And also there are standing wave issues over long transmission lines. At 50Hz the free-space wavelength is ~3750 miles. So a half wave dipole needs a mere 1875 miles and you suddenly lose lots of power into the ether. Using DC eliminates this problem.

Apparently the same sort of people that go into acting. I mean, why would you start a career in a profession with 10% employment rate? Maybe you do it because you love it, you can't image living without it. and then the world impinges its nasty need for money on you...

Instead of ranking them as "high', "med" and "low", try force ranking them from 1 to however-many-you-have. Than a cutoff becomes more realistic. This is essentially the same approach taken in an 'agile' project with the backlog of user stories. To make this works requires the right group of stakeholders and empowering that group to make decisions that stick. Not easy!

Don't you remember how to compute averages? Total water consumed in America per year/ population of America = ~90,000 cu ft/yr Gotta remember that this includes all the agricultural, industrial and commercial uses that you benefit from (often indirectly); it's not just your water bill

And the real cost of manufacturing is not from the genetic adaption of the cells and their growth, but is in the purification. After the cell has replicated and grown all the protein (Mol wgt 3,000 - 15,000) you want, you have to extract it from the chemical soup that exists in the cell. The cells are ground up and then filtered physically and chemically to separate out the one protein you're interested in. With antibodies the situation is often more complex because of there extreme uniqueness (which is what makes them such good drugs) and their size. Also adding to the cost is the level of hygene required in the manufacturing plant. The slightest infestation of mold or a failed test for bacteria in the factory can shut the manufacturing down for 3 -9 mths to clean up and sterilize the working environment. So biosimilars get cheaper because there are fewer clinical trials (usually just for safety issues) but the manufacturing is still way expensive compared to small molecule (mol wgt 300 - 500) chemicals

I thought the Shuttle landed as a glider (no fuel used), so the delay in exiting is probably just the checking that's necessary, rather than waiting for hydrazine residues to disperse.

But it's a damn good clue

I *do* teach this in managment classes - specifically Project Management 101. The aim is three-fold - get students to better understand risk/return, to get them to understand that presentation matters and finally that risks are often complex and you need to encourage sometimes reticent people to talk and then pay attention to them. The real wow! that the students generally get is the sheer size of engineering. Lay out a 1/4" diam. piece of rope in a 12' diameter circle to show what the O ring really looked like. The diagrams don't convey it.

I know this is a nerds' platform, but did nobody notice that this is gorgeous? The detail, the color, the design. Unfortunately I showed it to my wife and now she wants one...

I remember reading of research by British Ministry of Transport in the '50s or so that confirmed this and lead to the standard of writing road signs in upper/lower case and sans serif so that they could be read faster and from greater distance by drivers going quickly

and a little guidance to what is dangerous: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/bio-effects-radiation.html

the levels in the hotspots are very low (though above threshold) and a wall or glass pane would protect you pretty well see http://boingboing.net/2011/10/14/at-a-tokyo-radiation-hotspot-weirdness-abounds.html Best advice is wash the mud away and get on with life.

GM often (but not always) uses genes from a completely different species. Monsanto's Soy has an insect gene inserted to make it resistant to Round-up (Gramoxone). This makes it fundmentally different from selective breeding which was what drove the 'Green Revolution' in the 60's producing today's high yield, low waste crops of rice, wheat and others. However genetic researchers are now finding that there is some natural cross-infection between very different species, though it appears to be rare and I don't believe the mechanisms are well understood.

Careful what you wish for. Margaret Thatcher was a Chemist. Her preparation for the miners strike, the routing of the unions and the subsequent efforts to privatization made for major changes; recovering the economy, yes, but the social issues contiue to this day.

"There are millions and millions of stars" "They call 'em billions" Sort of Sagan-ish, but with apologies to 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre'