Clipmarks | Marcariel's clips

PARIS, May 2 (UPI) -- The Hubble Space Telescope has provided evidence representing a major upset for conventional theories that propose a single period for star birth.

The European Space Agency said the telescope, observing globular cluster NGC 2808, has shown three separate generations of stars formed early in the cluster's life.

"The generally accepted view is that all of its stars originated at the same time and place, from the same material and have co-evolved for billions of years," said Luigi Bedin of the European Southern Observatory. "This is the cornerstone on which much of the study of stellar populations has been built."

"We had never imagined that anything like this could happen," said Giampaolo Piotto of the University of Padua, leader of the team that made the discovery.

He said the finding has deep cosmological implications.

Tags: cosmology, astrology, space, research, science, astrophysics

Cows - The Energy Source of the Future?

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 23:28:34 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: I heard of using Pig's dung for energy back in the 60's ... but this sounds like a better idea.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Cows might be alternative energy sources

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say cows might one day help meet the rise in demand for alternative energy sources.

Ohio State University researchers used microbe-rich fluid from cows to generate electricity in a new, small cellulose-based microbial fuel cell.

Doctoral student Hamid Rismani-Yazdi, lead author of the study, said experiments showed it took two of the new cells to produce enough electricity to recharge an AA-sized battery. That power was produced from the breakdown of cellulose by a variety of bacteria in rumen fluid -- the microbe-rich fluid found in a cow's rumen, the largest chamber of a cow's stomach.

To create power, researchers fill a microbial fuel cell with cellulose and rumen fluid.

"Energy is produced as the bacteria break down cellulose, which is one of the most abundant resources on our planet," said Rismani-Yazdi.

Tags: cows, energy, electricity, bacteria, cellulose, battery

China: Skin Whitening is All the Rage

Wed, 09 May 2007 02:38:29 GMT

clipped by: cpltaiji
clipper's remarks: Weird! I always liked the Asian skin tone.
But then, look at Japan. Seems all the young girls want to have round eyes now!
Hopefully, this is just a fad and will pass.

Clip Source: chineseculture.about.com

Is the Chinese Love of Lighter Skin Racist?

In China, come home after a hard day's work, turn on the TV, and I guarantee you that on any given night, a third of the television commericials and perhaps half of the infommercials will be dedicated to selling women the magic elixir for lighter skin.

The Chinese are obsessed with light skin, and from casting soap stars to choosing a marriage partner, the preference is clear: the lighter the better.

And it's not just China. Fly West from Beijing to New Delhi, to Lagos, women everywhere are looking for that powder, that cream, that peel that will make them a little bit lighter. Many of these unregulated products will not only damage their skin, but seriously endanger their health.

Tags: life, human interest, health, general interest, drugs, bizarre

Are We Alone in these Billions of Stars?

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 23:41:08 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: The same question with a good answer. This is a good article that tries to explain the likelihood of extraterrestrial life.

I believe. Not little green men ... but something else out there.

Clip Source: encarta.msn.com

What is the likelihood of extraterrestrial life?

It's another way of asking: "Are we alone here in the unimaginably vast cosmos?" Unimaginable as it may be, there is a remarkable and reasonable way to take a crack at imagining an answer to this question. In fact, there's even a well-established scientific discipline to study the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the universe--it's called exobiology.

How to calculate the likelihood of extraterrestrial life

It's simple. Just use the calculation N = R*fp nefl fi fcL. Easy, right? Here's what it means:

Called the Drake equation, this calculation starts with total number of stars in a given part of space, say, our galaxy.

So, astronomers often estimate the total number of stars using a term associated with a rate of star formation. We call it “R*” (R-star). For the Milky Way, it's around 400 billion; hence the expression, "billions and billions" of stars.

Tags: extraterrestrial, galaxy, cosmos, exobiology

Beautiful Planet - Photos of Nature

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 04:47:53 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Photos in the clip:
Uluru - Australia
Monument Valley, Arizona, USA
Pismo Beach, California, USA
Columbia Gorge, Oregon, USA

Great natural beauty photos site. Some of the photos are very large. I love the ones of the redwood forests in California. I remember going there as a young child. The trees are awesome. There are several albums of nature photos at this site. It's a good resource for nature photos.

Clip Source: www.astronomynotes.com

Our Beautiful Planet

Clip Source: www.astronomynotes.com

Tags: nature, beauty, parks, mountains, waterfalls, forests

Johhny Can't Write

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 23:04:55 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: Have you looked at any young person's handwriting lately? I can barely read my 9 year old grandson's printing, and he is to start learning cursive this year. I doubt that this will be legible either.

My great-uncle Lawrence had the most beautiful handwriting. It was all swirls and curls in beautifully, carefully written words. This has become a thing of the past. Too Bad!

Clip Source: encarta.msn.com

Penmanship Takes a Back Seat in Many Elementary Schools

John Hancock wouldn't recognize the handwriting taught in many schools today. And his loopy slanted script might as well be a foreign language to 21st century students.

Time and technology have largely done away with traditional penmanship, leaving schools with a challenge that mirrors today's fast pace: how to teach a cursive style that's faster to write than older, ornate methods and easily readable.

'The printing and cursive are taking more of a back seat,''

Why teach cursive at all when computers and keyboards are so prevalent? For one thing, younger children may not have the skills to fully learn keyboarding, and not all classrooms have computers.

some who have trouble with writing mechanics have problems with other language-arts skills.

Ultimately, most students and adults end up adopting a hybrid writing style of printing and cursive

'We want things that can be done quickly and efficiently.

Tags: handwriting, cursive, printing, language-arts, writing

World's First Air Powered Car

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:12:45 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: I just love the comment that it will NEVER come to the USA. Come on ... give us a break from the gas prices!

Clip Source: www.popularmechanics.com

India’s largest automaker is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets in August of 2008.

Barring any last-minute design changes on the way to production, the Air Car should be surprisingly practical. The $12,700 CityCAT, one of a handful of planned Air Car models, can hit 68 mph and has a range of 125 miles.

Of course, the Air Car will likely never hit American shores, especially considering its all-glue construction. But that doesn’t mean the major automakers can write it off as a bizarre Indian experiment — MDI has signed deals to bring its design to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa.

Tags: air powered car, non-poluting, zero emissions, india

Hubble Monitors Erupting Star

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:05:49 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: There is always something great and wonderful going on in space.

Clip Source: hubblesite.org

Hubble Watches Light from Mysterious Erupting Star Reverberate Through Space

View image details

In January 2002, a dull star in an obscure constellation suddenly became 600,000 times more luminous than our Sun, temporarily making it the brightest star in our Milky Way galaxy. The mysterious star, called V838 Monocerotis, has long since faded back to obscurity. But observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of a phenomenon called a "light echo" around the star have uncovered remarkable new features. These details promise to provide astronomers with a CAT-scan-like probe of the three-dimensional structure of shells of dust surrounding an aging star.

Read more:

Release Text

The outburst may represent a transitory stage in a star's evolution that is rarely seen. The star has some similarities to highly unstable aging stars called eruptive variables, which suddenly and unpredictably increase in brightness.

Tags: hubble, star, stellar, dust

America's Near-Poor - There But For Grace ...

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 22:24:54 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: I see this a lot here in America. I may even be one of these people myself! One paycheck from welfare or becoming a "street person" with no home. Women are in more vulnerable to this than men.

I recently spent the day with a homeless woman. I saw where she lived (in the woods behind a shopping center) I saw where she slept (in a sleeping bag on some plastic bags and newspaper) and I went to the grocery store with her to buy her meal for the day (after she had earned $3.00 answering some questions at a market research office ... where I met her). I took her to a county office to get 6 public bus coupons so she could get across town to pan-handle for money to continue paying for her small storage room where everything she owned was stored.

There but for grace my friends!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_But_For_the_Grace_of_God_(Stargate_SG-1)

Clip Source: chronicle.com

More than 50 million Americans live in the netherworld of strapped finances and grueling workweeks

Call them "the missing class," the near poor whose incomes place them above the poverty line, but well below the middle class. Near-poor families with two parents and two children subsist on $20,000 to $40,000 a year, which disqualifies them for virtually all public subsidies, but is a far cry from what they need to be self-sufficient.

Near-poor women work in clothing stores, minimarts, and child-care centers; they clean subway cars on the night shift. Near-poor men often hold down more than one job, working days as aides for the mentally impaired and nights as security guards. Native-born members of minority groups are well represented in the ranks of the missing class, as are immigrants, many of whom gave up good jobs in Brazil or China or Russia so their children could grow up in a land of opportunity.

the near poor are compensated too little, and their gains remain precarious.

Tags: missing class, near-poor, welfare, medicaid, taxes, medical, wages

Life on Mars Could be Hydrogen Peroxide Based

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 23:40:50 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: I think if we keep looking we will eventually find life on Mars and other planets. If not, then I agree with Carl Sagan ... if humans were the only life in the universe it would "be a terrible waste of space".

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Science Daily — A new interpretation of data from NASA's Viking landers indicates that 0.1% of the Martian soil tested could have a biological origin.

Dr Joop Houtkooper of the University of Giessen, Germany, believes that the subfreezing, arid Martian surface could be home to organisms whose cells are filled with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water. In a presentation at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam on Friday 24th August, Dr Houtkooper will describe how he has used data from the Gas Exchange (GEx) experiment, carried by NASA's Viking landers, to estimate the biomass in the Martian soil.

Dr Houtkooper said, "There does not appear to be any basic reason why hydrogen peroxide could not be used by living systems. While organisms on Earth have found it advantageous to include salt in their intracellular fluids, hydrogen peroxide may have been more suitable for organisms adapting to the cold, dry environment of Mars."

Tags: hydrogen, peroxide, water, mars, life, viking, nasa, martian, soil

Is There Slavery In Your Chocolate?

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:36:01 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: This clip is for abailart. This is another even worse example of the bottom line being the driving force behind inhumane treatment of the workers who produce the things we buy every day.

This story broke back in 2001, and I'm glad to read that there has been some progress in addressing this atrocity. But as can be seen by this quote from the article there is still money talking in these decisions.

"the U.S. chocolate industry and its allies mounted an intense lobbying effort to fight off legislation that would require "slave free" labels for their products."

Unfortunately, Money Talks! Legislators have their hands tied by lobbyists and special interest groups. Sad!

Clip Source: www.foodrevolution.org

Chocolate. The very word conjures feelings of pleasure, sensuality, and the richness of life. The scientific name of the tree from whose beans we make chocolate, likewise bespeaks the depth of feeling human beings have always had for chocolate.

Chocolate has a remarkable history.

Montezuma's royal coffers were overflowing, not with gold, but with cocoa beans.

cacao, cocoa and chocolate are the richest known sources of a little-known substance called theobromine, a close chemical relative of caffeine.

Most of us, though, aren't all that concerned with the history or chemistry of chocolate. When it comes down to it, frankly, we are content so long as the market shelves remain well stocked with affordable tins of cocoa and bars of chocolate candy.

that's how it was in the United States until the summer of 2001

According to the BBC, hundreds of thousands of children are being purchased from their parents

shipped to the Ivory Coast, where they are sold as slaves to cocoa farms.

Educate yourself

Tags: chocolate, slavery, child-labor, history, caffeine, coffee

China's Dollar Holdings Could Ruin US Economy

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:20:16 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: This is frightening stuff. China has USA in a political and financial death grip.

Clip Source: english.pravda.ru

The U.S. dollar is standing at the edge of a cliff, and most people don’t even know it.

Data released by the New York Federal Reserve shows that foreign central banks have been net sellers of U.S. treasuries over the past five weeks, with $48 billion having been sold since late July, and $32 billion in just the last two weeks.

The U.S. runs budget deficits each year. If foreigners stop buying treasuries—or worse, start selling them—the dollar could be in big trouble.

the numbers demonstrate “that world central banks are in a hurry to get out of the U.S.

The nation that analysts are watching especially closely at this stage is China.

China’s massive U.S. dollar holdings (which include treasuries) and how it supports the value of the U.S. currency.

Chinese state media referred to the country’s stockpile of U.S. dollars as its economic “nuclear option,” capable of destroying the dollar at will.

a run on the dollar due to Chinese treasury-dumping go far beyond just the value of the greenback

Tags: china, dollars, economy, political

Wonder cancer herb found in Mabira forest reserve in Uganda

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 03:48:47 GMT

clipped by: gingembre
clipper's remarks: " The director for Research -Natural Chemotherapeutics Research Laboratory at the Ministry of health Grace Nambatya Kyeyune on Wednesday that the bark of the plant can also be used as an afrodisiac for men who suffer partial impotence. " It is also known to boost the human immune system and can be used as painkiller," Dr Nambatya said."

"The high demand for the plant on the international market is threatening its existence in Africa and Uganda is lucky to have it even if it's in protected areas according to NFA."

" Prunus africana is just one of the species of flora in Mabira central forests reserve, a medium altitude moist semi-deciduous forest and the biggest single natural forest block remaining in the central region of Uganda is endowed with."

"Mr Mapesa revealed that, "Mabira central forest reserve also has wild robusta coffee, dioscoria tubers, yams and other plants whose economic importance is still under investigation and must therefore not be lost".

Clip Source: www.monitor.co.ug

Wonder cancer herb found in Mabira

MABIRA forest reserve has trees- Prunus africana from which herbs can be obtained to treat prostate cancer

Prunus africana also occurs in other protected areas including Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Kibaale, Rwenzori and Mt Elgon National Parks

The plant is known to contain three groups of active components: Phytosterols (beta-sitosterol), pentacyclic triterpenoids (ursolic and oleanic acids) and ferulic esters of fatty alcohols. These are particularly the ferulic esters of docosanol and tetracosanol all of which are important for manufacturing different kinds of medicines.

Pharmaceutical companies in the United States and the European Union use the bark of the plant for manufacturing medicines such as Male balance, Male 40, Tadenan, prostatonic and progen.

According to the Uganda Cancer institute, the medicines are then used in treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia disease, which is often a big problem for men world over.

Tags: cancer, medicine, africa, uganda, tree bark, pharmaceuticals, prunus africana

Tiny Creatures Rediscover the Joy of Sex

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:21:51 GMT

clipped by: Marcariel
clipper's remarks: This one's for righthand. I guess God does approve of sex.

This tiny mite has redeveloped the ability to mate after their arachnid (spider) ancestors lost this ability. Most members of the species reproduce asexually (females having babies without a male partner).

This makes these mini-mites one of a kind ... rediscovering sexual reproduction.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Tiny spider relatives have rediscovered the joy of sex, regaining the ability to mate after their arachnid ancestors lost it, marking a reproductive first in the annals of animal evolution.

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

The Crotoniidae reproduce by having sex, which wouldn't be too strange except that they are very similar physically to Camisiidae, a family of some 80 mite species that all reproduce asexually via parthenogenesis, in which females give birth to young without having sex with males.

This implies that the genes required for producing males can be retained, even when those genes are rarely if ever used to produce males

This could be because male production is important even though it is rare, or it could be because those genes have important functions other than male production.

Tags: sex, reproduction, mites, asexual, crotoniidae