December, 2002 -
HY Wire Act - First look at the
guts of GM's fuel cell Autonomy car -
Popular Science, December 2002, When
General Motors rolled out its "skateboard"
vision for a fuel cell car at the 2002
Detroit auto show in January, there was
buzz, and there was a big question. The
skateboard concept, called Auto-nomy, was
the product of GM's Design and Technology
Fusion Group, and it radically reordered
automobile physiology: Fuel cells,
hydrogen, motor, and brakes were all
crammed into a 15-foot-long, 6-inch-thick
chassis onto which modular car bodies
could be snapped. Drive-by-wire controls
would plug into the skateboard's computer
brain through a docking port. With all of
the important mechanicals below decks, the
car could be configured for maximum space
and utility. An owner could trade in a
sedan for a pickup by simply having the
new body snapped onto his skateboard...
December
05, 2002 -
City-swallowing Sand Dunes - NASA - supported researchers are studying the complex physics of
menacing sand dunes. Dec. 6, 2002: Next time you're at the beach or in
the desert, climb a sand dune in bare feet on a windy day. Stand still
in various places on the gently sloping windward side. Watch how
wind-driven sand grains appear to jump an inch or two above the dune,
stinging your ankles and making the dune's surface appear to be in
constant motion ever upward toward the crest...
December
04, 2002 -
Water for Health Declared a Human Right - GENEVA,
Switzerland, (ENS) - Safe and secure drinking water is a human
right, a United Nations committee has declared formally for the first
time. "Water should be treated as a social and cultural good, and not
primarily as an economic commodity," the committee said, siding with
those who object to the privatization of water supplies...
December
02, 2002 -
Arctic Sea Ice May Vanish This Century - By Cat Lazaroff,
WASHINGTON, DC, (ENS) - Perennial sea ice - the floating ice that
remains year round near the Arctic Circle - could vanish entirely by
the end of this century, warns a new study by researchers at the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The NASA study
concludes that sea ice is now melting about nine percent faster than
prior research had indicated, due to rising temperatures and
interactions between ice, ocean and the atmosphere...
Archive
of Environmental News - December
2002
