Propeller.com Stories submitted by _kam0_

New evidence about the deep biosphere

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:52:51 EDT

Biogeoscientists show evidence of 90 billion tons of microbial organisms - expressed in terms of carbon mass - living in the deep biosphere, in a research article published online by Nature.

Channel: Science Tags: archaea microbiology biomass biology biogeoscience deep biosphere

Still no cure for cancer hysteria

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:42:31 EDT

The newspapers are so profoundly overrun with pseudoscience about food that there's no point in documenting it any longer. They will continue with their Sisyphean task of dividing all the inanimate objects in the world into the ones that either cause or cure cancer, and I will sit at the sidelines, making that joke over and over again.

Channel: Science Tags: science reporting media food pseudoscience cancer

Solar Systems Like Ours May Be Rare

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:38:25 EDT

As humans look farther into the universe and discover more and more planets beyond the sun, many wonder how typical our own solar system is. Often astronomers in the planet-hunting business say discoveries of Earth-like worlds are just around the corner. But a new study indicates our setup may be rare indeed.

Channel: Science Tags: space solar systems planets astronomy

The Great Global Warming Swindle Swindled Scientists

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:35:52 EDT

A controversial Channel 4 film on global warming broke Ofcom rules, the media regulator says. The Great Global Warming Swindle attracted various complaints, including claims that it misled contributors.

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: TV UK Propeller Eco News science pseudoscience

Hundreds of thousands face job loss in UK, says top economist

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:11:43 EDT

Britain's economy is tipping headlong into a recession that could last more than a year and cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, warns Professor David Blanchflower, a member of the Bank of England's interest rate committee.

Channel: Money Tags: UK Bank of England recession unemployment interest rates monetary policy

Short-sellers bet on stock market crash

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:08:31 EDT

More than $1.4tn of equities worldwide are now on loan, about a third more than at the start of 2007, according to Bloomberg. Almost all of that is being used to speculate that shares will fall. Short selling on the New York Stock Exchange rose to 4.6% of total shares last month, the highest since at least 1931.

Channel: Money Tags: stock market shares recession short selling

Italian sunbathers not distracted by Gypsy girls' corpses on beach

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:01:03 EDT

Questions about the attitude of Italians to their Roma minority were again being asked yesterday after photographs were published of sunbathers continuing as normal with a day at the beach despite the bodies of two Gypsy girls who had drowned being laid out on the sand nearby.

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: Italy Roma Gypsies racism

Today's Al-Aqsa TV has been brought to you by the letter 'A' (for amputation)

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:34:50 EDT

Those gifted storytellers at Hamas television are at it again. The popular Hamas children's television program shows a giant bunny character who steals money and then has the child host sentence him to having his paw cut off. The letter of the day, it appears, is A for amputation.

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: Hamas TV amputation childrens TV Islam Sharia Law

Powers of persuasion

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:29:20 EDT

Saudi Arabia tackles terrorism with a mixture of tough policing and gentle re-education. What? No torture?

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: Saudi Arabia terrorism war on terror rehabilitation

Fuel from food waste: bacteria provide power

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:59:38 EDT

Researchers have combined the efforts of two kinds of bacteria to produce hydrogen in a bioreactor, with the product from one providing food for the other. This technology has an added bonus: leftover enzymes can be used to scavenge precious metals from spent automotive catalysts to help make fuel cells that convert hydrogen into energy.

Channel: Science Tags: bacteria hydrogen fuel cells energy

Can you be born a couch potato?

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:58:24 EDT

The key to good health is to be physically active. The key to being active is- to be born that way?

Channel: Health & Fitness Tags: exercise couch potatos genetics

Give me your tired, your poor...doctoral candidates

_kam0_ — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:50:38 EDT

If you are a PhD student in America, there's a good chance that your undergraduate degree came from Tsinghua University in China. That's because Tsinghua and Peking Universities are now the top feeder schools for American PhD programmes.

Channel: Science Tags: education China research PhD universities

China's war on nature

_kam0_ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:00:12 EDT

Just as Americans have waged their War on Terror since 9/11, it seems the Chinese are now embroiled in a War on Nature. To grasp what is at stake in this strange war, it pays to travel away from the capital. The economic front line now lies in western China, in frenetically growing industrial centres such as Chongqing.

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: China environment Propeller Eco News

Responding to Al Gore's Clean Energy Challenge

_kam0_ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:22:48 EDT

Al Gore has put forward an energy challenge, which has very few details. The challenge is for the United States to get to zero carbon electricity generation within 10 years.

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: Al Gore Propeller Eco News energy environment clean energy carbon footprint politics

$3b super soldier program: 10 times muscle endurance, 7 foot vertical leap, wall crawling...

_kam0_ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:20:56 EDT

DARPA today has a long-term, $3 billion program to help make such a "Metabolically Dominant Soldier." In other words, the military is studying how to use technology and biology to meld man and machine and transcend the limits of the human body.

Channel: Gadgets & Tech Tags: military super soldiers bionics health biotechnology

The quark-gluon plasma, turbulence, and quantum mechanics

_kam0_ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:17:45 EDT

Quark-gluon plasmas formed in heavy ion collisions at high energies are well described by ideal classical fluid equations with nearly zero viscosity. It is believed that a similar fluid permeated the entire universe at about 3Âµs after the big bang. Quantum mechanics may be an emergent property of a turbulent proto-fluid.

Channel: Science Tags: quantum mechanics fluid mechanics quarks quark gluon plasma zero viscosity fluid

Is Soros taking his biggest gamble ever?

_kam0_ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:56:43 EDT

The gathering storm over London's financial markets hardly needed a pessimistic intervention from George Soros. The billionaire speculator weighed into the gloom this week with a prophecy that Britain and the United States were heading for recession. It was, he said, "the most serious financial crisis of our lifetime".

Channel: Money Tags: Soros recession UK USA economy credit crisis Prophet of Doom Profit of Doom short selling

The Helmet That Reverses Dementia

_kam0_ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:52:56 EDT

Pioneering research at the University of Sunderland has shown that regular exposure to safe low level infra-red light can improve learning performance and kick-start the cognitive function of the brain.

Channel: Health & Fitness Tags: dementia infra red light brain neurology

How the Middle East wastes its oil wealth

_kam0_ — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:51:58 EDT

You might think that $140 per barrel oil would be good for at least one part of the world, the Middle East. It's too soon to tell for certain, but the region may well turn out to be the part of the world that suffers the most.

Channel: Money Tags: Middle East oil wealth economy

SEC wants to stop Short-Selling of financial stocks

_kam0_ — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:51:18 EDT

The Securities and Exchange Commission took unprecedented action against short sellers on Tuesday, acting on a widespread concern that negative bets against bank and brokerage stocks might be exacerbating the financial sector's woes.

Channel: Money Tags: short selling investment hedge funds SEC history

Bin Laden's Dissidents: Turning their Backs on Jihad

_kam0_ — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:48:26 EDT

More and more prominent terrorists are defecting from the cause. The Egyptian theologian Dr. Fadl is the best known, but many others are likewise reconsidering. Experts see it as a delayed reaction to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: terrorism Jihad Islam

To Trust or Not to Trust: Ask Oxytocin

_kam0_ — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:33:46 EDT

People who have been betrayed in the past will sometimes start avoiding future social interactions, which is a potential precursor to social phobia. In light of these connections, recent research has attempted to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying trust behavior.

Channel: Science Tags: psychology neurology trust relationships

First al-Bashir, next ... Bush?

_kam0_ — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:32:00 EDT

While there is little chance Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, will ever be brought to trial following his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the charges brought against him nevertheless offer hope for anyone concerned about human rights around the world. The indictment could just as easily be applied to George Bush.

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: Sudan Bashir Bush war war crimes

Charlie Brooker on 9/11 and conspiracy theorists

_kam0_ — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:20:46 EDT

"I've got a theory - an untested, unprovable theory - that the more interesting your life is at any given point, the less lurid and spectacular your dreams will be. Think of it as a balancing procedure carried out by the brain to stop you getting bored to death."

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: 911 truthers tin foil hats conspiracy theories psychology

Zimbabwe inflation soars to 2.2m%

_kam0_ — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:56:18 EDT

The official inflation rate takes into account goods subject to official price controls, which are almost impossible to obtain. Economists estimate that the real annual inflation rate for last month was around 9m%, which could rise to about 20m% in July.

Channel: Money Tags: Zimbabwe inflation hyperinflation mega hyperinflation

A Modest Proposal for Ending Socialized Capitalism

_kam0_ — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:42:21 EDT

Socialized capitalism of the sort the Fed and the Treasury are now practicing, consisting of private gains and public losses, is untenable. On the other hand, it's also true that giant Wall Street investments banks as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are too big to fail. How to reconcile these conflicting principles?

Channel: Money Tags: credit crisis banks Fannie Mae Freddie Mac Federal Reserve

Hezbollah and Israel swap corpses on Lebanon border

_kam0_ — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:56:09 EDT

Many Israelis see it as a painful necessity, two years after the soldiers' capture sparked a 34-day war with Hezbollah that killed about 1,200 people in Lebanon and 159 Israelis.

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: Hezbollah Lebanon Israel hostages

Armed and Dangerous? - Why buying a gun is not a suicidal act

_kam0_ — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:51:44 EDT

Americans often buy guns for self-defense, a purpose that now has Supreme Court validation. But according to advocates of gun control, those purchasers overlook the people who pose the greatest threat: themselves. Anyone who acquires a firearm, we are told, is inviting a bloody death by suicide.

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: guns gun control Constitution USA

The Truth About Torture

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:35:06 EDT

Dark deeds have been conducted in the name of the United States government in recent years: the gruesome, late-night circus at Abu Ghraib, the beating to death of captives in Afghanistan, and the officially sanctioned waterboarding of high-value Qaeda prisoners. Now demands are growing for senior administration officials to be held accountable and

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: torture war on terror Abu Ghraib

The web is the most conservative force on Earth

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:32:32 EDT

Digital technology has made us a society of mass archivers, says Charles Leadbeater. Far from rotting our brains, the web enables us to preserve all our memories.

Channel: Gadgets & Tech Tags: Internet archives social networking The Cloud

Database of every phone call and email 'a step too far'

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:51:50 EDT

The information commissioner today expressed concern at a proposed government database recording the entire country's telephone and internet use, calling it "a step too far for the British way of life".

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: privacy communication Internet email UK

great news, Bush Says He's Prepared to Reassure Markets, that'll fix everything then

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:50:51 EDT

Seeking to restore confidence in the nation's ailing economy and financial sector, President George Bush acknowledged Tuesday it is a "tough time" for many Americans, but said his administration was prepared to do whatever is necessary to reassure the markets.

Channel: Money Tags: Bush economy recession credit crisis

The "Please Don't Vote for a Democrat" Billboards featuring The Twin Towers

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:42:44 EDT

There are three billboards across Orlando that all contain the same controversial image. Each shows the Twin Towers burning and read 'Please Don't Vote for a Democrat'. At a time when people are trying to forget the Twin Towers on fire, the billboards attempt to remind us of the War on Terrorism.

Channel: Politics Tags: war on terror 911 advertising

What It's Like To Watch FOX News For 24 Straight Hours

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:39:38 EDT

"Because I am a decent, thinking person, I despise FOX News. I believe I have good reason to do this. And yet, because I'm a bleeding-heart liberal who likes to have the facts before spewing prejudices, I feel duty-bound to give FOX a chance. So I'm going to watch 24 straight hours of FOX."

Channel: Television Tags: media Fox News politics lies

McCain's tax cuts will not spur economic growth

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:04:21 EDT

The Bush years prove that John McCain's plan to cut taxes on the wealthy won't promote economic growth.

Channel: Politics Tags: McCain Bush tax money economy

The Great Depression of 2008

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:29:01 EDT

Until last week, most economists were divided on whether the U.S. was in a recession or not. Now, with the ailing mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on the ropes, it's clear that what's unfolding is far worse than any recession.

Channel: Money Tags: recession economy Great Depression credit crisis

Bush Gave Taliban $43 Million Four Months before 9/11

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:25:30 EDT

As Barack Obama begins the effort of turning America's attention toward the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan--and as American soldiers die at the hands of Taliban militants in numbers never before seen--it's worth drawing everyone's attention to a piece in The Nation originally published May 15, 2001.

Channel: Do No Evil Tags: Bush war Afghanistan Taliban 911

UK Inflation reaches a record high

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:24:35 EDT

Bank of England policymakers have been dealt a fresh blow after surging food and petrol prices pushed inflation to a new record during June. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) jumped to 3.8% last month from 3.3% - higher than expected by City economists and almost double the Bank's 2% target - according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Channel: Money Tags: UK inflation economy recession stagflation

Why Batman Could Exist - But Not for Long

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:42:08 EDT

Batman is the most down-to-earth of all the superheroes. He has no special powers from being born on a distant world or bitten by a radioactive spider. All that protects him from the Joker and other Gotham City villains are his wits and a physique shaped by years of training combined with the vast fortune.

Channel: Health & Fitness Tags: martial arts athleticism Olympics superhero

Dyeing to Boost Solar Efficiency by 50%

_kam0_ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:01:31 EDT

MIT has perfected a dye technology that could change the solar world as we know it. The most efficient form of solar technology today is (arguably) extreme concentrated photovoltaics, essentially solar panels placed under a magnifying glass. But the problem with these systems is heat.

Channel: Gadgets & Tech Tags: energy alternative energy solar power solar cells