If you had in this chair some of the people who developed quantum mechanics back in the 1920s or 1930s, and you said to them, ‘What is this stuff gonna DO for us?’ they’d say ‘Probably not much, we’re trying to understand molecules and atoms, very far from everyday life.’ But the fact that you have a cell phone, the fact that you have a personal computer, the fact that there’s wondrous medical technology that’s saving lives around the world today all relies on the integrated circuit, which comes from quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics are responsible for something like 35% of the Gross National Product. Which is just to say fundamental research at a given moment in time can have big implications when you allow ... Continue reading →
Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation Wednesday to adopt a ban on plastic bags at supermarket checkout lines, handing a major victory to clean-water advocates who sought to reduce the amount of trash clogging landfills, the region’s waterways and the ocean. Egged on by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and an array of environmental groups, the City Council voted 13 to 1 to phase out plastic bags over the next 12 months at an estimated 7,500 stores. Councilman Bernard Parks cast the lone no vote. "Let’s get the message to Sacramento that it’s time to go statewide," said Councilman Ed Reyes, who has focused on efforts to revitalize the Los Angeles River. Council members quietly backed away from a more controversial plan to also ... Continue reading →
Cancer research group objects to the Chronicle’s ‘inflammatory’ story Today an article written by Todd Ackerman and myself was published in the Chronicle on new revelations about the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas. Here’s the article. The gist of the article is that the panel that approved a controversial $20 million grant to Rice University and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center was highly conflicted. In response to the article CPRIT sent the following response to its investigators around noon today. Because this letter has not been published publicly on the CPRIT site, at least as of this writing, I am publishing it below in its entirety: You may have seen today’s inflammatory article in the Houston Chronicle alleging that the ... Continue reading →
The Caribbean disturbance I mentioned earlier has been designated as Invest 94L. This means it is an "area of investigation" the National Hurricane Center will now track. The early forecast model runs are all over the place, but expect it to move generally to the northeast. Continue reading →
Using mapping technology and demographic data, we determined how well each city is meeting the need for parks. See the full ranking analysis. Continue reading →
xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform'">NASA - Opportunity's Selfie There's a problem with your browser or settings. Your browser or your browser's settings are not supported. To get the best experience possible, please download a compatible browser. If you know your browser is up to date, you should check to ensure that javascript is enabled. › Learn How Image of the Day GalleryOpportunity's SelfieNASA's Mars Rover Opportunity catches its own late-afternoon shadow in this dramatically lit view eastward across Endeavour Crater on Mars. The rover used the panoramic camera (Pancam) between about 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. local Mars time to record images taken through different filters and combined into this mosaic view. Most of the component images were recorded during the 2,888th Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's work on ... Continue reading →
