A Small Window on Big Science
Washington Post: Sandra G. Boodman investigates one of D.C.'s smaller museums, the Koshland Science Museum.
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November 30, 2007A Small Window on Big Science
Washington Post: Sandra G. Boodman investigates one of D.C.'s smaller museums, the Koshland Science Museum.
China Nuclear Power Poised for Export in `Self-Reliance' BidBloomberg: China is gearing up to become the world's biggest producer and operator of nuclear plants. The country plans to build about 30 new reactors by 2020, at a cost totaling 450 billion yuan ($61 billion). Deals signed this year with Westinghouse Electric Co. and Areva SA will put the Chinese in position to copy the latest technology. Its biggest threat may be as a competitor in selling the $3 billion to $5 billion nuclear plants at home and abroad. China's atomic industry may follow the copy-and-compete blueprint laid out by local makers of cars, drugs and coal-fired power plants says Bloomberg's Dune Lawrence and Alan Katz. See also: Study Details How U.S. Could Cut 28% of Greenhouse GasesThe New York Times: The United States could shave as much as 28 percent off the amount of greenhouse gases it emits at fairly modest cost and with only small technology innovations, according to a new report. GAO Wants More Oversight of Nuclear LabsThe Associated Press: The nation's nuclear weapons laboratories need tougher safety oversight to fix a recent track record that includes dozens of lapses, accidents and near misses, according to a government report released Wednesday. DOE set to unveil planAmarillo.com: Proposal to modernize nuclear weapons plants MIT Engineer Shakes Korean Academia to Its CoreScience: Radical measures from the new president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology are roiling a tradition-bound system. Rush Limbaugh Takes On Quantum Physics (and Global Warming)Wired: Everybody's favorite cosmologist and climatologist, Rush Limbaugh, did a little bit yesterday on how global warming can't possibly be happening, because, come on, climatologists can't even accurately predict how many hurricanes are coming each year. November 29, 2007New Findings Underscore an Earth-Venus KinshipThe New York Times: In a news conference at the Paris headquarters of the European Space Agency, the scientists, working on the agency’s Venus Express mission, played up the Venus-as-Earth’s-twin angle in presenting their newest findings, including signs of lightning, surprising swings of temperature and additional evidence that Venus could have once had oceans the size of Earth’s. Creativity buoys outlook for hydrogen economyThe Christian Science Monitor: Hydrogen from bacteria, from coal – and how about a hydrogen generator small enough to power your lawn mower? Famous Physicist's Hands Not So DirtyScienceNow: It's not quite a rehabilitation. But a new study clears Dutch physics Nobel laureate Petrus “Peter” Debye of the most serious accusations that arose last year after publications about his past in Nazi Germany. Debye, who succeeded Albert Einstein at the helm of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin in 1934, was not an anti-Semite or a Nazi, the study concludes--but it knocks him for opportunism. Microscopy: Elementary resolutionNature: The atoms and bonds that make up complex solids can be identified chemically — a feat made possible by cleverly combining spectroscopic and structural information conveyed by electrons scattered through a thin sample. November 28, 2007Top US nuclear negotiator stops in Japan on way to North KoreaInternational Herald Tribune: The top U.S. negotiator at talks on North Korea's nuclear programs said Wednesday he is confident the communist country will meet a year-end deadline to disable its main reactor. Going the distance in spaceLos Angeles Times: A University of Texas astronomer devotes 30 years to learning how far it is to a star called a Cepheid, give or take a few hundred light-years. Europe looks to draw power from AfricaNature: Sahara Desert could become home to solar-power plants. November 27, 2007Schrödinger's kittens enter the classical worldNature: Theory shows how quantum weirdness could still be seen on a large scale. Bad VibrationsScienceNews: The ancient craft of bridge design still holds surprises Hot air rises on Sweden's wind power plansThe New York Times: Steadying himself on the heaving foredeck of an inspection ship recently, his face flecked by spray, Arne Floderus pronounced it a good day for his new offshore wind farm. Mysterious Tremors' Strength Ebbs With TidesNational Geographic News: The intensities of strange, long-lasting tremors in North America's Pacific Northwest ramp up and quiet down with the rise and fall of the ocean's tides, according to a new study. Filling the Terahertz GapScience: A device made from a layered superconductor emits electromagnetic waves in a frequency range for which good radiation sources had been lacking. November 26, 2007Tape shows how physicist predicted parallel worldsGuardian Unlimited: The only known recordings of a brilliant physicist who predicted the existence of parallel universes have been found in the basement of his rock star son's flat. Better ocean monitoring 'vital'BBC: Warming seas, overfishing and pollution mean it is vital to improve the system for monitoring the world's oceans, says a group of distinguished scientists. Opinion: Recognizing climate change, but lacking the clarity and honesty to fix itThe Washington Post: The good news on climate change is that the world wants to do something. It's no longer just the Europeans and a few fellow travelers; a recent survey suggested that 96 percent of South Koreans and 66 percent of Ukrainians regard global warming as an important threat. The latest report from the Nobel-anointed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change got the blanket media coverage it warranted. In the United States, business and congressional leaders have decided action is inevitable. UK government to endorse building new nuclear power plantsGuardian Unlimited: Gordon Brown will call for an acceleration of nuclear power today in a speech to business leaders designed to show he is focused on the long term and will not buckle in the face of negative headlines. Opinion: The importance of a U.S.-Indian nuclear dealInternational Herald Tribune: A new era in U.S.-India cooperation was unveiled at the White House in July 2005 when President George W. Bush told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he would work to achieve full civil nuclear energy cooperation and trade with India, despite over a quarter century of disagreements between the two countries over nuclear issues. November 24, 2007Town installs first Archimedes screw on the US east coast to reduce floodingWashington Post: A small town in Prince George's County near Washington D.C. that has flooded four times in the past four years has put a technology more than 2,000 years old to work in a new $6 million pumping station that residents hope will keep them dry. The design, known as an Archimedes screw for the 3rd century B.C. Greek mathematician credited with conceiving it, employs a massive, slowly turning screw to lift a huge quantity of water up a short distance. The new station in Edmonston uses three of the screws to raise water the 20 feet necessary to get it up and out of the town and into a levee system that runs along the Anacostia River. Common nearly everywhere else in the world, this is the first Archimedes screw to be used on the east coast for flood protection. November 21, 2007Mars rover hobbled as instruments show their ageNew Scientist: NASA's Opportunity rover is showing its age. Problems have forced the agency to suspend work involving the rover's rock grinding tool and its infrared spectrometer while engineers try to work out a fix. Germany seeks next EinsteinRetuers: It may have brought the world aspirin, rocket science, quantum physics and the diesel engine, but Germany's days of scientific glory are long gone and it is now hunting for a new generation of Einsteins. India, UN Agency to Start Nuclear TalksGuardian Unlimited: India and the International Atomic Energy Agency have agreed to start talks meant to give the U.N. watchdog an overview of much of New Delhi's civilian nuclear program, the agency said Wednesday. El NinoWeather In A Warmer WorldPhysics News Update: El NinoWeather in a warmer world will cause a decrease in the number of frost days in the southwestern states, an increase in precipitation intensity in southeastern states, and an increase in heat-wave intensity in the southern tier of states, according to a new study. The study looks at the weather impact of El Nino events on weather extremes in North American if, as is often predicted, global warming raises temperatures by a degree or two in coming decades. November 20, 2007Arecibo under threat of closureThe New York Times: The next time an unexpected comet shows up in the inner solar system, Amy J. Lovell may not get time at the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico to observe it before it swings back out. Chikyu 's first mission completeNature: Deep-sea drilling vessel gets off to a good start. Popping bubbles to treat cancerBBC : Scientists at the University of Oxford are trying to harness the energy released when bubbles collapse as a way of killing off cancer cells A Video That's Worth a Million WordsScience News: Award-winning video reveals the simplicity and beauty of an abstract mathematical tool November 19, 2007U.N. Chief Seeks More Climate Change LeadershipThe New York Times: Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, describing climate change as “the defining challenge of our age,” released the final report of a United Nations panel on climate change here on Saturday and called on the United States and China to play “a more constructive role.” Nuclear Deception in Pakistan?NPR: In a new book, two British investigative journalists dig into the story of Pakistan's clandestine nuclear network — and America's role not just in condoning its ally's nuclear ambitions, but aiding them. New Material Doubles Record for Holding HydrogenScience: If the hoped-for hydrogen economy is ever to become a reality, researchers must devise efficient ways to produce and store the gas. That will require a series of breakthroughs that have been slow in coming. But researchers in the United States have hit upon a material for storing hydrogen that could be far better than the competition--just the sort of break hydrogen researchers are looking for. Big Bang or Big Goof? Astronomer Challenges 'Seeds' ProofWired: Most astronomers say that world-famous images from the Cosmic Background Explorer satellite show structures of the early universe. But a lone radio astronomer is claiming that the pictures depict nearby hydrogen gas clouds in our own galaxy, calling a key theory into question. November 18, 2007U.S. Secretly Aids Pakistan in Guarding Nuclear ArmsNew York Times: Over the past six years, the Bush administration has spent almost $100 million on a highly classified program to help Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, secure his country’s nuclear weapons, according to current and former senior administration officials. But with the future of that country’s leadership in doubt, debate is intensifying about whether Washington has done enough to help protect the warheads and laboratories, and whether Pakistan’s reluctance to reveal critical details about its arsenal has undercut the effectiveness of the continuing security effort. November 16, 2007Who has the ear of the president?Nature: 50 years after the appointment of the first presidential science adviser, the White House is flooded with scientific information. Roger Pielke Jr suggests how the next administration might develop ways to use it best. Climate summary fuels worryThe Christian Science Monitor: With the pending release of a new global-warming report, environmentalists, politicians, and scientists wrangle in Spain for consensus. New Analysis Questions Push for More DegreesScience: Gap in U.S. Access to Space Station Is a ConcernThe New York Times: When the space shuttle fleet is retired in 2010, the United States will be dependent on an increasingly hostile Russia for five years to give American astronauts access to the International Space Station, lawmakers and NASA officials said Thursday. Reliable evidence?The Economist: America wants to ensure that its nuclear warheads would go bang rather than pop—but without letting them off to test them November 15, 2007Iran hands over nuclear papers - four years lateGuardian Unlimited: Iran has handed over a nuclear weapons blueprint to the International Atomic Energy Agency, four years after it was requested, diplomats in Vienna said yesterday. The most accurate measurement ever madeNature: Physicists get down to the theoretical limit of precision. Global Warming, Subsidies Fuel a Nuclear RenaissanceWired: A recent application to build the first American nuclear power plant in nearly 30 years has the nuclear community aglow with talk of possible industry resurgence. Competing Theories Proposed for Superbright SupernovaNational Geographic: Two teams of researchers have proposed competing explanations for one of the most brilliant—and puzzling—supernovas in the observable universe, 2006gy. November 14, 2007Nuclear Weapons Lab to Slash 500 JobsLos Angeles Times: One of the nation's premier nuclear weapons labs plans to cut about 500 jobs because of rising costs stemming from a changeover in management and potential federal budget cuts. A chat with DiazWired Science: Retired NASA astronaut and scientist Franklin Chang- Diaz believes the next set of space-based science instruments should be launched by a cheaper rocket. Diaz is now the head of the Ad Astra Rocket Company which is building a new heavy-lift launcher to do just that. In tonight's Wired Science on PBS, Diaz describes some of the new advances in rocket technology that is allowing entrepreneurs such as himself to attempt to compete with Lockheed and Boeing. Wow! Japan’s moon probe updates EarthriseMSNBC: High-definition camera sends back reprise of famous Apollo-era photos Europe's 'big bird' nears flightBBC: Engineers working on Europe's space station re-supply truck are aiming to have it ready for flight in February. November 13, 2007India enters supercomputing raceBBC: A computer system designed in India has made it into a top ten of the world's fastest supercomputers. Russia honors atomic spyThe Day: Iowa-born man penetrated U.S.'s Manhattan Project Defying the laws of physicsThe Oregonian : Today, Intel's chief executive oversees the introduction of a breakthrough new chip that represents one of the company's biggest engineering leaps. Otellini said he relies on his technologists to learn what's possible, and then seeks innovations that offer genuine advances for the computer user. Westinghouse enters gas-pebble-bed nuclear reactor businessBusiness Report: The acquisition of IST Nuclear by Westinghouse Electric has expanded the local footprint of the US-based nuclear technology group and will help align its business strategy with South Africa's desire to rekindle a large scale nuclear industry. |