Cosmic rays nucleating clouds was the basis for the Wilson cloud chamber, the first way we visualized cosmic rays. THis is nothing new, and it's something that every school child can do. Having said that, it's also something physicists have taken into account when doing climate modeling.
I made a cloud chamber as a kid ( dry ice, alcohol, coffee can and black velvet) and these tracks are certainly real and only a tiny part of the story. Unless we have a supernova in the neighborhood, this cosmic ray nucleated cloud formation won't change anything much as the flux variation is in a range that hasn't changed for a very long time. Greenhouse gasses are changeing and unless we prevent the release of methane clathrates from the cold mud, our civilization won't be around for the climate change luddites to enjoy their illgotten riches.
This misnamed "prying open" republican assault on local control over the public commons, ignores vital first amendment issues. Currently there are hundreds of public access tv stations giving the folks without big time media connections a chance to get ideas out to the millions of faces watching cable tv. Unless this vital production capability is preserved and expanded, the only media on tv will be controlled by huge corporations and governments. Our democracy depends on viable "wild" voices and images.
While the world wide web provides a commons that is still a bit wild, cable still reaches many houses without internet access. Cable franchise revenue is an important source of local town revenue all accross america.
This initiative to control cable at a national or state level is just another case of big corporations buying legislation that will reduce their costs, and cost many of us our thin lifeline access to the public commons. Big corporations want to control content.
Some years back, a physicist from India published a journal paper on this topic. He measured a few excess neutrons occurring during large lightning strikes, calculated the rates ( I think it was related to the naturally occurring amount of deuterium in rainwater ( a VERY tiny amount)). That paper made the point that while a lightning strike might make a few fusions, it's such a small amount that it's main benefit is the paper published about the phenomena. The paper was a letter to Nature, if memory serves.
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Cosmic rays nucleating clouds was the basis for the Wilson cloud chamber, the first way we visualized cosmic rays. THis is nothing new, and it's something that every school child can do. Having said that, it's also something physicists have taken into account when doing climate modeling. I made a cloud chamber as a kid ( dry ice, alcohol, coffee can and black velvet) and these tracks are certainly real and only a tiny part of the story. Unless we have a supernova in the neighborhood, this cosmic ray nucleated cloud formation won't change anything much as the flux variation is in a range that hasn't changed for a very long time. Greenhouse gasses are changeing and unless we prevent the release of methane clathrates from the cold mud, our civilization won't be around for the climate change luddites to enjoy their illgotten riches.
This misnamed "prying open" republican assault on local control over the public commons, ignores vital first amendment issues. Currently there are hundreds of public access tv stations giving the folks without big time media connections a chance to get ideas out to the millions of faces watching cable tv. Unless this vital production capability is preserved and expanded, the only media on tv will be controlled by huge corporations and governments. Our democracy depends on viable "wild" voices and images. While the world wide web provides a commons that is still a bit wild, cable still reaches many houses without internet access. Cable franchise revenue is an important source of local town revenue all accross america. This initiative to control cable at a national or state level is just another case of big corporations buying legislation that will reduce their costs, and cost many of us our thin lifeline access to the public commons. Big corporations want to control content.
Some years back, a physicist from India published a journal paper on this topic. He measured a few excess neutrons occurring during large lightning strikes, calculated the rates ( I think it was related to the naturally occurring amount of deuterium in rainwater ( a VERY tiny amount)). That paper made the point that while a lightning strike might make a few fusions, it's such a small amount that it's main benefit is the paper published about the phenomena. The paper was a letter to Nature, if memory serves.