Could Crazy Technology
Save the Planet?
by Seth Borenstein, Associated Press
WASHINGTON
— Crazy-sounding ideas for saving the planet are
getting a serious look from top scientists, a sign of their fears
about global warming and the desire for an insurance policy in case
things get worse.
How crazy?
There's the man-made "volcano" that
shoots gigatons of sulfur high into the air. The space "sun shade"
made of trillions of little reflectors between Earth and sun,
slightly lowering the planet's temperature. The forest of ugly
artificial "trees" that suck carbon dioxide out of the air. And the
"Geritol solution" in which iron dust is dumped into the ocean...
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Spacecraft May Surf
the Solar System on Magnetic Fields
by
Stephen Battersby, New Scientist
Future spacecraft may surf the
magnetic fields of Earth and other planets, taking previously
unfeasible routes around the solar system, according to a proposal
funded by NASA's Institute for Advanced Concepts. The electrically
charged craft would not need rockets or propellant of any kind.
Mason Peck of Cornell University in
Ithaca, New York, US, has received a grant to study the idea, which
is based on the fact that magnetic fields exert forces on
electrically charged objects.
He says a satellite could charge
itself up in one of two ways – either by firing a beam of charged
particles into space, or simply by allowing a radioactive isotope to
emit charged particles. The charged satellite would then be gently
pushed by Earth's rotating magnetic field, enabling it to change
orbit and even escape to interplanetary space...
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Be More Than You Can
Be
by Noah Shachtman, Wired
The lab is climate-controlled to 104 degrees Fahrenheit and
66 percent humidity. Sitting inside the cramped room, even for a few
minutes, is an unpleasantly moist experience. I’ve spent the last 40
minutes on a treadmill angled at a 9 percent grade. My face is
chili-red, my shirt soaked with sweat. My breath is coming in short,
unsatisfactory gasps. The sushi and sake I had last night are in
full revolt. The tiny speakers on the shelf blasting “Living on a
Prayer” are definitely not helping.
Then Dennis Grahn, a lumpy Stanford University biologist and former
minor-league hockey player, walks into the room. He nods in my
direction and smiles at a technician. “Looks like he’s ready,” Grahn
says...
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Will Biology Solve the
Universe?
by Aaron Rowe, Wired
or years, scientists have tried to
develop a universal theory of everything. Steven Hawking predicts
that such a theory will be discovered in the next 20 years. A new
theory asserts that biology, not physics, will be the key to
unlocking the deepest mysteries of the universe, such as quantum
mechanics.
"The answer to the universe is biology
-- it's as simple as that," says Dr.
Robert Lanza,
vice president of research and scientific development at Advanced
Cell Technology. He details his theory in
The American Scholar's
spring issue, published on Thursday. Lanza says scientists will
establish a
unified
theory only if they radically rethink their understanding of
space and time using a "biocentric" approach. His article is
essentially a biological and philosophical response to Hawking's
A Brief History of Time, in which he questions how we
interpret the big bang, the existence of space and time, as well as
many other theories -- assertions that might ruffle the feathers of
some physical scientists...
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