“Everything about it would be bad,” says Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at Adler Planetarium in Chicago, beginning with your attempt to scoop it up. Despite the fact that white dwarfs are fairly common throughout the universe, the nearest is 8.6 light-years away. Let’s assume, though, that you’ve spent 8.6 years in your light-speed car and that the radiation and heat emanating from the star didn’t kill you on your approach. White dwarfs are extremely dense stars, and their surface gravity is about 100,000 times as strong as Earth’s. “You’d have to get your sample—which would be very hard to carve out—without falling onto the star and getting flattened into a plasma,” Hammergren says. “And even then, the high pressure would cause the hydrogen atoms in your body to fuse into helium.”
(This type of reaction, by the way, is what triggers a hydrogen bomb.)
Then you’d have to worry about confinement. Freeing the sample from its superdense, high-pressure home and bringing it to Earth’s relatively low-pressure environment would cause it to expand explosively without proper containment. But if it didn’t blow up in your face—or vaporize your face, since the stuff’s temperature ranges between 10,000˚ and 100,000˚F—and you somehow got it to your kitchen table, you’d be hard-pressed to feed yourself: A single teaspoon would weigh in excess of five tons. “You’d pop it into your mouth and it would fall unimpeded through your body, carve a channel through your gut, come out through your nether regions, and burrow a hole toward the center of the Earth,” Hammergren says. “The good news is that it’s not quite dense enough to have a strong enough gravitational field to rip you apart from the inside out.”
It probably wouldn’t be worth the trouble anyway, Hammergren laments. White dwarfs are mostly helium or carbon, so your teaspoonful would taste like a whiff of flavorless helium gas or a lick of coal. But if you’re desperate for a taste of star, you don’t really need to travel 8.6 light-years—your fridge is full of the stuff. Most of the elements that make up our bodies and everything around us were formed in the cores of stars and then belched out into the universe over billions of years. Basically everything you eat was once part of a star. Might we recommend some star fruit?
UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said this past week that UN experts found "nothing to be worried about" during their first inspection of a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran.UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said this past week that UN experts found... more
Reported Cases in Ukraine Double in Two Days
Recombinomics Commentary 14:34
November 4, 2009
478,456 Influenza/ARI
24,003 Hospitalized
60 Ventilators
81 Deaths
The above numbers are from the latest update from Ukraine. The number of infected patients has almost doubled to just under ½ million, compared to the report two days ago (see map). Hospitalized patients also have spiked higher, to 24K from 15K. ICU cases are not listed, but 60 on ventilators are. However, most (37) of those on ventilators are Chernivisti Oblast, but Lviv, which has the most fatalities and cases, has none, suggesting the data is incomplete or there are significant shortages of ventilators. The number of dead has risen to 81, but media reports describe additional fatalities, include those in the Kiev Oblast.
The explosion of cases again raises concerns that the number of fatalities is significantly higher than the 81 listed. Media reports have described an equal number of pneumonia fatalities which were not considered flu related. The basis of these exclusions remains unclear. Similarly, anecdotal reports suggest the number of fatalities is markedly higher than the 81 in the table.
The rapid rise in reported infections, hospitalizations, and deaths in the past few days raise concerns that the virus is transmitting very efficiently. Spikes in cases have been reported throughout the northern hemisphere, but the spike in fatalities and the frequency in hemorrhagic cases in Ukraine have raised concerns.
Earlier media reports suggest that an update by WHO might be issued today and include preliminary analysis of samples sent to Mill Hill in London.
Daily updates on the rapidly evolving situation in Ukraine, including sequence analysis, would be useful.
President Barack Obama has nominated William Magwood to serve on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Magwood is a booster of nuclear power with undisclosed business connections to nuclear energy firms.President Barack Obama has nominated William Magwood to serve on the Nuclear... more
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accusing the west of treating Iran unfairly over its nuclear program. In an interview with the London Guardian, Erdogan down-played western fears that Iran wants to build an atomic bomb as "gossip" and said a military strike against Iranian nuclear installations would be "crazy."Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is accusing the west of treating Iran... more
Colorado U.S. Sen. Mark Udall Wednesday took his boldest step yet on the road to a national nuclear renaissance as part of a program designed to combat global warming. He introduced the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative Improvement Act of 2009 in a lengthy speech on the Senate floor in which he acknowledged he was likely stepping on an environmental landmine.
"For some, news that a Udall is speaking favorably about nuclear power will come as a stark - and perhaps unpleasant - surprise. But I also believe public and expert opinion on the risks and benefits of nuclear power has changed," Udall said, referencing the 1979 Three Mile Island power plant meltdown and the industry's struggle to improve its public image in the ensuing three decades.
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- The first day of meetings on the future of Iran's nuclear program ended Monday on a note of optimism from the director-general of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency.
"We have had quite a constructive meeting," said Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency. "We are off to a good start. Most of the technical issues have been discussed and we will continue tomorrow."
His comments came after officials from Tehran had huddled with representatives of the United States, Russia and France at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna.
Monday's meetings ended before 6 p.m. (noon ET) and were slated to reconvene Tuesday at 10 a.m. (4 a.m. ET).
Participants included Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali-Asghar Soltaniyeh; Nikolay Spassky, deputy head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency; Frederic Mondoloni, French representative to the IAEA; and U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman.
The world powers and Iran agreed in principle at the beginning of October that low-enriched uranium produced in Iran -- not weapons-grade material -- would be sent abroad for further enrichment, then returned for use in medical research and treatment.
Details of the tentative deal are expected to be worked out at the Vienna meetings, which could stretch into Tuesday, according to Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief.
A senior U.S. official has said that the enrichment would take place in Russia.
"The potential advantage of this, if it's implemented, is that it would significantly reduce Iran's [low-enriched] stockpile, which itself is a source of anxiety in the Middle East and elsewhere," the official told reporters on October 1. It's a source of anxiety because low-enriched fuel has the potential of being further enriched into weapons-grade uranium.
...More...MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- The first day of meetings on the future of Iran's nuclear... more
(CNN) -- United Nations inspectors will visit Iran's recently disclosed nuclear power plant on October 25, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency announced Sunday from Tehran.
"It is important for us to send out inspectors to do comprehensive verification ... to assure ourselves that it is ... fit for peaceful purposes," Mohamed ElBaradei said.
Iran sent shock waves through the international community recently when Tehran wrote a letter to the IAEA revealing the existence of a nuclear enrichment facility near the city of Qom.
The Islamic republic says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, but the United States, among others, fear the country aims to build nuclear weapons.
ElBaradei urged Iran to submit to more comprehensive inspections because its nuclear program is so advanced.
"It would help the agency to have Iran subscribing again to our regulations that allow us to be informed of the construction of nuclear facilities as early as possible," he said.
He also pressed Iran to give the IAEA "the authority for more information, for access to more locations that would enable the agency to provide assurances not only about declared nuclear activity in Iran but also about possible undeclared activities."
And ElBaradei said progress was being made on Iran's request for enriched uranium to help treat cancer patients.
Iran will sit down with the United States, Russia and France on October 19 at IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, to discuss that request, he said.
A deal on that front could be important because it could reduce the amount of nuclear fuel Iran has to make a bomb.(CNN) -- United Nations inspectors will visit Iran's recently disclosed nuclear power... more
Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the U.S.
Reality: Iran has not launched an aggressive war modern history (unlike the U.S. or Israel), and its leaders have a doctrine of "no first strike." This is true of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as of Revolutionary Guards commanders.
Belief: Iran is a militarized society bristling with dangerous weapons and a growing threat to world peace.
Reality: Iran's military budget is a little over $6 billion annually. Sweden, Singapore and Greece all have larger military budgets. Moreover, Iran is a country of 70 million, so that its per capita spending on defense is tiny compared to these others, since they are much smaller countries with regard to population. Iran spends less per capita on its military than any other country in the Persian Gulf region with the exception of the United Arab Emirates.
Belief: Iran has threatened to attack Israel militarily and to "wipe it off the map."
Reality: No Iranian leader in the executive has threatened an aggressive act of war on Israel, since this would contradict the doctrine of 'no first strike' to which the country has adhered. The Iranian president has explicitly said that Iran is not a threat to any country, including Israel.
Belief: But didn't President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threaten to "wipe Israel off the map?"
Reality: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did quote Ayatollah Khomeini to the effect that "this Occupation regime over Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time" (in rezhim-e eshghalgar-i Qods bayad as safheh-e ruzgar mahv shavad). This was not a pledge to roll tanks and invade or to launch missiles, however. It is the expression of a hope that the regime will collapse, just as the Soviet Union did. It is not a threat to kill anyone at all.
Belief: But aren't Iranians Holocaust deniers?
Reality: Some are, some aren't. Former president Mohammad Khatami has castigated Ahmadinejad for questioning the full extent of the Holocaust, which he called "the crime of Nazism." Many educated Iranians in the regime are perfectly aware of the horrors of the Holocaust. In any case, despite what propagandists imply, neither Holocaust denial (as wicked as that is) nor calling Israel names is the same thing as pledging to attack it militarily.
Belief: Iran is like North Korea in having an active nuclear weapons program, and is the same sort of threat to the world.
Reality: Iran has a nuclear enrichment site at Natanz near Isfahan where it says it is trying to produce fuel for future civilian nuclear reactors to generate electricity. All Iranian leaders deny that this site is for weapons production, and the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly inspected it and found no weapons program. Iran is not being completely transparent, generating some doubts, but all the evidence the IAEA and the CIA can gather points to there not being a weapons program. The 2007 National Intelligence Estimate by 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency, assessed with fair confidence that Iran has no nuclear weapons research program. This assessment was based on debriefings of defecting nuclear scientists, as well as on the documents they brought out, in addition to U.S. signals intelligence from Iran. While Germany, Israel and recently the U.K. intelligence is more suspicious of Iranian intentions, all of them were badly wrong about Iraq's alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction and Germany in particular was taken in by Curveball, a drunk Iraqi braggart.
The rest wouldn't fit.Belief: Iran is aggressive and has threatened to attack Israel, its neighbors or the... more
Image: The existence of Natanz was revealed by exiled groups several years ago.
Iran has revealed the existence of a second uranium enrichment plant, the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed.
Tehran made the announcement earlier this week in a letter to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammed ElBaradei.
Iran has previously acknowledged it has one enrichment plant at Natanz, which IAEA inspectors are monitoring.
The US, UK and France are set to accuse Iran of concealing the plant later on Friday, media reports say.
They and other Western nations have long feared that Iran is planning to develop an atomic weapon.
Iran has revealed the existence of a second uranium enrichment plant, the UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed.
Tehran made the announcement earlier this week in a letter to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammed ElBaradei.
Iran has previously acknowledged it has one enrichment plant at Natanz, which IAEA inspectors are monitoring.
The US, UK and France are set to accuse Iran of concealing the plant later on Friday, media reports say.
They and other Western nations have long feared that Iran is planning to develop an atomic weapon.
IRAN'S NUCLEAR SITES:
Iran insists that all its nuclear facilities are for energy, not military purposes
Bushehr: Nuclear power plant
Isfahan: Uranium conversion plant
Natanz: Uranium enrichment plant, 4,592 working centrifuges, with 3,716 more installed
Second enrichment plant: Existence revealed to IAEA in Sept 2009. Separate reports say it is near Qom, and not yet operational
Arak: Heavy water plant
Tehran has always insisted its programme is for peaceful means.
Iran is supposed to have stopped all enrichment under threat of sanctions from the UN Security Council.
News of the Iranian letter comes days before Iran is due to enter fresh talks over its controversial nuclear programme.
France called Iran's move a "serious violation" of UN Security Council resolutions.
The IAEA confirmed it received a letter from Iran on Monday informing it that "a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction".
Iran told the agency that no nuclear material had been introduced into the plant, and enrichment levels would only be high enough to make nuclear fuel, not a bomb.
In response, the IAEA has requested Iran to "provide specific information and access to the facility as soon as possible", an IAEA statement adds.
Iran insists that all its nuclear facilities are for energy, not military purposesImage: The existence of Natanz was revealed by exiled groups several years ago.... more
First Editorial that I have seen that takes on a Republican Gov. over poor old energy policy. About time.First Editorial that I have seen that takes on a Republican Gov. over poor old energy... more
The Italian government, completely ignoring the will of the people who voted for the abandonment of nuclear power in the 1987 referendum and the continuing opposition to the project of a majority of Italians, unveiled plans to build new nuclear plants in cooperation with France. The sites of course will be militarized and therefore will be difficult if not impossible, to protest.The Italian government, completely ignoring the will of the people who voted for the... more
India has launched its first nuclear submarine. And the US is close to a deal that would allow India to re-process spent US nuclear fuel. Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Henry Sokolski, of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, who is concerned about both developments.
CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE....India has launched its first nuclear submarine. And the US is close to a deal that... more
US Secretary of State Clinton and Indian Foreign Minister Krishna announced a huge treaty deal today, between the largest and second largest democracies in the world. India has historically been wary of aligning itself too closely with the US in defense issues, famously starting the Non-Aligned Movement during the Cold War, which rejected Soviet and American influence. However, in the post-Cold War era, India has since decided it needed its own nuclear umbrella to protect itself from neighbors like China and Pakistan, both of which it has fought wars with since the Indian Republic's founding in 1950. With one of the largest armed forces in the world (around 3.8 million military and paramilitary), and an underdeveloped defense industry, it's a big weapons market that the US, Russia, France, and Britain have been fighting over.
The US attempted to take the high road against nuclear weapons proliferation, and it's "peaceful nuclear explosion" test in 1974 soured relations, and ensuing nuclear arms race with Pakistan brought a lot of concern. Yet, it's "no first use" and "minimum credible deterrence" nuclear doctrines, and refraining from using the weapons during the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan over Kashmir has made India seem less antagonistic. It's democratic institutions, detente with Pakistan, and geostrategic counterweight to other less liberally democratic Asian nations have made it a natural partner for the US, leading to improving relations since 2000.
US-Indian trade is around $61 billion in 2007 (out of $3.96 trillion in trade for the US, and $381 billion for India), before the Great Recession hit, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative. Foreign direct investment from the US into India was $13.6 billion, and "outsourcing" to Indian companies has been a politically dangerous issue in the US.
The deal includes removing restrictions from nuclear power production equipment and services from the US, which will benefit companies like General Electric who pioneered nuclear power in the 1940's, but has been unable to do much with the technology in the US due to nuclear paranoid NIMBYism here. French and Russian nuclear power companies already have deals to start developing in India.
The Indian Air Force is also looking to expand, so this deal gives Boeing and Lockheed Martin a chance to bid on contracts for the fighter fleet. Military aircraft are heavily dependent on a supply of parts and expert service, which makes long term military contracts necessary, making long term defense agreements necessary. Bell Helicopters also is bidding on a large helicopter contract coming up.
The Indian Army relies on lots of Soviet era vehicles, including T-72s and T-90s, primarily Kalashnikov variants, BMP-1s and BMP-2s, and so on. If India were to transfer its ground vehicles contracts to a NATO country, it could have a devastating impact on the Russian weapons industry.
The Indian Navy is one of the top five fleets in the world, with 155 ships and even a aircraft carrier purchased from the UK. Her destroyers, frigates, and corvettes are primarily indigenously produced of from Russia. But the US did manage to make a deal with her in 2006 to sell an LPD amphibious transport dock (a modern type of ship which acts as a dock in the ocean for landing craft, like hovercraft and boats). This is an old fleet, but so far no money has been appropriated to really modernize it.
India's "liberal" and "democratic" credentials have been rough to acquire, liberalizing from being a government really run by bureaucrats. The so called "license raj" has seriously hurt India's economic prospects, as the red tape throughout the country has been a disincentive to entrepreneurship. Corruption is still a part of Indian business and politics, but the decentralized nature of so many linguistic, religious, ethnic, social, and economic groups has kept limited constitutional government in place despite the poverty of the country.US Secretary of State Clinton and Indian Foreign Minister Krishna announced a huge... more
Every American needs to read this article by Amory B. Lovins. We need common sense in our energy policy and forward thinking leaders who care about protecting the health and safety of this planet. We have had enough of these nuclear power/ bomb making factories! It is time to get past WWII and not slip into WWIII. The older generation should stand down. We, the younger generation want peace, prosperity and a government that plans for preservation of all species.Every American needs to read this article by Amory B. Lovins. We need common sense in... more
Electricity growth has increased over the last decade. Coal in particular accounts for over 50 percent of U.S. electricity and over 32 percent of its carbon emissions. However, with constant media coverage on the urgency to use renewable energy to power our homes, utility leaders seem to be fighting a time-battle to create innovative ways to produce energy whilst keeping up with user demand.
Unfortunately, this is not the only problem they seem to be facing. In an interview on MeettheBoss.com, Michael Morris, Chairman of American Electric Power says that any move towards a cleaner energy future will have to combat two, major challenges: NIMBYs and a lack of proper federal legislative control.
"There is an inertia in the country of nothing in my backyard," says Morris. "We all want energy. We want all of it that we can get. We want it cheap, and we want it clean, and we want no opportunity to see where it came from."
Morris's concerns should be taken seriously. AEP is the largest electricity generator in America, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states over 39,000 miles of network. His influence in creating a sustainable future will be vital over the next decade.
Morris believes that now is the perfect time to build out a better electricity network. "It's great for jobs [and] if we're ultimately going to make this country greener and less dependent on fossil-based fuels, it's essential," he says. "Federal legislative control and a legislative federal cost allocation authority would really take down the barriers that are holding back the capital investment needed."
View the interview now on www.meettheboss.comElectricity growth has increased over the last decade. Coal in particular accounts for... more
An hour of stories you won't see anywhere else on the lives, hopes, dreams and fears of the people risking death in Iran to make their voices heard.
This special presentation includes an exclusive look at being young in Iran, whether at underground dance parties or as one of the Basij, Iran's culture cops.An hour of stories you won't see anywhere else on the lives, hopes, dreams and fears... more
He also somehow concludes that big oil, coal, and nuclear do not have an agenda in government because in the beginning the market determined their viability. His wisdom is mind numbing.He also somehow concludes that big oil, coal, and nuclear do not have an agenda in... more
In the early 1970s when I helped found Greenpeace, I believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust, as did most of my compatriots. That's the conviction that inspired Greenpeace's first voyage up the spectacular rocky northwest coast to protest the testing of U.S. hydrogen bombs in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Thirty years on, my views have changed, and the rest of the environmental movement needs to update its views, too, because nuclear energy may just be the energy source that can save our planet from another possible disaster: catastrophic climate change.
Look at it this way: More than 600 coal-fired electric plants in the United States produce 36 percent of U.S. emissions -- or nearly 10 percent of global emissions -- of CO2, the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that can reduce these emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power. And these days it can do so safely.
Read the rest of the fascinating article at the link!
Go Green, support Nuclear Energy!Going Nuclear
A Green Makes the Case
By Patrick Moore
Sunday, April 16, 2006;... more
