Free Republic

When you really need something, it's natural to worry about running out of it. Peak oil has been a global preoccupation since the 1970s, and the warnings get louder with each passing year. Environmentalists emphasize the importance of placing limits on consumption of fossil fuels, but haven't been successful in encouraging people to consume less energy—even with the force of law at their backs. But maybe they're going about it all wrong, looking for solutions in the wrong places. Economists Lucas Bretschger and Sjak Smulders argue that the decisive question isn't to focus directly on preserving the resources we already...

Tiny Ocean Plants Offer Biochemical Enigma by Brian Thomas, M.S.* Phosphorus, number 15 on the periodic table of elements, is considered a basic component of all cell membranes. But the recent discovery of single-celled photosynthetic organisms surviving without the chemical element in their membranes is going to require some major rewrites to biochemistry textbooks.1 Phosphorus is in short supply in the Sargasso Sea, located in the north Atlantic, where researchers from numerous institutions and universities found several autotrophs, including some diatoms and four different genera of photosynthetic bacteria, that can make cell membrane substitutes. In their study published online in...

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "Mexico condemns the excessive use of force associated with the Israeli army operation in Gaza, " a statement from the Mexican Foreign Ministry said late Tuesday. It also condemned "the continued launching of mortars into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip". Latin American countries have largely condemned Israel over its launch of 'Operation Cast Lead' on Gaza on December 27. Immediately after Israeli warplanes attacked the strip, Cuba called the offensive an "act of genocide" and a "criminal military operation, the bloodiest one executed by Israel against the Palestinian people." Three day later, the Bolivian Foreign...

WASHINGTON - Pentagon officials say white phosphorous was used as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the battle of Fallujah last November, but deny an Italian television news report that it was used against civilians. Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that while white phosphorous is most frequently used to mark targets or obscure a position, it was used at times in Fallujah as an incendiary weapon against enemy combatants. White phosphorous is a colorless-to-yellow translucent wax-like substance with a pungent, garlic-like smell. The form used by the military ignites once it is exposed to oxygen, producing...

Kakebeka Falls Incident Attracts U.S Security Attention Tb News Source Web Posted: 5/21/2004 7:19:06 PM An incident in Kakabeka Falls last month has apparently caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the F.B.I. ABC News reports that the arrest of two people driving a van loaded 12 drums of red phosphorous has caused concern because of fears of a new terror attack in the U.S. The chemical is highly incendiary, and ABC says American authorities have reports a spectacular attack may be planned for sometime before the Presidential election this fall. Thunder Bay Police charged a...