Gas, gas, gas
Posted: Monday, November 26, 2007 3:49 PM by Will Femia
Bacteria extract hydrogen at over 90% efficiency - It's funny to look down in the comments to see all the outrage. The idea is sold as producing no greenhouse gas because hydrogen burns clean, but the process to extract the hydrogen produces CO2. I remember reading a similar idea that had to do with getting energy from algae. Somehow the algae was used as fuel so a field of it was planted downwind from the energy plant. The CO2 output from the energy plant would end up feeding the algae and growing more fuel. (I can't find the article now but it was
like this with a
little of this.)
Speaking of new ideas,
Six Ideas That Will Change the World - Not unfamiliar but not the same old ideas we see online all the time. This is part of Esquire's
Best and Brightest series.
Cancer cure headline of the day:
Cannabis compound 'halts cancer' (No, not the psychoactive part.)
Speaking of drugs, I clicked this item about Scopolamine, "
The most dangerous drug in the world" and was interested to note that it's on a sobriety social networking site called
Sober Circle.
I'm only passingly acquainted with the site, but the idea of applying
social networking to the addiction recovery community is a no brainer.
Robots Infiltrate, Influence Cockroach Groups - Long after the extinction of humans, Earth will be a battleground for the great robot/cockroach war... Actually it's about studying cockroach behavior and still pretty interesting. Tangentially, a bit of folk wisdom that seems confirmed by this story is that stepping on cockroaches can draw more cockroaches. It sounds like making your shoe smell like cockroach makes it more appealing to more cockroaches.
Speaking of making stuff up,
Come on, writers, script your futures
- Though this is partly an excoriation of striking writers, it's also
good for the way it highlights new models of writers getting things
done. It directly addresses the question I asked the other day about
writers "simply taking their game elsewhere." Not only is this relevant
to the striking writers but also to everyone I've traded notes with
lately who sign their name with a
NaNoWriMo number at the end.
A thorough going-over of that recent story about drawing stem cells from skin cells. Not only is the science covered in depth but the salient political points are touched upon in the conclusion. Namely:
"These cells are NOT useable for therapies…the immediate, practical applications that the electorate wants from stem cell research."
and
"Or we can just sit back and let the Japanese and Europeans and Koreans do it for us, which is OK, I suppose."
Morning listening:
DJ Spooky's African remix15 cool word illusionsAnother typing speed test - This one is different because it's all common typing words, not a lot of trip-up words. My score improved with every try. Right now I'm at 282, position 9930. (Wait! 292 at 8474! But more wrong words.)
Top 20 Free Games of 2007 - These are the kind you have to download, not the quickie Flash games.
Everyone is noting that the Amazon Kindle
sold out in five hours, though no one seems to know how many sales that represents.
