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Mar 30, 2009 4:08:03 GMT 4
Post by ubleck on Mar 30, 2009 4:08:03 GMT 4
are the boys and men that cried with all their hearts: "booyah!"
any diffrent?
no. they drown and go up backards shook out they haids by big dogs wake up mutha and wake shakey to the big hall.
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Mar 30, 2009 4:27:21 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 30, 2009 4:27:21 GMT 4
The World's Biggest Laser Powers UpNow complete, the National Ignition Facility could soon create controlled fusion using lasers.MIT / Technology Review Thursday, March 26, 2009www.technologyreview.com/energy/22347/Fusion central: 192 lasers will shoot through openings in this spherical chamber, focusing near the tip of the cone projecting from the right. A worker in a service module can be seen at the left. Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Department of EnergyThe most energetic laser system in the world, designed to produce nuclear fusion--the same reaction that powers the sun--is up and running. Within two to three years, scientists expect to be creating fusion reactions that release more energy than it takes to produce them. If they're successful, it will be the first time this has been done in a controlled way--in a lab rather than a nuclear bomb, that is--and could eventually lead to fusion power plants. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) [1][/color][/sup], at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), comprises 192 lasers that fire simultaneously at precisely the same point in space: a sphere of fuel two millimeters in diameter. They are designed to deliver 1.8 megajoules of energy in a few billionths of a second. That's enough to compress the fuel to a speck 50 micrometers across and heat it up to three million degrees Celsius. The lasers, which were fired together for the first time last month, have so far produced pulses of 1.1 megajoules. "Depending on how you count it, it's between 60 and 100 times more energetic than any laser system that's ever been built," says Edward Moses, the principle associate director for NIF and Photon Science at LLNL. Eventually, the fusion reactions produced by each pulse are expected to generate at least 10 times the energy delivered by the lasers, a significant net gain that could be useful for generating power. The $3.5 billion facility, which has been in development for 15 years, was funded primarily as a way to better understand nuclear weapons, after a ban on testing in the 1990s. NIF will produce tiny thermonuclear explosions that give scientists insight into what happens when a nuclear bomb goes off. That data can, in turn, be used to verify computer simulations that help determine whether the United States' nuclear stockpile will continue to work as the weapons age. The data could also provide insight into the processes that power the sun and other stars, and answer other scientific questions. Finally, NIF could serve as a proof-of-concept design for a fusion power plant. To generate fusion, 192 laser beams are generated, amplified, converted from infrared to ultraviolet light, and then aimed at a small gold canister the size of a pencil eraser. Inside that canister is a sphere containing the fuel: two isotopes of hydrogen called deuterium and tritium. The lasers are positioned all around the sphere to create the temperatures and pressures needed to ignite a fusion reaction. If all goes as planned, some of the hydrogen atoms should fuse, producing helium and releasing energy. This should, in turn, cause more fusion reactions until the fuel runs out. The whole process will take just a few billionths of a second. Innovative glass: The glass needed for the laser’s amplifiers was made using techniques developed specifically for the National Ignition Facility. Here are examples of melted and rough-cut neodymium-doped phosphate glass. Credit: Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Department of EnergyResearchers have created fusion in the lab before, but their experiments required more energy than they produced. For example, a system at Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories, called the Z machine [2], uses electricity instead of lasers to compress hydrogen isotopes and produce fusion. A significantly larger version of the Z machine would be needed to generate more energy than it uses. Moses says that the NIF could reach fusion "gain" in just two to three years, well ahead of the more famous ITER fusion project [3] in Cadarache, France, which likely won't be operational until 2018. "This has been a grand challenge for a long time, so hubris is the worst thing," Moses says. "But we think we see our way through it. When we get a [fusion] burn in 2010 or 2011, we'll be in a very exciting place. I think the world will wake up to the possibilities." Moses is referring chiefly to the possibilities offered by a fusion power plant. Fusion poses no danger of nuclear proliferation, produces little waste, and uses abundant sources of fuel, so it could provide plenty of clean power for many thousands of years. Some say the fuel--hydrogen--is virtually unlimited, although proposed reactors will use tritium, a hydrogen isotope made from lithium, which is scarcer. The current facility isn't built to generate electricity. But Moses says that with the right funding, a power plant using fusion from a system like the one at NIF could be running in a decade. In contrast, power plants based on the Z machine at Sandia or the ITER system in France are decades away [4]. Other experts, however, are more skeptical. "If NIF is successfully, they'll still be a very long way from turning this into a practical energy source," says Ian Hutchinson, professor and head of nuclear science and engineering at MIT. For example, he says, a power plant would require the lasers to fire much more frequently than the NIF lasers--5 to 10 times a second, rather than once every couple of days, as is possible now. (Each burst would release energy equivalent to about five kilowatt-hours of electricity: by comparison, an average nuclear power plant generates 12.4 billion kilowatt hours a year, while an average house requires about 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month.) In contrast, ITER will use magnetic confinement of hot plasma to produce fusion, a system that produces a continuous stream of energy that could be more suited to generating electricity than the very short bursts of energy produced by NIF, he says. Whether or not it leads to fusion power plants, NIF is significant, says Stewart Prager, the director of the Department of Energy's Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University. The science it will make possible "cannot be done elsewhere," he says. [1] See NIF: lasers.llnl.gov/
[2] See Z machine: www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18610/
[3] See ITER fusion project: www.technologyreview.com/Energy/14755/
[4] See decades away: www.technologyreview.com/energy/21790/
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Mar 30, 2009 5:17:16 GMT 4
Post by Eagles Disobey on Mar 30, 2009 5:17:16 GMT 4
EAGLES DISOBEY'S MAIN WEBSITE ;D WILL BE BACK UP VERY QUICKLY! WE WERE HIT OVER 10,000,000 TIMES IN THE PAST 24 HOURS, SO EVEN OUR BANDWIDTH WAS EXCEEDED! ;D
EAGLES DISOBEY!
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Mar 30, 2009 6:50:47 GMT 4
Post by satchmo on Mar 30, 2009 6:50:47 GMT 4
Dissolved Iron Proves Ineffective at Slowing Climate Change Hopes that phytoplankton could defeat global warming turned out to be prematureAccording to Indian and German researchers, an experiment that involved dumping tons of dissolved iron into the Southern Ocean does not appear to be a viable way to prevent global warming The experiment involved "fertilizing" a 300-square-kilometer (115-square-mile) area of ocean inside the core of an eddy with six tons of dissolved iron. The iron stimulated growth of planktonic algae called phytoplankton, which researched had hoped would absorb and reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But the scientists from India's National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) did not expect the phytoplankton to be eaten by crustacean zooplankton. "The cooperative project Lohafex has yielded new insights on how ocean ecosystems function," the AWI said in statement published earlier this week. "But it has dampened hopes on the potential of the Southern Ocean to sequester significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and thus mitigate global warming." Simple idea, complex issue Polarstern is the most important tool in Germany's polar research program The team set sail from Cape Town on the Polarstern vessel in January and spent two and half months conducting the geo-engineering experiment. The idea behind iron fertilization was simple. Algae living at the ocean surface have plenty of nutrients but are starved of iron. Sprinkle iron dust on the water and they reproduce rapidly, absorbing carbon dioxide from the surface water. At the end of their life cycle the algae die and sink. Most of the carbon would thus end up in deep water or on the sea bottom. The ocean would absorb more carbon dioxide from the air, reducing the greenhouse effect. Sequestering carbon this was thought to be a possible strategy against global warming. Similar projects, however, have been heavily criticized by environmentalist groups for failing to address the human behavior that causes global warming and for having the potential to change the ecosystem in unforeseen ways. Other geo-engineering ideas include sowing sulphur particles in the stratosphere to reflect solar radiation and erecting mirrors in orbit that would deflect sunrays and thus slightly cool the planet. www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4126536,00.html satchmo
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Mar 30, 2009 6:59:13 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 30, 2009 6:59:13 GMT 4
Palestinian orchestra shut after Israel concert The young musicians performed for Holocaust survivors near Tel AvivMSNBC updated 4:57 p.m. ET, Sun., March. 29, 2009www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29944994/Tara Todras-whitehll Palestinian children from the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank pose for a photo after playing for Holocaust survivors at a center in Holon near Tel Aviv, Wednesday, March 25. JENIN, West Bank - Authorities in an impoverished Palestinian refugee camp have shut down a youth orchestra, boarded up its rehearsal studio and banned its conductor from the camp after she took 13 young musicians to perform for Holocaust survivors in Israel, an official said Sunday.Conductor Wafa Younes took the children from her Strings of Freedom orchestra to sing songs of peace last week as part of an annual Good Deeds Day organized by Israel's richest woman. But once parents and leaders back in West Bank's Jenin refugee camp realized where the group had been, they shut down the program, saying Younes had dragged the children into a political issue.The discord highlights both the distrust many Palestinians have of any engagement with Israel, as well as their reluctance to acknowledge Jewish historical suffering because of concerns that it weakens their own claim to this disputed land. Millions killed in Nazi campaignSome 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi campaign to wipe out European Jewry, and the urgent need to find a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of survivors catalyzed the creation of Israel after World War II. A community leader in the Jenin camp, Adnan Hindi, said the musicians' parents had not known where Younes was taking their children and were angry when they learned of the performance from media reports. "She exploited the children for a big political issue," said Hindi, head of a camp committee responsible for municipal duties. Hindi did not deny there was a Holocaust, but said Palestinians had suffered at the hands of Israel. "The Holocaust happened, but we are facing a similar massacre by the Jews themselves," he said. "We lost our land, and we were forced to flee and we've lived in refugee camps for the past 50 years." More than 700,000 Palestinians either fled or were expelled from their homes in the war that followed Israel's creation, an event Arabs call the Naqba, or catastrophe. Many of their descendants still live in refugee camps like Jenin. "If I had known this was a political excursion, I would not have let my son go," said Ibrahim Samour, father of 18-year-old Qusay, who plays the kamanja, a traditional Arab stringed instrument similar to a violin. 'Has to be mutual recognition'When asked why he objected to his son performing for the group of about 30 elderly Holocaust survivors, near Tel Aviv, Samour, 61, said his family fled to Jenin in 1948 from land that is now part of Israel. "I'm not denying bad things happened to them, but there has to be mutual recognition," he said.Avner Shalev, chairman of Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, called the orchestra's closure "very unfortunate." Ignorance and even denial of the Holocaust is widespread in Palestinian society. To increase awareness, Yad Vashem created an Arabic-language Web site last year with survivor testimonies that has so far received about a half million visits, Shalev said. Khaled Mahameed, an Arab Israeli who runs a small institute in the biblical town of Nazareth to teach Palestinians about the Holocaust, said many Palestinians feel Israel uses the Holocaust to justify its actions against Palestinians. "They think that if you talk about the Holocaust, then you feel sympathy for the Jewish people, and the conclusion is that you have to support Israel," he said. Younes, an Arab from the northern Israeli village of Ara, had been training the modest orchestra of 11- to 13-year-olds for about three years and had taken them on previous trips, camp residents said. Project bankrolled by billionaireYounes said camp officials closed the ensemble so they could take over its funds. "They want to destroy this group," she said. "It's a shame, it's a tragedy. What did these poor, elderly people do wrong? What did these children do wrong?"The project was bankrolled by billionaire businesswoman Shari Arison. At Wednesday's concert in Holon neither the orchestra nor the audience initially knew where the other was from. Audience members gasped when the performers were introduced as West Bank Palestinians, a rare sight in Israel. And the performers had no idea the audience were survivors of the Nazi genocide — or even what the Holocaust was. Israeli historian Tom Segev said lack of knowledge about each other's history hinders prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace. "You can't understand Israel unless you understand the role of the Holocaust in Israeli identity," he said. "And if you don't understand your enemy, you can't make peace."
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Mar 30, 2009 18:15:17 GMT 4
Post by 41n350e on Mar 30, 2009 18:15:17 GMT 4
5769 - 2009 = 3760. 3760 BC = Start of the Jewish ( and possibly Assyrian) calendar when the gift of "kingship came down from the heavens" How cool is that? 41
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Mar 30, 2009 21:28:43 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 30, 2009 21:28:43 GMT 4
New breakthrough in global warming plant productionResearchers 1 step closer to 'Holy Grail' of plant biology researchEurekAlert Public Release: 30-Mar-2009www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/uol-nbi033009.phpResearchers at the universities of Leicester and Oxford have made a discovery about plant growth which could potentially have an enormous impact on crop production as global warming increases. Dr Kerry Franklin, from the University of Leicester Department of Biology led the study which has identified a single gene responsible for controlling plant growth responses to elevated temperature. Dr Franklin said: "Exposure of plants to high temperature results in the rapid elongation of stems and a dramatic upwards elevation of leaves". "These responses are accompanied by a significant reduction in plant biomass, thereby severely reducing harvest yield. Our study has revealed that a single gene product regulates all these architectural adaptations in the model plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana." The work has been published in Current Biology and was funded by the Royal Society and the BBSRC. Dr Franklin added: "This study provides the first major advance in understanding how plants regulate growth responses to elevated temperature at the molecular level. This discovery will prove fundamental in understanding the effects of global climate change on crop productivity". "Identification of the mechanisms by which plants sense changes in ambient temperature remains a Holy Grail in plant biology research. Although the identity of such 'temperature sensors' remains elusive, the discovery of a key downstream regulator brings us closer to addressing this important question." The study has shown that mutant plants, deficient in the regulatory protein PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4) do not display the dramatic stem elongation and leaf elevation responses observed in wild type plants upon exposure to elevated temperature. The study has further shown PIF4 to regulate a pathway involving the plant hormone auxin. The PIF4 gene product was previously identified as a co-regulator of light-mediated elongation growth, suggesting plants integrate light and temperature signalling pathways through converged regulation of the same target proteins. Figure: Arabidopsis thaliana plants grown at 22oC (left) and 28oC (right)- image available from pt91@le.ac.ukFor more information, please contact Dr. Kerry Franklin: kaf5@le.ac.uk, 0116 252 5302.
About the BBSRC The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is the UK funding agency for research in the life sciences. Sponsored by Government, BBSRC annually invests around £420 million in a wide range of research that makes a significant contribution to the quality of life for UK citizens and supports a number of important industrial stakeholders including the agriculture, food, chemical, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors. BBSRC carries out its mission by funding internationally competitive research, providing training in the biosciences, fostering opportunities for knowledge transfer and innovation and promoting interaction with the public and other stakeholders on issues of scientific interest in universities, centres and institutes.
The Babraham Institute, Institute for Animal Health, Institute of Food Research, John Innes Centre and Rothamsted Research are Institutes of BBSRC. The Institutes conduct long-term, mission-oriented research using specialist facilities. They have strong interactions with industry, Government departments and other end-users of their research. For more information see: www.bbsrc.ac.uk
University of Leicester - Times Higher Education University of the Year 2008/09 About the University of Leicester A member of the 1994 Group of universities that share a commitment to research excellence, high quality teaching and an outstanding student experience.- Named University of the Year by Times Higher (2008) Shortlisted (2006, 2005) and by the Sunday Times (2007)
- Ranked second to Cambridge for student satisfaction amongst full time students taught at mainstream universities in England
- Ranked as a Top 20 university by the Sunday Times, Guardian,Times and UK Complete University Guide, published in The Independent
- Ranked in world's top 200 universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong International Index, 2005-08 and the Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings
- Ranked top 10 in England for research impact by The Guardian
Students' Union of the Year award 2005, short listed 2006 and 2007 Founded in 1921, the University of Leicester has more than 20,000 students from 136 countries. Teaching in 18 subject areas has been graded Excellent by the Quality Assurance Agency- including 14 successive scores - a consistent run of success matched by just one other UK University. Leicester is world renowned for the invention of DNA Fingerprinting by Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys and houses Europe's biggest academic Space Research Centre. The latest Research Assessment Exercise adjudged Leicester to have world leading research in every subject panel and identified Museum Studies (at 65%) as having the highest proportion of world leading researchers compared with any other subject area at any university in the UK. Leicester also emerged as having one of the highest proportions of staff who are research active in the UK, with approximately 93% of staff submitted for the exercise. The University's research grant income places it among the top 20 UK research universities. The University employs over 3,000 people, has an annual turnover of over £200m, covers an estate of 94 hectares. I read this article and started searching the research sites and researchers - just simple web searches.
Monsanto and/or Dow Chemical (another industrial giant and GM seed competitor) are funders of all of the research cited above. Now Bill Gates and his foundation has hopped on the GM bandwagon with major contributions from his foundation to the Chinese GM research programs.
In addition, Monsanto has cooperative agreements with the major research facilities in China, YALE University, India, Japan, EU member countries...the list is long.
I was hit with an overwhelming feeling of despair and almost deleted this post. The I realized that others had to face giants like these and while they may have had despairing moments, they still shoulder the burden and carried on.
So here it is.
Genetically modified "anything" comes with a cost. Whether we pay it or our children pay it remains to be seen - and THAT is the reason why this needs UNBIASED regulatory overhaul - IMMEDIATELY.
Peace and Joy Always
Sally Anne
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Mar 30, 2009 21:46:48 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 30, 2009 21:46:48 GMT 4
Microbes turn electricity directly to methane without hydrogen generationEurekAlert Public Release: 30-Mar-2009www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/ps-mte033009.phpA tiny microbe can take electricity and directly convert carbon dioxide and water to methane, producing a portable energy source with a potentially neutral carbon footprint, according to a team of Penn State engineers. "We were studying making hydrogen in microbial electrolysis cells and we kept getting all this methane," said Bruce E. Logan, Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering, Penn State. "We may now understand why." Methanogenic microorganisms do produce methane in marshes and dumps, but scientists thought that the organisms turned hydrogen or organic materials, such as acetate, into methane. However, the researchers found, while trying to produce hydrogen in microbial electrolysis cells, that their cells produced much more methane than expected. "All the methane generation going on in nature that we have assumed is going through hydrogen may not be," said Logan. "We actually find very little hydrogen in the gas phase in nature. Perhaps where we assumed hydrogen is being made, it is not." Microbial electrolysis cells do require an electrical voltage to be added to the voltage that is produced by bacteria using organic materials to produce current that evolves into hydrogen. The researchers found that the Archaea, using about the same electrical input, could use the current to convert carbon dioxide and water to methane without any organic material, bacteria or hydrogen usually found in microbial electrolysis cells. They report their findings in this week's issue of Environmental Science and Technology. "We have a microbe that is self perpetuating that can accept electrons directly, and use them to create methane," said Logan. Logan, working with Shaoan Cheng, senior research associate; Defeng Xing, post doctoral researcher, and Douglas F. Call, graduate student, environmental engineering, confirmed that the microscopic organisms produced the methane. The researchers created a two-chambered cell with an anode immersed in water on one side of the chamber and a cathode in water, inorganic nutrients and carbon dioxide on the other side of the chamber. They applied a voltage, but recorded only a minute current. The researchers then coated the cathode with the biofilm of Archaea and not only did current flow in the circuit, but the cell produced methane. "The only way to get current at the voltage we used was if the microbes were directly accepting electrons," said Logan. He notes that the electrochemical reaction takes place without any precious metal catalysts and at a lower energy level than converting carbon dioxide to methane using conventional, non-biological methods. The cells are about 80 percent efficient in converting electricity to methane and because they use carbon dioxide as feed stock, would be carbon neutral if the electricity comes from a non-carbon source such as solar or wind power. "The process does not sequester carbon, but it does turn carbon dioxide into fuel," said Logan. "If the methane is burned and carbon dioxide captured, then the process can be carbon neutral." Logan suggests the method for off peak capture of renewable energy in a portable fuel. Methane is preferred over hydrogen because a large portion of the U.S. infrastructure is already set up to easily transport and deliver methane. The National Science Foundation and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. supported this project.Now, while I applaud these findings I am compelled to point out that methane production in use today is NATURAL GAS. Methane is a GREENHOUSE GAS.
I would like to see the complete results of this research - what are the final breakdowns and residues left and their impact on the environment.
Without that, I find it another way to keep the "gas pipeline" and "cash flow" open to companies already gouging us and gorging themselves on the profits they are currently reaping.
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Mar 30, 2009 22:23:15 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 30, 2009 22:23:15 GMT 4
The EurekAlert site listed the following article synopsis on its "Breaking News" page:Nitrate stimulates greenhouse gas production in small streamsJournal of Environmental Quality EurekAlert Public Release: 30-Mar-2009www.soils.org/press/releases/2009/0330/252/A study conducted at the University of Notre Dame revealed that nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, is frequently produced in the sediments of small streams and that production rates were best explained by stream water nitrate concentrations. These concentrations are often the result of runoff from agricultural soils, where it is well established that a high presence of nitrates can stimulate nitrous oxide production.Contact: Sara Uttech suttech@soils.org 608-268-4948 Soil Science Society of America When clicking on the above link you get this message from the Soil Science Society of America:The page you requested does not exist. For your convenience, a search was performed using the query press releases 2009 0330 252.Directly searching the University of Notre Dame's site came up with this statement:Your search - "Nitrate stimulates greenhouse gas production in small streams" - did not match any documents. No pages were found containing ""Nitrate stimulates greenhouse gas production in small streams"".The best I could find was this page:www.nd.edu/~cest/research/index.htmHopefully this is just a glitch...
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Mar 30, 2009 23:08:01 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 30, 2009 23:08:01 GMT 4
Researchers Combine Veterinary Medicine, Conservation and Anthropology to Examine Use of Native Plants in Animal HealthKansas State University Thursday, March 26, 2009www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/mar09/medplants32609.htmlPterocarpus angolensis (Kiaat tree) is used to treat tick-borne diseases. (All photos courtesty of Deon van der Merwe) MANHATTAN -- When animals in southern Africa are sick, often the first place their caretakers look for help is from native plants. That's what makes understanding and conserving these plants so important, according to a group of Kansas State University researchers who are learning more about the uses of such plants in veterinary medicine. Urginea sanguinea (slangkop) is a medicinal plant that is also highly dangerous due to toxicity."Our idea is to bridge the disciplines of anthropology, veterinary medicine and ecological conservation," said Ronette Gehring, assistant professor of clinical sciences at K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine.She is working with fellow veterinarian Deon van der Merwe, K-State assistant professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology, to better understand how farmers and other people in southern Africa use native plants for animal health. Southern Africa is rich in botanical and cultural diversity, which makes it an ideal environment to study plants as a component of ethno-veterinary medicine. Van der Merwe and Gehring are working with K-State's David Hartnett, university distinguished professor of biology, to understand the conservation needs for these important plants, and with Tiffany Kershner, assistant professor of anthropology at K-State, to understand the cultural and linguistic aspects. Gehring will present the group's research at K-State's African Issues Symposium: Food Security, Environmental Sustainability and Human Health, which is March 30 to April 1. More information about the symposium is available at: www.k-state.edu/africanstudies/2009symposium/Gehring said people in southern Africa rely on native plants for the health of food animals like cattle, goats, sheep and chickens, as well as for dogs, which are popular as pets. "In the United States, medicinal plants aren't used as much for animals, except as alternative health care for pets and other companion animals," Gehring said. "In developing countries, they are very much being used as primary care. Native plants are what people have access to."The K-State research so far has relied on the few attempts by other researchers to document the use of native plants for veterinary medicine in southern Africa, including van der Merwe's previous research, which he said established a baseline that will make it easier to do comparative research in different regions. "With just 21 references, we have barely scratched the surface," Gehring said. "Few groups are interested in studying this. The data haven't been pulled together before, so this is an important starting point. Now we have a database to use." Herders are the typical users of traditional medicines.The researchers found 18 areas in southern Africa where native plants are documented being used for animal health. This includes 506 herbal remedies, although these don't come from 506 unique plants. These remedies are documented being used for 81 symptoms, including intestinal parasites, wounds, diarrhea and helping cows that are calving."The vast majority of these 506 remedies use roots, leaves and bark, if not the whole plant," Gehring said. "This is potentially destructive to the plant, which is a concern from a conservation standpoint." Gehring said it's also important for the researchers to understand more about the context in which these remedies are used. "These remedies are often used by farmers rather than healers and other health care providers for whom the treatment may be more secretive," Gehring said. "Farmers may be more open about their knowledge."Kershner, a linguistic anthropologist, said that one of the many challenges the researchers face is that for many of the smaller indigenous African languages, there is no written record. "For some of these smaller groups, there is little documentation of linguistic and cultural practices involved in ethno-veterinary plant harvesting and treatment, yet we know they exist," she said. As these languages become threatened by outside influences, Kershner said knowledge about native plants used in veterinary medicine might also disappear. Understanding the cultural aspects of plant use also will help anthropologists better understand how different cultures perceive and talk about their natural world, she said.
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Mar 30, 2009 23:08:36 GMT 4
Post by grace on Mar 30, 2009 23:08:36 GMT 4
Dear Starfire 17 Will you be the one to tell it? and when you have told it, will it be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Dear Starfire 17 will you begin... ah men
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Mar 30, 2009 23:20:53 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 30, 2009 23:20:53 GMT 4
Time of conception linked to birth defects in United StatesEurekAlert Public Release: 30-Mar-2009www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/iu-toc033009.phpINDIANAPOLIS – A study published in the April 2009 issue of the medical journal Acta Pædiatrica is the first to report that birth defect rates in the United States were highest for women conceiving in the spring and summer. The researchers also found that this period of increase risk correlated with increased levels of pesticides in surface water across the United States. Studying all 30.1 million births which occurred in the U.S. between 1996 and 2002, the researchers found a strong association between the increased number of birth defects in children of women whose last menstrual period occurred in April, May, June or July and elevated levels of nitrates, atrazine and other pesticides in surface water during the same months. While many of these chemicals, including the herbicide atrazine which is banned in European countries but permitted in the U.S., are suspected to be harmful to the developing embryo, this is the first study to link their increased seasonal concentration in surface water with the peak in birth defects in infants conceived in the same months.The correlation between the month of last menstrual period and higher rates of birth defects was statistically significant for half of the 22 categories of birth defects reported in a Centers for Disease Control database from 1996 to 2002 including spina bifida, cleft lip, clubfoot and Down's syndrome. "Elevated concentrations of pesticides and other agrochemicals in surface water during April through July coincided with significantly higher risk of birth defects in live births conceived by women whose last menstrual period began in the same months. While our study didn't prove a cause and effect link, the fact that birth defects and pesticides in surface water peak during the same four months makes us suspect that the two are related," said Paul Winchester, M.D., Indiana University School of Medicine professor of clinical pediatrics, the first author of the study. "Birth defects, which affect about 3 out of 100 newborns in the U.S., are one of the leading causes of infant death. What we are most excited about is that if our suspicions are right and pesticides are contributing to birth defect risk, we can reverse or modify the factors that are causing these lifelong and often very serious medical problems," said Dr. Winchester, a Riley Hospital for Children neonatalogist. Birth defects are known to be associated with risk factors such as alcohol, smoking, diabetes or advanced age. However, the researchers found that even mothers who didn't report these risk factors had higher overall birth defect rates for babies conceived from April to July. The study relies on findings by U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies on the seasonal variations in nitrates, atrazine and other pesticides in the surface water. "These observations by Dr. Winchester are extremely important, as they raise the question for the first time regarding the potential adverse effect of these commonly used chemicals on pregnancy outcome – the health and well-being of our children," said James Lemons, M.D., Hugh McK. Landon Professor of Pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine. Dr. Lemons is director of the section of neonatal-perinatal medicine at Riley Hospital. Co-authors of this study, which was funded by the Division of Neonatalogy of the Department of Pediatrics of the IU School of Medicine, were Jordan Huskins, B.A., a fourth year I.U. School of Medicine student, and Jun Ying, Ph.D. of the University of Cincinnati.I previously posted information on good old atrazine and our "buddies" at Monsanto. There's no need to repeat it here.
This article addresses the prenatal impacts. Now, let's take this a step further, shall we. Do the schools use pesticides and weed killers on their playgrounds? Yes, they do. So, now what impact does this have on children playing outside on the "turf"?
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Mar 30, 2009 23:33:38 GMT 4
Post by grace on Mar 30, 2009 23:33:38 GMT 4
Worlds in Collidoscope
Where is that world Ubleck, is it in head or heart? is it in place or space, is it in time or in eternity. Is in in DNA or AND plus all who went before and will come after the sound of the shuffling feet of the brothers and sisters who's faces glow with a moment's life stirring promise. Is your world and my world colliding with nano-seconds to spare before i see you in my eyes. Before i recognise the very brilliance of your beauty. The breathtaking aching love of the Creator of all worlds willing you on to create more worlds, your world and my world.
you are my world i am your world
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Mar 30, 2009 23:53:58 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 30, 2009 23:53:58 GMT 4
Solar Activity And Climate Change: New Sun-Watching Satellite To Monitor Sunlight FluctuationsScienceDaily Mar. 29, 2009www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090328163643.htmDuring periods of peak activity (front three images) sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections are more common, and the sun emits slightly more energy than during periods of low activity (back images). The amount of energy that strikes Earth's atmosphere -- called total solar irradiance (TSI) -- fluctuates by about 0.1 percent over the course of the sun's 11-year cycle, even though the soft X-ray wavelengths shown in this image vary by much greater amounts. (Credit: Steele Hill, SOHO, NASA/ESA)During the Maunder Minimum, a period of diminished solar activity between 1645 and 1715, sunspots were rare on the face of the sun, sometimes disappearing entirely for months to years. At the same time, Earth experienced a bitter cold period known as the "Little Ice Age." Were the events connected? Scientists cannot say for sure, but it's quite likely. Slowdowns in solar activity -- evidenced by reductions in sunspot numbers -- are known to coincide with decreases in the amount of energy discharged by the sun. During the Little Ice Age, though, few would have thought to track total solar irradiance (TSI), the amount of solar energy striking Earth's upper atmosphere. In fact, the scientific instrument needed to make such measurements -- a spaceborne radiometer -- was still three centuries into the future. Modern scientists have several tools for studying TSI. Since the 1970s, scientists have relied upon a collection of radiometers on American and European spacecraft to keep a close eye on solar fluctuations from above the atmosphere, which intercepts much of the sun's radiation. When NASA launches the Glory satellite this fall (no earlier than October 2009), researchers will have a more accurate instrument for measuring TSI than they've ever had before. The Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) on Glory is more sophisticated, but still related in concept to the very earliest ground-based solar radiometers, which were invented in 1838. Where those radiometers used sunlight to heat water and indicate the intensity of the sun's brightness at the Earth's surface, Glory's TIM instrument will use a black-coated metallic detector to measure how much heat is produced by solar radiation as it reaches the top of the Earth's atmosphere. Solar bolometers, as this subset of radiometers is called, have been flown on ten previous missions. Nimbus-7, launched in 1978, included one of the first spaceborne bolometers, and progressively more advanced instruments have followed on other NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and European Space Agency missions. In 2003, a first generation TIM instrument went aloft with the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) satellite. Learning from that instrument, engineers have tweaked the optical and electrical sensors to make the Glory TIM even more capable of measuring the true solar brightness and its fluctuations. "The Glory TIM should be three times more accurate than SORCE TIM, and about ten times more accurate than earlier instruments," said Greg Kopp, a physicist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and leader of the TIM science team. "There's no doubt that's an ambitious goal, but I wouldn't be surprised if they pull it off," said Joseph Rice, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md. Beyond engineering improvements, the Glory irradiance monitor has another advantage: access to the one-of-a-kind TSI Radiometer Facility. Funded by NASA and built by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colo., the new facility has allowed Kopp's team to calibrate the instrument in the same configuration and under the same conditions as it will endure in space. In January 2009, the Glory TIM instrument underwent a rigorous battery of tests while being compared to a highly accurate ground-based radiometer. "This was the first time a TSI instrument has ever been validated end-to-end," Kopp said. "The improvements in accuracy will make it possible to detect long-term changes in the sun's output much more quickly." The data will help scientists say more definitively whether the sun’s output is gradually trending upward or downward, and whether the trend is influencing the pace of climate change. Existing measurements offer a rough sketch, but they’re not quite accurate enough over decades to centuries to paint a clear picture of whether changes in TSI reflect real changes on the sun or just artifacts of different instrument designs. That's because the radiometers that have measured TSI so far have all reported values at slightly different levels and have all been calibrated differently, injecting a degree of uncertainty into the record. The new TIM should be sufficiently accurate to quickly yield definitive data on whether solar irradiance is trending up or down. Modelers estimate that TSI increased roughly 0.08 percent as the Sun exited the Maunder Minimum, which lasted for much of the 1700s. But even if TSI radiometers had been available at the time, the increase in irradiance was so gradual that identifying the trend would have been difficult. Detecting such subtle changes is where the Glory TIM shines. Prior to SORCE, most TSI instruments had only 0.1 percent accuracy, and could not have reliably detected a 0.08 percent change over a century, Kopp explained. The improved accuracy of the SORCE TIM (0.035 percent) would detect such a change in about 35 years. The Glory TIM, meanwhile, should reduce the time needed to nearly ten years. Getting TSI right has profound implications for understanding Earth's climate. Thanks to previous orbiting radiometers, scientists know TSI varies by roughly 0.1 percent through the sun’s 11-year magnetic cycle. Such a variation cannot explain the intensity and speed of the warming trends on Earth during the last century, explained Judith Lean, a solar physicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. But, that's not to say that the sun has no influence on climate change. While total solar irradiance changes by 0.1 percent, the change in the intensity of ultraviolet light varies by much larger amounts, scientists have discovered. Research shows such variations in the Sun's emissions can affect the ozone layer and the way energy moves both vertically and horizontally through the atmosphere. After examining the historical TSI database, some scientists have suggested that solar irradiance could account for as much as a quarter of recent global warming. But without a continuous and reliable TSI record, Kopp and Lean point out, there will always be room for skeptics to blame global warming entirely on the sun, even when most evidence suggests human activities are the key influence on modern climate changes. Beyond that, there's a big "what if" percolating through the scientific community. The 0.1 percent variation in solar irradiance is certainly too subtle to explain all of the recent warming. "But, what if -- as many assume -- much longer solar cycles are also at work?" said Lean. In that case, it's not impossible that long-term patterns -- proceeding over hundreds or thousands of years -- could cause more severe swings in TSI. Could a modern day Maunder Minimum offset the warming influence of greenhouse gases or even throw us back into another little ice age? "It's extremely unlikely," said Lean, "but we won't know for sure unless we keep up and perfect our measurements." Adapted from materials provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.Here is the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center article link:New Sun-Watching Instrument to Monitor Sunlight FluctuationsMarch 23, 2009 www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/glory_irradiance.htmlThere are more graphics and pictures available, too.
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Mar 31, 2009 0:03:07 GMT 4
Post by towhom on Mar 31, 2009 0:03:07 GMT 4
New Step Towards Quantum ComputersScienceDaily Mar. 30, 2009www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090329205547.htmThe diagrams show how the spin "wavers" (oscillation shown at top) in relation to time following an alignment laser pulse. One oscillation period corresponds to one complete "waver" rotation. As anticipated, the strength (amplitude) of all red curves decreases with time. After 1.2 nanoseconds (ns) a laser control pulse is irradiated to suddenly change the alignment of the spin, indicated by the phase of blue and finally green curves: It is precisely the counter-phase to the black curve at the bottom, recorded without control pulse. Moreover this waver builds up in the counter-phase at 2.4 ns, so that the signal is particularly high here, significantly facilitating readout. (Credit: Image courtesy of Ruhr-Universitaet-Bochum)The intrinsic rotation of electrons – the "spin" – is a promising property for future electronics devices. If use as an information carrier were possible, the processing power of electronic components would suddenly increase to a multiple of the present capacity. In cooperation with colleagues from Dortmund, St. Petersburg and Washington, Ruhr-Universität Bochum physicists have now succeeded in aligning electron spin, bringing it to a controlled "waver" and reading it out. The electron spin can also be realigned as required at any time using optical pulses."This is the first, important step toward addressing these "quantum bits", which will form an integral part of data transfer systems and processors in the future," said Prof. Andreas Wieck. The researchers have published their report in Nature Physics. Complex Calculations in Minimum SpaceModern electronics is based on electrical charges: If a memory cell (bit) has an electrical charge, it represents a logical "1"; if no charge is present, this is a logical "0". However, electrons have more than just a charge – they spin like a top around their own axis, producing a magnetic field, similar to the earth. This spin can be accelerated or decelerated by applying an external magnetic field. The "top" begins to waver and its axis tips to virtually any desired angle.If these manifold possibilities were used as information carriers, it would be possible to store a great deal more information than just "0" and "1" with an electron. Moreover adjacent electrons could be moved into various configurations, because they exert forces on one another in the same manner as two magnets on a bulletin board. This phenomenon would provide a significantly more complex base for data storage and processing. Even a small quantity of these so-call quantum bits (qubits), would allow extremely complex calculations, for which millions of bits are required today. Confinement of Spins in Indium-Arsenic IslandsNaturally, one single electron has only a very small measurable effect. For this reason, individual electron measurements can only be performed with great difficulty using highly sensitive instruments. This is why the international research team has specialized in confining nearly one million electrons each in virtually identical indium-arsenic islands ("quantum dots") and totaling their effect. These "ensemble" measurements provide signals which are stronger by a magnitude of six, making them very sturdy and allowing them to be recorded easily. "Contrary to the preconceptions of many international competitors, all associated electron spins exhibit precisely the same behavior, and the microscopic effects can therefore be measured very easily," stated Wieck.Optical Switching of Quantum DotsIn their study, the physicists were not only successful in aligning the electron spin; they also managed to rotate it optically using a laser pulse in any desired direction at any time and read this direction out with a further laser pulse. This is the first important step towards "addressing" and influencing qubits. "The interesting factor here is that these electrons are enclosed in solid bodies, so we no longer need complex high vacuum equipment and light occlusion on all sides to keep them permanently in a module as in quantum optics," stressed Prof. Wieck. In Bochum, the extremely high vacuum is required only once during production of the quantum dot; after that the semiconductor system is sealed against air ingress, has a long service life and is just as reliable as all transistors and memory cells already in use today. Journal reference: A. Greilich, Sophia E. Economou, S. Spatzek, D. R. Yakovlev, D. Reuter, A. D. Wieck, T. L. Reinecke, M. Bayer. Ultrafast optical rotations of electron spins in quantum dots. Nature Physics, 2009; DOI: 10.1038/nphys1226 Adapted from materials provided by Ruhr-Universitaet-Bochum, via AlphaGalileo.
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