Quantum effects on the Macro Level

I found this by searching the above title.  It is from another blog

"The Other Blog"

The author describes his blog as follows:

"This is my classic stream-of-consciousness blog designed to avoid clogging my friends' inboxes. We've got your interesting URLs for software development, aviation, the environment, and politics. Plus the odd thought. If you want my real writing, see Thoughts Aloft, my other other blog"

First Pictures Taken of Extrasolar Planets - NYTimes.com

First Pictures Taken of Extrasolar Planets - NYTimes.com

He is back and what a zinger this time. Please see the linked NYT article on the first extrasolar planet ever photographed! A tiny dot, but none the less, the first.
Also see Space.com and Science Daily
for more articles.

Finally, click on Sea Snake wave energy demonstration for a video of one concept in sea wave energy production by Water SISWEB

CEATEC: Panasonic Lifewall Is the All-Knowing Gesture-Controlled TV of the Future

CEATEC: Panasonic Lifewall Is the All-Knowing Gesture-Controlled TV of the Future:
I want one! It is similar to the one described by Ray Bradbury in Farenheit 451. Who needs books? Well, maybe I do, but the wall is pretty nifty!

Scientific American: Scientific American Special Editions

Scientific American: Scientific American Special Editions

Be sure and read this special digital edition of Scientific American. The articles include urban vertical farming, fresh water shortages, and other great features.

FEATURES

Is Focusing on "Hot Spots" the Key to Preserving Biodiversity?
Preserving biodiversity in rich habitats is good. But global warming and other new threats may call for a new strategy
By Robert Kunzig

Energy versus Water: Solving Both Crises Together
Water is needed to generate energy. Energy is needed to deliver water. Both resources are limiting the other—and both may be running short. Is there a way out?
By Michael E. Webber

For National Security, Get Off Oil
Former CIA director R. James Woolsey says America's oil dependence is a grave threat
By Stephen D. Solomon

LEED Compliance Not Required for Designing Green Buildings
Constructing buildings to the LEED standard can conserve energy and materials—or be exploited for promotional gain
By Daniel Brook

Global Warming: Beyond the Tipping Point
The world's most outspoken climatologist argues that today's carbon dioxide levels are already dangerously too high. What can we do if he is right?
By Michael D. Lemonick

Growing Vertical: Skyscraper Farming
Cultivating crops in downtown skyscrapers might save bushels of energy and provide city dwellers with distinctively fresh food
By Mark Fischetti

Hydro/Wind Power Followup

The BPA and the wind community apparently believe that storage of wind and hydro power are too expensive. Please read the following article from the Tacoma News Tribune about hydrogen. Also below is a link to a patented system for converting excess hydro into hydrogen.
Hydrogen: River of Energy

Columbia River hydropower could put Northwest at a forefront of a revolution
By Jack Robertson
The News Tribune"

US Patent 6864596 - Hydrogen production from hydro power

Wind surge poses a risk to salmon and reveals flaws in BPA's power-regulating system - OregonLive.com

Wind surge poses a risk to salmon and reveals flaws in BPA's power-regulating system - OregonLive.com: "Wind surge poses a risk to salmon and reveals flaws in BPA's power-regulating system
With Columbia Gorge turbines pumping out extra electricity, the agency had to quickly adjust its hydro generation"

This was a story in the Saturday, July 05, 2008 Oregonian Newspaper by Gail Kinsey Hill, a staff writer. The gist of the story was that the greatly increased capacity of the wind turbines along the Columbia Gorge through which the Mighty Columbia River flows came close to causing a big problem on the BPA power generating dams. In order to deal with the surplus of electricity, the dams had to stop generating power and spill water over the dam thus potentially causing a problem with migrating salmon. My question is why the excess capacity of either the windmills or the dams could not be converted to hydrogen and stored for later use. Lacking an infrastructure to deliver hydrogen to other places where it could be used, it could be stored on site and used later to power generators or produce electricity when needed using fuel cells.

As a side note, as the old economy of the river based on aluminum smelting is in decline, a significant part of the BPA output is used by Google in it's semi-secret server farm in The Dalles on the banks of the Columbia. Despite Google's efforts to conserve, lots of power is used to run the servers and to cool the plant. Read about this in this Willamette Week article.

A blog about generating hydrogen with excess capacity can be reached by clicking here. Can anyone explain to my why this will not work?

Worms Do Calculus To Find Meals Or Avoid Unpleasantness

Worms Do Calculus To Find Meals Or Avoid Unpleasantness

How could you not find this interesting. A worm with only 300 or so neurons in its brain finding food doing intricate calculations. I just love it! I can't do calculus. I vaguely recall that funny "S" symbol though!

Power and Control

Power and Control

A good deal of my ramblings are about power, energy, conservation and alternative energy issues. The blog cited above is by M. Simon of Rockford Illinois. His focus is on energy also, but with a focus on fusion energy. Of late, there is a renewed interest in nuclear power as it does not directly contribute to global warming. I heard a podcast debate between one of the early Greenpeace guys who went over to the dark side and a member of the British Green Party on this issue. The debate featuring Partrick Moore can be heard by clicking this link.

The Green response is that Moore ignores the huge carbon footprint left by nuclear power when the mining, transportation and disposal of the fuel is taken into account. This argument left me questioning my recent conversion back to supporting nukes, but I am not good enough at the Dismal Science of economics to really come to any conclusions.

Finally, it should be said that I am a space nut. Perhaps He3 (an isotope of Helium) will play a role in fusion. Indeed, this might be why China, Japan and perhaps India have begun moon exploration programs. My view on this is the more the merrier. To the Moon, to Mars and beyond!

I do believe, however, that nuclear fusion might be the answer. See the blog cited above for more info on this. A bigger question, however, is whether or not we need unlimited power. Could it be that our lives would be simpler and more satisfying if we simply conserved for the sake of conserving? Go top M. Simon's blog and start a discussion on this!

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Fusion power 'within reach'

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Fusion power 'within reach'

Is Fusion back in vogue? BBC says that the new approach to smaller reactors means Fusion is "within reach". Even if we could get cheap, clean, unlimited power, do we want to? Or is it better to scale down our lives strictly for it's own sake?

Harnessing the Weather | Natural Disasters | DISCOVER Magazine

Harnessing the Weather | Natural Disasters | DISCOVER Magazine

The Russians try. The U.S. DOD has tried. Private companies have tried. Maybe it is all part of the Alaska HARP Project that the conspiracy theorists worry about.

New Source for Biofuels Discovered by Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin | The University of Texas at Austin

New Source for Biofuels Discovered by Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin | The University of Texas at Austin: "AUSTIN, Texas — A newly created microbe produces cellulose that can be turned into ethanol and other biofuels, report scientists from The University of Texas at Austin who say the microbe could provide a significant portion of the nation's transportation fuel if production can be scaled up.

Along with cellulose, the cyanobacteria developed by Professor R. Malcolm Brown Jr. and Dr. David Nobles Jr. secrete glucose and sucrose. These simple sugars are the major sources used to produce ethanol.

'The cyanobacterium is potentially a very inexpensive source for sugars to use for ethanol and designer fuels,' says Nobles, a research associate in the Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology."

The above is from the University of Texas at Austin News. As the article describes it, the problem with converting regular plant material to ethanol fuel is the difficulty and expense of breaking down the material. This process may eventually solve that problem as the new material involves cynobacteria that can be grown in production facilities or in land not suitable for agriculture using water to salty for regular use. Maybe we are not doomed!

Speaking of Not Doomed, try this at home:

From the Slashdot Blog
Newscloud brings us news of a startup called E-Fuel promising to ship a home-brew ethanol plant, the size of a washer-dryer, for under $10,000 by the end of this year. We've had plenty of discussions about $1/gal. fuel — these guys want to let you make it at home. The company says it plans to develop a NAFTA-enabled distribution network for inedible sugar from Mexico at 1/8th the cost of trade-protected sugar, to use as raw material for making ethanol. A renewable energy expert from UC Berkeley is quoted: "There's a lot of hurdles you have to overcome. It's entirely possible that they've done it, but skepticism is a virtue."

Nuclear energy becoming less sustainable | COSMOS magazine

Nuclear energy becoming less sustainable | COSMOS magazine

"SYDNEY: The case for nuclear power as a sustainable alternative energy source is challenged by new evidence that greenhouse gas emissions from uranium mining are increasing.

An Australian report, detailed this week in the journal Environmental Science and Technology argues that the availability of high-grade uranium ore will deplete over time making the fuel more environmentally and economically expensive to extract."

Just when it starts to look like "Good Nukes", the bad news comes. The above quoe is from Cosmos Magazine

Below is a quote from another source about the carbon footprint of nukes, citing the total process of generating nuclear energy: "As Michel Lee, chair of the Council on Intelligent Energy & Conservation Policy, wrote in an (unpublished) letter to the Times, the dirty secret is that nuclear power makes a substantial contribution to global warming. Nuclear power is actually a chain of highly energy-intensive industrial processes. These include uranium mining, conversion, enrichment and fabrication of nuclear fuel; construction and deconstruction of the massive nuclear facility structures; and the disposition of high-level nuclear waste." This quote is from a statement from a website maintained by the Orcanic Consumers Organization

I will try to find a link to a BBC broadcast of a recent debate in Great Britain between members of the Green Party and a "co-founder" of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore. I myself am not a big fan of most Green parties, but they can be correct. Maybe the old adage "If it sounds to good to be true, it probably isn't". Refer back to the quote from Lewis L. Stauss head of the AEC in the early 1950's: "It is not too much to expect that our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter, will know of great periodic regional famines in the world only as matters of history, will travel effortlessly over the seas and under them and through the air with a minimum of danger and at great speeds, and will experience a lifespan far longer than ours as disease yields and man comes to understand what causes him to age." We are still waiting!

Please, someone convince me that nukes will work and won't contribute to global warming! All of those French Folks can't be wrong, can they? That country gets a very large percentage of its power from nukes. See the CNN link for a story on the countries in the world with the largest number of nuclear plants.

eSolar, the IKEA of Solar Energy, to Unveil Modular Power Plant This Year | SolveClimate.com

eSolar, the IKEA of Solar Energy, to Unveil Modular Power Plant This Year | SolveClimate.com

eSolar is "scalable disruptive solution from IdeaLab, a part of Google. It is made from mass manufactured components. It is designed for quick construction and unlimited scalability. Those crazy folks at Google are really on tip of things! Also, see the GreenTech blog for more solar technology, including the venerable Sterling heat engine.

The search for astroengineers - physicsworld.com

The search for astroengineers - physicsworld.com:

The search for astroengineers

"Having so far failed to find evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations by searching for their radio transmissions, some physicists think it is worth scouring the sky for signs of their astronomical construction work, writes Bruce Dorminey"

As physicist Enrico Fermi said, if they are out there, where are they? The Drake Equation postulates that they are there, based of course on some variables such as how long a civilization lasts as soon as it develops the power to destroy itself. This article talks about looking for advanced extraterrestrial civilizations who may have reached the K2 stage of civilization ( levels of civilizations postulated by Soviet physicist Nicolai Kardashev and commented on recently by physicist Michio Kaku) at which point a society could harness the energy of a star and build a "Dyson Sphere" around their star. The Physics World article calls for a new search for evidence of such super civilizations.

Alzheimer's Disease - Reporter's File - Zen and the Art of Coping With Alzheimer's - NY Times Health

Alzheimer's Disease - Reporter's File - Zen and the Art of Coping With Alzheimer's - NY Times Health: "Zen and the Art of Coping With Alzheimer's"

Wikipedia defines Zen as: "

Zen (Japanese: 禅) also known as Chán (Traditional Chinese: 禪; Simplified Chinese: 禅) (see lengthy etymology below) is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism notable for its emphasis on mindful acceptance of the present moment, spontaneous action, and letting go of self-conscious and judgmental thinking. ^{[1]" Mindful acceptance of the moment would seem to have some positive effect...as long as there is enough mind left for mindfulness.}

John A. Wheeler, Physicist Who Coined the Term ‘Black Hole,’ Is Dead at 96 - New York Times

John A. Wheeler, Physicist Who Coined the Term ‘Black Hole,’ Is Dead at 96 - New York Times: "“For me, he was the last Titan, the only physics superhero still standing.”"

The last of the great 20th Century physicist has died. The linked NY Time article speaks of his career. He rubbed elbows with Niels Bohr, Einstein and taught Richard Feynman. You can hear a podcast on his life at this link to a Scientific American podcast. Click Here.

Scientific American: Expelled Explained

Scientific American: Expelled Explained

Go here to learn the truth about Ben Stein's new anti-evolution move Expelled.
The movie is psuedo-science at its best (worst?)

You can also go to an educational site, Expelled Explanined.

Finally, the SciAm link above will give you a gateway to listen to a recording of the editors meeting with the Expelled producers.

I am all for UFO's and crop circles and other fun stuff, but not this drivel!

Technology Smooths the Way for Home Wind-Power Turbines - New York Times

Technology Smooths the Way for Home Wind-Power Turbines - New York Times: "

Technology Smooths the Way for Home Wind-Power Turbines

See the referenced April 15 N.Y. Times article about home turbines. Also, please refer to earlier posts on this blog for other home wind turbine stories.

Scientific American: Does Turning Fluorescent Lights Off Use More Energy Than Leaving Them On?

Scientific American: Does Turning Fluorescent Lights Off Use More Energy Than Leaving Them On?: "Does Turning Fluorescent Lights Off Use More Energy Than Leaving Them On?
Incandescent lightbulbs are lumbering toward extinction. Now, how best to use their energy-efficient replacements?"

Well, here is the answer. Turn them off all the time for pure energy savings and after 5 minutes if you want to extend the life of the bulb a bit.

A Test for String Theory After All? Or Just PR? | Wired Science from Wired.com

A Test for String Theory After All? Or Just PR? | Wired Science from Wired.com

At last? String Theory has been around for a while. However, most authorities considered it as only an interesting speculation as there was thought to be no way to test the theory, therefore taking it out of the realm of science.

See the Wikepedia entry below:
Problems and controversy

Although historically string theory is an outgrowth of physics, some contend that string theory should (strictly speaking) be classified as something other than science. For a scientific theory to be valid it must be verified empirically, i.e. through experiment or observation. Few avenues for such contact with experiment have been claimed.[20] With the construction of the Large Hadron Collider in CERN some scientists hope to produce relevant data, though it is widely believed that any theory of quantum gravity would require much higher energies to probe directly. Moreover, string theory as it is currently understood has a huge number of equally possible solutions.[21] Thus it has been claimed by some scientists that string theory may not be falsifiable and may have no predictive power.[22][23][24][25]"

SPACE.com -- X Files Opened: The National Security Agency's UFO Investigations Unearthed

SPACE.com -- X Files Opened: The National Security Agency's UFO Investigations Unearthed

"X Files Opened: The National Security Agency's UFO Investigations Unearthed
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 16 November 2005
01:36 pm ET

There is one question that persistently circles the community of Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) true-believers: If the government has nothing to hide, UFO fans often ask, then why is it keeping so many UFO records under lock and key?"

Yes, UFO's are probably just goofy, but there is just enough out their to tease our minds.

Origins: CERN: Ideas: The Higgs Boson

The Search for the Higgs Boson. What is it? See below. Also, see CERN
There, you will learn about the Swiss-French particle accelerator that will open in April to find both the Higgs Boson and perhaps create a very small black hole!

Origins: CERN: Ideas: The Higgs Boson: "An oft-cited analogy describes it well: Imagine you're at a Hollywood party. The crowd is rather thick, and evenly distributed around the room, chatting. When the big star arrives, the people nearest the door gather around her. As she moves through the party, she attracts the people closest to her, and those she moves away from return to their other conversations. By gathering a fawning cluster of people around her, she's gained momentum, an indication of mass. She's harder to slow down than she would be without the crowd. Once she's stopped, it's harder to get her going again.

This clustering effect is the Higgs mechanism, postulated by British physicist Peter Higgs in the 1960s. The theory hypothesizes that a sort of lattice, referred to as the Higgs field, fills the universe."

NPR : Doctor Saved Michigan $100 Million

Listen to this podcast and also read about Atul Gawande, the Harvard Medical School prof, New Yorker writer, lecturer and best-selling author. As the story notes, if there was an expensive antibiotic that was this effective, every hospital in the country would use it.

NPR : Doctor Saved Michigan $100 Million: "Doctor Saved Michigan $100 Million
Listen Now [7 min 19 sec] add to playlist
All Things Considered, December 9, 2007 · Dr. Peter Pronovost saved the state more than $100 million and 1500 lives over an 18-month period by teaching doctors and nurses to use checklists for intensive care unit procedures. Andrea Seabrook talks to Dr. Provonost, as well as Atul Gawande, a surgeon who wrote about the success of the checklist in The New Yorker magazine."

Windbelt - Third World Power - Wind Generator - Video - Breakthrough Awards - Popular Mechanics

Windbelt - Third World Power - Wind Generator - Video - Breakthrough Awards - Popular Mechanics

"Working in Haiti, Shawn Frayne, a 28-year-old inventor based in Mountain View, Calif., saw the need for small-scale wind power to juice LED lamps and radios in the homes of the poor. Conventional wind turbines don't scale down well—there's too much friction in the gearbox and other components. "With rotary power, there's nothing out there that generates under 50 watts," Frayne says. So he took a new tack, studying the way vibrations caused by the wind led to the collapse in 1940 of Washington's Tacoma Narrows Bridge (aka Galloping Gertie)."

The new alternative energy sources keep coming on line. Any of you from the Seattle Tacoma area will be very familiar with Gertie.