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BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Engineering Earth ‘is feasible’.

A UK Royal Society study has concluded that many engineering proposals to reduce the impact of climate change are “technically possible”.

Such approaches could be effective, the authors said in their report.

But they also stressed that the potential of geo-engineering should not divert governments away from their efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

Suggestions range from having giant mirrors in space to erecting giant CO2 scrubbers that would “clean” the air.

Such engineering projects could either remove carbon dioxide or reflect the Sun’s rays away from the planet.

Of the two basic geo-engineering approaches, the report concluded that those involving the removal of carbon dioxide were preferable, as they effectively return the climate system closer to its pre-industrial state.

But the authors found that many of these options were currently too expensive to implement widely.

This included “carbon capture and storage” methods, which require CO2 be captured directly from power plants and stored under the Earth’s surface.

Current proposed methods also work very slowly, taking many decades to remove enough carbon dioxide to significantly reduce the rate of temperature rise.

Of the carbon removal techniques assessed, three were considered to have most potential:

1. CO2 capture from ambient air: This would be the preferred method, as it effectively reverses the cause of climate change.

2. Enhanced weathering: This aims to enhance natural reactions of CO2 from the air with rocks and minerals. It was identified as a prospective longer-term option.

3. Land use and afforestation: The report found that land-use management could and should play a small but significant role in reducing the growth of atmospheric CO2 concentrations.

Some suggestions include: a giant mirror on the Moon; a space parasol made of superfine aluminium mesh; and a swarm of 10 trillion small mirrors launched into space one million at a time every minute for the next 30 years.

The study also said that many of these approaches had huge logistical demands, and it could take several decades for them to be implemented.

But if temperatures rose to such a level where more rapid action needed to be taken, three techniques were considered to have most potential:

1. Stratospheric aerosols: Previous volcanic eruptions have effectively provided case studies of the potential effectiveness of this method.

2. Space-based methods: These were considered to be a potential technique for long-term use, but only if major problems of implementation and maintenance could be solved.

3. Cloud albedo approaches: These include “cloud ships” which would send sea water into the clouds to make them more reflective.

New attack cracks common Wi-Fi encryption in a minute – Network World.

Computer scientists in Japan say they’ve developed a way to break the WPA encryption system used in wireless routers in about one minute.

The attack gives hackers a way to read encrypted traffic sent between computers and certain types of routers that use the WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encryption system. The attack was developed by Toshihiro Ohigashi of Hiroshima University and Masakatu Morii of Kobe University, who plan to discuss further details at a technical conference set for Sept. 25 in Hiroshima.

DailyTech – International Space Updates, September 2009.

Japanese companies Mitsubishi and IHI have agreed to join a $21 billion project that aims to create a solar-power generator in space that can send electricity back to Earth.

“It sounds like a science-fiction cartoon, but solar power generation in space may be a significant alternative energy source in the century ahead as fossil fuel disappears,” said Kensuke Kanekiyo, Institute of Energy Economics director told Bloomberg.

The power generator is a 1-gigawatt project that will use four square kilometers of solar panels, though it isn’t expected to be fully functional for 30 years.

DailyTech – Researchers Create World’s Smallest Semiconductor Laser.

The new laser breakthrough may one day usher in a new era in computing power by providing CPU makers with the ability to use light rather than electronic circuitry in processors. The key breakthrough was a method that the researchers devised to squeeze the light into a space smaller than its wavelength and keep the light from dissipating as it moved along.

Inside Google Books: Download Over a Million Public Domain Books from Google Books in the Open EPUB Format.

To get started, just find any public domain book on Google Books and click on the Download button in the toolbar.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | We’re all mutants, say scientists.

Each of us has at least 100 new mutations in our DNA, according to research published in the journal Current Biology.

Scientists have been trying to get an accurate estimate of the mutation rate for over 70 years.

However, only now has it been possible to get a reliable estimate, thanks to “next generation” technology for genetic sequencing.

The findings may lead to new treatments and insights into our evolution.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Galaxy’s ‘cannibalism’ revealed.

The vast Andromeda galaxy appears to have expanded by digesting stars from other galaxies, research has shown.

When an international team of scientists mapped Andromeda, they discovered stars that they said were “remnants of dwarf galaxies”.

BBC NEWS | Health | Gel hope for brain injury repair.

An injectable hydrogel could aid recovery from brain injury by helping stimulate tissue growth at the site of the wound, researchers say.

Research on rats suggests the gel, made from synthetic and natural sources, may spur growth of stem cells in the brain.

DailyTech – Microsoft Apologizes for Photoshopping Black Man out of Advertisment.

Liquid-OLED Offers More Light-Emitting Possibilities.

Recently, researchers have fabricated a “liquid-OLED” – an OLED that uses a liquid organic semiconducting layer to transport charge.

The scientists, Denghui Xu and Chihaya Adachi from the Center for Future Chemistry at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, have reported the liquid-OLED in a recent issue of Applied Physics Letters. As they explain, the novel design is based on a liquid-emitting layer, and could have advantages for flexible displays and other organic electronics applications.

Usually, OLED displays use solid-state organic films that give off light when an electric current is applied. One significant benefit of OLED displays compared to traditional liquid crystal displays (LCDs) is that OLEDs do not require a backlight. For this reason, OLEDs can be made very thin and flexible, as well as use less power, enabling them to run longer on a single battery charge.

The new liquid-OLED could achieve these same benefits, but by using a liquid organic semiconductor instead of the solid-state films. Other than a few previous studies that have investigated using polymer solutions as the semiconducting layer, this is the first time that researchers have attempted to fabricate a practical liquid semiconductor for OLEDs.

Japanese Women Demand Rich Husbands | Sankaku Complex.

Another survey looked at the ideal annual income Japanese women sought in a man; the most popular answers were “over $90,000” with 22.8%, and “over $70,000” again with 22.8%. 19.3% were seeking over an income of $130,000 or more.

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Click | Snail mail gets net speed boost.

For 14 euros (£12) a month, letters are redirected to a secret location in Zurich where the envelopes are scanned and an image is e-mailed out to customers.

They can then decide whether letters should be opened and scanned by vetted personnel sworn to secrecy, or simply shredded.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Legal case against God dismissed.

A US judge has thrown out a case against God, ruling that because the defendant has no address, legal papers cannot be served.

He sought a permanent injunction to prevent the “death, destruction and terrorisation” caused by God.

“Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this action will be dismissed with prejudice,” Judge Polk wrote in his ruling.

Mr Chambers sued God last year. He said God had threatened him and the people of Nebraska and had inflicted “widespread death, destruction and terrorisation of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants”.

The court, Mr Chambers said, had acknowledged the existence of God and “a consequence of that acknowledgement is a recognition of God’s omniscience”.

“Since God knows everything,” he reasoned, “God has notice of this lawsuit.”

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Single molecule’s stunning image.

The detailed chemical structure of a single molecule has been imaged for the first time, say researchers.

The physical shape of single carbon nanotubes has been outlined before, using similar techniques – but the new method even shows up chemical bonds.

Understanding structure on this scale could help in the design of many things on the molecular scale, particularly electronics or even drugs.

Technology Review: The Smallest Laser Ever Made.

Researchers have demonstrated the smallest laser ever, consisting of a nanoparticle just 44 nanometers across. The device is dubbed a “spaser” because it generates a form of radiation called surface plasmons. The technique allows light to be confined in very small spaces, and some physicists believe that spasers could form the basis of future optical computers just as transistors are the basis of today’s electronics.