The electric Mini-E is finally on its way

by RIGEL CELESTE
Oct 21st 2008 @ 12:02PM

Filed under: Cars and Transportation

The new all-electric Mini E by BMW is finally on its way, and it sure is a cutie! I've always liked Minis but now that this one takes gas prices out of the equation I think I'm officially in love. Besides its exterior design and snazzy paint job (notice the "gas cap"), the car has a lithium ion battery snuggled under the hood that takes only 2 1/2 hours to charge and provides plenty of get-up-and-go (204hp) that lasts for up to 150 miles before you need to plug in and recharge. 

The only downside seems to be that there will be only 500 Mini Es available in California, New York, and New Jersey so if you want one you'll have to act fast and fill out one of the applications that will be available in about 3 weeks (mid-November).

[via acquire]

Gallery: The BMW Mini E

NOKIA SURVEY FINDS THAT MANY AMERICANS WORK ON THE CAN, THE DEFINITION OF COMMON KNOWLEDGE

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 21st 2008 at 3:33PM

We already know that a solid chunk of Britons use mobile internet while in the throes of passion, and now Captain Obvious (today known as Nokia) has awkwardly landed to tell the world that Americans do too. A recent survey, which we can only imagine was absolutely thrilling to conduct, found that some 53% of working Americans "have been interrupted by a work-related phone call or e-mail while in the bathroom." Furthermore, some 23% have allowed a call / e-mail to interrupt them while on a date, but that's probably because 59% of those polled never, ever turn off their mobile. Just think -- the next time your buddy answers with a hint of stress in his / her voice, there's a statistically significant chance that you're barging in on some seriously personal business. 

[Image courtesy of fletchy182]

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Wikipedia's New Definition of Truth

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 21, @01:43PM

from the beware-the-man-with-the-lantern dept.

Hugh Pickens writes"Simson Garfinkel has an interesting essay on MIT Technology Review in which he examines the way that Wikipedia has redefined the commonly accepted use of the word 'truth.' While many academic experts have argued that Wikipedia's articles can't be trusted because they are written and edited by volunteers who have never been vetted, studies have found that the articles are remarkably accurate. 'But wikitruth isn't based on principles such as consistency or observability. It's not even based on common sense or firsthand experience,' says Garfinkel. What makes a fact or statement fit for inclusion is verifiability — that it appeared in some other publication, but there is a problem with appealing to the authority of other people's written words: many publications don't do any fact checking at all, and many of those that do simply call up the subject of the article and ask if the writer got the facts wrong or right. Wikipedia's policy of 'No Original Research' also leads to situations like Jaron Lanier's frustrated attempts to correct his own Wikipedia entry based on firsthand knowledge of his own career. So what is Wikipedia's truth? 'Since Wikipedia is the most widely read online reference on the planet, it's the standard of truth that most people are implicitly using when they type a search term into Google or Yahoo. On Wikipedia, truth is received truth: the consensus view of a subject.'"

$3 gas back: Does anyone care?

by PATRICIA MAYVILLE-COX
Oct 21st 2008 @ 1:02PM

Filed under: Cars and Transportation

Three-dollar gas is back, but you wouldn't know it from the news, particularly when compared to all of the attention that $4 gas got a while back in the summer. Why? Well, the financial panic of course.

According to an article by Mark Williams, even with the large drop in the price of oil and drop in the price of gas along with, with stock prices collapsing, credit markets freezing and jobs losses increasing, the drop in gas prices isn't the focus right now. Gas prices are expected to drop even further according to experts cited, even going as low as $2.50 per gallon.

Kit Yarrow, a consumer psychologist, doesn't expect people to change their driving habits as a result, due to being wary the prices could go right back up. And of course, economic pain on other fronts makes lower gas prices a small consolation.

Have you noticed lower gas prices where you are? Do you think it will change your driving habits?

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Solar power could be the cheaper power by 2016

by EUGENE SANDHU
Oct 20th 2008 @ 5:00PM

Good news for solar power enthusiasts - in only eight years,solar power could become cheaperthan the dirtier power-producing sources we use today.

And eight years should work well. American government tax breaks for the solar industry are set to expire in 2016, which is eight years from now.

While the idea of solar power has been getting me all nerd-ed out since my first solar-powered calculator, the reality is that it produces a measly 1% of energy for the United States. In order for it to stay competitive with more polluting coal or natural gas, the industry has relied on government subsidies.

If solar power gets cheaper than regular power, those subsidies would not be necessary. Turns out we can partly thank India and China for this. Power demands from Asia will continue to grow, even if the global economy continues its slump. This will keep coal and gas prices high (coal prices, alone, rose by 163% in 2008) and make solar power more attractive.

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Microsoft, Google Battle Over Energy Efficiency

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday October 21, @05:45AM

from the anything-you-can-light-i-can-light-cheaper dept.

1sockchuck writes"Microsoft and Google have opened a new front in their battle for global domination: data center energy efficiency. Just weeks after Google published data on the extreme efficiency of its previously secret data centers, Microsoft says it has achieved similar results with shipping containers (despite Google's patent) packed with up to 2,500 servers. The geeky benchmark for the battle is Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE), a green data-center metric advanced by The Green Grid. Microsoft says its containers tested at a PUE of 1.22, while Google reported an average PUE of 1.21 for its data centers, which apparently are also now using containers."

Do Cell Phones Increase Brain Cancer Risk?

ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2008) — Major research initiatives are needed immediately to assess the possibility that using cellular phones may lead to an increased risk of brain tumors, according to an editorial in the November issue of the journal Surgical Neurology.

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The GOP Rap

A "natural" prescription for ADHD

by PATRICIA MAYVILLE-COX
Oct 21st 2008 @ 9:06AM

Filed under: Health

Nature-deficit disorder, as coined in Richard Louv's book, Last Child in the Woods, is when children lose their connection to the natural world due to lack of free, outdoor time. According to the famous biologist, E.O. Wilson, it's the soccer moms that are killing off bio-education, by taking their kids to all sorts of organized activities, whether indoor or out, and not giving them enough time to be out in nature.

A new study shows that not only can being outdoors prevent "nature-deficit disorder," but it also may help in the treatment of another disorder, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The study evaluated 17 children with ADHD after taking part in three walks; one in a park, one in a residential neighborhood and one in a downtown area. The children were then given a test which measures attention and concentration. The study found that the children were able to focus better after the walk in the park as opposed to walks in the other settings. 

According to author Frances E. Kuo, of the University of Illinois, as quoted in a NY Times Well blog post, "What this study tells us is that physical environment matters." In fact, the researchers found that a "dose of nature" worked just as well or better as a dose of medication.

With the weather getting colder in many parts, remember to keep trying to go outside, no matter what your age!

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What if commercials were like this

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See What I See: Machines With Mental Muscle

ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2008) — The way we use and interact with machines is undergoing a profound change as computers are programmed to learn from experience and see more how we see. European research into machine learning is pushing back the boundaries of computer capabilities.

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New Natural Products Act Against Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria

ScienceDaily (Oct. 17, 2008) — A group of antibiotic natural products discovered at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig points to a new mode of action against pathogenic bacteria. Isolated from myxobacteria, the substances prevent an enzyme of the pathogens from being able to translate their genetic material. In this way, the propagation of bacteria – such as tuberculosis pathogens – is inhibited.

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Real Pilots And 'Virtual Flyers' Go Head-to-head

ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2008) — Stunt pilots have raced against computer-generated opponents for the first time — in a contest that combines the real and the ‘virtual’ at 250 miles per hour.

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Sea Urchins' Genetics Add To Knowledge Of Cancer, Alzheimer's And Infertility

March 1, 2007 — Researchers are using the sea urchins to study and understand diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and muscular dystrophy. Although they are invertebrates, the creatures share a common ancestor with humans and have more than 7,000 of the same genes. With a complete map of their DNA, scientists can lear

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First Tunable, 'Noiseless' Amplifier May Boost Quantum Computing, Communications

ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2008) — Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder, have made the first tunable “noiseless” amplifier. By significantly reducing the uncertainty in delicate measurements of microwave signals, the new amplifier could boost the speed and precision of quantum computing and communications systems.

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Alternative Energy: New Sugarcanes To Deliver One-Two Energy Punch

ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2008) — New varieties of sugarcane and other crops adapted to the U.S. Gulf Coast region are being developed for use in making ethanol as a cleaner-burning alternative to gasoline.

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DARPA Contract Hints At Real-Time Video Spying

Posted by kdawson on Monday October 20, @08:03AM

from the i-know-what-you-did-last-minute dept.

The Washington Post has a story picking apart a DARPA contract document to assert that advanced video spying from the sky is on the way. The contract in question was awarded last month and involves indexing video feeds and matching feeds against stored footage. The example given is for an analyst to ask for an alert whenever any real-time Predator feed from Iraq shows a vehicle making a U-turn."Last month, Kitware, a small software company with offices in New York and North Carolina, teamed up with 19 other companies and universities and won the $6.7 million first phase of the DARPA contract, which is not expected to be completed before 2011. During the Cold War, satellites and aircraft took still pictures that intelligence analysts reviewed one frame at a time to identify the locations of missile silos, airplane hangars, submarine pens and factories, said... an expert in space and intelligence matters. 'Now with new full-motion video intelligence techniques, we are looking at people and their behavior in public,' he said. The resolution capability of the video systems ranges from four inches to a foot, depending on the collector and environmental conditions at the time, according to the DARPA paper."

KOREAN TECH MAKES HYDROGEN UP TO 30 TIMES CHEAPER TO PRODUCE -- CLEAN ENERGY SOLVED?

by Thomas Ricker, posted Oct 20th 2008 at 5:55AM

With oil prices in free-fall and the world's economies in the toilet, short-sighted governments and C02-denying GM execs will undoubtedly defer priority given to clean energies in the next round of fiscal budgets. Too bad, because Korea's S&P Energy Research Institute has just issued a press release about a new discovery it claims puts the era of clean energy within reach. Dr. Sen Kim claims to have achieved the separation of Hydrogen using just 0.1kwh of energy compared to the traditional 4 - 4.5kwh required using the ol' electrolytic method. Dr. Kim postulates that "manufacturing the H2 by our method will lower the cost of H2 as much as 20 - 30 times" compared to electrolytic H2. That makes SPERI's method suitable for H2 fuel production from say, an in-home hydrogen fueling station. So is this the solution to all of our clean energy concerns? Perhaps, but we've heard these economical hydrogen-generation claims before. Let's wait for the claim to be more thoroughly vetted by bigger brains than our own before getting too hopeful.

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Number of ET Civilizations In Our Galaxy Is 37,964

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday October 20, @08:48AM

from the give-or-take-infinity dept.

KentuckyFC writes"The famous Drake equation calculates the number of advanced civilizations in our galaxy right now. But the result is hugely sensitive to the assumptions you make about factors such as the number of habitable planets that orbit a host star, how many of these actually develop life and what fraction of these go onto become intelligent etc. Disagreements about these figures leads to estimates for the number of advanced civilizations ranging from 10^-5 to 10^6. Now an astronomer in Scotland has worked out how to make the calculations more precise so that different theories about the origin of planets, life and civilizationscan be compared. His calculations say that the rare-life hypothesis predicts only 361 advanced civilizations in the Milky Way now. However, the so-called tortoise and hare hypothesis predicts 31,573 and the theory of panspermia says that there ought to be 37,964 extraterrestrial civilizations more advanced than our own in the Milky Way."

KEVLAR HANDKERCHIEF KEEPS YOUR NOSE CLEAN, PROTECTS AGAINST FRIENDLY FIRE

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 10th 2008 at 5:45AM

We find it hard to believe that we won't see one of these being used somewhere in the upcoming 007 film, but even if not, you can definitely put one to use in your everyday life -- if you can get ahold of one of the ten being made, that is. Srulirecht's DÆmdur is a Kevlar-based handkerchief which can keep your schnoz squeaky clean and (in theory, at least) keep your chest free from bullets. Granted, even the manufacturer makes clear that it takes no responsibility for "schmucks and wooden-heads who feel compelled to test the endurance or resistance of the textile in any way," but it sure beats those cotton ones you buy ten to a pack.

[Via OhGizmo]

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Promising New Material Could Improve Gas Mileage

ScienceDaily (Oct. 10, 2008) — With gasoline at high prices, it's disheartening to know that up to three-quarters of the potential energy you are paying for is wasted. A good deal of it goes right out the tailpipe instead of powering your car.

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Species Extinction By Asteroid A Rarity

ScienceDaily (Oct. 10, 2008) — In geology as in cancer research, the silver bullet theory always gets the headlines and nearly always turns out to be wrong. For geologists who study mass extinctions, the silver bullet is a giant asteroid plunging to earth.

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Journey Toward The Center Of The Earth: One-of-a-kind Microorganism Lives All Alone

ScienceDaily (Oct. 10, 2008) — The first ecosystem ever found having only a single biological species has been discovered 2.8 kilometers (1.74 miles) beneath the surface of the earth in the Mponeng gold mine near Johannesburg, South Africa. There the rod-shaped bacterium Desulforudis audaxviator exists in complete isolation, total darkness, a lack of oxygen, and 60-degree-Celsius heat (140 degrees Fahrenheit).

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Polluting metals could be replaced by mushroom enzymes for future fuel cells

by EUGENE SANDHU
Oct 9th 2008 @ 4:00PM

Filed under: News

Not only can mushrooms make art galleries and Laser Floyd a lot more fun, a certain enzyme that comes from a fungi found on rotting wood could be used in fuel cells and batteries.

Fuel cells produce electricity through a chemical reaction that currently requires a metal to act as a catalyst and speed up the process. Problem is, these metals are hard to get, polluting to extract and, most importantly, quickly running out. TheBritish Geological Survey has said that zinc, which is a necessary ingredient for a lot of batteries, could run out by 2037.

The enzyme, called laccase, has been as effective as platinum in doing the whole catalyst thing. The benefits of switching from metals to something we can grow is obvious, especially because western countries currently use about 3 billion batteries a year - a number that will only continue to grow.

Before you get excited about mushroom-powered iPods, there's still a lot of work to be done. The UK Energy Research Centre has said that a commercially viable use of this technology won't be seen until around 2030.

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Bike sales boom as car makers scrape by

by JOSH LOPOSER
Oct 9th 2008 @ 3:23PM

Filed under: Cars and Transportation, Health, Fitness

Supply shortages, prepaid waiting lists, skyrocketing demand... I'm not talking about high oil and gas prices here, I'm talking about the booming bike economy. As people flock to the utility and affordability of the bike, manufactures like Giant are facing major challenges when it comes to feeding the world's appetite for bikes -- selling a record 460,000 units last month. Could it be that fuel prices, eco-awareness, and the need to fight obesity are creating a perfect storm for a two-wheeled domination? From the article:

"After a slow 2006, sales took off last year in Europe and America as fuel prices shot up. Suddenly a bicycle seems like the remedy for many modern ills, from petrol prices to pollution and obesity."

Not to kick automakers while they're down, but it seems that bike sales and car sales have an inverse relationship -- and we're kinda partial to bikes. As car sales nosedive slump, Giant -- the world's largest bicycle manufacturer -- has actually been experiencing bike shortages in New York as demand suddenly started outpacing supply. The cycling giant (sorry) has seen its stock prices shoot up 5.65% so far this year. Considering the horrid state of the world economy, that's pretty remarkable. Now, about those bike lanes? 

[via Treehugger]