chall's blog

The story of Icarus teaches us that it is dangerous to fly close to the sun.  But that is only when you are wearing wings made of wax.  When you are harnessing the sun’s energy with photovoltaic cells, closer is actually better.  In fact, solar energy is five times stronger in space than it is on the Earth's surface.  Taking this to heart, Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency announced this week that it plans to build an energy station in space that will capture s

Scientists are one step closer to developing an elevator capable of conveying people and objects to and from space.  Once the domain of fringe astrophysicists and science fiction novelists, the Space Elevator, as it is called, has garnered enough credibility to become a mainstream science project.  According to one observer, “The space elevator is where the PC was i

The CDC recommends that every person receive the H1N1 flu vaccine once it becomes openly available, but many individuals are opting not to get it.  The reasons for this include misgivings about the vaccine’s safety and a general ambivalence about the severity of the swine flu virus.  Few, however, doubt the efficacy of the vaccine itself.  Vaccines are considered to be one of the wonders of modern medicine, responsible for saving millions of lives and virtually eradicating a number of diseases, like polio

This week’s edition of the Economist carries a story on the demographic crisis and strikes a rather upbeat tone on our prospects for surmounting it. Unfortunately, the authors wrote about the wrong crisis, the one of rampant population growth exhausting the Earth’s resources that demographers warned of decades ago. Today these same demographers say such a scenario is very unlikely.

DARPA, the government agency credited with inventing the internet, is looking to bring the technology to space. More precisely, it is looking to develop a dependable and fast wireless network using satellites.  Broadband satellite technology has existed for many years, but the quality of service is inferior compared to that delivered by terrestrial providers.

Under overcast skies, the three week long Solar Decathlon came to a close yesterday on the National Mall. The competition, sponsored by the Department of Energy, brought the future of home construction and design to the historic center of the nation's capital. Every two years, teams from around the world come to Washington, D.C. to design and build zero energy homes that are solar-powered and efficient, as well as aesthetically pleasing and comfortable.  The buildings are evaluated in ten different categories to determine which of the entries is the best all-around solar-powered home.

Computer graphics, animation, digital photography, editing software - each of these advances has revolutionized the way we make art. They have also influenced how we perceive and evaluate the success of a creative piece, its beauty. These technologies have made it possible for artists to render works that blur the line between fact and fiction and bewilder viewers with their near-perfection and authenticity.

A former street performer has become the sixth private citizen (and, presumably, the first street performer) to fly into space. Guy Laliberte, founder of the Cirque du Soleil circus company, paid $35 million for the opportunity. He claims that the honor of being the first clown in space is not his primary motivation, rather he wants to bring attention to the problem of water sanitation and availability on planet Earth.

Ahead of the opening session of the United Nations, where heads of state are slated to discuss global climate change and the divisive issue of carbon dioxide emission reductions, the group The Yes Men, known for championing liberal causes by parodying prominent public officials and companies, flooded the streets of New York City with satirical versions of the New York Post.

Norman Borlaug, whose research into high-yield, disease-resistant crops spawned the so-called "Green Revolution," died this past weekend. Borlaug achieved his first success engineering "super-crops" in the 1940s when, after five "mind-warpingly tedious" years (his own words) of crossbreeding different wheat varities from around the world, he developed a disease-resistant strain capable of producing more food on less land.