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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 54 declined, 23 accepted (77 total, 29.87% accepted)

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Government

Submission + - CDN forces 50y reactor online against safety regs (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by
Socguy
Socguy writes: "The Canadian government has passed legislation that will reopen an Ontario nuclear reactor that produces most of the world's supply of critical medical isotopes, even though the site has been shut down for safety maintenance.

Witnesses and experts were called in to the House to face questions about safety concerns and all parties eventually voiced support for the bill, which would effectively suspend CNSC's oversight role for 120 days.

The Chalk River reactor ceased operating on Nov. 18. Pressure on the government to restart operations began to build after delays in the shutdown of the government-run site, which generates two-thirds of the world's radioisotopes, began to cause a critical shortage of radioisotopes.

Harper declared in the House of Commons "there will be no nuclear accident" resulting from reopening the plant, citing an independent analysis of the site that already said there would be no safety risks.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/12/11/radioisotope-legislation.html

However not eveyone is happy with the Canadian government decision to overrule the national safety regulator.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper of undermining nuclear safety in Canada by "turning his guns" on the federally appointed regulator.

She also alleged the company that runs the reactor, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., has been "negligent, if not criminally negligent" in its operation of the more than 50-year-old facility.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/12/12/isotope-reax.html"
Editorial

Submission + - Bob McDonald makes a case for small nuclear plants (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by
Socguy
Socguy writes: "Bob McDonald, host of Quirks and Quarks, makes a case for Small-Nuclear power plants as part of the energy mix that will power our future. A particular system mentioned is the Toshiba 4S, a desk sized power plant. The 4S is theoretically designed to operate for 30 years without refueling.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/quirks-blog/2007/10/nuke_necessity_think_small.html"
Security

Submission + - Sea change under way in computer security (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by
Socguy
Socguy writes: "A sea change in how computers are guarded is on the way, with anti-virus vendors looking to reverse their protection philosophy

Internet security is headed toward a major reversal in philosophy, where a "white list" which allows only benevolent programs to run on a computer will replace the current "black list" system, which logs and blocks an ever-growing list of malevolent applications, internet security giant Symantec Corp. says.

The number of malicious software attacks, including viruses, Trojans, worms and spam, is rising exponentially, dwarfing the number of new benevolent programs being developed, making it increasingly difficult for security firms to keep up. http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/privacy/white-list.html"
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - Shaolin Monks to sue over tale of defeat by ninja (www.cbc.ca) 1

Submitted by
Socguy
Socguy writes: "China's Shaolin Temple has demanded a public apology from an Internet user who claimed a Japanese ninja beat its kung fu-practising monks in a showdown, a lawyer said Friday.

An open letter from the temple posted on the Internet on Thursday denied the fight ever took place and called on the person who posted the claim under the name "Five minutes every day" to apologize to the temple's martial arts masters.

Monks from the temple, nestled in the Songshan Mountains of central China's Henan province, said they will consider legal action if he or she doesn't make a public apology.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070831/K083106AU.htm l"
Space

Submission + - Russia plans own moon base (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by
Socguy
Socguy writes: "After being rebuffed by NASA, Russia now plans to build it's own moon base by as early as 2027.

Russia plans to send a manned mission to the moon by 2025 and establish a permanent base shortly thereafter, the head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos said Friday.

"According to our estimates, we will be ready for a manned flight to the moon in 2025," Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov told state news agency RIA Novosti. A station that could be inhabited could be built there between 2027 and 2032, he said.

While Russia will be refurbishing existing spacecraft, the U.S. is taking a different approach after the space station is finished and plans to scrap the space shuttle program in favour of a new kind of spaceship to be called Orion.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/08/31/scie nce-russia-moon.html"
Biotech

Submission + - Girl's heart regenerates due to artificial assist (www.cbc.ca) 1

Submitted by
Socguy
Socguy writes: "A 15-year-old girl has become the first Canadian to have an artificial heart removed after her own heart healed itself.
Doctors at the Stollery Children's hospital implanted the Berlin Heart, a portable mechanical device that keeps blood pumping in an ailing heart, so she could survive until a transplant became available.
But over the next few months, Melissa's overall condition improved dramatically, and her heart muscle regained much of its strength. After 146 days on the Berlin Heart, Melissa underwent surgery to have the device removed.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2007/08/28/ artificial-heart.html"
Editorial

Submission + - Study- Coral reefs dying faster than predicted (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by Socguy
Socguy writes: Researchers from the University of North Carolina examined some 6,000 surveys of more than 2,600 coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific — stretching from the Indonesian island of Sumatra to French Polynesia — conducted between 1968 and 2004.

They found coral coverage there has fallen by 20 per cent in the past two decades. About 1,500 square kilometres of reefs have disappeared since the 1960s, the study found.

Little difference was found between the loss of coral in Australia's well-protected Great Barrier Reef and in ill-protected marine reserves in the Philippines, the researchers said.

The study didn't examine the cause of the decline, but the researchers said they believed it is due to climate change, coastal development and disease.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/08/08/cora l-reefs.html
Editorial

Submission + - Study links climate change to Hurricane frequency (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by Socguy
Socguy writes: Key factors in global climate change, like warming sea temperatures and shifting wind patterns, have prompted a sharp rise in hurricanes, according to a study out Monday.

The report by Greg Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and Peter Webster of Georgia Institute of Technology was published online Monday in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.

The researchers analyzed data from about the past 100 years, ending with 2005. They used systematic meteorologist's data derived from aircraft flights starting in 1944, satellite data from about 1970, and more sophisticated measuring methods for the subsequent years.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/07/30/atlantich urricanes.html?ref=rss
Editorial

Submission + - Human impact on climate change and precipitation

Submitted by Socguy
Socguy writes: Global warming has been blamed for higher temperatures and warmer oceans. But this is the first research paper that makes a link to rainfall patterns, with widespread implications for how people will adapt now that they've messed with Mother Nature.

"It's the first time that we've detected in precipitation data a clear imprint of human influence on the climate system," Francis Zwiers, one of the lead authors of the study and director of the climate research division at Environment Canada, said in an interview Monday.

The study, to appear Thursday in the science journal Nature, comes as record rainfalls wreak havoc in Britain and force thousands from their homes.

Dr. Zwiers said the results from this study have given climate scientists increased confidence in their ability to predict changes in precipitation patterns.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM .20070724.wclimate24/BNStory/Science/home
The Media

Submission + - Vancouver patient oozes green blood (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by Socguy
Socguy writes: Doctors at Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital came across something highly illogical when they tried to put an arterial line into a patient about to undergo surgery: his blood was dark green.
The green blood — reminiscent of the Vulcan blood found in Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame — came as a bit of a shock to Dr. Alana Flexman and her colleagues, who report on the unusual case in this week's issue of the journal The Lancet.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/06/08/health-g reen-blood.html
The Media

Submission + - Kentucky Creation museum drops 'Adam' video (www.cbc.ca)

Submitted by
Socguy
Socguy writes: "U.S. Bible-based museum drops 'Adam' video after the actor's risque past is revealed. A man who plays Adam in a video aired at a Bible-based creationist museum in Kentucky has led a different life outside the Garden of Eden, flaunting his sexual exploits online and modelling for a clothing line that promotes free love.

After learning about his activities Thursday, the Creation Museum pulled the 40-second video in which he appears.
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/070607/K060725AU.htm l"
Republicans

Submission + - Arctic Ice melting much faster than models predict

Submitted by Socguy
Socguy writes: Arctic sea ice is melting three times faster than many scientists have projected, U.S. researchers reported Monday, just days ahead of the next major international report on climate change. http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/05/01/clim ate-arctic.html

Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado in Boulder, using actual measurements, concluded Arctic sea ice has declined at an average rate of about 7.8 per cent a decade between 1953 and 2006.

By contrast, 18 computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations-sponsored climate research group, estimated an average rate of decline of 2.5 per cent a decade over the same period, the researchers said.

They said the discrepancy between their observations and computer projections indicate computer models may have failed to portray the entire impact of increasing levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Republicans

Submission + - China to pass US as worlds top CO2 source in '07

Submitted by Socguy
Socguy writes: China will overtake the United States as the world's biggest source of greenhouse gases this year, says the International Energy Agency, according to a news report. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/04/24/china-emi ssions.html China had been forecast to surpass the U.S. in 2010, but its sizzling economic growth has pushed the date forward, IEA chief economist Fatih Birol was quoted as saying in an interview in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal newspaper.
Republicans

Submission + - UN Climate report shows 'highway to extinction'

Submitted by Socguy
Socguy writes: First, the good news on climate change: A minimal heat rise means increased food production in northern regions of the world.

But after that it's all downhill, according to a chart in the second major report on the controversial topic, due to be released Friday in Belgium.

The final document will be the product of a United Nations network of 2,000 scientists as authors and reviewers, along with representatives of more than 120 governments as last-minute editors.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/31/climate-r eport.html

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