Good news has been published about a vaccine that might help people with diabetes produce their own insulin. The injection helps reduce the number of cells that attack the needed insulin-producing cells. Diabetes occurs in people whose pancreas does not produce sufficient insulin or whose cells do not react to the insulin produced. Insulin is a hormone […]
“How would you run a whole country without oil?” That’s what Shai Agassi is asking. Agassi is the founder of Better Place, which has developed a model and infrastructure for using electric cars as an alternative to fossil fuel technology (see The Good Times story of August 2011). His answer is to convert an entire country (in […]
Biotechnology or biotech is not just the weird stuff that goes on in Michael Crichton novels (for example Jurassic Park, Next, Prey or The Andromeda Strain). According to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, it is “any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific […]
According to the large American company General Electric, ecomagination is the conglomerate’s “commitment to imagine and build innovative solutions to today’s environmental challenges while driving economic growth.” Here’s one imaginative feat highlighted on the ecomagination forum: Jeremy Rowsell, an Australian pilot and insurance industry executive, is planning to fly from Sydney to London on fuel made […]
In an article last March, I talked about the titanic telescope that is to be built in either southern Africa or Australia/New Zealand. Well, in late May, the members of the SKA organization announced that the world’s largest radio telescope would be built in BOTH southern Africa and Australia/New Zealand. In phase one, Australia will host the […]
The Ocean Health Index is the new and “first comprehensive global measurement of ocean health that includes people as part of the ocean ecosystem. It scientifically compares and combines all dimensions of ocean health – biological, physical, economic and social – in order to generate an objective and accurate snapshot of the health of the […]
Everyone seems enthralled with the news about NASA’s Curiosity Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Whether or not you’re for space exploration, the feats performed to land Curiosity on Mars are amazing. Check out the space images or ask Dr. C. a question about Mars!
Iodine-131 and cesium-134/137 are radioactive isotopes that have been released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant as a consequence of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan. Large amounts of this radioactive material have gone into the Pacific Ocean. That’s the bad news. The good news is that scientists at the University of Tsukuba in the Kantō […]
