Depleted Uranium

The military use of depleted uranium (Uranium is a naturally occurring heavy metal which is poisonous and weakly radioactive. Natural uranium is a mixture of three different forms of the chemical element) has generated considerable public controversy. DU is a chemically toxic and weakly radioactive substance. Its use on a battlefield can lead to it being spread over a wide area, and many have claimed that this has adverse health effects for those on the battlefield and those living or returning to live in an area where DU munitions have been deployed. In response to these concerns, the Royal Society convened an independent expert working group in 2000 to review the present state of scientific knowledge on the subject. The working group published reports in 2001 and 2002.

I think that this is bad because if the army or military keep on using it will get hurt and then because of that we could have a little crises in our hands.

Source: http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/

Genetics and health

It is hoped that advances in the field of genetics will help us understand how our genetic make up relates to the cause of human disease. In recent years the Society has been involved in a range of activities examining the role of genetics and human health, including public meetings and a national dialogue event. In 2005 the Society issued a report on pharmacogenetics, or personalised medicines, which is the study of how people's genetic makeup affects their responses to drugs. The study concluded that whilst they have a promising future but it will be another 15-20 years before their use is widespread because of the many gaps in our understanding of how genetics relates to the causes of disease.

It would be cool if we know how disease occurs from genetic stuff. I think if we find out how to do that then we will be able to save lifes.

Source: http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/

Nanotech: The Tiny Science Is Big, and Getting Bigger

After decades of hype, speculation, and multimillion-dollar laboratory research, the long-promised nanotechnology revolution is finally coming to a store near you. For proof, check out the transparent sunscreens, spillproof pants, and tennis rackets with extra pop now on sale. Nanotechnology gets its name from the nanometer, a unit of measurement that is one billionth of a meter. A human hair is about 20,000 nanometers thick. Scientists say materials and devices manufactured at the nanoscale promise to change life as we know it. "I'd say [nanotechnology] has the potential to be truly revolutionary," said Gregory Rorrer, a chemical engineer at Oregon State University in Corvallis. "That's why there's so much interest in it right now." Rorrer has a grant with the National Science Foundation of 1.3 million U.S. dollars. The grant is a small piece of the billions of dollars the United States government is funneling into research and development to spur the nanotechnology revolution.

I think this is amazing because then you can have really small mp3's or cellphones or even stuff like computers (which we kind of have already; imate) so i think this is going to be much much better.

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

Dolphin With Four Fins May Prove Terrestrial Origins

Japanese fishers have found an unusual bottlenose dolphin with an extra set of fins that could be an evolutionary throwback to the time when the marine mammals' ancient ancestors walked on land. The dolphin was captured alive off the southwestern coast of Japan on October 28. It was then shipped to the nearby Taiji Whaling Museum for study. "This is an unprecedented discovery, I believe the fins may be remains from a time when dolphins' ancient ancestors lived on land" says Seiji Osumi of Tokyo's Institute of Cetacean Research said in a weekend press conference. Scott Baker, associate director of the marine mammal program at Oregon State University in Corvallis, agreed, saying that "this certainly is direct evidence of evolution."

I think that its cool how water animals evolved from and. I also think that if the water animals or dolphins evolved from land then mabye before the stone age they were still there and the "cavemen" saw them.

In the picture Japanese fishers found a bottlenose dolphin with four fins instead of two. The extra hind fins (inset) are about the size of human hands and could be proof that the marine mammals first evolved from land animals.

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

Seafood May Be Gone by 2048, Study Says

According to the study, 29 percent of the seafood species humans consume have already crashed. If the long-term trend continues, in 30 years there will be little or no seafood available. The increasing pace of diversity loss, imperils the "ecosystems services" that many human populations depend on for survival. The research also found that biodiversity loss is tightly linked to less water quality, ocean dead zones, fish kills, and coastal flooding.

I think that this is bad because first we survive from coastel floods because of the fish and in the next 30 years I won't get any juicy fish.

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com

Hubble Repair Mission Approved by NASA

NASA announced today that the U.S. space agency has found a way to safely service the aging telescope, which is famous for capturing spectacular images of the universe"We are going to add a service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope to the shuttle's manifest to be flown before [the space shuttle] retires," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said at an agency-wide meeting at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The mission, likely to come in the spring of 2008, will also allow astronauts to upgrade the "eye in the sky" with new camera equipment.

I think that it is good that NASA is repairing the hubble telescope because mabye if they didn't the hubble telescope parts could fall on the world or the whole thing could, and the other reason is that its made lots of good dicoveries so we should keep it for pride and honor.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

"Cooler" Mice Live Longer, Study Finds

The newfangled mice are only slightly cooler than normal just 0.5 to 0.9 degree Fahrenheit (0.3 to 0.5 degree Celsius), an effect that occurs only during waking hours.But the temperature drop significantly increases the rodents' life spans, scientists say. They altered the male mice whic can now live 12 percent longer on average, while females can now live 20 percent longer than regular mice. To create the "cool mice," scientists used genetic engineering to fool the rodents' central thermostat, which is found in the hypothalamus region of the brain. By targeting a specific protein, the scientists caused a small cluster of neurons to heat up, duping the nearby thermostat to turn down the rodents' body heat. Despite lower body temperatures, the mice appear to be as physically active as, and eat the same amount of food as, normal mice.

Now I think this is cool because if the escientists could transfer this to the human brain then we could live 12 percent longer then our normal 70-80 years.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

Global Cooling Chilled Super-Hot Oceans of Early Earth, Study Finds

Now, new geoloical data has comfirmed that complex life came after a period of global cooling which lasted over three billion years. Evidence proves that the world's oceans were once steamy cauldrons which came from the distribution of the element silicon in ancient rocks known as cherts. François Robert and Marc Chaussidon report that cherts formed from ocean sediments provide a kind of "paleothermometer" for seas during the Precambrian era. The Precambrian era is the vast stretch of time between Earth's formation more than 4.5 billion years ago and the rise of multicellular organisms about 600 million years ago.

I think that its pretty cool how at first the oceans were like boiling water or like a cauldron. Its also cool because thats how I think there were many detailed creatures on the earth and I also think its amazing how it took 3 billion years to cool all the oceans or mabye in those days ocean.

The picture is a cross-section of a chert sample from China, dated at 1.4 billion years old, shows the structures of silica at a microscopic scale. A new study of the silicon found in chert determined that a period of global cooling chilled the oceans of ancient Earth from temperatures as high as 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius) 3.5 billion years ago to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) about 600 million years ago.

Source: http://www.news.nationalgeographic.com/

Element 118 Created

A team of Russian and American phycist say that they have created 3 atoms of a new Element. This yet to be named element is the heaviest yet, it has a nucleus of 118 protons and 176. Now to create the three atoms of element 118, the scientists took two whole months bombarding the californium with three billion billion ions.

I thought that this idea of creating 3 mere atoms wasn't so good because the scientists took 2 months. I also thought that it is a waste of money because three billion billion ions probably costs alot.

Source: http://www.news.nationalgeographic.com/

About This Blog

Welcome to my blog, this blog is about science or new things that man ar nature have done. I hope that you have a good time reading this blog and I hope that you leave lots and lots of helpful comments.