QIAOBEI, China — In this tiny hamlet in northern China’s wheat belt, Zheng Songxian scrapes out a living growing winter wheat on a vest-pocket plot, an eighth of a hectare carved out of a rocky hillside. One might think he would greet the chance this winter to till new land as cause for celebration. He does not. The new land he was offered normally lies under more than 6 meters, or 20 feet, of water, part of the Luhun Reservoir in northwestern Henan Province. But this winter, Luhun has lost most of its water to northern China’s worst drought in at least 50 years. And what was once lake bottom has become just another field of winter wheat, stunted for want of rain. Zheng, 50, stood in his field, which measures barely a third of an acre, on a recent winter day, a shrunken wheat plant freshly pulled from the earth in one hand. ‘I think I’m going to lose at least a third of my harvest this year,’ he said. ‘If we don’t get rain before May, I won’t be able to harvest anything.’ Northern China is dry in the best of times. But this […]
DURHAM, N.C. — Half of all Americans expect another country to emerge this century as the world’s leader in addressing technological challenges that range from the economy to global warming, according to a survey of U.S. public opinion released Tuesday by Duke University. Although only 34 percent of Americans gave themselves a grade of A or B for understanding ‘the world of engineers and what they do,’ 72 percent nonetheless expect the technological advancements of the 21st century to surpass those of the previous century. However, only 49 percent predict the United States will lead the way in producing these advances, according to the survey of 808 adults carried out Jan. 22-25 by Hart Research Associates. Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering commissioned the survey, ‘Americans’ Attitudes Toward Engineering and Engineering Challenges,’ for a national summit on engineering ‘grand challenges’ it is co-hosting March 2-3 in Durham. Americans with more education are even less optimistic about the likelihood the United States will be the world’s technological leader in the 21st century. China was cited by 20 percent of all the respondents as being most likely to assume this position, followed by Japan and Europe at 10 percent each, […]
A biochemical analysis of a rare Clovis-era stone tool cache recently unearthed in the city limits of Boulder, Colo., indicates some of the implements were used to butcher ice-age camels and horses that roamed North America until their extinction about 13,000 years ago, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder study. The study is the first to identify protein residue from extinct camels on North American stone tools and only the second to identify horse protein residue on a Clovis-age tool, said CU-Boulder Anthropology Professor Douglas Bamforth, who led the study. The cache is one of only a handful of Clovis-age artifact caches that have been unearthed in North America, said Bamforth, who studies Paleoindian culture and tools. The Clovis culture is believed by many archaeologists to coincide with the time the first Americans arrived on the continent from Asia via the Bering Land Bridge about 13,000 to 13,500 years ago, Bamforth said. Named the Mahaffy Cache after Boulder resident and landowner Patrick Mahaffy, the collection is one of only two Clovis caches — the other is from Washington state — that have been analyzed for protein residue from ice-age mammals, said Bamforth. In addition to […]
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama overrode the Bush administration on a key step in administering the Endangered Species Act on Tuesday, restoring a requirement that federal agencies consult with experts on threatened species before launching construction projects that could effect their well-being. Environmentalists said reinstating the requirement blocks the Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Forest Service and others from ‘nibbling away’ at critical wildlife habitat. Business and industry groups, on the other hand, warned that it could hamper road-building and other projects that would help jump-start the economy. Bush’s rule change, finalized in December, allowed federal agencies to determine on their own if projects would jeopardize endangered species, instead of consulting with expert biologists, as had been required for the last three decades. It gave agencies the option, if they so chose, of calling on the experts from the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Obama took away the option and made such consultation mandatory. He announced the change during a celebration of the 160th anniversary of the Interior Department, telling cheering employees it would ‘restore the scientific process to its rightful place at the heart of the Endangered Species Act.’ Technically, […]
What if it were possible to have solar power even when the clouds close in, or in the middle of the night? What if it were so reliable, it could fill the gap when the wind dies down and turbines stop spinning? It’s all possible, said Terry Murphy, president of SolarReserve. The company’s design uses the sun’s heat to boil water and spin a turbine - not unlike other ‘solar thermal concepts that are now common. But where a typical system uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight and heat water; SolarReserve uses them to heat a salt, which melts into a liquid about twice as dense as water - and here’s the catch: stored in thermal silo, the melted salt is able to maintain vast amounts of heat, which can be tapped later for use in power production. The company received a second round of financing - $140 million - just last fall, and hopes to break ground next year. SolarReserve’s heat concentrators are not terribly different from other similar systems. It includes a tower that resembles a tall smokestack at a coal plant. At the top is a black cylinder that absorbs heat, and surrounding that are […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
