Just skip the messy chemical stuff. The device created by University of Miami Physicist Stewart E. Barnes, of the College of Arts and Sciences and his collaborators can store energy in magnets rather than through chemical reactions. Like a winding up toy car, the spin battery is "wound up" by applyi...

I don't get it. Why are people surprised that we have mendacious morons in government? Obama apparently said, in response to the idea that heÂ’s trying to do too much at once.: President Roosevelt didnÂ’t have the luxury of choosing between ending a depression and fighting a war. President Kennedy d...

One of the main impediments to forming any alliance with garden variety American liberals (or whatever they are called elsewhere) is that they have debilitating psychological defects. The earlier post Brute Force quoted one observation of the problem. finding liberals who oppose any new regulation i...

Political machinations about economics and environmental issues are similar. Matthew YglesiasÂ’ posts emphasizing the interconnectedness of the global economy and the need for coordination, like this one, are quite correct in pointing out that economies are not contained in little national boxes wit...

Sometimes the press releases seem to have a rough theme when read one after another. Extra lizards University of Adelaide research has discovered that there are many more species of Australian lizards than previously thought . . . "Many of these species are externally very similar, leading to previo...

One of the annual discussions on grazing lists is about what grass fed means. Do stored forages count or must it be only grazed forage? That's hard for most temperate zone graziers since they get real winters. And, if stored forages are sometimes OK does it matter what kind of forage? Does lucerne (...

"Scientists" seem to think that chicken manure is magic. researchers in China have discovered that chicken manure can be used to biodegrade crude oil in contaminated soil. Writing in the International Journal of Environment and Pollution the team explains how bacteria in chicken manure break down 50...

Keep them in the dark, feed them manure. A new study in mice sheds light on the insulin resistance that can come from diets loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, a sweetener found in most sodas and many other processed foods. The report in the March issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication...

The fantasy view of natural systems foisted on people by politicans and activists results in nonsense policies. The Australian government has announced a multi-million dollar investment in research on reducing gas emissions from farm animals as part of the fight against global warming. Methane gas f...

That's the area between the soil surface and the water table. Tiny sediment grains are covered with a very fine-grained, complex mixture of minerals in an open fabric that results in a large surface area in contact with water between the grains. Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are st...