The sun, with all those plants revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
— Galileo
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The sun, with all those plants revolving around it and dependent upon it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do.
— Galileo
Back in town for today and tomorrow, so I’m making up for lost time with science headlines today:
Pioneering astrophysicist James Van Allen died Aug. 9 at the age of 91. “James Van Allen was one of the greatest and most accomplished American space scientists of our time and few researchers had such wide range of expertise in so many scientific disciplines,” said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. Van Allen’s most widely known contribution was the 1958 discovery of radiation belts, now called Van Allen belts, encircling the Earth. He also is credited with discovery of a new moon of Saturn in 1979, as well as radiation belts around that planet. Van Allen was at the forefront of physics. During his career, he was the principal investigator for scientific investigations on 24 Earth satellites and planetary missions, beginning with the first successful American satellite, Explorer I, and continuing with Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11. He also helped develop the first plans for an International Geophysical Year.
An oil spill caused by Israeli raids on a Lebanese power plant could rival the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster that despoiled the Alaskan coast if not urgently addressed, the United Nations warns.
Mayon volcano in the Philippines could soon unleash a huge cloud of deadly gases and ash, experts warned Sunday, as 44,000 people prepared for a second week in crowded evacuation centers.
Another report that shows evolution can happen fast enough for us to watch it: Scientists have found that invasive crab species may precipitate defensive evolutionary change in blue mussels in as little as 15 years, instead of the thousands of years that had been anticipated.
Commercial flights to space could be taking off from Britain within five years, the head of the space travel firm Virgin Galactic said Wednesday. Will Whitehorn said the Lossiemouth Royal Air Force base in Moray, in Scotland, is on track to be used as a base for the company’s spacecraft from 2011. Virgin Galactic, owned by billionaire British entrepreneur Richard Branson, will charge 110,000 pounds (209,600 dollars, 162,900 euros) a ticket to give passengers to experience weightlessness for five minutes. Meanwhile, issues (both technical and political) cloud the post-shuttle future at NASA.
Ancient plant life recovered in recent Arctic Ocean sampling cores sheds new detail on the last major episode of global warming: At the time of the last major global warming, humidity, precipitation levels and salinity of the ocean water altered drastically, along with the elevated temperatures and levels of greenhouse gases, according to a report in the August 10 issue of Nature. The major effect was a shift of precipitation farther north, leaving the mid-latitudes dryer. “Without being hysteric, it is important to realize that the impact of global warming is not just about searing hot summers — it is about water as a resource. It is about when and where it rains and how much we have to drink,” said Mark Pagani, Yale geophysicist. “This is a red flag.”
Too bad it’s already getting dry; corn takes a lot of water: US ethanol manufacturers, foodmakers and livestock feeders are consuming so much corn that stockpiles could be depleted by 2008, unless plantings expand sharply, analysts said on Friday.
Speaking of climate change: A new analysis of satellite data has revealed that the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet has increased dramatically in the past few years, with much of the loss occurring primarily along one shoreline potentially affecting weather in Western Europe. The loss of ice has been occurring about five times faster from Greenland’s southeastern region in the past two years than in the previous year and a half.
“Better dead than [itchy and] red:” After more than a half century of use and thousands of reports of illness and deaths blamed on the pesticide, the US government has banned all uses of lindane – except by those who rub it on their scalps and bodies to kill lice and mites. EPA says it’s toxic, and FDA says it’s “safe and effective for its intended use.”
And finally, two hopeful stories:
The “Johnny Appleseed of tilapia:” A NYC professor advocates urban aquaculture to save fisheries and create domestic jobs.
A major demonstration project for tidal power is set to begin in San Francisco bay.
Regarding the whole ethanol/corn mess, sounds like we need to push again the idea that growing hemp for car fuel(and many other products)is incredibly more efficient concerning water and more profitable also for the farmers, along with many other added benefits to growing hemp.
The last time I wrote “cars eat people” I was trying to make a joke. But now I see it is going to be true.
ha ha….there’s so much stuff that makes me crazy but if we could only get rid of all the lobbyists-for corn, sugar, oil, automakers etc and actually work for solutions that make sense for the public/economy instead of big corporations we might actually get somewhere in this country-yeah a real pipe dream I know. And it continues to gripe me to no end that if Bolivia has been able to do the research over the last 30 years to make all their cars flex cars with their gas stations all having alternative pumps why the fuck can’t we…certainly isn’t like all the technology isn’t out there. We’re being held hostage to big oil/car companies here.
This little gem has been floating out there since late Friday.
WASHINGTON – While the British terror suspects were hatching their plot, the Bush administration was quietly seeking permission to divert $6 million that was supposed to be spent this year developing new homeland explosives detection technology.
Link to WaPo article behind free subscription.
Lack of Proficiency in Languages Assailed
Nearly 30 percent of State Department employees based overseas in “language-designated positions” are failing to speak and write the local language well enough to meet required levels,according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.
“We have a shortage of people with language skills in posts that need them,” said John Brummet, assistant director for international affairs and trade at the GAO. “If people do not have the proper language skills, it is difficult to influence the people and government and to understand what they are thinking. It just doesn’t get the job done.”
The State Department, like every other corner of Bush’s government, is rife with incompetence. It reminds me of an old Zappa song: “Dumb all over… a little ugly on the side”.
No one listens to State Dept. officials with in-country experience anyway.
Too low on the totem pole.
James A. Van Allen, who recently died at age 91 (see first item in first post in this diary), discovered the Van Allen Belt, the inner of two permanent radiation belts that surround and protect the Earth’s surface from the harmful effects of high energy particle radiation from the Sun and other sources, in 1958. This link provides a diagram and a brief explanation and history of the discovery of these belts.
Few people know that Van Allen helped develop and implement the first photoelectric and radio proximity fuses during WWII, and that he worked on scientific payloads for captured V-2 rockets after the war. In his own words:
The man lived a fascinating life, at least from where I sit. I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in the history of space science in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s read the biographical and the autobiographical texts at the above link.
Now, at the risk of going on quite a bit too long for a comment, here is a video simulation of the Van Allen Belts on Dec. 27th, 2005. Note that it is a simulation based on measurements by satellite instruments, not an exact replica of the day’s actual Van Allen belt activity. This is the day that “…the mother of all magnetic flares – a true monster…” generated by a magnetar 40,000 light years from Earth, hit the Earth’s atmosphere. So, this simulation includes the normal effects of the Sun plus the effects of the magnetar flare. After you watch it, you’ll be glad the Van Allen Belts are there.
Note: The above video used to be available at this URL. It looks like they redesigned the site and now you can’t get to this daily simulation info. You might want to try this URL and click on the rightmost picture link near the top of the new page. Maybe they will get it working again soon.
Arm women with AIDS-preventing drug, Gates urges
I never cared too much for Bill Gates, CEO; but I’m really starting to like Bill Gates, Philanthropist.
Eco-Friendly Valley Is Model for Europe
I can personally testify to the appearance of the Van Allen belts.
Observation distance: in light years (expressed as feet): 6/3.1038479 × 10 to the 16th power, ft.
First belt was black, with Black Holes! Yes! Holes clearly indicating that the owner had at one time placed that belt around a much smaller orbitum medium than at the time of initial observation.
Second belt was white. It was shiny in appearance (radiation glow?), of uncertain content, and matched the shoes of he for whom it was named. Or did in the mid-to-early 70s, no doubt. Of this belt, likely the less said, the better.
The third belt holes similar to belt #1, above, was brown with a strip of cross-hatched woven substance a little similar to that recently appearing in certain U.S. newspaper stories:
belt substance
No doubt a case of art imitating the stellar environment.
There were others. . .but they shall remain undiscovered.
Note. I witnessed the Van Allen belts while teaching my classes in the Van Allen Building, across the hall from a faculty meeting room where Prof. Van Allen and others met frequently.