The ScienceSays blog has officially moved to a self-hosted site at www.ScienceSays.net
I hope that you’ll all kindly follow us over there. We’ve already got a couple of new posts up, like:
and
I hope you’ll follow us over to the new site and check them all out!
Sorry I’ve been away so long, everybody!
It turns out that graduating from college takes a lot more time than you’d think. Between revising my senior thesis and closing out the other classes, I found it was awfully hard to make time for more writing.
I’m sorry to those of you who’ve been dutifully checking in for updates. I should be back on top of it all soon! Keep an eye out, please.
Photo by willie2808
The New York Times reported today that, in addition to the convenient portable solar-panels I wrote about last, personal wind-turbines are not far over the horizon.
They report:
Wind turbines, once used primarily for farms and rural houses far from electrical service, are becoming more common in heavily populated residential areas as homeowners are attracted to ease of use, financial incentives and low environmental effects.
I don’t know how comfortable I’d be owning and operating my own wind-turbine in the backyard, but it’s pretty cool to see a renewed emphasis on self-sufficient home elctricity. Even if it’s not your dream to work over the internet from a remote, desert island, I’m sure that current gas prices and rolling blackouts have illustrated to everyone the value of energy independence, even if it’s a luxury for now.
What’s cool is that this article, and the product I detailed yesterday, are beginning to show a big change in the industry, and hopefully in the public’s percetptions of it. The article detailed:
“Back in the early days, off-grid electrical generation was pursued mostly by hippies and rednecks, usually in isolated, rural areas,” said Joe Schwartz, editor of Home Power magazine. “Now, it’s a lot more mainstream.”
Indeed. However, even if I was a hippie and/or redneck, I would appreciate the convenience and efficiency that are being built into these new machines.
Do I think that the power companies will willingly cede their control of the grid (and, therefore, livelihood) to a bunch of independent techno-geeks? No, but then again, I hope I can count myself among a lucky generation that gets to have a choice. Even if home solar-panels or wind-turbins aren’t for everybody, having them cheap, easy-to-use and readily-available will change the energy market in this country as we know it.
When cable television was first conceived, it was laughed at by those in the media elite. That’s because the media elite were based and broadcast in large cities like New York and Los Angeles where there was no difficulty transmitting a strong, high-quality signal to the masses. However, cable opened up the airwaves to the common American, living in the “flyover states” between the coasts. Just ask HBO, MTV, USA and the other cable juggernats if they ever would have had such monumental success by just appealing to the small sector of the public living in urban America.
The real significance with this portable power, as with cable TV back in The Day, is that by appealing to those people who live furthest from the sources of power, these innovations will not only offer them an affordable alternative, but in many places a degree of quality and convenience that they have never known. Transmitting electricity over long distances is certainly easier than television signals, but that doesn’t change the simple economics, or factor in those states’ penchant for independent living anyhow.
These new-power manufacturers must be banking that the silent majority living in the middle of the country will make their voice heard again, not with their masses, but with their wallets.
Photo by AnaBonita
Hi guys- Just a quick post, but moreso a question to our readers: (especially any with a legal background)
California passed their controversial auto-emissions bill this week, but with admittedly reduced standards.
Initially, California was demanding that a large number of all-electric or fuel-cell vehicles be made available to the market by the major auto-manufacturers by 2012. The federal government was not pleased by what they saw as a disproportionate restriction to manufacturing and trade, but California filed suit to force the Environmental Protection Agency to rule on the proposal, a move that could have allowed California an exemption waiver from federal energy laws. I don’t think it’s common for the federal government to decide that a state cannot impose further restrictions on their population (it’s typically when the states try to allow freedoms not extended under federal law, another California favorite, that the feds take a vested interest)
However, in this case, the implications of California’s attempted law would be far-reaching within the auto industry. As has been widely publicized, the state of California is one of the largest economies in the world, rivaling many international powers and beating out very many countries. As such, the introduction of a law in Califonia on a nationally or internationally manufactured product would be tantamount to a regulation on the industry as a whole, and to my knowledge, this is the first time that California has wielded that considerable influence to enact its population’s will on the rest of the country.
Then again, can you really blame them? The size or implication of a California law can’t really be considered in deciding whether it is constitutional or not. (and I suspect you’d find that it would be, especially if the restrictions were on the kind of new cars allowed to be bought in California, as opposed to those that could be sold, so that the burden is not directly on the car companies, but instead the citizen)
Still, California has apparently decided that it would be easier to come to some sort of conciliation, instead of beginning a protracted legal battle against the federal legislature. The state legislature has cut the number of zero-emissions vehicles required in the next few years by 70%, but has instead placed greater pressure on the introduction of hybrid vehicles.
I applaud California’s efforts, and I’m proud of the state, but I have to wonder - is any of this evil legal? What exactly can a given state require of manufacturers, and how can they consciously lobby that influence without running afoul of some sort of business laws? I love what California’s trying to do, and I think that as a result of their pressure, the auto industry will finally begin to change (you know they know how - but why spend the money until they have to, right? Ugh) but I just don’t know how these restrictions will hold up - some higher-ups in the major auto companies are already laughing at Cali’s gall.
Still, I think the California Air Resources Board made a good strategic move by striking hard, then backing off, but still instituting the toughest restrictions in the country: they limited their demands to a goal that could reasonably be met, without compromising their principles. There’s a degree to which Detroit (and other American industries as well) are dragging their feet to stick to the traditional business model instead of leaping ahead, unsure, into the future. While this might protect their bottom line, it can’t really go on any longer, especially among the major polluters. However, it’s very wise of the California legislators to set goals that will be hard, but which no company can deny is possible.
If someone could fill me in, though, on how this is legal in the first place, I would love to know. Thanks. - Jeff
My unfortunate schedule this week has kept me from commenting on this before, but at 8pm tonight, wherever you are, please consider turning your lights off for Earth Hour.
This Australia-organized event is intended to draw attention to the massive amount of fossil fuels we consume to maintain our electric lifestyle, and how much of it we just leave on and running unintentionally. Many cities in Australia are on board, and major landmarks and cities across the US and Europe (Chicago, London City Hall, Canterbury Cathedral).
Even if your town or city isn’t officially participating, you can still play a part and make a difference, even just by turning off your lights for an hour and telling a friend. Organize your neighborhood, or maybe get your office together.
Throw a block-party lit exclusively by candals or torches (with bio-fuel, of course) or just light a candle with a loved-one and share some time together away from the TV.
I’m not asking you to give up your lights or throw away your television, but it’s always good to take a step back and get a little perspective on how you live your life. I’m probably the worst power-consumer I know, but hopefully I’ll do better this year! Just remembering to turn off what you’re not using could make a big difference for all of us.
The author has now left the building.
Sorry for the totally off-topic post here, but it can’t hurt to chime in with some personal news once in a while - especially when it affects the state of the site!
My senior thesis is finally, begrudgingly submitted - that little bugger just didn’t want to go! In all seriousness, though, it’s a huge weight off my shoulders and things should be getting back to normal around here very soon.
I have a feeling that looking back on this paper in the coming weeks, there will be a few things I’ll want to change. However, once I’m satisfied that it’s sufficiently polished, I’ll put it up for any curious eyes to see.
For those who don’t know, I’ve spent the last few months researching the recent wave of biologists who published books and articles in support of atheism. My research took me back through the Creationism debates of the 80’s and 90’s, through a whole pile of theology while I tried to determine just what these guys were getting at, and ultimately found a real diamond amidst a surprising amount of rough.
You can look forward to that, as well as individual book reviews of the major texts I examined (one part of the importance of this project was the reliance on the popular press as an arena for disseminating their theories) I hope to make book reviews a feature on the site in the future, and I’ll be posting reviews on scientifically and environmentally-minded books as I get through them.
I’ve got a couple of other things planned for the site as well:
• I’ll immediately be trying to meet a higher post-per-week quota, working up to a 5-day post-week.
• I’ve also been working on moving the site to a dedicated server where I can have a little more control over the format and such, which should be an exciting launch…I’ll have to do something special for that one.
If you’ve kept checking in through my frequent absences lately, thank you. I’ve fled the continent for a little R&R, but will be checking in soon with lots of updates.
On deck: a multi-part piece looking at the recent salmon problems taking hold around the world, and a special piece on the delicate balance of fisheries.
Stay tuned!
The following is a guest post from Rob Myles, member of the Matsunami Board of Education and a contributor at Cracked.com
A long time ago, as these stories often begin, man cut his moorings with the earth and travelled the skies. Some time later, those fortunate few were chosen to pioneer the vastness that lay outside our small world, to plumb the depths of space as only science fiction novelists had done before. Now, the final frontier is opening up to the wider world, and civilian corporations are taking an interest in “space tourism”.
Of these, perhaps the best publicized is Virgin Galactic. To the potential consumer the buzz surrounding this project, the X-Prize and SpaceShipOne leading to the suitably futuristic looking SpaceShipTwo project, has turned a lot of heads, filling them with hope of a childhood dream come true in the process.
This is an easy project to believe in the feasibility of. It’s a combination of mediums, granted, but both are suitably large departures from the ancestral heritage to make them the logical next step in technological development, enabling us to take that one step further.
“A Florida official said the woman died when she hit her head on the boat deck.”
Dear CNN,
I told you so.
- Science Says
From CNN.com:
The accident happened off the coast of Marathon Key, in the Florida Keys about an hour’s drive south of Miami. The woman, who was with her husband and children, was taken to the Mariner Hospital in Tavernier, where she was pronounced dead.
Pino said he had seen rays leap into the air, but added, “it’s very rare for them to collide with objects.”
The spotted-eagle ray weighed about 75 to 80 pounds and had a six-foot wingspan, said Pino.
The Monroe County Sherriff’s Office has full photos of the boat and ray up online here
EDIT 3/21/08: The medical examiner officially ruled the woman’s death an accident, and the head trauma caused from hitting her head on the boat as the official cause of death. Additionally, one detail left out of the original reports was that the boat was moving at the time of the accident.
“Judy Kay Zagorski was sitting in the front seat of a boat traveling 25 mph on Thursday when she was struck in the face…Authorities say Zagorski was not stung by the ray’s barb.”
I don’t remember too many of those physics calculations, but 75 pounds of ray at 25 miles per hour is a lot of force.
Sorry that thing have been quiet around here lately - I’ve been embroiled in an epic battle with the final research paper of my college career, and needless to say, it’s a doozy. Many sleepless nights (I try not to sleep too much during the day either) later, I’m getting pretty darn close to finishing this thing off.
This means you’ll be seeing a lot more content on this page in the coming weeks. It also means I’ll be able to take the time to expand into some broader topics, in keeping, of course, with the general theme. Thanks for keeping an eye on Science Says and rest assured that there’ll be much more going on in the near future, plus some fairly exciting site news *fingers crossed* in the next week.
Photo by Observe the Banana
Yahoo has got a new Buzz article up about all the baby seals that will die this season as a result of global warming. The World Wildlife Fund is reporting out of Germany that the loss of arctic ice will severely hamper the babies’ development, but the fight over the Arctic circle is just as much to blame.
It’s true that arctic ice is vitally important in the first few months of life, but that’s true for many mammals living there - not just the cuddly and cute ones. Polar bears, seals, and arctic foxes all use ice-dens and their mother’s heat for shelter while they wait for warmer weather and develop the layers of fat and fur needed to survive in that climate. This is especially important for the seals, whose blubber is the only thing insulating them against the icy waters.
