Monday, May 19, 2008
Nintendo's Wii Fit gets official, set to launch in just two days
California moves to regulate carbon offsets
On the Northern California coast, Van Eck Forest is where celebs and politicians like Arnold Schwartzenegger purchase their carbon offsets. But pretty soon, the 2200 acre forest will be open to normal people like you and me.
That's because it's been found that older trees capture and store carbon more quickly than younger trees. So the trees in Van Eck will be allowed to grow larger than those in conventionally-managed forests, so they can can capture more carbon and be sold as carbon offsets. This is a big deal, considering the depletion of forests is the second largest cause of CO2 emissions.
The only issue? The business of carbon credits is an unregulated one (which is why offset websites will often give you two different prices for your carbon-producing habits), so there's no way to guarantee what you're actually buying.
Well, until now. The Van Eck Forest is one of only two forests that is certified by the Registry of Forest Standards, which is setting up strict regulations to manage carbon credits and make sure that the businesses involved are of high quality. Hopefully the standards process will be the norm in the near future.
Pet shampoo insecticides linked to autism
Another study suggests that exposure to organophosphate insecticides doubles the risk of developmental disorders, including autism. Organophosphates have also been previously linked to Gulf War Syndrome.
The author of the study, Irva Hertz-Picciotto, cautions that pyrethrins were not likely to be the only cause of autism, which is generally recognized as being caused by both genetic and environmental factors.
Solitaire Costs Man His City Job After Bloomberg Sees Computer
Playing computer solitaire on the job has become one of the more common, if stealthy, ways of passing time in the modern-day office. But people who work for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg may want to think twice before playing the game.
Read More
Read More
World species dying out like flies, says WWF
World biodiversity is on the decline and fast, declining by almost one-third in the past 35 years due to habitat loss and the wildlife trade, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The WWF also cautioned that climate change could contribute to this loss further over the coming decades.WWF's Living Planet Index tracks 4,000 species of birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and amphibians globally. According to the Reuters article covering the report, some scientists see this loss as the start of the sixth great species wipe out in the Earth's history, the last being when dinosaurs disappeared 130 million years ago.
What does this mean for humans? Scientists say that most of the world's medicines originally come from nature. Reduced biodiversity also puts people at risks of dwindling food supplies, as pests and disease take over due to the disruption.
Yes, Virginia, we are responsible for climate change
For what its scientists say is the first time ever, a study has directly linked climate change's effects to human behavior (the closest another study has come is in a 2007 UN report, which stated that human-induced warming was "likely" to have an effect on Earth's systems.The researchers analyzed published data on 829 physical systems like melting glaciers and warming bodies of water, as well as 28,800 living plant and animal systems within the past few decades. And in 95% of the physical systems and 90 percent of the plant and animal systems, the changes were consistent with the predicted effects of a warming climate. One scientist called it "highly unlikely" that the changes were due to anything other than human effects.
And others are worried about the amount of change that has occurred with just a one degree increase in temperature: cannibalistic polar bears, melting glaciers, and earlier-blooming plants, to name a few.
What say you now, naysayers?
Japan "Running Out of Engineers"
Posted by timothy on Monday May 19, @05:11AM
from the plenty-of-natto-to-trade-to-feed-new-ones dept.
from the plenty-of-natto-to-trade-to-feed-new-ones dept.
bfwebster writes "A story in the New York Times reports that Japan, a country that rebuilt itself as a technological power after World War II, now faces an increasing shortage of college graduates with degrees in science and engineering. Says the article: 'By one ministry of internal affairs estimate, the digital technology industry here is already short almost half a million engineers.' The article goes on to point out that the overall trend of waning interest in science and technology has been going on for 'almost two decades' and that the shortage is made worse by the traditional reluctance of Japanese companies to hire and use foreign workers. The US has had a similar trend for quite some time: 'Undergraduate engineering enrollment declined through most of the 1980s and 1990s, rose from 2000 through 2003, and declined slightly in recent years.'"
Perfect, Tiny Golden Nano-crown Made
ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — Chinese researchers have recently made a “golden crown” with a diameter of only a few nanometers. It is a large ring-shaped molecule containing 36 gold atoms. The lords of the ring, a team of researchers from the Universities of Beijing, Hong Kong, and Nanjing report their unusual compound in the journal Angewandte Chemie: the molecular ring structure is held together exclusively by gold–gold bonds and is thus the largest ring system made of gold atoms produced to date.
Read More
Read More
Protein Combination Triggers 9-1-1 To Make Cells Fight Cancer-causing agents
ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — University of Saskatchewan microbiologist Wei Xiao has found a way to trigger a protein combination called 9-1-1 that sends an SOS signal for cells to fight cancer-causing agents such as industrial toxins, ultraviolet radiation, and X-rays.
Read More
Read More
Can One 'Pin Down' Electrons?
ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — When atoms form molecules, they share their outer electrons and this creates a negatively charged cloud. Here, electrons buzz around between the two positively charged nuclei, making it impossible to tell which nucleus they belong to. They are delocalized.
Read More
Read More
Fate Of Personal Care Products Linked To Environmental Pollution And Human Health Concerns
ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — Parental concerns in maintaining germ-free homes for their children have led to an ever-increasing demand and the rapid adoption of anti-bacterial soaps and cleaning agents. But the active ingredients of those antiseptic soaps now have come under scrutiny by the EPA and FDA, due to both environmental and human health concerns.
Read More
Read More
Soils Contain Huge Amounts Of Ancient Carbon: When Does This Carbon Enter The Atmosphere?
ScienceDaily (May 15, 2008) — Knowing that soils are a potential climate change time-bomb is nothing new — but now, for the first time, a group of international scientists have found a way to distinguish just how much of these ancient carbon stores are being lost to the atmosphere as CO2. This means that in the future they may be able to accurately forecast how loss of soil carbon will impact on climate change.
Read More
Read More
New Insights Into The Dynamics Of The Brain's Cortex
ScienceDaily (May 13, 2008) — Using mathematics and a computer model of brain activity, Roberto Fernández Galán, Ph.D., an assistant professor of neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, has shown a direct link between activity in the cortex and the microscopic structure of this neuronal network.
Read More
Read More
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Discovery Of Cell Linked To Learning And Memory
ScienceDaily (May 15, 2008) — Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) neuroscientists at The University of Queensland have discovered a fundamental component of the process that regulates memory formation.
Read More
Read More
Console numbers released: Xbox 360 tops 10M US sales, 9.2M PS3s sold worldwide last year
[Via Joystiq]
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Houston being overrun by electronics-killing ants
Techies Keen to Keep Jobs In the Family
Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 14, @03:40PM
from the do-you-feel-the-same-way dept.
from the do-you-feel-the-same-way dept.
Stony Stevenson writes "IT staff are 'overwhelmingly' happy to recommend their profession to their children, a survey has found. Three-quarters of nearly 1,000 IT professionals surveyed said that they would 'definitely recommend' a career in the business to their offspring. Around 70 percent also felt that their jobs are secure, and that they are expecting a salary increase next year. The survey also found that 86 per cent of respondents expect to move jobs voluntarily in the next three years."
Youngest Galactic Supernova Found, But No Aliens
Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 14, @03:01PM
from the tax-paid-striptease-from-nasa dept.
from the tax-paid-striptease-from-nasa dept.
Simon Howes writes "After searching for decades, astronomers have found a supernova in our galaxy! So it wasn't little green men we were waiting for. It's located very near the center of the galaxy, about 28,000 light years away, and it's only at most about 140 years old. Quote from Bad Astronomy: 'If you're wondering what all the buzz has been about the past few days over a NASA discovery, then wait no longer. No, it's not aliens or an incoming asteroid. Instead, it's still very cool: astronomers have found the youngest supernova in the Milky Way.'" FiReaNGeL contributes a link to coverage on e! Science News; I think Wired's account of the super-hyped tele-press-conference is the funniest.
Female Sex Offenders Often Have Mental Problems
ScienceDaily (May 15, 2008) — Women who commit sexual offences are just as likely to have mental problems or drug addictions as other violent female criminals. This according to the largest study ever conducted of women convicted of sexual offences in Sweden.
Read More
Read More
New Cars Are Gathering Information On You That Might Interest Insurance Companies, Advertisers, Government
ScienceDaily (May 15, 2008) — Years ago, Stanford communication and sociology researcher Clifford Nass wondered why some people treated their computers as humans, instead of machines, a question that led him down a path of interesting research. Now he wonders about drivers willing to have personal conversations with the artificial voice in their cars—and what will become of the secrets the humans share with their four-wheeled friends.
Read More
Read More
Adding Ultrasound Screening To Mammography Brings Benefits, Risks
ScienceDaily (May 15, 2008) — Adding a screening ultrasound examination to routine mammography reveals more breast cancers than mammography alone, according to results of a major new clinical trial. The trial, however, also found that adding an ultrasound exam also increases the rate of false positive findings and unnecessary biopsies.
Read More
Read More
When It Comes To Living Longer, It's Better To Go Hungry Than Go Running, Mouse Study Suggests
ScienceDaily (May 15, 2008) — A study investigating aging in mice has found that hormonal changes that occur when mice eat significantly less may help explain an already established phenomenon: a low calorie diet can extend the lifespan of rodents, a benefit that even regular exercise does not achieve.
Read More
Read More
Nissan will sell an electric car in 2010, too
With GM, Toyota, RTEV all promising to have a mass-produced electric cars on the market, 2010 was already shaping up to be the year of the electric car. Now, Nissan is throwing its hat in the ring, not only promising an electric car in the US market in 2010, but 60 electric models worldwide by 2012. Those are pretty ambitious plans for a company that has very little street cred when it comes to alternative fuel vehicles.I guess high oil prices and rising demand for green rides have caused Nissan to change their tune when it comes to alternative fuel vehicles. Back in 2005, CEO Chris Ghosn was slamming the hybrid as a "niche product" that's only useful in places with strict mileage standards like California. Now, the same guy is saying that Nissan will produce electric light-duty commercial vehicles and crossovers in the not too distant future.
Is this what automakers have been waiting for all this time? Battery technology that's strong enough to power SUVs? It may sound crazy, but they've either all been on an eerily similar production time line, or they've been sitting around waiting for some kind of breakthrough that they're now seeing. All of the sudden, in 2010, there's going to be a flood of electric cars in a single year. How's that for groupthink?
Among the cars coming off the line in 2012 is the Scion-like Nissan Cube micro van that we like so much. We have to assume that the Project Better Place vehicles are included in this electric car debut as well. Who knows, maybe they'll roll out an all-electric pickup before too long. I for one think that would be cool, but I really like hauling stuff -- how not green of me.
Illinois man designs beer can coffin
 |  | |
SOUTH CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP) — Bill Bramanti's favorite beer is Pabst Blue Ribbon. He loves it.
Read More
Coffee table stores magazines, coasters, your dead body
There's no shortage of innovation when it comes to dying in an ecologically conscious way. Just looking back through our posts on eco-friendly burials, tombstones, caskets, and urns -- one might think we were totally obsessed with death. Well, maybe we are, and that makes us even more qualified to say that the Coffin Table -- designed by Pratt grad student Charles Constantine -- is probably the most morbidly kick-butt green burial contraption yet.
The non-toxic, untreated pine box is called "Momento," and what makes it so cool is that it's designed for use in life as well as death. Why not combine the furniture on both sides of your mortal existence into one? It's the 3 R's in action. Conventional caskets are generally made of old-growth hardwoods and covered in toxic sealants. What a waste. Charles's coffin/table has an open bottom for quicker decomposition -- now that's efficiency.
[via Inhabitat]
The non-toxic, untreated pine box is called "Momento," and what makes it so cool is that it's designed for use in life as well as death. Why not combine the furniture on both sides of your mortal existence into one? It's the 3 R's in action. Conventional caskets are generally made of old-growth hardwoods and covered in toxic sealants. What a waste. Charles's coffin/table has an open bottom for quicker decomposition -- now that's efficiency.
[via Inhabitat]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)