Google, together with New York investment firm Good Energies, is buying a 37.5 per cent stake in a US$5 billion project to build 563 kilometres of underwater transmission lines to pave the way for future wind energy generation projects. This project is a first of its kind, with an output of 6,000 megawatts, making it [...]
The Manitoban
The Students' Newspaper of the University of Manitoba
Science section
-
-
Net Neutrality and Internet censorship
It’s not often that a technology as radical, accessible and world changing as the Internet comes to be. It’s even more rare that the technology allows its users shape it to their needs from the beginning. The most amazing part of the Internet, though, has been its ability to let all opinions be voiced equally, [...]
-
Blame the Butterflies
The “butterfly effect” is based on the statement “a butterfly flapping its wings in (insert place A) can cause a hurricane/tornado/etc. in (insert place B, which is far away from place A).” In theory it kind of makes sense. If weather conditions are balancing on a knife-edge, and even the slightest factor could influence things [...]
-
Delicious DNA
Fans of the classic 1971 film, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, will recall that each of the children on the factory tour were enlisted by the conniving Mr. Slugworth to steal Wonka’s trade secrets. Until recently, something similar to this level of suspicion and corporate espionage was commonplace in the candy industry. Carol Off [...]
-
By Jove!
Welcome to the first in a series of articles that will cover everything in the universe! We’ll cover everything from “what’s up” in the skies over Manitoba, to the latest in astronomical research, to some of the “big questions” at the frontier of science: Are we alone in the Universe? Are there other planets like [...]
-
Printing: Now in 3-D
Sometime in the distant future an avid tinkerer could — for the cost of a low-end automobile — purchase a machine that turns his ideas into three-dimensional objects. This same backyard mechanic could then access a global, user-generated database of plans that would allow his polymer manipulating micro factory to print objects from designs others [...]
-
Zoological investigations
In addition to Cuba and the Bahamas, the Caribbean island chain contains an unassuming little island called St. Lucia. A rainforested, mountainous, volcanic island roughly 616 sq km in size, that was first inhabited by native peoples from South America early in the 2nd century. “Discovered” by good old Christopher Columbus in 1499, British attempts [...]
-
Borlaug’s legacy in jeopardy
Sept. 12 marked the one-year anniversary of the death of one of the greatest men of the 20th century, Norman Borlaug. He was the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and central figure of the “green revolution,” which transformed agriculture in the 20th century and saved millions from starvation. It is sad then that one of [...]
-
Rivers fail piss-test
Researchers from the University of Valencia (UV) have confirmed the presence of several illegal drugs in the canals and irrigation channels in L’Albufera Natural Park, Spain. Recently similar substances and other pharmaceuticals have turned up in drinking water samples in North America. Yolanda Picó, leader author of the study and senior professor in the department [...]
-
Internal combustion: the way of the future
Just when you thought we were on the verge of an electric car revolution, it turns out that the internal combustion engine isn’t leaving anytime soon. The winner of this year’s Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize has been announced, and underneath that aerodynamic, space-aged body is the familiar gas-guzzling engine that your grandfather would recognize. [...]