Science article bullets
Thought I'd post a few science articles I found interesting recently. Hope you find some of these interesting.
1. Organic Food No Healthier... This is interesting as alot of resources have been devoted to organic farming with hopes that higher prices could sustain that type of farming locally.
2. Laser propulsion for spacecraft is getting closer - The general idea behind this is most of the energy spent to lift an object into orbit is spend lifting the weight of all the fuel into orbit. However if you could just "beam" the energy via laser to power craft or satellites into orbit perhaps you can take a huge amount of cost out of space flight. I really wonder if it's really almost here though.
3. Carbon Capture Technology - now wait a minute. Technology to pump carbon dioxide from power plants and trap it deep into the ground is being opposed amidst concerns for safety. This sounds similar to problems with storing nuclear waste, or even opponents of windmills who don't want an obstructed view.
4. A new treatment for spinal cord damage... Ok I really just thought you needed to see the blue mouse. Somehow the blue dye seems to prevent the body's natural healing response from doing more damage than good as it responds to spinal cord damage.
2 comments:
Organic foods are not what matters it is the way you treat the planet. Lots of chemicals flow into our rivers and streams. Organic farming does not hurt the land or the soil.
I haven't thought or researched enough on the agriculture industry to know in net what's the best approach to feed the planet, but my inclination is there's a significant technological role to help make feeding the humans less impactful on the planet.
I really have no political axe to grind on this - but I was surprised at the story. My assumption was that organic was healthier.
One of the key selling points of organic food is that it's supposed to be better for you. (I have several friends at work that purchase organic for that reason.) That is being called into question via the study.
I think an entire bottled water industry sprung up (to the detriment of the environment via huge transportation costs and wasted economic resources) around a false premise - that it's better for you than tap water.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/01/opinion/01standage.html?pagewanted=all
As long as marketing is honest with people we'll all make better decisions, but I know marketers... I was one for a short while. It's a spin game to get consumers to behave a certain way.
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