Imagine if there was a product that could harness the power of your footsteps and use that energy to power the devices around you? Now, imagine if whole sidewalks were paved with this material, harvesting the footsteps of millions of pedestrians every day?
The inventive folks over at Pavegen Systems not only imagined it — they did it. Based in the UK, Pavegen systems is a start-up tech firm headed by Laurence Kemball-Cook, an industrial design engineer. They created “Pavegen tiles,” which when tread upon convert the kinetic energy from footsteps into renewable electricity. The electricity is then stored in a lithium polymer battery. The tiles can also power off-grid items such as street lights, alarms, shop signs, displays, bus stops, and more.
Made from nearly 100-percent recycled materials, the tiles can be fitted to existing structures and waterproofed and last for about five years or 20 million steps. When stepped on, the tiles generate about 2.1 watts of electricity per hour — 5 percent of which is used to light up an LED pad on the tile, giving them a slight Space Odyssey feel.
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A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory has created a treatment for viral infections that could effectively treat all viruses and prevent a doomsday pandemic scenario a la Contagion.
The drug form, known as DRACO (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers), when introduced in the human body identifies cells that have a protein only produced in animal bodies when a virus is replicating and spreading. While the virus would normally appropriate cells in order to replicate itself, the DRACOs attach to those proteins and instruct the cells to commit “suicide,” preventing the spread of the virus. The drug leaves healthy cells alone and appears to be nontoxic to animals.
The team, headed by senior staff scientist Todd Rider, released their study last summer, showing that the method could successfully cure subjects of numerous viral infections, including the rhinovirus (the common cold), H1N1 influenza, a stomach virus, polio, dengue fever, and the ebola virus. While the study only looked at 15 viral infections, Rider and his team believe the treatment will work on just about any viral infection and could be used to mitigate wide-scale outbreaks like the SARS pandemic that spread throughout the world in 2003.
While broad-spectrum antibiotics that treat bacterial infections have been around for many decades, viral treatments are usually virus-specific. Trials continue to see how other viruses will respond to treatment with the new antiviral, but one can’t help wonder how this might change the fight against some of humanities worst-feared viruses — perhaps it could even be used in the war against HIV.
Surviving a heart attack is not the end of the story for most people: for many survivors, tissue in the heart is damaged due to a lack of oxygen during a cardiac event that leads to problems and dangerous complications for the rest of their lives. Sometimes parts of the heart muscle die and damaged tissue is replaced with non-pumping scar tissue, which makes the heart weaker and less effective at putting oxygen into the blood.
When 30 percent or more of the heart muscle in the wall of the left ventricle is damaged after surviving a heart attack, patients likely develop congestive heart failure — a condition that requires medication or cardiac bypass surgery. Left on its own the scar tissue will not heal. And that’s where science comes in.
During the last few years medical research has made leaps and bounds towards finding a solution to repairing scarred heart tissue. Most notably, stem cells taken from a patient’s own heart have proven a promising way to repair the damage.
An even more recent and promising breakthrough is today’s Human Achievement. Hydrogel is an injectable solution made out of cardiac connective tissue that has been cleansed of its heart muscle cells. The solution is freeze-dried and made into a powder that can be injected through a catheter directly into a person’s heart.
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It’s that time once again to show your support for human achievement by not participating in the World Wildlife Fund’s Dark Ages Hour, where people “vote” for governmental action on climate change by spending one hour in the comfort of their homes, on a Saturday, with their lights off. Instead, join the thousands of people around the world participating in the fourth annual Human Achievement Hour (HAH) by keeping your lights on and showing your dedication to protecting the freedom necessary for individuals to create, innovate, and achieve.
On March 31, 2012, from 8:30pm to 9:30pm, households, businesses, and governments will shut off their lights for one hour as a symbolic vote against global climate change. Observers of Earth Hour want world leaders to “do something” about pollution and limit energy use. While most people celebrating the hour simply want to live in a cleaner environment (nothing wrong with that) the real agenda of Earth Hour organizers is to get politicians around the world to use sanctions and taxation to prevent individuals from being able to freely use Earth’s resources, hindering our ability to create the solutions and technologies of the future.
While it is every person’s right to decide if they want to conserve energy for any reason it should not be their right to impose their beliefs or opinions on others. The only way we achieve technology that is “greener” is by building on older “dirtier” technology. If we slow down the process by increasing the costs of utilizing resources and energy it will simply take that much longer to reach more environmentally friendly solutions.
To show that we do not agree with the environmentalists’ message, during Earth Hour CEI and thousands of our supporters around the world will be leaving our lights on and in fact we will be throwing a party! Human Achievement Hour is a celebration of individual freedom and appreciation of the accomplishments and innovations of humans throughout history. To celebrate participants need only to spend the 8:30pm to 9:30pm hour on March 31 enjoying the benefits of free enterprise and human innovation: gather with friends in the warmth of a heated home, watch television, take a hot shower, drink a beer, call a loved one on the phone, or listen to music. HAH celebrants can also utilize one of man’s greatest achievements, the Internet, to join CEI’s in-house party, which will be streaming live on the Web at www.cei.org/hah beginning at 8pm (EDT) and you can use the chat function to tell us how you are celebrating human achievement in your neighborhood.
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National: A Sioux tribe in South Dakota has filed a landmark suit against national beer makers for knowingly contributing the tribe’s alcohol problems. The Pine Ridge Reservation, infamous for its troubles in the 1970s, is seeking $500 million in damages the tribe says it incurred as a result of the alcoholism fueled by nearby Nebraska beer stores selling to residents of the reservations where alcohol is prohibited.
Alabama: The legislative session began on February 7, and will consist of no more than 30 Legislative Days. In that span of time, Free the Hops plans to introduce and hopes to pass their gourmet beer bottle bill to relieve restrictions on beer container sizes. Alabama is the only state that restricts single containers of beer to 16 ounces or less. The gourmet bottle bill will increase the limit to 22 oz and 750 ml.
Also in Alabama: Legislation that would legalize home brewing is under consideration at the state House. Along with Mississippi, Alabama holds the dubious distinction of being one of only two states that still maintain the Prohibition-era ban on beer making.
Connecticut: Governor Dannel Malloy is hell-bent on updating his state’s liquor laws to better compete with neighboring states. Connecticut’s out-dated regulations include price controls that make booze expensive, blue laws that prevents off-premise sales on Sundays, and a host of other restrictions that makes alcohol in the state expensive for business owners and consumers.
Idaho: Plans to put liquor privatization on the ballot may be halted due to claims that the state constitution puts regulation of alcohol in the legislature’s purview.
Iowa: A campaign is underway in Boise Des Moines to convince lawmakers to legalize pre-mixed cocktails and bitters. Current state law prevents trendy bar items like cocktails aged in oak barrels, distilled spirits flavored with herbs (aka bitters), and infused spirits soaked in items from cherries to bacon. Liquor must be kept in the original packaging until the day of serving.
Mississippi: For the past five years, craft beer drinkers and brewers in Mississippi have attempted to raise the states alcohol limit on malt beverages. This year’s House Bill 26, introduced by Democrat Rep. David Baria would raise the cap on alcohol in beer from 5 to 8 percent.
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It’s a tragic story: a 13-year-old boy falls out of a moving car because he is drunk and opens the door to throw up. Yet, despite the hyperbolic wailing about Four Loko — the drink he happened to be imbibing at the time, the specific drink is not the culprit. Whether it was Four Loko, miller light, or vodka in a coke bottle, the blame lies with the adults who gave or sold him the drink and to a much lesser extent, the society that publicly reviles alcohol while not-too-secretly relishing it.
Michael Truluck, a 13 year-old Baltimorean, is not the first underage alcohol death blamed on Four Loko. In fact, a rash of hospitalizations at one Washington State college that were linked to the drink was the impetus for the FDA to pressure the maker of the drink, Phusion Projects, to remove caffeine from the formula. This is despite the fact that many of the kids were likely drinking other beverages in addition to Four Loko.
Without a doubt, this latest incident will reignite calls for “more regulation” of the drink. What people forget is that the laws that should have prevented this tragedy are already in place. In the state of Maryland, it is illegal to furnish alcohol to a minor unless the child is part of the adult’s immediate family. Any clerk selling to a minor or adult giving a non-relative child alcohol can be prosecuted and fined.
I won’t say that it’s the mother’s fault for not watching her kid 100 percent of the time or the kid’s fault for making a stupid mistake that a lot of other kids have made — most of them are still alive. I will say that it’s was an accident that happens and happens quite often. Many minors experiment with alcohol and many end up doing things they regret. That in this case it was a Four Loko and not any other kind of alcohol is purely coincidence.
People naturally want to deal with a horrible incident by searching for a way to ensure it won’t ever happen again. Of course, that’s impossible. Kids will make reckless decisions no matter how many laws we pass or products we ban. If we want to teach children to respect alcohol and understand its effects, perhaps we ought to stop demonizing alcohol and start talking honestly about the good and the bad, and even start teaching our youngsters how to drink with guidance and supervision.
It’s not news that regulators in Utah are often uncomfortable allowing residents to make their own decisions about how, when, or if they engage in morally questionable behavior. The Beehive State has a well-known bee in its bonnet when it comes to alcohol, but what many non-Utahans may not know is that it is just as strict, if not more so, when it comes to preventing residents from gambling — even if they are in their own home. As federal lawmakers and many states edge toward legalizing, regulating, and taxing online wagering, some Utah legislators want to clarify the letter of their state law to make it absolutely clear that their residents don’t have a choice: gambling in Utah is illegal, whether it’s at a business, in your home, or on your smart phone.
As Eric Bianchi over at CalvinAyre.com reported last week, Utah state Rep. Stephen Sandstrom introduced legislation (HB 108) that would make it illegal for residents of the state to gambling over the Internet and on handheld devices. This is the second measure meant to address the increasing ease with which Utah residents are skirting the state’s strict gambling laws. Last month, the Utah House passed a bill (HB 40) that eliminated “vague working in the state law” that Internet cafes had reportedly been exploiting to allow online gaming — or as the bill’s sponsor Rep. Don Ipson charmingly put it, made them “havens for criminal activity.”
Utah is only one of two states in the nation that doesn’t have any form of legalized gambling, such as a casino or lottery (Hawaii is the other). But that doesn’t mean that residents aren’t doing plenty of gambling anyway.
Of course, that’s always the problem with prohibition, isn’t it? Bans never actually stop people from engaging in a behavior, it simply makes them a criminal if they do. If Utah’s Internet gambling ban is approved, especially as other states move toward legalizing the activity, Utahans will continue to gambling on and offline. Utah will lose tax revenue to neighboring states and residents will not have the protections of their government if their rights are violated while engaging in online gambling. Apparently, Utah regulators would rather try to protect the purity of the souls of their constituents rather than doing the job they are charged with which is to protect their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
In national news: Congressman Kurt Schrader of Oregon announced last week that he is withdrawing his support of the CARE Act, the piece of legislation that will likely make it more difficult for small producers of wine, beer, and spirits to reach the market. In his statement, Rep. Schrader noted that after listening to the concerns of Oregon’s wine growers he now believes the legislation would be detrimental to their industry.
Also in national news: The Small BREW Act picked up a new cosponsor. Congressman Brad Miller of North Carolina signed onto the act that will reduce costs for small brewers and allow them to brew more while still being considered “small.” Currently, small brewers are defined as those making not more than 2 million barrels a year. The BREW Act would up that to 6 million barrels a year. The act also cuts the excise tax rate on the first 60,000 barrels for small brewers from $7 a barrel to $3.50 a barrel. The additional barrels after 60,000 and up to 2 million will be taxed at $16 a barrel.
Arizona: A ballot initiative is underway in Arizona that could give residents the chance to vote on whether or not they’d like a new tax on their alcohol. The tax would amount to 25 cents on every gallon of hard liquor and a dollar on every gallon on beer and wine. Like many other “sin taxes,” this will go to community programs and is sold as a remedy to the financial toll that alcohol abuse has on communities. Of course, this new tax would be in addition to the alcohol taxes that Arizona already has. Currently, the state of Arizona extracts $3 per gallon of spirits, 84 cents on every gallon of wine, and 16 cents on each gallon of beer. There are no plans to give money back to people for the scientifically proven health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption.
Connecticut: Earlier this month, Connecticut Governor Malloy released details of his plans to update the state’s alcohol laws. Among other things, Malloy hopes to legalize Sunday sales of alcohol, get rid of the holiday sales bans, and eliminate minimum pricing. If successful, the new laws will hopefully reduce costs for consumers and prevent residents from buying their booze in neighboring states.
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Some things should not be up for a vote. Among those things is whether consenting adults should be required to use condoms when they have sex. For many years, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has called for a mandate on condoms in adult films and recently collected enough signatures to add their legislation to the next city ballot. And last week the LA city council voted in favor of denying permits to adult films that do not abide by the condom requirement. While these efforts may be well-intentioned, a condom mandate violates actors’ rights to free speech, association, and choice—and likely will be counterproductive.
Current national workplace safety standards, as stipulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), require employers to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers in hazardous situations—for example, hard hats for construction workers. Notably, OSHA laws provide exemptions for workers who refuse to use the PPE on religious grounds. Unlike many other OSHA protection rules, this condom mandate does not allow for any flexibility in the type of protection workers may use: it requires some form of barrier protection and would not allow actors to voluntarily not use the protection (though I doubt any actor would seek a religious exemption). While sexually transmitted infection is certainly a risk on adult film sets, a condom mandate is a one-size-fits-all solution that certainly doesn’t “fit all”.
As many in and out of adult film industry have noted, the mandate prevents actors and filmmakers from expressing themselves as they wish—a clear violation of the First Amendment. While “obscene” speech is not guaranteed the same constitutional protection as other types of expression, the adult industry as a whole cannot be lumped into the obscenity category. The “Miller Test,” which is used to determine obscenity based on the 1973 Supreme Court case, Miller v California, would have to be applied to every film before the state of California would have the right to restrict their expression.
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Out with the old year and out with the old alcohol laws! 2012 is off to a great start with several states reducing the regulatory burdens on the producers and consumers of alcoholic beverages. Here’s to a new year!
Colorado: The movement to get full strength beer grocery stores seems to be losing steam. After four years of concerted but failed efforts and a governor expressly against the idea, the legislature apparently has no plans to push for sales of beer with more than 3.2 alcohol by weight in outlets other than liquor stores.
Connecticut: Apparently, I was not the only person curious about where one wouldn’t be able to buy liquor on or around Christmas/New Year’s Eve. Consumer Protection Commissioner William M. Rubenstein was kind enough to clarify Connecticut’s law: unless you’re in a bar or restaurant, the state’s anachronistic blue laws do prohibit the sale of alcohol on Christmas and New Years, and if those happen to fall on Sundays, it prohibits off-premise sales on the following Monday as well.
Idaho: The push is on to collect enough signatures to get the question of privatizing the state-run liquor business before voters. Optimistic after the success of a similar privatization ballot initiative in Washington State, Idaho grocers need to collect 47,432 signatures by April 30. Even if the measure is successful, they will have to face-off with the current governor, a Republican who has stated his belief that it’s the government’s duty to promote “temperance.”
Indiana: Lawmakers are reportedly drafting a bill that would allow carry-out sales of alcohol on Sundays as well as cold beer sales in convenient, grocery, and drug stores. Opponents of the plan, as usual, claim it would hurt mom-and-pop liquor stores. Oddly enough, Indianapolis does have one exception to the Sunday sales ban – a recent change in the law allows retailers to sell alcohol on Super Bowl Sunday and the previous Sunday, but only in the “downtown Super Bowl zone.”
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