The meaning of life -
discovered by a surfer!
An impoverished surfer has drawn up a new theory of the universe, that has been hailed by scientists as a brilliant new way of understanding the world.
Garrett Lisi, 39, is a graduate who spends most of the year surfing in Hawaii. He has also worked as a bridge builder and hiking guide.
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 To complete this life of hedonism, Garrett spends the winter snowboarding in the mountains near Lake Tahoe, Nevada. In spite of this busy life, Garrett found time to work out the secret of the universe, with a theory that is amazing due to the fact that it does not require complex mathematics, unlike most Grand Unified Theory. Garrett explains "Being poor sucks.....It's hard to figure out the secrets of the universe when you're trying to figure out where you and your girlfriend are going to sleep next month." Other scientists hope that it may be possible to test his theory, which predicts a host of new particles, perhaps even using the new Large Hadron Collider atom smasher that will go into action near Geneva next year. Garret hopes to go one better than Einstein who also began his career in theoretical physics while outside the mainstream scientific establishment, working as a patent officer. Hoever unlike Garrett, Einstein failed to achieve the Holy Grail, an overarching theory to unite all the particles and forces of the cosmos.
Secret rivers found in Antarctic
Antarctica's buried lakes are connected by a network of rivers moving water far beneath the surface, say UK scientists.
It was thought the sub-glacial lakes had been completely sealed for millions of years, enabling unique species to evolve in them.
Writing in the journal Nature, experts say international plans to drill into the lakes may now have to be reviewed.
Any attempts to drill into one body of water risks contaminating others.
"What this paper shows is that not only could you contaminate a lake, you could contaminate the whole drainage system," commented lead author Duncan Wingham, of University College London.The sub-glacial lakes of Antarctica are regarded as "time capsules" of the period when the continent began to freeze over.
 Vostok formed around 16 million years ago |
Scientists believe any life they contain might shed light on extreme environments on other worlds, such as the ice-bound ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa.
The presence of the drainage system may change current thinking on the chances of finding microbial life that has evolved "independently".
"The notion that these things have been sitting in the lakes evolving for millions of years probably won't wash," said Professor Wingham.
"I think the idea that they have an isolated biological environment where things have gone their own way will have to be re-examined."
Record heat raises climate fears
Sign the petition at Undoit.org
October 2005
Sunbathers took to the beaches around the UK yesterday as the October temperatures hit 22C. Just days before Hallowe'en, Britain enjoyed the warmest 27 October since records began in 1880. So why was it so warm?
Weather experts explained that the mini-heatwave was the result of a large area of high pressure over southeastern Europe and low pressure well to the west of Ireland.
Sandwiched in between these two weather systems was Britain, which happily found itself right in the way of a warm southerly breeze blowing directly from the hot sands of north Africa. The dryness of the air was explained by it coming from the continent rather than from the Atlantic. The Scottish glens enjoyed the added benefit of a meteorological phenomenon known as the Fone effect, when air warms even further after descending from higher ground.
So was this evidence of climate change?
The Prince of Wales commented that climate change was one of the greatest problems facing mankind, while chief scientist, Sir David King repeated his view that global warming was a greater threat than terrorism.
"You can't use one event to prove or disprove climate change," said Dr. Simon Brown, a specialist in extreme weather at the Met Office's Hadley Centre in Exeter, Devon.
"It's only by looking long enough that you can say that these sort of weather events are getting more frequent or more extreme......We can only explain this by putting man-made emissions of carbon dioxide into the equations. But this is for 50 years worth of data. For a single day you cannot say anything substantial."
A wider analysis of weatherl data now provides evidence of a clear pattern of changing climate. The 10 hottest years on record - and these are based on average global temperature - have occurred in the past 14 years. The previous four years have all been hotter than any other year except for 1998.
The exceptionally hot, dry summer of 2003 is estimated to have resulted in about 35,000 extra deaths in Western Europe. A statistical analysis has shown that global warming has made such summers about four times more likely than in a world where the climate is stable.Statistical analysis of the hottest summer night each year for 50 years has shown that the global average temperature of such evenings has increased by about 1C.
"It's consistent with the picture we're beginning to see of rising average temperatures but we can't prove it mathematically. It's conjecture," Dr Brown explained.
It all comes down to the difference between the weather, which is what we experience on a day-to-day basis, and climate, which is a measure of the average weather over many decades, centuries or even millennia. Climate is the weather you might expect, whereas weather is what you actually get. The climate may predict a wet, windy winter but you might get a dry, frosty one".
The Prince of Wales demanded faster action to fight global warming.
He said that his generation owed it to future generations to do more.
"We should be treating the issue of climate change and global warming with a far greater degree of priority than is happening now," he said.
He added: "Again, if you think about your... and my grandchildren, this is what worries me. I don't want them - if I'm still alive by then - to say, 'Why didn't you do something about it, when you could have done'; this is the point."
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PC users 'want greener machines' |
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Consumers are willing to pay up to an extra £108 ($197) for a PC containing fewer chemicals, a survey has found.
People also feel manufacturers should take responsibility for the disposal of old machines, the research shows.
So-called e-waste is a growing global problem, with 30 million PCs being dumped each year in the US alone.
The study by Ipsos-Mori for Greenpeace coincides with an announcement by PC maker Dell to phase out a number of toxic chemicals in its products.
The nine-nation research found that UK computer users were willing to pay an extra £64 ($117), while people in China were prepared for spend up to £108 ($197) for a more environmentally sound PC.
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Road ramp
generates power
A road ramp that uses passing cars to generate power has been developed.
Dorset inventor Peter Hughes' Electro-Kinetic Road Ramp creates around 10kW of power each time a car drives over its metal plates.
More than 200 local authorities had expressed an interest in ordering the £25,000 ramps to power their traffic lights and road signs, Mr Hughes said.
Around 300 jobs are due to be created in Somerset for a production run of 2,000 ramps next year.
Plates in the ramp move up and down as vehicles pass over them, driving a generator.
"The ramp is silent, comfortable and safe for vehicles," Mr Hughes said.
Depending on the weight of the vehicle passing overhead, between five and 50kW can be generated.
The prototype was created and tested at Hughes Research unit at the Westland Helicopter base in Somerset, at a cost of £1m.
The concept has been developed by Dorset-based Mr Hughes over the past 12 years. He recently approached councils across the country with the final patented project.
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