On its website, Wisconsin-based Renew Energy says it is the "biofuels industry leader for innovation and efficiency." It goes on, saying that its new 130 million gallon per year ethanol plant in Jefferson, Wisconsin is "the largest dry mill corn fractionation facility in the world" which uses 35 percent less energy and 33 percent less water than similar ethanol plants.
That would be impressive but for one fact: Renew Energy just filed for bankruptcy.
The failure of Renew is the latest bankruptcy in the corn ethanol industry, a sector that despite billions of dollars in federal subsidies, hasn't been able to prove its long-term economic viability. About 9 percent of all the ethanol plants in the US have now filed for bankruptcy and some analysts believe the numbers could go as high as 20 percent.
Even if the 20 percent figure is never reached, it's readily apparent that billions of investment dollars will be lost on the corn ethanol scam, a darling of farm state legislators. Today, about four years after Congress increased the mandates on the use of corn ethanol in gasoline, the US is nowhere close to the much-promised goal of "energy independence." Instead, the increasing use of corn to make motor fuel has caused a myriad of problems. Chief among them: increased food prices.
Science & Technology
South Korean researchers say they've discovered a planetary system that has two suns.
Lee Jae-woo and Kim Seung-ri of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute and Kim Chun-hwui of Chungbuk National University said the planetary system, which they've named HW Vir has had the two suns since its birth, unlike other planetary systems in which a second sun was drawn by gravitational attraction, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Friday.
Lee Jae-woo and Kim Seung-ri of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute and Kim Chun-hwui of Chungbuk National University said the planetary system, which they've named HW Vir has had the two suns since its birth, unlike other planetary systems in which a second sun was drawn by gravitational attraction, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Friday.
Microsoft founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates released a glass full of mosquitoes at an elite technology conference to make a point about the deadly disease malaria.
"Malaria is spread by mosquitoes," Gates said while opening a jar onstage at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference - a gathering known to attract technology kings, politicians, and Hollywood stars.
"I brought some. Here I'll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected."
First reported on social networking site Twitter, Facebook's Senior Platform Manager Dave Morin blogged, "Bill Gates just released mosquitos into the audience at TED."
"Malaria is spread by mosquitoes," Gates said while opening a jar onstage at the Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference - a gathering known to attract technology kings, politicians, and Hollywood stars.
"I brought some. Here I'll let them roam around. There is no reason only poor people should be infected."
First reported on social networking site Twitter, Facebook's Senior Platform Manager Dave Morin blogged, "Bill Gates just released mosquitos into the audience at TED."
Archaeologists cleaning a drain to flush out rainwater from an explored part of the ancient Indus Valley city of Moenjodaro have been pleasantly surprised to come across artefacts and other objects of much cultural value at the World Heritage site.
'We had gone just half a metre down the level of surface of the old structures in the DK-G area and found the material of cultural value,' Dawn Monday quoted Moenjodaro director Qasim Ali Qasim as saying.
Well-defined structures of old drains were discovered along with certain old artefacts during the digging, which was necessitated to prevent rainwater stagnating at the world heritage site.
'We had gone just half a metre down the level of surface of the old structures in the DK-G area and found the material of cultural value,' Dawn Monday quoted Moenjodaro director Qasim Ali Qasim as saying.
Well-defined structures of old drains were discovered along with certain old artefacts during the digging, which was necessitated to prevent rainwater stagnating at the world heritage site.
French archaeologists in northern Sudan say they've unearthed a 5,500 year-old Stone Age tomb which they believe confirms the location of Africa's "oldest human sacrifice".
In a graveyard in Al-Kadada, north of Khartoum, the archaeologists have dug up the tomb of a man and a woman facing each other in a ditch, with bodies of two women, two goats and a dog buried nearby.
The discovery "confirms'' excavations last year which found traces of the oldest human sacrifice ever identified in Africa, said Jacques Reinold, a researcher for the French section of the Sudanese antiquities department.
In a graveyard in Al-Kadada, north of Khartoum, the archaeologists have dug up the tomb of a man and a woman facing each other in a ditch, with bodies of two women, two goats and a dog buried nearby.
The discovery "confirms'' excavations last year which found traces of the oldest human sacrifice ever identified in Africa, said Jacques Reinold, a researcher for the French section of the Sudanese antiquities department.
© Raffaella Bianucci, Gallien
The remains and burial sites of some religious order members who died of plague in Renaissance Europe.
The remains and burial sites of some religious order members who died of plague in Renaissance Europe.
The study is among the first to find that plague, a deadly bacterial disease also known as "the Black Death," can be quickly and accurately identified in ancient human remains.
Several recently identified women who died after caring for plague victims were all Benedictine nuns from the Sainte-Croix Abbey's chapter house near Poitiers, France.
Juan Enriquez talked about the new human species emerging before our eyes. Thanks to an array of biological advances and our growing aptitude in robotics, we now find ourselves in the early days of the deliberate creation of what he called a new species.
At TED 2009, now halfway through the near-weeklong binge of activities and presentations, Juan Enriquez energized and perhaps terrorized attendees with his brief look into the future of human affairs, and indeed, of the human species. What made Enriquez' presentation so engaging was that his vision wasn't that far off, this sci-fi future that he spoke of; it's the future that is unveiling itself right before us, a future that we will all likely watch arrive, and our children will come to know as reality.
Chairman and CEO of Biotechonomy, Enriquez says that humanity is on the verge of becoming a new and utterly unique species, which he dubs Homo Evolutis. What makes this species so unique is that it "takes direct and deliberate control over the evolution of the species." Calling it the "ultimate reboot," he points to the conflux of DNA manipulation and therapy, tissue generation, and robotics as making this great leap possible.
Intelligent civilisations are out there and there could be thousands of them, according to an Edinburgh scientist.
The discovery of more than 330 planets outside our solar system in recent years has helped refine the number of life forms that are likely to exist.
The current research estimates that there are at least 361 intelligent civilisations in our Galaxy and possibly as many as 38,000.
The discovery of more than 330 planets outside our solar system in recent years has helped refine the number of life forms that are likely to exist.
The current research estimates that there are at least 361 intelligent civilisations in our Galaxy and possibly as many as 38,000.
Chemical fossils push back the date for animal life to at least 635 million years ago.
A new analysis of ancient chemical fossils has rocked the cradle of early animal evolution, bumping back compelling evidence of animal life to at least 635 million years ago.
The findings, published in the Feb. 5 Nature, suggest that the ancient ancestor of fully formed animals survived a massive glaciation that enshrouded the Earth in ice at the end of the aptly named Cryogenian period. Debate continues over how much of the planet was frozen during two ice ages, each possibly a "snowball Earth" event that flanked this period, which extended from about 790 million to 630 million years ago.
The new results suggest that even if glaciers reached the equator during the second ice age, it is likely that warm pockets, perhaps created by volcanic activity or hydrothermal vents, may have persisted and harbored life.
A new analysis of ancient chemical fossils has rocked the cradle of early animal evolution, bumping back compelling evidence of animal life to at least 635 million years ago.
The findings, published in the Feb. 5 Nature, suggest that the ancient ancestor of fully formed animals survived a massive glaciation that enshrouded the Earth in ice at the end of the aptly named Cryogenian period. Debate continues over how much of the planet was frozen during two ice ages, each possibly a "snowball Earth" event that flanked this period, which extended from about 790 million to 630 million years ago.
The new results suggest that even if glaciers reached the equator during the second ice age, it is likely that warm pockets, perhaps created by volcanic activity or hydrothermal vents, may have persisted and harbored life.
© NASA/JPL-Caltech
If life is found on Mars, we may have to remove or destroy past spacecraft like the Mars Phoenix lander to prevent contamination, a researcher says.
If life is found on Mars, we may have to remove or destroy past spacecraft like the Mars Phoenix lander to prevent contamination, a researcher says.
A group of international experts will meet as early as this September to discuss whether it is time to revise policies that protect Mars from contamination.
At issue is the ethics of exploring the Red Planet - in particular whether hitchhiking Earth microbes could harm Martian habitats.
Past missions, including NASA's twin rovers, have already ferried hundreds of thousands of bacterial cells to the Red Planet. Most of the microbes on the exterior of these craft were quickly destroyed by intense ultraviolet radiation, which passes easily through Mars's thin atmosphere.
