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New solar sail uses protons, not photons
Michael Thad Carter/Forbes Collection/Corbis Outline
UPFRONT
First shot for printed gun IT’S PLASTIC but the future of the first 3D-printed handgun may be far from fantastic. The weapon has been fired by hand – proving that a working pistol can be made from plastic, and creating a new nightmare for gun-control advocates. Defense Distributed, the group that built the gun, says it aims to change the way governments behave by giving everyone access to firearms. It began designing the weapon last year and printed it out using an $8000 3D printer bought from eBay. The gun, which uses ordinary ammunition, can only fire a few shots before breaking, but the barrel is easily replaced. All the components are made from plastic, apart from the firing pin, a simple household nail,
although a strip of metal has been added to comply with US laws banning undetectable plastic firearms. Blueprints are now online for anyone to download, and do not require this extra piece. It is legal to make guns for personal use in the US, although a licence is required to sell them. “This tool might be used to harm people,” Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson told Forbes magazine. “I don’t think that’s a reason to not put it out there. I think that liberty in the end is a better interest.” Many disagree and are calling for 3D-printed guns to be banned. “Security checkpoints, background checks and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print plastic firearms at home,” said US congressman Steve Israel.
–Cut out and kill?–
Pipeline profusion IT COULD become the tar-sands hydra: a host of long-distance pipelines to ship tar-sands oil out of Canada. But already the latest proposals are coming under environmental scrutiny. The Canadian company Enbridge wants to build a pipeline called Northern Gateway. Stretching from Bruderheim in Alberta to Kitimat on Canada’s west coast, it could carry 525,000 barrels of oil per day. Now a new analysis by Tom Gunton and Sean Broadbent of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, concludes that there is a 98.5 per cent risk of a significant spill in the pipeline’s first 50 years of
“Instead of trying to block pipeline projects, it might be more fruitful to campaign for a carbon tax” operation. Enbridge says their analysis is flawed, and that the risk is much lower. The controversy mirrors that over the Keystone XL pipeline, 6 | NewScientist | 11 May 2013
which would carry tar-sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico for refining. US President Barack Obama is expected to decide later this year whether to approve it. In a draft report, the US Department of State argued that there is no point in stopping Keystone XL because Canada could move the oil to the Gulf by other means. However, the US Environmental Protection Agency has questioned the claim. Enbridge also wants to expand its Alberta Clipper pipeline, which carries 450,000 barrels per day from Alberta to Wisconsin. The expanded pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels per day, almost as much as Keystone XL’s planned 830,000 barrels per day, and could be linked by other pipelines to the Gulf of Mexico. But Obama must again give approval as the pipeline crosses an international border. Instead of trying to block such projects, it might be more fruitful for environmental campaigners to push for policies like a carbon tax, says Adam Brandt of Stanford University in California. “It’s not clear that a pipeline-by-pipeline fight is really the way to go.”
HIV testing for all IT SHOULD be routine. All Americans aged between 15 and 65 should be offered HIV tests by their family doctor, a US health task force has concluded. In 2005, the US Preventive Services Task Force, a group of health professionals that advises clinicians and the US government, recommended that doctors offer routine HIV testing only to pregnant women and people at greater risk of infection, such as intravenous drug users and
men who have sex with men. Since then, several studies have shown that early detection of HIV infection coupled with treatment substantially extends good health and lifespan, and reduces the likelihood that people will contract the virus from someone unknowingly infected. In new guidelines issued last week, the group’s members argue that this justifies extending testing. “The net benefit of screening for HIV infection in adolescents, adults, and pregnant women is substantial,” the task force said.
Put protons in your sails THIS tiny satellite is propelled by repulsion. ESTCube-1, which went into orbit on Tuesday, will put proton-powered electric solar sails to the test for the first time. It could pave the way for speedy trips through the solar system. Regular solar sails have large, thin mirrors that reflect photons from the sun to push the spacecraft forward. The new electric sail harnesses solar protons instead. Wires with a positive charge will extend from the craft and
repel protons – also positively charged – to propel the tiny satellite. ESTCube-1 is 10 centimetres wide and has a 10-metre-long wire just half the width of a human hair. The hope is that a full-sized craft with 100 wires, each 20 kilometres long, could reach speeds of 30 kilometres per second, fast enough to get to Pluto in under five years. Smaller sails could act as a brake for retired satellites, slowing them down so they fall safely back to Earth.
UPFRONT
First shot for printed gun IT’S PLASTIC but the future of the first 3D-printed handgun may be far from fantastic. The weapon has been fired by hand – proving that a working pistol can be made from plastic, and creating a new nightmare for gun-control advocates. Defense Distributed, the group that built the gun, says it aims to change the way governments behave by giving everyone access to firearms. It began designing the weapon last year and printed it out using an $8000 3D printer bought from eBay. The gun, which uses ordinary ammunition, can only fire a few shots before breaking, but the barrel is easily replaced. All the components are made from plastic, apart from the firing pin, a simple household nail,
although a strip of metal has been added to comply with US laws banning undetectable plastic firearms. Blueprints are now online for anyone to download, and do not require this extra piece. It is legal to make guns for personal use in the US, although a licence is required to sell them. “This tool might be used to harm people,” Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson told Forbes magazine. “I don’t think that’s a reason to not put it out there. I think that liberty in the end is a better interest.” Many disagree and are calling for 3D-printed guns to be banned. “Security checkpoints, background checks and gun regulations will do little good if criminals can print plastic firearms at home,” said US congressman Steve Israel.
–Cut out and kill?–
Pipeline profusion IT COULD become the tar-sands hydra: a host of long-distance pipelines to ship tar-sands oil out of Canada. But already the latest proposals are coming under environmental scrutiny. The Canadian company Enbridge wants to build a pipeline called Northern Gateway. Stretching from Bruderheim in Alberta to Kitimat on Canada’s west coast, it could carry 525,000 barrels of oil per day. Now a new analysis by Tom Gunton and Sean Broadbent of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia, concludes that there is a 98.5 per cent risk of a significant spill in the pipeline’s first 50 years of
“Instead of trying to block pipeline projects, it might be more fruitful to campaign for a carbon tax” operation. Enbridge says their analysis is flawed, and that the risk is much lower. The controversy mirrors that over the Keystone XL pipeline, 6 | NewScientist | 11 May 2013
which would carry tar-sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico for refining. US President Barack Obama is expected to decide later this year whether to approve it. In a draft report, the US Department of State argued that there is no point in stopping Keystone XL because Canada could move the oil to the Gulf by other means. However, the US Environmental Protection Agency has questioned the claim. Enbridge also wants to expand its Alberta Clipper pipeline, which carries 450,000 barrels per day from Alberta to Wisconsin. The expanded pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels per day, almost as much as Keystone XL’s planned 830,000 barrels per day, and could be linked by other pipelines to the Gulf of Mexico. But Obama must again give approval as the pipeline crosses an international border. Instead of trying to block such projects, it might be more fruitful for environmental campaigners to push for policies like a carbon tax, says Adam Brandt of Stanford University in California. “It’s not clear that a pipeline-by-pipeline fight is really the way to go.”
HIV testing for all IT SHOULD be routine. All Americans aged between 15 and 65 should be offered HIV tests by their family doctor, a US health task force has concluded. In 2005, the US Preventive Services Task Force, a group of health professionals that advises clinicians and the US government, recommended that doctors offer routine HIV testing only to pregnant women and people at greater risk of infection, such as intravenous drug users and
men who have sex with men. Since then, several studies have shown that early detection of HIV infection coupled with treatment substantially extends good health and lifespan, and reduces the likelihood that people will contract the virus from someone unknowingly infected. In new guidelines issued last week, the group’s members argue that this justifies extending testing. “The net benefit of screening for HIV infection in adolescents, adults, and pregnant women is substantial,” the task force said.
Put protons in your sails THIS tiny satellite is propelled by repulsion. ESTCube-1, which went into orbit on Tuesday, will put proton-powered electric solar sails to the test for the first time. It could pave the way for speedy trips through the solar system. Regular solar sails have large, thin mirrors that reflect photons from the sun to push the spacecraft forward. The new electric sail harnesses solar protons instead. Wires with a positive charge will extend from the craft and
repel protons – also positively charged – to propel the tiny satellite. ESTCube-1 is 10 centimetres wide and has a 10-metre-long wire just half the width of a human hair. The hope is that a full-sized craft with 100 wires, each 20 kilometres long, could reach speeds of 30 kilometres per second, fast enough to get to Pluto in under five years. Smaller sails could act as a brake for retired satellites, slowing them down so they fall safely back to Earth.