Monday, December 17, 2007
Pig in a Bonnet
Just because you call it so, or give it a 26% boost in gas mileage, it is not a "green" vehicle. It is an SUV. An SUV with better mileage, yes, but still a gas (or in this case diesel)-guzzling monstrosity of arrogant and conspicuous consumption. And yes, it probably also supports terrorism.Am I the only one who thinks this whole green-spun 'nouveau-diesel' business is more than a little disingenuous? We need to develop actual non-fossil-fuel options, not waste time and money on marginal gains like diesel which just make things seem less dire than they are.
Side note: it turns out that the JDSOB is on a similar topic today.
Labels: cars, diesel, economy, environment, fuel, stupidity, SUVs
Sunday, October 14, 2007
It's Good for You, I Swear
Plastics are all too often at the center of environmental crises. Petrol used to make them gets spilled, and plastic wastes clog landfills with their near-endless lifespan. And of course there's the cute stuff (see picture).But now researchers have found a way for a plastic to be potentially Earth-saving: US and Korean scientists developed a plastic film with hourglass-shaped pores, which act like semi-permeable membranes found in plants, filtering CO2 and other smaller molecules selectively. The technology could go a long way not only in improving processing of waste gas and harvesting fuels, but also in cleanup of things like oil spills. Cool!
Speaking of novel, a phase I trial of an ovarian cancer vaccine yielded very encouraging results. The vaccine contains an immune stimulant and some surface proteins from common cancer cells, and seem to effectively stimulate the body to kill cancer cells (which it usually won't do). If this pans out in Phase II and III trials and in life, it would be huge, not only for cancer but potentially for many other diseases as well.
And finally, we have the oldest cure (and my favorite): booze! US researchers found that red wine (but not white) seems to inhibit infection by food-borne pathogens Listeria, Salmonella, E. coli, and H. pylori. Grape juice had a similar effect, but that's no fun. Plus, an Australian man's life was saved (after he drank antifreeze) by a three-day IV drip of vodka. Sadly, he was unconscious and didn't get to enjoy it.
Labels: booze, cancer, diarrhea, environment, food-borne pathogens, plastics, red wine, technology, vaccine, vodka
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Something in the Air
Since September 2001, American travelers have been subjected to ever-increasingly ridiculous and ineffective 'security measures.' The most recent set of rules, which comprise TSA's War on Moisture, bans passengers from carrying any liquids or gels onto a plane, in response to a botch attempt at a scientifically impossible attack.
Now, it comes out that the rules themselves are posing a real health threat to passengers: people attempting to comply have been putting contact lens solution into smaller containers, only to inadvertently put other things in their eyes. Admittedly, doing this borders on Darwin Award territory, but due to poor general knowledge about such things as sterility, etc., it is a serious health risk and one that can be easily prevented.
Speaking of Darwin Awards, smoking should garner some sort of honorable mention. We all know how bad it is for us, but people continue to insist that they're *special* or don't care and keep smoking, dragging down everyone else's health too. And, of course, this is all more than a little bit due to tobacco companies' aggressive marketing tactics. The newest game - "potentially reduced-exposure product" (PREP) cigarettes - are claimed to be 'less likely to cause cancer,' an easy out for smokers who don't want to quit. Needless to say, there is no evidence to support these safety claims, but I doubt that will stop anyone making them.
Finally, Indian car maker Tata has licensed technology to produce an air-powered car. I don't really understand how the powertrain works, but if it does like it claims, it'll be a GINORMOUS deal: to eliminate fossil fuel burning engines (or even just reduce their use) would have incredible benefits for everyone. Except Halliburton and Exxon, so don't expect the things to be available in the US anytime soon.
Now, it comes out that the rules themselves are posing a real health threat to passengers: people attempting to comply have been putting contact lens solution into smaller containers, only to inadvertently put other things in their eyes. Admittedly, doing this borders on Darwin Award territory, but due to poor general knowledge about such things as sterility, etc., it is a serious health risk and one that can be easily prevented.
Speaking of Darwin Awards, smoking should garner some sort of honorable mention. We all know how bad it is for us, but people continue to insist that they're *special* or don't care and keep smoking, dragging down everyone else's health too. And, of course, this is all more than a little bit due to tobacco companies' aggressive marketing tactics. The newest game - "potentially reduced-exposure product" (PREP) cigarettes - are claimed to be 'less likely to cause cancer,' an easy out for smokers who don't want to quit. Needless to say, there is no evidence to support these safety claims, but I doubt that will stop anyone making them.
Finally, Indian car maker Tata has licensed technology to produce an air-powered car. I don't really understand how the powertrain works, but if it does like it claims, it'll be a GINORMOUS deal: to eliminate fossil fuel burning engines (or even just reduce their use) would have incredible benefits for everyone. Except Halliburton and Exxon, so don't expect the things to be available in the US anytime soon.
Labels: airplanes, cancer, car, cigarettes, Darwin Awards, energy, environment, health, security, Tata, travel, TSA, War on Moisture
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Astoundingly Bad Ideas
Sometimes, smart people get stupid ideas and say stupid things. A US researcher, upon finding that a tiny sea creature (the salp) could theoretically 'mop up' after humans' excess greenhouse gas emissions, has suggested that we artificially alter the oceans' nutrient content, to try and make more of them. This is a mind-blowingly numb-nutted idea. For starters, even if it worked it would fail to address the actual problem: excess greenhouse gas emissions, and at best be only a temporary solution. Then, we move on to what the effects of altering ocean chemistry would be on, well, EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD!
A similarly lame-brained idea to solve our mounting environmental and energy crises is that of a 'hydrogen economy.' I've never been a fan of this idea - H is expensive, hard to produce, and hard to store, but for whatever reason the dubya administration bloody loves it. A leading fuel cell expert, Ulf Bossel, has put together a paper saying about that, and claiming that hydrogen is impracticable to meet our energy needs.
His arguments go beyond the simple technology problem (which could theoretically be solved) to the abundance problem: water is already a scarce resource in much of the world, and burning it all up as hydrogen fuel would make things worse. In that hydrogen fules burn to water, I'm not sure I believe outright quantity is so much the problem as distribution (i.e., not only who has the water to make hydrogen, but where all that end-product ends up relative to where it started).
And then there's cancer. The vast majority of men who die in old age have prostate cancer on autopsy, and the recent fad of screening has caused PC rates to skyrocket. But, the majority of men do not die of prostate cancer, and it rarely even affects them. Treatment is traumatic, expensive, and causes impotence and incontinence, but a study now suggests that it may increase life expectancy in older men, who would normally not be treated. The study's methodology, however, is dubious, and especially given the serious side-effects of treatment, its recommendations should be taken with many grains of salt.
Finally, of course, the most asinine idea of the day, possibly the year, comes from the Texas legislature (where else?). Representative Edmund Kuempel wants to make it legal for blind people to hunt. And they would be allowed, under his bill, to use laser targeting devices and other unsportsmanlike technologies which are otherwise banned. As long as they have a sighted friend help them aim. I don't think I even need to mention the trillions of ways this is a stupid, irresponsible, and likely-to-increase-the-murder-rate idea. Hmm...maybe it'll lower the population in Texas...could be a good idea...
A similarly lame-brained idea to solve our mounting environmental and energy crises is that of a 'hydrogen economy.' I've never been a fan of this idea - H is expensive, hard to produce, and hard to store, but for whatever reason the dubya administration bloody loves it. A leading fuel cell expert, Ulf Bossel, has put together a paper saying about that, and claiming that hydrogen is impracticable to meet our energy needs.
His arguments go beyond the simple technology problem (which could theoretically be solved) to the abundance problem: water is already a scarce resource in much of the world, and burning it all up as hydrogen fuel would make things worse. In that hydrogen fules burn to water, I'm not sure I believe outright quantity is so much the problem as distribution (i.e., not only who has the water to make hydrogen, but where all that end-product ends up relative to where it started).
And then there's cancer. The vast majority of men who die in old age have prostate cancer on autopsy, and the recent fad of screening has caused PC rates to skyrocket. But, the majority of men do not die of prostate cancer, and it rarely even affects them. Treatment is traumatic, expensive, and causes impotence and incontinence, but a study now suggests that it may increase life expectancy in older men, who would normally not be treated. The study's methodology, however, is dubious, and especially given the serious side-effects of treatment, its recommendations should be taken with many grains of salt.
Finally, of course, the most asinine idea of the day, possibly the year, comes from the Texas legislature (where else?). Representative Edmund Kuempel wants to make it legal for blind people to hunt. And they would be allowed, under his bill, to use laser targeting devices and other unsportsmanlike technologies which are otherwise banned. As long as they have a sighted friend help them aim. I don't think I even need to mention the trillions of ways this is a stupid, irresponsible, and likely-to-increase-the-murder-rate idea. Hmm...maybe it'll lower the population in Texas...could be a good idea...
Labels: asinine, carbon, environment, fuel, geriatrics, greenhouse, guns, hydrogen, prostate cancer, science, screening, stupidity, Texas
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Good Solar, Safe Cellphones, and Tasteful Memory
The US Department of Energy (DOE) says that one of their contractors, Boeing-Spectrolab, has managed to produce a solar panel with about 40% efficiency, more than triple the efficiency of current commercial panels (10-12%). Assuming that the system is useful on a marketable scale, this will have a MAJOR impact on energy use and production, worldwide. Hopefully this technology will lead to even more advances, allowing us to start using solar for just about everything.
Everything, that is, including your cell phone charger. Which you'll be using, because it seems that cell phone use (even over as long as 10 years) does not cause tumors. I feel like the jury's still probably out on this one, but since I only wish I could give up my cell at this point (they are addictive, no?), I'll take it as good news.
The bad news, for me at least, is that yet another study has shown how important sleep is to memory consolidation. Using a novel measurement technique, Max Planck researchers have found evidence that memories are 'moved' from the hippocampus to the cortex during sleep. More interesting is their finding that the cortex seems to actively control this transfer, though I'm not clear on how.
Also in the brain department, UK researchers have found that different antidepressants seem to alter taste bud sensitivity. The serotonin agonist paroxetine increased sensitivity to sweetness, and the noradrenergic
reboxetine increased sensitivity to sour flavors. Strange!
Everything, that is, including your cell phone charger. Which you'll be using, because it seems that cell phone use (even over as long as 10 years) does not cause tumors. I feel like the jury's still probably out on this one, but since I only wish I could give up my cell at this point (they are addictive, no?), I'll take it as good news.
The bad news, for me at least, is that yet another study has shown how important sleep is to memory consolidation. Using a novel measurement technique, Max Planck researchers have found evidence that memories are 'moved' from the hippocampus to the cortex during sleep. More interesting is their finding that the cortex seems to actively control this transfer, though I'm not clear on how.
Also in the brain department, UK researchers have found that different antidepressants seem to alter taste bud sensitivity. The serotonin agonist paroxetine increased sensitivity to sweetness, and the noradrenergic
reboxetine increased sensitivity to sour flavors. Strange!
Labels: antidepressants, brain, cell phones, cortex, environment, hippocampus, memory, science, solar power, taste, tumors
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Illegal Insurance, Ambient Power, Chocolate
Leaders of the health insurance industry (via their organization America's Health Insurance Plans) have announced that they now support universal health coverage in the US, and offered a plan to achieve that goal. Excuse me if I am dubious: this is an organization that has, literally until this press release, vehemently opposed any government activity in the sector. The few details provided also suggest to me that AHIP
is looking for another Medicare Part-D style giveaway. Still though, it's a hopeful step.
A RAND study suggests that illegal immigrants, often cited as a major drain on our national health resources by those opposed to universal coverage, actually account of only a small fraction of our spending, and for proportionally less than do citizens and legal immigrants. I'd like to think that this report might stop people (namely, Republicans) from blaming immigrants for our own problems, but I'd also like a pony that turns in to a boat.
RAND has published another study that could indicate great things, if our politicians were willing to go for it: projections show that moving forward on the '25 by 25' goal of using 25% renewable energy sources by 2025 can be done without any increased cost to consumers. Projections like this are always a bit shaky, depending as they do on so many contingent variables, but this one could provide the boost renewable energy needs. Hopefully the new Democratic congress will be interested in pursuing this option, helping to free us from our oil addiction and also clean up the environment.
And speaking of energy, don't you hate the jumble of wires around your desk, and the constant worry that your laptop/PDA/MP3 player/cellphone/portable massager will run out of juice at a critical moment? Well, physics may have an answer! Using a bunch of resonance effects I totally don't understand, researchers say they think they've found a way to charge electronic devices on the go, without wires. This would be awesome, but I have to wonder about the health effects of that much energy just floating around us all the time.
Also, chocolate is good for you.
is looking for another Medicare Part-D style giveaway. Still though, it's a hopeful step.
A RAND study suggests that illegal immigrants, often cited as a major drain on our national health resources by those opposed to universal coverage, actually account of only a small fraction of our spending, and for proportionally less than do citizens and legal immigrants. I'd like to think that this report might stop people (namely, Republicans) from blaming immigrants for our own problems, but I'd also like a pony that turns in to a boat.
RAND has published another study that could indicate great things, if our politicians were willing to go for it: projections show that moving forward on the '25 by 25' goal of using 25% renewable energy sources by 2025 can be done without any increased cost to consumers. Projections like this are always a bit shaky, depending as they do on so many contingent variables, but this one could provide the boost renewable energy needs. Hopefully the new Democratic congress will be interested in pursuing this option, helping to free us from our oil addiction and also clean up the environment.
And speaking of energy, don't you hate the jumble of wires around your desk, and the constant worry that your laptop/PDA/MP3 player/cellphone/portable massager will run out of juice at a critical moment? Well, physics may have an answer! Using a bunch of resonance effects I totally don't understand, researchers say they think they've found a way to charge electronic devices on the go, without wires. This would be awesome, but I have to wonder about the health effects of that much energy just floating around us all the time.
Also, chocolate is good for you.
Labels: AHIP, chocolate, energy, environment, gadgets, immigration, insurance, universal coverage
