Article #1 starts us off: One solar tower to rule them all!
Twice the height of the Empire State – EnviroMission plans massive solar tower for Arizona
Hell yeah, solar energy, now you've just gotta construct Sauron's solar tower and you can begin
to rule 3rd-rock-from-the-sun-Earth (calling it 'middle Earth' was just wayy too impractical) and
destroy the ELVES and realm of free men. Just kidding. But seriously...
I think it's a wonderful idea, and if it helps cut energy costs who would oppose it
(energy conglomerates...duh)
this sucker will sit at 2625 ft tall and is projected to produce 200-megawatts of power generation and will reliably feed the grid with enough power for 150,000 US homes. Here's the best part: Once it’s built, it can be expected to more or less sit there producing clean, renewable power with virtually no maintenance until it's over 80 years old! (boomshakalaka)
Here's a rundown of how it works (quoted from article)
"Enviromission’s solar tower is a simple idea taken to gigantic proportions. The sun beats down on a large covered greenhouse area at the bottom, warming the air underneath it. Hot air wants to rise, so there’s a central point for it to rush towards and escape; the tower in the middle. And there’s a bunch of turbines at the base of the tower that generate electricity from that natural updraft."
more info on the tower here (orig article)
Moving on...... (continue reading for about 4 more articles involving badassness)
Article Numbuh 2: ELECTRO-snail
Snails Can Produce Electricity!
Yup....That's right! (who knew?)
Apparently they can and Scientists at the Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York want to try to extract electricity from the blood of the snails after they have been implanted with biofuel cells. Pretty neat huh? (and borderline unethical and inhumane.....I wonder if this is at all unpleasant to the snail, not that humans care. Sidenote: I do.)
(quoted from original article)
According to Evgeny Katz, the leading scientist of that team shared that the electricity is extracted from the glucose and oxygen in the snail’s blood. All they do is attach their electrodes to it and extract the power from it. This could be brought to a huge scale as the power generation likely from this source would be amazingly a new dimension.
read the article HERE (because you know you want to)
Article #3 T-rex Sex (catchy)
Skeleton of Two Copulating T-rex in a Museum
Not really much to note here. The picture and article name are pretty self explanatory.
It is worth mentioning though that the scientific community is split as far as T-rex (possibly all dinosaur) copulation goes. So to display this as fact before the the 'fact' is grossly irresponsible and damaging even if it IS awesome. Although I agree with this bias it is no different to me than the existence of a creationism museum... Just because it is in a museum doesn't mean that it is a fact or an agreed upon fact (remember that kids!)
anywho If you're down to read the article do so here (all these are from AWEscience by the way)
Article 4: Are you smarter than a 4th...year old
Computer as Smart as a 4-Year-Old?
They found ConceptNet 4 has the average IQ of a young child. But unlike most children, the machine’s scores were very uneven across different portions of the test.
“If a child had scores that varied this much, it might be a symptom that something was wrong,” said Robert Sloan, professor and head of computer science at UIC, and lead author on the study.
Sloan said ConceptNet 4 did very well on a test of vocabulary and on a test of its ability to recognize similarities.
“But ConceptNet 4 did dramatically worse than average on comprehensionthe ‘why’ questions,” he said.
(taken from the sourced article)
So in reality, AI isn't a threat to any of us now (unless this thing is a virtual baby genius). But this is only the beginning. People think the AI threat is a joke (well right now it really is) but the fact that an entire organization spear-headed by Steven Hawking and other notable scientists exist (to stop the menace of evil AI) should be evidence that we as a civilization should take this seriously. REMEMBER: Right now it is fun and games, so enjoy it!
Read what they found here
and lastly.... Article 5
Possible Atlantis Found In Brazil Via Discovery Of Ancient Granite Rock
So we've all heard of Atlantis right? Maybe even seen the Disney animated movie featuring Michael J. Fox? Probably.... and I know You've definitely seen on Ancient Aliens. So here's the newest theory about Atlantis:
Brazilian “Atlantis,” as they are calling it, may actually have been part of the ancient supercontinent Pangaea. Pangaea formed about 300 million years ago during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It existed for more than 100 million years before beginning to break apart to form the continents as we see them today.
The researchers discovered the granite artifact more than 8,000 feet deep in a region known as the Rio Grande Elevation, about 900 miles of the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The team said the granite is a natural formation that normally forms on dry land, which would offer evidence that the region was once above sea level.
Remember Atlantis appears in only two known texts by Plato (Timaeus and Critias) and they are from circa 360 B.C.E (I added the 'E' because F$&5 YOU Jesis, spelt wrong on purpose) so all sorts of things could've been taken out of context. Shit..... what's going to happen in 1000 years when somebody misconstrues 'THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA' for fact not fiction, that would be some scary shit for real
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