What’s Happening In Technology?

A new twist in the development of ammunition is taking place. It is sort of bizarre in a way because it does away with lead in bullets, because lead is not good for you. I can’t help but think a bullet inside your body doesn’t do you much good either. The new ammo is made from PolyCase in an automated injection-molded process. The company is now making ammo not only free of lead, but also of grey waste and heavy metals. This has affected ammo in another way also, it has made it cheaper. The new cartridges are made with a nylon binder and reduce weight while eliminate corrosion.

The first cloud seeding experiments took place in 1946 in the labs of General Electric laboratories. We are still trying to figure out if cloud seeding actually works reliably. The most comprehensive scientific study of cloud seeding was undertaken and just finished. Researchers found seeding clouds with silver iodide only slightly increases precipitation. The increase is in the area of 5% to 15%. Scientists are now debating whether they should expand their cloud seeding or not. IN 2003 a report was released which stated in part that we don’t understand the dynamics of the processes in clouds which cause rain.

It has been estimated that the South China Sea has oil reserves of 7 billion barrels of oil and 900 cubic feet of natural gas. If we look at the estimated amounts of natural gas in the United States we find 300 trillion cubic feet. China is estimated to have 150 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) announced it has made a huge natural gas discovery in the South China Sea. The area the discovery was made in was China’s, but the rig which is rig 981 was built in waters claimed by Vietnam. This has not gone over too good. It has caused anti-China riots in Vietnam in which people have been killed. China had to recall over 7,000 works due to safety concerns. It is now being said that China has the technology to drill in any place in the entire South China Sea.

Alternet has published an article stating the reason the installation of solar panels on homes is slowing in some parts of the country is the huge lobbying campaign sponsored by the Koch Brothers and Walmart Family. The article states they want to protect their investments in the energy industry and are responsible for state governments charging monthly fees on solar panel users and such, because they have lobbied so heavily for this. They also claim the utility industry is not happy about solar panel installation and use. The article states PACs have also been formed to fight the installation such as the American Legislative Exchange Council known as ALEC and the American Enterprise Institute and Americans for Prosperity. I love how these names are picked to make us think they are working for us.

There is a Danish island which proves we don’t need fossil fuel and its name is Samso. Everyone on the island has a wind turbine and the island has wind farms. There are also solar panels in use. It is producing so much energy, it is selling the excess to the mainland and making a profit. Just think about it, this could be us if it were not for the greedy individuals and companies who want to stop progress so they can continue to make a fortune rather than invest in alternate energy production.

Ever since the movie Terminator came out scientists and the general public have been terrified that robots are going to take over the human race and maybe even destroy it. The scenario is the robots become aware somehow and then view us like a virus to be destroyed. Recently a leader in artificial intelligence has said we have to train computers to serve us so as to reduce the threat to the human race from them. If we don’t do this he believes we might be doomed to a dystopian future. What he wants us to do is endow the robots with the same values the human race has. I can’t help but think that hasn’t worked for us, why should it work for robots? Just look at some of the terrible things humans have done and tell me you would trust a robot with human values. I think what we have to do is make sure robots and computers never become self-aware. Self-awareness would seem to be a bigger threat, because this could lead to machines plotting against us.

The debate rages on. Some scientists believe life is nothing more than an illusion. They compare our life to the one pictured in the Matrix and some say that is where the idea for the movie came from. Others say this is one of the most ridiculous ideas to come down the pike in the last 5,000 years. There is another thought on the subject which says reality is true, but there is more to reality than we can sense. It is true our senses are limited and if aliens exist they may have more attuned senses than us. If we look at the animal kingdom we can find many animals which have keener senses than us. If we had the eyes of an eagle and the sense of smell of a dog might we not perceive things we don’t now? When we get right down to it no one will ever be able to prove if reality is real or not, but it certainly seems so.

It is being said that our DNA shows traces of a battle which has been taking place for 40 million years. The same battle is taking place in all primate species and it is an evolutionary war against infectious bacteria over the iron that circulates in our blood. The defensive strategy in our bodies is called nutritional immunity. A PhD scientist said, "We've known about nutritional immunity for 40 years.” He is conducting experiments to uncover reservoirs of genetic resistance to bacterial infections, because scientists think they could be used to fight emerging diseases.

Star Trek was a popular science fiction television show which featured the Enterprise, a starship which employed warp drive. There is a man living in Nebraska who is building what he calls a functional warp drive and states he will be able to test it as early as next summer. This the classic American inventor working in his garage. As we all know a lot of good things have come out of garages in this country, but a warp engine is hard to imagine. The engine is said to create space warp bubbles which he believes already exist in nature. He cites events which he believes prove this. such as the pilot who was caught in an electronic storm in the Bermuda Triangle and arrived at his destination one hour earlier than usual when he flew through a storm funnel.