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Re:A kid playing with a handgun by spike+hay · 2003-04-16 10:24 · Score: 1 · on Will Genetic Engineering Kill Us?

Oh really? I thought the main concerns were over the increased leukemia rates near nuclear installations and the long-term storage of hazadous materials.

Increased leukemia rates near nuclear installations? Doesn't work that way. Nuclear plants emit almost no radiation. In fact, the radiation emitted by nuclear power plants is dwarfed by what is emitted from coal power plants.

The volume of all nuclear waste ever produced in the US would fit into a high school gym. Safe installations like Yucca Mountain leave no chance for leakage of waste. Anyway, PU is not that toxic compared to many substances. Take a look at this.

Re:royalties by number · 2003-04-16 08:41 · Score: 1 · on NASA Wires Chips With Nanotubes

There's probably nothing stopping them.

I recently stumbled upon some Graphite foam with high thermal conductivity which seems to be a great replacement for Aluminum or Copper CPU heatsinks (it weighs a fifth of Al but can cool better, as this paper demonstrates).

Although it was developed by tax dollars, it is patented by ORNL and licensed to only a few manufacturers. Prices still hover between $10 and $20 per cubic inch, which rules it out for any weekend experimentation. A real pity that, considering its tremendous potential for cooler and smaller heatsinks, radiators and padding of all types.

Re:royalties by number · 2003-04-16 08:41 · Score: 1 · on NASA Wires Chips With Nanotubes

There's probably nothing stopping them.

I recently stumbled upon some Graphite foam with high thermal conductivity which seems to be a great replacement for Aluminum or Copper CPU heatsinks (it weighs a fifth of Al but can cool better, as this paper demonstrates).

Although it was developed by tax dollars, it is patented by ORNL and licensed to only a few manufacturers. Prices still hover between $10 and $20 per cubic inch, which rules it out for any weekend experimentation. A real pity that, considering its tremendous potential for cooler and smaller heatsinks, radiators and padding of all types.

Background Info by Acidic_Diarrhea · 2003-04-13 13:26 · Score: 5, Informative · on Genome Surprise

Want To Know What The Human Genome Project Is?

Begun formally in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances have accelerated the expected completion date to 2003. Project goals are to

identify all the approximate 30,000 genes in human DNA,
determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,
store this information in databases,
improve tools for data analysis,
transfer related technologies to the private sector, and
address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

To help achieve these goals, researchers also are studying the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms. These include the common human gut bacterium Escherichia coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse.

A unique aspect of the U.S. Human Genome Project is that it is the first large scientific undertaking to address the ELSI implications that may arise from the project.

Another important feature of the project is the federal government's long-standing dedication to the transfer of technology to the private sector. By licensing technologies to private companies and awarding grants for innovative research, the project is catalyzing the multibillion-dollar U.S. biotechnology industry and fostering the development of new medical applications.

Sequence and Analysis of the human genome working draft was published in February, 2001, in Nature and Science. See an index of these papers and learn more about the insights gained from them.

For more background information on the U.S. Human Genome Project, see the following

What's a genome? And why is it important?

A genome is all the DNA in an organism, including its genes. Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms. These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body metabolizes food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves.
DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases.
The particular order of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order underlies all of life's diversity, even dictating whether an organism is human or another species such as yeast, rice, or fruit fly, all of which have their own genomes and are themselves the focus of genome projects. Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from nonhuman genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology.
To understand more read
- The Science Behind the Human Genome Project: Understanding the Basics

Background Info by Acidic_Diarrhea · 2003-04-13 13:26 · Score: 5, Informative · on Genome Surprise

Want To Know What The Human Genome Project Is?

Begun formally in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances have accelerated the expected completion date to 2003. Project goals are to

identify all the approximate 30,000 genes in human DNA,
determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,
store this information in databases,
improve tools for data analysis,
transfer related technologies to the private sector, and
address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

To help achieve these goals, researchers also are studying the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms. These include the common human gut bacterium Escherichia coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse.

A unique aspect of the U.S. Human Genome Project is that it is the first large scientific undertaking to address the ELSI implications that may arise from the project.

Another important feature of the project is the federal government's long-standing dedication to the transfer of technology to the private sector. By licensing technologies to private companies and awarding grants for innovative research, the project is catalyzing the multibillion-dollar U.S. biotechnology industry and fostering the development of new medical applications.

Sequence and Analysis of the human genome working draft was published in February, 2001, in Nature and Science. See an index of these papers and learn more about the insights gained from them.

For more background information on the U.S. Human Genome Project, see the following

What's a genome? And why is it important?

A genome is all the DNA in an organism, including its genes. Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms. These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body metabolizes food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves.
DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases.
The particular order of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order underlies all of life's diversity, even dictating whether an organism is human or another species such as yeast, rice, or fruit fly, all of which have their own genomes and are themselves the focus of genome projects. Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from nonhuman genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology.
To understand more read
- The Science Behind the Human Genome Project: Understanding the Basics

Background Info by Acidic_Diarrhea · 2003-04-13 13:26 · Score: 5, Informative · on Genome Surprise

Want To Know What The Human Genome Project Is?

Begun formally in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances have accelerated the expected completion date to 2003. Project goals are to

identify all the approximate 30,000 genes in human DNA,
determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,
store this information in databases,
improve tools for data analysis,
transfer related technologies to the private sector, and
address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

To help achieve these goals, researchers also are studying the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms. These include the common human gut bacterium Escherichia coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse.

A unique aspect of the U.S. Human Genome Project is that it is the first large scientific undertaking to address the ELSI implications that may arise from the project.

Another important feature of the project is the federal government's long-standing dedication to the transfer of technology to the private sector. By licensing technologies to private companies and awarding grants for innovative research, the project is catalyzing the multibillion-dollar U.S. biotechnology industry and fostering the development of new medical applications.

Sequence and Analysis of the human genome working draft was published in February, 2001, in Nature and Science. See an index of these papers and learn more about the insights gained from them.

For more background information on the U.S. Human Genome Project, see the following

What's a genome? And why is it important?

A genome is all the DNA in an organism, including its genes. Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms. These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body metabolizes food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves.
DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases.
The particular order of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order underlies all of life's diversity, even dictating whether an organism is human or another species such as yeast, rice, or fruit fly, all of which have their own genomes and are themselves the focus of genome projects. Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from nonhuman genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology.
To understand more read
- The Science Behind the Human Genome Project: Understanding the Basics

Background Info by Acidic_Diarrhea · 2003-04-13 13:26 · Score: 5, Informative · on Genome Surprise

Want To Know What The Human Genome Project Is?

Begun formally in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances have accelerated the expected completion date to 2003. Project goals are to

identify all the approximate 30,000 genes in human DNA,
determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,
store this information in databases,
improve tools for data analysis,
transfer related technologies to the private sector, and
address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

To help achieve these goals, researchers also are studying the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms. These include the common human gut bacterium Escherichia coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse.

A unique aspect of the U.S. Human Genome Project is that it is the first large scientific undertaking to address the ELSI implications that may arise from the project.

Another important feature of the project is the federal government's long-standing dedication to the transfer of technology to the private sector. By licensing technologies to private companies and awarding grants for innovative research, the project is catalyzing the multibillion-dollar U.S. biotechnology industry and fostering the development of new medical applications.

Sequence and Analysis of the human genome working draft was published in February, 2001, in Nature and Science. See an index of these papers and learn more about the insights gained from them.

For more background information on the U.S. Human Genome Project, see the following

What's a genome? And why is it important?

A genome is all the DNA in an organism, including its genes. Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms. These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body metabolizes food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves.
DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases.
The particular order of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order underlies all of life's diversity, even dictating whether an organism is human or another species such as yeast, rice, or fruit fly, all of which have their own genomes and are themselves the focus of genome projects. Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from nonhuman genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology.
To understand more read
- The Science Behind the Human Genome Project: Understanding the Basics

Background Info by Acidic_Diarrhea · 2003-04-13 13:26 · Score: 5, Informative · on Genome Surprise

Want To Know What The Human Genome Project Is?

Begun formally in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances have accelerated the expected completion date to 2003. Project goals are to

identify all the approximate 30,000 genes in human DNA,
determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,
store this information in databases,
improve tools for data analysis,
transfer related technologies to the private sector, and
address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

To help achieve these goals, researchers also are studying the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms. These include the common human gut bacterium Escherichia coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse.

A unique aspect of the U.S. Human Genome Project is that it is the first large scientific undertaking to address the ELSI implications that may arise from the project.

Another important feature of the project is the federal government's long-standing dedication to the transfer of technology to the private sector. By licensing technologies to private companies and awarding grants for innovative research, the project is catalyzing the multibillion-dollar U.S. biotechnology industry and fostering the development of new medical applications.

Sequence and Analysis of the human genome working draft was published in February, 2001, in Nature and Science. See an index of these papers and learn more about the insights gained from them.

For more background information on the U.S. Human Genome Project, see the following

What's a genome? And why is it important?

A genome is all the DNA in an organism, including its genes. Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms. These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body metabolizes food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves.
DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases.
The particular order of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order underlies all of life's diversity, even dictating whether an organism is human or another species such as yeast, rice, or fruit fly, all of which have their own genomes and are themselves the focus of genome projects. Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from nonhuman genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology.
To understand more read
- The Science Behind the Human Genome Project: Understanding the Basics

Background Info by Acidic_Diarrhea · 2003-04-13 13:26 · Score: 5, Informative · on Genome Surprise

Want To Know What The Human Genome Project Is?

Begun formally in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances have accelerated the expected completion date to 2003. Project goals are to

identify all the approximate 30,000 genes in human DNA,
determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,
store this information in databases,
improve tools for data analysis,
transfer related technologies to the private sector, and
address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

To help achieve these goals, researchers also are studying the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms. These include the common human gut bacterium Escherichia coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse.

A unique aspect of the U.S. Human Genome Project is that it is the first large scientific undertaking to address the ELSI implications that may arise from the project.

Another important feature of the project is the federal government's long-standing dedication to the transfer of technology to the private sector. By licensing technologies to private companies and awarding grants for innovative research, the project is catalyzing the multibillion-dollar U.S. biotechnology industry and fostering the development of new medical applications.

Sequence and Analysis of the human genome working draft was published in February, 2001, in Nature and Science. See an index of these papers and learn more about the insights gained from them.

For more background information on the U.S. Human Genome Project, see the following

What's a genome? And why is it important?

A genome is all the DNA in an organism, including its genes. Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms. These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body metabolizes food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves.
DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases.
The particular order of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order underlies all of life's diversity, even dictating whether an organism is human or another species such as yeast, rice, or fruit fly, all of which have their own genomes and are themselves the focus of genome projects. Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from nonhuman genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology.
To understand more read
- The Science Behind the Human Genome Project: Understanding the Basics

Background Info by Acidic_Diarrhea · 2003-04-13 13:26 · Score: 5, Informative · on Genome Surprise

Want To Know What The Human Genome Project Is?

Begun formally in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances have accelerated the expected completion date to 2003. Project goals are to

identify all the approximate 30,000 genes in human DNA,
determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,
store this information in databases,
improve tools for data analysis,
transfer related technologies to the private sector, and
address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

To help achieve these goals, researchers also are studying the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms. These include the common human gut bacterium Escherichia coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse.

A unique aspect of the U.S. Human Genome Project is that it is the first large scientific undertaking to address the ELSI implications that may arise from the project.

Another important feature of the project is the federal government's long-standing dedication to the transfer of technology to the private sector. By licensing technologies to private companies and awarding grants for innovative research, the project is catalyzing the multibillion-dollar U.S. biotechnology industry and fostering the development of new medical applications.

Sequence and Analysis of the human genome working draft was published in February, 2001, in Nature and Science. See an index of these papers and learn more about the insights gained from them.

For more background information on the U.S. Human Genome Project, see the following

What's a genome? And why is it important?

A genome is all the DNA in an organism, including its genes. Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms. These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body metabolizes food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves.
DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases.
The particular order of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order underlies all of life's diversity, even dictating whether an organism is human or another species such as yeast, rice, or fruit fly, all of which have their own genomes and are themselves the focus of genome projects. Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from nonhuman genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology.
To understand more read
- The Science Behind the Human Genome Project: Understanding the Basics

Background Info by Acidic_Diarrhea · 2003-04-13 13:26 · Score: 5, Informative · on Genome Surprise

Want To Know What The Human Genome Project Is?

Begun formally in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances have accelerated the expected completion date to 2003. Project goals are to

identify all the approximate 30,000 genes in human DNA,
determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,
store this information in databases,
improve tools for data analysis,
transfer related technologies to the private sector, and
address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

To help achieve these goals, researchers also are studying the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms. These include the common human gut bacterium Escherichia coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse.

A unique aspect of the U.S. Human Genome Project is that it is the first large scientific undertaking to address the ELSI implications that may arise from the project.

Another important feature of the project is the federal government's long-standing dedication to the transfer of technology to the private sector. By licensing technologies to private companies and awarding grants for innovative research, the project is catalyzing the multibillion-dollar U.S. biotechnology industry and fostering the development of new medical applications.

Sequence and Analysis of the human genome working draft was published in February, 2001, in Nature and Science. See an index of these papers and learn more about the insights gained from them.

For more background information on the U.S. Human Genome Project, see the following

What's a genome? And why is it important?

A genome is all the DNA in an organism, including its genes. Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms. These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body metabolizes food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves.
DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases.
The particular order of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order underlies all of life's diversity, even dictating whether an organism is human or another species such as yeast, rice, or fruit fly, all of which have their own genomes and are themselves the focus of genome projects. Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from nonhuman genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology.
To understand more read
- The Science Behind the Human Genome Project: Understanding the Basics

Background Info by Acidic_Diarrhea · 2003-04-13 13:26 · Score: 5, Informative · on Genome Surprise

Want To Know What The Human Genome Project Is?

Begun formally in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project originally was planned to last 15 years, but rapid technological advances have accelerated the expected completion date to 2003. Project goals are to

identify all the approximate 30,000 genes in human DNA,
determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA,
store this information in databases,
improve tools for data analysis,
transfer related technologies to the private sector, and
address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

To help achieve these goals, researchers also are studying the genetic makeup of several nonhuman organisms. These include the common human gut bacterium Escherichia coli, the fruit fly, and the laboratory mouse.

A unique aspect of the U.S. Human Genome Project is that it is the first large scientific undertaking to address the ELSI implications that may arise from the project.

Another important feature of the project is the federal government's long-standing dedication to the transfer of technology to the private sector. By licensing technologies to private companies and awarding grants for innovative research, the project is catalyzing the multibillion-dollar U.S. biotechnology industry and fostering the development of new medical applications.

Sequence and Analysis of the human genome working draft was published in February, 2001, in Nature and Science. See an index of these papers and learn more about the insights gained from them.

For more background information on the U.S. Human Genome Project, see the following

What's a genome? And why is it important?

A genome is all the DNA in an organism, including its genes. Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms. These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body metabolizes food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves.
DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases.
The particular order of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order underlies all of life's diversity, even dictating whether an organism is human or another species such as yeast, rice, or fruit fly, all of which have their own genomes and are themselves the focus of genome projects. Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from nonhuman genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology.
To understand more read
- The Science Behind the Human Genome Project: Understanding the Basics

Re:Questioning global warming by djmurdoch · 2003-04-06 10:47 · Score: 4, Informative · on Still More on Global Warming

BTW, those two countries [China and India] are also the largest producers of greenhouse gasses with Mexico and Brazil following way behind them.

That's not true, according to the US Department of Energy. According to them the top producer is the USA. China is second, and India is 5th.

Re:Here it is by tfoss · 2003-03-29 11:14 · Score: 2, Informative · on Life Made to Order

Oh come on. This is wrong on so many levels.

ctually, the irony of your statement is that we're going to need better nano-technology to complete the task.

No. Nanotechnology is completely uninvolved in this. These guys are chemists, biochemists & geneticists not engineers.

As enthusiastic as these companies are, the problems in intentionally constructing a DNA molecule letter by letter are huge: notably, if you screw up in one spot, you can have tremendous problems.

No. Making DNA base by base is not difficult at all, and has not been for many years. DNA synthesizers can churn out oligos of good purity of lengths into the 100s of bases. Need longer? Make ligatable overhangs and have an enzyme put them together, ligation techniques are trivial molecular biology. As for mistakes, of course they happen, but any scientist worth her salt would sequence it along the way. Remember that Human genome project thing? That was just a lot of DNA sequencing. The machine mentioned in the long article as a long seqeunce synthesizer is just a robotic version of a bench biochemist doing what i described.

Further, there's no "spell check" for them, using current methods. They wouldn't know they had a problem until they start letting it reproduce, only to find that they have an [apparently] inexplicably error, possibly making the organism unviable.

No spell check of making sequences? True, sort of. During the synthesis there isn't, but sequencing it post symthesis is absolutely trivial.

Whats needed is sophisticated enough nanobots that will be able to not only perform the construction of the DNA, but to "spell check" it by running up and down its length continually, comparing it against the desired pattern

Ugh!These are called enzymes. Nanobots as normally pictured (a little robot with arms and pincers etc etc) are just pure science fiction. This is one of the worst areas of pop science literature.

This project is simply a lot of molecular biology, nothing novel in the techniques. What's new is trying to design a genome by hand as opposed to letting nature do it. I am skeptical that 1. it will work (beyond copying known genes), and moreover, 2. it will be even close to what evolution can/has accomplished.

What got kind of mushed together in the articles is a totally different aspect, that of non-natural amino acids. Peter Schultz;s lab (which is just down the hall from me) has created a system where a bacteria can incorporate an amino acid that is not one of the twenty used in natural proteins. You can add amino acids with all kinds of novel chemical groups and see if you can evolve proteins/organisms to work better with this expanded toolkit. Pretty cool.

-Ted

Re:Imagine... by Fyndo · 2003-03-25 07:26 · Score: 1 · on New Power Plant Produces Both Energy & Fresh Water

It's not the radioactivity of the carbon. It's the Uranium and Thorium impurities in the coal. The best reference I know is Oak Ridge National Laboratory's papr on Coal Combustion

Re:Imagine... by GryMor · 2003-03-25 01:22 · Score: 1 · on New Power Plant Produces Both Energy & Fresh Water

Take a look here. The truth of the statement depends on what you mean by 'produce'. If you mean 'release into the enviroment' then under current US regulations, Coal Power releases more radiological materials and has a greater impact on background radiation levels than Nuclear Power. If you mean produces nastier material on a kilogram by kilogram basis then the Nukeplant is much nastier, but it produces significantly less material and (with current regulations) is much safer in the disposal of that material.

Re:arrogance - Don't kid yourself. by CemeteryWall · 2003-03-23 10:30 · Score: 5, Informative · on A Hotter Sun May Be Contributing To Global Warming

some of this is from an earlier post earlier post

Let me say it again. Look at these graphs. The data, taken from ice core studies, shows four ice-ages in the past 400k years. For each dip of the CO2 graph there is a similar dip in the temperature graph showing a high degree of correlation. The extended CO2 graph shows an enormous increase in CO2, over the past century, well outside the range of the past 400k years. This recent rise is almost a vertical jump, indicating we may be changing the climate drastically.

It is possible that the sun has some effect in triggering these cycles but these graphs show such a large correlation between CO2 and temperature that it is impossible not to believe the scientists of the IPCC. Yes, human activity is causing global warming. (In the UK we experience this now as global wetting - with increased heavy rainshowers).

To me your reaction sounds just like those "smoking doesn't cause cancer" line from the 1960s. Don't kid yourself.

Re:arrogance - Don't kid yourself. by CemeteryWall · 2003-03-23 10:30 · Score: 5, Informative · on A Hotter Sun May Be Contributing To Global Warming

some of this is from an earlier post earlier post

Let me say it again. Look at these graphs. The data, taken from ice core studies, shows four ice-ages in the past 400k years. For each dip of the CO2 graph there is a similar dip in the temperature graph showing a high degree of correlation. The extended CO2 graph shows an enormous increase in CO2, over the past century, well outside the range of the past 400k years. This recent rise is almost a vertical jump, indicating we may be changing the climate drastically.

It is possible that the sun has some effect in triggering these cycles but these graphs show such a large correlation between CO2 and temperature that it is impossible not to believe the scientists of the IPCC. Yes, human activity is causing global warming. (In the UK we experience this now as global wetting - with increased heavy rainshowers).

To me your reaction sounds just like those "smoking doesn't cause cancer" line from the 1960s. Don't kid yourself.

Here's an interesting question for mech geeks by dlakelan · 2003-03-20 08:54 · Score: 1 · on Increasing Fuel Mileage With Hydrogen?

What are the real barriers to creating a modern gas turbine powered
hybrid?

Gas turbine engines can burn just about any reasonable fuel, including
methanol/ethanol, methane, CNG, diesel, gasoline, and soforth. They do
it efficiently, probably similar to diesel. They have fewer moving
parts, and are more amenable to computer control. They work best at
constant speed, and therefore are great when used in hybrid
configuration.

Ceramics research since the 80s or so have produced high quality high
temperature ceramics materials that require little machining for
example at ORNL (at one point I wanted to be a ceramics engineer).

Gas turbine engines need not make a lot of noise. In fact you can buy
them as smallish backup generators.

The main thing as far as I can tell is that the infrastructure isn't
in place (parts, repair centers, etc). But it would be a lot easier to
ship out some parts and run some repair training than to convert every
gas station in america to something other than petroleum products.

In terms of emissions, efficiency, power, and ability to use multiple
fuels (an hence oil independence), the gas turbine and hybrid electric
drivetrain seems like the way to go.

Chrysler built some back in the 50s and 60's but as near as I can tell most
of the problems would be solved with ceramic parts and a hybrid
electric configuration.

Methane Hydrates... by sleepingsquirrel · 2003-03-12 08:37 · Score: 1 · on A Hydrogen-Based Economy

Since I've seen no mention of methane hydrates yet, I'll bring it up. Methane hydrate is a compound somewhat similar to natural gas that is found trapped in ice crystals on the ocean floor. We don't know how to extract it economically yet, but according to the this article there are about 400 million trillion cubic feet of this stuff worldwide. Replace "Hydorgen Economy" with "Methane Gas Economy" and you've now got a resource that you can mine. Check out google for more info on methane hydrates.

check out national labs by juan2074 · 2003-03-11 13:37 · Score: 4, Informative · on Internships in the Post-DotCom Era?

You can look for internships at other national labs (doing more than just nuclear engineering).

Check AWU about the possibilities at these facilities.

Also, check these:

And there are other other national labs that I did not mention.

Myth!! Then explain this. by CemeteryWall · 2003-02-23 22:03 · Score: 1 · on UK to "get serious" About Renewable Energy

some of this is from an earlier post

How then do you explain these graphs. They show four ice-ages in the past 400k years. Taken from ice core studies, for each dip of the CO2 graph there is a similar dip in the temperature graph [ornl.gov]. The extended CO2 graph shows CO2 is well outside the range of the past 400k years. The rise is almost a vertical jump.

This really shows we are doing something serious. Last week Michal Meecher, the Envirionment Minister, had an article in The Independent mentioning the Methane Hydrate danger. This is where some of the billion tons of methane stored in "methane ice" comes out and really changes the atmosphere.

I don't know what the odds of this are but some of the experts think it's possibly mass extinction stuff. To me it's much more likely than an asteroid extinction - nothing we are doing now attracts asteroids. On the other hand our bit in global warming could let this time bomb off.

But in the meantime we are willing to let our activities drown and starve the poor of the world.

Myth!! Then explain this. by CemeteryWall · 2003-02-23 22:03 · Score: 1 · on UK to "get serious" About Renewable Energy

some of this is from an earlier post

How then do you explain these graphs. They show four ice-ages in the past 400k years. Taken from ice core studies, for each dip of the CO2 graph there is a similar dip in the temperature graph [ornl.gov]. The extended CO2 graph shows CO2 is well outside the range of the past 400k years. The rise is almost a vertical jump.

This really shows we are doing something serious. Last week Michal Meecher, the Envirionment Minister, had an article in The Independent mentioning the Methane Hydrate danger. This is where some of the billion tons of methane stored in "methane ice" comes out and really changes the atmosphere.

I don't know what the odds of this are but some of the experts think it's possibly mass extinction stuff. To me it's much more likely than an asteroid extinction - nothing we are doing now attracts asteroids. On the other hand our bit in global warming could let this time bomb off.

But in the meantime we are willing to let our activities drown and starve the poor of the world.

Re:I agree; sounds nothing but trollish. by Farley+Mullet · 2003-02-15 01:32 · Score: 2, Informative · on The Faded Sun

Billy Joy? James Gosling? John Gage? Aren't they three of greatest leaders in IT (and science in general) in our generation?

The dude who invented Java as one of the great leaders in . . . science in general of our generation? I think the answer's no. I'm not really qualified to judge what is and isn't important work in whatever the heck IT is supposed to be, but I think it's safe to say that for a generation that has seen the rise of genomics and the human genome project, the cosomological and physical insights from all sorts of sources, including, say, the Hubble Space Telescope, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember at the moment, designing a bunch of the technology that Sun uses doesn't qualify you as a great "scientific leader".

Worlds 26 Greatest Probes by Thurog · 2003-02-11 14:10 · Score: 1 · on First Cosmological Results From MAP

In order of usefulness:

nmap
WMAP
???
BMAP

Re:Expansion rate? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-02-11 12:45 · Score: 0 · on First Cosmological Results From MAP

Megaparsec (things that are farther away appear to be moving away from us faster - quasars are whooshing away so fast their only radio waves from here, while Andromeda is barely budging - ok, bad example since Andromeda is COMING RIGHT FOR US! but in terms of expansion).

The Hubble constant.

claims are insane by stevenj · 2003-02-10 15:19 · Score: 5, Informative · on Microsoft Applies For .NET Patent

Take claim 1, which is the broadest independent claim:

A software architecture for a distributed computing system comprising: an application configured to handle requests submitted by remote devices over a network; and an application program interface to present functions used by the application to access network and computing resources of the distributed computing system.

How are, for example, a web server (handles requests submitted by remote devices) and web browser (interface to present functions used to access resources) not covered by this claim? The next independent claim is:

A distributed computer software architecture, comprising: one or more applications configured to be executed on one or more computing devices, the applications handling requests submitted from remote computing devices; a networking platform to support the one or more applications; and an application programming interface to interface the one or more applications with the networking platform.

Like, e.g. SETI@Home over TCP/IP? Or PVM?

Or claim 19:

A system comprising: means for exposing a first set of functions that enable browser/server communication; means for exposing a second set of functions that enable drawing and construction of client applications; means for exposing a third set of functions that enable connectivity to data sources and XML functionality; and means for exposing a fourth set of functions that enable system and runtime functionality.

...like, say, Mozilla.

Of course, there are dependent claims that try to make this more specific (ooh, using XML documents over a network, that's original). And, of course, the whole thing could be rejected by the patent office.

Still, it's like they didn't even make an effort to try and avoid the most obvious prior-art objections. Almost like they have complete contempt for the patent office, and confidence that no one will dare to challenge their multi-billion-dollar legal war chest if they ever do assert patent rights over someone. But no, that's crazy.

Re:Research by Skjellifetti · 2003-01-08 16:27 · Score: 2 · on Where are the 70% Efficient Solar Cells?

His Energy Czar was escorted from the building 20 minutes or so after the last gas-lineup ended. (/sarcasm)He actually cut back a number of research projects, including fusion research.

Carter cut funding for the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project in Oak Ridge. Funding for fusion research (PDF) grew during his term. Between 1972 and 1979, the fusion budget increased nearly 10 fold. Typical gov't program. My father was in the fusion business and each year he would bring home a new HP calculator that the lab had bought him just to spend all of their budget before the end of the fiscal year. This would be like buying a shiney new PC today for each physicist every year when they do 99% of their work on the supercomputer down the hall. In the 1980s, Congress reduced funding in constant dollars. Probably not an unreasonable thing to do since fusion is a long term research program and won't be economically feasible for a while.

Re:Illegal in the UK by notestein · 2003-01-03 19:44 · Score: 5, Interesting · on Radiation Detection Wrist Watch

Here are some US Government produced specifications for making a geiger counter from materials found around the house.

Mis-cast debate... by asdfx · 2002-12-06 09:26 · Score: 1 · on Prey

The problem I see is that the reviewer accidently used the hyphenated word 'sci-fi'. It never once occured to me to consider any of Crichton's works as 'sci-fi'. In fact, go to a book store. I worked at Borders for a period of time, and they had a couple of Crichton's books in sci-fi, which surprised me because Barnes and Noble had always carried all of Crichton's books in the regular fiction section. Indeed, Crichton's books were never intended to be in the same genre as Orson Scott Card or Connie Willis (If you haven't read 'Dooms Day Book' by Willis, I highly recommend it. It won a couple awards; it is very excellent).

Books like Prey are a post-modern perspective on how the world is developing. Jurassic Park came out around the time that the high level gene studies first started to come around. Human Genome Project website, "Begun in 1990, the U.S. Human Genome Project is a 13-year effort...". Coinciding, Jurassic Park was published in 1991. Prey is a similar concept, we know nanotech is under developement as we speak. An interesting page with nanotech resources: zyvex.com.

Certainly, Crichton's books aren't perfect, but I think they succeed in what they intend to do. They are very readable (I read Jurassic Park in 6th grade [am I that young?]), and usually suspense filled. They also try to maintain a level of realism even while stretching the bounds of technology. I thought it was fairly clever to incorporate modern distributed computing design into the nanotechnology in his book. His books are always well researched, go to the last few page of prey and you will find a list of sources that he used for information. I think prey is one of his better books I've read in a while. Timeline was good, and Airframe disappointed me.

I say, if you are looking for a sci-fi read, Crichton isn't really the go to guy. But, his books are generally good, no less; and Prey is a good one.

I can't believe no one's mentioned this yet by The+Scooter+King · 2002-11-25 03:00 · Score: 1 · on Coolest Cluster Ever

The Stone Soupercomputer

Cheap is cool, small is cool, A supercomputer for nothing, that's really cool.

Re:DJB alternatives and distributions by rickmoen · 2002-11-13 08:06 · Score: 2 · on Bind 4 and 8 Vulnerabilities

WoodstockJeff wrote:

Part of my problem with DJB's apparently wonderful products is that they don't come "ready to run". We wanted to run qmail. Spent several weeks trying to figure out how to get it to run, though, because the documentation (at the time) sucked. The (very nice) qmail book came out about 6 months after we'd switched to postfix, though!

When DJB's qmail and djbdns products are distributed in compiled and working form with major Linux distributions, I might look at them again. However, I haven't seen that.

Jeff, you may be interested to hear that there's a new project by John Newbegin, to create a GPLed clone of qmail. It's just starting, but eventually aims to have a permanent open-source codebase into which that vast cloud of qmail patches can finally be merged and regression-tested.

(However, since you've already adopted Postfix, you no longer personally face that dilemma. A point I'll come back to, below.)

DJB's refusal to allow distribution of anything but unpatched source tarballs keeps his tools out of the hands of a lot of people, pushing them to use BIND, Sendmail, postfix, and all these other "less secure" or "less perfect" options. I can see where djbdns would be the perfect default DNS for Linux distributions... if the license allowed it.

I think the open-source MaraDNS package (again, as with you and Postfix) nicely eliminates this dilemma -- and possibly pdnsd for some caching-only situations such as workstations on demand dial-up.

Maybe the solution would be for someone to develop RPMs that include the official DJB source tarballs, all the best patches, and a script to apply the patches, then compile and install the result? B-)

More feasible than you might think. The standard way to install qmail on Debian is to apt-get the "qmail-src" package from Debian's non-free collection, then run a "build-qmail" script to Debianise-patch DJB's source tarball and compile/install it. (You must also have done the same drill with the similar ucspi-tcp-src package, first.)

But, you know, after having to spend considerable creativity finding workarounds for problems that shouldn't exist, most people will just say "Fsck it. Let's eliminate this insanity, and just use Postfix."

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

Ice age vs Global Warming by cronus42 · 2002-11-11 05:30 · Score: 5, Insightful · on Carbon Releases in Asia

Has anyone considered that the most probable ecological disaster is an Ice Age?? Our global environment has been in fluctuation between warm and cold for 900,000 years!

Maybe the CO2 will save us from the next one! Maybe we're just delaying it. Who knows how much environmental change is natural vs. mankind? I'm not sure we have enough of an observational timeline to say that we have caused any of it.

My point is that the global climate is dynamic. Maybe we should stop flipping out about every tiny variation. It's obvious that pretty extreme fluctuations occur normally!

Here is a timeline of past ice ages.

WTFINPP? by Anonymous+Custard · 2002-10-23 07:31 · Score: 1 · on Humans Use 83 Percent of Earth's Surface

wtf is NPP, you ask? Quoting from http://www-eosdis.ornl.gov/NPP/html_docs/npp_est.h tml

Net primary productivity (NPP) is defined as the net flux of carbon from the atmosphere into green plants per unit time. NPP refers to a rate process, i.e., the amount of vegetable matter produced (net primary production) per day, week, or year. However, the terms net primary productivity and net primary production are sometimes used rather liberally and interchangeably, and some scientists still tend to confuse productivity with standing biomass or standing crop. NPP is a fundamental ecological variable, not only because it measures the energy input to the biosphere and terrestrial carbon dioxide assimilation, but also because of its significance in indicating the condition of the land surface area and status of a wide range of ecological processes. There are many ways to estimate terrestrial NPP from field measurements that depend on the type of plants and available measurements. Methods are discussed in connection with the biomes included in the NPP Database. Some of the methodology reviews were carried out as part of the NCEAS (National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis) Working Groups on "Development of a Consistent Worldwide Net Primary Production (NPP) Database" between December 1997 and October 1998.

I'd be interested in how much of that 40% we 'appropriate' goes not into salad bars, but into cows and horses and chickens and other farm animals. The average farm animal eats a lot more vegetation than the avarage human.

I'm also curious as to how much of that number comes from the 'opportunity cost' of humans being around - is a lot of that 40% just speculation about what the NPP would be if we had never developed into high level primates, and thus only affected the world as much as a gorilla does?

Does it take into account the positive human factor of adding technology to make infertile ground into very fertile ground? Would there be less green stuff if we had left those once-infertile lands alone?

Re:Got a letter from my federal rep this weekend.. by schlach · 2002-10-21 04:09 · Score: 2 · on British Columbia Bows To Breast Cancer Patent

Govt grants are one thing. Universities on the other hand have every right to patent what they've funded. Provide me with proof that the majority of these patent applications come from public funds and I'll say you have an argument.

No, he's right.

The company could be patenting drugs that make use of the knowledge as a treatment, without holding a patent on the actual gene. They could even try patenting a particular method of testing for the gene, but then an alternate testing wouldn't infringe. But, as the gene can be tested without manufacturing or offering for sale the patented "invention", I don't know how they exactly would even have an infringement suit. Maybe bio patents are under different laws, but I thought they were just an interpretation of existing patent law.

I'm glad Ontario is giving them the finger. This is just sick.

You saw a program that was bollocks. by CemeteryWall · 2002-10-19 09:12 · Score: 1 · on Mountain Moisture Melting

Or at least not to the point. See my earlier posting and ice core temperatures.

The important variations are every 100,000 years.

And we have certainly broken out of the ice-age/interglacial CO2 cycle.

Re:global warming is a myth - explain the Graphs! by CemeteryWall · 2002-10-19 05:19 · Score: 1 · on Mountain Moisture Melting

How then do you explain the graphs. They show four ice-ages in the past 400k years. Taken from ice core studies, for each dip of the CO2 graph there is a similar dip in the temperature graph. The extended CO2 graph shows CO2 is well outside the range of the past 400k years. The rise is almost a vertical jump.

I have seen some speculation that the Sun has helped flip the Earth from ice-age to interglacial, driven to the extremes by CO2 feedback. But now we have changed CO2 seriously we are well out of that cycle.

Personally I am hoping that the weakening Gulf Stream (a consequence of Global Warming) will not cease in my lifetime. Then we will see some nasty localised cooling in Europe.

Probably a more noticeable effect than Global Warming is Global Wetting, due to increase evaporation. We are certainly noticing that.

Re:global warming is a myth - explain the Graphs! by CemeteryWall · 2002-10-19 05:19 · Score: 1 · on Mountain Moisture Melting

How then do you explain the graphs. They show four ice-ages in the past 400k years. Taken from ice core studies, for each dip of the CO2 graph there is a similar dip in the temperature graph. The extended CO2 graph shows CO2 is well outside the range of the past 400k years. The rise is almost a vertical jump.

I have seen some speculation that the Sun has helped flip the Earth from ice-age to interglacial, driven to the extremes by CO2 feedback. But now we have changed CO2 seriously we are well out of that cycle.

Personally I am hoping that the weakening Gulf Stream (a consequence of Global Warming) will not cease in my lifetime. Then we will see some nasty localised cooling in Europe.

Probably a more noticeable effect than Global Warming is Global Wetting, due to increase evaporation. We are certainly noticing that.

Re:Will it fit? by NewbieV · 2002-10-06 04:39 · Score: 2, Insightful · on Burn your genes on CD -- for $500,000

From the Human Genome Project FAQ:

Q. How big is the human genome?

The human genome is made up of DNA, which has four different chemical building blocks. These are called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G. In the human genome, about 3 billion bases are arranged along the chromosomes in a particular order for each unique individual. To get an idea of the size of the human genome present in each of our cells, consider the following analogy: If the DNA sequence of the human genome were compiled in books, the equivalent of 200 volumes the size of a Manhattan telephone book (at 1000 pages each) would be needed to hold it all.

It would take about 9.5 years to read out loud (without stopping) the 3 billion bases in a person's genome sequence. This is calculated on a reading rate of 10 bases per second, equaling 600 bases/minute, 36,000 bases/hour, 864,000 bases/day, 315,360,000 bases/year.

Storing all this information is a great challenge to computer experts known as bioinformatics specialists. One million bases (called a megabase and abbreviated Mb) of DNA sequence data is roughly equivalent to 1 megabyte of computer data storage space. Since the human genome is 3 billion base pairs long, 3 gigabytes of computer data storage space are needed to store the entire genome. This includes nucleotide sequence data only and does not include data annotations and other information that can be associated with sequence data.

As time goes on, more annotations will be entered as a result of laboratory findings, literature searches, data analyses, personal communications, automated data-analysis programs, and auto annotators. These annotations associated with the sequence data will likely dwarf the amount of storage space actually taken up by the initial 3 billion nucleotide sequence. Of course, that's not much of a surprise because the sequence is merely one starting point for much deeper biological understanding!

Contributions to this answer were made by Morey Parang and Richard Mural formerly of Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and Mark Adams formerly of The Institute of Genome Research. [01/01]

Re:how big is the entire genome? by treat · 2002-10-06 04:37 · Score: 5, Informative · on Burn your genes on CD -- for $500,000

ike, is it 1 cd(i find it hard to believe, but not that hard) or 30? 1000?

This website says that we have about 3 billion base pairs, 30 thousand of which are genes (the rest is the mysterious "junk dna"). There are 4 base pairs, therefore each base pair is 2 bits of data. That's about 7.5kb for all the genes, and 715MB for every base pair - which after compression should fit comfortably on a standard CD.

Scaring pocketbooks open - It scares me. Heres why by CemeteryWall · 2002-09-29 08:55 · Score: 1 · on Abrupt Climatic Change Coming Soon?

First of all. The CO2 levels created by recent industrialisation have taken the world into a different pattern of weather already. CO2 levels are already much higher than any of the four warm periods between the ice ages of the last 400,000 years see this graph .

There are also other graphs which show a strong relationship between temperature and CO2 from the from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center.

Temperature data and graphs are here
CO2 data and graphs are here

There is possible disagreement as to the direction of causality - does temperature drive CO2 or does CO2 drive temperature? But if CO2 drives temperature we are in unknown territory and moving fast.

Dr. Gagosian says the possible change in Ocean Circulation is like heading towards a cliff of unknown size. But there are other ways the world's climate might change dramatically now it is rolling.

For example, there are enormous amounts of methane as methane hydrate under the oceans (probably much larger than all the reserves of oil and gas). As one leading researcher put it to me.

Methane hydrates have not had much effect over the past 400, 000 years but now we are into a whole new ball game. Over longer time spans catastrophic methane burps from under the sea have been shown to be part of the Earth's climate. These have caused mass extinctions.

This, of course, is just one of several possibilities. The truth is we've started changes we cannot control - we are travelling too fast and we are in the dark. I don't know if we are going to fall of a cliff or hit a tree but I am more than happy to pay for some headlights.