Twenty years after the last nuclear power construction boom crashed to a halt amid soaring costs and worries over reliability and safety, plenty of small towns, particularly in the southeastern US, are eager for more reactors in their backyards. It’s just one sign that US utilities will build at least a few, and perhaps many, […]
NYTimes: Shock waves that shatter kidney stones may not be so safe after all
Called lithotripsy, the technique has been around for some time and seemed like magic: focus some sound waves just right, and kidney stones pulverize while soft tissues seem unharmed. Now, medical writer Lawrence K. Altman reports, a Mayo Clinic study suggests diabetes and high blood pressure could follow, years later. Read it Mayo Clinic press […]
SF Chronicle: NASA’s Plans for Mini-Robots on Mars Expeditions
If US astronauts go to Mars they may have company in the form of miniature “thinking machines” that will robotically run their ships and provide other services, but without any Robbie the Robot resemblences, reports science writer Keay Davidson. Read it
SF Chronicle: Governator and Global Warming Politics
Arnold Schwarzenegger has been among the most outspoken state leaders in fighting global warming, but some Democrats and environmentalists have some proposed laws that even he may have a tough time swallowing. Mark Martin reports from Sacramento. Read it In other global warming political news, from Alaska Juneau Empire staff writer Elizabeth Bluemink reports that […]
NYTimes: Brazil’s Big Renewable Fuel Success
Tracker is unsure if this is a science story, or just technology, or what, but it has scientists in it, technical info and, besides that, the transformation of sugar cane into vast amounts of ethanol should put a dent in the world’s biggest environmental challenge: global warming. Larry Rohter reports. Read it
Reuters: Caribbean Corals in an even bigger hurt
Century-old corals are dying all across the Caribbean sea and a lot of scientists, reports Reuters writer Jim Loney from Miami, point their fingers at the usual suspect: global warming. The greenhouse effect almost surely deserves the bad press it’s getting, including this instance, but does it not sometimes seem to get blame for everything […]