Rituals that cleanse the body to purify the soul are at the core of religions worldwide. Now scientists find these ceremonies apparently have a psychological basis. Researchers discovered sins actually seem to urge people to clean themselves, a phenomenon they dubbed the ‘Macbeth effect’ after dramatized murderess Lady Macbeth, who vainly tried scrubbing her hands clean of imaginary blood in Shakespeare’s famed Scottish play. Intriguingly, the researchers also found purifying the body then helped people absolve their consciences. ‘Showering and handwashing occur daily, but now we find these core routines can really have a psychological impact,’ behavioral researcher Katie Liljenquist at Northwestern University in Chicago told LiveScience. Future studies could see whether ‘living in a very clean environment facilitates more ethical behavior, or ironically licenses unethical behavior,’ Liljenquist added. Liljenquist and her colleague Chen-Bo Zhong at the University of Toronto in Canada first asked undergraduate student volunteers to focus on ethical or unethical deeds from their past. The volunteers were more likely to interpret the word fragments ‘W _ _ H’ as ‘wash’ and ‘S _ _ P’ as ‘soap’ if they had been thinking of an unethical deed, and to choose an antiseptic wipe […]
Computer giant IBM will build the world’s most powerful supercomputer at a US government laboratory. The machine, codenamed Roadrunner, could be four times more potent than the current fastest machine, BlueGene/L, also built by IBM. The new computer is a ‘hybrid’ design, using both conventional supercomputer processors and the new ‘cell’ chip designed for Sony’s PlayStation 3. Roadrunner will be installed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. The laboratory is owned by the US Department of Energy (DOE). Eventually the machine could be used for a programme that ensures the US nuclear weapons stockpile remains safe and reliable, the DOE said in a statement. Using supercomputers to simulate how nuclear materials age negates arguments for the resumption of underground nuclear testing. Peak speeds The new machine will be able to achieve ‘petaflop speeds,’ said IBM. One petaflop is the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second. Running at peak speed, it will be able to crunch through 1.6 thousand trillion calculations per second. Installed at the DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and also used for the DOE’s Stockpile Stewardship Program, it has achieved 280.6 teraflops and is […]
Five months after sales began, the 2007 Toyota Camry hybrid has found 12,409 buyers. While that’s a small percentage of overall Camry sales, which totaled 42,227 for August alone, the new version boosts support for tandem gasoline-electric engine technology. With the inclusion of its luxury Lexus brand, Toyota Motor Sales has delivered 126,249 hybrid vehicles in the first eight months of the year, including 25,994 in August alone. The pioneering Toyota Prius has found more than half-a-million owners since its 1997 Japanese introduction, which was followed by an American debut in 2000. In 2005, sales of Prius in the U.S. reached more than 107,000, making it Toyota’s third-best selling car after the Camry and Corolla. The hybrid fleet will continue to grow with the April 2007 launch of the Lexus LS 600h L hybrid sedan, the first vehicle powered by a full-hybrid V8. Beyond that, Toyota is working to develop a ‘plug-in’ hybrid that can travel greater distances on its electric motor, requiring less use of the gasoline engine, according to Jim Press, president of Toyota North America. ‘We estimate that all the hybrids we have sold in America have saved more than 155 million […]
The fall 2006 elections are now just two months away. Although the conventional wisdom is that Republicans will have a tough time this fall, I believe that we can still win — but not without substantial changes. In this edition of ‘Winning the Future,’ I outline 11 values-led policies that are both morally right and that enjoy (not coincidentally) the overwhelming support of the American people. These are the values and the policies that Republicans should embrace this fall. Here’s the key: Republican victory in 2006 depends on a return to the American values that twice elected Ronald Reagan and returned the House to a Republican majority with the Contract with America. Republicans in 2006 must return to the pattern that allowed the center-right majority to win decisive elections for President Reagan in 1980 and 1984 and win with the Contract with America in 1994. President Ronald Reagan was successful because as governor, as a candidate and as President he spoke for and advocated the values of the overwhelming majority of Americans. The Contract with America succeeded because its core solutions (standing on President Reagan’s shoulders) reflected deeply held American values. It is vital […]
WASHINGTON — President Bush has transferred 14 key terrorist leaders from secret CIA custody to the U.S. military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be prepared for eventual trials, a senior administration official said Wednesday. The high-value suspected terrorists include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 al-Qaida leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11, hijacker; and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells before he was also captured in Pakistan, in March 2002. Bush revealed the move in a speech from the White House, with families of those killed in the 2001 attacks making up part of the audience. The announcement, which the White House touted beforehand, comes as Bush has sought with a series of speeches to sharpen the focus on national security two months before high-stakes congressional elections. Speaking at the White House, the president said that the country was still under threat from terrorists. ‘They’re still trying to strike America and still trying to kill our people,’ Bush said. The U.S. must be able to ‘detain, question and, when appropriate, prosecute […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
