From PopularMechanics.com Automotive - RSS Feed:
Now that the Obama Administration has set the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard at 34.1 mpg by the year 2016, along with tightening CO2 emissions regulations, the world's automotive engineers can lock in their product pl
The Obama administration reaffirmed its commitment to clean energy sources today by giving the green light to the controversial Cape Wind project, clearing the way for 130 wind turbines to be built off the coast of Cape Cod. The wind farm will be built in Nantucket Sound, and aims to harness the steady breezes blowing along the East coast to produce clean, albeit expensive energy.
The project had been delayed for almost a year due to opposition from local Native American tribes. Two Wampanoag tribes said the turbines, which will stand more than 400 feet above the ocean surface, would disturb spiritual sun greetings and possibly ancestral artifacts and burial grounds on the seabed, which was once exposed land before the sea level rose thousands of years ago [Boston Globe]. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who approved the project, assured the tribes that he had ordered modifications to lessen the turbines’ impact. He also said that the approval would require Cape Wind to conduct additional marine archaeological surveys and take other steps to reduce the project’s visual impact [Boston Globe]. If not held back by any other legal hurdles, construction could begin later this year.
The Horseshoe Shoals area of Nantucket Sound is said to be one of the best sites for a wind farm along the entire East coast: It not only has shallow, sheltered waters close to the shore, but also a strong supply of steady breezes. The wind farm is expected to produce as much power as a medium-size coal-fired power plant, and the project is also expected to reduce carbon emissions by the equivalent of 175,000 cars [Boston Globe]. The company behind the project, Cape Wind, says it can begin generating power by 2012 and hopes to supply power to the residents of Cape Cod and the nearby islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
Some economic details still need to be worked out: The price of its electricity is expected to be higher than conventional power, and Cape Wind is still in negotiations with the utility company National Grid, which has agreed to purchase and distribute some of the wind farm’s power. Despite this hiccup, Cape Wind says the wind farm will be source of hundreds of green jobs and a reliable domestic energy source, while offshore wind advocates are hoping it can jump-start the U.S. industry [WBUR]. Opponents, however, contend that the turbines won’t just endanger marine life but will also be an eyesore in this scenic tourist stop.
The United States is the world’s largest producer of wind power, but there are still no commercial offshore wind farms; Cape Wind hopes to be the first. The U.S. Department of Energy envisions offshore wind farms accounting for 4 percent of the country’s electric generating capacity by 2030 [WBUR].
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Image: iStockphoto
This little guy is pretty remarkable: a fixed-wing aerial drone that lands by clinging vertically to a wall, and takes off from the same position. I'm not saying this is the future of spy planes—but it should be. More »
Hi!
I can't afford NI/LabView architectures (I find that NI is overpriced and make their own product obsolete quite soon in order to keep getting money from their clients...)
My question is:
Do you know a good and affordable alternative to NI / LabWindows / LabView for test automation?
t
Who needs poppy plants to produce morphine? Last month scientists said they’d isolated the genes those plants use to synthesize the narcotic chemical and made it themselves in a lab. Now, in a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, another team has suggested that we mammals might possess the pathway to create our own morphine.
Because we have receptors for the opiate in our brains (which makes it such an effective and addictive painkiller), and because morphine traces show up in our urine, scientists had long wondered if animals could produce the drug themselves. But studies using living animals yielded inconclusive results because of possible contamination from external sources of morphine in their food or in the environment [Nature]. In addition, the body breaks down and changes morphine, which complicates the task.
To sort out this mess, researchers injected mice with tetrahydropapaveroline (THP). Human brain cells have this chemical, and plants use it to make morphine. After the injection, mice started to turn the THP into salutaridine. In morphine-producing poppy plants salutaridine is then converted to thebaine, which undergoes further reactions to become morphine. The researchers show that mice can also do that chemical conversion, as well as others needed to generate morphine [Science News].
“This paper seems to be one of the most definitive I’ve seen,” says Chris Evans, a neurobiologist and expert on opioid drugs at the University of California, Los Angeles. “They’ve convincingly shown that there’s a pathway there which could possibly produce morphine” [Nature News]. But to what end? This study simply showed that the morphine-producing pathway is possible; it didn’t find traces in tissue. Thus, it can’t say for sure that mammals do produce morphine naturally, nor for what it would be used. Pain relief seems the obvious answer, since that’s the most common use of plant-created morphine, but the scientists don’t know if the body could make enough for that purpose.
The other outstanding question is: Did animals and plants evolve these pathways separately, or do parts of it date all the way back to simple common ancestors before the kingdom split? Coauthor Meinhart Zenk is leaning toward independent evolution, because the early parts of the process are different.
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Image: flickr / Evil Erin
Depth of field is a key principle to photography, a combination of factors and physics that determine how much any given photo is in focus. For this week's Shooting Challenge, I want to to break the laws of DoF. More »
"Its coloured charts, graphs and bullet-points are supposed to make the most incomprehensible data crystal clear. But even the sharpest military minds in American were left baffled by this PowerPoint slide, a mind-boggling attempt to explain the situation in Afghanistan. 'When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war,' General Stanley McChrystal, the US and NATO force commander, remarked wryly when confronted by the sprawling spaghetti diagram in a briefing."
Keith's note: OK Folks, what would the NASA version of this chart look like - especially right now as the space policy food fight is fully engaged? How would you describe and interconnect the various feuding factions? Click to enlarge.
Reader note: "I can't resist sharing my personal favorite with you. From the old Lunar Architecture Team report" - Paul Spudis (Click to enlarge).
From Gizmodo:
This is something that not many people have seen: A close up of the fiery engines of the Saturn V rocket starting up July 16, 1969. The eight apocalyptical minutes in HD are simply awesome.
Read the whole article
From Gizmodo:
The Air Force's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2—designed to attack global targets at Mach 20—has disappeared nine minutes into its first test flight, just after separating from its booster. Contact was lost, and it hasn't been found yet.
R
From Engadget:
This isn't the first time that would-be competitors in the Rocket Racing League have taken to the skies, but the recent Tusla Air & Rocket Racing Show did mark the first time that two of the aircraft have flown together, giving spectators a taste of what an actu
The guys guarding the velvet rope at downtown's hottest nightspot may be tough--but at least they don't spit like these llama bouncers. The BBC reports that two llamas, Willy and Jack, have been drafted to protect the eggs and chicks of wading birds at the Merseyside nature park in Britain--in particular, they'll guard lapwing and redshank birds, which are threatened species in England. Researchers say that the highly territorial llamas will kick up a fuss if intruders drop by, and will scare away foxes and other predators looking to snack on eggs or chicks. With the llamas on watch, the park officers hope, the young birds will have a shot at survival. This is not the first time that llamas have been deployed to protect livestock. The llama and its relative the alpaca have previous work experience protecting lambs and sheep from predators. Alpacas, in fact, come with great references—having been employed by the Prince of Wales to protect his lambs from foxes during lambing season at his Gloucestershire estate. Looking at the llamas' resumes, it’s their bouncing skills that stand out. The BBC describes:
It is hoped their slightly erratic behavior, along with the groaning noises and the sound they make when afraid or ...
We've already seen some innovative uses of the iPhone in iPad gaming—specifically, as a pricey tile board for Scrabble—but Chopper 2's iPhone-as-controller is one of the first of its kind. How's it look? Um... awesome. More »
I've been waiting for word on this. From the NY Times:
After nine years of regulatory review, the federal government gave the green light Wednesday to the nation's first offshore wind farm, a highly contested project off the coast of Cape Cod.
The approval of the 130-turbine farm gives a s
From CNN.com - Technology:
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday approved the nation's first offshore wind farm, signing off on a project that has split Cape Cod over the last nine years. The 130 turbines are to be located several miles from the Massachusetts shore in the
From Boing Boing:
This 1970s commercial for the IBM5100 is really funny.
Watch the video
Apple just dumped a truckload of money at the doorstep of Siri, a startup you've probably never heard of, which makes a voice search iPhone app you've probably never used. Why? The answer, as usual, has to do with Google. More »
You should probably just click this to see the whole comic. Notice I didn’t say "… see the whole joke" because, of course, it’s true. It’s also true that lobsters live in trees.
Incidentally, and no joke, this comes when a dozen astronomers are headed to Capitol Hill to make the case that astronomy is important. I hope they can do it. It is important!
The Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU's Tisch School is where all kinds of ridiculously creative techno-wizardry happens so it's pretty exciting they're seriously opening up the program with a Summer Camp for grown ups. Do check it out. [ITP] More »
I’m on the road today, so I don’t have time to explain the fascinating science behind this freaky new picture of feathered dinosaurs young and old. So let me just direct your attention to fellow D-blogger, Ed Yong, and Nature’s Janet Fang for more.
[Image by Xing Lida and Song Qijin]
Fetching over $131,200 when it went on auction last week, this Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycle from 1894 was the first two-wheelin' motorcycle ever to be put into production. More »
