Missing Malaysia Airlines plane was tracked by the military
Prime minister Najib Razak explains why the aircraft was not tracked further. (Image courtesy of The Independent)
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak coughed up the truth about flight MH370—military radar technology did track the missing aircraft after it flew off course. Seven weeks after the incident and in the shadow of a meeting with President Obama, Prime Minister Razak confesses that the military did not pursue the aircraft because “it behaved like a commercial airline.” With a preliminary report of the incident due soon, the Malaysian government will be under fire for the country’s inability to track the airplane, but Mr. Razak intends to aid international search crews with this new information. As it stands, the search for the missing Boeing 777 will likely take years, given the vastness of the Indian Ocean.
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The reactor can turn carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight into jet fuel. (Image courtesy of Royal Society of Chemistry)
Carbon Dioxide + Sunlight = Jet Fuel
Chemists in Europe have developed a process to make kerosene (a liquid hydrocarbon) by extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Hydrocarbons are considered to be a clean fuel source and the future of sustainable power. At high enough temperatures carbon dioxide and water will break apart and form hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and oxygen gas. Using the Fischer-Tropsch process scientists are able to convert the carbon monoxide and hydrogen mix, called syngas, into a hydrocarbon. This discovery is dually significant because a major greenhouse gas can be reduced and a renewable fuel source can be created out of it. However, one of the issues associated with this process is that the oxygen in the mix is highly explosive at high temperatures, leading scientists to come up with innovative solutions to this problem. Despite the breakthrough, this process is in its baby steps; the efficiency of the process hovers at a mediocre 1.73% (nuclear power is 33% efficient). Nevertheless, this new method of obtaining hydrocarbons is gaining popularity around the world.
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A drug to battle aging
Douglas Vaughan, leading researcher of the drug. (Image courtesy of Northwestern University)
A protein that affects physiological aging is no match for scientists at Northwestern University and Tohoku University who have ingeniously created a drug to slow its effect, as they have proven with experiments on mice. This “experimental drug”—TM5441—has shown to quadruple the age of mice by protecting the lungs and vascular system from the process of aging. If approved for humans, this drug has the potential to counter various diseases that accelerate aging such as diabetes and HIV infection. The pinnacle of 25 years of research has the potential to vastly increase human longevity.
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Paul Ramsay donates billions to charity upon passing away
Australian billionaire Paul Ramsay donates billions to charity. (Image courtesy of The Sydney Morning Herald)
Australian billionaire and founder of Ramsay Health Care Paul Ramsay passed away after suffering a heart attack on his yacht. His $3.3 billion stake in Ramsay was mostly donated to the Paul Ramsay Foundation, along with his estate worth nearly $3.4 billion. The foundation can distribute nearly $50 million annually to various charitable organizations such as the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, which has been supported in the past. Paul Ramsay, with no wife or kids, has been monumental to charity in Australia and his final gift is being received the same way—as “an incredible act of generosity.”
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