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Vehicles Powered Completely By Air (NO JOKE)
Like never before I need a second opinion... Is this for real?!
(Where is Russell Gehrke when I need him?)
Is it possible to exponentiate energy? This video claims that through various stages of compression technology, energy can be created and not entirely lost..
The CAR is POWERED by .. AIR. (under pressure)
Poof!
~I want to be a believer.
'Although it costs money to create the compressed air, that energy is actually created by, compressed air..'
Geoff Lawton, a permaculture design proffesional, says that 'it's not how much water you have in a system, it's how many times you use that water/energy.. within the system.' And I loosely quote, 'If you have one gallon of water, and you use it once, well then you have one gallon of water.. If you take that one gallon of water, and use it ten times, well then you have ten gallons of water.
Your take? Like never before I need a second opinion... Is this for real?! (Where is Russell Gehrke when I need him?) ... more -
Monsanto's Sordid History
Monsanto, best known today for its agricultural biotechnology products, has a long and dirty history of polluting this country and others with some of the most toxic compounds known to humankind. From PCBs to Agent Orange to Roundup, we have many reasons to question the motives of this company that claims to be working to reduce environmental destruction and feed the world with its genetically engineered food crops.
Headquartered near St. Louis, Missouri, the Monsanto Chemical Company was founded in 1901. Monsanto became a leading manufacturer of sulfuric acid and other industrial chemicals in the 1920s. In the 1930s, Monsanto began producing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs, widely used as lubricants, hydraulic fluids, cutting oils, waterproof coatings and liquid sealants, are potent carcinogens and have been implicated in reproductive, developmental and immune system disorders.
The world’s center of PCB manufacturing was Monsanto’s plant on the outskirts of East St. Louis, Illinois, which has the highest rate of fetal death and immature births in the state. By 1982, nearby Times Beach, Missouri, was found to be so thoroughly contaminated with dioxin, a by-product of PCB manufacturing, that the government ordered it evacuated. Dioxins are endocrine and immune system disruptors, cause congenital birth defects, reproductive and developmental problems, and increase the incidence of cancer, heart disease and diabetes in laboratory animals.
By the 1940s, Monsanto had begun focusing on plastics and synthetic fabrics like polystyrene (still widely used in food packaging and other consumer products), which is ranked fifth in the EPA’s 1980s listing of chemicals whose production generates the most total hazardous waste.
During World War II, Monsanto played a significant role in the Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb.
Following the war, Monsanto championed the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture, and began manufacturing the herbicide 2,4,5-T, which contains dioxin. Monsanto has been accused of covering up or failing to report dioxin contamination in a wide range of its products.
The herbicide “Agent Orange,” used by U.S. military forces as a defoliant during the Vietnam War, was a mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D and had very high concentrations of dioxin. U.S. Vietnam War veterans have suffered from a host of debilitating symptoms attributable to Agent Orange exposure, and since the end of the war an estimated 500,000 Vietnamese children have been born with deformities.
In the 1970s, Monsanto began manufacturing the herbicide Roundup, which has been marketed as a safe, general-purpose herbicide for widespread commercial and consumer use, even though its key ingredient, glyphosate, is a highly toxic poison for animals and humans. In 1997, The New York State Attorney General took Monsanto to court and Monsanto was subsequently forced to stop claiming that Roundup is “biodegradable” and “environmentally friendly.”
Monsanto has been repeatedly fined and ruled against for, among many things, mislabeling containers of Roundup, failing to report health data to EPA, and chemical spills and improper chemical deposition. In 1995, Monsanto ranked fifth among U.S. corporations in EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory, having discharged 37 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, land, water and underground.
Since the inception of Plan Colombia in 2000, the US has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in funding aerial sprayings of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicides in Colombia. The Roundup is often applied in concentrations 26 times higher than what is recommended for agricultural use. Additionally, it contains at least one surfactant, Cosmo-Flux 411f, whose ingredients are a trade secret, has never been approved for use in the US, and which quadruples the biological action of the herbicide.
cont... Monsanto, best known today for its agricultural biotechnology products, has a long and dirty history of polluting this country and oth... more -
Facing The Freshwater Crisis
From Scientific American:
Key points:
Global freshwater resources are threatened by rising demands from many quarters.
Growing populations need ever more water for drinking, hygiene, sanitation, food production and industry.
Climate change, meanwhile, is expected to contribute to droughts.
Policymakers need to figure out how to supply water without degrading the natural ecosystems that provide it.
Existing low-tech approaches can help prevent scarcity, as can ways to boost supplies, such as improved methods to desalinate water.
But governments at all levels need to start setting policies and making investments in infrastructure for water conservation now.
A friend of mine lives in a middle-class neighborhood of New Delhi, one of the richest cities in India. Although the area gets a fair amount of rain every year, he wakes in the morning to the blare of a megaphone announcing that freshwater will be available only for the next hour. He rushes to fill the bathtub and other receptacles to last the day. New Delhi’s endemic shortfalls occur largely because water managers decided some years back to divert large amounts from upstream rivers and reservoirs to irrigate crops.
My son, who lives in arid Phoenix, arises to the low, schussing sounds of sprinklers watering verdant suburban lawns and golf courses. Although Phoenix sits amid the Sonoran Desert, he enjoys a virtually unlimited water supply. Politicians there have allowed irrigation water to be shifted away from farming operations to cities and suburbs, while permitting recycled wastewater to be employed for landscaping and other nonpotable applications.
As in New Delhi and Phoenix, policymakers worldwide wield great power over how water resources are managed. Wise use of such power will become increasingly important as the years go by because the world’s demand for freshwater is currently overtaking its ready supply in many places, and this situation shows no sign of abating. That the problem is well-known makes it no less disturbing: today one out of six people, more than a billion, suffer inadequate access to safe freshwater. By 2025, according to data released by the United Nations, the freshwater resources of more than half the countries across the globe will undergo either stress—for example, when people increasingly demand more water than is available or safe for use—or outright shortages. By midcentury as much as three quarters of the earth’s population could face scarcities of freshwater.
Scientists expect water scarcity to become more common in large part because the world’s population is rising and many people are getting richer (thus expanding demand) and because global climate change is exacerbating aridity and reducing supply in many regions. What is more, many water sources are threatened by faulty waste disposal, releases of industrial pollutants, fertilizer runoff and coastal influxes of saltwater into aquifers as groundwater is depleted. Because lack of access to water can lead to starvation, disease, political instability and even armed conflict, failure to take action can have broad and grave consequences.
end of excerpt.
My comments at the link. From Scientific American: Key points: Global freshwater resources are threatened by rising demands from many quarters. ... more -
Man dies after cop hits him with Taser 9 times
A police officer shocked a handcuffed man nine times with a Taser after arresting him on a cocaine charge, CNN reports.
Baron 'Scooter' Pikes, 21, was Tasered nine times by a police officer in January in Winnfield, Louisiana.
He stopped twitching after seven, according to a coroner's report. Soon afterward, he was dead.
Now the officer, since fired, could end up facing criminal charges in Pikes' death after medical examiners ruled it a homicide.
"It's taken several months for this case to even be properly addressed, so one has to wonder, why did it take so long?" said Carol Powell Lexing, a lawyer for the Pikes family. "Obviously, a wrongful death occurred."
Nugent's lawyer, Phillip Terrell, said his client followed proper procedure to subdue a man who outweighed him by 100 pounds. But Williams said Pikes was already handcuffed and on the ground when first hit with the Taser, after the 247-pound suspect was slow to follow police orders to get up.
Winnfield, a sleepy lumber town about 100 miles southeast of Shreveport, Louisiana, is best known as the birthplace of legendary Louisiana governors Huey and Earl Long. It's also about 45 miles northwest of Jena, Louisiana, where a racially charged assault case sparked a September 2007 demonstration by an estimated 15,000 people.
One of the teenage defendants in that case, Mychal Bell, is Pikes' first cousin -- and his lawyer was Powell Lexing.
Nugent is white; Pikes was black. His death led to demonstrations that drew several dozen people in Winnfield, where the population of about 15,000 is roughly half African-American.
"The family wants justice," Lexing said. "This is just another example of why it's very important to stay vigilant with these types of cases, on the injustice that's been perpetrated on the disadvantaged."
But Winnfield police Lt. Chuck Curry said race "isn't an issue at all" in the matter.
"This has come down to a police officer that was trying to apprehend a suspect that they had warrants for," he said. "He done what he thought he was trained to do to bring that subject into custody. At some point, something happened with his body that caused him to go into cardiac arrest or whatever."
Does it seem feasible that race could have been an issue in this case? Are particular groups of people, like those in disadvantaged communities, extra-vulnerable to misuse of weapons like Tasers by police? And knowing that they can kill, and that police officers aren't always using them correctly, should Tasers be outlawed? Just how much power should an armed officer have over a non-armed suspect?
A police officer shocked a handcuffed man nine times with a Taser after arresting him on a cocaine charge, CNN reports. ... more -
iPhone vulnerable to phishing attacks
Security researcher Aviv Raff said on Wednesday that the iPhone's Mail and Safari applications are prone to URL spoofing and could allow phishing attacks against iPhone users.
By crafting a specially designed URL, Raff says an attacker could create an e-mail link that appears in Mail to be from a trusted site (a financial institution or social network). By clicking the link, Safari will open to the phishing site. The issue affects users of iPhone 1.1.4 and 2.0.
Raff, who has informed Apple of the vulnerability, declined on his blog to offer more details until a patch is available.
Until then, Raff suggests iPhone users "avoid clicking on links in the Mail application which refers to trusted Web sites (e.g. bank, PayPal, social networks, etc.). Instead, a user should enter the URL of the Web site manually in the Safari application."
Security researcher Aviv Raff said on Wednesday that the iPhone's Mail and Safari applications are prone to URL spoofing and could all... more -
Sony, Samsung look to upgrade HD television
Sony and Samsung are ready to give high definition television an upgrade. The two electronics giants have come together to form a consortium to provide high definition television to consumers wirelessly. Sony and Samsung, along with Motorola, Sharp and Hitachi announced their plan to develop an industry standard technology around from Amimon Ltd of Israel. The technology is called Wireless Home Digital Interface, or WHDI.
Wireless streaming high definition is difficult for electronics manufacturers to produce because the signal has to be compressed for transmission in order to be broadcast. This compression often results in loss of picture quality on the screen. However, Amimon's foray into the field has shown enough promise that major manufacturers feel confident using it as the basis of their initiative.
Consumers who currently have a tangle of wires running from the television to a blu ray player to a gaming console can look forward to having the jumble reduced. Because WHDI transmits wirelessly, that mess might soon go away.
Sony and Samsung are ready to give high definition television an upgrade. The two electronics giants have come together to form a cons... more -
Google opens Knol, it's own version of Wikipedia
Google opened its website Knol to the public on Wednesday, allowing people to write about their areas of expertise under their bylines in a twist on encyclopedia Wikipedia, which allows anonymity.
"We are deeply convinced that authorship -- knowing who wrote what -- helps readers trust the content," said Cedric DuPont, product manager for Knol.
The name of the service is a play on an individual unit of knowledge, DuPont said, and entries on the public website, knol.google.com, are called "knols". Google conducted a limited test of the site beginning in December.
Knol has publishing tools similar to single blog pages. But unlike blogs, Knol encourages writers to reduce what they know about a topic to a single page that is not chronologically updated.
Google opened its website Knol to the public on Wednesday, allowing people to write about their areas of expertise under their bylines... more -
Carry your lardarse lady to safety! PlayStation launches "Fat Princess" game
Apparently responding to female gamers' calls for more and better representation of women, Titan Studios/Sony has launched a new PlayStation game called "Fat Princess." I'm not kidding.
According to PlayStation, "Frantic and fun, Fat Princess pits two hordes of players against each other in comic medieval battle royale. Your goal is to rescue your beloved princess from the enemy dungeon. There’s a catch though: your adversary has been stuffing her with food to fatten her up and it’s going to take most of your army working together to carry her back across the battlefield."
Wow. This isn't even a joke. Sony has certainly got the wheels of publicity spinning - online debate and bitchery have begun in earnest, and it's certainly intense.
Some gaming bloggers are pleased - and surprised - by just how good the game is:
"With the title and logo the way it is, it may be hard to think of Fat Princess as a real hardcore title, but that's exactly what it is. Fights always end in bloody messes. After a massive battle, you'll see body parts and blood soaking the entirety of the floor. With its unique art style, high concept, and fun presentation, we can't wait to play Fat Princess when it debuts exclusively on the PSN later this year."
And from one eloquent and angry female gamer, this gem:
"Anyway, congrats on your awesome new game, Sony. I'm positively thrilled to see such unyielding dedication to creating a new generation of fat-hating, heteronormative assholes. It's not often I have the opportunity to congratulate a cutting-edge tech company on such splendiferous retrofuck jackholery. Way to go! The Fat Princess of Shakes Manor salutes you."
A moment's pause please, for 'splendiferous retrofuck jackholery'. Mmm, delicious.
So, "Fat Princess" - a harmless joke, a justified reaction to developments in the real world (where of course everyone is piling on the pounds, if moral panics are to be believed), or a shocking example of sexism, fattism, and just plain wrong-ism? Let the games begin...
Apparently responding to female gamers' calls for more and better representation of women, Titan Studios/Sony has launched a new PlayS... more -
H2O - John Todd and The Eco-Restorer vs. Chlorine Chem. Dump 'waste'-water treatme...
The common chlorine chem. dump waste-treatment facilities are becoming a thing of the past..
Industry 'standards' are stubborn to budge, however, natural solutions make common cents. My the best woah-man win..
For the sustainable solutions of the future we've got to call in someone with experience... A few billion years experience that is.. Momma Nature knows best.
This Interview with John Todd Sr., walks us through various eco-restoration projects. They demonstrate the power of restoring "waste" sites, into a resource of clean water and beauty.
Enjoy..
The common chlorine chem. dump waste-treatment facilities are becoming a thing of the past.. ... more -
Breaking up just got easier - dump your lover by voicemail
Need to break up with someone, but dreading the moment? This new service could be just the thing for you!
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Apple getting ready for 'product transition'
Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer's decision to warn financial analysts Monday that Apple's fourth-quarter gross margins will be negatively impacted by a "product transition" should be enough to get the rumor wheels turning: of course, it doesn't take all that much. The remark came within yet another Apple's earnings report that produced stellar numbers for the previous quarter but an outlook below what Wall Street had been expecting.
Oppenheimer deftly avoided several questions from analysts who tried to get a little more information on just what that "product transition" might involve. He used the exact same phrase last year in July during an earnings call to warn analysts of pretty much the exact same situation: that the transition would cause lower profits for the upcoming quarter. The result, new iMacs in August, and the iPod Touch in September.
There are two obvious scenarios that would cause a CFO to warn shareholders that his profit margins might be a little light heading into the upcoming quarter: lower prices, or more expensive production costs.
We already have a pretty strong suspicion that Apple is planning to introduce new notebooks during the quarter. It's been quite some time since the design of the MacBook has received an update, and with Apple's other notebooks sporting an aluminum enclosure these days, it's not hard to envision a similar design in the works for the MacBook based on Intel's new Centrino 2 technology.
But how would that change the margins on the MacBook? The MacBook seems to be the most popular segment of Apple's notebook lineup and perhaps switching to the aluminum enclosure for such a high-volume product would increase Apple's production costs for the MacBook.
Could Apple be considering overall pricing changes in the Mac lineup? One financial analyst seemed to suggest that with a line of questioning that Oppenheimer parried. Apple offers a smaller degree of customized options for Macs on its Web site than other PC vendors do on theirs, and the markup on some of the extra components is pretty steep.
The trouble with that theory is that there doesn't seem to be any real reason for Apple to change the pricing of the Mac at this point: the company just sold the highest number of Macs in a quarter in its history. Price doesn't seem to be an object to sales, so why take the margin hit?
Likewise, the iPhone pricing isn't likely to go anywhere in the quarter with the iPhone 3G just making its way out to the public. The subsidized pricing courtesy of AT&T isn't going to change that quickly: Apple COO Tim Cook admitted that the company's internal surveys revealed that a lot of people who liked the iPhone weren't going to pay $399 for it. Apple and AT&T are likely to give the $199/$299 pricing scheme at least the remainder of the year before revisiting things.
The most likely bet for a price cut is the iPod Touch, which sticks out like a sore thumb at $499 for the high-end model compared to the new pricing for the iPhone. Apple wants the iPod Touch to be the future of its iPod lineup, but it's a pretty pricey option compared with the rest of the iPod lineup right now.
Consumers responded very well last quarter to the February price cut for the iPod Shuffle, Oppenheimer said. Obviously, those people buying the Shuffle and those buying the Touch are looking for two very different things in a portable music player. But still, in a economically tepid year, every dollar matters more than usual.
An iPod Touch price cut makes perfect sense: drop the 8GB model, move the 16GB down to $299, and the 32GB down to $399.
Both of those products could take some time to ramp up to volumes that could make the margins more palatable, although it's important to remember that Apple's margins will still be 30 percent after the decline. That's still pretty healthy for a company in its category. Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer's decision to warn financial analysts Monday that Apple's fourth-quarter gross margins... more -
HIV symptoms not being diagnosed properly, claims charity
People showing the symptoms of early-stage HIV infection are routinely being misdiagnosed by doctors, according to a report by the National AIDS Trust.
NAT, the UK’s leading independent policy and campaigning charity on HIV and AIDS, has found that in one Brighton study, almost half of those who sought medical advice for what eventually turned out to be HIV symptoms were not diagnosed correctly.
Symptoms of early-stage HIV include sore throat, fever and rash and will show within two to six weeks of infection in 70-90 per cent of cases.
But the study found that GPs and other healthcare professionals were commonly dismissing these symptoms as signs of common viral infections, with comments such as: "Probably glandular fever" or "Come back in two weeks if you’re not feeling better."
NAT argues that while these symptoms may seem innocuous, coupled with recent risky behaviour, they should suggest possible HIV infection and the need for a HIV test.
"Diagnosing HIV at an early stage could have a significant impact on reducing HIV infections in the UK," said NAT Chief Executive Deborah Jack.
"Our advice is simple; if you suspect you may have been infected with HIV seek medical advice immediately. Do not wait."
HIV testing has seen great advances in recent years. The majority of cases can now be diagnosed from 12 days after infection.
However, the figures for HIV infection rates in the UK remain high. Over 80,000 people live with HIV.
A third of people with HIV are not diagnosed, and a third of those that are diagnosed are diagnosed late.
Should patients have to specify if they're potentially high-risk for exposure to HIV on a routine visit to the doctor with something like a sore throat, fever and rash, when they could be perfectly benign symptoms? Is it up to the GP to search out this kind of sensitive information, or is it for the patient to volunteer it? Is it possible to have a trusting and sympathetic relationship with your GP (I've rarely seen the same one twice in my local surgery) or does that not even matter?
People showing the symptoms of early-stage HIV infection are routinely being misdiagnosed by doctors, according to a report by the Nat... more -
New girly videogames based on teen movies
Because videogames, let's be honest, have so far mostly appealed to only half the population (the one with doodles), videogame makers have long been racking their brains trying to come up with a way to attract that other half (the ones with hoo-has). It's that eternal dance of nerds trying to woo ladies and failing miserably. But now they've got a new plan that's sure to work! Video games based on girly movies like Mean Girls, Clueless, and Pretty In Pink.
Paramount is developing all of these as so-called "casual titles." We don't really know what that means (maybe our brother site Kotaku does), but we like to guess challenges include fighting all the junior girls in a hallway battle royale, running around the Valley dodging muggers and the sleazy Elton's car, and trying to do the Duckie prom dance while dodging Bolo tie projectiles. Squeeeeallll doesn't it sound fun? So much better than those games where you just indiscriminately kill people. Right?
Because videogames, let's be honest, have so far mostly appealed to only half the population (the one with doodles), videogame makers ... more -
Man jailed for attacks on gay men he met in chatrooms
A life sentence has been handed to a Swedish man for his brutal attacks against gay men.
Swedish website The Local reported that the 35-year-old was convicted of killing a man in his own home on December 28th 2007 and of the robbery and attempted murder of a 44-year-old man the day before. He was also convicted of robbing two men on the ninth and 15th of December, having finished a sentence in January 2007 for similar crimes.
The man met his victims through internet chat sites and gave the impression that he wanted to have sex with them, meeting them in their apartments in Stockholm.
His last victim died from knife wounds and a knife was used in the attempted murder. The victim received a number of threats and stab wounds, including one on the sole of his foot as he lay naked in bed with his hand tied behind his back. He also had his wallet, holding 900 kronor (around £75), stolen.
"All the victims were, or are, homosexual," said public prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad at the man's indictment hearing. "He has taken advantage of their sexual preferences and violated them."
Have you ever met someone in person that you'd 'met' on the internet? Did they tie you up, stab you in the foot and steal your wallet? (I hope not) Can it ever be safe to meet up with someone you 'met' online? Are minority groups particularly vulnerable in cases like this?
A life sentence has been handed to a Swedish man for his brutal attacks against gay men. ... more -
'Virtual doctor' to help rural areas
Sick people may soon be diagnosed by a "virtual" doctor across a video link instead of in person after a pilot study was heralded a success. The Health Presence hub from CISCO is being tested at a hospital in Scotland because the NHS believe it could help treat people in rural communities.
It enables patients to check their own blood pressure and heartbeat before being connected to a doctor on the screen. The medic instantly receives all the data from the initial tests and can interact with the patient and discuss their symptoms. A stethoscope, in-ear camera and weighing scales are the kinds of equipment that could be at the patients' fingertips.
If rolled out across rural areas, the hi-tech scheme could bring "great benefits", according to Dr Karyn Webster from the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, which is trialling the process.
"It is more about reaching communities than speeding up - the consultation probably takes the same amount of time but cuts out the travel time of the round trip."
In some areas, residents have to travel several hours to reach the nearest health centre, an impossibility for some older people or those with disabilities.
The Aberdeen hospital has been testing patients when they arrive at the clinic, first in the pod and then again in person to see how accurate the system is. The diagnoses were almost always indentical, Dr Webster said. She hopes the equipment could be rolled out across the country.
"With limited resources, you can't have a doctor in every rural community so it could have great benefits." Sick people may soon be diagnosed by a "virtual" doctor across a video link instead of in person after a pilot study was heralded a su... more -
Conor Oberst forthcoming album to stream online for free
Conor Oberst highly anticipated solo album will be streaming for free in its entirety beginning July 21.
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John Todd Wins Buckminster Fuller Challenge!
Permaculture, Paul Stamets, and John Todd have the tools to thrust us in a more sustainable direction. They enable 'natural' solutions, commonly by employing the 4 billion yrs experience of mother earth. Their outputs are beyond sustainable.. they are regenerative.
Congratulations JT! Permaculture, Paul Stamets, and John Todd have the tools to thrust us in a more sustainable direction. They enable 'natural' solutions... more -
Dog + iPhone = this
When you mix Bon the dog with an iPhone, this is what you get!
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German university to put world's oldest bible online
The world's oldest surviving semi-complete copy of the Bible, a 4th-century manuscript in ancient Greek that was discovered in a waste-paper bin by a German scholar, is set to be published online. The world's oldest surviving semi-complete copy of the Bible, a 4th-century manuscript in ancient Greek that was discovered in a wast... more
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Robot submarine gliding across the Atlantic Ocean
An unmanned submersible operated by Rutgers University's Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory (COOL) is "flying" -- underwater -- from New Jersey to Spain. The remote-controlled undersea glider will travel more than 3,800 miles, and will collect key scientific information on the temperature and salinity of the Atlantic Ocean.
"The big advantage is, it's totally unmanned," according to Conrad Lautenbacher, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which sponsors the submersible. "It's very efficient and can be used to obtain the same kind of data we gather from ships."
In general, sea gliders are Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) that use small changes in buoyancy in conjunction with wings to convert vertical motion to horizontal, and thereby propel themselves forward with very low power consumption. While not as fast as conventional AUVs with propulsion systems, gliders using buoyancy-based propulsion represent a significant increase in range and endurance compared to vehicles propelled by electric motor-driven propellers. The sea glider has a battery-powered data collection and satellite communication system. The U.S. Navy as well as NOAA have been developing such sea gliders for several years.
During its trans-Atlantic cruise the glider will periodically rise to the surface of the ocean to transmit data up to a satellite. But most of the time the COOL glider will travel at depths between 15 feet to 300 feet below the surface. The COOL researchers will share all collected oceanographic data with the Navy and other interested agencies. The lack of a propulsion system will aid in data collection, alleviating self-noise interference.
The Navy is also looking into glider-type AUVs -- which it calls UUVs for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles -- for several missions, primarily to undertake environmental measurements in areas where surface ships or aircraft (dropping sensors) cannot easily operate. And, of course, flotillas of such unmanned gliders would be much cheaper than manned research ships and craft.
The COOL-developed submersible is yellow, less than 8 feet long, and weighs about 130 pounds. Developed by Rutgers University, the craft will also provide the university with other important information, such as how long the craft’s batteries will last and systems reliability. Larger and more capable AUV/UUVs are being developed by the Navy under the auspices of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command’s systems center in San Diego and the Office of Naval Research.
According to the 2000 Program Guide to the U.S. Navy, the highest priority missions for Navy UUVs, presumably including gliders, are intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; mine countermeasures (i.e., locating and mapping mines); and anti-submarine warfare. Sea gliders could be very useful in collecting environmental information for ASW operations. An unmanned submersible operated by Rutgers University's Coastal Ocean Observation Laboratory (COOL) is "flying" -- underwater -- from... more
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