A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
Read moreThe Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) has already been under study for about two years. It is envisaged as a relatively low-cost endeavour – in the low $400m range.
It could launch in January 2016, and make some flybys of Earth and Jupiter to pick up the gravitational energy it would need to head straight at the Saturnian moon for a splash down in June 2023.
The scientists have a couple of seas in mind for their off-world maritime research vessel. Ligeia Mare and Kraken Mare are both about 500km across.
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Pictures will be essential, though. The Huygens lander sent back a vista of orange pebbles – one of the most iconic images in Solar System exploration history. A view from the surface of a methane lake, looking towards the shore would be just as amazing.
Read more“We know how to cook without smoke,” said Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a University of California, San Diego climatographer. “A clean stove costs $30 (£18). Multiply that by 500 million households, and it’s only $15 billion. This is a solvable problem.”
Clean stoves use the same fuel, but burn it more efficiently, reducing fuel consumption and the amount of smoke produced. After floating to the atmosphere, black carbon from smoke mixes with dust to form a solar heat-absorbing particulate layer. Raindrops form around the particles, trapping even more heat. Soot deposited by the rain heats up, too.
The climate dynamics of the black carbon process have been fully described only in the last decade, but scientists now say their short-term impact sometimes rivals that of carbon dioxide. As much as one-half of the 3.4 degree Fahrenheit rise in Arctic temperatures since 1890 is attributed to black carbon. By disrupting weather patterns, it may be responsible for weakening seasonal rains in South Asia and West Africa. And black carbon is also a major reason why Himalayan glaciers, which provide water to hundreds of millions of people, are vanishing.
Unlike carbon dioxide, however, which can hang in the atmosphere for centuries, black carbon returns to Earth in less than a month. And that makes it a ripe target for immediate action. Though Ramanathan is quick to warn that eliminating black carbon is no substitute for controlling carbon dioxide emissions, which in coming centuries could have a far greater effect, he estimates that a 50% reduction in black carbon could delay the onset of severe global warming by one to two decades.
Read more“A movie I saw said selling kidneys is a quick way to get loads of cash. I want to sell mine so I can buy a new house and pay my school fees,” said the eldest of four siblings.
Read more“The international community is beginning to define the infrastructure that will be used on the moon and elsewhere for the next 20 to 30 years. Decisions taken in the coming few years will thus affect the role that the UK does or does not play in this initiative for years to come.”
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The country spends about £270m a year on space, most of which is paid to the European Space Agency. Earlier this year, ESA announced the first Briton to join its astronaut corps, Major Timothy Peake, a former army helicopter pilot.
Read moreThe researchers, who built their work on previous studies of information consumption, found that Americans take in data through various channels, including the television, radio, the Web, text messages and video games. Most of this time is spent in front of screens watching TV-related content, averaging nearly five hours of daily consumption.
Second is radio, which the average American listens to for about 2.2 hours a day. The computer comes in third, at just under two hours a day. Video games take up about an hour, and reading takes up 36 minutes.
Most of these experiences happen simultaneously, like talking on the phone while checking e-mail, or instant messaging while watching TV.
Read moreCause it’s gonna be the future soon
And I won’t always be this way
When the things that make me weak and strange get engineered away
Read moreA child is like a poison missile you aim at the Future. You encourage, fund and resource their dreams to the fullest extent of your capability, knowing that your reward will be the pain and misery of generations yet unborn.
Read moreAdrianne Curry, America’s Next Top Model winner, recently announced via Twitter her favorite way to spend a Sunday: playing World of Warcraft “butt naked” and “stoned.”
Read moreconversation turned to the first day, when she and her pals had used a cutting torch on the turnstiles and poured in, wearing homemade costumes and name tags. They infiltrated the shops, the control centers, the rides, first by the hundred, then, as the hot July day ticked by, by the thousand. The shareholders’ lackeys – who worked the Park for the chance to be a part of the magic, even if they had no control over the management decisions – put up a token resistance. Before the day was out, though, the majority had thrown in their lots with the raiders, handing over security codes and pitching in.
The Committee to Nuke Elysium 