• The Environment

    Cosmic Rays and Climate Change

    By Posted on 4.7.2008 8 Comments

    Yes, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that man is at the root of most of Earth's warming in the last five decades. Still, some researchers say the trend can be attributed to natural causes, including changes in the flux of cosmic rays slamming into our atmosphere, but now, according to Physics World, a pair of U.K. particle physicists have dismissed that idea.

    4.7.2008 at 10:26am - Comment by Michael Lee

    Finally, someone shoots down that ridiculous theory of Global Warming being just part of a "natural cycle!" At least now we can stop listening to the fools that don't believe in the Warming, and start fixing it.

  • The Environment

    Breeding the Oil Bug

    By Posted on 4.30.2008 23 Comments

    It could be an aerial photo of an oil spill: liquid spheres pooling, oozing, dwarfing a bedraggled landscape. I half expect to zoom in on poisoned seal pups or waterbirds dragging their oil-soaked feathers. But the scene is microscopic. The landscape is made of E. coli. And whats happening is exactly the opposite of what it seems. The little bugs arent drowning in fuel. Theyre making it.

    4.1.2008 at 05:29pm - Comment by Michael Lee

    I guess it's just one more way we can get out of the corner we'e backed ourselves into.

  • Technology

    Mars Rovers Nearly Killed by Budget Cuts

    By Posted on 3.26.2008 3 Comments

    It would have been pretty heartbreaking for space fans if Spirit and Opportunity, the twin Martian rovers, had survived on the Red Planet all these years, only to be shut down and lost for good due to budget cuts. Apparently NASA sent a letter last week to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the lab that runs the rovers' program, specifying a $4 million cut. Scientists said this move would have forced them to put one rover into hibernation mode, and limit the duties of the other.

    4.1.2008 at 05:26pm - Comment by Michael Lee

    Are you kidding me? My name is on one of the discs on Opportunity! At least NASA wised up and kept them alive, though. I know that Spirit made it to the plateau in time for it to recharge by Christmas, but I haven't heard anything since then. Is he back up and running yet?



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