Secrets of the first practical artificial leaf

4 Rare Earth Elements That Will Only Get More Important Sir William Crookes, a 19th century British chemist, once wrote that, "rare earth elements perplex us in our researches, baffle us in our speculations and haunt us in our very dreams." These weren't easy elements to isolate or to understand, and so there was a very long lag time between the discovery of the rare earths, and the discovery of practical uses for them. It didn't help that individual rare earth elements don't occur by their lonesome—they travel in packs. To get one, you have to mine all of them. The Legend of Cliff Young: The 61 Year Old Farmer Who Won the World’s Toughest Race - Elite Feet The legendary story of Cliff Young is already known to many runners. If you aren't familiar with it, you're in for a fascinating read. An Unlikely Competitor

Engineering News, Date February 3, 2003 Vol.73, no. 3S ME student discovers a unique fact about polar bears Everyone knows that polar bears are furry and cute, but few know that sometimes they can also be invisible. While still an ME undergrad at Berkeley, Jessica Preciado plumbed the icy depths of a question that already had the whole natural science community buzzing. A few years ago, scientists doing an aerial census of the polar bear population in the arctic encountered a problem. Giant Tropical Lake Found on Saturn Moon Titan An oasis of liquid methane has unexpectedly been discovered amid the tropical dunes of Saturn's moon Titan, researchers say. This lake in the otherwise dry tropics of Titan hints that subterranean channels of liquid methane might feed it from below, scientists added. Titan has clouds, rain and lakes, like Earth, but these are composed of methane rather than water. However, methane lakes were seen only at Titan's poles until now — its tropics around the equator were apparently home to dune fields instead.

BOINC malariacontrol - Linguistic Team International Wiki From Linguistic Team International Wiki Return to BOINC Project Gateway The Project! The malariacontrol.net project is an application that makes use of network computing for stochastic modelling of the clinical epidemiology and natural history of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Click here for more information. Can You Call a 9-Year-Old a Psychopath? Elinor Carucci/Redux, for The New York Times Michael, a 9-year-old whose periodic rages alternate with moments of chilly detachment, with his mother, Anne. Michael’s problems started, according to his mother, around age 3, shortly after his brother Allan was born. Heads Up, Hoverboarders: Here Comes Quantum Levitation Few motifs of science fiction cinema have been more appealing to us than the subtle defiance of gravity offered by futuristic hovercraft. So every once in a while we check in to see how humanity is progressing on that front, and whether the promise of hoverboards will be delivered by 2015 as evidenced in Back to the Future Part 2. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re definitely getting off the ground, so to speak.

Near-Space Tourism Balloon Runs Test Launch A new tourist experience could be provided within five years by a huge balloon that offers stunning views of the horizon and the blackness of space. The designer tested the launch procedure last month, using a smaller version of the helium balloon and its passenger pod. The May 29 test was halted when a wind gust damaged the balloon's envelope. Face-Recognizing Billboard Shows Ad to Women Only Sporting a Y chromosome? A new high-tech, outdoor billboard being tested in London won’t let you see its advertisement. Developed by Plan UK, a non-profit organization that helps children in third-world countries, the billboard will promote the group’s “Because I’m a Girl” campaign. The effort is designed to help sponsor girls in developing countries receive a proper education.