Wind power could supply all the energy needs of much of the East Coast and then some, if a phalanx of wind turbines running from Massachusetts to North Carolina were installed offshore, a new study concludes. Though local residents often object to wind farms intruding on their landscape and views, wind power has become an increasingly attractive option for generating clean energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions for several countries. Offshore wind farms in Denmark and the United Kingdom are now used to generate electricity, with Denmark drawing 20 percent of its energy from wind power. But determining just how much ocean area is available and how much energy a wind farm can actually produce is tricky and had yet to be done for this area of the Atlantic. ‘In doing our surveys and watching the public debate, we saw that no one had solid empirical data on the actual size of the offshore wind resource, and we felt this was important for policy decisions,’ said study author Willett Kempton of the University of Delaware. An ideal location Oceans make ideal locations for wind turbines because they ‘are particularly windy all over,’ Kempton said. The […]
Peering backward in time to an instant after the big bang, physicists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have devised an approach that may help unlock the hidden shapes of alternate dimensions of the universe. A new study demonstrates that the shapes of extra dimensions can be ‘seen’ by deciphering their influence on cosmic energy released by the violent birth of the universe 13 billion years ago. The method, published today (Feb. 2) in Physical Review Letters, provides evidence that physicists can use experimental data to discern the nature of these elusive dimensions – the existence of which is a critical but as yet unproven element of string theory, the leading contender for a unified ‘theory of everything.’ Scientists developed string theory, which proposes that everything in the universe is made of tiny, vibrating strings of energy, to encompass the physical principles of all objects from immense galaxies to subatomic particles. Though currently the front-runner to explain the framework of the cosmos, the theory remains, to date, untested. The mathematics of string theory suggests that the world we know is not complete. In addition to our four familiar dimensions – three-dimensional space and time – string theory predicts […]
NEW YORK — When a man fails to help out around the house, his poor performance might be related to a subconscious tendency to resist doing anything his wife wants, a new study suggests. Men and women are sure to argue about this one. In fact, the man and woman who led the study disagree on the meaning of the results. Psychologists have long known about ‘reactance,’ the tendency to do the exact opposite of what’s requested by a loved one or boss. The new study aimed to find out whether the phenomenon might occur at a subconscious level. Participants were asked to name a significant person they perceived as controlling their lives, and another who just wanted them to have fun. Then they were asked to discern words from jumbled letters on a computer screen while the names of the people they had mentioned were flashed subliminally. The names were flashed too quickly to be registered consciously. Subjects performed better when exposed to the name of the person who wanted them to have fun than when exposed to the controlling individual’s name. ‘Our participants were not even aware that they had been exposed to […]
Tony Blair is to devote himself to fighting global warming when he quits power this summer by promoting an American rethink on the Kyoto protocol. He discussed his plans for a post-Bush consensus with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, who has made climate change a priority for her presidency of the G8 and the EU. Mr Blair is using Globe, an international forum for parliamentarians to discuss global warming, to persuade the big three polluters, America, China and India, to join global action to tackle climate change. The Secretary of State for Environment, David Miliband, a Blair ally, will use a speech by video-link to a Globe conference in Washington today to call for a dramatic shift by the United States in favour of a successor to the Kyoto agreement on climate change. The forum is one of the few places where US senators can discuss climate change with Indian and Chinese politicians in spite of the reluctance of the White House to engage in discussion of the Kyoto targets. Mr Blair’s aim is to prepare the ground for a new US president to take over in January 2009. He believes the German presidency of […]
NEW YORK — Bank of America Corp. has begun offering credit cards to customers without Social Security numbers, typically illegal immigrants, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. In recent years, banks across the country have been offering checking accounts and even mortgages to the nation’s fast-growing ranks of undocumented immigrants, most of whom are Hispanic, the paper said, adding these immigrants generally have not been able to get major credit cards. The new Bank of America card is open to people who lack both a Social Security number and a credit history, as long as they have held a checking account with the bank for three months without an overdraft, the Journal said. Bank of America tested the program last year at five branches in Los Angeles, and last week expanded it to 51 branches in Los Angeles County, home to the largest concentration of illegal immigrants in the U.S., the Journal said. The bank hopes to roll out the program nationally later this year, the paper said. A Bank of America spokesman was not immediately available to comment.
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
