Saturday, April 9th, 2011
“I remember the excitement that greeted Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space so well: a mixture of astonishment at the achievement, tinged – in some quarters anyway – with apprehension that Soviet science was ahead of America’s. Certainly in Russia it was a moment of glorious triumph. Alexander Urnov was then a bright young student in
Friday, April 8th, 2011
The American Public Transportation Association released a new high-speed rail report (pdf) chock-full of numbers and charts. Though advertised as a “business case” for fast trains, the report functions more as a compilation of the latest statistics and study conclusions that underscore the long-term potential of U.S. passenger rail. Some of the supporting figures. Read More
Friday, April 8th, 2011
The figure, unveiled at the European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna, is substantially lower than numbers that have been used for nearly a century. The new research uses a global network of monitoring stations that detect the electromagnetic pulses produced by major bolts of lightning. It confirms that thunderstorms are mainly a tropical phenomenon – and the
Friday, April 8th, 2011
The village of Feldheim generates much more energy from its wind turbines and methane harvesting than it can use. Unhappy just selling the surplus, people there invested in creating their own a power grid and now pay an average of 25 percent less for electricity – and the price is guaranteed for the next 10
Friday, April 8th, 2011
The image represents the first radar intensity map collected at the very same Ku-band wavelength at which the candidate Earth Explorer CoReH2O would operate. The image was acquired near Sondankylä, northern Finland using the SnowSAR airborne instrument developed for ESA. In the lower right corner, the four bright dots are corner reflectors positioned on river ice
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
On 5 April 2011, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) and the Chairman of the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party(*) hosted the annual Spring Conference of European Data Protection Commissioners in Brussels, involving data protection authorities from EU and non-EU Member States, as well as various authorities at EU level.
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
China’s interest towards Russia’s high north is increasing. A general agreement between Chinese authorities and the regional government in Murmansk might be signed soon. China’s Consul General to St. Petersburg Xie Xiaoyong recently visited Murmansk Oblast, where he met with First Deputy Governor Natalya Portnaya. The main themes that were discussed were the planned economic zone
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
Scientists have identified a massive volume of freshwater floating like a cap on the Arctic Ocean, which they believe could suddenly flow into the North Atlantic and affect the warm Gulf Stream that keeps Britain mild in winter and cool in summer. Studies have shown that a surface layer of fresher water in the Arctic Ocean
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
The Norwegian Civil Aviation Board (Avinor) has announced that passengers must be prepared for delays in air traffic on Thursday, due to the introduction of a new arrival route system in the airspace. Oslo Airport Gardermoen (OSL) asks that passengers are prepared for delays. Rygge and Torp airports will also be affected. Other airports may also experience
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
Russian Federal Space Agency head Anatoly Perminov said on Wednesday the agency’s scheduled events dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Yury Gagarin’s historic first space flight will go ahead as planned despite rumors of his imminent retirement. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov confirmed earlier on Wednesday rumors that Perminov, 65, will soon retire. State officials
