Free Republic

Best BTM I have seen since Styx (not as funny though).

Minuscule shapes sculpted on metal surfaces could have a profound impact in many fields of engineering. By training intense electron beams on the surface of metals, Bruce Dance and his team have found a way to fashion delicate metal projections that will act like ultra-strong Velcro to form much tougher joints between metals and lightweight composite materials in aircraft and cars. The projections could be used to encourage bone to grow onto artificial hips. They could also be used in electronics to produce heat sinks of just about any shape. Developed at the Welding Institute (TWI) in Great Abington, near...

Michelle Mark of Calgary Sun reports that a new study on heavy metal or hard rock music and depression shows teens who listen to those genres of tunes are more likely to be singing the blues. "Metal music often conveys images (for example) of death and violence," said University of Montreal psychologist and study author Dave Miranda. "We therefore expected that this musical subculture would be associated with a high level of depression." Miranda interviewed teens ages 15 to 17 and asked them to rank their musical preferences from a list of pop, metal, hip hop, jazz or classical and...

SYRACUSE -- The state's new building code allows plastic plumbing in commercial buildings, but state labor law requires metal, and that's causing problems in Onondaga County. The state Labor Department wants 22 developers in the county to rip plastic plumbing out of 27 new buildings, even though it complies with the state building code. Of the 28 buildings cited statewide, 27 are in Onondaga County. The state's new building code, which builders were allowed to use starting in July 2002 and which took full effect at the start of the year, says plastic pipe can be installed in commercial buildings....

Strange Stars? Odd features hint at novel matter Peter Weiss Exotic forms of matter never observed before in the wild may have turned up in the remnants of two collapsed stars, according to new findings publicized last week by NASA. At an April 10 briefing at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., researchers argued that observations by the orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory indicate that the astronomical object dubbed RXJ1856.5-3754 may lack the neutrons, protons, and electrons of ordinary matter. Another object, 3C58, may contain odd forms of matter surrounded by neutrons. Since its discovery in 1996, astronomers had thought that RXJ1856...