Ever since the Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Linus Pauling first promoted ‘megadoses of essential nutrients 40 years ago, Americans have been devoted to their vitamins. Today about half of all adults use some form of dietary supplement, at a cost of $23 billion a year. But are vitamins worth it? In the past few years, several high-quality studies have failed to show that extra vitamins, at least in pill form, help prevent chronic disease or prolong life. The latest news came last week after researchers in the Women’s Health Initiative study tracked eight years of multivitamin use among more than 161,000 older women. Despite earlier findings suggesting that multivitamins might lower the risk for heart disease and certain cancers, the study, published in The Archives of Internal Medicine, found no such benefit. Last year, a study that tracked almost 15,000 male physicians for a decade reported no differences in cancer or heart disease rates among those using vitamins E and C compared with those taking a placebo. And in October, a study of 35,000 men dashed hopes that high doses of vitamin E and selenium could lower the risk of prostate cancer. Of course, consumers are regularly […]
PRINCESS ELISABETH BASE, Antarctica — The world’s first zero-emission polar research station opened in Antarctica on Sunday and was welcomed by scientists as proof that alternative energy is viable even in the coldest regions. Pioneers of Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth station in East Antarctica said if a station could rely on wind and solar power in Antarctica — mostly a vast, icy emptiness — it would undercut arguments by sceptics that green power is not reliable. ‘If we can build such a station in Antarctica we can do that elsewhere in our society. We have the capacity, the technology, the knowledge to change our world,’ Alain Hubert, the station’s project director, told Reuters at the inauguration ceremony. Global warming, spurred by greenhouse gas emissions, has prompted governments to look for alternative energy sources. And renewable energies are gaining a foothold in Antarctica, despite problems in designing installations to survive bone-chilling cold and winter darkness. Wind and even solar power are catching on — solar panels on the Antarctic Peninsula can collect as much energy in a year as many places in Europe. Thomas Leysen, chairman of Belgium’s Umicore, a leading manufacturer of catalysts for cars who […]
MIDLAND, Mich. – Dow Chemical Co. says it aims to start selling power-generating roof shingles by 2011. The chemical giant has been at work for the past year on a $50 million (U.S.) project called Dow Solar Solutions to develop a product to sell thermoplastic solar roof shingles throughout North America. Dow Chemical is collaborating with home builders and with Global Solar Energy Inc., an Arizona-based maker of flexible materials. The researchers have conducted numerous tests in preparing the shingles for market, said Robert Cleereman, senior director of solar development for Dow Chemical. ‘We’ve thrown everything you can imagine at them from (simulated) hail to fire to see how they react,’ he said. ‘One day, a person would no more think about buying a house without solar shingles than they would buy a house without plumbing. ‘That is our hope, at least.’ At the centre of the project is a $2.5 million injecting and moulding machine nicknamed ‘The Beast’ that produces the solar cell-imbedded shingles. ‘I can see utility companies paying for the roofing for customers. It would save them money on building power plants because the solar shingles can act like […]
Economic stimulus is the order of the day. This is as it must be, as governments around the world struggle to jump-start the global economy. But even as leaders address the immediate need to stimulate the economy, so too must they act jointly to ensure that the new de facto economic model being developed is sustainable for the planet and our future on it. What we need is both stimulus and long-term investments that accomplish two objectives simultaneously with one global economic policy response – a policy that addresses our urgent and immediate economic and social needs and that launches a new green global economy. In short, we need to make ‘growing green our mantra First, a synchronised global recession requires a synchronised global resÃÂponse. We need stimulus and intense co-ordination of economic policy among all main economies. We must avoid the beggar-thy-neighbour policies that contributed to the Great Depression. Co-ordination is also vital for reducing financial volatility, runs on currencies and rampant inflation as well as for instilling consumer and investor confidence. In Washington last November, G20 leaders expressed their determination ‘to enhance co-operation and work together to restore global growth and achieve needed reforms in the […]
Activists recall his promises as a candidate and express frustration at his equivocation as president. They cite stem cell research and the detainee policy as examples. Reporting from Washington – Slowly over the last few weeks, some of Barack Obama’s most fervent supporters have come to an unhappy realization: The candidate who they thought was squarely on their side in policy fights is now a president who needs cajoling and persuading. Advocates for stem cell research thought Obama would quickly sign an order to reverse former President Bush’s restrictions on the science. Now they are fretting over Obama’s statement that he wants to act in tandem with Congress, possibly causing a delay. Critics of Bush’s faith-based initiative thought Obama had promised to end religious discrimination among social service groups taking federal money. But Obama, in announcing his own faith-based program this month, said only that the discrimination issue might be reviewed. And Obama’s recent moves regarding a lawsuit by detainees have left some liberal groups and Bush critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, feeling betrayed, given that Obama was a harsh critic of Bush’s detainee policies when running for office last year. The […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
