America gets one-fifth of its power from nuclear power plants. Nuclear is far and away the cheapest and most reliable alternative to carbon-emitting coal. Yet we all know that nuclear energy carries one great big negative: the problem of nuclear waste, the radioactive residue from enriched uranium.
Now, suppose there were a solution to this problem? A solution that reduced the amount and the toxicity of nuclear waste by 80 percent or more? That would be useful, right?
Well guess what—it’s doable. Better yet—it’s done.
Belichick captured the honor for leading the Patriots to three Super Bowls wins and four AFC championships, and at least tying for the AFC East’s best record each year since 2001. ESPN.com’s Tim Graham had a chance to catch up with Belichick, who asked him about being mentioned in the same breath as other “all-decade” coaches like Weeb Ewbank, Don Shula, Bill Parcells and Bill Walsh.
“It’s certainly flattering to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys, but honestly I don’t sit around and think about it a lot,” Belichick told Graham. “We’re so in the moment. We always have another bridge to cross.
MIT researchers have come up with a way to cut those numbers dramatically by making concrete structures last as long as 16,000 years, requiring less of it to be made in the first place.
The discovery centers around creep - the breaking down of concrete, which they've realized is caused by the rearrangement of nano-scale calcium-silicate hydrate (CSH) particles. CSH particles go through two density phases when mixed with water, at first a density of 64 percent and secondly a density of 74 percent. That upward shift in density causes creep.
The researchers have found a way to stop creep by adding silica fumes - a by-product of producing aluminum - to the concrete. This addition accelerates the density phases all the way to 87 percent and could ideally lead to longer lasting and lighter concrete structures.
The MIT team calculates that structures that were built to last 100 years could last 16,000 years with this new process and the 20 billion tons of concrete produced annually could become a dramatically lower number.
I think Big Papi is back... but probably not 2006 Papi. More like 2007.
Thank God I don't watch (NOT) reality TV
If John McCain were president all those Iranians would be chanting "Death to America" instead of trying to form a new democracy.
I think Bruce Willis' best role might have been Nobody's Fool
I don't know what season we're in, but it isn't Spring and it isn't Summer. Spummer?
I've fallen in love with NetFlix all over again now that I'm watching alot more classic and foreign stuff.
I love my Jetta TDI (deisel). Now that the price of regular gas and deisel is about the same, getting that 40 MPG is freakin' great!
The LA Dodgers are really, really good.
And there's this from the Christian Science Monitor:
"Obama’s diplomatic outreach and removal of this threat perception has not necessarily created fissures among the Iranian elite in and of itself, but it has weakened the glue that created unity among Iran’s many political factions."
Some economists are starting to look at a "W" recession. We might go down for a bit before we go back up. Maybe that's why the stimulus package is geared more towards 2010 than some folks thought was warranted.
I need to watch Step Brothers again soon.
Qi Gong is fantastic. It is the father of Tai Chi, Feng Shui, and TCM. More later...
