Occasionally, I will post news stories that I find interesting.

-k

Radio Frequencies Help Burn Salt Water - September 11, 2007 by David Templeton

(From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)- An Erie cancer researcher has found a way to burn salt water, a novel invention that is being touted by one chemist as the "most remarkable" water science discovery in a century.

John Kanzius happened upon the discovery accidentally when he tried to desalinate seawater with a radio-frequency generator he developed to treat cancer. He discovered that as long as the salt water was exposed to the radio frequencies, it would burn.

The discovery has scientists excited by the prospect of using salt water, the most abundant resource on earth, as a fuel.

Rustum Roy, a Penn State University chemist, has held demonstrations at his State College lab to confirm his own observations.

The radio frequencies act to weaken the bonds between the elements that make up salt water, releasing the hydrogen, Roy said. Once ignited, the hydrogen will burn as long as it is exposed to the frequencies, he said.

The discovery is "the most remarkable in water science in 100 years," Roy said.

"This is the most abundant element in the world. It is everywhere," Roy said. "Seeing it burn gives me the chills."

Roy will meet this week with officials from the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense to try to obtain research funding.

The scientists want to find out whether the energy output from the burning hydrogen — which reached a heat of more than 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit — would be enough to power a car or other heavy machinery.

"We will get our ideas together and check this out and see where it leads," Roy said. "The potential is huge."

Astronomeres find a hole in the Universe - August 24, 2007 by Seth Borenstein

(From The Washington Post) - Astronomers have stumbled upon a tremendous hole in the universe. That's got them scratching their heads about what's just not there. The cosmic blank spot has no stray stars, no galaxies, no sucking black holes, not even mysterious dark matter. It is 1 billion light years across of nothing. That's an expanse of nearly 6 billion trillion miles of emptiness, a University of Minnesota team announced Thursday.

Astronomers have known for many years that there are patches in the universe where nobody's home. In fact, one such place is practically a neighbor, a mere 2 million light years away. But what the Minnesota team discovered, using two different types of astronomical observations, is a void that's far bigger than scientists ever imagined.

"This is 1,000 times the volume of what we sort of expected to see in terms of a typical void," said Minnesota astronomy professor Lawrence Rudnick, author of the paper that will be published in Astrophysical Journal. "It's not clear that we have the right word yet ... This is too much of a surprise."

Rudnick was examining a sky survey from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which essentially takes radio pictures of a broad expanse of the universe. But one area of the universe had radio pictures indicating there was up to 45 percent less matter in that region, Rudnick said.

The rest of the matter in the radio pictures can be explained as stars and other cosmic structures between here and the void, which is about 5 to 10 billion light years away.

Rudnick then checked observations of cosmic microwave background radiation and found a cold spot. The only explanation, Rudnick said, is it's empty of matter.

It could also be a statistical freak of nature, but that's probably less likely than a giant void, said James Condon, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. He wasn't part of Rudnick's team but is following up on the research.

"It looks like something to be taken seriously," said Brent Tully, a University of Hawaii astronomer who wasn't part of this research but studies the void closer to Earth.

Tully said astronomers may eventually find a few cosmic structures in the void, but it would still be nearly empty.

Holes in the universe probably occur when the gravity from areas with bigger mass pull matter from less dense areas, Tully said. After 13 billion years "they are losing out in the battle to where there are larger concentrations of matter," he said.

Retired NASA astronomer Steve Maran said of the discovery: "This is incredibly important for something where there is nothing to it."

Proposed Atlanta Bill Would Ban Baggy Pants - August 23, 2007 from cbs46.com

ATLANTA -- Baggy pants that show boxer shorts or thongs would be illegal under a proposed amendment to Atlanta's indecency laws.The amendment, sponsored by Atlanta city councilman C.T. Martin, states that sagging pants are an "epidemic" that is becoming a "major concern" around the country.Martin said he doesn't want young people thinking that being half-dressed is the way to go.But not everyone supports Martin's idea.

"I feel it's sad the city has to come in and take control of our kids when we can't," said Atlanta resident Joseph Scott.American Civil Liberties Union Georgia president Debbie Seagraves said the proposal is too vague and would unfairly target African-Americans."We're going to do that in a society that has already criminalized young black youth to the point (that) we already have hundreds of black men in prison," Seagraves said.The proposed ordinance would also bar women from showing the strap of a thong beneath their pants.The proposal states that "the indecent exposure of his or her undergarments" would be unlawful in a public place. It would go in the same portion of the city code that outlaws sex in public.Martin said the penalty would be a fine.Martin said he plans to hold public hearings and vet the proposal through churches, civil rights groups and neighborhood organizations. The proposal will get its first public airing next Tuesday in the City Council's Public Safety Committee.

Deputies: Man 'Mad At God' Drives Into Church - August 14, 2007 from cnn.com

A 23-year-old St. Augustine man who told deputies he was "angry with God" and intentionally drove his pickup truck into a Catholic church early Tuesday morning, according to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.Just before 3 a.m., deputies responded to a report of a crash at St. Anastasia Catholic Church in the 5200 block of state Road A1A South. They said they found Thomas Kyle Nursey still in the driver's seat of his Ford F-150 pickup that had crashed into the door of the church.Deputies reported damage to the door and north wall of the church, but an estimate of damages was not immediately available.

Medical science aims to microchip you - August 14, 2007 By Tanya Talaga

(From thestar.com) - Imagine a microchip the size of a grain of rice, implanted under your skin, that doctors can scan in order to retrieve your medical information.

The American Medical Association has endorsed the use of implantable microchips to help reduce medical errors and adverse drug reactions.

It said the chips may help to identify patients, "thereby improving the safety and efficiency of patient care," reports the latest issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

But the AMA's policy recommendation was filled with cautions, since the security of the microchips hasn't been established. Some observers fear the potential for loss of privacy and misuse of medical records might outweigh the benefits.

In Canada, the technology is unregulated as a medical device, according to Health Canada. But Canadian doctors, ethicists and critics wonder if it could come here.

"It's a very real possibility," said Teresa Scassa, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and technology expert.

"The implantable medical chips are being looked at very seriously by hospitals and other health-care facilities."

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has already approved a microchip – with limited storage and a transmission range of a few metres – that contains basic information, such as the presence of a chronic disease or pacemaker, according to the CMAJ.

Toronto critical-care surgeon Dr. Talat Chughtai said that saving lives "trumps everything else."

Doctors have no way of knowing the medical history of a patient wheeled into the emergency ward if they are alone and unable to speak.

"(If) I'm there with a patient (in the emergency ward) at 2 a.m. who can't tell me what they have ...," says Chughtai.

"In an acute case, this could help save a patient's life."

However, the AMA's policy recommendation, which came out in June, contains cautions about security and says the medical profession should monitor the chip's efficacy, and advises more studies.

The radio frequency identification (known as RFID) chips aren't meant to contain a patient's personal medical record.

Instead, the implant – also called a "tag" or transponder – contains an identification number that can be detected by a radio frequency reader and entered into a hospital's database to access a patient's information.

The microchips or tags can be inserted under the skin with a needle.

There are privacy concerns about access to medical information, Scassa said.

But it depends on how they're used. Someone could get information from a chip and "use it to access your medical records within the system," for instance, she said.

"It is also possible to have chips that contain more ... specific information, and ... it is possible for someone to crack or hack into that information. There are security risks for both kinds."

Potential medical risks include migration under the skin, or the formation of tissue bumps, like cysts, around the tag, she added.

Canadian examples of RFID already in use include automatic toll passes on highways such as the 407. Scassa predicts new uses will continue to pop up in everyday life.

"We do that in my dog, you know," said patient safety expert Ross Baker, a University of Toronto professor of health policy, management and evaluation.

"Veterinarians recommend it. If the pet is lost you can recover it."

But, said Baker, while health-care providers need a strategy to ensure proper identification of patients, "this seems an extreme way to do it."

-Although I agree that it is a good idea to have medical information immediately available to medical professionals (even if you are unable to speak), but it seems that this idea could lead to some problems.

Fly me to the Moon: space hotel sees 2012 opening - August 10, 2007 By Pascale Hartner

BARCELONA (Reuters) - "Galactic Suite," the first hotel planned in space, expects to open for business in 2012 and would allow guests to travel around the world in 80 minutes.

Its Barcelona-based architects say the space hotel will be the most expensive in the galaxy, costing $4 million for a three-day stay.

During that time guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and use Velcro suits to crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman.

Company director Xavier Claramunt says the three-bedroom boutique hotel's joined up pod structure, which makes it look like a model of molecules, was dictated by the fact that each pod room had to fit inside a rocket to be taken into space.

"It's the bathrooms in zero gravity that are the biggest challenge," says Claramunt. "How to accommodate the more intimate activities of the guests is not easy."

But they may have solved the issue of how to take a shower in weightlessness -- the guests will enter a spa room in which bubbles of water will float around.

When guests are not admiring the view from their portholes they will take part in scientific experiments on space travel.

Galactic Suite began as a hobby for former aerospace engineer Claramunt, until a space enthusiast decided to make the science fiction fantasy a reality by fronting most of the $3 billion needed to build the hotel.

An American company intent on colonizing Mars, which sees Galaxy Suite as a first step, has since come on board, and private investors from Japan, the United States and the United Arab Emirates are in talks.

PLENTY RICH ENOUGH

If Claramunt is secretive about the identity of his generous backer, he is more forthcoming about the custom he can expect.

"We have calculated that there are 40,000 people in the world who could afford to stay at the hotel. Whether they will want to spend money on going into space, we just don't know."

Four million dollars might be a lot to spend on a holiday, but those in the nascent space tourism industry say hoteliers have been slow on the uptake because no one thought the cost of space travel would come down as quickly as it has.

Galactic Suite said the price included not only three nights in space. Guests also get eight weeks of intensive training at a James Bond-style space camp on a tropical island.

"There is fear associated with going into space," said Claramunt. "That's why the shuttle rocket will remain fixed to the space hotel for the duration of the guests' stay, so they know they can get home again."

In an era of concern over climate change, Galaxy Suite have no plans so far to offset the pollution implications of sending a rocket to carry just six guests at a time into space.

"But," says Claramunt, "I'm hopeful that the impact of seeing the earth from a distance will stimulate the guests' urge to value and protect our planet."

PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) -- Scientists have discovered the universe's largest known planet, a giant ball made of mostly hydrogen that is 20 times larger than Earth and circling a star 1,400 light-years away.

Scientists believe the planet is 1.7 times the diameter of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, and has a temperature of 2,300-degrees.

"There is probably not a really firm surface anywhere on the planet. You would sink into it," said Georgi Mandushev, a research scientist at Lowell Observatory and lead author of an article announcing the finding in the peer-reviewed Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Lowell, along with the California Institute of Technology's Palomar Observatory in San Diego County and telescopes operating in Spain's Canary Islands, discovered the planet circling a star in the constellation Hercules.

Lowell announced the finding Monday. Scientists first spotted the new planet, called TrES-4, and a smaller one in spring 2006. Scientists at Caltech, Harvard University and the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii later confirmed the discovery.

"It's very solid stuff," astronomer Alan Boss at the Carnegie Institution of Washington said of the discovery of TrES-4. He marveled at the planet's extremely low density, about half that of Saturn in our solar system.

"It's just letting us know that nature has some surprises for us ... a much wider range of possibility than we could imagine," Boss said.

He said scientists "can't understand why these so-called fluffy planets are so fluffy. It really is a mystery, just how they can be so low-density."

Scientists also are working on the possibility of another planet in the same constellation. "It's tough," Mandushev said. "We're not really sure what's going on there. There might actually be another planet in this field, which would be incredible."

The participating Lowell telescope is housed on top of Anderson Mesa, about 15 miles south of Flagstaff.

Lowell is best known for the 1930 discovery of Pluto, which since has been demoted from planet status.

Scientists reveal secret of levitation - August 6, 2007 from yahoo.com

LONDON (AFP) - Scientists have discovered a ground-breaking way of levitating ultra small objects, which may revolutionise the design of micro-machines, a new report says.

Physicists said they can create "incredible levitation effects" by manipulating so-called Casimir force, which normally causes objects to stick together by quantum force.

The phenomenon could be used to improve the performances of everyday devices ranging from car airbags to computer chips, say Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin from Saint Andrews University.

Casimir force -- discovered in 1948 and first measured in 1997 -- can be seen in a gecko's ability to stick to a surface with just one toe.

Now the British scientists say they can reverse the Casimir force to cause an object to repel rather than attract another in a vacuum.

"The Casimir force is the ultimate cause of friction in the nano world, in particular in some micro-electromechanical systems," said Leonhardt, writing in the August issue of New Journal of Physics.

"Micro or nano machines could run smoother and with less or no friction at all if one can manipulate the force," he added.

And he added: "In order to reduce friction in the nanoworld, turning nature's stickiness into repulsion could be the ultimate remedy. Instead of sticking together, parts of micromachinery would levitate."

Leonhardt stressed that the practise is possible only for micro-objects.

But he underlined that, although in principle it may one day be possible to levitate humans, that day is a long way off.

"At the moment, in practice it is only going to be possible for micro-objects with the current technology, since this quantum force is small and acts only at short ranges," he said.

"For now, human levitation remains the subject of cartoons, fairytales and tales of the paranormal."

Their research was to be published in the New Journal of Physics.