Check out this interview with John Stewart.  It’s just a little clip, but the full thing will be up soon and I’ll post that as soon as it does.  Check it out here:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04272007/profile…

Enjoy!

There’s been some pretty big news of late in the science community.  Some  astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date. 

Using a the Eso 3.6m Telescope in Chile, they’ve discovered a world which could have running water on its surface.  Located about 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra, it orbits the faint star Gliese 581 and has a predicted that it’s radius is only 1.5 times that of the Earth.  What is most hopeful is that initial calculations and measurements have placed its mean surface temperature somewhere between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius.

Unfortunately due to its fair distance from us, I don’t think we’ll be traveling there any time soon, but it definitely provides us with focus with which to train new telescope technology!

What I find the most fascinating is the detection method, as they don’t actually just point the telescope at the planet and see it.  They can’t do this because current telescope technology isn’t good enough, especially when the object of interest is in the glare of a star.   So what they actually do is use a ridiculously sensitive instrument that measures the tiny changes in the velocity of a star as an orbiting planet pulls on it due to its gravitational field.  Call me crazy but that’s pretty damn cool! 

 Why is this planet important? Well, one of the major goals of science right now is to find out if life has arisen and evolved elsewhere in the Universe. Up until 1995 we weren’t even sure if any other stars had planets! Now we know of hundreds, and as the technology gets better, we can find smaller and smaller ones. We’re right on the verge of being able to find ones just like Earth. And while of course we cannot know if this newly found planet has life or not, it’s our best bet yet!

[To ready the articles I stole all this information from go here and here]

I’m going to provide you with two different situations.  Don’t try and nitpick at the details or try and find a way around the circumstances, just accept it and base your decision off that.  My mother posited this to me over Easter a few weeks back and I still find myself reflecting on them on them once in a while. 

Situation 1:

You’re the conductor of a train riding out in the country.  You suddenly see five people walking on the track ahead.  You won’t be able to stop in time, and you can’t warn them in any way.  It is then you notice a fork in the track ahead, but the problem is that there is one person walking on the other track.  So you have to decide, stay on the current course and kill five people, or take the fork and kill one.  What do you choose?

Think about it before reading Situation 2.

Situation 2:

You’re a doctor in a hospital looking after critically injured patients.  There are five patients that need organ transplants or they will die very soon, each needing a different organ.  The nurse runs in quickly to inform you that there are no organ donors available for any of the patients and there won’t be any in time to save any of them.  However, she then informs you that a perfectly healthy young person just walked into the hospital and that if you get him and harvest his organs before he leaves the hospital in a few minutes you would be able to save all five patients, and each resulting in a full recovery.  The only problem is that the donor would die in the process.  Note that you will not be punished for either decision.  What do you do?  Can you justify killing the one healthy person to save the other five? 

Thoughts:

Chances are in the first situation you had no qualms about choosing the track with only one person on it.  However, if in the 2nd situation you found much harder to decide or immediately said it wouldn’t be right to kill the healthy young person, don’t worry you’re not alone.  In fact, in many cultures throughout the world, when presented with similar situations, many had a problem with the 2nd situation and said it would be wrong to kill the one healthy individual.  You could say it’s an almost trans-cultural phenomenon.

Why is this?  Wherein does the difference lie? In both situations you can choose to sacrifice one person to save five.  Yet most find the obvious logical choice in the second situation abhorant.  What are your thoughts? 

Researchers unlock key to memory storage in brain from PhysOrg.com 

Scientists know little about how the brain assigns cells to participate in encoding and storing memories. Now a UCLA/University of Toronto team has discovered that a protein called CREB controls the odds of a neuron playing a role in memory formation. The April 20 edition of Science reports the findings, which suggest a new approach for preserving memory in people suffering from Alzheimer’s or other brain injury. [...]

Today’s entry is about: How to put a chicken to sleep. 

Here’s a quick FAQ for you.

Q: When will I use this?
A: Probably tomorrow.

Q: Why would I use this?
A: Because you now have this information so you will probably try it when you next get the chance (i.e. tomorrow).

Q: You keep saying tomorrow, is something happening tomorrow with chickens?
A: No.  Well, unless you’re going to a farm.  Your silly.

Q: Are you sure this isn’t harming the chicken?
A: I’m hungry, anyone want to grab me some food?

Q: Wait, why did you avoid that last question?
A: I agree, it is a beautiful day outside today!

Q: Hmm…you’re really weird, espeically since you’re really me, creating this FAQ pretending to be two different people, one asking and one answering questions in order to make this FAQ sound proper.
A: Say that again and I’ll have you hung!

Q: Uhhh, but then you’d be hanging yourself, dumbass…
A: That’s it! I’m getting the rope!

Q: We have to go now, I hope you enjoy the video.
A: Anyone know how to tie a proper hanging knot?  Perhaps some sort of FAQ would help…

Q: *Smacks head with hand*
A: Oww!

Here is the latest (and greatest) fashion thing to come from Japan since Hello Kitty!  I completely support any female here in Canada (and Europe) that wishes to wear this attire =)

Introducing the Bikini Jeans!

They act as both underwear and jeans!  Just for the sake of optimization and efficiency you have to appreciate them!  (I’m trying to appeal to you Indy Girls reading this!)

Who’s with me on this? ……….Anyone? ………….Anyone at all?

I’ve been thinking back over the past 5 years of my life and reflecting on how I’ve grown and changed over that time.

I’ve gained so much knowledge, not just about theories, equations and things mechatronical, but about life. 

There are so many things I’ve learned and achieved a greater understanding of, from the delicate social interactions between peers in stressful settings, to the development and meaning of true friendship, and of course, love in all its different forms.

I’ve made some great friendships during my years here, people I know I will be friends with for the rest of my life.  The type of friends that even if I were to move away to some distant country and then only see again ten years later, we would still be able to hang out like I was never gone.

I feel so fortunate to have met everyone I have here, because five, ten, twenty years from now when I’m thinking back to my university days, I won’t be thinking of those times I was stuck in the library studying or working late in the lab, but rather I’ll remember the times I spent with my friends.

Stealing gourds from the St. Mike’s cafeteria (The Canada Room) with Mark Delukovich to hold them hostage.  Ultimately trying to force the cafeteria to make more chicken burgers and sweet and sour pork. (Part 1, Part 2)

Dancing at Piccadilly’s [1], Friday nights at Molly Bloom’s drinking with the guys, the epic ice fight at Paul’s [2] and all of his awesome BBQ’s and new year’s parties [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8], home made green beer, all the dinner dances [9, 10, 11, 12], countless birthdays, everyone except those implanted with chips in their brains *coughJustinScottcough* complaining about their work experiences, hearing tales of cunning and wit of friends stalking each other in MIE Assassin.

Times at the cottage running from the sauna to the lake and back again in the middle of the night…sometimes naked…because “WE’RE GOING STREEEAAAAKKIIIIIINNNNNNG”, singing at the top of our lungs while rocking out to Andrew’s old time rock ‘n roll until the early morning.

Getting our iron rings [13], trying to figure out what the hell we’re going to do with our lives (damn you MBA’ers, you’re only delaying the inevitable!!), moments of comfort from a friend’s advice, a tight embrace [14], or a moment of tenderness [15].

Talks with my sisters about girls, philosophizing with my mom, windsurfing with my dad.

Traveling with Christina, Baileys and chocolate milk with Sonia, rock climbing with Sam, dreaming up entrepreneurial plans to make millions…no…billions with Gillies, comparing asses with Scott, dancing with Nicole, getting jealous of Kopec’s salsa skills, finding someone out there hairier than me (thanks Justin =), getting rocked by Chad in football, the love of Steven Colbert with Bea, wonton soup with Steve, sharing the “Windo-Motion South” intern experience (cold chamber) with Rohn, going to the bathroom beside some tree on Eglinton in broad daylight with Kurz on the way to S-Dance…because damnit we REALLY had to go!

I want to talk about everyone and everything, but I can’t, because there’s so many amazing people in our group of friends and so many memories.  I want you all to know how grateful I am to have you in my life (and all that other mushy stuff).

The final piece of the puzzle for me that really added that special touch to the end of my university career came from something small. When I first came to university, I worked my ass off and won the f!rosh hard hat competition by turning my hardhat into a remote control hardhat car.  Now, in my last year, I was able to use parts of that car for one of my final projects, a rotating turret that scans a room with an ultrasonic sensor and shoots at people if they come into it’s field of fire, which I also worked my ass off for.  It may seem insignificant to most, but for me it meant something special.  It was the final piece that completed the picture for this part of my life, closed the loop if you will, or [some other sort of metaphorical comparison here].  I could sit back and finally say “There, now I’m done.”

Now I begin a new chapter of my life, and as much you might hear me bitch and complain “man…..I have to go find a REAL job now, bah!!”, I’m actually quite excited.  I know that I’ll find something I love doing, and hey, even if I don’t, I’ll always have my family and friends, and any future with all of you in my life will certainly be a great one.

Once again, Sonia pulls through and provides me with some great material for which to post on this site for you all to laugh at!  I warn you now though, these might only be funny to enginerds like us =)

 

 

Here’s an interesting flipside perspective many people don’t think about when there is a large push for ethanol from corn.

By PAUL ELIAS, AP Biotechnology Writer

(AP) — The ethanol craze is putting the squeeze on corn supplies and causing food prices to rise. Mexicans took to the streets last year to protest increased tortilla prices. The cost of chicken and beef in the United States ticked up because feed is more expensive. That’s where biotechnology comes in.

Scientists are engineering microscopic bugs to extract fuel from a variety of non-corn sources, including the human urinary tract, a Russian fungus and the plant responsible for tequila.

The quest for alternative energy is more complicated than just finding a replacement for petroleum. Scientists and a growing number of biotechnology companies are attempting to remove corn from the ethanol equation because it has created huge demand for the global food staple.

“There is enormous growth potential” for alternative fuels, said McKinsey & Co analyst Jens Riese. “But we need to be smarter than just building the next corn ethanol plant.”

Researchers are racing against time. Already, 114 U.S. ethanol biorefineries are in operation and 80 more are under construction. Producers made nearly 5 billion gallons of ethanol last year, a 25 percent increase from the previous year.
And nearly all of it was made from edible corn kernels.

That’s good news for U.S. farmers, but consumers are suffering at the checkout stand because corn prices have nearly doubled over the last two years and will continue to climb.

And with farmers planting corn at unprecedented rates, often instead of other crops, prices for other products may soon rise as well.

Corn is a fundamental U.S. food ingredient, found in everything from soft drinks to cough syrup. It’s also a staple throughout Latin America, where residents may feel the sting of rising corn prices the most.

Backers of alternative production methods argue that a technological change is needed soon, before corn-based ethanol grows so large that other manufacturing methods will be squeezed out of the market.

That’s why genetic engineers from Berkeley to Florida are racing to produce ethanol without corn. They’re looking into termite guts, the human urinary tract and sap from palm trees for exotic microbes that can produce alternative fuel sources.

Scientists at DuPont Co., for instance, have been tinkering with the DNA of an agave-loving bug in a bid to make ethanol from corn waste rather than the kernel itself. Working with $19 million of its own money and the same amount from a Department of Energy grant, the chemical company hopes to have a pilot plant in operation by 2010.

The idea is to genetically engineer microscopic bugs such as bacteria and fungus to spit out enzymes that will break down just about every imaginable crop into ethanol. This would theoretically fulfill President Bush’s initiative to support flexible-fuel vehicles, which are capable of using gasoline and ethanol blends, and to cut gas consumption by 20 percent in 10 years.

A growing number of biotechnology companies, backed financially and politically by an odd coalition of national security hawks, venture capitalists and environmentalists, are remaking themselves as ethanol producers to cash in on the alternative fuel craze.

In February, the U.S. Energy Department awarded $385 million in grant money over four years to six projects dedicated to producing so-called cellulosic ethanol, which avoids the corn problem by making fuel from straw and other inedible agricultural leftovers. Cellulose is the woody material in branches and stems that makes plants hard.

Breaking cellulose into sugar to spin straw into ethanol has been studied for at least 50 years. But the technological hurdles and costs – specifically the expense genetically engineering exotic microbes to produce enzymes – have been so daunting that most ethanol producers instead relied on heavy government subsidies to squeeze fuel from corn.

That’s now changing. Enzyme costs have fallen from about $5 a gallon to less than 20 cents a gallon. Analysts said once enzyme prices gets below a dime, cellulosic ethanol will become affordable.

“There really has to be an incredible improvement in the enzyme cost,” said Kevin Baum, an executive vice president at Diversa Corp. “This can’t be underestimated.”
The growing number of biotechnology companies redirecting resources to capitalize on ethanol’s popularity said they are getting close to making cellulosic ethanol profitable.

“It will be a very large chunk of what we do,” said Per Falholt, an executive vice president with Novozymes Inc., an enzyme maker and the largest industrial biotechnology company. “It has the potential to transform the company.”

Earlier this year, San Diego-based Diversa, which made enzymes for animal feed and other industrial uses, merged with the Cambridge, Mass.-based Celunol Inc. and is attempting to remake itself as an ethanol producer.

Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla, the Sun Microsystems Inc. co-founder, is among the venture capitalists gambling on cellulosic ethanol. His venture capital firm has invested millions in biotech companies pursuing alternative fuel strategies.

“In a short period of time we can replace 100 percent of our gasoline use,” Khosla told executives and scientists gathered last month at an industrial biotechnology conference in Orlando, Fla.

Still, there are critics. Oil and automotive industry executives are skeptical that the country will make the investment in basic equipment.

“It does require the pumps to appear when the ethanol appears,” said Coleman Jones, who heads General Motors Corp.’s biofuels projects.

Source: Biotech Seeks to Ease Reliance on Corn