scheduled maintenance), and it’s not immediately clear when the damaged tower will restart. ...
The Problem With Smart Policing
Post Date: 2016-05-21 08:29:18 by Ada
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Cops nationwide secretly exploit intrusive technologies. Can’t you see the writing on the touchscreen? A techno-utopia is upon us. We’ve gone from smartphones at the turn of the twenty-first century to smart fridges and smart cars. The revolutionary changes to our everyday life will no doubt keep barreling along. By 2018, so predicts Gartner, an information technology research and advisory company, more than three million employees will work for “robo-bosses” and soon enough we—or at least the wealthiest among us—will be shopping in fully automated supermarkets and sleeping in robotic hotels. With all this techno-triumphalism permeating our digitally ...
22 Old Weather Proverbs That Are Actually True
Post Date: 2016-05-20 08:47:53 by Ada
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When you really think about it, the weather impacts our decisions every single day. What we wear, when we leave for our morning commute, the chores we do, the hobbies we partake in, the family activities we plan. And on and on the list goes of how our lives are influenced by the winds and skies. Today, we have meteorologists and entire government agencies dedicated to predicting the weather with high-tech computers and algorithms, but a hundred and two-hundred years ago (and more!), folks had to rely mostly on observation and rudimentary tools to predict the weather of the coming days. To help with this task of predicting the weather, farmers, sailors, and amateur meteorologists of all ...
Ex-Google Engineers Launch "Otto": Completely Driverless Truck Testing Underway
Post Date: 2016-05-18 11:08:42 by Horse
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Movement in the autonomous vehicle space accelerated once again. Four ex-Google engineers, including the man who built Google’s first self-driving car, announced “Otto”, an autonomous truck retrofitting business. The service isn’t vaporware. “Otto” is currently operating on Nevada highways. BackChannel reports The Man Who Built Google’s First Self-Driving Car Is Now a Trucker. Founded by four ex-Google engineers?—?including Anthony Levandowski, the man who built Google’s very first self-driving car?—?Otto is applying Google’s all-or- nothing approach to commercial big rigs: ditch human drivers, avoid thousands of road deaths, help ...
These new earbuds can translate languages for you in real-time
Post Date: 2016-05-18 06:41:47 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceAlert... As anybody who's ever tried to get by in a foreign country without much grasp of the local language can tell you, oversized hand gestures and speaking English loudly and slowly will only get you so far. But a nifty new wearable technology could soon make conversing with people from other cultures a much easier affair, with New York City-based startup Waverly Labs about to release what they're claiming is the world's first 'smart' earpiece that translates between users speaking different languages. Dubbed the Pilot, the earpiece is shaped much like a regular earbud, but comes without any wires or cables. It sits in your ear, and even without an internet ...
Futuristic device is helping scientists break solar-efficiency record
Post Date: 2016-05-18 06:32:51 by Tatarewicz
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Yahoo... Looking a little like the world-saving stones from sci-fi classic The Fifth Element, a new device is expected to have a big impact on renewable energy. Built by Mark Keevers and Martin Green from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the unique prism could help make solar panels cheaper and more efficient. In fact, it's already broken a world record for the amount of solar energy it can create from unfocused sunlight. The prism has a sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiency rate of 34.5 percent, Keevers told Mashable Australia. That's about a 44 percent improvement in efficiency on the previous record, he said, which sat at 24 percent efficiency but over 800 ...
NYT account of: Creating synthetic humans
Post Date: 2016-05-17 08:23:49 by Tatarewicz
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C2C... The idea of creating a human out of chemicals in a lab may sound unsettling, but what may be more worrisome is that experts recently held a secret meeting to discuss the possibility. Around 150 medical researchers convened at Harvard Medical School to contemplate the concept of building a human genome with chemicals and ultimately bringing that 'person' to life. Indicative of how controversial the proposal might be, attendees at the conference were forbidden to talk to the media or tweet about the event. The researchers spearheading the discussion likened the idea to the Human Genome Project only with the goal being to create a human genome rather than deciphering it. ...
"Change the Textbooks: This eukaryote completely lacks mitochondria."
Post Date: 2016-05-15 05:18:21 by Tatarewicz
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ScienceDaily... Mitochondria are membrane-bound components within cells that are often described as the cells' powerhouses. They've long been considered as essential components for life in eukaryotes, the group including plants, fungi, animals, and unicellular protists, if for no other reason than that every known eukaryote had them. But researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on May 12, 2016 now challenge this notion. They've discovered a eukaryote that contains absolutely no trace of mitochondria at all. "In low-oxygen environments, eukaryotes often possess a reduced form of the mitochondrion, but it was believed that some of the mitochondrial ...
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