ScienceDaily (Jun. 2, 2008) — New research suggests that the form of tomato product one eats could be the key to unlocking its prostate cancer-fighting potential, according to a report in the June 1 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
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Monday, June 2, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
The Honda FCX Clarity: A fuel cell car for 2008
Other car manufacturers are also working on getting their fuel-cell cars up and running. DaimlerChrysler, for example, has the B-class fuel cell car, a nifty little subcompact with a range of 250 miles. It's easy to see why fuel cell-propelled automobiles are one of the major goals that manufacturers are pursuing. In addition to producing almost no noise, the exhaust from these cars consists of distilled water. If a fuel cell infrastructure can be developed, and if hydrogen can be produced in scalable quantities, then this may be the salvation of the auto industry.
In the meantime, Honda has begun producing the FCX Clarity, a fuel cell-propelled car with a range of 270 miles and a top speed of 100 mph. Beginning in the summer of 2008, Honda will be releasing the Clarity in the Torrance, Santa Monica, and Irvine areas of Southern California. They are offering a three-year lease that covers all maintenance at a cost of $600 per month. Given the current price of gasoline, that might be a great deal!
Restaurant owners have to guard their grease
A year ago, restaurants had to pay someone to haul their used fryer grease away, now the have to consider installing surveillance cameras just to keep people for stealing it.As fuel prices continue to climb, grease rustling has become big business for all sorts of yahoos with a truck and a pump. "Yellow grease," as it's called, which was thought of as trash only a couple of years ago -- is now being traded on the commodities market for $2.50 a gallon.
With the proper conversion kit, "yellow grease" can be used as an additive in fuel or even burn on its own like a low grade form of diesel -- and then your exhaust smells like fried chicken, or pizza. It used to be mainly environmentalist/cheapskates who wanted to drive away with your used grease, but with the soaring value of the stuff, petty thieves and opportunists are getting in on the action.
Now that the cat's out of the bag, grease traps are being raided all over the country -- and police are treating like any other form of theft. A man was recently busted in California stealing grease from Burger King, he had 2,500 gallons of grease in his truck. That's $6,000 worth, talk about record profits!
[via Treehugger]
Magic microchip = super-eco contraception
If you've ever worried about the environmental impact of all those discarded latex condoms, this might be the super-futuristic invention for you! Australian scientists have apparently figured out how to insert a microchip in the vas deferens (that's the part of the male equipment that delivers semen - it's also the tube that gets snipped when a guy gets a vasectomy).When the man is about to have sex, and doesn't want procreation to result, he can press "pause" on a device that sends RF waves to his intimate microchip. The chip translates the waves into acoustic waves, which then cause the chip to expand, blocking sperm from passing through the vas deferens. When the man wants to switch back to having possibly reproductive sex, no return visit to the doc is necessary - he just presses the reverse function button, and the chip contracts, allowing sperm to pass.
I'm not sure if I quite trust this technology yet, but I sure hope they perfect it soon.
Via Ecogeek
Judge Refuses To Sign RIAA 'Ex Parte' Order
Posted by Soulskill on Thursday May 29, @09:59PM
from the wearing-out-their-legal-welcome dept.
from the wearing-out-their-legal-welcome dept.
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "The RIAA just can't get enough of going after University of Maine students, but it appears that the judges in Portland, Maine, may be getting wise to the industry's lawyers' antics. RIAA counsel submitted yet another ex parte discovery order to the Court ('ex parte' meaning 'without notice'), in BMG v. Does 1-11, but this time the judge refused to sign, pointing out that there is no emergency since there is no evidence that records are about to be destroyed [PDF]. This is the same judge who has previously suggested the imposition of Rule 11 sanctions against the RIAA lawyers, accusing them of gamesmanship."
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Norway's a big Nordic battery
Norway's wind resources might be the best hope for the EU to reach its goal of getting 20% of its total power from renewable sources by 2020 -- no small task. The latest studies of winds in the North Sea estimate that, with the right investments, Norway could become "Europe's Battery." At least, that the term that Norway's energy minister Aaslaug Haga is throwing around to market his country's energy potential to the EU.Reports estimate that Norway's offshore wind farms will be able to produce as much power as 8 nuclear plants by 2020 with about $40B worth of investments. That would offset nearly half of the country's total emissions in 2007. That's not taking into account advances in turbine technology, like Statoil-Hydro's new floating turbines. The humongous floating turbines are expected to produce twice the energy of a landlocked turbine. Still, there will be calm days in the North Sea, hopefully they've got a sufficient plan for backup power.
Carbon Nanoribbons Could Make Smaller, Speedier Computer Chips
ScienceDaily (May 29, 2008) — Stanford chemists have developed a new way to make transistors out of carbon nanoribbons. The devices could someday be integrated into high-performance computer chips to increase their speed and generate less heat, which can damage today's silicon-based chips when transistors are packed together tightly.
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Brain Interface Lets Monkeys Control Prosthetic Limbs
Posted by timothy on Thursday May 29, @09:21AM
from the what-did-you-do-at-the-lab-today-bonzo dept.
from the what-did-you-do-at-the-lab-today-bonzo dept.
himicos was one of many readers to point out one recent success of scientists working to develop working brain-machine interfaces, writing "A team at the university of Pittsburgh has finally advanced a 2002 technology enough for use in prosthetic limbs, the targeted application all along. Training computer models to the firing patterns of the neurons in the parts of the brain that control motion, they are able to project the intentions of a monkey to a robotic arm, which follows the will of the animal. The sad thing about the articles is that the beauty of the mathematics used to create and train the models is totally ignored." Reader phpmysqldev adds a link to coverage at the BBC, and writes "This of course brings significant hope to amputees and other other people with physical disabilities." (Note that this research has been going on for quite some time.)
Group seeks to offset Earth Hour
We knew there had to be some kind of backlash to all the rah rahing and good intentions of the green movement -- well, here it comes. In order to free Americans from their so-called "carbon footprint guilt," a group called Grassfire.org has established what it calls Carbon Belch Day. On June 12th, Grassfire is asking Americans to spew as much CO2 as they can by barbecuing, driving their SUVs, etc. The date is set to coincide with the day when congress begins debating the proposed $1.2 trillion carbon tax.I can understand the desire to fight back against holier-than-thou eco-snobbery, and I can certainly understand if you think that a $1.2T tax could hurt the economy -- because that's huge. If you want to be skeptical about climate change, that's just fine and dandy.
Don't go around pretending that wasting time, energy, and money is making some kind of worthwhile statement. Lame. If you want to protest the tax, march in Washington or something -- don't pollute for the sake of polluting. With energy prices reaching almost crisis levels, most people are happy to turn off the lights or buy Energy Star products -- regardless of their belief in climate change. Serious waste of time.
Exxon admits climate change deniers wasting everybody's time
Divert attention? That's certainly true, since it's precisely the reason the groups engage in those activities in the first place. It's that diversion of attention by the climate change denial industry that allowed the Bush administration to sit on their hands for years, whining that the evidence wasn't all in and it was too early to take action. It's that diversion of attention that permits legitimate press outlets to present the cherry-picked data points and out-and-out fabrications of industry-funded "think tanks" and present them as if they represented the same weight of evidence as thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers demonstrating anthropogenic climate change.
Still, good for Exxon for finally coming to the grown-up's table, even if they're a little late to the party. Mind you, according to Greenpeace, they're still funding a couple of dozen denial organizations, although the nine they've kicked away from the trough ($2.1 million donated last year) were apparently the most egregious.
Why now? For one thing, there's been recent pressure not just from the general public but from major Exxon shareholders, including some Rockefellers, to address the issue of climate change more seriously. And no doubt the growing body of scientific evidence making the global warming case was starting to make it harder and harder to maintain a "wait-and-see" position while keeping a straight face.
Still, the ExxonMobil website remains mystically ambiguous about global warming, saying only that "Climate remains today an extraordinarily complex area of scientific study. The risks to society and ecosystems from increases in CO2 emissions could prove to be significant ..." You've still got a ways to go, Exxon.
Teen's science project could revolutionize plastic disposal
While the rest of us are floundering around, complaining about how long plastic bags sit on landfills, a 16-year old kid actually went and did something about it.For his science project (this is high school, people: a time when many of us were sitting on our rear ends smoking cigs and listening to music our parents disapproved of) Daniel Burd of Waterloo, Ontario wanted to isolate the microorganisms that can break down plastic, so he could figure out a way to speed up the process.
He tried several methods to isolate the organisms: he ground plastic bags into a powder, and mixed them with household chemicals to encourage microbe growth. He slowly increased the concentration of the microbes over three months, and then separated the powder from the caterial cultures. He then weighed the plastic - the control group was of a normal weight, but the strips in the bacteria culture weighed about 17% less.
Obviously a true environmentalist, these results weren't good enough for Burd, and after more trial and error, he eventually came up with a solution that resulted in a 43% degredation of plastic bags over six weeks.
As for large-scale production? Well, he's thought of that, too: "
I'm simply in awe of this kid. Oh, and it's not as if his competition were complete idiots, either: Eighth-grader Victoria-Marie Cusson figured out how to turn food waste into gas for cooking.
Private Donor Saves Fermilab
Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday May 28, @09:54PM
from the do-particles-fight-terror dept.
from the do-particles-fight-terror dept.
sciencehabit writes "In what has to be an embarrasment for the U.S. Department of Energy, an anonymous donor has ponied up $5 million to keep the country's only remaining particle physics laboratory operating efficiently."
Organic Free Grazing Cows Are Cream Of The Crop
ScienceDaily (May 28, 2008) — A new study by Newcastle University proves that organic farmers who let their cows graze as nature intended are producing better quality milk.
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Examining The Physics Of Carbon Nanotubes
ScienceDaily (May 29, 2008) — Carbon nanotubes, described as the reigning celebrity of the advanced materials world, are all the rage. Recently researchers at Rice University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute used them to make the “blackest black” — the darkest known material, reflecting only 0.045 percent of all light shined on it.
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Trade in the Prius, VW 1l gets 235 mpg
Not surprisingly, the car isn't exactly a family truckster - the two-seater features a two cylinder engine and a maximum speed of about 75 mph (125 km/h). It's designed of ultra-lightweight materials, and has a sleek aerodynamic look, kind of like what we always thought cars of the future were supposed to look like. The gas tank only holds 1.7 gallons, but hey, that's all you need, right?
If you're a cutting edge auto technologist, or just cheap, you'll have to wait until 2010, when the 1l will be available in limited quantities.
via [Inhabitat]
Related Link
Space station's toilet begins to fail, panic sinking in
[Image courtesy of Nohoz, thanks System48]
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Ancestry Surprises From New Genetics Analysis Method
Posted by kdawson on Wednesday May 28, @01:08AM
from the who's-your-daddy dept.
from the who's-your-daddy dept.
An anonymous reader commends a recently published study involving a new way to analyze genetic variation in human populations (full article published in PLOS Genetics): "[S]cientists from Ireland, the UK and the US analysed 2,540 genetic markers in the DNA of almost 1,000 people from around the world whose genetic material had been collected by the Human Genome Diversity Project. The results include a number of surprises... the Yakut people of northern Siberia were found to have received a significant genetic contribution from the population of the Orkney Islands, which lie off the coast of Scotland... there must have been a period of gene flow from northern Europe to east Asia. The study also shed light on the peopling of the Americas, as the results suggest that the native populations of north and south America have different origins."
Mars Probe Brings the "Weather Rock" New Respect
Posted by timothy on Tuesday May 27, @11:32AM
from the if-tail-is-wet dept.
from the if-tail-is-wet dept.
radioweather writes "What looked to casual observers like a malfunction, a dangling wire with something on the end, seen in the first photo of the meteorological mast on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, actually turned out to be the real instrument. Surprisingly, it is much like the novelty 'weather rock' seen as a novelty gag around the world. The instrument called the 'Telltale' is described as a 'passive wind indicator' and uses an extremely lightweight Kapton tube hanging in Kevlar fiber. Images taken of the instrument will show the deflection of the Telltale due to the Martian wind."
Is Apple going solar?
While Apple's image has taken some hits for not leading the way when it comes to green tech, that doesn't mean they're not concocting a plan to leapfrog the competition. We've seen plenty of accessories that use renewable energy to charge your gadgets, but rumor has it that the next generation of iPhones, iPods, and MacBooks could be equipped with their own built-in renewable energy chargers. A recent patent published by the super-savvy tech company reveals plans for a behind-the-screens solar panel.
In the future, your Mac could be quietly charging by way of a solar panel behind it's LCD screen -- extending your battery's life and reducing you computer's eco-footprint. By harnessing the ambient light that passes through the device's LCD screen, Apple is hoping to be able to go green without having to sacrifice their trademark designs. It seems like they might really be onto something here. If you think about it, LCD screens might be the best location on most devices to collect solar power -- they're just not the most obvious choice.
[via Engadget]
[via Engadget]
Biggest driving drop ever in March 2008
Yesterday, the Department of Transportation said that last month saw the biggest downward turn in driving that it had seen since it started recording these things in 1942. As compared to March 2007, Americans surveyed in March 2008 drove 4.3 percent less often (though it seems like a small percentage, that's 11 billion undriven miles).This article from CNN interviewed several citizens who regaled the reporter with tales of cookouts held in backyards in lieu of long camping trips over Memorial Day. Did you do anything different for Memorial Day this year because of expensive gas? I know everyone keeps reporting on how high gas prices are driving more people into the sweet arms of public transportation, or causing them to buy small cars instead of big ones, but where I live, in Austin, people seem to drive their big trucks just as much as ever - while complaining loudly about gas prices, to be sure!
Understanding Autumn Rain Decline In SE Australia
ScienceDaily (May 27, 2008) — Fluctuations in sea-surface temperatures to the north of Australia and changes in atmospheric circulation patterns over the sub-tropical Indian Ocean have been identified as key factors leading to declining rainfalls in southeastern Australia since 1950.
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Hydraulic transmission gives engines, wallets a break
[Thanks, Rachel]
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
Posted by kdawson on Monday May 26, @11:02PM
from the what's-on-your-ipod-eh dept.
from the what's-on-your-ipod-eh dept.
SpaceAdmiral writes "The Canadian government is secretly negotiating to join the US and the EU in an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. The agreement would give border guards the power to search iPods and cellphones for illegal downloads, as well as to force ISPs to hand over customer information without a warrant. David Fewer, staff counsel at the University of Ottawa's Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, characterizes ACTA this way: 'If Hollywood could order intellectual property laws for Christmas what would they look like? This is pretty close.'"
Audiophiles can't tell the difference between Monster Cable and coat hangers
We've always believed that the perceived quality boost that comes from using high-end cables is really just a trick of the mind (read: justifying the ridiculous cost of premium cables to yourself) -- if you've dropped enough cash, you can probably hear anything you want. Still, our belief is one thing -- cold hard proof is another, and it looks like a group of 12 self-professed "audiophiles" recently couldn't tell the difference between Monster 1000 speaker cables and plain old coat hangers. Yeah, coat hangers. The group was A-Bing different cables, and unbeknownst to them, the engineer running the test swapped out a set of cables for coat hangers with soldered-on speaker connections. Not a single one was then able to tell the difference between the Monster Cable and the hangers, and all agreed that the hangers sounded excellent. No wonder Monster has to rig HD displays. Still, we bet people still fall for the hype -- oh hey, if you're looking for the ultimate in sound, we've got half a meter of oxygen-free, triple-wrapped double-insulated Sonically Shielded AmpliSized Egyptian Llama cable here that we'll part ways with for just a couple grand.[Via BoingBoing]
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