"Play It Again God"

Good Deeds, Good News, Good Times

Archive for June, 2009

Mozambique agrees to protect lost rainforest of Mount Mabu

Jun 30

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

Conservation secured after expedition discovers new species of snake, butterfly and chameleon in untouched African landscape

Antonia Windsor in Mozambique

The unique lost rainforest of Mount Mabu is to be given protection from exploitation, following a new expedition to the remote area revealed a host of new species.

The existence of the pristine forest in northern Mozambique was revealed by the Observer last year, and was originally discovered with the help of Google Earth. It is now thought to be the largest such forest in southern Africa.

At a meeting this week in the capital Maputo, government ministers agreed to put conservation measures in place before any commercial logging occurs there after meeting representatives from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (MMCT), and numerous other groups involved in the project.
More

Tags:

Housewife finds £250,000 treasure with metal detector

Jun 30

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

A housewife has discovered a 15th-century gold treasure valued at £250,000 with a metal detector.

Mrs Hannaby, 57, from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, made the discovery while out on one of her regular six-hour Sunday detecting walks with her son Michael, a 33 year-old wood carver.

The treasure had been buried four inches below the ground for around 500 years – despite repeated ploughing and previous attempts by the Hannabys to unearth treasure on the same patch of arable field between Ashridge and Great Gaddesden.

“You get a buzz every time you get a signal, but chances are it won’t be anything,” said Mrs Hannaby, a former pub kitchen worker.

“This time, it popped up all of a sudden,” said her son. “You can literally miss things by inches. We couldn’t believe it. We always dreamed of finding treasure.”
More

Tags:

Frog dozes in mud for years without food, water

Jun 29

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

Research reveals how the frog and other ‘super-sleeper’ animals do it

One species of burrowing frogs can survive for years buried in mud without food and water. New research has figured out how the frog and other “super-sleeper” animals do it.090629-burrowing-frog-02.hmedium

Many species of animals go through a period of torpor to conserve energy when resources are scarce. The champion in energy-saving mode is the burrowing frog (Cyclorana alboguttata).

A team of scientists at the University of Queensland discovered that the metabolism of these frogs ‘ cells changes radically during the dormancy period allowing maximized use of limited energy resources without ever running on empty.

This discovery could lead to medical applications down the line.

“It could potentially be useful in the treatment of energy-related disorders such as obesity ,” said Sara Kayes, who will present her findings at the Society of Experimental Biology Annual Meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday, June 29.
More

Tags: ,

Toyota technology has brain waves move wheelchair

Jun 29

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota Motor Corp. says it has developed a way of steering a wheelchair by just detecting brain waves, without the person having to move a muscle or shout a command.

Toyota’s system, developed in a collaboration with researchers in Japan, is among the fastest in the world in analyzing brain waves, it said in a release Monday.

Past systems required several seconds to read brain waves, but the new technology requires only 125 milliseconds — or 125 thousandths of a second.

The person in the wheelchair wears a cap that can read brain signals, which are relayed to a brain scan electroencephalograph, or EEG, on the electrically powered wheelchair, and then analyzed in a computer program.

Research into mobility is part of Toyota’s larger strategy to go beyond automobiles in helping people get around in new ways.

The new system allows the person on the wheelchair to turn left or right and go forward, almost instantly, according to researchers.
More

Tags:

Algae Farm Aims to Turn Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel

Jun 29

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

Dow Chemical and Algenol Biofuels, a start-up company, are set to announce Monday that they will build a demonstration plant that, if successful, would use algae to turn carbon dioxide into ethanol as a vehicle fuel or an ingredient in plastics.

Because algae does not require any farmland or much space, many energy companies are trying to use it to make commercial quantities of hydrocarbons for fuel and chemicals. But harvesting the hydrocarbons has proved difficult so far.

The ethanol would be sold as fuel, the companies said, but Dow’s long-term interest is in using it as an ingredient for plastics, replacing natural gas. The process also produces oxygen, which could be used to burn coal in a power plant cleanly, said Paul Woods, chief executive of Algenol, which is based in Bonita Springs, Fla. The exhaust from such a plant would be mostly carbon dioxide, which could be reused to make more algae.
More

Tags: ,

Blind karate student earns black belt

Jun 29

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

By RICHIE RATHSACK Record-Journal

MERIDEN, Conn.—Some call it a big obstacle to overcome; he just calls it a nuisance. All agree it took a lot of hard work to accomplish what he has.

George Sanchez is blind, and after passing his test this month, he is also something that defines his character much more: a karate black belt.

Sanchez, 47, stood next to his 10-year-old son, Timothy, and the rest of his class as both were awarded black belts by Villari’s martial arts studio, in Southington, after four years of work.

“It feels great,” Sanchez, a former Southington resident who recently moved to Middletown, said after passing the test in Windsor. “It was a lot of hard work to get here.”
More

Tags:

Ship of plastic bottles to send eco-message

Jun 28

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

By Michelle Locke – Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — You’ve heard of a ship in a bottle. How about a ship made of plastic bottles? That would be the Plastiki, designed to sail the Pacific on an 11,000-mile (17,702-kilometer) voyage highlighting the dangers of living in a throwaway world.

“Waste is fundamentally a design flaw. We wanted to design a vessel that would epitomize waste being used as a resource,” said expedition leader David de Rothschild.

The boat is named in honor of the 1947 Kon-Tiki raft sailed across the Pacific by explorer Thor Heyerdahl, an ocean adventure that inspired de Rothschild.

There’s a bit more of a tie-in. One of the Plastiki team members is Josian Heyerdahl, the explorer’s granddaughter.

An environmental scientist who works on business sustainability issues, Heyerdahl, 25, became part of the project after reading about it and introducing herself to de Rothschild.

She’s enthusiastic about the idea of using adventure to engage people’s attention in rethinking trash.
More

Tags:

Car Sharing Goes Electric

Jun 28

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

Baltimore has rolled out an electric car sharing program featuring 10 small city cars that deliver as much as 120 miles per charge, and the people behind the program hope to see it catch on in other cities.

Battery maker Electrovaya is providing its Maya 300 for rent through the Maryland Science Center in the city’s Inner Harbor district. City residents and tourists can tool around in four-door hatchbacks available online at AltCar.org for as little as $7.50 an hour. Although Electrovaya isn’t tryting to squeeze into ZipCar’s market, the head of the science center said there’s no reason the program couldn’t be launched elsewhere.

“Baltimore is first, but this is a model other cities could copy,” Vin Reiner, president and CEO of the science center, said Wednesday. “There are several cities that would benefit from an electric car share program.”
More

Tags:

House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change

Jun 27

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

By JOHN M. BRODER

WASHINGTON — The House passed legislation on Friday intended to address global warming and transform the way the nation produces and uses energy.

The vote was the first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change. The legislation, which passed despite deep divisions among Democrats, could lead to profound changes in many sectors of the economy, including electric power generation, agriculture, manufacturing and construction.

The bill’s passage, by 219 to 212, with 44 Democrats voting against it, also established a marker for the United States when international negotiations on a new climate change treaty begin later this year.
More

Tags:

City seeks heroes to rescue school athletics

Jun 27

Posted by Ray in Uncategorized | No Comments

By Bob Hohler, Globe Staff

With local school athletic systems in crisis, professional sports teams in some American cities have rushed to the rescue.

In Denver, charitable arms of the Avalanche, Broncos, Nuggets, and Rockies have contributed more than $1 million over the last five years to improve sports in the public schools. In Cleveland, the Browns donated $300,000 to the city’s school athletic department, and the Indians kicked in $250,000.

In San Francisco, the Giants and 49ers agreed to a ticket tax – 25 cents for every Giants ticket, 75 cents for every 49ers ticket over $27 – to help fund the city’s athletic programs. The fees have generated about $1 million a year for sports in the schools.

“The teams were heroes,’’ said Don Collins, the San Francisco district’s athletic director. “They made us viable again.’’
More

Tags: