Physics - Nikola Tesla's lab is up for sale!

Nikola Tesla, the unsung hero of AC current, private lab is going and the auction block. The Long Island lab called, Wardenclyffe, is being sort after by Matthew Inman. Inman is a popular internet cartoonist and runs the blog "The Oatmeal". You can read the story: here  The iconic image above is a double exposure. The Tesla coil was photographer in operation first then turned off. The man, not Nikola Tesla, was place in the scene for the next exposure.

Who was Nikola Tesla? I'm glad you asked! Read the Comic: Here

Meteorolgy and Environmental Science: The Little Ice Age

An excerpt form Wikipedia:

"The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period (Medieval Climate Optimum). While not a true ice age, the term was introduced into the scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. It is conventionally defined as a period extending from the 16th to the 19th centuries, though climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of this period, which varied according to local conditions. NASA defines the term as a cold period between 1550 AD and 1850 AD and notes three particularly cold intervals: one beginning about 1650, another about 1770, and the last in 1850, each separated by intervals of slight warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes areas affected by the LIA:

"Evidence from mountain glaciers does suggest increased glaciation in a number of widely spread regions outside Europe prior to the 20th century, including Alaska, New Zealand and Patagonia. However, the timing of maximum glacial advances in these regions differs considerably, suggesting that they may represent largely independent regional climate changes, not a globally-synchronous increased glaciation. Thus current evidence does not support globally synchronous periods of anomalous cold or warmth over this time frame, and the conventional terms of "Little Ice Age" and "Medieval Warm Period" appear to have limited utility in describing trends in hemispheric or global mean temperature changes in past centuries... [Viewed] hemispherically, the "Little Ice Age" can only be considered as a modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere during this period of less than 1°C relative to late 20th century levels."


New Evidence suggest the Little Ice Age was cause be four separate volcanic eruptions during the 13th century between 1275 AD and 1300 AD.

Read the stories here:

Little Ice Age triggered by volcanic eruptions

Four huge volcanic eruptions are to blame for the 'Little Ice Age' that cooled Earth up until the late 19th century

Meteorology: Atmosphere

High Student succeed in putting a "Lego Man" into the stratoshpere, an amazing 15 miles above the surface of the earth.

Read the articles.

Watch the video.

Teens send Lego man into near space

Lego man launched into space by 2 Toronto teens

Astronomy - Video from Space

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space | Fly Over | Nasa, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Environmental Science : Green Living

Engineering: 3D Printing

I really want one of these! If you can design it in a CAD program you can print it. 3D printer use a type of fast curing plastic, but imagine what you can build if you could if you used a metal alloy.

Environmental Science: Malaria

New breakthrough could finally control the Malaria parasite. You can listen to the NPR story here.

Environmental Sciecne: The Solar Economy

Solar panel maker Solyndra files for bankruptcy.

While this may seem like bad news for the Solar Power industry, it's really a coming of age. Solar power is starting to respond to real world economics. For years, solar panel were seen as to expensive to have, but that is not true any more. Market forces and new technologies have brought the prices down.

You can read about what really brought Solyndra down here: What went wrong at Solyndra?

Physics and Physical Science: LHC and the Higgs Boson

Years after being predicted, scientist are still looking for the Higgs boson. Sometimes call the "God Particle", the Higgs Boson is thought to be the elementary particle that gives the property of mass to most of the other know particles in the universe. So far scientist have been unsuccessful in finding the Higgs boson and they are running out of places to look.

Read more here: BBC News: Higgs boson range narrows at European collider

Looks like we may need something bigger than the LHC - Large Hadron Collider

Source Space.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

Environmental Science - Toxicology and Plastic

It has been long know that plastics made with a chemical call BPA (Bisphenol A) can have that chemical leach out of the plastic over time. This particular chemical can be recognized by the human body as something similar to the hormone Estrogen. Now a recent study show that even plastics made without BPA run a risk of leaching out chemicals that are similar to the human hormone Estrogen as well.

You may read and listen to the NPR story here: Study: Most Plastics Leach Hormone-Like Chemicals

Environmental Science: Iowa Flooding and Wetland

Iowa's Rising Flood Risk: Blame Corn and Soybeans?
01/26/11 filed by Kate Wells
With Iowa experiencing heavier rainstorms and rising rivers each year, scientists say it's only a matter of time before the state is hit by yet another major flood. Communities are still recovering from previous disasters, like the ones that befell Cedar Rapids in 2008 and central Iowa in 2010. Environmentalists are trying to lower that risk by conserving land to slow run-off. But as market demand for corn and soybeans increases, there's little hope that conservation will win the battle for Iowa's acres. Iowa Public Radio's Kate Wells reports.

You can download and listen to the whole story here: 3 mins 45 sec Audio Clip

Environmental Science: A tale of two Seeds

Genetic Modified Sugar Beets vs Organics Swiss Chard

farmers in Oregon are struggling with growing organic crops near geneticly engineered sugar beets. The sugar beet are modified with the same gene that resist Roundup herbicide. The organic Swiss Chard is grown to produce seeds that sells to growers that want organically pure produce. The problem cross pollenation.

The chard and the beets are actually the same species. They're all Beta vulgaris, the way black Labradors and golden retrievers are all dogs. So anyone growing these plants for seed has a special concern: windblown pollen.

You can read more of the story here: A Tale of Two Seed Farmers: Organic vs Engineered

You also listen to the audio story as well by following the above link to NPR: All Things Consider.

Computer Science: Cyber Warfare

Putting the pieces together just so you can lose sleep tonight.

Imagine if an Enemy of the United States had the ability to alter, stop, or read the flow of information between two sites: Say between a soldier in the field and his base. This would make a great basis for a technothiller or the stuff of nightmares for the Pentagon.

Guess What!

Report sounds alarm on China's rerouting of U.S. Internet traffic


Or add on this piece...

What if you could track U.S. troops by the GPS in their smartphone or by using Facebook?

Apps that answer Miltary's needs

Hey! Why don't we just put our soldiers in Bozo the Clown outfits. I'm sure that would make them easier to find.

Environment Science: Coal Mining Accident

This is the cost for our electricity.

7 dead, 19 missing in W.Va. coal mine blast

Physics: Touchpad Tracking and Capacitance

How does a touchpad work? If touchpads come from just a few manufacturer, why does their performance varies widely in products such as phones and PDA. Here is a great article answering those question.

Finger Fail: Why Most Touchscreen Miss the Point

Geology/Environment Sci: Earthquake in Haiti

On Tuesday Haiti was struck by 7.0 magnitude earthquake. People are still being rescued from the rumble as aid workers from all over the world pour in to help the victims.

Satellite Image of Port-Au-Prince,Haiti

The image shows the aftermath of a 7.0-magnitude quake, Haiti's worst in two centuries, which struck at 1653 local time (2153 GMT) on Tuesday, just 15km (10 miles) south-west of Port-au-Prince.

Environmental Science: Texting and Driving

We spent yesterday talking about risk and probability in Science. More people die on US highways each year, than the total number US soldiers killed in the middle east in the past 8 years.

What's the risk when driving and texting at the same time.

Environmental Science: High Court Case Tests Power Plants' Water Rules

The U.S. Supreme Court hears an important environmental case Tuesday, testing whether utilities must use the best technology available to minimize harm to the nation's waterways. At issue is the physical impact on fish and the financial impact on companies.

Listen to the NPR Story

Environmental Science: Mountaintop Mining

"The Environmental Protection agency approved Tuesday new rules that make it easier for mining companies to dump waste near rivers and streams. Environmentalists argue that dumping the rubble fouls the waters, kills fish and causes flooding in nearby communities." Listen to this story involving the Bush Administration, Mining and the Clear Water Act. Here is the NPR story.