This link at SciAm has many outstanding articles and contacts for alternative energy research, development, and use. I have really enjoyed several of the links provided here, and hope to spend more time browsing here. Who knows, maybe I can use some of this tech someday soon.
Archive for the 'science' Category
Well, now there is some evidence that a popular pain killer and recreational drug may indeed help you ward off infection. And not just against trivial diseases, but against drug resistant strains of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which claimed more lives than AIDS in 2007 or, more recently, extensively drug-resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis (XDR-TB.) that are infecting people in hospitals.
The wonders of nature…
Here is a SciAm article that portraits the woman who made the breakthrough about the problems with a key component of polycarbonate. Patricia Hunt figured out how bisphenol-A (BPA) can leach out of the plastic, and into our food. Good read, and makes one think about how we store our foods.
Just the other day, I had given my wife some grief about buying a new lexan Nalgene bottle, instead of the softer kind.
In spite of my wife’s allergic reaction to bee stings, we both do appreciate the site of bees feeding in our garden. Of course, they help use have great strawberries! But they also feed on other flowers we grow, and it is satisfying to know that the garden we built for our own enjoyment is good bee habitat.
There is some thought that mono-culture in agriculture has made life stressful for bees, as this story from the SF Chronicle explains. Bee populations are falling quickly, which can have big implications on the world food supply. There is also a great link here to a site for bee promotion, which is interesting reading from a gardening perspective..
Circles: Wasting energy in an energy challenged world
Published June 27, 2008 bicycles , science Leave a CommentThis is a quote dear to me:
“We need to get rid of business suits, and make sure every facility has showers so that people doing big business feel clean and comfy after they commute to work on their bikes. It should be cool to do big business in casual clothes that can be stuffed into a backpack. And put a laundry room in the office too. Mindsets need to change. It will be a great day when the guy in the suit looks like a doofus because all the cool, fit, successful people are in their casual clothing after a brisk commute.”
For the full story, check out this VeloNews column about lifestyle instead of training.
Neat attitude piece, but of course Crawford is weak on the math part of it all. I would think that our bodies just don’t use much energy that would produce significant gain for the power grid. If someone wants to do the math on a few of the ideas, please insert it as a comment.
There is a short report of a study of brain effects of going to altitude in SA. Apparently there is at least medium term changes in brain physiology associated with climbing high.
If dumber people are happier, maybe smarter people climb high to be happier?
Contrary to popular belief, science has clues that 16 year old boys have humanistic traits when it comes to dating and sex. The NY Time has a blog entry about the motivation behind relationship for boys. Interesting read, that seems to indicate some level of maturity beyond the sterotypical teenage model.
Now if my wife can only see those traits in me…
This article in SCIAM is a review of some research on personal happines.
I can say that I have felt the bottom of the emotional U shaped curve in my mid forties, and seen it in some friends.
It is encouraging to read that the trend I now feel toward happiness can be expected to continue into my old age (health cooperating, of course.)
The story is out that David Beckham has the greatest carbon footprint of any person in history.
Of course, I expect that means any private person. I bet there is some politician or military guy flying around with a footprint as big…
SA has an article on fuels for jets. It seems the US Air Force spends 80% of its budget on fuel. And this is mostly from foreign sources. So they are looking at cheaper and domestic.
Interesting to see that it is really economics driving this. Hurrah for expensive oil!
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