I've replied to gweihir above pointing out the fact that his link is a commentary about an older experiment which indeed seemed deeply flawed.

However, I've actually read the report released today (not the older arXiv article, but the sifferkoll.se pdf linked in today's summary) and it seems a hell of a lot more controlled and "hands off" with regards to Rossi's involvement than what's been stated about previous experiments.

That analysis is from February 2014, the current report is from an experiment taking place for "32 days in March 2014"(that's a quote from the pdf linked in TFS) .

Not to mention the fact that the opening statements of your linked article directly contradicts the report. Your link says that it took place in Italy with Andrea Rossi's equipment, but according to the pdf in TFS the experiment took place in Switzerland with their own factory calibrated never before used equipment.

So unless the authors of that link you provided had a time machine back in February and are also delusional, they couldn't possibly be referring to this experiment.

That's supposed to be "varldsdel" with two dots over the a.

Swedes most certainly do not, as our superior language (no bias here!) has two different words that describe what a geological continent is (kontinent) and what a geopolitical part of the world is (världsdel).

Just because English with it's hundreds of thousands of words don't make that distinction doesn't mean other languages don't.

That was a very nice read, thank you for the link!

The irony about that is that Sony in the form of Sony Music Entertainment are listed on the AARC website under "our friends", suggesting that they would be on the receiving end of those royalties...

Feedback loop?! :)

Except all the major sources of CO2 are also the sources of the particulates that cause smog?

My google fu yields the following:
http://www.world-aluminium.org/statistics/primary-aluminium-smelting-energy-intensity/
Efficiency varies around the world between 13000-16000 kWh per 1000kg of aluminium.

Assuming the entire quoted weight of 100kg is aluminium (which according to the article the batteries are "made mostly of aluminium"), that's at best 50% efficient assuming your ballpark estimate of 600 kWh. Compared to an internal combustion engine that's not too shabby.

However, I feel like a demonstration like this probably used an extremely lightweight car in order to maximize the range for the test. I'm thinking 600 kWh is probably a bit too optimistic.

Just a minor nit-pick but you are incorrect in asserting that the EU has a population of ~750 million. *Europe* certainly has, but the EU does not (not all countries in Europe are members) and does in fact have a population of almost exactly half a billion (~505 million).

If it's 50 people per tutor then that itself might be the issue.

I'm currently studying medicine in Sweden (on my second semester, which is somewhat equivalent to "pre med" in the US system) and we are using PBL and focusing on it quite strongly.

Every week we have two PBL-meetings which usually involves a typical case regarding the subject the week's learning is supposed to be about (this week it's about memory and forming memories on a neuronal level in the brain and the case is about an old man forgetting things and getting lost while driving his car).

Anyway, we are in 9 person groups, 1 paid tutor who's usually a lecturer or scientist working at the university and 8 students. It's really hard to not actively take part in such a small group which seems to be the entire point.

This is of course not the only thing we do, we still have lectures as usual but they are not mandatory in any way other than the practical exercises. So far I'm liking it very much and it seems to be an extremely effective way to teach. We need to present our findings for our peers on a weekly basis and the opening session usually includes a lot of debating and discussions which help you "get into" the studying.

"Untreated" when referring to drinking water is an incredibly vague statement. Where I live, the city of Helsingborg, Sweden the water is "untreated" in the sense that it is pumped as is from a lake 80 km away through a long tunnel. It is then pumped into the groundwater at the edge of the city where it is pumped up and into the city's plumbing system which supplies almost 100k households.

It's untreated in the sense that no artificial chemicals or filtering is taking place, but soil sediment filtering is one of the most ancient and effective ways of filtering water so there is a massive difference compared to an untreated open air reservoir where pretty much anything can go die and decompose.

You are incorrect. The definition of "oxidation" is contrary to popular belief not "to react with oxygen".

Oxidation is by definition: A loss of electrons, or an increase in oxidation state.

What you are referring to is simply *one* example of oxidation and not the entire definition.

Yes, but but only the political union, not the economic one.

Pencils never contained lead though. It's a misunderstanding from when graphite was discovered back in the 16th century and people thought it was a type of lead and called it "black lead" or "plumbago".

The map does not seem to take into account artificial means of holding back the ocean(dikes, for example). The Netherlands are in fact below sea level(about 25% of it according to wikipedia) so in that context, the map makes perfect sense.