How to buy long-term care insurance

Planning for your future involves more than saving in a 401(k). Consider insurance to provide for your health care needs.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- It's no surprise that healthcare costs are soaring. The cost of a nursing home today is about $71,000 annually, or about $200 a day. The cost for assisted living is about $32,000 a year or $88 dollars a day.

And home care price tags are up about 13 percent. The average hourly rate for home health aides is about $25, according to a survey by Genworth Financial.
In today's top tips, we'll tell you what you need to know about long term care insurance.
1: Consider your candidacy
The reason you buy long term care insurance is to protect your assets in case you need to pay for assisted living, home care or a nursing home stay. If you have over $250,000 or more socked away or maybe your parents live too far away for your own comfort, you may want to explore long term care insurance options.

Most people start looking into these policies in their 50s, when premiums are generally lower, says Matt McGrath of the wealth management firm Evensky & Katz. A 50 year-old may pay $2,000 for a policy, while a 70 year old could pay $8,000 or more.

Of course, if you've run through most of your assets, Medicaid will pay for care. If you've been diagnosed with having dementia, schizophrenia or if you use a wheelchair or a walker don't even bother applying, says Brian Peterson of NextGen Advisor. "No insurer will cover you," he says.
2: Be a smart shopper
Fewer and fewer insurers are offering long term care insurance. There were over 100 companies offering this insurance. Now there are only about 5 or 6 big players, says Fred Brock, author of "Healthcare for Less than you Think."

That's because it's not easy to predict what healthcare costs will be like. The company will need deep pockets. You're best bet is to go with a well known company. Make sure it has been in business for at least 15 years so that it has a proven track record when it comes to long term care, says Peterson.

You also want to make sure the company has not had to raise premiums drastically. As boomers age, more and more companies who haven't priced out premiums well enough are finding they need to adjust their figures higher. Get the details on their financial strength by going to rating companies like Moodys.com, standardandpoors.com, or Fitch ratings at fitchratings.com.

You should also get in touch with your state's insurance commissioner to see if there are any state regulations that govern the premiums.
3: Get the right policy
When you buy a long term care insurance policy, you'll also want to invest in an inflation rider. Healthcare costs are expected to increase increases between 5% to 7% per year. The average stay in a nursing home is about 30 months, so you may get a policy that will give you benefits for 3 years.

But if you think you're likely to need more insurance, you can get benefit payouts for 10 years or more...but your premiums could more than double.

What Will Happen to Insurance in the Future? How Will You Be Affected?

Have you ever seen (or set up) an extensive domino arrangement? It can take hours, sometimes even days to set them all up in one design. But if someone accidentally touches one, especially at a strategic location, slowly but surely they will all tumble down.

As I read, check, and listen to reports about insurance companies, this sort of "tumbling" event seems an inevitability in the coming months and perhaps years. Don't be surprised if you hear more and more reports of losses from insurance companies and increases in premiums, not just because of the "Attack on America" on September 11, 2001, but also because it is just a "good" time to do so.

I predicted the downfall of the managed care system in the Florida workers'compensation arena the very day we heard it presented at one of the annual Workers' Compensation Educational Conferences. The changes brought outcries from patients, insurance adjusters, physicians and employers alike.

In 2001, the rules were changed to eliminate the mandatory regulations for employers to use the managed care system when seeking medical care for their employees. When people band together, things can change!

The problems and losses insurance companies are facing today will necessitate changes to provide future coverage in all aspects and types of insurance coverage, including auto; home; business; health; disability; and life insurance.

These changes may be beneficial in the long run, as insurance is long overdue for a good overhaul. I feel that you will find insurance companies and employers alike looking for alternative ways to be creative. This will be necessary especially in health insurance for employers to be able to continue in the future to afford to offer coverage for their employees.

However, these kinds of changes also scare me, because it appears from what I have read that the costs will be shifted more to those who are ill, injured or in need of coverage or prescriptions. Within this system, how will those who make little wages ever be able to afford to cover their own medical expenses, when they already have problems meeting the minimal expense of their portion of policy premiums under the current system?

Changes will be necessary for you and I to be able to afford coverage. It will be necessary for those who have no insurance to be able to receive coverage. Somewhere, sometime, someone will come up with the right solution -- and then someone else will find a way to cancel it out!

Remember years ago when Hillary Clinton came upon the scene and tried to make sweeping changes in the insurance industry? Shortly thereafter, managed care ensued, or as some called it, managed cash, for some of the executives and corporate offices of the managed care companies. One of the major insurers even reported that it cost them over a million to save even less than that.

My suggestion is that everyone drop all policies and let the insurance companies chips fall where they may. Then maybe we can get some creative ideas from the insurance companies that work for everyone! Or maybe we'll find that the money we save from insurance premiums will for all of our losses and medical needs! However, that is probably not going to happen, because too many of us are motivated by fear, fear of failure, fear of losses, fear of dying and fear of leaving others to do without.

How Will These Changes Effect You, the Massage Therapist?

That depends, it depends on if we are all willing to band together and insist that we are a part of the health care system, especially when what we do is deemed by diagnosis to be medically necessary and prescribed by physicians.

We are health care providers, in addition to being able to offer or include a variety of diverse services such as spa treatments. This puts us in a wonderfully unique position, unlike other health care providers. It is a position we need to protect and preserve!

It really bothers me that some therapists are content to accept referrals by being listed in insurance company provider directories. This is not health care coverage. This is insurers' getting massage therapists to acknowledge that we are willing to set our fees at a much lower rate, in order to "possibly" obtain a few clients who happen to see us in their provider directory. (Doing this willingly is to reduce our own fees, not the insurance companies reducing them for us, as some fear will happen).

Under the above-mentioned circumstance,s we are not providers in the medical sense of the word. We are basically discounters for our services for those insurance subscribers, whether or not they have a medical condition.

It is just a way to offer our services to a select group, while in turn, the insurance companies eliminate reimbursement for medically necessary, prescribed services that they pay others for, whether or not they are trained or licensed to perform the service.

True medical coverage is when the policy reimburses a provider of services all or a portion of the bill for a medical condition from the insurance policy proceeds, not when the policyholder, subscriber or member pays the full cost, whether or not it is discounted.

Let me leave you with this thought to ponder. Massage Therapy Code 97124 has been a covered procedure listed in the American Medical Association (AMA) Current Procedural Terminology Code Book (CPT) for many, many years. This code was a reimbursable code long before massage therapists' ever contemplated billing for it.

If the procedure of massage therapy is considered a reimbursable, medically necessary treatment for an illness, injury, or other diagnosed medical condition, then please tell me why those of us who are trained, licensed or otherwise qualified to perform massage not be reimbursed for it by insurance?

A final note: Some insurance companies and adjusters do recognize the benefits of massage therapy. For more than 16 years, they have not only been willing to reimburse a massage therapist for this service, but many of them refer patients to massage therapists.

I mention this to emphasize that many years of hard work and major progress will all come to an end if we do not band together for our rights and for the elimination of discrimination against us. Whether massage therapists should accept insurance for reimbursement or receive medical referrals is and should always be a personal choice.

Climate-induced fires tough to adapt to

Australians could face fines if they don't protect their properties against the predicted increased threat of bushfires, says an expert in light of the latest UN climate change report.

Professor Amanda Lynch, of Monash University's climate program, says fines for people who don't reduce their land's fuel load by clearing or burning could be one way of managing the increased risk of bushfires as the planet warms.

Her predictions follow the second in a series of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, which says rising temperatures will cause more intense and frequent fires in Australia.

The IPCC working group II report also suggests actions that can be taken to reduce the damage from climate-induced changes, such as this.

But Lynch, a contributor to the report, says Australia is already very good at dealing with bushfires and sadly, this makes it harder to find ways to adapt.

"It's hard to know what else we could do in the face of worse fire," says Lynch, who has worked on fire management in the US and Australia.

She says Australia might have to become a lot stricter on private property owners to ensure they do their best to protect themselves from bushfire.

"You can do it with a stick, which would be to introduce fines," she says. "Or you could introduce a carrot. You could subsidise people," she says, to protect their homes through burning or clearing the land around them.

Lynch says another option would be to dampen forests to reduce their flammability, a difficult option given the nation's severe drought.

And then there's the option of reducing undergrowth in forests by eradicating weeds, she says.

Heatwaves

The IPCC report also predicts increasing severity and frequency of heatwaves, says Lynch, who suggests people could be warned in advance of potentially fatal ones.

And, following the lead of France, where over 10,000 people died after heatwaves in 2003, there could be more community support for the vulnerable, such as the elderly.

Coastal impacts

The report also predicts an increase in storm surges affecting Australia's coast, says Lynch, and suggests adapting in ways that does not depend on engineering.

"The old method of managing coasts is to build a big wall, or a big levy or big engineering structures to protect what's there from storm surges and rising sea levels," she says.

"The more modern way of talking about it is to let nature decide," she says. "Nature will win that battle."

She says small sea walls and levies may be appropriate initially, but as surges become more extreme and sea level rises further, settlement would have to "back away" from the coast.

"The final stage is retreat," she says.

Reef vulnerable

Lynch says that in some areas there is almost no room to adapt. This applies to the Great Barrier Reef, which is very sensitive to changes in temperature.

She says a key strategy is to reduce nutrient run-off onto the reef.

"A healthy reef, one that is not overloaded with nutrients from run-off, can withstand a higher temperature range," she says.

Other impacts and suggested adaptations include:

* enforcing fishery quotas as waters warm
* lowering the number of livestock per hectare
* improving water efficiency
* making artificial snow to keep tourists at ski resorts, and
* improving quarantine and vaccination programs to ward off the spread of tropical diseases.

While responding to climate change will require the appropriate allocation of resources, there's much more to it, says Lynch.

"It's an intellectual challenge; it's not just the money. We need to choose wisely as well," she says.

"We have to be prepared to adapt but we have to be doing this at the same time as we're mitigating [emissions]," says Lynch.

The first 2007 IPCC report, which was released in February, included the science of climate change and global predictions of its impacts; the second report, due to be officially released next week, covers regional impacts and adaptions; and the third report, due out in May, will canvass the relative economics of adaptation to and mitigation against the effects climate change.

Anna Salleh

ABC Science Online
http://www.world-articles.net

What Really Happened on September 11?

It appears unlikely that an Arab hijacker crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon — evidence witheld from the public is needed to determine what really happened.
by Enver Masud

It appears unlikely that it was Hani Hanjour who crashed American Airlines Flight 77 - a Boeing 757 - into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Evidence held by the U.S. government could refute this conclusion - I would welcome that because the alternative is much more disturbing.

The Pentagon crash may be the only commercial airline crash in modern history for which so much of the available video evidence has been witheld from the public. Five video frames from Pentagon cameras raise more questions than they answer - no Boeing 757 is visible.

Pentagon crash site photo In the photos publicly available, the hole in the Pentagon wall - prior to the collapse of the roof - appears much too small to accomodate a Boeing 757. If only the fusealge penetrated the Pentagon, then the wings would have remained outside. But no large debris - anything resembling the Boeing 757 wings and fuselage - is visible on the Pentagon lawn, and the lawn itself shows no sign that a Boeing 757 skidded across it or struck it.

Indeed early reports claimed that a truck bomb had exploded, and that the damage was similar to that inflicted on the USS Cole in Yemen.

Also, how does one reconcile the relatively minor damage to the Pentagon by a Boeing 757 (the Pentagon's reinforced conrete walls are 18 inches thick), with the total destruction of the World Trade Center by two Boeing 767s (each tower was built with 236 exterior columns, and 47 core columns - all made of steel and connected to each other by steel trusses)?

However, a majority of eyewitnesses are reported to have seen a large plane hit the Pentagon; a few are reported to have seen a commuter plane. One eyewitness account, in particular, takes precedence over those of passersby.

Arlington County Fire Chief Ed Plaugher - at a Dept. of Defense News Briefing with Assistant Secretary Victoria Clarke on September 12, 2001 - when asked: "Is there anything left of the aircraft at all?" said: "there are some small pieces of aircraft ... there's no fuselage sections and that sort of thing."

Didn't Chief Plaugher see the plane's engines? The engines would have survived the impact and heat, and some of the photos show what appears to be an engine. An engine from a plane that struck the World Trade Center was shown on network television, and so was an engine from American Airlines Flight 587 which crashed shortly after takeoff from New York on November 12, 2001.

A photo from the Pentagon crash site shows what could be an engine part about 30 inches in diameter outside the Pentagon - a Boeing 757's engines are 8 or 9 feet in diameter. Another photo shows what could be an engine part (its size is difficult to determine) inside the Pentagon. Were these parts, and another piece of debris on the Pentagon lawn traced to Flight 77? We don't know.

Another question put to Chief Plaugher at the briefing was: "Chief, there are small pieces of the plane virtually all over, out over the highway, tiny pieces. Would you say the plane exploded, virtually exploded on impact due to the fuel..." Plaugher responded: "I'd rather not comment on that."

How did "small pieces of the plane" end up "out over the highway" when the plane is reported to have disintegrated inside the Pentagon after it crossed the highway? If it disintegrated outside the Pentagon why is there nothing that looks like a Boeing 757 on the Pentagon lawn? If it disintegrated either inside or outside the Pentagon what caused the hole in the third ring? The landing gear or some other part?

It is curious that at the Dept. of Defense News Briefing, held approximately 24 hours after American Airlines Flight 77 departing from Dulles airport is said to have crashed into the Pentagon, the words "American Airlines," "Flight 77," "Boeing," "Dulles," and "passengers" were not even mentioned.

It is even more curious that national news media failed to follow up on Chief Plaugher's comment that "there's no fuselage sections and that sort of thing" when dozens of onlookers, relatives, and firefighters were interviewed on network television about the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. When asked if the "plane exploded," Chief Plaugher would "not comment on that."

Photos and videos of the Pentagon reveal yet more curious sights: one shows "50 FBI officers" walking "shoulder-to-shoulder across the south grounds of the Pentagon, picking up debris and stuffing it into brown bags"; another shows office furniture and a computer monitor which survived the fire that is alleged to have vaporized the Boeing 757, but left human bodies in good enough condition to be indentified.

As for the 19 alleged hijackers, their names do not appear on Associated Press' September 17, 2001 "partial list of victims" on the hijacked flights - the final list has not been made public. On September 23, 2001 the BBC reported that four of the hijack "suspects" - Waleed Al Shehri, Abdulaziz Al Omari, Saeed Alghamdi, and possibly Khalid Al Midhar - were alive, and that FBI Director Robert Mueller acknowledged "that the identity of several of the suicide hijackers is in doubt."

Indeed, the FBI does not even allege a Bin Laden - September 11 link. The FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists" web page does not state that Bin Laden was responsible for the attacks on September 11.

The conspiracy theory set forth in "The 9/11 Commission Report" offers no explanation for the hijacker's identities, and it appears to contradict publicly available evidence regarding the Pentagon crash site.

The issue of whether or not a Boeing 757 crashed into the Pentagon could be settled by examining the photos and videos taken between 9:35 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. on September 11, 2001 by cameras located inside and outside the Pentagon, the cameras at the nearby gas station and the Sheraton, and the Dept. of Transportation cameras. These have not been made public.

And we would still require an explanation for the "complex maneuver" made by the alleged, Arab pilot of the Boeing 757 - Hani Hanjour. It was reported by the New York Times that "He could not fly at all."

CBS News reported: "Radar shows Flight 77 did a downward spiral, turning almost a complete circle and dropping the last 7,000 feet in two-and-a-half minutes. The steep turn was so smooth, the sources say, it's clear there was no fight for control going on. And the complex maneuver suggests the hijackers had better flying skills than many investigators first believed. The jetliner disappeared from radar at 9:37 and less than a minute later it clipped the tops of street lights and plowed into the Pentagon at 460 mph."

With so many vital questions unanswered, we are unable to arrive at a firm conclusion. The following is what we are able to say:

Q: Did a Boeing 757 strike the Pentagon?
A: A majority of eyewitnesses are reported to have seen a large plane hit the Pentagon; a few are reported to have seen a commuter plane. Publicly available photos either do not support the majority view or are inconclusive; evidence witheld from the public is needed to determine what really happened.

Q: Did Hani Hanjour crash a Boeing 757 into the Pentagon?
A: The identities of the hijackers have yet to be resolved. Hanjour's reported flying skills may rule out his flying a Boeing 757 in a spiral turn into the Pentagon from 7000 feet.

Since September 11, 2001 about 5,000 foreign nationals have been detained by the United States and denied basic constitutional rights in the name of "wartime" expediency even though Director Mueller said in a speech at the Commonwealth Club on April 19, 2002: "In our investigation, we have not uncovered a single piece of paper - either here in the United States, or in the treasure trove of information that has turned up in Afghanistan and elsewhere - that mentioned any aspect of the September 11 plot."

On March 4, 2004, a German court "overturned the world's only conviction" in connection with the September 11 attack on America "because the U.S. withheld crucial evidence."

The burden of proof remains on those who claim that a Boeing 757, flown by Hani Hanjour, crashed into the Pentagon to prove their case. It is not necessary for those who question that claim to disprove it. http://www.world-articles.net

NASA Space Station Status Report 23 March 2007

HOUSTON - The Expedition 14 crew continued work this week on scientific experiments and increased the bandwidth on the International Space Station's computer network.

Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams spent time working with experiments that may hold the key to several aspects of long-duration space flight as NASA looks forward to missions back to the moon and on to Mars or other destinations.

Each served as test subject and operator for the Anomalous Long Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System experiment that examines how cosmic radiation affects brain waves. As test subjects, they wore an electroencephalograph cap that records readings of their brain functions, and over that, a special helmet with Italian-designed instruments that records the amount and types of cosmic rays passing through the station. Since cosmic radiation is even more prevalent at greater distances from Earth, the research could lead to countermeasures important to the safety and productivity of future explorers.

Lopez-Alegria and Williams also worked with the Nutritional Status Assessment experiment tracking how their bodies process nutrients in space and how food supplies are affected by storage in that environment.

Additionally, Lopez-Alegria provided the final samples associated with the Renal Stone Risk during Spaceflight: Assessment and Countermeasure Validation investigation, which is looking at the space effectiveness of a drug used on Earth to prevent kidney stones.

Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin worked with three Russian experiments that monitor cosmic rays and background radiation as they relate to long-duration flights and documented the condition of the Earth below from the unique vantage point of the station.

The crew worked on an upgrade to the laptop computer network. The new, integrated station computer network will be 10 times faster than the current network, using Ethernet connectivity over a router and either cables or wireless equipment. This will eliminate drag-through cables from the U.S. segment into the Russian segment. The work was accelerated because of the STS-117 launch delay.

They also continued preparations for the undocking and discarding of the ISS Progress 23 cargo ship, which will be full of trash when it departs Tuesday, March 27. Russian flight controllers sent commands Friday that piped the last of the Progress 23 oxygen supplies into the station, and vented the Progress' propellant and oxidizer lines overboard to ensure a safe departure. The Progress is scheduled to undock at 1:11 p.m. CDT next Tuesday.

The station traffic schedule includes next Thursday's relocation of the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft from the Earth-facing port of the Zarya module to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module. All three crew members will undock the Soyuz at 5:25 p.m. and redock at 5:53 p.m. This will make room for the arrival of the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft carrying the Expedition 15 crew and U.S. spaceflight participant Charles Simonyi. The new crew is scheduled to launch from the Baikanour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan April 7 at 12:31 p.m. and dock with the station April 9 at 2:15 p.m.

Following a week of joint operations, Lopez-Alegria, Tyurin and Simonyi will climb into Soyuz TMA-9 and head for home April 20. They will leave Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov on board with Williams to start Expedition 15.
http://www.world-articles.net

Projections of Future World Population

Although world population continues to grow, in the last couple decades the rate at which it has grown has begun to steadily slow. The U.S. Census Bureau gives the following estimates for world population growth over the last 50 years (1):

As this table makes clear, the rate of population growth peaked sometime in the early 1970s and has been declining ever since. Another way of looking at this data is by examining the average annual rate of population growth which is captured on this table (2):

he rate at which the world's population has been increasing every year has been gradually declining since the early 1970s and will likely continue to decline through the beginning of the 21st century and beyond.

Although the rate of population growth is slowing due to the age structure of the population and the beginning absolute population levels, the world's population will probably to grow through the middle of the 21st century, although the growth will keep getting smaller and smaller. By 2045-50, for example, the United Nations estimates that annual average rate of population growth will decline to 0.34 percent (3).

This decline is reflected in the increasing length of time it takes to add another billion people to the world's population (4):

Based on the median variant (often viewed as the most likely scenario) of the United Nations' population projections, world population would peak at somewhere under 10 billion in the latter half of the 21st century and then gradually begin to declined.

The main factor driving the slow down in the rate of population growth is the worldwide decline in |total fertility rates|. The total fertility rate measures the average number of children born to women during their child bearing years. A TFR of 2.1 is considered the replacement level -- at that rate a population would neither grow nor decline.

TFRs have declined dramatically around the world over the last two decades (5):

Total fertility rates around the world have declined by 33 percent just since 1985, and both United Nations and US Census Bureau projections expect them to decline further. By 2025 the US Census Bureau estimates that the TFR of the less developed countries will have fallen to 2.4 -- very close to the replacement level.

Should the decrease in total fertility rates stop, however, the United Nations projects world population in 2040-50 could reach as high as 11.9 billion. On the other hand if the decline in total fertility rates should accelerate, world population could plateau at 7.9 billion by 2040-2050 (6).

One of the main consequences will be a shift in where the world's population lives. Eighty-eight percent of population growth from 1990-1995 occurred in Asia and Africa, and this trend will only continue. By 2050 Africa's population is expected to triple while Europe's is expected to decline by 7 percent by 2050 (7).
Footnotes:

1. McDevitt, Thomas M. World population profile: 1998. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1999, p.A3.

2. McDevitt, Thomas M. World population profile: 1998. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1999, p.A4.

3. United Nations. The 1998 revision of the world population estimates and projections. New York: United Nations, 1999.

4. United Nations. The 1998 revision of the world population estimates and projections. New York: United Nations, 1999.

5. McDevitt, Thomas M. World population profile: 1998. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1999, p.A39.

6. United Nations. Concise report on the world population situation in 1995. New York: United Nations, 1995, pp.1-2.

7. United Nations. Concise report on the world population situation in 1995. New York: United Nations, 1995, pp.5-6.

The Next Generation: Intel Science Talent Search honors high school achievers

Aimee Cunningham
Using objects that might clutter the basement of any optics-loving physicist, Mary Masterman built a home-made Raman spectra system. This achievement won the 17-year-old from Westmoore High School in Oklahoma City the top prize at the Intel Science Talent Search on March 13.
Scientists use the Raman method to measure the vibrational energy of molecules. Masterman put together a $300 system consisting of a laser, a digital camera, a variety of lenses, and a prismlike object that disperses light. She tested it on acetone, toluene, and a few household items. Most of her measurements matched those obtained by commercial systems, which can cost up to $100,000. That sum is equal to the scholarship Masterman won for her first-place finish.

WINNING WAY. Mary Masterman of Oklahoma City measured the vibrational energy of molecules with a homemade instrument. For her work, she won the top prize—a 100,000 dollar scholarship—at the Intel Science Talent Search.
T. Roberts

Second place and a $75,000 scholarship went to John Vincent Pardon, a 17-year-old from Durham Academy in Chapel Hill, N.C. In his mathematical project, Pardon proved that a closed curve can be made convex without permitting any two points on the curve to get closer to one another.

Mathematics research also won the third-place prize, which comes with a $50,000 scholarship. Eighteen-year-old Dmitry Vaintrob of South Eugene High School in Eugene, Ore., found a connection between different descriptions of certain mathematical shapes.

More than 1,700 high school seniors from across the United States entered the competition, sponsored by Intel Corp. of Santa Clara, Calif. Judges first selected 300 semifinalists and then in January winnowed the field to 40 finalists (SN: 2/3/07, p. 70: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070203/fob7.asp). Science Service, publisher of Science News, has been administering the competition since 1942.

Fourth place went to Catherine Schlingheyde, 17, of Oyster Bay High School in New York, who identified proteins of a gene-silencing pathway. Rebecca Lynn Kaufman, 17, of Croton-Harmon High School in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., took fifth for a project in which she found a hormonal effect that may explain the prevalence of a class of symptoms in males with schizophrenia. Gregory Drew Brockman, 18, of Red River High School in Thompson, N.D., placed sixth for his mathematical project on Ducci sequences. Each of these three competitors won a $25,000 scholarship.

The seventh- through tenth-place winners each earned a $20,000 scholarship. They are:

Megan Marie Blewett, 17, of Madison High School in New Jersey, who discovered five compounds that interact with a protein that contributes to multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Daniel Adam Handlin, 18, of High Technology High School in Lincroft, N.J., who determined that an inexpensive optical satellite-tracking network can be as accurate as a state-of-the-art radar system.

Meredith Ann MacGregor, 18, of Fairview High School in Boulder, Colo., who studied the mechanisms behind the Brazil nut effect, in which granular particles separate according to size when they're shaken.

Emma Kathryn Call, 18, of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in Maryland, who designed self-folding microcontainers to encapsulate therapeutic cells.

The remaining 30 finalists each won a $5,000 scholarship.

Says Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, "When I meet young scientists like Mary, John, Dmitry, and the other Intel STS finalists, I know that the future of American innovation is bright."
from www.sciencenews.org/

The Solar Heating Aspect You Have Never Heard of Before

If you have looked into solar energy as a method for heating your home, panels are usually the first things that come up. There are, however, other unique methods.

The Solar Heating Aspect You Have Never Heard of Before

The power of the sun is immense. The energy in one day of sunlight is more than the world needs. The problem, of course, is how does one harness this power. Solar panels represent the obvious solution, but they have their downside. First, they can be expensive depending upon your energy needs. Second, they do not exactly blend in with the rest of your home.

Passive solar heating represents a panel free method of harnessing the inherent energy found in the sun for heating purposes. If you come out from a store and open the door of your car in the summer, you understand the concept of passive solar heating. A wide variety of material absorbs sunlight and radiates the energy back into the air in the form of heat. Passive solar heating for a home works the same way as the process which overheats your car in the parking lot.

Many people, however, cannot take maximum advantage of passive solar strategies. The primary problem is a home needs to be built with a particular orientation to the sun. This orientation allows the home to maximize the heat penetration throughout the year. A relatively small number of people actually build their own homes, so you can see we have an inherent problem. There is, however, one little trick that every home can use to take advantage of solar heating.

Certain materials have high thermal masses. This essentially means they absorb a high percentage of the energy in sunlight, but release it slowly. For practical purposes, this means they radiate heat well after the sun has gone down. You, my friend, can take advantage of this.

Dark gravel has a high thermal mass. It sucks up sunlight like a sponge and will radiate heat for hours after the sun goes down. Although you probably are not going to tear down your home to take advantage of passive solar strategies, you can get some of the benefits by using gravel in a strategic manner.

The idea is to place gravel on the ground below any windows on the ground floor of your home. During the summer, you landscape with plants that shade the gravel since you really don’t want extra heat at that time. When winter hits, however, the gravel should be exposed. It will suck up the energy of the sun all day and then radiate it vertically across the windows for a few hours after dark. This creates an island of heat and great reduces the release of heat from the interior of the home through the windows.

Obviously, this tricky gravel approach is not an end all solution for your heating problems. You should, however, be able to notice a difference in your heating bills of maybe five percent depending on your house design. Given the small amount of effort involved, that will equate to a nice savings over the years.
By Richard Chapo
http://www.world-articles.net

James Cameron Starts Shooting Avatar In April

It's been almost 10 years since James Cameron really stepped behind the camera to direct a motion picture. That's a long time... especially when you consider that the last time he did so, he ended up making the single biggest boxoffice smash of all time (Titanic). I've often wondered why, after Titanic, the man just stepped back. But whatever his true reasons were... the man is back.

Yes, the man who has made some of my all time favorite films (The Terminator films, The Abyss and True Lies) is finally ready to start shooting his next film in ust 3 months (April) with Avatar! The hollywood Reporter says: Cameron, who has been developing the story (for Avatar) for over a decade, will start principal photography in April for a summer 2009 release.
"Avatar" is the story of a wounded ex-marine who is unwillingly sent to settle and exploit a faraway planet. He gets caught up in battle for survival by the planet's inhabitants.
This guy has an amazing track record, and has a sensitivity to handling Sci-Fi genre like few others do (The Abyss)... with 10 years of creative juices pent up and all ready to explode on us, with a story that sounds great... 2009 can't get here soon enough for me. Welcome back James.
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The 31st of March international top DJ's Ferry Corsten, David Guetta and Markus Schulz will visit the Sportpaleis in Antwerp.

Ferry Corsten
"Create your own path, be yourself, and strive to make a difference" is Ferry Corsten's philosophy and so far it has always proved the born and bred Rotterdammer right.

Having worked in the music industry for over 17 years, Dutch Ferry Corsten has earned the respect from fellow Dance Music Producers, DJs and fans all over the world for his commitment to bringing quality music through his signature electronic dance music productions and numerous DJ sets worldwide.

Since his first single release in 1989, Ferry has produced innumerable dance singles (under countless aliases), remixes and 8 artist albums to date. Dedicated to his craft, he is a master at engineering and producing all of his singles, artist albums and compilations.

David Guetta
David Guetta - the pioneer of French house with Up & Way, a garage-style track with vocals by Robert Owens released in 1992 - really made a name for himself in the mid-90s as one of the key catalysts of Parisian nightlife by promoting evenings at such renowned Paris hot spots as Folies Pigalle, Queen, Bataclan, Palace and Les Bains, where he invited DJ legends like Little Louie Vega, David Morales, DJ Pierre and Roger Sanchez to join him on the turntables. In 2001, however, he went back to his first love: making music.
Launched by the single Just A Little More Love, an electro-funk-house cocktail featuring Chris Willis of the band Nashville on vocals, David Guetta's first album was released by Virgin in June 2002 and went on to sell 250,000 copies. This resounding success carried through in the album's second, even more devastating single, Love Don't Let Me Go, a track reminiscent of Moroder‘s techno-disco style crossed with Depeche Mode's new-wave sound.

Markus Schulz
Markus Schulz is a man on a mission. He dreams of meeting the world. This dream just might be possible. Currently #19 on the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs, Markus has been travelling the world this past year playing his personal brand of "dark, moody, melodic trance" and meeting as many people as possible.

This year has seen Markus cross the globe on an almost constant basis. From Australia to Russia and as far away as China and Trinidad. Along with playing his hometown of Miami. Markus was also found in Ibiza at his summer residency at Amnesia; The Two Tribes Tour in Australia and New Zealand; Tomorrowland in Belgium; Myster Land and Trance Energy in The Netherlands; Nature One in Germany; Distant Heat in Jordan as well as clubs and in Kuala Lumpur, Romania, Czech Republic, Mexico, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Slovakia, UK, Boston, Los Angeles, New York and the list goes on.

More names will be published soon.
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