Archive for the 'Life Of Science' Category

Garbage in its Place

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Garbage in its Place
(352 words)

There is nothing worse than seeing garbage blowing down the street of your neighborhood, or finding broken shards of glass at the local swimming hole where children play. Wildlife is just as vulnerable to garbage and many have lost their lives after becoming tangled in waste or mistaking garbage for food. It is up to each of us to make an effort to minimize this unsightly, and sometimes hazardous, problem.
Animals, wind and traffic breezes put legs to loose garbage and are able to distribute it great distances from the original source. The first thing that we can do to prevent this is to ensure trashcan and dumpster lids are secure. Metal and plastic trashcans are more preventative than bags – leaving a bag out over night or even for several hours, is an enticing invitation for stray animals to wreak havoc. When taking a load to the dump, be sure that it is securely covered by tightly tying a tarp over the load with some rope or bungee cords.
Carry plastic shopping bags on your walks to clean up litter that you find along the way. Often, people are rewarded for their efforts by the deposits returned from bottles and cans. Those who have noticed your efforts will begin taking up the same habit once they realize the impact it has.
Report any dumping you witness, whether it was done illegally or accidentally – just get the license number and leave the rest to the officials. Also, report any site where garbage has been left by others. These problems can be reported to the local city, highway, public works or conservation office. Ask them to arrange for it to be cleaned up.
By doing these relatively small actions, we prevent contamination and injuries to people or wildlife in the area. When separating recyclable items, we keep a valuable resource out of the landfill. In addition, we maintain a pristine environment for citizens, tourists and wildlife to enjoy. We can all take pride knowing that by keeping garbage in its place, we are making the world just a little better for everyone.

About the Author

– Written by Dave and Lillian Brummet based on the concept of their book, Trash Talk. The book offers useful solutions for the individual to reduce waste and better manage resources. A guide for anyone concerned about their impact on the environment. (http://www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit)

Major Turbine Manufacturers

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

States is actually prime resource. Canada and Europe are world leaders of wind power projects. Other countries are also looking into building production facilities in the United States. The major wind turbine manufacturers in other world regions have already explored this. This is because the expenses that may be incurred in building the wind turbine systems in the US are far lesser compared to building the wind turbines overseas and then shipping them. The cost of it can be indicated clearly as per the following paragraphs. The cost depends upon the project size, purchase agreement construction contracts, type of machines, and the projects location as well as other related factors. How much does a wind turbine cost can be answered partially. Many people do not believe they can save money with wind generators because they do not have enough wind where they live. Wind generators can be effective in most places, because only 6-8 miles per hour of wind are needed to be effective, maybe even a little less – and unless you live in a giant plastic sealed dome, the chances are, you most likely have enough wind in your area. We are now seeing more advancement in solar power technology, we are witnessing a resurgence in solar power systems. Though solar panels still absorb solar energy when it’s cloudy outside, it produces more energy when they’re exposed to direct sunlight. Solar power systems are therefore much more effective in places where there is a lot of direct sunlight. Also, solar power systems produce more power during longer days naturally, so in places where there is not to much sunlight during the day solar power systems may not be the best option.This article will show how you can escape the rising power costs in the best way around. It’s long been said that a homemade wind turbine is the most cost effective alternative energy. Unfortunately, most people couldn’t benefit. The knowledge wasn’t readily available, and even more importantly, there were no clear ways to teach the common man how to build a high quality homemade wind turbine for cheap. This is where the bad news ends, because the methods are now readily available and growing in popularity and quality. Wind Turbine

The Mini Windmill

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

However, in the case of mini windmill, only a small amount of power can be generated at one time and quite a few will be needed to power the complete house. Whatever may be the case, the advantages of micro windmills far exceed the disadvantages. The advantage of micro windmills is that it enables you to save a large amount of money. The windmills require very little investment to begin with and in a small amount of time pay for their own costs. Wind turbines may not be appropriate in all areas but where they can be placed, they make a real difference to their surroundings as they don need any fuel and they produce no green house gases. They obviously save you money but by selling any extra electricity back to the National Grid, you can actually make money as well.Even more, to generate electricity from these resources they need to be burned, a process which releases great amounts of pollution into the environment. However, there is a solution to these critical problems. It is called wind turbines. Wind turbines are devices that use wind power to generate electricity. The process is very simple. The blades that moved due to high speed winds hitting them would pass on this energy to move water pumping motors or motors used to run grinding machines. Wind turbines that are used to generate electricity were only developed in the twentieth century and have evolved a great deal since their invention. DC which is used to charge a battery store – this stored potential energy is ultimately utilized by routing it through an inverter that changes the low voltage direct current power into utility voltage alternating current electricity that can be used in household applications. By concentrating a lot of turbines into wind farms a substantial amount of electricity can be stored and utilized, perhaps for a whole city or town. Because the wind doesnt blow all of the time in many areas, wind turbines are used as adjuncts in hybrid configurations with many different technologies like photovoltaic panels, and diesel generators to provide a consistent source of electricity.
Source: Wind Power

Ponderings on the Star of Bethlehem

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

The final possibility is one or more of the 5 bright naked eye planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, or Saturn. Another Star of Bethlehem candidate is Uranus, which orbited in the close vicinity to Saturn in 9 BC and Venus in 6 BC. This is unlikely because Uranus moves very slowly and is only diffusedly visible. In truth, the possibility that the Magi could have befuddled one or more of the common planets with a star actually seems remote.

Sometimes, two or more of these flaring wanderers come together in a dazzling conjunction. Possiblly a planetary grouping of uncommon beauty; an exceptionally close conjunction of two planets or groupings of three or more creating an eye-catching abstract figure in the sky may have taken place between the years 7 and 2 BC. A amassing like that would be quite rare to the unexpecting eye.

One such event that is often cited occurred on the evening of Feb. 25, 6 BC involving Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and happened in the constellation of Pisces, the Fishes. If you have ever visited a planetarium for the traditional Christmas show, you probably already know the thrill of watching as the planetarium projector races back through time to recreate this unusual event. One such result that is often quoted came about on the evening of Feb. 25, 6 BC regarding Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and occurred in the constellation of Pisces, the Fishes. If you have ever seen a planetarium for the sanctioned Christmas show, you in all likelihood already know the thrill of watching as the know the rush of watching as the planetarium projector races back through time to retell this unusual event. Another affirmable explanation for the Star of Bethlehem is the three-times conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn between May and December in 7 BC; a unusual triple or “great conjunction.” Jupiter appeared to pass one degree north of Saturn on May 29; much the synoptically on Sept. 30; then finally a third time on Dec. 5. There is no question about the visibility of these cases, mostly opposite to the Sun in dark skies. As for their astrological impingement, the Magi would have absolutely noticed that both planets did not appear to separate widely between their conjunctions.

Generators and Utility Grids

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

As a matter of fact, your generator would be hooked up with the utility grid and this way, you might actually sell the additional power to the utility in case you produce more power than what you need. In case of a usual residential application, a residence is served concurrently by wind turbine, as well as local utility. In case the wind speeds get below the cut-in speed, then there would be no output from this turbine and the entire required power is bought from the utility. The generator is built using high-performance rare earth neodymium permanent magnets, so the alternator is compact and light weight with a high power generating efficiency. Generator housing is made using precision cast technology from high strength aluminum to assure a high quality finish. It is designed for various working conditions such as severe climate, sand and salt corrosive environments and marine usage. You might even consider starting a small at home business in selling wind turbines. Of course, the main reason you would be interested in selling wind turbines is the potential profits involved. Do a little research online and you will find homemade wind turbine kits ranging in price from $1000 up to $5000. These kits still require that the buyer puts the wind turbines together. With so many other options available it seems antiquated to burn fossil fuels (which will one day run out) just to generate some electricity. Small scale, as it gives individual householders the opportunity of regaining control over their lives and reducing their dependence upon big business. In electricity supply this is even more important than in many other areas, due to the current instability in the raw material markets, making prices highly volatile, and sometimes even threatening supply altogether. If regaining power independence is important, how do individuals go about it?In most circumstances the most practical solution is to install a domestic wind turbine.

Looking at History and Government

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

Ancient history is almost entirely about the acts of government. Ancient governments were made up of kings, priests, or small groups of aristocrats. The sophisticated bodies of modern governments were only developed over the last 2-300 years in western nations.

Modern history is about more than just government. It covers the deeds of explorers, inventors, pioneers, scientists, and business people. If you ask most people to name a famous international magnate, they’ll probably tell you the name of Bill Gates or Aritstotle Onassis. If you ask them to name an international magnate from 2,000 years ago, only a very few people will be able to name someone like Joseph of Arimathea, who has been compared to Onassis.

These kinds of eclectic facts drive the authors of the Many Topics blog, which covers a wide range of topics in a mix of long and short articles. From a tribute for famous journalists to an article about fast food in ancient Rome, the Many Topics authors dig deep for interesting subject matter.

These guys are not afraid to tackle diverse questions like what is rocket science and where can you learn about nutrition online. The Many Topics blog seems to be driven by an insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

In the grand scheme of things on the Internet small blogs like Many Topics might go unnoticed by most people, but their authors persevere and keep writing. That is the spirit of sharing and giving that has made the Internet the great medium it is today!

Cancer Doctors Hold Advanced Courses in Battle with Mesothelioma, despite the Fact that Prognosis Looks Grim

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Oncologists choose what course of treatment to administer for every patient. There are many options. There is no standard treatment regimen for mesothelioma cancer victims. This is due to the cancers high mortality rate, rareness, low treatment success rate, and small number of studies to provide meaningful statistics.

Mesothelioma patients have historically had a bleak outlook, but doctors have recently made progress. Treatments for cancer are traditionally surgery (taking out the tumor and surrounding tissue), chemotherapy (poisoning cancerous cells) and radiation (killing cancer cells with radiation) Each one of these methods have problems. Mesothelioma patients treated with traditional radiation therapy have not responded well to it. Researchers are looking for ways of aiming radiation directly at the tumor in hopes that this will result in less damage to healthy tissue.

Surgery takes out the mesothelial cancerous tissue around the tumor. This surgery is extensive and it is not clear how much the patient benefits. The usual chemotherapy cocktails effective on other cancers are not effective on mesothelioma, and different combinations of chemotherapy drugs have been tried without a lot of success. Similar to radiation, focus in research is focusing on treating the physical location of the tumor with emphasis on the pleural cavity.

Many advanced techniques in cancer treatment are tried on mesothelioma patients because of its high fatality rate. These techniques include a biologic therapy called the agent interleukin 2 and anti-angiogenesis drugs like thalidomide. Pemetrexed (Alimta) is a new drug that has shown results in extending life.

Considered by oncologists is where the tumor is located, what stage the mesothelioma is in, and the age and health of the patient. Theres also photodynamic therapy and gene therapy ” two far-out new ways of attacking cancer. Patients afflicted with mesothelioma are benefitting in these clinical trials.