62375965
submission
rtoz writes:
Last year, MIT researchers discovered that when water droplets spontaneously jump away from superhydrophobic surfaces during condensation, they can gain electric charge in the process. Now, the same team has demonstrated that this process can generate small amounts of electricity that might be used to power electronic devices.
This approach could lead to devices to charge cellphones or other electronics using just the humidity in the air. As a side benefit, the system could also produce clean water.
The device itself could be simple, consisting of a series of interleaved flat metal plates.
A cube measuring about 50 centimeters on a side — about the size of a typical camping cooler — could be sufficient to fully charge a cellphone in about 12 hours. While that may seem slow, people in remote areas may have few alternatives.
62182241
submission
Lasrick writes:
It isn't as if real analysis of Israel's "Iron Dome" isn't available, but invariably, whenever Israel has a skirmish the media is filled with glowing reports of how well the system works, and we always find out months later that the numbers were exaggerated. John Mecklin at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists looks at the coverage of Iron Dome in the recent exchanges between Israel and Hamas and finds the pattern is repeating itself. However, 'Ted Postol, an MIT-based missile defense expert and frequent Bulletin contributor, provided a dose of context to the Iron Dome coverage in a National Public Radio interview Wednesday. "We can tell, for sure, from video images and even photographs that the Iron Dome system is not working very well at all,"' Includes a good explanation of the differences between Iron Dome (a 'rocket defense system') and missile defense systems pushed by the US.
62158317
submission
angry tapir writes:
Amazon.com has asked the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration permission to test drones outdoors for use in its Prime Air package delivery service. In the run up to launching the service, which aims to deliver packages in 30 minutes or less, the online retailer is developing aerial vehicles that travel over 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour, and will carry 5pound (2.3 kilogram) payloads, which account for 86 percent of the products sold on Amazon.
62025495
submission
Lasrick writes:
Japan's missing plutonium has been found, but the larger point of this article remains: 'Most people would agree that keeping track of dangerous material is generally a good idea. So it may come as a surprise to some that the arrangements that are supposed to account for weapon-grade fissile materials—plutonium and highly enriched uranium—are sketchy at best. The most recent example involves several hundreds kilograms of plutonium that appear to have fallen through the cracks in various reporting arrangements.'
62025399
submission
lfp98 writes:
President Bill Powers has long been in conflict with Governor Rick Perry over the direction and goals of the University of Texas' flagship Austin campus. This week, news leaked that the Chancellor requested Powers' resignation before this Thursday's meeting of the Regents (who are all Perry appointees), under threat of being fired at that meeting if he did not resign. So far Powers has refused, while expressing an openness to leaving after the end of the current academic year [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/06/bill-powers-ut-resign_n_5562317.html]. Powers is highly regarded by UT students, faculty, alumni [http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/texas-longhorns/20140706-alumni-letter-calls-university-of-texas-president-s-forced-resignation-a-travesty.ece] and the larger academic community, but has been criticized by Perry and other conservatives for not being sufficiently focused on providing educational services at the lowest possible cost. Powers' supporters view the forced dismissal as brazen political interference with University governance, primarily for the purpose of allowing Perry to influence the choice of a new president before he leaves office in December [http://chronicle.com/article/As-Fight-Over-U-of-Texas/147535/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en].
62020791
submission
schwit1 writes:
Over 20 years after being smuggled out of Russia, a trove of KGB documents are being opened up to the public for the first time. The leaked documents include thousands of files and represent what the FBI is said to view as "the most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source." The documents include KGB information on secret Russian weapons caches, Russian spies, and KGB information on the activities of Pope John Paul II. Known as the Mitrokhin Archive, the files are all available as of today at Churchill College's Archives Centre.
61690885
submission
Lasrick writes:
Maurizio Barbeschi leads the World Health Organization's Preparedness, Mass Gatherings and Deliberate Events Group, which provides strategic guidance on dealing with high-visibility and high-consequence events like Ramadan and the World Cup. In this interview he talks about disease outbreaks that have occurred at these types of mass gatherings, and the strategies Saudi Arabia is using this month to prevent a MERS outbreak during Ramadan.
61622509
submission
Lasrick writes:
A fascinating interview with Elizabeth Kolbert about her work reporting on the environment and climate change for the New Yorker, and her latest book, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. The interview explores the denialist phenomenon, field research, charismatic megafauna, saving wildlife, and her expectations for the future of the planet. One of the most interesting discussions here is about how truly right-wing the US has become when compared to the conservative politics in other countries: 'What we consider to be left-wing politics, the Europeans consider to be centrist politics. I mean, look at our tax policies, look at everything, and look at the kind of know-nothing right we have. Don’t get me wrong; the know-nothing right exists in Europe, I don’t want to claim it doesn’t. But it’s not very powerful, compared to here'
61622055
submission
schwit1 writes:
Many believe the most significant battle of our era is between the forces of Decentralization vs. Centralization. Niall Furguson takes that battle and looks at it from a historical perspective, describing it as Networks vs. Hierarchies, and warns we "need networks, for no political hierarchy, no matter how powerful, can plan all the clever things that networks spontaneously generate. But if the hierarchy comes to control the networks so much as to compromise their benign self-organizing capacities, then innovation is bound to wane."
61596059
submission
Lasrick writes:
"The SCOTUS blog, as always, has a great analysis of yesterday's Supreme Court decision that struck down a handful of President Obama's recess appointments. Although first reported as a complete blow to recess appointments, in actuality, the Court refused to strip presidents of nearly all power to make such appointments (as the four dissenters would have done); the majority set some limits but still kept that authority mostly intact."
61561789
submission
Lasrick writes:
Dawn Stover skewers the latest phrasing from ever-evolving argument from the climate-denying world: the "I'm not a scientist." tactic. 'Just when it seemed that climate deniers might finally be coming to their senses, several leading voices began backpedaling. But instead of asserting that global warming isn’t occurring or isn’t human-caused, they came up with a sly new way to suggest that the scientific jury is still out: total ignorance.'
61464673
submission
Lasrick writes:
Terrorism expert Charles Blair explores the history of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) and their recent, terrifying blitz through Iraq and Syria. It turns out that ISIS is a multi-tiered organization that 'displays a robust command and control system, and, Lewis correctly notes, it enjoys “unconstrained communication among teams as well as unconstrained access to human capacity and materiel."' ISIS controls enough electricity in parts of Syria that it is actually selling power back to the Syrian government, and has also taken control of grains and cotton production in the eastern regions of Syria. ISIS fighters earn up to 3 times that of other rebel groups, so they are motivated beyond an ideological level. Although it was reported that the Iraqi military collapsed during the ISIS onslaught, it could just be that they were merely out-strategized. Because the ISIS military commander in Iraq was trained by the United States, it's highly likely he knew what the Iraqi strategy would be.
61368899
submission
Lasrick writes:
Mark Cooper with one of the best explanations of some of the most pressing details on the new EPA rule change: 'The claims and counterclaims about EPA’s proposed carbon pollution standards have filled the air: It will boost nuclear. It will expand renewables. It promotes energy efficiency. It will kill coal. It changes everything. It accomplishes almost nothing.' Cooper notes that although it's clear that coal is the big loser in the rule change, the rule itself doesn't really pick winners in terms of offering sweet deals for any particular technology; however, it seems that nuclear is also a loser in this formulation, because 'Assuming that states generally adhere to the prime directive of public utility resource acquisition—choosing the lowest-cost approach—the proposed rule will not alter the dismal prospects of nuclear power...' Nuclear power does seem to be struggling with economic burdens and a reluctance from taxpayers to pay continuing subsides in areas such as storage and cleanup. It seems that nuclear is another loser in the new EPA rule change.
61302873
submission
Lasrick writes:
A fascinating account of why China is so worried about Japan's excessive plutonium stocks: combined with its highly sophisticated missile program, 'Chinese nuclear-weapons specialists emphasize that Japan has everything technically needed to make nuclear weapons.' It turns out that Japan has under-reported a sizable amount of plutonium, and there have been increasing signs that the country might be moving toward re-militarization. This is a particularly worrying read about nuclear tensions in Asia.
61265047
submission
Lasrick writes:
Anthropologist Hugh Gusterson has a blistering column examining the Veterans Affairs scandal and resignation of VA secretary General Eric Shinseki. In Gusterson's view, Shinseki was forced to take the fall for what at its core is a Congressional failure--the failure to fund Veterans Affairs to a level that is even close to sufficient, given the VA's mission: 'Meanwhile, at the same time that the VA struggled to deal with an onslaught of 650,000 soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, its facilities were already staggering under the escalating demands of Vietnam veterans. As the Harvard health economist Linda Bilmes points out, veterans’ health care needs typically peak 30 to 40 years after a war ends; the demands of Vietnam veterans were just reaching their peak as an influx of new veterans with amputations, traumatic brain injuries and PTSD stretched resources to the breaking point.' Given the statistics Gusterson cites in this article, it's clear this scandal is just the tip of the iceberg.
