Science & Technology
Science & Technology
FrackNation Defends Revolutionary Energy Technology
Earl Parson January 13, 2013
A new feature-length documentary on the hotly debated subject of hydraulic fracturing—a technology for extracting oil and natural gas—debuted last week in New York and Los Angeles. FrackNation, a production of Ann and Phelim Media LLC, presents the facts surrounding this controversial technology and counters many of the misconceptions surrounding…
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Kudos to the 800 Companies Demanding a Repeal of the Medical-Device Tax
Joshua Lipana January 6, 2013
Fox Business reports that executives from more than 800 companies and medical-groups are demanding a repeal to the medical-device tax. Here are some excerpts from their letter to the senate demanding its repeal and elucidating why the tax will “adversely impact patient care and innovation, and will substantially increase the…
Arts & Culture, Science & Technology
William Shatner’s Tweet and the Power of Art
Ari Armstrong January 5, 2013
Earth date: January 3, 2013. William Shatner—most famously known as “Captain Kirk” from Star Trek—sent a Tweet to Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut currently commanding the International Space Station. Shatner Tweeted, simply, “@Cmdr_Hadfield Are you tweeting from space?” Hadfield replied, “Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we're detecting signs of life…
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Time to Privatize the Weather Satellite Program
Michael A. LaFerrara January 3, 2013
Although weather forecasters brilliantly predicted Superstorm Sandy's impact days in advance—thereby saving many lives—in the near future forecasters could see their science take "a significant step back." The New Jersey Star-Ledger’s Stephen Stirling reports: Satellites critical to the ability of meteorologists to build accurate long-term forecasts are expected to fail…
Science & Technology
Paul Hsieh: “Speak out Against the Government Narrative” on ObamaCare
Joshua Lipana December 30, 2012
In his latest Forbes.com article, Dr. Paul Hsieh elucidates the need for liberty-loving Americans to speak out against ObamaCare, saying, “[do] not let the government escape responsibility for problems they’ve created”: As the problems of ObamaCare inevitably emerge, the big question will be whether they will be blamed on the…
Science & Technology
New Technology Promises Electrical Power from Friction
Ari Armstrong December 29, 2012
It isn’t Galt’s Motor from Atlas Shrugged, the fictional generator that pulls unlimited amounts of static electricity from the air. Still, an innovative new use of available materials shows promise in converting static electricity into power for small devices. Katherine Bourzac, writing for the MIT Technology Review, explains the work…
Science & Technology
Relative Freedom Unleashes Global Advances
Ari Armstrong December 21, 2012
Today is the end of the world, according to some. Of course, last year marked the end of the world, too; as did the year before that. It seems that some people just can’t get enough mysticism or despair. People have been predicting the imminent destruction of the earth on…
Science & Technology
Heroic Researchers Markedly Improve Thought-Controlled Prosthetics for the Severely Paralyzed
Ross England December 17, 2012
Jennifer Collinger, Andrew Schwartz, and other researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System have made spectacular progress in the treatment of severe paralysis by producing a new, highly advanced thought-controlled prosthetic arm. In a summary of their work published today in The Lancet, the research…
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Time for the Ethics of Organ Donation to Catch Up with the Heroics of Dr. Joseph E. Murray
Michael A. LaFerrara December 12, 2012
Organ transplant pioneer Dr. Joseph E. Murray died November 26, 2012, in Boston. The New York Times reports that Murray, “who opened a new era of medicine [in 1954] with the first successful human organ transplant, . . . was awarded the [1990] Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.” As…
Politics & Rights, Science & Technology
Medical Device Tax: Immoral and Impractical
Joshua Lipana December 10, 2012
Fox Business’s Elizabeth MacDonald writes, “Starting January 1, medical-device makers must pay a new 2.3% excise tax on sales, regardless if they make a profit, to raise $30 billion over the next decade to pay for health reform”—that is, ObamaCare. Already, venture capital funding in the medical device industry in the…