BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Inventor develops 'artificial gills'

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Inventor develops 'artificial gills': "An Israeli inventor has developed an underwater breathing system that literally squeezes oxygen directly from seawater, doing away with the need for compressed air tanks."

Insight

Insight: "New weapon could mean the end of collateral damage

The U.S. military has been developing a gunship that could literally obliterate enemy ground targets with a laser beam.

The military plans to test the Advanced Tactical Laser, a laser weapon mounted on a C-130H air transport that could destroy any weapon system without collateral damage.

The laser could have tremendous repercussions on the battlefield, particularly in urban warfare in such countries as Afghanistan and Iraq. 'It's the kind of tool that could bring about victory within minutes,' an official said."

Ben oui!

SPACE.com -- The Great Storm: Solar Tempest of 1859 Revealed

SPACE.com -- The Great Storm: Solar Tempest of 1859 Revealed: "A pair of strong solar storms that hit Earth late last week were squalls compared to the torrent of electrons that rained down in the 'perfect space storm' of 1859. And sooner or later, experts warn, the Sun will again conspire again send earthlings a truly destructive bout of space weather.

If it happens anytime soon, we won't know exactly what to expect until it's over, and by then some modern communication systems could be like beachfront houses after a hurricane."

USATODAY.com - It's bigger than Pluto but is it a planet?

USATODAY.com - It's bigger than Pluto but is it a planet?: "It's bigger than Pluto — but is it a planet?
By Peter N. Spotts, The Christian Science Monitor
If Pluto truly is the ninth planet, then it's official: Our solar system has 10. Astronomers have sized up an object — known formally as 2003 UB313 — and determined that it really is bigger than Pluto."

AC Propulsion T-zero

AC Propulsion T-zero: "Remember when mobile phones took up the size of a briefcase? Now you can practically wear them on your wrist. That's thanks largely to Lithium-ion battery technology, which weighs about one sixth that of lead acid. This relatively new battery technology has provided obvious benefits for phones and mobile computing, but what happens when you try putting 6,800 AA size lithium cells into an electric sports car? Well that's what AC propulsion decided to do with their T-zero model. The answer is 0-60 in 3.6 seconds, a range of 300 miles and a cost to 'fill up' of about �2.


The makers could barely believe the results themselves when they first tested it, so organised some races at a local dragstrip. They started with modest competition, but soon found out that these just weren't up to the job, so had to resort to some more exotic machinery to really give the T-Zero a good fight. In the end, the T-zero out-accelerated (among others), a Corvette C5, a Porsche Carrera 4, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari 360"