A truck scale in Tanzania. Photo by Jan Hoffmann.
Whether they are weighing train cars, big rigs or vegetables in your local grocery, scales are the engines that drive global commerce. Without them, there could be no trade, and laboratories and pharmaceutical companies would have to dream up other ways to assay, mete and dose. Yet most of us are oblivious to the physical laws and clever engineering that go into these pivotal devices. It’s time to weigh in on…
Posted in Biochemistry, Chemistry, Computing, Consumer, Engineering, Gadgets, Geoscience, History, Materials, Physics, Science, Technology
Tagged atomic force microscope, economics, Egypt, fluid dynamics, Hooke's law, hydraulics, leverage, load cell, mechanical advantage, pneumatics, resistance, strain gauge, transducer, Wheatstone bridge
“Non-Violence” by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd. Photo by Francois Polito.
The idea that criminals should forfeit certain civil rights reaches back at least to the 19th-century concept of civiliter mortuus (“civil death”). Today, federal law bars convicted felons from possessing firearms or ammunition. Case closed, right? Wrong. Federal law works in mysterious ways, particularly when it bumps up against state interests and high court interpretations.
Can a Felon Own a Gun in the United States?
Posted in Consumer, Law, Philosophy
Tagged 2nd Ammendment, 7th Circuit, ATF, civil death, civil disabilities, Commerce Clause, District of Columbia v. Heller, Federal Firearms Act of 1938, gun control, Gun Control Act of 1968, guns, IRS, law, McDonald v. Chicago, Moore v. Madigan, National Firearms Act of 1934, NRA, U.S. Supreme Court
Photo by Slowking4
Tragic events like the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting inspire horror and indignation. They also boost gun sales and energize campaigns demanding more comprehensive (or better-enforced) gun control. But as of this writing, the likelihood of legal reform following the events in Newtown, Conn., remains unclear.
In the U.S., the gun control debate involves deep-seated beliefs concerning constitutional law, individual rights, the proper role of the state and how to build the best and safest society. But it also encompasses an important practical question:
Do Countries with Stricter Gun Laws Experience Less Crime or Fewer Homicides?
Posted in Consumer, Culture, History, Law, Psychology, Science, Technology, Uncategorized, Weapons
Tagged 2nd Ammendment, ATF, behavior, constitution, crime, economics, Freakonomics, gun control, guns, homicide, mass shooting, murder, NRA, suicide, violence
Diagram by KVDP
Petroleum use is rife with environmental and security issues, and first-generation biofuels fall well short of carbon neutrality. Moreover, as global food crops literally lose ground to biofuel production, mounting scarcity is driving up food prices, increasing global hunger and political instability.
But what if we could have our rice and burn it, too? What if we could derive energy from crops without killing them, or generate power using plants and land not needed for food, all through the power of microbes?
How Plant-microbial Fuel Cells Work
Posted in Biochemistry, Chemistry, Consumer, Electromagnetism, Engineering, Green, Science, Technology, Water Issues
Tagged biofuels, climate change, desalination, economics, energy, environment, food, fuel cell, MFC, microbes, nature, PMFC, water
Scanning electron micrograph of C. diff, courtesy CDC
Accepting a transplant of someone else’s stool might sound extreme, but it might just be the next big thing in medicine, thanks in part to a potentially deadly stomach bug called Clostridium difficile.
C. diff, an emerging epidemic in hospitals and nursing homes that tears through the gut like Sherman through Georgia, has grown increasingly virulent and antibiotic-resistant in recent years. For many sufferers, fecal microbiota transplantation offers hope when all else fails. Can we get over the “ick factor” when our lives are on the line? You bet we can.