HFO-1234yf, a climate-friendly alternative refrigerant for car air conditioning systems touted by environmental activists, may instead be a greater problem than the products they insisted was causing pollution.
A new type of rocket propellant made from a mixture of water and nanoscale aluminum powder could be manufactured on the moon or Mars or any place remnant ice may exist, say researchers from NASA, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Purdue and Pennsylvania State University who believe their aluminum-ice, or ALICE, propellant could be used to launch rockets into orbit from Earth as a pit stop for long-distance space missions. Since it's greener than current propellants it will also be acceptable to those of you concerned about universal global warming(1).
Men suffer noise-induced hearing loss more than women, it seems. Guys just rock out more, you might think. Better to burn out than fade away, and all that. But it's primarily married white guys who can't turn the volume down, which means our families will have the next 70 years of repeating everything twice, and louder, because, let's face it, guys with rock star fantasies won't wear hearing aids. What's to be done?Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a preventable though increasingly prevalent hearing disorder that results from exposure to high-intensity sound, especially over a long period of time. Thanks, iPod. Now turn down the Journey, gentlemen. If you haven't stopped believin' by now, you never will.
Did you even know there was a discipline called paleomagnetics? Probably not.(1) It isn't easy to find a category on this site to put it in, that's for sure.But a discipline it is and it even has its own controversies, as all science must; namely, the nature of Earth's magnetic field 1.1 billion years ago.The Earth's magnetic field in two sentences: it wraps around the globe and helps shield us from cosmic rays - lest we all burst into flame or turn into orange rock and say things like, "It's clobberin' time!"
In creating a science site for kids (that would be Kids Science Zone - if you haven't written anything there, feel free to do so) , the majority of comments I have gotten have been likely about the same as I would have gotten if I had opened up this site to a large community of people with advice to give - namely a lot of suggestions from people who don't use it about how awesome it would be if it had X, Y or Z added.
Michael Cosmopoulos was raised in Athens but has been in St. Louis since 2001. Yet his heart and his science never left Greece. Since 1999, he has been working at a site in Pylos and he recently came across a real-life palace dating back to the time of the Trojan War.The Trojan War is just a story, of course (though if you don't think so, which figure from Homer's historical work do you think I am?)(1) but historians debate what kernels of truth may be in there.
In case you haven't heard, there's a debate about health care reform going on - today we find out that a campaign promise, no fines if you choose not to use government health care, is off the table if you are middle class. That's only going to aggravate the situation. What is needed is some clear thinking and some science-based evidence, but you won't find it in Washington. Heck, you won't even find it in medicine.
Flat-panel televisions are nothing new. I think even my father has one in his toolshed by now. But legitimate flat-panel loudspeakers are harder to come by. There are single-speaker surround sound systems, and those are admirable, but speakers, unlike today's televisions, require a great deal of old-fashioned physics, analog-style, because that's how sound reaches our ears - so flat panel ones, though a terrific concept in size, haven't been great in practice.
Everyone says they want to get kids to get a better science - now we can all actually do something about it.We're doing a small beta test of our Science For Kids site.(1) It isn't perfect yet but that's why we need people to try it out. Once we find any glaring bugs we can sort those out and finish the cosmetic stuff. For Scientific Blogging columnists, you can just log in and go to it. Everything is all set. For new people who sign up the articles will go into moderation, because, let's face it, we're writing for kids and our names are on the thing so we can't make it a free-for-all.
Tangential Science: it's not necessarily science, but it's still funny.1. Science of Karma Can there be science to 'Karma'? Likely not, since Karma is, by definition, an Eastern religious concept that has been colloquiallized into a philosophical one. In the East (considered globally since Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists all lay claim to it), Karma is basically cause and effect, which is all very Newtonian, and it is echoed in Western religions with the 'as you sow, so also shall you reap' idea ... except at least in the West you are only screwed over once by what you do and actions have consequences over multiple lifetimes.
The secret is out; there's only one science blogging site out there with its name on a satellite and it is us.Well, so far it is us. The commies in Star City were first into space but the good ol' US of A put a man on the moon and that's what gets remembered. So we can't rest on our laurels just because we're the first to develop it - and commit money - if we're going to put Bloggy into space we need to get it done.What am I talking about? Bloggy in space?
If you've read this site for any length of time, you know we are fans of open access. The notion that research funded by taxpayers should be in the hands of billion-dollar media companies who charge scientists to publish and then hold the copyrights is ridiculous.President Bush signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 (H.R. 2764) and it immediately came under attack by media lobbyists and the politicians they support.
Tomorrow, we are attending a mixer called The Science of Fine Wines. This is a seminar/fundraiser for the Discovery Museum Science&Space Center in Sacramento so we're there to help with the science. Sure, you can tell by the title the science is not the paramount issue, the wine is, but I'm always going to take the opportunity to get a little smarter and if other people listen, that's great too.
