Calling it "Oil 2.0," a scientific research company known as LS9 in Silicon Valley, California, has successfully bio-engineered a harmless strain of E Coli to feed on agricultural waste and secrete petroleum nearly pure enough to go from the lab right into your vehicle. They hope to have a demonstration factory up within two years and a full scale working plant by 2011. Their goal is to bring $140-a-barrel oil prices down almost two thirds, to $50 a barrel.
And you thought I was kidding.
+++
SCIENCE ACCORDING TO HOLLYWOOD
No matter how many bullets per minute a gun can shoot, they will miss running humans.
The mass of a person drops substantially during free fall, making it easy to grab a bar, pole, or ledge.
Bond's Third Law: For every hero there is an unequal and poorly trained number of henchmen.
Supporting characters can contract a disease in any way, display symptoms within half a day, and die unexpectedly at crucial plot points.
The speed of a fireball can never exceed the speed of a human running.
Heroes are bullet-proof everywhere except on their arms.
Eastwood's Edict: If you feel lucky, you probably aren't.
The likelihood of tripping while running is inversely proportionate to the distance from the killer.
There is no gravity in China.
[selected from Chris White's Top Five on Science]
+++
WONDER for YOUR WEEK: If time and space are relative, do we have to invite them to the reunion?
+++
Mark's Musings is also sent via email each weekday. You can get your own subscription for free without any bioengineering skills by clicking here.
No comments:
Post a Comment