News of the day...

This just in...ummm...no real news on BPA.

Another inconclusive epidemiology study for everyone to get excited about.

But the results do not establish a causal link between BPA and disease, and the study design does not allow researchers to determine which came first: higher exposure to BPA or illness. "I think our study definitely puts a scientific question mark over this compound," says epidemiologist David Melzer of the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, UK, who led the research. "Still, this is the first study. It has to be repeated."

Oh, there wasn't already a question about BPA's influence on human health? I guess at least they're continuing to study it, but does anyone else get tired of sensationalized reporting of minimal findings? Maybe I'm just feeling grumpy cause I haven't been fishing in...?

A bio-energy I can support.

Genetic engineering is amazing, isn't it?

Scientists at San Diego–based Genomatica, Inc., have announced success in manipulating the bacteria to directly produce butanediol (BDO), a chemical compound used to make everything from spandex to car bumpers, thereby providing a more energy efficient way of making it without oil or natural gas.

Ok, it's a little scary...they actually state that they had to make e. coli more resilient in order for the process to work. Hopefully they're not playing with fire here. But in general, it's a cool idea; particularly since it seems virtually ready for market.

"This isn't an aberration where we need $250 per barrel oil to be cost competitive," Gann adds. He says the researchers so far have produced less than two pounds (a kilogram) of BDO; he expects a pilot plant to be up and running next year.

As everybody knows, "it's the economy, stupid," and "every little bit counts," so this is exactly the type of development that we should be aiming for; simultaneous reductions in cost and ecological impact. Just keep an eye on your septic, you don't want it filling up with Speedos just because you let a few of these guys loose.

One more thing then...

Our national parks just might not all be trampled by snowmobile traffic. Hey, I got nothing against snowmobiles and ATVs...I just don't believe they belong everywhere.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I can not f@*king stand these researchers who have released these so called studies on BPA. In fact the diseases that they are so worried about (diabetes and cardiovascular disease) aren't even the scariest thing about BPA's. BPA's release xenoestrogens that act like regular estrogen in the male body and is the leading cause of, thats right, I am talking about bitch tit-itis. Do a study on that assh*les.

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