TOP 100 CAMPING SITES
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| Bad Mileage Driving Tips [The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.]On May 19th, President Obama announced a new federal gas mileage standard. He wants the country’s entire car and light truck fleet to average 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016. Some reaction was swift and to the point. Here’s forlorn Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn: “What if you want to drive a gas hog? You don’t have the right any longer in this country to spend your money to drive a gas hog?” [More] rss.sciam.com |
Metropolitan Diary Autumn romance, a tribute in ink, a letter lost and found, and other tales of city life. nytimes.com |
The Origin of the Mind (preview) Not too long ago three aliens descended to Earth to evaluate the status of intelligent life. One specialized in engineering, one in chemistry and one in computation. Turning to his colleagues, the engineer reported (translation follows): “All of the creatures here are solid, some segmented, with capacities to move on the ground, through the water or air. All extremely slow. Unimpressive.” The chemist then commented: “All quite similar, derived from different sequences of four chemical ingredients.” Next the computational expert opined: “Limited computing abilities. But one, the hairless biped, is unlike the others. It exchanges information in a manner that is primitive and inefficient but remarkably different from the others. It creates many odd objects, including ones that are consumable, others that produce symbols, and yet others that destroy members of its tribe.”“But how can this be?” the engineer mused. “Given the similarity in form and chemistry, how can their computing capacity differ?” “I am not certain,” confessed the computational alien. “But they appear to have a system for creating new expressions that is infinitely more powerful than those of all the other living kinds. I propose that we place the hairless biped in a different group from the other animals, with a separate origin, and from a different galaxy.” The other two aliens nodded, and then all three zipped home to present their report. [More] rss.sciam.com |
The Future of Climate Policy Could Be Found in Copenhagen In a few short weeks, world leaders will assemble in Copenhagen for the much anticipated United Nations Climate Change Conference. Their goal: to draft an agreement that will limit global warming, chiefly by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As the 12-day meeting gets closer, the chorus from jaded pundits and politicians gets louder: “It can’t be done.”Nonsense. The naysayers have two reasonable concerns. One: Countries will never agree on limits because they are out to protect their own interests, which differ. Two: Even if they reach an agreement, it will never hold because it will raise energy prices, which people will resist. Fortunately, both worries can be resolved. [More] rss.sciam.com |
How does background noise affect our concentration? How does background noise affect our concentration? --Philip Miele, Dublin, Ohio [More] rss.sciam.com |