Light can twist matter, according to a new study that observed ribbons of nanoparticles twisting in response to light. Scientists knew matter can cause light to bend – prisms and glasses prove this easily enough. But the reverse phenomenon was not shown to occur until recently. The researchers assembled strings of nanoparticles, which are tiny clumps of matter on the scale of nanometers (one nanometer is one billionth of a meter). In a darkened lab, the scientists linked nanoparticles together into ribbons. At first the nano ribbons were flat, but when a light was shone on them, they curled up into spirals. The discovery was so novel, the researchers were skeptical of their own results at first. ‘I didn’t believe it at the beginning,’ said lead researcher Nicholas Kotov, an engineer at the University of Michigan. ‘To be honest, it took us three and a half years to really figure out how photons of light can lead to such a remarkable change in rigid structures a thousand times bigger than molecules.’ The surface of the nanoparticles in this experiment were made of cadmium sulfide. To begin with, they had a slightly negative electromagnetic charge. But […]
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced a ‘major policy revision’ that aims to give bicycling and walking the same policy and economic consideration as driving. ‘Today I want to announce a sea change,’ he wrote on his blog last week. ‘This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of nonmotorized.’ The new policy, which was introduced a few days after Mr. LaHood gave a well-received speech from atop a table at the National Bike Summit, is said to reflect the Transportation Department’s support for the development of fully integrated transportation networks. It calls on state and local governments to go beyond minimum planning and maintenance requirements to provide convenient and safe amenities for bikers and walkers. ‘Walking and biking should not be an afterthought in roadway design,’ the policy states. Transportation agencies are urged to take action on a number of fronts, including the creation of pathways for bike riders and pedestrians on bridges, and providing children with safe biking and walking routes to schools. They are also encouraged to find ways to make such improvements in concert with road maintenance projects and to protect sidewalks and bike lanes in the same […]
REDWAY, Calif. — The smell of pot hung heavy in the air as men with dreadlocks and gray beards contemplated a nightmarish possibility in this legendary region of outlaw marijuana growers: legal weed. If California legalizes marijuana, they say, it will drive down the price of their crop and damage not just their livelihoods but the entire economy along the state’s rugged northern coast. ‘The legalization of marijuana will be the single most devastating economic event in the long boom-and-bust history of Northern California,’ said Anna Hamilton, 62, a Humboldt County radio host and musician who said her involvement with marijuana has mostly been limited to smoking it for the past 40 years. Local residents are so worried that pot farmers came together with officials in Humboldt County for a standing-room-only meeting Tuesday night where civic leaders, activists and growers brainstormed ideas for dealing with the threat. Among the ideas: turning the vast pot gardens of Humboldt County into a destination for marijuana aficionados, with tours and tastings – a sort of Napa Valley of pot. Many were also enthusiastic about promoting the Humboldt brand of pot. Some discussed forming a cooperative that would enforce high […]
This recession has no lack of villains. There are predatory lenders, super scammers like Bernard Madoff, and propped-up CEOs who insist on their multimillion-dollar bonuses while Americans lose their homes and watch their savings plunge. But there is also a group of Americans who have done extraordinarily generous things, even as the economy around them crumbles. Call them recession angels, people who have taken their own money and given it to employees and their communities just as everybody else has been cutting back. Take Grace Groner, who passed away in January at the age of 100. For much of her adult life she lived modestly in a one bedroom home in Lake Forest, Illinois, an affluent Chicago, suburb. Groner’s single indulgence was a scholarship program she created for Lake Forest College,, her alma mater. Years ago, she donated $180,000 for a scholarship program that enables some of the college’s 1,300 students to pursue internships and study-abroad programs. But even college administrators were stunned to find out that upon her death Groner bequeathed her entire estate to the college. The total amount: $7 million. Stephen Schutt, Lake Forest’s president, told the Chicago Tribune that he […]
NEW YORK and LONDON — The bond vigilantes are finally flexing their muscles. A long period of stability for the US government bond market showed signs of cracking this week as a lack of investor appetite for new debt sent the benchmark 10-year yield to its highest level since last June. For more than a year, analysts have been warning that record sized debt sales by the US Treasury were at odds with a 10-year yield sitting comfortably below 4 per cent. This week, the yield on 10-year notes jumped from 3.65 per cent to a peak of 3.92 per cent on Thursday. On Friday it was 3.87 per cent. Chart: TreasuriesFalling inflation, rising unemployment, the housing market slump, the Federal Reserve’s policies of a near zero overnight borrowing rate and its purchase of up to $1,700bn in bonds have all helped keep Treasury yields near historic lows. But this week the mood shifted as yields for $118bn of new US debt were much higher than forecast, sparking overall selling of Treasuries. Sentiment also deteriorated in the UK bond market after the government’s budget ahead of a general election expected in May failed to resolve doubts over […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
