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drj

The Environment

New Insight into Cause of Honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder

By Posted on 8.26.2009 11 Comments
Since 2006, about 30 percent of the commercial honeybee population has died off due to Colony Collapse Disorder. Though many theories have emerged about the causes of CCD since it first began ravaging honeybee populations, a study released this week has identified the first molecular marker of the disorder.

9.8.2009 at 08:37pm - Comment by drj

It would seem that nature produced the virus that impairs bees. Perhaps, we have bees that survive these stresses better than others, and will overcome the weaker ones. Undoubtedly there is enough genetic variability for this to occur.
The Environment

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Seeks To Sue EPA Over Global Warming

By Stuart Fox Posted on 8.25.2009 57 Comments
In an attempt to head off new emissions standards, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is threatening to sue the Environmental Protection Agency. The Chamber is calling it the Scopes Monkey Trial of the 21st Century, and wants to put the evidence supporting global warming on trial in a court of law.

9.8.2009 at 08:32pm - Comment by drj

It's about time that objective evaluation take place in court. The facts will speak.
Cars

Diesel on a Diet

By Posted on 10.6.2008 9 Comments
To make its Duramax 4.5 diesel cleaner and leaner, GM turned traditional engine design inside out and dumped 70 parts. The biggest change was flipping around the exhaust system to direct hot gases through short pipes toward a central turbocharger and catalytic converter inside the “V” of the engine. This compact design harnesses more exhaust heat and requires fewer components than conventional V8s, which send exhaust through long manifold pipes that protrude from each side of the engine, taking up more space and losing heat before they reach the turbo.

9.8.2009 at 08:03pm - Comment by drj

Large diesel engines typically go 400,000 miles before an overhaul, not one million. Also, like the one I drive...it goes 6000 miles a week without fully cooling down between trips. Longer trips means longer lasting engines. Size of engine may not mean anything at all. There are too many variables to point out just one.
Technology

First-Ever Photos of Avalanches on Mars

By Posted on 3.4.2008 2 Comments
Yesterday, NASA released more than two thousand images from the high-resolution camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft looping around the Red Planet. One of the highlight photos, taken February 19, shows the cloudy aftermath of an avalanche of ice and dust rushing down a steep slope. The image surprised scientists, and proved that Mars is not just some planet-sized museum, but a very active world.

3.6.2008 at 02:19am - Comment by drj

Since the surface temperature of MARS can reach (80 degrees Fahrenheit) although the air temperature only reaches about 32 degrees F. That is enough warmth to loosen ice. It's the simplest possible solution.
Science

Animals that Hover

By Posted on 3.4.2008 2 Comments
The hummingbird is an animal that by all rights shouldn't be able to fly. Its wing movements are not at all like that of other birds. But not only can they fly, they're so good at it that they're the only species which can fly backward. They're also one of the few—but not the only—that can hover. And in the past week alone, two new studies on hovering animals have been made public. One is on bats and the others on the bluegill sunfish.

3.6.2008 at 02:13am - Comment by drj

I've seen hawks fly backwards without wind by changing the angle of their wings. Of course they are hovering mostly and moving backwards slowly. The effect is pretty much the same as hummingbirds though the wing motion "may" be different.
The Environment

Climate Change—Don’t Blame It on the Sun

By Posted on 2.16.2008 21 Comments
AAAS 2008, Boston, MA Sallie Baliunas, an astrophysicist at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, is pointing to a slide called Interdecadal Magnetic Variability Berillium 10. Its supposed to communicate something about the relationship between the suns intensity and climate change. All I see is a collection of squiggly lines. It could be an EKG or a seismograph test. The man sitting next to me appears to be equally lost. Hes snoring. The woman next to him is staring at her shoelaces.

3.6.2008 at 02:07am - Comment by drj

If it is not the sun, then why is Mars and the moon Titan both warming?
The Environment

Climate Change—Don’t Blame It on the Sun

By Posted on 2.16.2008 21 Comments
AAAS 2008, Boston, MA Sallie Baliunas, an astrophysicist at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, is pointing to a slide called Interdecadal Magnetic Variability Berillium 10. Its supposed to communicate something about the relationship between the suns intensity and climate change. All I see is a collection of squiggly lines. It could be an EKG or a seismograph test. The man sitting next to me appears to be equally lost. Hes snoring. The woman next to him is staring at her shoelaces.

3.6.2008 at 02:05am - Comment by drj

Since the IPCC conveniently leaves out the most abundant greenhouse gas, H2O (95% of the total) it is totally understandable that CO2 being the next most abundant, gives them a 90% pucker factor. How is it that a gas CO2 that comprises less than 4% of the total has such a huge affect? It sounds like power and arrogance rather than science.
Cars

GM Vice Chairman Calls Global Warming A "Total Crock of S**t"

By Posted on 2.13.2008 46 Comments
Heres an odd PR move making the blog rounds today: Bob Lutz, the General Motors Vice Chairman whos driving the charge to build the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, was recently quoted in D Magazine calling global warming a crock of s**t.

3.6.2008 at 01:55am - Comment by drj

When will the media address the most abundant global warming gas? It's not CO2, but H2O. 95% of Global warming gases is water vapor. I'm sure reducing CO2 a fraction of a percentage point will make a huge difference...not. Can we get back to real science rather than popular "science". Check it out for yourself online. GM is the making the Volt for the same reason they make all their vehicles. People will buy it. (I would buy it to clean up the stinky city air.) Then they make money.
The Environment

Future Human: Gambling on the Planet

By Posted on 3.5.2008 4 Comments
Welcome to the inaugural post of Future Human: Covering the prospects of Homo sapiens and the future of humanity. You can follow subsequent postings here, where you can also subscribe to an RSS feed. If we were assured that climate change would doom the planets future, we'd all chip in to help stop it, right? Well, maybe not. An interesting forecast from researchers at Germanys Max Planck Institute contends that humans have a fifty-fifty shot of cooperating on climate for the benefit of the common good.

3.6.2008 at 01:44am - Comment by drj

When is Popular Science going to deal with the most abundant and powerful greenhouse gas that can change our planet's temperature? No, it's not CO2. 95% of greenhouse gas is water vapor which as we all know traps heat. Check it out for yourself.
The Environment

First CO2-Free Coal Power Plant Announced

By Posted on 2.26.2008 6 Comments
FutureGen picks Illinois for carbon-sequestering facility Coal is almost the perfect fuel. Its cheap and absurdly abundant—especially in the U.S., which has the worlds larges reserves. Theres just that tiny problem of massive climate-altering carbon dioxide emissions. Or is there?

2.21.2008 at 01:23am - Comment by drj

How about maximizing solar energy in the Southwest U.S., wind in the plains, and hydro power around fresh and salt water. Each home should have its own power source whether it would cover all the needs or part of them. The resources are already there and put out no pollutants. Conservation would go along way toward eliminating our need as well. After all this is maximized then we should look toward "fuels".