An artist’s impression of the platform of the proposed space elevator, which would climb 62,000 miles into space
Leo Lewis in Tokyo

From cyborg housemaids and waterpowered cars to dog translators and rocket boots, Japanese boffins have racked up plenty of near-misses in the quest to turn science fiction into reality.

Now the finest scientific minds of Japan are devoting themselves to cracking the greatest sci-fi vision of all: the space elevator. Man has so far conquered space by painfully and inefficiently blasting himself out of the atmosphere but the 21st century should bring a more leisurely ride to the final frontier.

For chemists, physicists, material scientists, astronauts and dreamers across the globe, the space elevator represents the most tantalising of concepts: cables stronger and lighter than any fibre yet woven, tethered to the ground and disappearing beyond the atmosphere to a satellite docking station in geosynchronous orbit above Earth.

Up and down the 22,000 mile-long (36,000km) cables — or flat ribbons — will run the elevator carriages, themselves requiring huge breakthroughs in engineering to which the biggest Japanese companies and universities have turned their collective attention.

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Russia seeks to get under America’s skin by sending warships to Venezuela

A Venezuelan soldier stands by a mural showing Hugo Chávez in Caracas. Photograph: Francesco Spotorno/Reuters
BY Mark Tran
The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming. A Russian navy squadron – a nuclear-powered cruiser and three escorts – today set off for naval manoeuvres with Venezuela.

The deployment follows a week-long visit to Venezuela by a pair of Russian strategic bombers and comes as Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan president, plans to visit Moscow this week, his second trip there in about two months.

Analysts say this is Russia’s way of responding to what is sees as US meddling in its “near abroad” – specifically, entertaining the idea that Georgia and Ukraine, once part of the Soviet Union, join Nato, and the presence of US warships in the Black Sea after the conflict over South Ossetia.

“Russia wants to annoy the US by being active in America’s backyard,” said Nick Day, the chief executive of Diligence, a business intelligence firm that deals in Russia.

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By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

The Pyotr Velikiy, Peter the Great, Russian nuclear-powered missile cruiser seen in the Barents Sea, Russia, , Russia, in this July, 2004, file photo. The Peter the Great cruiser accompanied by three other ships of Russia’s Northern Fleet was to sail from their base in Severomorsk Sunday on a cruise which will include a joint exercise with the Venezuelan Navy, Russian Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said on Vesti 24 television.(AP Photo/File)

MOSCOW – A Russian navy squadron set off for Venezuela Monday, an official said, in a deployment of Russian military power to the Western Hemisphere unprecedented since the Cold War.

The Kremlin recently has moved to intensify contacts with Venezuela, Cuba and other Latin American nations amid increasingly strained relations with Washington after last month’s war between Russia and Georgia. During the Cold War, Latin America became an ideological battleground between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said the nuclear-powered Peter the Great cruiser accompanied by three other ships sailed from the Northern Fleet’s base of Severomorsk on Monday. The ships will cover about 15,000 nautical miles to conduct joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan navy, he told The Associated Press.

The deployment follows a weeklong visit to Venezuela by a pair of Russian strategic bombers and comes as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — an unbridled critic of U.S. foreign policy who has close ties with Moscow — plans to visit Moscow this week. It will be Chavez’s second trip to Russia in about two months.

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Looks like the nice little tropical lull might be coming to an end.

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring a tropical wave in the eastern Caribbean near the Lesser Antilles that continues to get better organized.

Center forecasters give the system a medium — or 20 to 50 percent chance — of developing into a tropical depression within the next two days. A hurricane hunter is scheduled to investigate it on Sunday “if necessary,” hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart said.

Where is it headed? The computer models predict it will aim generally northwest, potentially putting the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas and – of course – Florida in its path.

As previously noted, the models can be far off the mark this early in the game.

For now it’s just something to be aware of – particularly since it is relatively close to this region.

The hurricane center also was monitoring another disturbance in the southwestern Caribbean near Nicaragua, giving it a low chance of development.

Source: Sun-Sentinel.Com

Tomoji Tanabe is pictured in his home in Miyakonojo, southern Japan September 12, 2008. The world's oldest man celebrated his 113th birthday on September 18, 2008, telling reporters at his home about his joyful life and healthy appetite. Picture taken September 12, 2008. REUTERS/Kyodo (JAPAN). FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY.

TOKYO (Reuters) – The world’s oldest man celebrated his 113th birthday on Thursday, telling reporters at his home in southern Japan about his joyful life and healthy appetite.
“I’m happy,” said Tomoji Tanabe as the local mayor presented him with flowers and a giant tea cup glazed with his name and date of birth. “I’m well. I eat a lot,” he added.

Tanabe, recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest living male last year, eats mostly vegetables and believes the key to longevity is not drinking alcohol.

The former civil servant lives with his son, drinks milk every day and has no major illnesses, although he now writes in his diary only once or twice a month. He used to write on a daily basis.

“His favorite food is fried shrimp, but we’ve heard that he’s cut back on oily food,” said an official at his hometown of Miyakonojo, about 900 km (560 miles) southwest of Tokyo.

“He’s said he wants to live for another 10 years, that he doesn’t want to die.” The Japanese are among the world’s longest-lived people, with the number of those aged 100 or older at a record 36,276, a government report last week showed.

Japanese women have topped the world’s longevity ranks for 23 years, while men rank third after Iceland and Hong Kong.

(Reporting by Chisa Fujioka; editing by Sophie Hardach)

Source: Yahoo.Com – Reuters