BBC News is reporting that a French company has developed a pollution-free car which runs on compressed air. India’s Tata Motors has the car under production and it may be on sale in Europe and India by the end of the year. The air car, also known as the Mini-CAT or City Cat, can be refueled in minutes from an air compressor at specially equipped gas stations and can go 200 km on a 1.5 euro fill-up — roughly 125 miles for $3. The top speed will be almost 70 mph and the cost of the vehicle as low as $7000. The car features a fibreglass body and a revolutionary electrical system and is completely computer-controlled. It is powered by the expansion of compressed air, using no combustion at all, and the exhaust is entirely clean and cool enough for use in the internal air conditioning system. Tata Motors is known for its interest in innovation and has been selling compressed gas buses since 2000. It is currently working on producing the world’s cheapest car, which will be almost 100% plastic and will sell in India for about $2500. Tata is also expanding into the world […]
In developing countries, treating children with pneumonia at home is as safe and effective as hospital care, a new study finds. Worldwide, pneumonia kills 2 million children under the age of 5 each year. However, antibiotics given at home could significantly reduce deaths, the researchers report. ‘Severe in pneumonia in children can be safely and successfully treated at home versus the current standard of care, which is hospitalization,’ said lead researcher Dr. Donald Thea, a professor of international health at Boston University School of Public Health. ‘Pneumonia is the biggest killer of children in the world.’ Thea’s team studied 2,037 children aged 3 to 59 months at seven sites in Pakistan. About half the children received amoxicillin syrup and were sent home, and the others received intravenous antibiotics in the hospital, according to the report in the Jan. 5 issue ofThe Lancet. Among the children treated in the hospital, 87 didn’t respond to the antibiotic, compared with 77 who were treated at home. Five children died within two weeks; one was treated at home and four were treated in the hospital. Based on these findings, Thea hopes the World Health Organization (WHO) will change its […]
LOS ANGELES — US federal judge on Thursday set limits for the use of marine sonar by the military in California, a practice environmentalists have long accused of putting sealife in danger. Judge Florence-Marie Cooper issued an injunction barring the navy from using mid-frequency active sonar when marine mammals are within 2,200 yards (meters) and requiring it to monitor the area for an hour to ensure no marine life is in harm’s way. However, Cooper allowed the military to use the equipment within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the coast, rejecting environmentalists’ demands for a 25-mile (40-kilometer) exclusion zone. The National Resources Defense Council, which led the environmentalists’ suit, called the decision a victory, while the navy said it planned to review the decision. Marine life advocates have argued since 2005 that the use of navy sonars was endangering whales’ lives by causing them to become disoriented and stranded on beaches. In August, the San Francisco federal appeals court had overturned a ruling by Cooper that had banned the use of sonars off the coast of California, saying it was excessive.
This was news to me — news that defense contracting conglomerate United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) intends to use to ride the same wave of solar fever that has lifted firms like First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) and Suntech (NYSE: STP), Trina (NYSE: TSL) and SunPower (Nasdaq: SPWR) to prominence … and profits. According to a press release, United Tech has stumbled upon a new way to profit from ‘free’ energy: It’s not going to compete with the solar panel makers, but complement them. As you probably know, the second-biggest knock against solar (second to the fact that it costs more than most alternatives) is that when the sun goes out, so too does the power source. United Tech’s solution: Store the energy. The firm’s Hamilton Sundstrand subsidiary aims to partner with private equity shop ‘US Renewables Group’ to establish a new company called ‘SolarReserve.’ The aim of the new company: Commercializing a new form of solar power generation that can fill the gaps between sunrise and sunset left by the solar panel makers. Power how? With sun … and salt. SolarReserve aims to construct concentrated solar power towers filled with a mixture of sodium and potassium nitrate […]
CHICAGO– Placebos are a surprisingly common prescription, according to a U.S. study in which nearly half of the doctors surveyed said they had doled out a dummy pill at some point. Researchers at the University of Chicago said on Thursday the study raises ethical questions and suggests a need for greater recognition and understanding of placebo use. ‘It illustrates that doctors believe expectation and belief have therapeutic potential,’ said Rachel Sherman, a medical student at the University of Chicago, whose study was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. The idea behind placebos is that when patients think they are getting an effective treatment, they sometimes feel better, even though the pill has no proven benefit. They are often used in clinical trials to compare the benefits of drugs, and many times patients taking placebos show some improvement. But few studies have shown how doctors use placebos in routine practice. Sherman and Dr. John Hickner, a family medicine professor at the University of Chicago, sent surveys to 466 internists at three Chicago-area academic medical centers. About half, or 231, responded. Of those, 45 percent said they had used a placebo during their clinical […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
