HAIFA, Israel — paralyzed for the past 20 years, former Israeli paratrooper Radi Kaiof now walks down the street with a dim mechanical hum. That is the sound of an electronic exoskeleton moving the 41-year-old’s legs and propelling him forward — with a proud expression on his face — as passersby stare in surprise. ‘I never dreamed I would walk again. After I was wounded, I forgot what it’s like,’ said Kaiof, who was injured while serving in the Israeli military in 1988. ‘Only when standing up can I feel how tall I really am and speak to people eye to eye, not from below.’ The device, called ReWalk, is the brainchild of engineer Amit Goffer, founder of Argo Medical Technologies, a small Israeli high-tech company. Something of a mix between the exoskeleton of a crustacean and the suit worn by comic hero Iron Man, ReWalk helps paraplegics — people paralyzed below the waist — to stand, walk and climb stairs. Goffer himself was paralyzed in an accident in 1997 but he cannot use his own invention because he does not have full function of his arms. The system, which requires crutches to […]
When the builders of the Maple Ridge Wind farm spent $320 million to put nearly 200 wind turbines in upstate New York, the idea was to get paid for producing electricity. But at times, regional electric lines have been so congested that Maple Ridge has been forced to shut down even with a brisk wind blowing. That is a symptom of a broad national problem. Expansive dreams about renewable energy, like Al Gore’s hope of replacing all fossil fuels in a decade, are bumping up against the reality of a power grid that cannot handle the new demands. The dirty secret of clean energy is that while generating it is getting easier, moving it to market is not. The grid today, according to experts, is a system conceived 100 years ago to let utilities prop each other up, reducing blackouts and sharing power in small regions. It resembles a network of streets, avenues and country roads. ‘We need an interstate transmission superhighway system,’ said Suedeen G. Kelly, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. While the United States today gets barely 1 percent of its electricity from wind turbines, many experts are starting to […]
BRUSSELLS, Belgium — Britain will overtake Germany and France to become the biggest country in the EU in 50 years’ time, according to population projections unveiled yesterday. A survey of demographic trends finds Britain’s positive birth rate contrasting strongly with most other large countries in Europe. The impact of population shrinkage, coupled with the ageing of key European societies, spells big problems for pensions, health and welfare systems across much of the union, says the report, published by Eurostat, the statistical service of the European commission. But Britain, it says, is likely to suffer less because of its strong population growth and the younger average age of British society. Immigration is singled out as the sole mitigating factor, seen as crucial to maintaining population growth. But the report says this probably will not be enough to reverse the trend of population decline in many countries. The survey predicts that Britain’s population by 2060 will increase by 25% from the current figure of just over 61 million to almost 77 million. Germany is the biggest country in the EU, with more than 82 million people, but it is likely to shed almost 12 million by 2060, […]
People with diverticular disease, a common digestive disorder, are typically told to avoid eating popcorn, nuts, seeds and corn so they don’t get painful attacks. But, a new study calls into question that conventional wisdom. The study of more than 47,000 men found that eating those foods did not seem to increase the risk of diverticulosis or diverticular complications. ‘We found, contrary to current recommendations, that actually, consumption of these foods did not increase the risk of diverticulitis or diverticular bleeding and didn’t appear to increase the risk of developing diverticulosis or its complications,’ said study lead author Dr. Lisa Strate, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle. The findings are published in the Aug. 27 issue of theJournal of the American Medical Association. Diverticular disease affects the colon, the part of the large intestine that discards waste. Diverticulosis occurs when pouches — called diverticula — form in the colon. Stool or bacteria can lodge in the pouches. Diverticulitis occurs when the pouches get inflamed; symptoms can include bleeding, infection or a blockage of the digestive system. One third of U.S. adults have diverticulosis by age 60, […]
Though my farm-raised father insists differently, there’s something a bit spooky about cows standing in a field. They’re just a bit too placid; I’ve always suspected that those limpid eyes hide strange secrets. And what do you know — I was right! German and Czech biologists have shown that cattle, along with deer, instinctively stand in a north-south direction. They appear to possess a sixth sense of magnetism. After studying Google Earth satellite images of cattle herds, along with their own observations of roe deer, the researchers realized that the animals routinely stood along a north-south axis. ‘The magnetic field is the only common and most likely factor responsible for the observed alignment,’ write the researchers in a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ‘Our analysis … clearly provides the crucial proof in favor of the Earth’s magnetic field being the responsive cue.’ They think the ability evolved to help guide the animals’ ancestors during migrations (which could explain why the results are stronger in deer than cattle, which having been domesticated and restrained no longer migrate.) What’s the physiological mechanism? That’s not yet known. ‘Our findings … challenge […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
