Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Flight to India George Monbiot writes: If you live in a rich nation in the English-speaking world, and most of your work involves a computer or a telephone, don't expect to have a job in five years' time. Almost every large company which relies upon remote transactions is starting to dump its workers and hire a cheaper labor force overseas. All those concerned about economic justice and the distribution of wealth at home should despair. All those concerned about global justice and the distribution of wealth around the world should rejoice. As we are, by and large, the same people, we have a problem. Britain's industrialization was secured by destroying the manufacturing capacity of India. In 1699, the British government banned the import of woolen cloth from Ireland, and in 1700 the import of cotton cloth (or calico) from India. Both products were forbidden because they were superior to our own. As the industrial revolution was built on the textiles industry, we could not have achieved our global economic dominance if we had let them in. Throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries, India was forced to supply raw materials to Britain's manufacturers, but forbidden to produce competing finished products. We are rich because the Indians are poor. Now the jobs we stole 200 years ago are returning to India. Last week the Guardian revealed that the National Rail Enquiries service is likely to move to Bangalore, in south-west India. Two days later, the HSBC bank announced that it was cutting 4,000 customer service jobs in Britain and shifting them to Asia. BT, British Airways, Lloyds TSB, Prudential, Standard Chartered, Norwich Union, Bupa, Reuters, Abbey National and Powergen have already begun to move their call centers to India. The British workers at the end of the line are approaching the end of the line. (10/22/03) How old is Human Art? BBC Science -- A keen-eyed archaeologist claims to have found some of the oldest artwork ever - carved faces 200,000 years old. The human images were found in 2001 by Pietro Gaietto on an expedition through the Borzonasca district of Italy. He claims the rock has been sculpted into faces that look in opposite directions; one is bearded with what Gaietto calls an "expressive face". ... "The beardless face has two eyes, a mouth and a wide nose." He says close inspection of the rock reveals that it has been carved and knocked into shape. Gaietto believes the sculpture is 200,000 years old, and would have been used in rituals. He says it would have been made by an extinct species of human called Homo erectus, of which there is evidence in the region. Gaietto's claims are controversial because hominids such as Homo erectus are not thought to have been capable of the symbolic thought needed to create art. The earliest examples of human artwork that scientists feel confident to describe as such are all less than 100,000 years old. The most notable items are probably the 70,000-year-old engraved ochre pieces found in the Blombos Cave of South Africa. But there are items some researchers have claimed to be art that are even older than the faces of Borzonasca. The so-called Tan-Tan object unearthed in Morocco in 1999 is said to be a 400,000-year-old sculpted figurine. Mainstream science, however, believes these items are not man-made at all. It argues the distinctive features have very probably been moulded by geological processes. (10/22/03) Water Powered Electronics? BBC Technology -- A new way to generate electricity from water which could be used to power small electronic devices in the future has been developed by Canadian scientists. The researchers have harnessed what happens to water when it is pumped through tiny channels. "What we have achieved so far is to show that electrical power can be directly generated from flowing liquids in microchannels," said Professor Larry Kostiuk from University of Alberta. The team says its "electrokinetic" battery could be further developed to provide a clean, non-polluting power source that could eventually drive small devices such as mobile phones. ... The research by Professor Kostiuk and colleague Professor Daniel Kwok is published by an Institute of Physics journal. It is said to be the first new method of generating electricity in over 150 years. The work is all to do with charge separation, and what happens to ions in liquids when they come into contact with a non-conducting solid. ... Making electricity from water is by no means new. Large-scale power generation already happens with hydroelectric power turbines which are almost 100% efficient at converting available energy in the water to electricity. Magnetohydrodynamic methods also generate electricity through water. What Professor Kostiuk and his team have achieved is create a kind of turbine device that does not have moving parts. "Efficiency is a fraction of 1% and right now we are trying to fully understand the characteristics of such devices. "The real goal is to find ways of improving its efficiency to around four to 16% to compete with other energy sources." (10/22/03) Alcohol-powered Laptops BBC Technology -- Toshiba has unveiled a prototype fuel cell it hopes will become the power source for laptops in the future. The fuel cell breaks down methanol to generate power and, Toshiba claims, will provide enough juice to run a laptop for about five hours. To get the cell working, the alcohol fuel is provided in small 50cc cartridges. Toshiba hopes to put the fuel cell on sale in early 2004. Fuel cells which use chemistry to generate electrical power by catalysing substances such as hydrogen are already being touted as a green power source for the future, especially for cars and other light vehicles.Fuel cells for cars typically use hydrogen but, said Toshiba spokesman Yoichi Akashi, the company will be using methanol in its portable power source. "Compared to hydrogen, methanol is much safer," he said. ... Average power output is 12W and maximum is 20W. Unused energy is stored in the fuel cell. The methanol cartridges will also be refillable, just like those used in gas cigarette lighters. Mr Akashi said the commercial versions will be slightly larger than existing lithium-ion batteries and use the same power interfaces so they should work with older laptops. Existing laptops should get about five hours of work time out of a fuel cell, said Mr Akashi. Laptops that use Intel's Centrino chipset that minimise power use should get up to 20% more time. (10/22/03) 7:12:06 AM

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