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Science, Medicine and Technology

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arclein

More than 55 million years ago, the Earth experienced a rapid jump in global carbon dioxide levels that raised temperatures across the planet. Now, researchers studying plants from that time have found that the rising temperatures may have boosted the foraging of insects. As modern temperatures continue to rise, the researchers believe the planet could see increasing crop damage and forest devastation.

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arclein

I am actually optimistic about fusion energy science this time around. There has never been a real first time around to start with. It always was big science and huge budgets with oversized toys. Now at least three or more methodologies are in contention and even if they fail miserably, we will gain knowledge for what is small change. If you have a good idea that could plausibly work, it is no big trick to run simulations and from that attract the money

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AP

A recent series of small earthquakes in North Texas has people wondering: could it have anything to do with drilling for natural gas?

Seismic activity used to be rare in Texas. It seems to be increasing since drilling took off in towns sitting on the Barnett Shale, a formation rich in natural gas.

 

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arclein

Berkeley Lab researchers have created a unique ultra-high density memory storage medium that can preserve digital data for a billion years. When it comes to data storage, density and durability have always moved in opposite directions - the greater the density the shorter the durability.

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AP

Gary Revell gets up every morning before sunrise, heads into the woods and grunts.

Not because it's so early. It's the term for coaxing worms from the ground by the hundreds to be scooped up and plopped in a tin can until he can sell them for fishing bait.

 

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Reuters

A team in Germany first produced 112 in 1996 by firing charged zinc atoms through a 120-meter-long particle accelerator to hit a lead target.

"The new element is approximately 277 times heavier than hydrogen, making it the heaviest element in the periodic table," the scientists at the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research said in a statement late on Wednesday.

 

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AP

Hormone experts said they are becoming worried by a chemical [found in plastics] called bisphenol A, which some politicians say they want taken out of products and which consumers are increasingly shunning.

They said they have gathered a growing body evidence to show the compound, also known as BPA, might damage human health. The Endocrine Society issued a scientific statement on Wednesday calling for better studies into its effects.

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arclein

A superconducting sheet of lead only two atoms thick, the thinnest superconducting metal layer ever created, has been developed by physicists at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Ken Shih and colleagues report the properties of their superconducting film in the June 5 issue of Science.

News Link • Global Reported By robert klein
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arclein

I have consistently argued that budget conscious consumers would prefer cheap lead-acid batteries to smaller, lighter and more expensive lithium-ion batteries, particularly for HEV applications. The timing of the new EU regulations has put automakers in a position where they can’t afford to wait for “the battery of tomorrow.” Instead they have to go to work immediately and meet the CO2 emission standards with batteries they can buy today from established manufacturers. Under those circumstances, I’m convinced that advanced lead-acid batteries will dominate the HEV markets until a clearly superior battery technology is developed.

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sciencedaily.com

Scientists have found a way of converting air humidity autonomously and decentrally into drinkable water. “The process we have developed is based exclusively on renewable energy sources such as thermal solar collectors and photovoltaic cells, which makes this method completely energy-autonomous. It will therefore function in regions where there is no electrical infrastructure,” says Siegfried Egner, head of department at the IGB.

arclein

The unique properties of thin layers of graphite-known as graphene-make the material attractive for a wide range of potential electronic devices. Researchers have now experimentally demonstrated the potential for another graphene application: replacing copper for interconnects in future generations of integrated circuits.

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arclein

Our objective is to complete component testing by September 2009. In parallel, we will be finalizing our second objective which consists of the assembly processes necessary to deliver production quality components and/or EESU's by the end of 2009. "

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arclein

Until now, high hardness levels and tensile strengths could only be achieved in aluminum by a complex alloying process based on rare and expensive metals. "Our carbon nanotubes are an attractive alternative to such complicated alloys. Baytubes® carbon nanotubes can also significantly reinforce aluminum materials already alloyed with metals," says Adams.

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www.nzherald.co.nz

A new test to reveal the gender of a fetus in early pregnancy has sparked a row over whether it will lead to sex-selection abortions.

The American-designed IntelliGender test kit, which can be used from eight weeks after conception, went on sale in Australia last month. Its Australian distributor hopes to launch it in New Zealand within a fortnight.

David Portnoy, managing director of Melbourne-based Early Image, said yesterday that he was negotiating with health products companies Douglas Pharmaceuticals and API to supply the kits to New Zealand pharmacies.

He expected they would sell for about $125.

 

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arclein

Ricardo, an international automotive engineering design firm, has designed a technology that allows engines powered by ethanol to approach levels of efficiency hitherto only afforded to diesel engines, wiping the floor with poor gasoline engine efficiency. It's called by it's acronym "EBDI" or ethanol boosted direct injection. The thing about ethanol is that it has subtly different properties to gasoline, which manufacturers have been slow to exploit. For example, it is a higher octane fuel, and has a higher heat of vapourisation.

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arclein

Every entrepreneur pursuing the space debris opportunity seems to have the single answer to removing space debris. It is cost-effective, simple, quick, safe, reliable, user-friendly, non-polluting, non-interfering and almost ready to go. There is simply nothing like it and it is wonderful. Why doesn't the government grab it up and make the entrepreneur rich? In fact, why doesn't the government advertise for a single, simple solution and let the private sector submit proposals

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arclein

This potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crystal, weighing almost 800 pounds, was produced through a newly developed rapid-growth process that takes only two months, as opposed to two years using conventional methods. Each crystal is sliced into 40-centimeter-square crystal plates. More than 600 of these plates are needed for NIF. A US weapons lab on Friday pulled back the curtain on a super laser with the power to burn as hot as a star. The National Ignition Facility's main purpose is to serve as a tool for gauging the reliability and safety of the US nuclear weapons arsenal but scientists say it could deliver breakthroughs in safe fusion power.

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arclein

A new study says that within three years jumbo jet–makers could be testing a new type of wing that reduces midair drag and cuts fuel costs by an estimated 20 percent. The wing would do this using small, built in jets that redirect air around the wing during flight. "This has come as a bit of a surprise to all of us in the aerodynamics community," Duncan Lockerby, an associate professor of fluid-solid mechanics at the University of Warwick in the U.K. and head of the research project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and aircraft maker Airbus, said in a statement. "It was discovered, essentially, by waggling a piece of wing from side to side in a wind tunnel."

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arclein

"On May 21, 2009 the Company confirmed EEStor's permittivity test results which exceeded the target level stipulated in our Technology Agreement with EEStor by over 21 percent," said Clifford. "The permittivity milestone is signifi

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arclein

The research team believes this increased mobility is due to electrons and other carriers of electric charges in graphene behaving as though they have no mass. 'Although they do not approach the speed of light, the unbound electrons in graphene b

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arclein

Space debris remediation, i.e. active debris removal from orbit, was identified as the next necessary step. Several contributions addressed technical and operational aspects of implementing such measures. In the area of Hypervelocity Impacts and P

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arclein

An NSERC-funded lab at the University Of Waterloo has laid the groundwork for a lithium battery that can store and deliver more than three times the power of conventional lithium ion batteries.

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