Whether they are weighing train cars, big rigs or vegetables in your local grocery, scales are the engines that drive global commerce. Without them, there could be no trade, and laboratories and pharmaceutical companies would have to dream up other ways to assay, mete and dose. Yet most of us are oblivious to the physical laws and clever engineering that go into these pivotal devices. It’s time to weigh in on…
Tragic events like the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting inspire horror and indignation. They also boost gun sales and energize campaigns demanding more comprehensive (or better-enforced) gun control. But as of this writing, the likelihood of legal reform following the events in Newtown, Conn., remains unclear.
In the U.S., the gun control debate involves deep-seated beliefs concerning constitutional law, individual rights, the proper role of the state and how to build the best and safest society. But it also encompasses an important practical question:
Do Countries with Stricter Gun Laws Experience Less Crime or Fewer Homicides?
Petroleum use is rife with environmental and security issues, and first-generation biofuels fall well short of carbon neutrality. Moreover, as global food crops literally lose ground to biofuel production, mounting scarcity is driving up food prices, increasing global hunger and political instability.
But what if we could have our rice and burn it, too? What if we could derive energy from crops without killing them, or generate power using plants and land not needed for food, all through the power of microbes?
Accepting a transplant of someone else’s stool might sound extreme, but it might just be the next big thing in medicine, thanks in part to a potentially deadly stomach bug called Clostridium difficile.
C. diff, an emerging epidemic in hospitals and nursing homes that tears through the gut like Sherman through Georgia, has grown increasingly virulent and antibiotic-resistant in recent years. For many sufferers, fecal microbiota transplantation offers hope when all else fails. Can we get over the “ick factor” when our lives are on the line? You bet we can.
Imagine a Mach-20 aircraft capable of flying coast to coast in less time than it takes a passenger to clear security; now imagine the jet lag to follow. If the idea still sounds appealing, bear in mind that the most recent attempt at such a plane flew right out of its own skin before ditching into the Pacific.
Welcome to the world of hypersonic flight.
Of course, that was a military weapons platform; contrary to what some aircraft manufacturers’ flacks would have us believe, passenger planes are likely to remain subsonic or supersonic for the foreseeable future – and for good reason.
Could You Commute From New York to Los Angeles in 12 Minutes?