General

Here are posts of general interest to me.

Top 100 Stories of 2008 | DISCOVER Magazine

Top 100 Stories of 2008

The Year in Genetics
Musical genes, the platypus as animal grab-bag,cracking the anthrax case, and more.

The Year in Physics
Hunting the “God particle,” seeking invisibility, instant communication, and more.

The Year in Earth Science
Life from space, killer hail, bacterial weather, and more

#1: The Post-Oil Era Begins
Electricity may be what fuels our future—electricity from renewables,
nuclear, and even from burning biomass.

#2: The LHC Begins Its Search for the “God Particle”
After many years and billions of dollars, the LHC had its fateful first test run.

#3: The FDA Tackles Tainted Drugs From China
The realities of globalization hit the U.S. drug industry.

#4: Slime Is Turning the Seas Into Dead Zones
Pollution, overfishing, and the rise of microbes spell doom for many bodies of water.

#5: Nations Stake Their Claims to a Melting Arctic
Undiscovered oil and gas reserves below the ice set off a polar gold rush.

Read the rest of this entry »

Home-Made Sun

Scientists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, nestled among the wine-producing vineyards of central California, will use a laser that concentrates 1,000 times the electric generating power of the United States into a billionth of a second.

The result should be an explosion in the 32ft-wide reaction chamber which will produce at least 10 times the amount of energy used to create it. Link

Reconfiguring the Crucifixion

(Courtesy of the MFA)

MFA’s ‘Nativity’ revealed as reconfigured

In the process of restoring “The Nativity” by Jacopo Tintoretto (above) at the Museum of Fine Arts, the MFA found that the painting that is now a horizontal nativity was once a vertical crucifixion. (Boston Globe)

Graphic A look beneath ‘The Nativity’ by Tintoretto

Video Restoring a 16th century Italian painting