Higher Schooling in Michigan - Video Library - The New York Times

Last November, Michigan became the 13th state to legalize medical marijuana. One young entrepreneur sees it as a business opportunity.

 

Canadian National Railway Engineers Begin a Strike - NYTimes.com

The walkout may create difficulties for U.S. and Canadian manufacturers and resource companies.

 

Economic View - The Danger to America of an Overheated China - NYTimes.com
How growing overcapacity in the Chinese economy is a risk to its economic growth and its ability to continue to fund deficits in the United States.

 

Tom Wujec demos the 13th-century astrolabe | Video on TED.com

TED Talks Rather than demo another new technology, Tom Wujec reaches back to one of our earliest but most ingenious devices -- the astrolabe. With thousands of uses, from telling time to mapping the night sky, this old tech reminds us that the ancient can be as brilliant as the brand-new.

 

Astrolabe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Protecting the Forests, in Hopes of Countering Global Warming - NYTimes.com

To the list of essential functions proclaimed for the giant evergreens of the West, add protection against climate change.

 

Tiny magnetic discs could kill cancer cells: study

Tiny magnetic discs just a millionth of a metre in diameter could be used to used to kill cancer cells, according to a study published on Sunday.

 

Paper-thin Batteries Made from Algae | LiveScience

Scientists develop a battery that can be used as wrapping paper.

 

YouTube - Kanzi and Novel Sentences
Kanzi's language comprehension has been demonstrated in research using novel sentences — phrases that preclude the learning of specific responses. Visit www....

 

Food Stamp Usage Across the Country - Interactive Map - NYTimes.com

The number of recipients has risen by 10 million in two years.

 

What the iPod tells us about Britain’s economic future – Telegraph Blogs

In my column this morning on manufacturing (Shock news - Britain still makes things) I didn’t have space to mention one other important misconception about manufacturing: that just because something is “made in China” or somewhere else in the emerging world doesn’t necessarily mean that the money from its construction...

 

Cameron Sinclair: Los refugiados del auge y la bancarrota. | Video on TED.com [via claudio]

TED Talks En TEDGlobal U, Cameron Sinclair muestra el coste sin denuncia de los mega-proyectos inmobiliarios en quiebra: miles de emigrantes trabajadores de la construcción sin poder volver a sus casas y sin dinero. A sus compañeros arquitectos les dice que sólo existe una única respuesta ética.

 

Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: Fingerprints: Signal Processors for Touch

From MIT. Information on Emerging Technologies & impact on business & society

 

As Sales Vanish, Skins Stay on Alligators - NYTimes.com
The peculiar relationship between hardy bayou men and Paris and New York fashion setters has soured of late.

 

LED Bulbs Save Substantial Energy, Study by Osram Finds - NYTimes.com

Over the entire life of a bulb, from manufacturing to disposal, the energy used for incandescent bulbs is almost five times that of LED lamps.

 

Some Biologists Find an Urge in Human Nature to Help - NYTimes.com

Biologists are forming a better view of humankind than the traditional opinions of it as warlike and selfish.

 

Global Update - Salmonella - Drug-Resistant Strain of Bacteria Gains in Africa, With High Death Rates - NYTimes.com

A new drug-resistant strain of salmonella is causing an unusual number of deaths in Africa.

 

Pickin' Up Good Vibrations to Produce Green Electricity

(PhysOrg.com) -- Vibrations from the environments we live and work in could be much more widely harnessed as a clean source of electricity, due to cutting-edge UK research.

 

BBC News - The man who smuggled himself into Auschwitz

When millions would have done anything to get out, one remarkable British soldier smuggled himself into Auschwitz to witness the horror so he could tell others the truth.

 

Culture of Old Europe Is Uncloaked in an Exhibit at N.Y.U. - NYTimes.com
A little-known people existing before Ancient Egypt and Greece’s glory worked with metal and had an evolved visual language.

 

Kangaroos may hold skin cancer cure: study - Yahoo! News

Kangaroos may provide the key to a potential treatment to prevent skin cancer, Australian scientists said on Monday.

 

Somali pirate stock-market: "we've made piracy a community activity." - Boing Boing

Arming Goldman With Pistols Against Public: Alice Schroeder - Bloomberg.com

“I just wrote my first reference for
a gun permit,” said a friend, who told me of swearing to the
good character of a [bn:WBTKR=GS:US] Goldman Sachs Group Inc. [] banker who applied
to the local police for a permit to buy a pistol. The banker had
told this friend of mine that senior Goldman people have loaded
up on firearms and are now equipped to defend themselves if
there is a populist uprising against the bank.

 

Baltimore’s Mayor Is Convicted - NYTimes.com [via claudio]

The conviction on Tuesday of Mayor Sheila Dixon for one count of embezzlement may force her from office.

 

Technology Review: Cheaper Color-Changing Window
Thin, battery-like films change color when the weather changes.

 

Male and female shopping strategies show evolution at work in the mall

Male and female shopping styles are in our genes---and we can look to evolution for the reason. Daniel Kruger, research faculty at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, says it's perfectly natural that men often can't distinguish a sage sock from a beige sock or that sometimes women can't ...

 

Fears mount over giant carp reaching Great Lakes

(AP) -- Fears that giant, voracious species of carp will get into the Great Lakes and wipe out other fish have led to rising demands that the government close the waterway connecting the lakes to the Mississippi River - an unprecedented step that could disrupt the movement of millions of tons of iron ...

 

Toxic chemicals found in a third of children's toys: study

A third of the most popular children's toys in the United States this year contain harmful chemicals including lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury, a US consumer group said Wednesday.

 

Research shows some plants can remove indoor pollutants

(PhysOrg.com) -- Some plants have the ability to drastically reduce levels of indoor pollutants, according to new research at the University of Georgia. Researchers showed that certain species can effectively remove air-borne contaminants, including harmful volatile organic compounds, suggesting a critical ...

 

Overfishing linked to algal blooms : Nature News

Nature - the world's best science and medicine on your desktop

 

Obama acid Boing Boing

Plastic Solar Breakthrough: Efficiency Record Broken by Solarmer : TreeHugger

Photo: Solarmer Plastic Organic Photovoltaic Technology is Maturing The Californian startup Solarmer has been making good progress with its plastic organic PV in the past few years. It hit 6% efficiency in 2007, 7.6% a few months ago, and

 

Offset Your CO2: Buy the Pill for the Poor : TreeHugger

The world's population has reached 6.8 billion people, and that number is growing. A year from now, it's said to increase by about 86 million, or over 7 million people a month--enough to fill a city like Hong Kong.

 

Capstone MicroTurbine - In The News

Artificial Intelligence Shuffles Schedules, Cuts Patients' Wait Times

(PhysOrg.com) -- Some of the same artificial intelligence (AI) underlying NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is now streamlining patient care at Strong Memorial Hospital, helping radiologists and technologists juggle the hundreds of requests for CT scans, ultrasounds, and other imaging procedures that they ...

 

BBC - Earth News - Vine seeds become 'giant gliders'
Remarkable footage is captured of falling Alsomitra vine seeds, which use wings to disperse like giant gliders.

 

mUOHn.jpg (JPEG Image, 400x619 pixels)

Greenpeace ads featuring aged politicians in 2020 apologizing for climate change Boing Boing

Op-Ed Contributor - A Cloud Still Hangs Over Bhopal - NYTimes.com

A gas disaster that happened 25 years ago has not been cleaned up because Dow Chemical has not acknowledged responsibility.

Basics - The Biology Behind the Milk of Human Kindness - NYTimes.com

New research suggests that oxytocin underlies the twin emotional pillars of civilized life, our capacity to feel empathy and trust.

 

Movie Review - The Road - Father and Son Bond in Gloomy Aftermath of Disaster - NYTimes.com

Political views may skew perception of skin tone, new study finds
(PhysOrg.com) -- Political affinity could influence how some people view the skin tone of biracial political candidates, according to a new study from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, New York University and Tilburg University in The Netherlands.

 

Highest jobless rate in three decades causes drop in consumer confidence

(PhysOrg.com) -- Florida's consumer confidence fell three points to 69 in November amid continued concerns over the state?s high unemployment rate, according to a new University of Florida survey.

 

Gasoline Fumes May Fuel Road Rage | Autopia | Wired.com

Paying through the nose to fill up the car is enough to send anyone into a rage, but it might be the fumes you're inhaling while pumping gas that make you

 

The Road Takes Desolate Journey From Page to Screen | Underwire | Wired.com

Novelist Cormac McCarthy sets up grim stakes early on in his post-apocalyptic parable The Road. The Woman tells the father of her son: Sooner or later they

 

BBC - Gavin Hewitt's Europe: Europe's identity crisis

The blog of Gavin Hewitt, the BBC's correspondent

 

Urbanites Explore the Primal Lure of Hunting - NYTimes.com

Seeking a primal connection with what’s on the table, food-obsessed urbanites are forming classes and clubs to learn how to hunt.

 

Mythbusters at the White House! | GeekDad | Wired.com
After seven years of promoting experimentation, education, and the scientific method on Mythbusters, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman visited the White House

 

YouTube - Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man

http://www.ted.com Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself. Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion...

 

Cormorant fishing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Instead of Walking Miles, Indian Farmers Use Cellphones to Operate Irrigation Pumps : TreeHugger

Photo: Flickr, CC Better for Farmer and Saves Lots of Water Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), a telecom company in India, has launched a new service that allows farmers to operate their irrigation pumps remotely using a SMS-capable cellphone. This

 

Why is Phase-Changing Drywall in the News Instead of in the Home Depot? : TreeHugger

Americans think of themselves as innovators, but when it comes to green products they are not even in the ballpark. Take phase-changing drywall; we wrote about it almost five years ago in TreeHugger. It works by embedding 'phase-changing microcapsules'

 

Fighting Water Scarcity with GPS : TreeHugger

Has your GPS ever led you to water? Image credit: pizzodisevo/Flickr The western United States has a problem: water. Droughts brought on by climate change and population explosions have already had shocking effects on agriculture and drinking water reserves

 

New Method to Measure Snow, Soil Moisture With GPS May Benefit Meteorologists, Farmers | News Center | University of Colorado at Boulder
The official source for news and information on the University of Colorado at Boulder

 

Sand dams voted best solution in water crisis debate | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Roman water-saving technique that could save millions of people from drought has been voted the best solution to the global water crisis at a public debate in London

 

Dubai Sovereign Fund Asks for Time to Reorganize Debts - NYTimes.com

The Dubai government, in a blunt acknowledgment of the severity of its financial position, said that it had asked its banks for a six-month stay on its schedule of debt repayments.

 

Observatory - People Hear With Their Skin as Well as Their Ears, Study Says - NYTimes.com

Researchers have added to evidence that suggests an innate ability among humans to integrate different sensory cues.

 

Researchers discover biological basis of 'bacterial immune system'

Bacteria don't have easy lives. In addition to mammalian immune systems that besiege the bugs, they have natural enemies called bacteriophages, viruses that kill half the bacteria on Earth every two days.

 

The Gruesome Power of Raptor Talons | Wired Science | Wired.com

The most thorough study to date of raptor talons reveals their feet to be extraordinarily specialized hunting tools, perfectly suited to their gruesomely

 

Are Your Siblings Really Your Siblings?: Scientific American Podcast

What's Your Christmas Card List Got to Do With the Development of the Human Brain? - Boing Boing

BBC News - Device spells doom for superbugs

Researchers have demonstrated a device that can kill off superbugs such as MRSA in just seconds - and could help with body odour.

 

The Year of the Sex Olympics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Salahis, White House Dinner Crashers, Met the Obamas - NYTimes.com

The disclosure that a celebrity-seeking couple who sneaked into a state dinner came face-to-face with the president underscored the seriousness of the security breach.

 

Edible Schoolyard (Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School)

For Indians Trained in the West, It Can Be Hard to Go Home - NYTimes.com

India wants its emigrants and their offspring back, but many say the business climate is frustrating, and the workplace culture makes them feel unexpectedly foreign.

 

Why the hammerhead shark got its hammer - life - 27 November 2009 - New Scientist

Its widely separated eyes give it super-vision that can judge distance and so track prey better than other sharks

Lions Ex-Stadium, Once Super Bowl Host, Sells for $7.25 a Seat - Bloomberg.com

It cost more than $55 million to
build the Silverdome football stadium in Pontiac, Michigan.
Yesterday, it sold for the price of a one-bedroom apartment in
Manhattan.

 

Technology Review: A New Route to Cellulosic Biofuels

ZeaChem's pilot plant will make ethanol using termite microbes.

 

New Method to Measure Snow, Soil Moisture With GPS May Benefit Meteorologists, Farmers
(PhysOrg.com) -- A research team led by the University of Colorado at Boulder has found a clever way to use traditional GPS satellite signals to measure snow depth as well as soil and vegetation moisture, a technique expected to benefit meteorologists, water resource managers, climate modelers and farmers.

 

Dutch build more dunes against rising seas

On the beach at Monster, bulldozers painstakingly turn sand dredged from the bottom of the North Sea bed into dunes in an ambitious effort to safeguard the Netherlands from flooding.

 

Istanbul Opens World’s Largest Earthquake-Safe Building | Wired Science | Wired.com

The world's largest seismically isolated building, the new international terminal at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport, is now complete and open for

 

Malaria Gaining Resistance to Best Available Treatment | Wired Science | Wired.com

WASHINGTON — Malaria that is resistant to the best available drug is more widespread in Southeast Asia than previously reported, new research shows. The

 

Vaccine being developed to help smokers quit

(PhysOrg.com) -- Glaxo-SmithKline has joined forces with Nabi Pharmaceuticals to produce a vaccine to help smokers give up their addiction permanently.

 

Technology Review: A 25-Year Battery

Long-lived nuclear batteries powered by hydrogen isotopes are in testing for military applications.

 

Turning heat to electricity... efficiently
(PhysOrg.com) -- In everything from computer processor chips to car engines to electric powerplants, the need to get rid of excess heat creates a major source of inefficiency. But new research points the way to a technology that might make it possible to harvest much of that wasted heat and turn it ...

 

Fighting climate change by turning CO2 to stone

(PhysOrg.com) -- While politicians debate the best ways to cut global carbon dioxide emissions, researchers at Idaho National Laboratory's Center for Advanced Energy Studies are charging ahead on a strategy to defuse the CO2 the world already produces. They want to inject the greenhouse gas deep underground, ...

Pilot study relates phthalate exposure to less-masculine play by boys

A study of 145 preschool children reports, for the first time, that when the concentrations of two common phthalates in mothers' prenatal urine are elevated their sons are less likely to play with male-typical toys and games, such as trucks and play fighting.

 

Novelties - From the Lab, a New Weapon Against Cholesterol - NYTimes.com

Tiny particles containing gold and other metals may someday help keep cholesterol from building up in blood vessels.

 

Op-Ed Columnist - An American Catastrophe - NYTimes.com

Detroit and its environs are suffering because of policies that resulted in the implosion of crucially important components of America’s manufacturing base.

 

How 16 ships create as much pollution as all the cars in the world | Mail Online

As 50 giant oil tankers lurk off the British coast, we reveal an even more scandalous threat to the global environment.

 

Voracious Invader May Be Nearing Lake Michigan - NYTimes.com
Evidence of Asian carp, a fish that some fear could destroy the ecosystem of Lake Michigan, has been found beyond a barrier intended to keep the fish out.

 

Captured Photo Collection » Native American Prints from the Pennington Photo Studio Photos

Crawling Around with Baltimore Street Rats | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine

The “urban ecosystem” serves as a research lab for scientist Gregory Glass, who studies the lives of the Charm City’s rats

 

Facebook 'Kick a Ginger' campaign prompts attacks on redheads - Telegraph

The teenager behind a "Kick a Ginger" group on Facebook is being investigated by police after reports of attacks on redhead children.

 

Video of Tiny Tim performance mentioned in Pynchon's Inherent Vice - Boing Boing

Saturday Morning Science Experiment: Microwave Lava - Boing Boing

Economic View - What if a Recovery Is All in Your Head? - NYTimes.com

There may be credibility in the idea that rebounds from recessions are attributable mainly to public psychology.

 

Getting a charge out of Nissan's Leaf -- latimes.com [via claudio]

This thought came to me as I was piloting the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle prototype around Dodger Stadium last Friday: When gasoline-powered cars sleep at night, they dream of being electric.

 

Researcher's labour of love leads to MS breakthrough - The Globe and Mail [via claudio]

New way of thinking about debilitating disease has yielded stunning new treatments – but MS societies urge sufferers to be cautious before experimenting

 

Sugar Cane Waste to Replace Coal in Coal-Fired Power Plants? : TreeHugger

Via Green Inc Here's a promising project: Brazilian and Italian entrepreneurs are investing $114 million in a plan to convert bagasse, a waste product from sugar cane, into pellets that can be burned as fuel at your average, run-of-the-mill

 

Hidden fibres capture solar power › News in Science (ABC Science)

Dig this: RoboClam

Device could lead to 'smart' anchors, more

 

In Mississippi, Farmers' Promising Summer Washed Away by Fall Rain - NYTimes.com

In August, Southern farmers thought they had a bumper crop — the best in years. Then heavy rains in September and October spoiled the harvest.

 

Study Links Chinese Drywall and Corrosion in Homes - NYTimes.com

Federal investigators reported a “strong association” between chemicals in Chinese drywall and complaints by homeowners of metal and electrical corrosion.

 

Sewers at Capacity, Pollution Spills Into Waterways - Series - NYTimes.com

Many sewer systems are overwhelmed, spilling excrement, medical waste and chemicals into waterways.

 

A Survey Shows Pain of Recession for Artists - NYTimes.com

A major new survey of American artists and how they are weathering the economic downturn has found that slightly more than half experienced a drop in income from 2008 to 2009.

 

Supervolcano eruption -- in Sumatra -- deforested India 73,000 years ago
A new study provides 'incontrovertible evidence' that the volcanic super-eruption of Toba on the island of Sumatra about 73,000 years ago deforested much of central India, some 3,000 miles from the epicenter, researchers report.

 

Intensive land management leaves Europe without carbon sinks

A new calculation of Europe's greenhouse gas balance shows that emissions of methane and nitrous oxide tip the balance and eliminate Europe's terrestrial sink of greenhouse gases.

 

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Remarkable Creatures - Darwinian Details on Origins of Snakes and Snails - NYTimes.com

As the world celebrates the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” some facts on snails and snakes that would have intrigued him.

 

BBC News - Dirt can be good for children, say scientists

Children should be allowed to get dirty, according to scientists who say being too clean can impair the skin's ability to heal.

 

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