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Mad Science: Aerosol Spray Gets You Drunk in Seconds

A French American scientist has invented a new alcohol spray that instantly intoxicates the user. However, the effects are nearly as brief, wearing off in a matter of moments.
The spray, WA|HH Quantum Sensations, was created by David Edwards and was unveiled during a recent Paris exhibition.
The short-term effects are reportedly due to the 0.075 millileter dosage. In other words, it would take 1,000 sprays to equal the level of alcohol contained in one conventional drink.

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Interesting Study Links Air Pollution to Obesity

“Bad air may contribute to cases of obesity for some inner-city residents of New York City.

 Researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health studied more than 700 pregnant women and found those exposed to higher concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were more than twice as likely to have obese children by age seven compared with women with lower levels of exposure.”

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Study Links Brain Abnormalities to Dow Chemical Pesticide

“A pesticide used on farms and golf courses has been linked to brain abnormalities in babies, according to a group of researchers.

The chemical chlorpyrifos, found in Dow Chemical’s pesticide Dursban, can impact the development of the cortex, which helps govern intelligence, personality, muscle movement and other brain functions….”

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The Trust Molecule

Why are some of us caring and some of us cruel, some generous and some greedy? Paul J. Zak on the new science of morality— and how it could be used to create a more virtuous society.

Read it here.

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The Structure of Scientific Revolutions: Shift Happens

Scientific revolutions, according to SSR, don’t occur when an apple happens to find the head of a genius, or when enough facts have slowly painted a new picture. Rather, in yet another of Kuhn’s inversions, new paradigms emerge to explain the accumulation of anomalies: findings that do not make sense within the current paradigm. For example, if your paradigm tells you that fire consists of the release of phlogiston embedded in flammable materials, then the fact that some metals gain weight when burned is an anomaly. When a new paradigm is conceived that makes sense of the anomalies, science is in for a revolutionary shift.

In short, SSR did a gestalt flip on just about every assumption about the who, how, and what of scientific progress.

 

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Startling, Groundbreaking New Research: Evidence of Nearby Supernovae Affecting Life on Earth

Nigel Calder

Today the Royal Astronomical Society in London publishes (online) Henrik Svensmark’s latest paper entitled “Evidence of nearby supernovae affecting life on Earth”. After years of effort Svensmark shows how the variable frequency of stellar explosions not far from our planet has ruled over the changing fortunes of living things throughout the past half billion years. Appearing in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, It’s a giant of a paper, with 22 figures, 30 equations and about 15,000 words. See the RAS press release athttp://www.ras.org.uk/news-and-press/219-news-2012/2117-did-exploding-stars-help-life-on-earth-to-thrive

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Asteroid Venture Is About Politics, Not Just Mining

By AMIR EFRATI

The riddle of the space asteroid start-up has been solved.

On Tuesday, Planetary Resources Inc., a company whose goals have been shrouded in secrecy, will outline a plan to convince governments that the technology exists to snare an asteroid and pursue space mining in the near future.

The company hopes to pressure the U.S. and other governments to lasso an asteroid and put it into a lunar orbit, setting up a competition to have private space companies do the mining, said John S. Lewis, a University of Arizona planetary-science professor who said he is an adviser to Planetary.

The approach faces budget and political challenges, both in the U.S. and overseas. National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been pulling back from unmanned missions amid budget cuts by Congress. Money from any government for such an ambitious robotic proposal that is rife with technical questions and uncertainties is likely to be difficult.

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The Feds and Scientists Argue Over the Severity of Solar Flares and Their Ramifications on society

Source

“WASHINGTON – As scientists warn of an impending solar storm between now and 2014 that could collapse the national power grid, thrusting millions into darkness instantly, a debate has flared up between utilities and the federal government on the severity of such an event.

NASA and the National Academy of Sciences previously confirmed to G2Bulletin that an electromagnetic pulse event from an intense solar storm could occur any time between now and 2014.

They say it could have the effect of frying electronics and knocking out transformers in the national electric grid system.

Already, there are separate published reports of massive solar storms of plasma – some as large as the Earth itself – flaring off of the sun’s surface and shooting out into space, with some recently having come close enough to Earth to affect worldwide communications and alter the flights of commercial aircraft near the North Pole.

But in February, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which represents the power industry, issued a stunning report asserting that a worst-case geomagnetic “super storm” like the 1859 Carrington Event likely wouldn’t damage most power grid transformers. Instead, it would cause voltage instability and possibly result in blackouts lasting only a few hours or days, but not months and years.

NERC’s assertion, however, is at serious variance with the 2008 congressional EMP Commission, the 2008 National Academy of Sciences report; a 2010 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission report; the 2012 report by the Defense Committee of the British Parliament, and others.

Even the British scientists who contributed to the parliament report came to their own independent assessment that a great geomagnetic storm would cause widespread damage to power grid transformers and result in a protracted blackout lasting months, or even years, with catastrophic consequences for society.

Despite NERC’s assertion that there wouldn’t be widespread damage to the nation’s power grid transformers in the event of an intense solar storm, the FERC, which regulates interstate electricity and other energy sales but has no authority now over local utilities to harden their grid sites, says that as many as 130 million Americans could have problems for years.

NERC asserts that any blackout would last hours or days, at most.

“The FERC report relied on a four-part quantitative model of geomagnetic disturbance effects on the U.S. power grid to develop conclusions and recommendations, while the NERC report relied on meetings of industry employees in lieu of data collection or event investigation,” according to Peter Vincent Pry, who heads the congressional quasi-legislative Task Force on National and Homeland Security. Pry also was staff director to the EMP Commission.

Pry said that the Task Force had issued its own report comparing the scientific methodology used in the industry-sponsored NERC report with that used in 2010 FERC report.

He pointed out that the NERC report was the product of a so-called Geomagnetic Disturbance Task Force with membership consisting only of representatives from electricity generation and transmission companies….”

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Have Fun With Your Garden This Summer You Fucking Dumb Ass

It is very shallow for an ‘icon / role model’  to say “leave your politics at the door when it comes to investing.”

Politics is everything and your behavior should follow your beliefs. Otherwise, your word is not your bond and no matter how famous or rich you become; you end up being a big fat zero leaving no real positive impression on humanity.

It is one thing to make mistakes, but it is entirely another to ignore them.

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