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Feed SubscriptionIs Seawater a Last Resort to Cooling Japan’s Nuclear Reactors?
As the situation at Japan's 40-year-old Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant goes from bad to worse--four of the plant's six boiling water reactors have been damaged by explosions or fire and radiation has begun leaking into the atmosphere--officials there continue to pump the reactors with seawater in an attempt to cool down fuel rods and avoid a complete meltdown that could release radioactive fallout across much of country.
Read More »Evidence: Europeans Controlled Fire Much Later Than Thought
Imagine life without fire. A lot of huddling for warmth
Read More »Ski Wax Chemicals Can Build Up in Blood
BERKELEY, Calif. –A storm has dropped a big snow on Lake Tahoe resorts, and there’s a flurry of activity at the California Ski Company as hordes of skiers and snowboarders prepare to hit the slopes.
Read More »Can Mexico Lead the Way in Proving Carbon Cuts?
Mexico has begun a program to make its climate actions more transparent, a move it hopes will raise its credibility in the international community. If the plan works, it will prove a useful case for developing countries that know they need bulletproof data to draw respect, and cash, in global climate talks. [More]
Read More »Mirror Images: Twins and identity
Whenever someone finds out I'm an identical twin, one question is always asked. "So, who's older?" [More]
Read More »Averting a "Japan syndrome": Reactor expert says Japan’s woes shouldn’t stop a nuclear renaissance
Less than a year ago I was opposed to nuclear energy for reasons that I explained in this post . Nuclear power, I believed, was just too risky. Then I got an e-mail from Rod Adams, a former U.S
Read More »What Happens During a Nuclear Meltdown?
How does a nuclear reactor work? Most nuclear reactors, including those at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi generating station, are essentially high-tech kettles that efficiently boil water to produce electricity. They rely on harnessing nuclear fission--the splitting of an atom into two smaller atoms, which also yields heat and sends neutrons flying.
Read More »Frog briefly gets a leg up on entertainment industry
Mr. Jacob Stauffer, a naturalist from Lancaster, PA, sent in this drawing of a five legged frog that was captured in Conestoga, PA (near Lancaster). The extra leg seemed to be a fusion of two hind legs rather than a full-grown independent limb
Read More »Drowning Out Doubt
People preaching their point of view seem awfully sure of themselves. [More]
Read More »Uninformed Consent: Tech Solutions for Faulty Permissions in Health Care
Much of what happens to you in the hospital in the name of diagnosing and healing is invasive. Depending on what ails you, a doctor may need to ream out an artery to get more blood to your heart, or flood your body with a poison to kill cancerous cells, or saw through the bones of your leg to replace a crumbling hip or a worn-out knee
Read More »Houseplants Make You Smarter
You are probably aware that eating plants is good for you. However, what you may not know is that plants can provide benefits even if your taste buds run for cover at the first mention of spinach. New research is beginning to show that just having plants in your workspace may improve how you think.
Read More »The worst nuclear plant accident in history: Live from Chernobyl
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine--The face-mask and three radiation monitors I'm wearing here are grim reminders that I'm at the site of the worst nuclear accident in history. On April 26, 1986, 1:23:44 a.m. local time, explosions destroyed reactor No.
Read More »Partial Meltdowns Led to Hydrogen Explosions at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
Just after 6 AM local time on Tuesday in Japan, a sound like an explosion was heard near the suppression pool of reactor No. 2 at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. This followed an explosion March 11 that ripped the roof off reactor No
Read More »Fast Facts about the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
Why was Japan's March 11 earthquake so big? One answer is the large size of the fault rupture as well as the speed at which the Pacific Plate is continuously thrusting beneath Japan, U.S. Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) scientist Tom Brocher told KQED News.
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