• The Environment

    The Explosive Nuclear Question

    By Posted on 2.16.2008 15 Comments

    It's going to be at least another two decades before any commercial models are built, but researchers are at work designing the Generation IV nuclear reactors. Unlike the generation II and III models now in use that use water to cool and control the fission (preventing runaway reactions, subsequent meltdowns and the environmental apocalypse that would result), the leading contender for cooling material for the Gen IV reactors is molten sodium. Not sodium chloride (plain, unreactive table salt), but sodium metal.

    2.22.2008 at 12:28am - Comment by meowmixer

    Come on guys, no need to be so harsh. Yeah, so this post is not a 1000-word masterpiece, but so what? The posts you're complaining about, as I judge from the tags, came from the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) conference last week in Boston. They were obviously meant to briefly highlight some of the more interesting talks, not give in-depth analyses. I agree that well-reported posts are great, but are the occasional short-post overviews really worthy of angry complaints? (And no, I don't work for PopSci.)

  • Science

    The Endorsement: Emergen-C

    By Posted on 2.22.2008 7 Comments

    Yesterday morning, 5 am: Oh s***. I'm done for. The viral infection so potent it fells healthy 20-somethings for a week at a time, the epidemic so ubiquitous in our New York offices that it's now referred to simply as the PopSci Plague, the flu that crushes your brain and blows it through your digestive tract has finally come for me. It is my time. I can feel it: A sore throat and vague headache that are the opening salvos of a dispiriting scorched-earth campaign. It's too late to fight. Or is it?

    2.21.2008 at 10:17pm - Comment by meowmixer

    I've read that doses under 100g a day are fairly harmless. Michael had less than a tenth of that, hence he is still alive and kicking. What I really want to know is whether Zicam works to stave off colds. I swear by that stuff, but again, how can you prove that something prevented you from getting sick? That whole proving the negative thing is tricky.



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