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POPSFuture Climate Change
The average surface temperature of the Earth is likely to increase by 2 to 11.5°F (1.1-6.4°C) by the end of the 21st century, relative to 1980-1990, with a best estimate of 3.2 to 7.2°F (1.8-4.0°C) (see Figure 1). The average rate of warming over each inhabited continent is very likely to be at least twice as large as that experienced during the 20th century. Warming will not be evenly distributed around the globe (see Figure 2): Land areas will warm more than oceans in part due to water's ability to store heat. High latitudes will warm more than low latitudes in part due to positive feedback effects from melting ice (as discussed above). Most of North America; all of Africa, Europe, northern and central Asia; and most of Central and South America are likely to warm more than the global average. Projections suggest that the warming will be close to the global average in south Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and southern South America. The warming will differ by season, with
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POPSHigh Tech Slalom Ski Training A new motion capture system using a network of sensors to detect high speed movement can help skiers to improve their downhill slalom racing techniques
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POPSObama's Tax Redistribution ...Obama's plan would greatly accelerate the decades-long trend toward a federal government that depends for tax revenue almost exclusively on a few high-income people. I guess you can call greatly accelerating in the same direction, "change". Hodge acknowledges that some Americans may cheer this dramatic dependence on the highest earners, but he says the shift should be part of a larger national discussion asking questions such as: * What is the long-term effect on the economy if so few households shoulder such a large share of the tax burden? * When a majority of Americans are paying so little for government, will that majority then demand even more services than they would have otherwise? * Can a tax system so focused on redistribution be compatible with economic growth? The new study, "Hard Numbers on Obama's Redistribution Plan," is available online at www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/23319.html.
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POPSAirlines Ask Customers to Help Lower Oil Prices There's ongoing debate over whether or not speculators are responsible for the price of oil, but the CEOs of several major airlines are not so uncertain. In a letter to their frequent fliers, they've asked customers to petition Congress to lower the price of oil by regulating speculation. Do you think this tactic will work? Is it a publicity stunt designed to make the airlines look sympathetic to nickel-and-dimed fliers? What do you think?
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POPSBetter Golfers See Bigger Holes In both scenarios, participants whose putts ended up closer to the hole drew the circle to be bigger than golfers who hit putts that landed farther from the hole.
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POPSThe Costs of Trying to Save without Thinking Higher medical and hospitalization costs, lost wages, homelessness and even incarceration of mentally ill patients account for the potential increase in cost, Fleeter concluded. About 45,000 people on Medicaid could be directly affected, the study said. Other studies concluded that three of four schizophrenics suffer a relapse when switching drugs, often resulting in hospitalization, homelessness or violence and incarceration.
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POPSVoyager 2 Finds Lopsided Solar System Still transmitting, the three-decade-old craft encounters turbulence in solar wind. Hurtling through space 31 years after its launch, the Voyager 2 spacecraft has sent back the most detailed view yet of the shock wave that marks the thinning of the solar wind, the charged particles streaming from the sun. That would mean they have exited the solar system and entered the interstellar medium. NASA engineers estimate that both probes' plutonium power packs have the potential to keep them broadcasting data until 2025. If we're lucky, Jokippi says, they'll let us know what they find.