http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/technology.htm en-us sepp@lastrega.com Sat, 3 Feb 2007 19:46:44 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/02/03/synthetic_biology_replace_oil_addiction_with_a_sugar_binge.htm Today, sugar is a cheap and sweet, if unhealthy and addictive, addition to our daily meals. But if the plans of an upstart biotechnology company established with funds from Microsoft's Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, are anywhere close to what's in stock for the future, we may yet end up paying a premium price to satisfy our sweet tooth. Sugar Beets have many food uses - Image: Northern-Crops.com Amyris Biotechnologies, according to an article on ABC13, plans to divert sugar into the gas tank of our cars and trucks and - why not - airplanes as well. Their cutting-edge speciality - synthetic biology - promises to turn the sweet stuff into fuel. Not ethanol but gasoline or diesel ... it's all in the design of the microbes - they can be genetically engineered to do almost anything these days. What will happen to the price of sugar - and in fact anything sweetened with it - once the business gets going, is anyone's guess. Like President Bush's ill-conceived proposal to use corn for ending America's addiction to oil, biotech designer fuels have every chance to jack up our food prices by unbalancing world agricultural markets, diverting farmers into fuel production when what we need is real food. There's little difference between using corn and sugar for fuel. Both will turn out to be expensive in the long run and both are bound to benefit not so much the users of fuels and food but the multinational corporations that control everything from oil to chemicals, pharmaceuticals and factory farming. George Monbiot warned two years ago that biodiesel will have a significant effect on the availability of food, as long as the raw material we use competes for its cultivation with crops that have traditionally fed people. Amyris Biotechnologies, when it was first established with a $ 43 million from Microsoft Founder Gates' Foundation, planned to make an anti-malaria drug using synthetic biotechnology. According to the ABC article, Amyris Vice-President Jack Newman said: "This was technology that was really great for the current application of making an anti-malarial drug and we said, great, pharmaceuticals, that's a wonderful model and then we realized, our market is in Africa and they make less than a dollar a day." That was at the time when scientists realized that artemisia or sweet wormwood, a common medicinal plant, could be used as a malaria fighter and was much more effective than the pharmaceutical drugs that were losing effectiveness against the malaria parasite. Since then, malaria fighting artemisia has been cultivated in many third world countries and the biotech upstart had to look for a more lucrative business. The choice was biofuels, and with a fresh injection of $ 20 million in venture capital and a new CEO hired away from British Petroleum, the company is set to divert sugar into our gas tanks. BP itself is getting seriously involved in the effort, quite apart from its "donation" of a top manager. An unprecedented $ 500 million grant has been awarded by BP to the University of Berkeley, to finance a brand new Energy Biosciences Institute, the SFGate reports. Why is there such a rush to keep us using petrol products or something very similar?Certainly there are other, more promising alternatives for capital to be employed in getting new energy technologies on line. But then - perhaps turning food to fuel may keep the great energy business "in the family". See: Sugar in the gas tank? It might run your car someday Inside Amyris: The Name, The People, The Beginning Cal to be hub for study of alternate fuel - Group headed by UC Berkeley wins $500 million grant from BP... Society Sepp Hasslberger Sat, 3 Feb 2007 19:46:44 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/01/31/health_supreme_newsgrabs_31_january_2007.htm Sepp Hasslberger's News Grabs - a selection of alternative health news and related bits of interesting information ... In this issue: EU law 'will hit internet sales' - Nutrient Risk Assessment - EU: 'dossiers' for nutrient sources - U.S. Gov't Food Safety a Sham - FDA's Big PharmaProtection Racket - Thailand decides to ignore pharma patents - Mobile phones 'linked to tumour' - Quackbusters "On the Ropes" - Doctor asks BMJ to end Reporting Bias - Reputations for sale - Spread of Cancer Halted With Micronutrient Combination - Drug company 'hid' suicide link - Depleted Uranium, Diabetes, Cancer - WHO Chief in Population Control Vaccine Scandal - Research into safety of nanotechnology - 'Origami lens' slims high resolution cameras... NewsGrabs Sepp Hasslberger Wed, 31 Jan 2007 10:33:05 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/12/14/biofuels_hard_choice_want_food_or_fuel.htm It's been just over two year ago that Georges Monbiot warned us of the dark side of an apparently good idea: replacing petroleum based fuels with others based on bio-mass. My article reporting on this drew some critical comments, but the initial fears seem to be borne out now as we are getting closer to implementing the biofuel option. In May 2005, US president Bush urged widespread adoption of both biodiesel and ethanol production from agricultural products, as part of a strategy to reduce US dependence on oil imports. What he apparently didn't consider were the knock-on effects of such a strategy on food prices and ultimately on the ability of agriculture to assure a supply of plentiful, affordable food for all. Mae-Wan Ho of the Institute for Science in Society warns in a recent article titled Biofuels: Biodevastation, Hunger & False Carbon Credits that Europe’s thirst for biofuels is fuelling deforestation and food price hikes, exacerbated by a false accounting system that awards carbon credits to the carbon profligate nations. She adds that "a mandatory certification scheme for biofuels is needed to protect the earth’s most sensitive forest ecosystems, to stabilise climate and to safeguard our food security." Tom Philpott, in an article published by Grist magazine takes the discussion further, showing that a relatively small move towards biofuels in the US has been doubling the price of corn in the space of a year, as the grain becomes a sought-after raw material for ethanol to be added to gasoline. What the concerns expressed on both sides of the Atlantic show is that biofuels may be far from the magic solution to our energy problems we are looking for. We should direct our attention and support to real new energy inventions. These new technologies under development by an army of private inventors and tinkerers are without public funding and there is little interest in real breakthroughs. Yes, there are some potentially disruptive technologies out there waiting for their day. They could easily upset the billion-dollar fossil fuel energy interests as they are coming into play. But come they will, with or without public funding. In addition to the more conventional alternatives such as solar, wind and tidal power, there are promising developments on fuelless technologies that tap the energy potential provided by magnets as well as unconventional chemical and nuclear reactions. If you're interested in following developments in these emerging energy technologies, there is a great site to bookmark and keep track of by getting their "Daily FE_Updates". There is also a Free energy Wiki which allows anyone to contribute with the accumulation and sorting of information about new energy developments. But perhaps you want to first get a whiff of the pitfalls of using agricultural biomass for fuel production, which Tom Philpott has exposed in his article Feeding the Beast:... Environment Sepp Hasslberger Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:28:38 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/10/17/electromagnetic_pollution_campaign_issue_in_ontario_local_elections.htm One of the most widespread, but perhaps least acknowledged health problems today is the effect of electromagnetic pollution from ubiquitous mobile phone and computing networks as well as electric power transmission lines. Now this issue is entering local politics in a campaign for upcoming Ontario Municipal Elections and is perhaps soon to enter the National political scene in Canada. Martin Weatherall, candidate for Mayor of the Blandford-Blenheim Township, says he is making severe electrical pollution of our environment the main subject of his election platform. The issue is not an easy one, so he is telling his electorate: "You will need to conduct some basic research to understand the dangers that we are all facing, but the incentive for doing this is the health and safety of your family." Weatherall's election brochure is doing a good job of making the issue real to his constituents, and there are links on where to go for further information. "Electrical pollution is likely to significantly eclipse the known harm from tobacco use, but it will not affect “just smokers”. Human and animal life is being exposed to the same danger, through varying levels of radiation. Even Innuit natives of the Arctic have reported unpleasant symptoms when their community had a WiFi system installed recently. The very young and the very old are the most vulnerable."... Environment Sepp Hasslberger Tue, 17 Oct 2006 20:34:37 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/05/02/dolphins_dead_off_zanzibar_is_navy_sonar_to_blame.htm Some four hundred dolphins have been found dead along the shore of a tourist destination on Zanzibar's northern coast. Villagers, fishermen and hotel residents found the dolphins' carcasses on Friday and alerted officials. What killed the dolphins is not clear, though scientists ruled out poisoning. The Australian Sunday Times, in its report about the incident, says "Experts are investigating the possibility that sonar from US submarines could have been responsible for a similar incident in Florida in March. The US Navy patrols the East Africa coast." In November last year, Truthout reported that the United Nations Environment Program issued a report that said high-intensity naval sonar poses a serious threat to whales, dolphins and porpoises that depend on sound to survive. The article goes on to say: The study lends the first official support to claims by environmental groups that military manoeuvres are responsible for the increasing incidence of mass whale beachings. "We know about other threats such as over-fishing, hunting and pollution [but] a new and emerging threat to cetaceans is that of increased underwater sonars," said Mark Simmonds, of the Whale and Dolphin Society. "These low-frequency sounds travel vast distances, hundreds if not thousands of kilometres from the source." The American Navy is up-beat about their new sonar, which gives great underwater visibility of targets and everything else, and they say that care was taken not to disturb the sound-sensitive creatures of the sea. But apparently the sonar makes use of such high volume sound blasts that underwater creatures cringe and perhaps worse - die a painful death when they are hit with the noise at close range. Stories of dolphins and whales either dying or throwing themselves on beaches in groups are fairly frequent in recent times, but so far, proof of what exactly panics the whales and dolphins is elusive. Just one week ago, 25 dead dolphins were found in the Black Sea on the Bulgarian coast. In March, 60 Bottlenose Dolphins were found killed in the waters of the Florida Panhandle. Although toxic algae were cited as a possible contributing factor, they seem an unlikely explanation for the sudden death. Clearly, some detective work is needed. Autopsies? Why not. Looking into the Navy's scientific assessment? Yes!. After all, Dolphins are said to be the second most intelligent species on this planet next to us humans. What gives us the right to disregard their dignity and disrespect their lives? How would we feel if we discovered that an apparently "superior" race of aliens were killing humans as if nothing were wrong with that? It works both ways! Please help put pressure on your government to 1) find out why cetaceans are dying a horrible death in great numbers and 2) raise international awareness of the need to protect life - even if it's not of our own species. For the record, here is the article that caught my eye and that describes the finding of more than 400 dead dolphins off Zanzibar.... Health Sepp Hasslberger Tue, 2 May 2006 12:25:29 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/03/24/lowtech_solar_water_purification_it_works.htm TANZANIA - A village is piloting a new way to purify water with simple means. The method is so simple it hurts to think that it has not been put into wide use. Take a transparent plastic water bottle, fill it up with water, lay it on a black roof for several hours. If the sun is beating down good, one hour is enough. The combination of the sun's ultra violet rays and heat kills any pathogenic germs - the ones that spread much illness in Africa. The beautiiful simplicity of the solution brings to mind another invention that received the Rolex prize a year ago: a no-electricity refrigerator made of two ceramic pots one inside the other. See this post on boing-boing for a link. There is also a neatly simple ceramic water filter technique linked from the same article. Compare this with Dean Kamen's latest proposal for a machine that does a very similar job and that will cost between 1000 and 2000 $ when mass produced... Here is the recent BBC article on solar water sterilization:... Health Sepp Hasslberger Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:24:29 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/01/30/mesh_networks_and_city_wireless_will_transform_the_internet.htm Will internet access be controlled and monopolized by a handful of global internet access providers? Can governments prevent access to certain sites? Perhaps there is an alternative in the making. Hundreds of municipalities are recognizing that facilitating internet access is part of their responsibility towards citizens, and they are planning to bypass traditional internet access providers, opening access to the net in a more direct way. According to an article of DMeurope.com, over 400 cities world wide are currently planning to deploy broadband networks in their areas, and 2006 should see a doubling of the numbers. Rome, along with New York, San Francisco and Paris, is among the major cities planning to provide citizens and visitors with widespread internet access, choosing between fibre or wireless broadband networks using wi-fi hotspots, mesh networks or pre-WiMAX technology. Mesh networks are a natural candidate for constructing a resilient, locally networked access to communication infrastructure. The Times in the UK has an article that explains how New Orleans could have profited from such a network to facilitate hurricane relief and how some of the most unlikely places are linking up with the internet by installing networks of little radio boxes that start communicating with each other, as soon as they find peers within reach, forming an autonomous network. Mesh networks are rugged and self-configuring. They are normally established by municipalities, by upstart internet providers or by co-operatives of users. Those linked in can communicate directly with each other and also access the larger internet, normally through a leased-line access point that is shared by the network's users. Some networks allow users to contribute by sharing unused access bandwidth with others. Not only will local networks allow more easy access to the main information pipeline, on which we depend more and more, but their spreading will proof the internet itself against catastrophic occurrences. An internet braced by a myriad of local peer-to-peer networks will be less influenced by either catastrophic disruptions or the more subtle commercial decisions and content restrictions operated by today's access providers, as well as government censorship and military intrusions. One could even imagine a scenario where the information that now sits on servers is redundantly backed up - stored on a myriad of personal computers that are linked up with each other through P2P networks - eventually forming a second tier of the net, one that could survive the most harsh conditions life may confront us with. Actually, some people have been working on what I was envisioning here. Just found out (November 2006) that the Freenet has been under development for years. It is still in its infancy, and being developed on a shoestring, but work is progressing. If you're interested, you might want to pitch in helping with testing, development, or even a donation. Anyway, here is the Times article on mesh networks...... Technology Sepp Hasslberger Mon, 30 Jan 2006 10:53:36 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/01/02/will_2006_bring_free_energy_breakthrough.htm We have been somewhat thoughtless in our choice of energy technologies in the past, perhaps sidetracked by commercial interests vested in the exploitation, transformation and sale of oil. Not that there weren't any other choices we could have made years ago. We probably would not have wars to control the oil and to preserve the petrodollar, if these choices had been made in time. Now, climate change and oil prices are forcing change. The advocates of "free energy" are finding they have an audience - finally. Image credit: caramba4u In a year-end report on developments at the new-energy technologies frontier, Sterling D. Allan of Pure Energy Systems has pulled together the major developments in the budding field of alternative energy generation in a report of 2005 with projections for 2006...... Technology Sepp Hasslberger Mon, 2 Jan 2006 22:16:16 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/12/14/the_cell_phone_experiment_is_mobile_communication_worth_the_risk.htm Undoubtedly mobile phones and wireless broadband are immensely useful, but there is a persistent question: what are the risks of using these technologies? Many of us asking the "risk" question are - alas - not necessarily informed or even willing to consider the benefits of networking, and those planning the digital and mobile revolution have hardly heard about the risks. Providers are reluctant to discuss the health implications of the pulsed microwave radiation that makes mobile communications possible - it might be bad for business. But are we missing the boat altogether? Are we betting on a technology that may be our downfall some years down the line? The indicators are there - big red lights flashing in urgent staccato rhythm. DNA changes induced by cell phone radiation, farm animals affected by the vicinity of newly erected cell phone towers, people complaining of headaches, increased incidence of serious illness occurring in clusters around cell phone towers. The World Health Organization's International Council on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) sets standards for exposure to radiation from mobile phones, but the standards are widely regarded as hopelessly inadequate, insufficient even to protect against brain damage. The main point of contention seems to be the mechanism of destructive activity of microwaves. Officially the only mechanism is heating, as known from microwave ovens, but there seems to be another, more insidious effect. Microwaves that are pulsed in a lower frequency may entrain and disturb vital control mechanisms of the human organism including cell division, heartbeat, blood pressure, brain waves and more.... Health Sepp Hasslberger Wed, 14 Dec 2005 17:52:10 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/11/05/will_hydrinos_replace_oil_as_power_source.htm Randall Mills of Blacklight Power has been working for years perfecting a discovery that could change not only the way we make and use energy but also bring a host of new materials. Mills says that hydrogen, the most abundant element, has a hidden store of energy locked up inside it. He has found a way to unlock that store and extract energy from hydrogen atoms by changing the electron's orbit. With a closer orbit of its electron, the hydrogen atom not only is free to give up some of its energy, but it also acquires new properties and a new name: hydrino. The discovery is a no-no according to the current physics rule books. So Mills had to work out a new theory of the atom. Some of the opposition Mills is facing from the physics establishment is discussed in this excellent article of Alok Jha, science correspondent of The Guardian. (Story originally found on ZPEnergy.com - thanks!)... Science Sepp Hasslberger Sat, 5 Nov 2005 19:19:28 GMT