Dna47_3_2 DNA has been found to have a bizarre ability to put itself together, even at a distance, when according to known science it shouldn’t be able to. Explanation: None, at least not yet. Scientists are reporting evidence that contrary to our current beliefs about what is possible, intact double-stranded DNA has the ‘amazing ability to recognize similarities in other DNA strands from a distance. Somehow they are able to identify one another, and the tiny bits of genetic material tend to congregate with similar DNA. The recognition of similar sequences in DNA’s chemical subunits, occurs in a way unrecognized by science. There is no known reason why the DNA is able to combine the way it does, and from a current theoretical standpoint this feat should be chemically impossible. Even so, the research published in ACS’ Journal of Physical Chemistry B, shows very clearly that homology recognition between sequences of several hundred nucleotides occurs without physical contact or presence of proteins. Double helixes of DNA can recognize matching molecules from a distance and then gather together, all seemingly without help from any other molecules or chemical signals. In the study, scientists observed the behavior of fluorescently […]
The year 2009 will witness a tsunami of appeals to economists to fix, as disgraced Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan put it, the ‘flaw’ in their thinking. Most will get it wrong. The proposals for bailouts, regulations and government spending sprees all share one tragic flaw: they assume no physical or biological limits to human growth. Most economists cling to an 18th century mechanical universe that conjured an ‘invisible hand’ of God, that would allegedly convert private greed into public utopia. Indeed, a few got rich, but the meek inherit an earth featuring child slavery, sweatshops, a billion starving people, toxic garbage heaps, dead rivers, exhausted aquifers, disappearing forests, depleted energy stores, lopped-off mountain tops, acid seas, melting glaciers and an atmosphere heating up like a flambé. Meanwhile, a rigorous subculture of scientists and economists have been working to free economics from its 18th century quagmire by reconciling human enterprise with the laws of physics, biology and ecology. Their time has come. This year, 2009, will signal the birth of a genuinely innovative economics that will eventually displace the patchwork rationalizations for greed. The new ecological accounting is variously called ‘dynamic equilibrium,’ ‘steady-state’ or ‘biophysical’ economics. […]
Although gas prices have fallen dramatically since last summer, many automakers are still moving ahead with plans to introduce new electric vehicles. Chevy expects to roll out its Volt electric car by 2010, but you don’t have to wait that long to get your hands on a gas-free vehicle. So what can you buy right now, and what can you expect to see in the months and years ahead? Here’s a quick rundown. The Tesla Roadster, $109,000 Tesla Motors breaks the mold when it comes to electric-powered cars. Rather than being small and clunky, the Tesla Roadster looks like it came out of Lamborghini’s factory in Italy. That’s not surprising, since it’s assembled at the Lotus plant in the United Kingdom, with final assembly taking place at the Tesla factory in Menlo Park, Calif. With that pedigree, you’d expect the Tesla Roadster to be fast, and it is, jumping from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.9 seconds. The Tesla achieves its impressive power thanks to a 248-horsepower, 375-volt electric motor, which links to single-speed shifter and an innovative lithium-ion battery pack. The Tesla will run between 170 and 256 miles on a single charge, depending […]
President George W. Bush is honored by the military in an emotional farewell ceremony at Ft. Myer in Arlington, Virginia, 6 Jan. 2009 President George W. Bush, 6 Jan. 2009 U.S. President George Bush is launching one of the biggest conservation efforts in the world. He is designating large tracts of the Pacific as national monuments – meaning they are protected from commercial fishing, mining and other uses. With just two weeks left in office, the president has taken action to safeguard parts of three remote Pacific island chains that are U.S. possessions. All will be designated as marine national monuments under provisions of the 1906 Antiquities Act, which is used to protect scientific and historical sites. ‘The monuments will prohibit resource destruction or extraction, waste dumping and commercial fishing,’ President Bush said. President Bush says the goal is to keep these delicate ecosystems intact, while gradually opening them up to scientific research and recreation. ‘For sea birds and marine life, they will be sanctuaries to grow and thrive. For scientists, they will be places to expand the frontiers of discovery. And for the American people they will be places that honor our […]
The veil is lifted. We now know who is booked at Blair House, kicking President-elect Barack Obama and his family to the waiting list and across Lafayette Park to the Hay-Adams Hotel. The only overnight visitor at the presidential guest manse is none other than John Howard, a former Australian prime minister and leading member of President Bush’s coalition of the willing in Iraq. Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard. (Paul Miller/Associated Press) Howard and his entourage will be bunking at Blair House on Jan. 12, the night before he, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe are to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bush, said Sally McDonough, a spokeswoman for first lady Laura Bush. The three current and former heads of state are longtime political allies of Bush, and Blair and Howard were key partners in the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Blair and Uribe also were invited to stay at Blair House, but declined Bush’s invitation, a second White House official said today. Blair, who traditionally stays at the British Embassy, and Uribe apparently found other accommodations, said the second White House official, who spoke only on the […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
