Barack Faces Global Climate Emergencies

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:01:06 -0500

Barack Faces Global Climate Emergencies  By CJ Bare
Can President-Elect Barack Obama solve the global climate crisis? Only time will tell, but at present, he has presented America with a well thought-out energy plan. His solution includes setting up a cap and trade system, in which large scale polluters can buy and sell pollution licenses, and regulate pollution levels on their own, without government interference. He also plans on using clean coal mining, a system in which the carbon dioxide is captured before it is released into the environment, and then buried deep underground. He is also calling for a shift towards clean renewable energy, such as hydroelectric and solar power. By spreading green energy, he claims that more "green collar" jobs – at least 5 million- will replace the jobs of blue collar industrial workers. Under this plan, Obama pledges to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
On the flipside, Obama's policy still supports offshore drilling in areas already secured for drilling but have not yet been tapped. However, he opposes oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and he is pushing towards alternative fuels for automobiles, and will probably prompt more efficient fuel emissions. The only real downside to what looks like a brilliant plan to ransom America from the developing climate crisis is the fact that it is incredibly costly. Obama plans on spending $150 billion over 10 years in his renewable energy package. Skeptics see this plan as only a temporary remedy to a larger problem, and some are even predicting the cap and trade system to create more inflation, raising the prices of domestic goods for the consumer.

Human Genome Decoded

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:01:04 -0500

Human Genome Decoded
Austin Trindade

Cancer is a condition that has remained a mystery to scientists around
the world, but recent discoveries suggest that this is changing.
Released November 5th on Nature, scientists have recorded an entire
human genome, and the genome of a cancer cell in the same person.
This provides critical information regarding the genetic differences
between healthy cells and cancerous cells.

DNA contains all of the necessary information life needs to develop,
though one stand contains millions of individual bases. When
expressed in a form humans can interpret, the entire sequence of all
DNA is called a genome. Thanks to advancements in technology that
have made the DNA reading process cheaper and faster, all three
billion bases of both cell types have been decoded.

The subject of the DNA decoding was a woman with AML, or acute myeloid
leukemia, a form a blood and bone marrow cancer. Because AML—along
with other cancers—is the result of a genome mutation, the normal cell
and cancer cell can be cross checked for differences. These
differences, the scientists theorized, would tell them which bases
caused the cell to become cancerous.

When the results were in, the scientists, including Timothy Lee and
his colleagues at Washington University in St. Louis, found a total of
ten significant mutations. The number may sound large, but out of
three billion separate bases, that number is virtually nothing.
Nevertheless, these ten mutations were enough to cause a malignant
cancer in an otherwise healthy person.

It is still too early to tell if these results will be enough to treat
all patients. This genome reading is only from one individual;
whether or not all people with AML have similar mutations is still up
for debate. "It's fun to speculate," Mardis from Washington
University says, "but we just don't know."

Putting Your Body to the Ultimate Test

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:01:02 -0500

Putting Your Body to the Ultimate Test
By Sean Connolly

Did you ever think a person would run more than just a marathon? Of course, right. Many of us do not know that there are not just middle distance runners and marathoners, there are ultra marathoners. This select group of people that push their bodies to the brink will be seen at the starting line at The Last Desert race on November 16th. This last race will take place in Antarctica, starting at a station called Ushuaia. Racers will cover 150 miles of icy trails running over mountains, rifts, and the cool desert terrain. They will pass flocks of wild animals, various research stations from a number of different countries, and an active volcano.

The Last Desert race is the last race out of the four desert races held throughout the calendar year. In March, there is the Atacama Crossing Race in Chile; in June there is the Gobi March in China; in October, the Sahara Race in Egypt, and the desert races conclude with the Last Desert in Antarctica. Each race has its own unique qualities, though each one is considered an ultra marathon. A standard ultra marathon race can range from 100 to 200 miles. Preparing for these races requires many hours of practicing and dedication, so that your body will be prepared for the unthinkable.

This last race in Antarctica, in many pros opinions, can be seen as the toughest one out of the four. All ultra marathons can be arduous though when your racing in temperatures of -40 degrees and below and also just thinking about how Antarctica is mainly uninhabited by humans can be a psychological battle. This race requires a significant amount of patience and determination. Each athlete needs to be aware that on November 16th, the race may not take off, because weather conditions can become incredibly destructive and dangerous in Antarctica. Dean Karnazes, the author of the book called Ultra Marathon Man, describes in his book that Antarctica can be one of the toughest places to race, since race officials can postpone the race for days because of the weather in Antarctica. Karnazes notes that he had to wait over a month just to put his foot on the starting line; the weather conditions were just too dangerous.

When a person decides that he/she will participate in The Last Desert race, they have to know that they will be facing elements such as blustery winds, snow, frigid temperatures, and silence. As a racer being prepared mentally can be placed on the top of the list of being prepared for such a race. Many people in history have decided to drop out of these races, mainly due to silence, though nothing beats the silence in Antarctica. Nobody lives on the continent! Even after many years of dispute, the continent still remains uninhabited, just a couple of research centers with nothing else anywhere. Some people often have to visualize in their minds what running at the bottom of the world feels like, though many who have raced often admit that visualizing can be hard, since nobody even really talks about Antarctica. People who have completed this race know that home-sickness, hypothermia, and shock, can just mesmerize a hallucinating person and warp them mentally.

Ultra marathon racing takes courage, determination, and heart. Though the results will show on who conquered all these elements and who did not. Best wishes to all candidates!

Space Portal

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:01:01 -0500

Space Portal
By Daniel Bissonnette

Portals connecting the Earth to the Sun, called FLEs or Flux Transfer
Events, connect the Earth to the Sun temporarily every 8 minutes. This
connection transfers energy from the sun to Earth. This information
was presented at the 2008 Plasma Workshop in Huntsville, Alabama.

Around the Earth, there is an invisible magnetic field containing
energy particles from the Sun. The field is a bubble that surrounds
the planet like the atmosphere. When a part of the world is receiving
sunlight, during the daytime, a cylinder connects the bubble to the
sun. In the cylinder, energy is transferred and can be traced from the
Earth to the Sun.

How do we know these are real? They sound made up, maybe out of Star
Wars, but they are very real. NASA sent space ships to survey the size
of the cylinder. The ships were able to read the energy particles
traveling through the cylinder, proving they were present. Now, so
they are easier to predict, scientists know how much energy flows
through at a given time so they can simulate it on computers.

U.S. Monopoly On the Moon Over

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:49:08 -0400

U.S. Monopoly On the Moon Over
By Taylor Chung

India cooperating with some European countries has launched it's first mission to the moon. India launched a lunar satillite, Chandrayaan-1, on October 22. Chandryaan-1 will take about two weeks until it is in orbit around the moon. After it is stable in its orbit the satillite will decend to an altitude of 100 kilometers above the lunar surface. The orbitor will then eject a 'Moon Impactor Probe' which will send back information about the lunar surface. Once that part of the mission is complete the orbitor will continue to orbit the moon and use its eleven instruments, provided by european countries, to gather furthur information. These insturments will gathe information from the mineral make up of the lunar surface to the effects of solar winds on the moon. This marks the end to the United States hold on the sole country to venture to the moon. Soon other countries will follow suit and send satillites and manned missions to the moon. If the U.S wants to stay ahead they need to launch a successful manned mission to mars and soon.

Mammals on the Edge

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:48:51 -0400

Mammals on the Edge
By Austin Trindade

It has been theorized that many of the world's mammals are decreasing
in population due to human intervention and climate change, but only
now have the numbers to support this been released. The International
Union for Conservation of Nature, after toiling for five years in
countries scattered across the world, reports that 1 out of every 4
wild mammal species faces the risk of extinction.

The most familiar icon of animal endangerment is, arguably, the polar
bear. For the past few years, polar bears have been portrayed as
disaster-ridden creatures that are threatened by the gradual decline
of the ice caps which are essential to their survival. As it turn out,
not all mammals that reside closer to the equator are safe. Other land
mammals such as jaguars, gazelle, and, most notably, primates, share
the same bleak future. In fact, approximately 75% of all primates are
expected to disappear from this world in the coming years if nothing
is done. Water mammals, like whales and dolphins, also struggle to
adapt to a strange and changing world.

What's even more troubling about the statistic is that it is not a
complete analysis; 836 out of the 5487 known mammal species do not
have sufficient data to generate a report. This means that, at the
most, the percent of endangered animals may be 36% instead of 25%.

The reason for this great decrease in land mammals is due to hunting
and habitat loss. This is especially true for mammals living in
central and southern Africa, as well as in some Asian countries. Water
mammals in this crisis are often exposed to hazardous chemical waste,
deadly fishing nets up to a mile in width, or military-type sonar that
can confuse and disorientate them. Virtually every significant drop in
a mammal population can be directly or indirectly related to human
activity.

Plants and other animals also seem affected by the harsh times: 40% of
40,000 recorded species are threatened, while 3000 of them are
critically endangered. This period of apparent 'mass extinction' has
led some scientists to believe that this is the first wave of mass
extinction to strike since the dinosaurs died 65 million years ago.

Despite this harsh reality, members of the IUCN are doing what they
can to prevent further decreases. Mammals such as the black-footed
ferret and European bison have returned from the brink, as can many
others. While it is inevitable that many will die in human hands,
people are doing what they can to ensure that the rest will be around
for future generations to see and admire.