We’re in a war over climate change - Paul B. Farrell By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch Reuters Steam rises from the stacks of the coal-fired Jim Bridger Power Plant outside Point of the Rocks, Wyoming in this file photo taken March 14, 2014. The U.S. power sector must cut carbon dioxide emissions 30 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels, according to new federal regulations. SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. In the past decade America spent over $7 trillion on the Pentagon’s budget. Well, the president finally launched a counterattack, rearming America with new EPA regulations targeting large carbon emitters, coal-burning power plants. Yes, the new EPA regs may minimize the more immediate dangers of all the incoming bogies that trigger global warming — auto pollution, fracking, methane, hot oceans, overfishing, deforestation, glaciers melting. WWIII? WWIII Phase 2: new EPA regs vs. Yes, global-warming politics is an American war, started by the Bush Pentagon. 1. 2. Today, all across the world, people have their own version of the American Dream. 3.
Quantum biology: Algae evolved to switch quantum coherence on and off A UNSW Australia-led team of researchers has discovered how algae that survive in very low levels of light are able to switch on and off a weird quantum phenomenon that occurs during photosynthesis. The function in the algae of this quantum effect, known as coherence, remains a mystery, but it is thought it could help them harvest energy from the sun much more efficiently. Working out its role in a living organism could lead to technological advances, such as better organic solar cells and quantum-based electronic devices. The research is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It is part of an emerging field called quantum biology, in which evidence is growing that quantum phenomena are operating in nature, not just the laboratory, and may even account for how birds can navigate using the earth's magnetic field. "Most cryptophytes have a light-harvesting system where quantum coherence is present. "This is a very exciting find.
Lasers create table-top supernova 1-Jun-2014 [ Print | E-mail ] Share [ Close Window ] Contact: University of Oxford News Officenews.office@admin.ox.ac.uk 44-186-528-0528University of Oxford Laser beams 60,000 billion times more powerful than a laser pointer have been used to recreate scaled supernova explosions in the laboratory as a way of investigating one of the most energetic events in the Universe. Supernova explosions, triggered when the fuel within a star reignites or its core collapses, launch a detonation shock wave that sweeps through a few light years of space from the exploding star in just a few hundred years. To investigate what may cause these peculiar shapes an international team led by Oxford University scientists (groups of Professor Gregori and Professor Bell in Atomic and Laser Physics, and Professor Schekochihin in Theoretical Physics) has devised a method of studying supernova explosions in the laboratory instead of observing them in space. [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] AAAS and EurekAlert!
Smoking Marijuana Not Linked with Lung Damage Marijuana does not impair lung function—at least not in the doses inhaled by the majority of users, according to the largest and longest study ever to consider the issue, which was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers working on a long-term study of risk factors for cardiovascular disease (the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults or CARDIA study) tested the lung function of 5115 young adults over the course of 20 years, starting in 1985 when they were aged 18 to 30. They found that marijuana use was almost as common as cigarette smoking in the sample, which was designed to reflect the U.S. population. The study was “well conducted” and is “essentially confirmatory of the findings from several previous studies that have examined the association between marijuana smoking and lung function,” says Dr. MORE: Teen Drug Use: Marijuana Up, Cigarettes and Alcohol Down MORE: Marijuana Slims? The authors conclude: MORE: U.S.
'Big G': Scientists Pin Down Elusive Gravitational Constant A fundamental constant that sets the size of the gravitational force between all objects has finally been pinned down using the quirky quantum behavior of tiny atoms. The new results could help set the official value of the gravitational constant, and may even help scientists find evidence of extra space-time dimensions, said study co-author Guglielmo Tino, an atomic physicist at the University of Florence in Italy. [Twisted Physics: 7 Mind-Blowing Findings] Elusive value According to legend, Sir Isaac Newton first formulated his theory of gravity after watching a falling apple. In 1798, scientist Henry Cavendish calculated big G in order to determine Earth's mass. Since then, almost every attempt to measure big G has used some variation of Cavendish's method. "The gravitational force is just super tiny, so anything from air currents to electric charges can give you a false result," Müller told Live Science. Keeping cool They also placed several hundred pounds of tungsten nearby. New value
Graphene Batteries Offer 5-Second iPhone Charging Researchers at UCLA have discovered a way to make graphene batteries that charge super fast, are inexpensively produced, are non-toxic, and that blow current battery technology out of the water in terms of efficiency and performance. An iPhone powered by a graphene supercapacitor could charge in five-seconds. A MacBook powered by a graphene supercapacitor could charge 30-seconds. Electric cars powered by the technology could be charged as quickly as filling a car with a tank of gas. The new energy technology was developed by Richard Kaner, a member of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA where he is also a professor of chemistry and biochemistry. “To label discs using LightScribe, the surface of the disc is coated with a reactive dye that changes color on exposure to the laser light. The micro-supercapacitors created by Kaner and El-Kady are highly bendable and twistable and will be ideal for future flexible displays, e-paper, and wearable electronics.
Children Who Are Spanked Have Lower IQs, New Research Finds -- ScienceDaily Children who are spanked have lower IQs worldwide, including in the United States, according to new groundbreaking research by University of New Hampshire professor Murray Straus. The research results will be presented Friday, Sept. 25, 2009, at the 14th International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma, in San Diego, Calif. "All parents want smart children. "It is time for psychologists to recognize the need to help parents end the use of corporal punishment and incorporate that objective into their teaching and clinical practice. IQ and Spanking in America Straus found that children in the United States who were spanked had lower IQs four years later than those who were not spanked. Straus and Mallie Paschall, senior research scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, studied nationally representative samples of 806 children ages 2 to 4, and 704 ages 5 to 9. "How often parents spanked made a difference. IQ and Spanking Worldwide
Jet Propulsion Laboratory | News June 19, 2014 Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have measured the size of an asteroid candidate for NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), a proposed spacecraft concept to capture either a small asteroid, or a boulder from an asteroid. The near-Earth asteroid, called 2011 MD, was found to be roughly 20 feet (6 meters) in size, and its structure appears to contain a lot of empty space, perhaps resembling a pile of rubble. Spitzer's infrared vision was key to sizing up the asteroid. "From its perch up in space, Spitzer can use its heat-sensitive infrared vision to spy asteroids and get better estimates of their sizes," said Michael Mommert of Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, lead author of a new study appearing today, June 19, in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. David Trilling, also of Northern Arizona University, leads the team of astronomers. Prior to the Spitzer study, the size of 2011 MD was only very roughly known. Other authors of the Spitzer paper are: D.
Sonoluminescence Single-bubble sonoluminescence - A single, cavitating bubble. Video of synthetic wound cavity collapsing creating sonoluminescence. Long exposure image of multi-bubble sonoluminescence created by a high-intensity ultrasonic horn immersed in a beaker of liquid History[edit] The sonoluminescence effect was first discovered at the University of Cologne in 1934 as a result of work on sonar. In 1989 an experimental advance was introduced by Felipe Gaitan and Lawrence Crum, who produced stable single-bubble sonoluminescence (SBSL). Properties[edit] Sonoluminescence can occur when a sound wave of sufficient intensity induces a gaseous cavity within a liquid to collapse quickly. Some facts about sonoluminescence: Rayleigh–Plesset equation[edit] The dynamics of the motion of the bubble is characterized to a first approximation by the Rayleigh-Plesset equation (named after Lord Rayleigh and Milton Plesset): Mechanism of phenomenon[edit] In 2002, M. Other proposals[edit] Quantum explanations[edit] [edit]
Scientists Have Simulated Time Travel With Photons Looks like time travel is possible... for particles of light. Using a photon, physicists have managed to simulate quantum particles traveling through time. Studying the photon’s behavior could help scientists understand some inexplicable aspects of modern physics. "The question of time travel features at the interface between two of our most successful yet incompatible physical theories -- Einstein's general relativity and quantum mechanics," University of Queensland’s Martin Ringbauer says in a news release. Time slows down or speeds up depending on how fast you move relative to another object. In a quantum regime, the authors say, the paradox of time travel can be resolved, leaving closed timelike curves consistent with relativity. Pictured above, a space-time structure exhibiting closed paths in space (horizontal) and time (vertical). The work was published in Nature Communications this week. [Via University of Queensland] Image: Martin Ringbauer
The Toxins of William B. Coley and the Treatment of Bone and Soft-Tissue Sarcomas Pesticide exposure in pregnancy linked to autism risk in kids Pregnant women who live within a mile of spaces where commercial pesticides are applied appear to have an increased risk of having a child with autism, a new study suggests. The risk that a child would develop autism appeared to be highest for women who lived near farms, golf courses and other public spaces that were treated with pesticides during the last three months of their pregnancies. "Many of these compounds work on neurons. When they work on the insect, they're dealing with the nervous system of the insect and basically incapacitating it," said study author Irva Hertz-Picciotto, an environmental epidemiologist at the MIND Institute at University of California, Davis. In adults, the brain is protected from many chemical exposures thanks to special filters that prevent many substances from crossing from the blood into the brain. Because the study looked back in time, researchers weren't able to collect blood or urine samples to directly measure pesticide exposures.