Observatory - Neanderthals Developed Tools on Their Own, Study Finds Julien Riel-Salvatore Neanderthals used tools that they had developed on their own. Until now, tools and ornaments used by Neanderthals were thought to have come about because of contact with the species that replaced them. But Dr. Riel-Salvatore said his paper in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory “counters the persistent idea about Neanderthals and shows that they were really able to innovate.” Dr. Humans in northern Italy developed a diverse set of tools unique from those found in the Neanderthal community of southern Italy. Meanwhile, Neanderthals in central Italy used the same large, primitive stone tools for 100,000 years, taking no inspiration from their neighbors to the north or south, Dr. “If humans introduced tools to southern Italy, you would have found these new tools in central Italy first; that would be the natural geographic progression,” he said.
China’s Solar Valley: biggest solar energy production base in world China is in the process of building the biggest solar energy production base in the world. Called "Solar Valley," it's the nation's answer to America's Silicon Valley. China is in the process of building what it calls "the biggest solar energy production base in the world." Called "Solar Valley," the experimental venture has claimed the land of tens of thousands of farmers in an effort to construct China's answer to California's Silicon Valley, according to a new Washington Post report. The $740 million project, which is located near the northern city of Dezhou, is supposed to demonstrate how China can both promote and profit from cleantech. It has attracted some 100 companies and already inspired the construction of factories, a research center and wide boulevards illuminated by solar-powered lights. But it's a difficult vision to reconcile with China's growing manufacturing economy. More interesting takeaways from Higgins' report: Will China take the lead on renewables?
Mitos y verdades en torno al mercado del litio | Chile Desarrollo Sustentable El mineral ha estado en el centro de la noticia, tras la decisión del gobierno de abrir su explotación a empresas públicas y privadas. Los expertos aterrizan el debate. Los satélites, las naves espaciales, los celulares, los computadores portátiles, los marcapasos, las cámaras digitales, los vehículos eléctricos y los medicamentos antidepresivos. Todos estos elementos tienen algo en común: el litio, un metal blando de color blanco plateado, que posee una gran capacidad para almacenar energía. Hoy, este mineral está en el centro de la noticia, tras la decisión del gobierno de abrir su explotación a empresas públicas y privadas, proceso que hoy interesa a Codelco. Actualmente, en Chile sólo dos compañías producen litio: SQM y SCL (Chemetall). En medio del debate generado en torno al tema se han tejido distintas conjeturas sobre su importancia, perspectivas de precio y disponibilidad a nivel mundial. “Oro blanco o petróleo blanco”. Juan Carlos Guajardo, de Cesco, aporta otro elemento.
Little reactors may be best path to nuclear fusion - tech - 05 November 2014 IT ALWAYS seems to be 30 years away. Controlled nuclear fusion seems no closer to being realised now than it was when the idea was put forward in the 1950s. But fusion power stations might be closer than anyone suspected – if we think small. Bigger is better, or so goes the accepted wisdom with nuclear fusion. The massive international experiment ITER takes this to the extreme, employing a doughnut-shaped reaction chamber 20 metres across and up to 1000 staff. The price tag? Now some are advocating that a smaller-scale approach could be swifter and cheaper. Fusion reactors promise cheap, clean energy, leaving behind only small amounts of radioactive waste and with little risk of runaway meltdowns. It is easier said than done. A major challenge is how to hold the chaotic plasma in place for more than the tiniest fraction of a second. Which design wins out may come down to funding. This article appeared in print under the headline "Road to fusion open to anyone of modest means"
Fusion: Magnetic Confinement As of July 1, 2013 ThinkQuest has been discontinued. We would like to thank everyone for being a part of the ThinkQuest global community: Students - For your limitless creativity and innovation, which inspires us all. Teachers - For your passion in guiding students on their quest. Partners - For your unwavering support and evangelism. Parents - For supporting the use of technology not only as an instrument of learning, but as a means of creating knowledge. We encourage everyone to continue to “Think, Create and Collaborate,” unleashing the power of technology to teach, share, and inspire. Best wishes, The Oracle Education Foundation
Ancient "Fossil" Virus Shows Infection to Be Millions of Years Old Viruses can be thought of as hyperspeed shape-shifters, organisms that can adapt quickly to overcome barriers to infection. But recent research has been finding ancient traces of many viruses in animal genomes, DNA insertions that have likely been there for much longer than the viruses were previously thought to have existed at all. A new study describes evidence of a hepadnavirus (a virus group that includes hepatitis B, which infects humans as well as other mammals and ducks) hiding in the genomes of modern songbirds. By tracing back to these bird species' common ancestors, the researchers behind the new work estimate that this family of viruses has been around for at least 19 million years—and possibly as long as 40 million years—rather than the several thousand years researchers had estimated. The new estimate would slow the average rate of hepadnavirus mutation some 1,000-fold, wrote the researchers of the new the study, published online September 28 in PLoS Biology.
Is Thorium het Uranium van de 21ste Eeuw? « Wetenschapsblog.nl Wordt Thorium het nieuwe Uranium? Thorium, een wit-zilver licht radioactief metaal Voor kernenergie kan dit wel eens deze eeuw gebeuren. Maar misschien even een samenvatting waarom Uranium niet zo geweldig is als brandstof. Er is niet zo veel Uranium op de aarde. Je moet Uranium verrijken, U-235 is nodig om de reactie in stand te houden. De reactie laat radioactief Plutonium achter, een enorm gevaarlijke stof dat gebruikt kan worden voor nucleaire wapens. Met een halfwaardetijd van enkele 100.000 jaar, het afval is problematisch. De kerncentrales zijn erg ingewikkeld en er zijn veel ingenieurs nodig om de reactie in toom te houden. En toch komt ongeveer 14% van de wereldenergieproductie van Uranium splitsing. Ik zelf ben altijd voorstander geweest van kernsplitsing voor energie productie. (Voor het volledige artikel, druk op 'blijf lezen') Thorium is een zilver-wit metaal dat maar lichtelijk radioactief is. Thorium reactor Oak Ridge National Lab, Wikimedia.org -Alvin Weinberg
La mitad de los automóviles nuevos serán eléctricos en 2020 Las baterías de litio-ion son una de las principales esperanzas para un mayor desarrollo de los vehículos híbridos y eléctricos. Imagen: medioambienteok.blogspot.com De acuerdo a una investigación encarada por especialistas de la Universidad de Duke, Estados Unidos se encuentra en una posición ventajosa como para transformarse próximamente en líder mundial en el campo de las baterías de litio-ion para coches eléctricos, considerando los distintos avances tecnológicos registrados. En consecuencia, podría aproximarse al nivel asiático, mercado que actualmente lidera este segmento. Asimismo, sobre 2020 se lograría que el 50% de los vehículos nuevos adquiridos en Estados Unidos utilicen una tecnología de propulsión híbrida o eléctrica. Mercado actual de las baterías de litio-ion por países y compañías. Artículos relacionados
Longer distance quantum teleportation achieved Physicists at the University of Geneva have succeeded in teleporting the quantum state of a photon to a crystal over 25 kilometers of optical fiber. The experiment, carried out in the laboratory of Professor Nicolas Gisin, constitutes a first, and simply pulverises the previous record of 6 kilometres achieved ten years ago by the same UNIGE team. Passing from light into matter, using teleportation of a photon to a crystal, shows that, in quantum physics, it is not the composition of a particle which is important, but rather its state, since this can exist and persist outside such extreme differences as those which distinguish light from matter. Quantum physics, and with it the UNIGE, is again being talked about around the world with the Marcel Benoist Prize for 2014 being awarded to Professor Nicolas Gisin, and the publication of experiments in Nature Photonics. Teleporting Over 25 Kilometres Memory After Triangulation
It's Too Early to Pick a Winner on Inertial Fusion Energy, Says Study Despite proposed cuts to the U.S. magnetic fusion program, a new report advocates a parallel effort to pursue fusion energy using the rival inertial confinement scheme. The report, by the National Academies' National Research Council, says that it is too early to pick a winning technology and focus funding on that approach. That conclusion will please many scientists in the field who have been concerned that the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory—the world's largest and most advanced inertial fusion facility—was poised to dominate the U.S. research effort. The NRC committee was convened at the request of Steven Koonin, who last fall stepped down as the Department of Energy's (DOE) undersecretary for science. Inertial fusion doesn't have a single home within DOE. Most fusion research focuses on magnetic confinement, using powerful electromagnets to contain a thin plasma of hydrogen isotopes and heat it until the nuclei fuse.