Hwang Hit Hard; Discovery and Earth Remain Safe
The space shuttle Discovery executed a near-perfect launch on July 4, with only a few pieces of debris shedding during liftoff and only one of those large enough to cause any damage if it had impacted the shuttle. On Wednesday, Discovery's crew inspected the leading edge of the shuttle's wings and the nose for any damage caused during liftoff. The crew used a special robotic arm fitted with a camera and a laser but found no injury to the shuttle.
Infamous South Korean stem-cell researcher Hwang Woo-Suk admitted in court last Tuesday that he forced subordinates to falsify human cloning data. While Hwang acknowledged that he was in the wrong, he said the blame should not lie solely with him, one of over 30 authors of the 2005 Science paper. Hwang is being tried along with five colleagues facing similar charges. If convicted, Hwang would face at least three years in prison.
Last week, Earth got a visit from a neighbor: asteroid 2004 XP14. The asteroid passed by our planet at a distance of almost 269,000 miles, slightly farther than the moon. It is nearly a half-mile wide—big enough to destroy a small country if it were to ever impact the Earth's surface. Scientists had predicted XP14 would hit Earth later this century, but have since ruled out that possibility.
Desert varnish, a shiny silica-based coating found on desert rocks, could hold the key to finding evidence of life on Mars, concludes research published in the July edition of the journal Geology. According to the study, varnish collects a history of the life around it, binding traces of organic molecules like amino acids and DNA. If desert varnish could be located on Mars, it would provide a long chronology of the planet's environment, and it would indicate whether life was present at any point during its formation, which takes tens of thousands of years.
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Companies, Government Look to Cut Fuel Expenses
The Big Three American automakers—Ford, GM and DaimlerChrysler—have pledged to double their production of flexible-fuel vehicles by 2010. Flexible-fuel vehicles are capable of running on both gasoline and E85, a fuel comprised of 15% gasoline and 85% ethanol. Some critics of the Big Three, whose cars gave off more carbon dioxide in 2004 than the nation's largest electric utility, have said that the new pledge is little more than an effort to raise their reported fuel economy so they can continue to produce SUVs. These critics say that, since there are only a few ethanol pumps in the country, most of these cars will continue to run solely on gasoline.
The US House of Representatives passed a bill that allows for oil drilling in offshore areas that have been protected for the past 25 years. The bill would permit drilling in waters more than 100 miles from the shore in all cases and between 50 and 100 miles from the shore unless a state passed legislation to prevent drilling every five years. The bill is expected to face fierce opposition in the Senate, particularly from states with large coastal tourism industries, such as Florida.
The Paris-based International Energy Agency has found that new policies regulating lighting—along with individual actions—could cut the world's lighting bill by 38% by the year 2030. Incandescent light bulbs, the most commonly used light, are very inefficient, converting only about 5% of the energy they receive into light. The biggest energy consumer, however, is fluorescent lighting, which accounts for 43% of the energy used for lighting with efficiency of the tubes ranging anywhere between 15% to 60%. Halogen uplighting was labeled the least efficient of the bunch.
We Appear Unprepared for Disaster