http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/who.html
U.S. Government
USGS
Woods Hole
Deborah Hutchinson - dhutchinson@usgs.gov - (project chief)
Carolyn Ruppel - cruppel@usgs.gov
Bill Winters - bwinters@usgs.gov
Bill Waite - wwaite@usgs.gov
Dave Mason - dmason@usgs.gov
John Pohlman - jpohlman@usgs.gov
Bill Dillon - bdillon@usgs.gov - (emeritus)
Menlo Park
Keith Kvenvolden - kk@octopus.wr.usgs.gov - (emeritus)
Steve Kirby - skirby@usgs.gov - (sub-project chief)
Tom Lorenson (tlorenson@usgs.gov)
Laura Stern (lstern@usgs.gov)
Jim Hein (jhein@usgs.gov)
Denver
Tim Collett - tcollett@usgs.gov - (sub-project chief)
Department of Energy
Ray Boswell - Ray.Boswell@netl.doe.gov - (National Energy Technology Lab - principle)
Naval Research Lab
Joseph Gettrust - gettrust@nrlssc.navy.mil - (project chief)
Warren Wood - wwood@nrlssc.navy.mil
Rick Coffin - rcoffin@ccs.nrl.navy.mil
Minerals Management Service
Jesse Hunt - jesse.hunt@mms.gov
Bill Shedd - william.shedd@mms.gov
Non-Governmental-Organizations and Private Institutions
Oil Companies
Emrys Jones - emry@chevron.com - (Chevron)
Klass Bil - k.j.bil@siep.shell.com - (Shell International, Netherlands)
Renato Kowsmann - kowsmann@petrobras.com.br- (Petrobras, Brazil)
Martin Hovland - mhovland@statoil.com - (Statoil)
Universities
Ben Clennell - Clennell@cpgg.ufba.br - (University of Bahia, Brazil)
Bruce Buffett -buffett@geop.ubc.ca - (University of British Columbia)
Satish Singh - singh@esc.cam.ac.uk - (Cambridge University, United Kingdom)
James Kennett - kennett@magic.geol.ucsb.edu - (University of California. Santa Barbra)
Dendy Sloan -esloan@gashydrate.mines.edu - (Colorado School of Mines)
Wenyue Xu - xu@epr10.eas.gatech.edu - (Georgia Tech)
Harry Roberts - harry@antares.csi.lsu.edu - (Louisiana State University)
Tom McGee - tmm@mmri.olemiss.edu - (University of Mississippi)
Bob Collier - rcollier@oce.orst.edu - (Oregon State University)
Anne Trehu - trehu@oce.orst.edu - (Oregon State University)
Gerald Holder - holder@engrng.pitt.edu - (University Pittsburgh)
Miriam Kastner - mkastner@ucsd.edu - (Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
Ian MacDonald - ian@gerg.tamu.edu - (Texas A@M University)
Roger Sassen - sassen@gerg.tamu.edu - (Texas A@M University)
Ryo Matsumoto - ryo@tsunami.geol.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp - (University of Tokyo)
Karin Andreassen - Karin.Andreassen@ibg.uit.no - (University of Tromso, Norway)
Ross Chapman - chapman@uvic.ca - (University of Victoria)
W. Steven Holbrook - steveh@uwyo.edu - (University of Wyoming)
Private Research Institutions
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Charles Paull - paull@mbari.org - (MBARI)
Peter Brewer - brpe@mbari.org - (MBARI)
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Jean Whelan - jwhelan@whoi.edu - (WHOI)
Marine Desalination Systems, L.L.C.
Michael Max - mmax@mdswater.com
John Osegovic - josegovic@mdswater.com
Shelli Tatro - statro@mdswater.com
Hydrate Energy International
Michael Max - xeres@erols.com - (HEI, Washington D.C.)
Bill Dillon - dillon@cape.com - (HEI, Woods Hole, Massachusetts)
Arthur Johnson - artjohnson51@hotmail.com - (HEI, New Orleans)
Other Nations
Canada
Geological Survey of Canada
Roy Hyndman - hyndman@pgc.emr.ca - (GSC, Pacific Geoscience Center)
Scott Dallimore - SDallimo@NRCan.gc.ca - (Geological Survey of Canada)
National Research Council
John Ripmeester - John.Ripmeester@nrc.ca - (NRC)
University of Victoria
Michael Whiticar - whiticar@uvic.ca - (School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria)
France
Laboratoire de Genie Chimique de Toulouse
Jean-Pierre Monfort - jeanpierre.monfort@ensigct.fr
Germany
GEOMAR
Erwin Suess - esuess@geomar.de - (GEOMAR)
Nina Kukowski - nkukowski@geomar.de - (GEOMAR)
GFZ (GeoForschungsZentrum)
Michael Weber - mhw@gfz-potsdam.de
Italy
Institute of Geophysics, Trieste (in Italian)
Emanuele Lodolo -elodolo@ogs.trieste.it - (Institute of Geophysics, Trieste)
Umberta Tinivella - utinivella@ogs.trieste.it - (Institute of Geophysics, Trieste)
Japan
Geological Survey of Japan
Yoshihisa Okuda - okuda@gsj.go.jp - (Geological Survey of Japan)
New Zealand
Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences
Stuart Henrys - s.henrys@gns.cri.nz - (Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences)
Ingo Pecher - i.pecher@gns.cri.nz - (Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences)
People's Republic of China
Ministry of Land and Resources
Liu Shou-Quan - ygzhou@qingdao.cngb.com - (Director-General of QIMG)
Russia
Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation Institute for Geology and Mineral Resources of the Ocean
Valery A. Soloviev - soloviev@gashyd.spb.ru - (Head of Gas Hydrate Laboratory)
martedì 15 luglio 2008
Peculiarities of Methane Clathrate Hydrate Formation and Solid-State Deformation, Including Possible Superheating of Water Ice
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;273/5283/1843
Laura A. Stern, * Stephen H. Kirby, William B. Durham
Slow, constant-volume heating of water ice plus methane gas mixtures forms methane clathrate hydrate by a progressive reaction that occurs at the nascent ice/liquid water interface. As this reaction proceeds, the rate of melting of metastable water ice may be suppressed to allow short-lived superheating of ice to at least 276 kelvin. Plastic flow properties measured on clathrate test specimens are significantly different from those of water ice; under nonhydrostatic stress, methane clathrate undergoes extensive strain hardening and a process of solid-state disproportionation or exsolution at conditions well within its conventional hydrostatic stability field.
L. A. Stern and S. H. Kirby, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA. W. B. Durham, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA.
Laura A. Stern, * Stephen H. Kirby, William B. Durham
Slow, constant-volume heating of water ice plus methane gas mixtures forms methane clathrate hydrate by a progressive reaction that occurs at the nascent ice/liquid water interface. As this reaction proceeds, the rate of melting of metastable water ice may be suppressed to allow short-lived superheating of ice to at least 276 kelvin. Plastic flow properties measured on clathrate test specimens are significantly different from those of water ice; under nonhydrostatic stress, methane clathrate undergoes extensive strain hardening and a process of solid-state disproportionation or exsolution at conditions well within its conventional hydrostatic stability field.
L. A. Stern and S. H. Kirby, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA. W. B. Durham, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA.
idrati di metano
El mar guarda reservas de metano que duplican la energía de todos los combustibles fósiles
Parecen trozos de hielo, pero echan a arder al acercarles una llama. Se ocultan bajo el suelo marino junto a los litorales continentales, y los investigadores acaban de descubrirlos en el mar de Alborán que baña el oriente andaluz.
Se llaman hidratos de gas, y "pueden convertirse en una de las principales fuentes de energía si se desarrollan técnicas económicamente rentables para extraer su metano", según el Departamento de Interior norteamericano.
"En colaboración con un buque oceanográfico ruso, acabamos de confirmar la presencia de abundantes depósitos de hidratos de gas en el mar de Alborán", explica Menchu Comas, investigadora del Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC) y delegada española en el comité científico del Programa Integrado de Perforación Oceánica (IODP), un consorcio internacional dedicado a explorar las altas profundidades del subsuelo marino.
"Los hidratos de gas son probablemente una de las principales reservas de hidrocarburos que quedarán disponibles a largo plazo", prosigue Comas. "Ya sabíamos que había hidratos de gas en el Golfo de Cádiz, así que ya podemos afirmar que todo el litoral meridional español abunda en reservas"
El más común de estos compuestos, tanto en España como en el resto de los depósitos marinos que se han hallado en el mundo, es el hidrato de metano. Su estructura es bien curiosa: 20 moléculas de agua se disponen en los 20 vértices de un dodecaedro, formando una auténtica jaula que atrapa a una molécula de metano. Es una especie de hielo que ocupa los poros de los sedimentos oceánicos, y sólo es estable a profundidades de más de 500 metros (de agua).
Los científicos calculan que los hidratos de gas del planeta contienen más de 10 billones de toneladas de carbono (en forma de metano), entre el doble y el triple que la reserva mundial de combustibles fósiles (donde el carbono está en forma de petróleo, carbón y gas natural). En rigor, los hidratos de gas son también combustibles fósiles, porque su metano proviene de la actividad de antiguas bacterias.
Los depósitos de esta posible fuente energética están repartidos por los sedimentos oceánicos de los litorales continentales -a veces enterrados 1.000 metros bajo el suelo marino-, y también en las regiones polares.
El Congreso norteamericano aprobó en 2000 un programa de investigación sobre los hidratos de gas, y el departamento de Energía de ese país financia actualmente cinco proyectos científicos para evaluar "su potencial energético, su seguridad y el impacto ambiental de su exploración y desarrollo". Al frente de uno de ellos está Stephen Kirby, del Geological Survey del Gobierno estadounidense (USGS). ¿Cuáles son los principales problemas técnicos que quedan por resolver para plantearse la explotación industrial de estas reservas?
"Hay tres problemas principales", responde Kirby a EL PAÍS. "El primero es encontrar depósitos de hidratos de gas que estén lo bastante concentrados como para ser comercialmente viables. Hasta ahora, los depósitos terrestres de la región ártica son los únicos que presentan una saturación de hidratos en el sedimento lo bastante alta como para considerarlos un objetivo industrial a día de hoy. Ciertas estructuras oceánicas en el mar de Bering, llamadas vamps [por 'anomalías de velocidad y amplitud'], también pueden revelarse como un objetivo con fines prácticos".
"En segundo lugar", prosigue el investigador norteamericano, "necesitamos aprender cómo se puede operar de manera económicamente rentable en condiciones de alta profundidad, más de 500 metros, que es donde están la gran mayoría de los depósitos de hidratos. Y en tercer lugar hay que desarrollar mejores técnicas para extraer gas natural de la descomposición de los hidratos de gas". Hasta el momento se han probado dos métodos de extracción en condiciones reales, utilizando un depósito experimental en el delta del río Mackenzie canadiense. El primero es la "despresurización". Se taladra un agujero en la capa de sedimentos que contiene los hidratos de gas para reducir la presión.
Los dodecaedros que forman la jaula son un modo especial de congelación del agua, que se forman a temperaturas superiores a los 0ºC, pero sólo gracias a las altas presiones reinantes en las profundidades. Al bajar la presión, por lo tanto, la jaula se disgrega y deja escapar la molécula de metano. El gas sube entonces por una tubería. El segundo método se llama "inyección térmica" y consiste en bombear agua caliente dentro del sedimento en cuestión. Como pasaba antes con la reducción de la presión, también el aumento de la temperatura desestabiliza la estructura del hidrato de gas, el metano se libera y es recogido por una conducción.
Un tercer método se ha probado útil, pero sólo en condiciones de laboratorio. Consiste en inyectar dióxido de carbono para intercambiarlo por el metano en el interior de las jaulas. Si este método llegara a generalizarse, tendría la ventaja añadida de servir como una trampa para secuestrar bajo el mar el dióxido de carbono atmosférico, el principal gas de efecto invernadero que está detrás del cambio climático.
Las petroleras Chevron, Shell, Petrobras y Statoil también colaboran en las investigaciones, aunque no aspiran a una aplicación industrial inmediata.
"El principal problema para la utilización industrial de los hidratos de gas es que ocurren como menas finamente dispersas por los sedimentos del suelo oceánico", dice a EL PAÍS Martin Hovland, investigador de la petrolera de origen noruego Statoil. "Es sabido lo difícil que resulta extraer menas dispersas de tierra firme, por ejemplo en las minas abiertas de oro y cobre. Si uno tiene que procesar grandes cantidades de sedimentos en aguas profundas, el gasto energético no compensa realmente".. "Por lo tanto", prosigue Hovland, "mi opinión es que los hidratos de gas seguirán siendo una destacada oportunidad de investigación para los científicos académicos durante mucho tiempo. Del mismo modo, hay un montón de oro y aluminio en este planeta, pero cuesta demasiada energía extraerlo y refinarlo".
También investigan en hidratos de gas los servicios geológicos de los gobiernos de Canadá, Alemania, Rusia y Japón. Australia abrió el mes pasado una instalación especial de alta presión dedicada a investigar la formación y la transportabilidad de los hidratos de gas. También el mes pasado, los ministros de energía de Japón y Estados Unidos firmaron un convenio con el mismo fin, que incluye estudios de campo en las reservas del norte de Alaska.
A finales de la década pasada, investigadores de la Universidad de Moscú y el Instituto Tecnológico Geominero de España, a bordo de un buque oceanográfico ruso, descubrieron abundantes depósitos de hidratos de metano en el golfo de Cádiz, a una profundidad de 900 metros. Repsol tiene plataformas en la zona, pero a sólo 100 metros de profundidad. A estos depósitos se unen ahora los recién descubiertos bajo el suelo del mar de Alborán.
Los hidratos de gas pueden liberar al mar grandes burbujas de metano (a veces llamadas volcanes de fango), lo que les ha procurado una publicidad no solicitada. "Las burbujas de metano procedentes del suelo oceánico", anunció en 2003 el servicio de noticias del Discovery Channel, "pueden ser responsables de los misteriosos naufragios en el Triángulo de las Bermudas, según ha confirmado una investigación australiana".
La investigación australiana se queda en realidad muy lejos de confirmarlo, pero la historia ha calado lo bastante como para merecer un desmentido oficial del USGS norteamericano. Bill Dillon, geólogo del USGS, afirma: "La evidencia indica que el colapso y la liberación abrupta de metano, debida a la disgregación de los hidratos de gas, ocurrió hacia el final del último periodo glacial, hace unos 15.000 años, cuando mucha agua oceánica estaba retenida en forma de grandes hojas de hielo continentales, y por tanto el nivel del mar bajó mucho. El menor nivel del mar implicó menores presiones sobre los sedimentos, lo que desestabilizó los hidratos y liberó el metano en forma de burbujas".
Es cierto que las aguas del sureste de Estados Unidos, que forman el vértice occidental del Triángulo de las Bermudas, son particularmente ricas en sedimentos con hidratos de gas. Pero, cuando salieron de allí las burbujas de metano capaces de causar naufragios, "el barco más avanzado técnicamente era un tronco de árbol hueco", como señala Dillon.
Las burbujas de metano, en cualquier caso, tienen interés para los científicos del clima, porque el efecto invernadero del metano supera en 21 veces al del dióxido de carbono. Y los hidratos de gas almacenan una cantidad de metano 3.000 veces mayor que el disuelto en la atmósfera. Los futuros métodos de extracción, por tanto, deberán poner un especial cuidado en evitar fugas a la atmósfera.
Los hidratos de gas se conocían como curiosidades académicas desde el siglo XIX, aunque no recibieron la atención de la industria hasta los años treinta, cuando se comprobó que causaban atascos en las conducciones de gas natural, que por entonces empezaban a extenderse a latitudes relativamente frías. La capacidad del agua para congelarse en jaulas dodecaédricas por encima de los 0ºC fue conocida originalmente como un engorro para la industria energética. Pero esa misma capacidad puede convertirse en el petróleo del futuro.
"En colaboración con un buque oceanográfico ruso, acabamos de confirmar la presencia de abundantes depósitos de hidratos de gas en el mar de Alborán", explica Menchu Comas, investigadora del Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC) y delegada española en el comité científico del Programa Integrado de Perforación Oceánica (IODP), un consorcio internacional dedicado a explorar las altas profundidades del subsuelo marino.
"Los hidratos de gas son probablemente una de las principales reservas de hidrocarburos que quedarán disponibles a largo plazo", prosigue Comas. "Ya sabíamos que había hidratos de gas en el Golfo de Cádiz, así que ya podemos afirmar que todo el litoral meridional español abunda en reservas"
El más común de estos compuestos, tanto en España como en el resto de los depósitos marinos que se han hallado en el mundo, es el hidrato de metano. Su estructura es bien curiosa: 20 moléculas de agua se disponen en los 20 vértices de un dodecaedro, formando una auténtica jaula que atrapa a una molécula de metano. Es una especie de hielo que ocupa los poros de los sedimentos oceánicos, y sólo es estable a profundidades de más de 500 metros (de agua).
Los científicos calculan que los hidratos de gas del planeta contienen más de 10 billones de toneladas de carbono (en forma de metano), entre el doble y el triple que la reserva mundial de combustibles fósiles (donde el carbono está en forma de petróleo, carbón y gas natural). En rigor, los hidratos de gas son también combustibles fósiles, porque su metano proviene de la actividad de antiguas bacterias.
Los depósitos de esta posible fuente energética están repartidos por los sedimentos oceánicos de los litorales continentales -a veces enterrados 1.000 metros bajo el suelo marino-, y también en las regiones polares.
El Congreso norteamericano aprobó en 2000 un programa de investigación sobre los hidratos de gas, y el departamento de Energía de ese país financia actualmente cinco proyectos científicos para evaluar "su potencial energético, su seguridad y el impacto ambiental de su exploración y desarrollo". Al frente de uno de ellos está Stephen Kirby, del Geological Survey del Gobierno estadounidense (USGS). ¿Cuáles son los principales problemas técnicos que quedan por resolver para plantearse la explotación industrial de estas reservas?
"Hay tres problemas principales", responde Kirby a EL PAÍS. "El primero es encontrar depósitos de hidratos de gas que estén lo bastante concentrados como para ser comercialmente viables. Hasta ahora, los depósitos terrestres de la región ártica son los únicos que presentan una saturación de hidratos en el sedimento lo bastante alta como para considerarlos un objetivo industrial a día de hoy. Ciertas estructuras oceánicas en el mar de Bering, llamadas vamps [por 'anomalías de velocidad y amplitud'], también pueden revelarse como un objetivo con fines prácticos".
"En segundo lugar", prosigue el investigador norteamericano, "necesitamos aprender cómo se puede operar de manera económicamente rentable en condiciones de alta profundidad, más de 500 metros, que es donde están la gran mayoría de los depósitos de hidratos. Y en tercer lugar hay que desarrollar mejores técnicas para extraer gas natural de la descomposición de los hidratos de gas". Hasta el momento se han probado dos métodos de extracción en condiciones reales, utilizando un depósito experimental en el delta del río Mackenzie canadiense. El primero es la "despresurización". Se taladra un agujero en la capa de sedimentos que contiene los hidratos de gas para reducir la presión.
Los dodecaedros que forman la jaula son un modo especial de congelación del agua, que se forman a temperaturas superiores a los 0ºC, pero sólo gracias a las altas presiones reinantes en las profundidades. Al bajar la presión, por lo tanto, la jaula se disgrega y deja escapar la molécula de metano. El gas sube entonces por una tubería. El segundo método se llama "inyección térmica" y consiste en bombear agua caliente dentro del sedimento en cuestión. Como pasaba antes con la reducción de la presión, también el aumento de la temperatura desestabiliza la estructura del hidrato de gas, el metano se libera y es recogido por una conducción.
Un tercer método se ha probado útil, pero sólo en condiciones de laboratorio. Consiste en inyectar dióxido de carbono para intercambiarlo por el metano en el interior de las jaulas. Si este método llegara a generalizarse, tendría la ventaja añadida de servir como una trampa para secuestrar bajo el mar el dióxido de carbono atmosférico, el principal gas de efecto invernadero que está detrás del cambio climático.
Las petroleras Chevron, Shell, Petrobras y Statoil también colaboran en las investigaciones, aunque no aspiran a una aplicación industrial inmediata.
"El principal problema para la utilización industrial de los hidratos de gas es que ocurren como menas finamente dispersas por los sedimentos del suelo oceánico", dice a EL PAÍS Martin Hovland, investigador de la petrolera de origen noruego Statoil. "Es sabido lo difícil que resulta extraer menas dispersas de tierra firme, por ejemplo en las minas abiertas de oro y cobre. Si uno tiene que procesar grandes cantidades de sedimentos en aguas profundas, el gasto energético no compensa realmente".. "Por lo tanto", prosigue Hovland, "mi opinión es que los hidratos de gas seguirán siendo una destacada oportunidad de investigación para los científicos académicos durante mucho tiempo. Del mismo modo, hay un montón de oro y aluminio en este planeta, pero cuesta demasiada energía extraerlo y refinarlo".
También investigan en hidratos de gas los servicios geológicos de los gobiernos de Canadá, Alemania, Rusia y Japón. Australia abrió el mes pasado una instalación especial de alta presión dedicada a investigar la formación y la transportabilidad de los hidratos de gas. También el mes pasado, los ministros de energía de Japón y Estados Unidos firmaron un convenio con el mismo fin, que incluye estudios de campo en las reservas del norte de Alaska.
A finales de la década pasada, investigadores de la Universidad de Moscú y el Instituto Tecnológico Geominero de España, a bordo de un buque oceanográfico ruso, descubrieron abundantes depósitos de hidratos de metano en el golfo de Cádiz, a una profundidad de 900 metros. Repsol tiene plataformas en la zona, pero a sólo 100 metros de profundidad. A estos depósitos se unen ahora los recién descubiertos bajo el suelo del mar de Alborán.
Los hidratos de gas pueden liberar al mar grandes burbujas de metano (a veces llamadas volcanes de fango), lo que les ha procurado una publicidad no solicitada. "Las burbujas de metano procedentes del suelo oceánico", anunció en 2003 el servicio de noticias del Discovery Channel, "pueden ser responsables de los misteriosos naufragios en el Triángulo de las Bermudas, según ha confirmado una investigación australiana".
La investigación australiana se queda en realidad muy lejos de confirmarlo, pero la historia ha calado lo bastante como para merecer un desmentido oficial del USGS norteamericano. Bill Dillon, geólogo del USGS, afirma: "La evidencia indica que el colapso y la liberación abrupta de metano, debida a la disgregación de los hidratos de gas, ocurrió hacia el final del último periodo glacial, hace unos 15.000 años, cuando mucha agua oceánica estaba retenida en forma de grandes hojas de hielo continentales, y por tanto el nivel del mar bajó mucho. El menor nivel del mar implicó menores presiones sobre los sedimentos, lo que desestabilizó los hidratos y liberó el metano en forma de burbujas".
Es cierto que las aguas del sureste de Estados Unidos, que forman el vértice occidental del Triángulo de las Bermudas, son particularmente ricas en sedimentos con hidratos de gas. Pero, cuando salieron de allí las burbujas de metano capaces de causar naufragios, "el barco más avanzado técnicamente era un tronco de árbol hueco", como señala Dillon.
Las burbujas de metano, en cualquier caso, tienen interés para los científicos del clima, porque el efecto invernadero del metano supera en 21 veces al del dióxido de carbono. Y los hidratos de gas almacenan una cantidad de metano 3.000 veces mayor que el disuelto en la atmósfera. Los futuros métodos de extracción, por tanto, deberán poner un especial cuidado en evitar fugas a la atmósfera.
Los hidratos de gas se conocían como curiosidades académicas desde el siglo XIX, aunque no recibieron la atención de la industria hasta los años treinta, cuando se comprobó que causaban atascos en las conducciones de gas natural, que por entonces empezaban a extenderse a latitudes relativamente frías. La capacidad del agua para congelarse en jaulas dodecaédricas por encima de los 0ºC fue conocida originalmente como un engorro para la industria energética. Pero esa misma capacidad puede convertirse en el petróleo del futuro.
lunedì 14 luglio 2008
Google lancia HealthMap
Realizzato in collaborazione con l'oms, harvard e il boston children's hospital
Il nuovo servizio interattivo disponibile su Internet mostra la diffusione delle epidemie
WASHINGTON - Dopo Google Map, arriva HealthMap un nuovo servizio interattivo disponibile su Internet che mostra la diffusione delle epidemie. Si tratta di una mappa interattiva, creata da Google e da un gruppo di ricercatori del Boston Children's Hospital e dell'Università di Harvard. Il sistema è accessibile a tutti, è gratuito ed è stato descritto sulla prestigiosa rivista scientifica «opena access» Plos Medicine. HealthMap è stato creato con lo scopo di monitorare le emergenze e facilitarne la gestione.
LE FONTI - Il sistema raccoglie i dati da 14 fonti (che riassumono informazioni da più di 20 mila siti) ed è in contatto diretto con l'Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità (Oms). La ricerca può essere effettuata per malattia, oppure per sintomo e aiutandosi con alcune parole chiave. Un software provvede anche ad eliminare automaticamente gli articoli con informazioni i ridondanti.
UTILITÀ- «Il Web può giocare un ruolo molto importante nella scoperta di nuove epidemie o nel monitoraggio di quelle già in corso», ha detto John Brownstein, responsabile del progetto. «Molte informazioni utili - ha continuato - possono essere ricavate dalla rete grazie a siti governativi, ma anche forum e blog». Da un primo utilizzo è risultato evidente come la frequenza di dati riguardanti alcune malattie sia direttamente proporzionale a una situazione economica instabile. Si sta cercando ora di migliorare il sistema in termini di copertura geografica, che per il momento arriva solo a livello di regione e stato. Il motore, inoltre, monitora e organizza i dati in tempo reale anche in zone geografiche poco coperte dai sistemi sanitari locali. Sarà però necessario sviluppare contatti con persone residenti nei luoghi meno 'nominatì in Rete, soprattutto in Africa e Sud America.
LE FONTI - Il sistema raccoglie i dati da 14 fonti (che riassumono informazioni da più di 20 mila siti) ed è in contatto diretto con l'Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità (Oms). La ricerca può essere effettuata per malattia, oppure per sintomo e aiutandosi con alcune parole chiave. Un software provvede anche ad eliminare automaticamente gli articoli con informazioni i ridondanti.
UTILITÀ- «Il Web può giocare un ruolo molto importante nella scoperta di nuove epidemie o nel monitoraggio di quelle già in corso», ha detto John Brownstein, responsabile del progetto. «Molte informazioni utili - ha continuato - possono essere ricavate dalla rete grazie a siti governativi, ma anche forum e blog». Da un primo utilizzo è risultato evidente come la frequenza di dati riguardanti alcune malattie sia direttamente proporzionale a una situazione economica instabile. Si sta cercando ora di migliorare il sistema in termini di copertura geografica, che per il momento arriva solo a livello di regione e stato. Il motore, inoltre, monitora e organizza i dati in tempo reale anche in zone geografiche poco coperte dai sistemi sanitari locali. Sarà però necessario sviluppare contatti con persone residenti nei luoghi meno 'nominatì in Rete, soprattutto in Africa e Sud America.
HealthMap was created by Clark Freifeld, a Research Software Developer at the Children's Hospital Informatics Program and John Brownstein, PhD, an Instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, Affiliated Faculty at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
Albanian Custom Fades: Woman as Family Man
KRUJE, Albania — Pashe Keqi recalled the day nearly 60 years ago when she decided to become a man. She chopped off her long black curls, traded in her dress for her father’s baggy trousers, armed herself with a hunting rifle and vowed to forsake marriage, children and sex.
For centuries, in the closed-off and conservative society of rural northern Albania, swapping genders was considered a practical solution for a family with a shortage of men. Her father was killed in a blood feud, and there was no male heir. By custom, Ms. Keqi, now 78, took a vow of lifetime virginity. She lived as a man, the new patriarch, with all the swagger and trappings of male authority — including the obligation to avenge her father’s death.
She says she would not do it today, now that sexual equality and modernity have come even to Albania, with Internet dating and MTV invading after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Girls here do not want to be boys anymore. With only Ms. Keqi and some 40 others remaining, the sworn virgin is dying off.
“Back then, it was better to be a man because before a woman and an animal were considered the same thing,” said Ms. Keqi, who has a bellowing baritone voice, sits with her legs open wide like a man and relishes downing shots of raki. “Now, Albanian women have equal rights with men, and are even more powerful. I think today it would be fun to be a woman.”
The tradition of the sworn virgin can be traced to the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini, a code of conduct passed on orally among the clans of northern Albania for more than 500 years. Under the Kanun, the role of a woman is severely circumscribed: take care of children and maintain the home. While a woman’s life is worth half that of a man, a virgin’s value is the same: 12 oxen.
The sworn virgin was born of social necessity in an agrarian region plagued by war and death. If the family patriarch died with no male heirs, unmarried women in the family could find themselves alone and powerless. By taking an oath of virginity, women could take on the role of men as head of the family, carry a weapon, own property and move freely.
They dressed like men and spent their lives in the company of other men, even though most kept their female given names. They were not ridiculed, but accepted in public life, even adulated. For some the choice was a way for a woman to assert her autonomy or to avoid an arranged marriage.
“Stripping off their sexuality by pledging to remain virgins was a way for these women in a male-dominated, segregated society to engage in public life,” said Linda Gusia, a professor of gender studies at the University of Pristina, in Kosovo. “It was about surviving in a world where men rule.”
Taking an oath to become a sworn virgin should not, sociologists say, be equated with homosexuality, long taboo in rural Albania. Nor do the women have sex-change operations.
Known in her household as the “pasha,” Ms. Keqi said she decided to become the man of the house at age 20 when her father was murdered. Her four brothers opposed the Communist government of Enver Hoxha, the ruler for 40 years until his death in 1985, and they were either imprisoned or killed. Becoming a man, she said, was the only way to support her mother, her four sisters-in-law and their five children.
Ms. Keqi lorded over her large family in her modest house in Tirana, where her nieces served her brandy while she barked out orders. She said living as a man had allowed her freedom denied other women. She worked construction jobs and prayed at the mosque with men. Even today, her nephews and nieces said, they would not dare marry without their “uncle’s” permission.
When she stepped outside the village, she enjoyed being taken for a man. “I was totally free as a man because no one knew I was a woman,” Ms. Keqi said. “I could go wherever I wanted to and no one would dare swear at me because I could beat them up. I was only with men. I don’t know how to do women’s talk. I am never scared.”
When she was recently hospitalized for surgery, the other woman in her room was horrified to be sharing close quarters with someone she assumed was male.
She says she would not do it today, now that sexual equality and modernity have come even to Albania, with Internet dating and MTV invading after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Girls here do not want to be boys anymore. With only Ms. Keqi and some 40 others remaining, the sworn virgin is dying off.
“Back then, it was better to be a man because before a woman and an animal were considered the same thing,” said Ms. Keqi, who has a bellowing baritone voice, sits with her legs open wide like a man and relishes downing shots of raki. “Now, Albanian women have equal rights with men, and are even more powerful. I think today it would be fun to be a woman.”
The tradition of the sworn virgin can be traced to the Kanun of Leke Dukagjini, a code of conduct passed on orally among the clans of northern Albania for more than 500 years. Under the Kanun, the role of a woman is severely circumscribed: take care of children and maintain the home. While a woman’s life is worth half that of a man, a virgin’s value is the same: 12 oxen.
The sworn virgin was born of social necessity in an agrarian region plagued by war and death. If the family patriarch died with no male heirs, unmarried women in the family could find themselves alone and powerless. By taking an oath of virginity, women could take on the role of men as head of the family, carry a weapon, own property and move freely.
They dressed like men and spent their lives in the company of other men, even though most kept their female given names. They were not ridiculed, but accepted in public life, even adulated. For some the choice was a way for a woman to assert her autonomy or to avoid an arranged marriage.
“Stripping off their sexuality by pledging to remain virgins was a way for these women in a male-dominated, segregated society to engage in public life,” said Linda Gusia, a professor of gender studies at the University of Pristina, in Kosovo. “It was about surviving in a world where men rule.”
Taking an oath to become a sworn virgin should not, sociologists say, be equated with homosexuality, long taboo in rural Albania. Nor do the women have sex-change operations.
Known in her household as the “pasha,” Ms. Keqi said she decided to become the man of the house at age 20 when her father was murdered. Her four brothers opposed the Communist government of Enver Hoxha, the ruler for 40 years until his death in 1985, and they were either imprisoned or killed. Becoming a man, she said, was the only way to support her mother, her four sisters-in-law and their five children.
Ms. Keqi lorded over her large family in her modest house in Tirana, where her nieces served her brandy while she barked out orders. She said living as a man had allowed her freedom denied other women. She worked construction jobs and prayed at the mosque with men. Even today, her nephews and nieces said, they would not dare marry without their “uncle’s” permission.
When she stepped outside the village, she enjoyed being taken for a man. “I was totally free as a man because no one knew I was a woman,” Ms. Keqi said. “I could go wherever I wanted to and no one would dare swear at me because I could beat them up. I was only with men. I don’t know how to do women’s talk. I am never scared.”
When she was recently hospitalized for surgery, the other woman in her room was horrified to be sharing close quarters with someone she assumed was male.
Being the man of the house also made her responsible for avenging her father’s death, she said. When her father’s killer, by then 80, was released from prison five years ago, Ms. Keqi said, her 15-year-old nephew shot him dead. Then the man’s family took revenge and killed her nephew. “I always dreamed of avenging my father’s death,” she said. “Of course, I have regrets; my nephew was killed. But if you kill me, I have to kill you.”
In Albania, a majority Muslim country in the western Balkans, the Kanun is adhered to by Muslims and Christians. Albanian cultural historians said the adherence to medieval customs long discarded elsewhere was a byproduct of the country’s previous isolation. But they stressed that the traditional role of the Albanian woman was changing.
“The Albanian woman today is a sort of minister of economics, a minister of affection and a minister of interior who controls who does what,” said Ilir Yzeiri, who writes about Albanian folklore. “Today, women in Albania are behind everything.”
Some sworn virgins bemoan the changes. Diana Rakipi, 54, a security guard in the seaside city of Durres, in west Albania, who became a sworn virgin to take care of her nine sisters, said she looked back with nostalgia on the Hoxha era. During Communist times, she was a senior army officer, training women as combat soldiers. Now, she lamented, women do not know their place.
“Today women go out half naked to the disco,” said Ms. Rakipi, who wears a military beret. “I was always treated my whole life as a man, always with respect. I can’t clean, I can’t iron, I can’t cook. That is a woman’s work.”
But even in the remote mountains of Kruje, about 30 miles north of Tirana, residents say the Kanun’s influence on gender roles is disappearing. They said erosion of the traditional family, in which everyone once lived under the same roof, had altered women’s position in society.
“Women and men are now almost the same,” said Caca Fiqiri, whose aunt Qamile Stema, 88, is his village’s last sworn virgin. “We respect sworn virgins very much and consider them as men because of their great sacrifice. But there is no longer a stigma not to have a man of the house.”
Yet there is no doubt who wears the trousers in Ms. Stema’s one-room stone house in Barganesh, the family’s ancestral village. There, on a recent day, “Uncle” Qamile was surrounded by her clan, dressed in a qeleshe, the traditional white cap of an Albanian man. Pink flip-flops were her only concession to femininity.
After becoming a man at the age of 20, Ms. Stema said, she carried a gun. At wedding parties, she sat with the men. When she talked to women, she recalled, they recoiled in shyness.
She said becoming a sworn virgin was a necessity and a sacrifice. “I feel lonely sometime, all my sisters have died, and I live alone,” she said. “But I never wanted to marry. Some in my family tried to get me to change my clothes and wear dresses, but when they saw I had become a man, they left me alone.”
Ms. Stema said she would die a virgin. Had she married, she joked, it would have been to a traditional Albanian woman. “I guess you could say I was partly a woman and partly a man,” she said. “I liked my life as a man. I have no regrets.”
“The Albanian woman today is a sort of minister of economics, a minister of affection and a minister of interior who controls who does what,” said Ilir Yzeiri, who writes about Albanian folklore. “Today, women in Albania are behind everything.”
Some sworn virgins bemoan the changes. Diana Rakipi, 54, a security guard in the seaside city of Durres, in west Albania, who became a sworn virgin to take care of her nine sisters, said she looked back with nostalgia on the Hoxha era. During Communist times, she was a senior army officer, training women as combat soldiers. Now, she lamented, women do not know their place.
“Today women go out half naked to the disco,” said Ms. Rakipi, who wears a military beret. “I was always treated my whole life as a man, always with respect. I can’t clean, I can’t iron, I can’t cook. That is a woman’s work.”
But even in the remote mountains of Kruje, about 30 miles north of Tirana, residents say the Kanun’s influence on gender roles is disappearing. They said erosion of the traditional family, in which everyone once lived under the same roof, had altered women’s position in society.
“Women and men are now almost the same,” said Caca Fiqiri, whose aunt Qamile Stema, 88, is his village’s last sworn virgin. “We respect sworn virgins very much and consider them as men because of their great sacrifice. But there is no longer a stigma not to have a man of the house.”
Yet there is no doubt who wears the trousers in Ms. Stema’s one-room stone house in Barganesh, the family’s ancestral village. There, on a recent day, “Uncle” Qamile was surrounded by her clan, dressed in a qeleshe, the traditional white cap of an Albanian man. Pink flip-flops were her only concession to femininity.
After becoming a man at the age of 20, Ms. Stema said, she carried a gun. At wedding parties, she sat with the men. When she talked to women, she recalled, they recoiled in shyness.
She said becoming a sworn virgin was a necessity and a sacrifice. “I feel lonely sometime, all my sisters have died, and I live alone,” she said. “But I never wanted to marry. Some in my family tried to get me to change my clothes and wear dresses, but when they saw I had become a man, they left me alone.”
Ms. Stema said she would die a virgin. Had she married, she joked, it would have been to a traditional Albanian woman. “I guess you could say I was partly a woman and partly a man,” she said. “I liked my life as a man. I have no regrets.”
mercoledì 9 luglio 2008
Argentina, cisterne per le emissioni delle mucche
Che i rutti, le feci e le flatulenze delle mucche siano responsabili dell'effetto serra oramai è una certezza. Ma i ricercatori ancora non hanno trovato un accordo sul peso delle emissioni addebitabili ai bovini. Così un team di scienziati argentini del National Institute of Agricultural technology di Castellar ha messo a punto uno scenografico metodo per collezionare le emissioni animali. Una cisterna gonfiabile in plastica leggera viene montata sul dorso delle mucche e collegata agli ignari bovini, "un sistema non invasivo - assicurano i ricercatori - che permetterà di analizzare i gas emessi dagli animali e avere dati precisi"
sabato 5 luglio 2008
Waxwork Hitler beheaded in Berlin
A man has been arrested after tearing the head off a wax figure of Adolf Hitler at a newly opened branch of Madame Tussauds in Berlin.
The 41-year-old man was held after attacking the waxwork, only hours after the attraction opened on Saturday.
The inclusion of Hitler in the exhibition has aroused controversy in a country where Nazi symbols are banned.
But the exhibition's organisers said they could hardly depict German history without portraying Hitler.
They said the waxwork depicted Hitler in the hours before his suicide, a defeated figure slumped in his bunker as the Red Army reached Berlin.
The 41-year-old man was held after attacking the waxwork, only hours after the attraction opened on Saturday.
The inclusion of Hitler in the exhibition has aroused controversy in a country where Nazi symbols are banned.
But the exhibition's organisers said they could hardly depict German history without portraying Hitler.
They said the waxwork depicted Hitler in the hours before his suicide, a defeated figure slumped in his bunker as the Red Army reached Berlin.
The Fuhrer was positioned behind a table, which was supposed to prevent visitors posing with the statue - or damaging it.
'Showing reality'
Police spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski said a security guard had been shoved aside by the attacker.
'Showing reality'
Police spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski said a security guard had been shoved aside by the attacker.
"He tried to prevent the man from acting but failed. The suspect, from the Kreuzberg district, pushed the man aside and lunged at the Adolf Hitler figure and ripped the head off."
Another visitor, who was not named, said the man went straight to the Hitler figure and stepped behind the desk.
"I heard a rumbling and then he tore the figure down off the chair. The security was immediately there and tried to control him but it wasn't easy, he defended himself. Additional security staff took him away then and I had to leave the place," he said.
The attacker was only the second visitor to enter the exhibition, according to one report.
Media criticism
The decision to include a figure of Hitler has been controversial from the start.
Natalie Ruoss, of Madame Tussauds, said: "We did surveys while we were planning the exhibition on the street with Berliners and with tourists, and the result was quite clear that Hitler is one of the figures that they want to see.
"Seeing as we are portraying the history of Germany we could hardly have left him out... we want to show the reality."
Despite some criticism in the media, Stephen Kramer, general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said he did not object to Hitler being shown, as long as it was done properly.
"Hitler should not become a tourist attraction but if this exhibition helps to some extent normalise the way of dealing with Hitler, as a kind of a demystification, let's try it," Mr Kramer told the AFP news agency.
"Erasing him from history is not going to bring the perished ones back, it's not going to heal the damage that he did, the crimes that he did. That would be counter-productive," he said.
The waxwork museum also includes other German historical figures like Otto von Bismarck, Karl Marx, Beethoven, Bach and Einstein.
Foreigners featured include Winston Churchill, Mikhail Gorbachev and Tom Cruise.
Another visitor, who was not named, said the man went straight to the Hitler figure and stepped behind the desk.
"I heard a rumbling and then he tore the figure down off the chair. The security was immediately there and tried to control him but it wasn't easy, he defended himself. Additional security staff took him away then and I had to leave the place," he said.
The attacker was only the second visitor to enter the exhibition, according to one report.
Media criticism
The decision to include a figure of Hitler has been controversial from the start.
Natalie Ruoss, of Madame Tussauds, said: "We did surveys while we were planning the exhibition on the street with Berliners and with tourists, and the result was quite clear that Hitler is one of the figures that they want to see.
"Seeing as we are portraying the history of Germany we could hardly have left him out... we want to show the reality."
Despite some criticism in the media, Stephen Kramer, general secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said he did not object to Hitler being shown, as long as it was done properly.
"Hitler should not become a tourist attraction but if this exhibition helps to some extent normalise the way of dealing with Hitler, as a kind of a demystification, let's try it," Mr Kramer told the AFP news agency.
"Erasing him from history is not going to bring the perished ones back, it's not going to heal the damage that he did, the crimes that he did. That would be counter-productive," he said.
The waxwork museum also includes other German historical figures like Otto von Bismarck, Karl Marx, Beethoven, Bach and Einstein.
Foreigners featured include Winston Churchill, Mikhail Gorbachev and Tom Cruise.
Brasile: ritrovati in mare i palloncini del «prete volante», ma di lui non c'è traccia
lo scopo era fare un po' di soldi per una raccolta benefica
Il sacerdote cattolico Adelir Antonio di Carli si era appeso a palloni pieni di gas per battere il record di specialità
SAN PAOLO DEL BRASILE - I soccorritori che da domenica stanno cercando di ritrovare il "prete volante" hanno individuato e raggiunto nell’oceano al largo della costa brasiliana il grappolo di palloncini al quale il religioso si era appeso per battere un originale record di volo. Non hanno però trovato traccia del prete cattolico Adelir Antonio di Carli.
PRETE SCOMPARSO - Il cosidetto «prete volante» è scomparso domenica dopo essersi librato in aria, appeso a un grosso grappolo di palloncini gonfiati con l’elio, dalla città portuale di Paranagua. Indossava un casco, una tuta termica, un impermeabile e un paracadute. L’intento del reverendo era di battere il record di durata nel volo appeso a palloncini e di raccogliere, battendo il precedente record di 19 ore, un po’ di danaro per realizzare un’area di sosta "spirituale" per i camionisti a Paranagua, il più grande porto granario del Brasile. I soccorritori hanno raggiunto ieri sera il punto dove si trovano i palloncini, al largo dello stato meridionale di Santa Catarina vicino all’ultimo contatto con Di Carli. Ma del prete non c’era traccia.
PRETE SCOMPARSO - Il cosidetto «prete volante» è scomparso domenica dopo essersi librato in aria, appeso a un grosso grappolo di palloncini gonfiati con l’elio, dalla città portuale di Paranagua. Indossava un casco, una tuta termica, un impermeabile e un paracadute. L’intento del reverendo era di battere il record di durata nel volo appeso a palloncini e di raccogliere, battendo il precedente record di 19 ore, un po’ di danaro per realizzare un’area di sosta "spirituale" per i camionisti a Paranagua, il più grande porto granario del Brasile. I soccorritori hanno raggiunto ieri sera il punto dove si trovano i palloncini, al largo dello stato meridionale di Santa Catarina vicino all’ultimo contatto con Di Carli. Ma del prete non c’era traccia.
L'istruttore del prete disperso in volo coi palloncini: «un incosciente»
Continuano in brasile le ricerche di Adelir De Carli
Lo aveva allontanato dal suo corso per indisciplina e per aver messo a rischio la propria vita
SAN PAOLO - Il prete volante disperso nei cieli brasiliani attaccatto, alla ricerca del guiness a centinaia di palloncini, ha un rapporto incosciente con il volo. Lo ha detto Andrè Lichtow, istruttore di volo, che ha ricordato di averlo allontanato dal proprio corso dopo poche lezioni per indisciplina e per aver messo a rischio la propria vita con una bravata prima ancora di aver assimilato i minimi rudimenti di volo. Lichtow ha precisato che De Carli non sapeva affatto usare il Gps che aveva portato con sè.
IL VESCOVO: «GLI AVEVO CHIESTO DI DESISTERE» - «Avevo chiesto a padre Adelir di trovare altre strade per richiamare l'attenzione sui suoi progetti di beneficenza, ma non è stato possibile smuoverlo dalle sue convinzioni, e non c'era modo di impedirgli di portare avanti i suoi tentativi, per quanto pericolosi», ha dichiarato il vescovo di Paranaguà, Joao Alves dos Santos, superiore di padre De Carli. CONTINUANO LE RICERCHE - Nonostante una mobilitazione massiccia di mezzi di soccorso, non è ancora stato ritrovato padre Adelir De Carli, soprannominato «il prete volante», che domenica scorsa aveva tentato un record di permanenza in aria appeso a mille palloncini colorati. Nel pomeriggio di ieri sono stati trovati una sessantina di palloncini a circa 50 chilometri dalla costa, ma di De Carli non si hanno tuttora notizie. La Marina militare brasiliana ha scandagliato con navi, aerei e elicotteri tutta la zona di mare tra il punto di partenza e il luogo di ritrovamento dei palloni, ma non si è trovato nulla. Adesso le ricerche si spostano sulle isole e isolotti della costa, come ultima speranza di ritrovare vivo il «prete volante», che in un ultimo messaggio via cellulare aveva segnalato di star scendendo verso il mare, senza però dare la propria posizione.
L'EQUIPAGGIAMENTO - De Carli era equipaggiato con una tuta termica e equipaggiamento d'emergenza che gli doveva garantire la sopravvivenza in aria anche a grandi altezze, ma più difficilmente in caso di caduta in mare. De Carli è stato duramente criticato da esperti di volo. Andrè Lichtow, istruttore di volo, ha ricordato di averlo cacciato dal proprio corso dopo poche lezioni per indisciplina e per aver messo a rischio la propria vita con una bravata prima ancora di aver assimilato i minimi rudimenti di volo.
IL VESCOVO: «GLI AVEVO CHIESTO DI DESISTERE» - «Avevo chiesto a padre Adelir di trovare altre strade per richiamare l'attenzione sui suoi progetti di beneficenza, ma non è stato possibile smuoverlo dalle sue convinzioni, e non c'era modo di impedirgli di portare avanti i suoi tentativi, per quanto pericolosi», ha dichiarato il vescovo di Paranaguà, Joao Alves dos Santos, superiore di padre De Carli. CONTINUANO LE RICERCHE - Nonostante una mobilitazione massiccia di mezzi di soccorso, non è ancora stato ritrovato padre Adelir De Carli, soprannominato «il prete volante», che domenica scorsa aveva tentato un record di permanenza in aria appeso a mille palloncini colorati. Nel pomeriggio di ieri sono stati trovati una sessantina di palloncini a circa 50 chilometri dalla costa, ma di De Carli non si hanno tuttora notizie. La Marina militare brasiliana ha scandagliato con navi, aerei e elicotteri tutta la zona di mare tra il punto di partenza e il luogo di ritrovamento dei palloni, ma non si è trovato nulla. Adesso le ricerche si spostano sulle isole e isolotti della costa, come ultima speranza di ritrovare vivo il «prete volante», che in un ultimo messaggio via cellulare aveva segnalato di star scendendo verso il mare, senza però dare la propria posizione.
L'EQUIPAGGIAMENTO - De Carli era equipaggiato con una tuta termica e equipaggiamento d'emergenza che gli doveva garantire la sopravvivenza in aria anche a grandi altezze, ma più difficilmente in caso di caduta in mare. De Carli è stato duramente criticato da esperti di volo. Andrè Lichtow, istruttore di volo, ha ricordato di averlo cacciato dal proprio corso dopo poche lezioni per indisciplina e per aver messo a rischio la propria vita con una bravata prima ancora di aver assimilato i minimi rudimenti di volo.
Brasile, trovato il corpo del «prete volante»
Il sacerdote era scomparso durante un volo sospeso a migliaia di palloncini ad elio
Brasile, trovato il corpo del «prete volante»
Un rimorchiatore della Petrobas ha rinvenuto il cadavere a 100 km dalla costa di Rio de Janeiro
Un rimorchiatore della Petrobas ha rinvenuto il cadavere a 100 km dalla costa di Rio de Janeiro
BRASILIA (Brasile) - Il cadavere del sacerdote Adelir Antonio Di Carli, meglio conosciuto come il «prete volante» e che era scomparso in Brasile il 20 aprile scorso mentre volava appeso a mille palloncini per una iniziativa di raccolta fondi, è stato ritrovato da un rimorchiatore della compagnia petrolifera Petrobas a 100 chilometri dalla costa nello stato di Rio de Janeiro. Lo ha riferito la stessa Petrobas.
ANCORA IMBRAGATO - La compagnia petrolifera ha precisato che, quando il rimorchiatore «Anna Gabriela» ne ha recuperato il corpo a 1.500 chilometri dal luogo da cui era partito, il sacerdote aveva ancora indosso tutto l'equipaggiamento per il volo. Tuttavia, secondo alcune agenzie di stampa, la polizia brasiliana ha deciso di aprire un'inchiesta per accertare l'effettiva identità del cadavere ritrovato. L’ispettore di polizia Daniel Jose Gomes, citato dall'Apcom, ha spiegato che è troppo presto per lasciarsi andare a ipotesi e che sono necessari esami del dna per determinare l’identità del cadavere.
LA SCOMPARSA - Di Carli (42 anni) era scomparso il 20 aprile quando, appeso a mille palloncini gonfiati con l'elio, era partito da Paranagua, nello stato di Parana nel sud del Brasile, per arrivare a Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, vicino al Paraguay. Probabilmente, il sacerdote aveva calcolato male la direzione dei venti e aveva viaggiato verso la zona del litorale marittimo, da dove poi aveva perso il contatto radio, anche perchè non aveva caricato la batteria del cellulare che portava con sè. Il sacerdote era uno dei principali membri della Pastoral Carrettera, che organizza campagne di sensibilizzazione sugli incidenti stradali nello stato di Parana, nel sud del Brasile.
ANCORA IMBRAGATO - La compagnia petrolifera ha precisato che, quando il rimorchiatore «Anna Gabriela» ne ha recuperato il corpo a 1.500 chilometri dal luogo da cui era partito, il sacerdote aveva ancora indosso tutto l'equipaggiamento per il volo. Tuttavia, secondo alcune agenzie di stampa, la polizia brasiliana ha deciso di aprire un'inchiesta per accertare l'effettiva identità del cadavere ritrovato. L’ispettore di polizia Daniel Jose Gomes, citato dall'Apcom, ha spiegato che è troppo presto per lasciarsi andare a ipotesi e che sono necessari esami del dna per determinare l’identità del cadavere.
LA SCOMPARSA - Di Carli (42 anni) era scomparso il 20 aprile quando, appeso a mille palloncini gonfiati con l'elio, era partito da Paranagua, nello stato di Parana nel sud del Brasile, per arrivare a Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, vicino al Paraguay. Probabilmente, il sacerdote aveva calcolato male la direzione dei venti e aveva viaggiato verso la zona del litorale marittimo, da dove poi aveva perso il contatto radio, anche perchè non aveva caricato la batteria del cellulare che portava con sè. Il sacerdote era uno dei principali membri della Pastoral Carrettera, che organizza campagne di sensibilizzazione sugli incidenti stradali nello stato di Parana, nel sud del Brasile.
venerdì 4 luglio 2008
21_21 Design Sight
http://www.2121designsight.jp/index-e.html21_21 DESIGN SIGHT is a place where people can view the world through design. It will be not so much a museum as a research center for design, a place for thinking about design, and a place where things are actually made. The aim is to share views and ideas with the many parties involved in design, starting with designers and including companies, craftsmen and engineers, as well as consumers, and to launch a movement to foster interest in, and greater understanding of design.
Issey Miyake
Established the MIYAKE DESIGN STUDIO in 1970, and presented his first collection in Paris, in 1973. Since the benginning of his career, Miyake's philosophy has been to construct garments from a single piece of fabric, and to explore the relationship between a three-dimensional form, such as the body, and two-dimensional one that is cloth. Miyake launched PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE in 1993, as clothing to suit the needs of a contemporary lifestyle and that combine functionality and beauty. In new project called A-POC(A Piece of Cloth) with Dai Fujiwara and a team of young designer, to challeng the way in which clothing is made. At present, Fujiwara is the creative director for the ISSEY MIYAKE collection. In 2004 THE MIYAKE ISSEY FOUNDATION was established. Publications include ISSEY MIYAKE East Meets West(Heibonsha), and ISSEY MIYAKE MAKING THINGS(Actes Sub,Scalo, AXIS), etc
Established the MIYAKE DESIGN STUDIO in 1970, and presented his first collection in Paris, in 1973. Since the benginning of his career, Miyake's philosophy has been to construct garments from a single piece of fabric, and to explore the relationship between a three-dimensional form, such as the body, and two-dimensional one that is cloth. Miyake launched PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE in 1993, as clothing to suit the needs of a contemporary lifestyle and that combine functionality and beauty. In new project called A-POC(A Piece of Cloth) with Dai Fujiwara and a team of young designer, to challeng the way in which clothing is made. At present, Fujiwara is the creative director for the ISSEY MIYAKE collection. In 2004 THE MIYAKE ISSEY FOUNDATION was established. Publications include ISSEY MIYAKE East Meets West(Heibonsha), and ISSEY MIYAKE MAKING THINGS(Actes Sub,Scalo, AXIS), etc
Naoto Fukasawa
In 1989, Fukasawa left Japan for the United States where he worked for eight years at IDEO in San Francisco. He returned to Japan in 1997 to establish a Tokyo branch of the company. In 2003 he founded Naoto Fukasawa Design. Industrial design commissions to date include au/KDDI INFOBAR (mobile phones) and a wall-mounted CD player for Muji. Fukasawa has also worked as director on the ±0 (plusminuszero) brand range, and collaborated with major manufacturers on numerous projects in Japan and elsewhere. Fukasawa’s work is highly respected for the way it uses the senses to connect people and objects and enhance the pleasure of those using the product. Publications include “Dezain no Rinkaku (The contours of design)” (TOTO Shuppan), and co-author of “Dezain no Seitaigaku (The ecology of design)” (Tokyo Shoseki).
In 1989, Fukasawa left Japan for the United States where he worked for eight years at IDEO in San Francisco. He returned to Japan in 1997 to establish a Tokyo branch of the company. In 2003 he founded Naoto Fukasawa Design. Industrial design commissions to date include au/KDDI INFOBAR (mobile phones) and a wall-mounted CD player for Muji. Fukasawa has also worked as director on the ±0 (plusminuszero) brand range, and collaborated with major manufacturers on numerous projects in Japan and elsewhere. Fukasawa’s work is highly respected for the way it uses the senses to connect people and objects and enhance the pleasure of those using the product. Publications include “Dezain no Rinkaku (The contours of design)” (TOTO Shuppan), and co-author of “Dezain no Seitaigaku (The ecology of design)” (Tokyo Shoseki).
Taku Satoh
After working for Dentsu Inc., Satoh established the Taku Satoh Design Office in 1984. He works mainly in graphic design. His past projects include product design for Nikka Whisky “Pure Malt”, Lotte “XYLITOL” chewing gum, and MEIJI “OISHII GYUNYU” milk, visual identities for the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and National Science Museum, Tokyo. He was also involved in a TV program on the NHK educational channel entitled Nihongo de Asobo (Let’s Play in Japanese) as a member of the planning team and art director. Satoh is also the creator of the Dezain no Kaibo (Anatomy of design) project of exhibitions focusing on mass-produced items that up to now have rarely been discussed from a design perspective. Author of the “Dezain no Kaibo” series (Bijutsu Shuppansha), and “A whale was blowing water”(Transart).
After working for Dentsu Inc., Satoh established the Taku Satoh Design Office in 1984. He works mainly in graphic design. His past projects include product design for Nikka Whisky “Pure Malt”, Lotte “XYLITOL” chewing gum, and MEIJI “OISHII GYUNYU” milk, visual identities for the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, and National Science Museum, Tokyo. He was also involved in a TV program on the NHK educational channel entitled Nihongo de Asobo (Let’s Play in Japanese) as a member of the planning team and art director. Satoh is also the creator of the Dezain no Kaibo (Anatomy of design) project of exhibitions focusing on mass-produced items that up to now have rarely been discussed from a design perspective. Author of the “Dezain no Kaibo” series (Bijutsu Shuppansha), and “A whale was blowing water”(Transart).
Associate Director
Noriko Kawakami
After working as editor of the design magazine AXIS, Kawakami began her career as a design journalist and editor in 1994. She was involved in design projects of the Domus Academy Research Center as external editorial director from 1994 to 1996. Books include “Realising Design” (TOTO Shuppan), and co-author of “le design” (Beaux Arts).
Noriko Kawakami
After working as editor of the design magazine AXIS, Kawakami began her career as a design journalist and editor in 1994. She was involved in design projects of the Domus Academy Research Center as external editorial director from 1994 to 1996. Books include “Realising Design” (TOTO Shuppan), and co-author of “le design” (Beaux Arts).
martedì 1 luglio 2008
Stanford Study Of Owls Finds Link In Brain Between Sight And Sound
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060125083258.htm
Just imagine listening to someone talk and also hearing the buzz of the overhead lights, the hum of your computer and the muffled conversation down the hallway. To focus on the person speaking to you, your brain clearly can't give equal weight to all incoming sensory information. It has to attend to what is important and ignore the rest.
Two scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have taken a big step toward sorting out how the brain accomplishes this task. In the Jan. 19 issue of Nature, the researchers show that a mechanism for prioritizing information - previously reported only in primates - is also used by birds.
"What our experiment demonstrates is a fundamental principle of how the brain pays attention," said the paper's senior author, Eric Knudsen, PhD, the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor of Neurobiology. "The promise here is that because we are doing this in owls, we can get at the mechanisms of how this works."
The study determined that the circuits in the brain that process auditory information are influenced powerfully by the circuits that control where the animal is looking-the animal's direction of gaze.
"The ability to hear and the direction of gaze aren't necessarily linked," said the paper's first author, postdoctoral scholar Daniel Winkowski, PhD. Sounds originating from any direction don't require visualization to be heard. "It's exciting to find that the circuits in the brain that control gaze direction affect how the brain processes auditory information," he added.
With funds from the National Institutes of Health, Winkowski and Knudsen used electrodes to stimulate the area of the brain responsible for controlling the direction of gaze in barn owls, and then studied how that affected the neural responses in regions of the brain that process auditory information. When the gaze control circuit was activated, they found that the owls' auditory system responded more strongly and more selectively to sounds that came from the same spatial location as that encoded by the stimulated site. The same stimulation suppressed the auditory system's response to sounds coming from other locations.
Selecting certain kinds of information to be processed, while ignoring others, is the root of attention. What was previously known about the mechanism of attention was based on research done by other scientists - including assistant professor of neurobiology Tirin Moore, PhD - who have looked at how monkeys focus their attention on things they see. These researchers have found that when a monkey decides to turn its eyes, the regions of the brain that process visual information increase their responses to objects that the monkey is about to look at and decrease their responses to all other objects in the world.
Finding that auditory responses can be regulated by the circuits that control gaze in barn owls suggests that the brain uses a common strategy to focus attention that spans different types of animals and different parts of the brain.
"This paper opens the floodgates for studying a wide range of species," Knudsen said. "The fundamental mechanisms are probably going to be the same in all vertebrates, as even frogs and fish have gaze control." All animals have to be able to attend to certain stimuli and ignore others.
"Now that we have found that the principle applies in owls as well as monkeys, we can figure out the mechanisms of how the brain manages attention," said Winkowski. In owls, the circuits being examined are amenable to manipulations that will allow researchers to determine what mechanisms are involved and which neurotransmitters and neurotransmitter receptors are used in signaling attention.
"Relatively nothing is known about how the brain increases and decreases signaling," Winkowski said. "We want to discover the cellular mechanisms of how attention works."
"Once we learn the circuitry for attention, we plan to use that to drive learning in an efficient way," said Knudsen. He added that they eventually hope to show that they can make adjustments in the circuits of the owls' brains that will lead to improved performance in the owl.
Understanding the mechanisms of attention naturally leads to the possibility of applying their knowledge to human disorders of attention, learning and schizophrenia. "If you understand mechanistically how something works, then you will know how best to fix it," said Knudsen. "It's like with a car; if you know in detail how it is built, then you can fix anything that goes wrong with it."
WTC hero police dog to be cloned
James Symington and Trakr were among first search-and-rescue teams to arrive at WTC in 2001. Trakr helped locate last human survivor of attack http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/06/30/2008-06-30_wtc_hero_police_dog_to_be_cloned.html
If you're going to clone a dog, it might as well be a hero dog.
A German shepherd named Trakr, a hero of Ground Zero, will be replicated as a detection dog in a bizarre cloning experiment announced Monday.
Trakr and his master, a retired Canadian police officer named James Symington, were among the first search-and-rescue teams to arrive at Ground Zero.
Braving horrific conditions, the pair helped locate the last human survivor of 9/11 under some 30 feet of unstable debris.
"Once in a lifetime, a dog comes along that not only captures the hearts of all he touches but also plays a private role in history," Symington wrote in his winning essay in a contest to find the world's most "cloneworthy dog."
The canine, now 15, suffers from a degenerative neurological disorder that impairs the use of his back legs. The disorder may be linked to exposure to toxic smoke at Ground Zero, experts say.
The Best Friends Again contest is run by BioArts International, a company that claims to have the sole worldwide license for the cloning of dogs, cats and endangered species.
The company says within 30 days it will transport a sample of Trakr's DNA to the South Korean lab of its partner, Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, which is described as the world's foremost expert in canine cloning.
"We received many touching submissions to our contest, describing some truly amazing dogs," said Lou Hawthorne, CEO of BioArts.
"Trakr's story blew us away. His many remarkable capabilities were proven beyond all doubt on our nation's darkest hour - and we view the work of cloning him as a great honor."
BioArts is holding a global auction of cloning slots next week, with bids starting at $100,000.
The company said Trakr's clone could be in Symington's household in Los Angeles before the end of the year.
"I can't imagine the joy I'll feel that day," Symington said. "To know that part of him is going to live on is just beyond words.
"If the clone has Trakr's abilities, then of course we'll put him into service as a detection dog - and I guess I'll come out of retirement as well."
A German shepherd named Trakr, a hero of Ground Zero, will be replicated as a detection dog in a bizarre cloning experiment announced Monday.
Trakr and his master, a retired Canadian police officer named James Symington, were among the first search-and-rescue teams to arrive at Ground Zero.
Braving horrific conditions, the pair helped locate the last human survivor of 9/11 under some 30 feet of unstable debris.
"Once in a lifetime, a dog comes along that not only captures the hearts of all he touches but also plays a private role in history," Symington wrote in his winning essay in a contest to find the world's most "cloneworthy dog."
The canine, now 15, suffers from a degenerative neurological disorder that impairs the use of his back legs. The disorder may be linked to exposure to toxic smoke at Ground Zero, experts say.
The Best Friends Again contest is run by BioArts International, a company that claims to have the sole worldwide license for the cloning of dogs, cats and endangered species.
The company says within 30 days it will transport a sample of Trakr's DNA to the South Korean lab of its partner, Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, which is described as the world's foremost expert in canine cloning.
"We received many touching submissions to our contest, describing some truly amazing dogs," said Lou Hawthorne, CEO of BioArts.
"Trakr's story blew us away. His many remarkable capabilities were proven beyond all doubt on our nation's darkest hour - and we view the work of cloning him as a great honor."
BioArts is holding a global auction of cloning slots next week, with bids starting at $100,000.
The company said Trakr's clone could be in Symington's household in Los Angeles before the end of the year.
"I can't imagine the joy I'll feel that day," Symington said. "To know that part of him is going to live on is just beyond words.
"If the clone has Trakr's abilities, then of course we'll put him into service as a detection dog - and I guess I'll come out of retirement as well."
Sul web ora ci si «droga» con onde sonore
Sul web ora ci si «droga» con onde sonore
L'allarme della Finanza. Facilissimo trovare guide e "dosi" che riproducono ecstasy, cocaina, marijuana, alcol
L'allarme della Finanza. Facilissimo trovare guide e "dosi" che riproducono ecstasy, cocaina, marijuana, alcol
ROMA - Anche in Italia arriva l'allarme "droghe sonore online". Particolari onde tra i 3 e i 30 Hertz, frequenze che agiscono sul cervello umano, possono innescare le più diverse reazioni e sollecitare in maniera intensa l'attività cerebrale, in modo simile alle droghe. Basta collegarsi al sito giusto e scaricare speciali file per ottenere sequenze sonore dai nomi che sono tutto un programma: «marijuana», «cocaina», «alcol», «ecstasy».
ALLARME - L'allarme sulle «cyber-droghe», noto in rete con il nome di iDoser, è serio e arriva dal Nucleo speciale frodi telematiche della Guardia di Finanza, i cui 007 informatici stanno da tempo monitorando un fenomeno che potrebbe rapidamente dilagare - come già avvenuto in Spagna - e che già vanta migliaia di appassionati che discutono attraverso la rete, si scambiano impressioni e consigliano modalità e tecniche di somministrazione. Sono già centinaia, avverte la Guardia di Finanza, le pagine web dedicate a questo fenomeno e migliaia gli appassionati che discutono attraverso la rete, si scambiano impressioni e consigliano modalità e tecniche di «somministrazione».
COME E DOVE - Le dinamiche commerciali che stanno dietro al fenomeno ricalcano quelle del mercato tradizionale degli stupefacenti: la partenza è con file offerti gratuitamente, poi si passa alla sommistrazione a pagamento. Esiste una società che offre online, sul proprio sito, un vero e proprio lettore audio (tipo il popolare WinAmp dei file mp3) per "dosi sonore". Dosi che, per altro, oltre a essere acquistate possono anche essere reperite gratuitamente in maniera piuttosto semplice con una semplice ricerca su Google. Si arriva su siti che ospitano link ad archivi di file quali Rapidshare o simili. Pochi clic per avere sul computer un file "zippato" che, una volta decompresso, svela centinaia di "dosi", accuratamente catalogate con i nomi delle sostanze di cui dovrebbero riprodurre l'effetto: assenzio, ecstasy, cocaina, morfina, tranquillanti, eroina, peyote e così via. Su Internet si trovano poi anche pratiche guide all'uso: "Come far funzionare una dose al 100%". Mentre YouTube è piena di video che illustrano i presunti effetti su giovani (e spesso giovanissimi) consumatori.
IL PRINCIPIO: INFRASUONI - «Le onde comprese tra 3 e 30 hertz, gli infrasuoni, ovvero le frequenze su cui lavora il cervello umano, sono in grado di innescare le più diverse reazioni e sollecitare in maniera intensa l'attività cerebrale. Le onde alfa, ad esempio, che vanno da 7 a 13 hertz, hanno un potenziale effetto rilassante, ma ce ne sono altre che ottengono l'effetto opposto, cioè euforizzante o eccitante. Basta inserire questi infrasuoni - che l'orecchio umano non percepisce - dentro un brano musicale, e il gioco è fatto» ha spiegato il colonnello Umberto Rapetto della Guardia di Finanza. «L'uso di questi infrasuoni non è sconosciuto alle forze di polizia, che all'estero li usano come deterrenti, ad esempio nelle discoteche per calmare i ragazzi». «Il loro uso - ha aggiungo il colonnello è anche documentato storicamente in campo militare».
RISCHI - «Sui rischi per la salute derivanti dall'uso di queste cyber-droghe non ci sono evidenze», ha precisato il colonnello. «Attendiamo risposte dagli esperti, ma è necessario riflettere» su queste nuove disponibilità offerte dalla rete. Il potenziale di diffusione dell'iDoser è enorme, perché rispetto alle sostanze stupefacenti tradizionali sono meno invasive, più pratiche da utilizzare, e costano molto meno: un file può andare dai 5 ai 10 euro, col vantaggio rispetto alla droga che non si consuma e quindi si può riutilizzare quante volte di vuole».
POTENZIAMENTO - «Il fatto che una stimolazione sonora ad hoc possa avere particolari conseguenze sul cervello non è una sorpresa» commenta Michelangelo Iannone, ricercatore dell'Istituto di Scienze Neurologiche del Cnr di Catanzaro. «Abbiamo infatti osservato e misurato di recente l'effetto "sommatorio" del suono e dell'ecstasy sul cervello di animali da esperimento». «In particolare» chiarisce lo specialista, «abbiamo sommnistrato ad alcuni topolini una dose minima di ecstasy, incapace di produrre alcun effetto neurologico e abbiamo poi "somministrato" agli stessi anche una "dose" di suono a 95 decibel, cioè il massimo consentito, teoricamente, nelle discoteche, riscontrando un potenziamento degli effetti dell'ecstasy. Non solo, aumentando la dose iniziale di ecstasy abbiamo ottenuto col suono un potenziamento dell'effetto che è durato cinque giorni». «Questo spiega anche perché alcuni tipi di stupefacenti, come per esempio proprio l'ecstasy, siano consumate in quantità particolarmente significative in occasioni come i rave-party dove, evidentemente, la musica produce un 'amplificazione dei suoi effetti».Ma ha senso parlare di dipendenza? «Se una stimolazione nervosa esiste è verosimile che avvenga attraverso l'azione su determinati neurostrametttitori, come per le altre droghe, quindi è sicuramente possibile ipotizzare meccanismi e conseguenze non dissimili. Senza studi in merito non si può dire di più e si possono solo fare ipotesi, ma si tratta di ipotesi molto ragionevoli».
COME E DOVE - Le dinamiche commerciali che stanno dietro al fenomeno ricalcano quelle del mercato tradizionale degli stupefacenti: la partenza è con file offerti gratuitamente, poi si passa alla sommistrazione a pagamento. Esiste una società che offre online, sul proprio sito, un vero e proprio lettore audio (tipo il popolare WinAmp dei file mp3) per "dosi sonore". Dosi che, per altro, oltre a essere acquistate possono anche essere reperite gratuitamente in maniera piuttosto semplice con una semplice ricerca su Google. Si arriva su siti che ospitano link ad archivi di file quali Rapidshare o simili. Pochi clic per avere sul computer un file "zippato" che, una volta decompresso, svela centinaia di "dosi", accuratamente catalogate con i nomi delle sostanze di cui dovrebbero riprodurre l'effetto: assenzio, ecstasy, cocaina, morfina, tranquillanti, eroina, peyote e così via. Su Internet si trovano poi anche pratiche guide all'uso: "Come far funzionare una dose al 100%". Mentre YouTube è piena di video che illustrano i presunti effetti su giovani (e spesso giovanissimi) consumatori.
IL PRINCIPIO: INFRASUONI - «Le onde comprese tra 3 e 30 hertz, gli infrasuoni, ovvero le frequenze su cui lavora il cervello umano, sono in grado di innescare le più diverse reazioni e sollecitare in maniera intensa l'attività cerebrale. Le onde alfa, ad esempio, che vanno da 7 a 13 hertz, hanno un potenziale effetto rilassante, ma ce ne sono altre che ottengono l'effetto opposto, cioè euforizzante o eccitante. Basta inserire questi infrasuoni - che l'orecchio umano non percepisce - dentro un brano musicale, e il gioco è fatto» ha spiegato il colonnello Umberto Rapetto della Guardia di Finanza. «L'uso di questi infrasuoni non è sconosciuto alle forze di polizia, che all'estero li usano come deterrenti, ad esempio nelle discoteche per calmare i ragazzi». «Il loro uso - ha aggiungo il colonnello è anche documentato storicamente in campo militare».
RISCHI - «Sui rischi per la salute derivanti dall'uso di queste cyber-droghe non ci sono evidenze», ha precisato il colonnello. «Attendiamo risposte dagli esperti, ma è necessario riflettere» su queste nuove disponibilità offerte dalla rete. Il potenziale di diffusione dell'iDoser è enorme, perché rispetto alle sostanze stupefacenti tradizionali sono meno invasive, più pratiche da utilizzare, e costano molto meno: un file può andare dai 5 ai 10 euro, col vantaggio rispetto alla droga che non si consuma e quindi si può riutilizzare quante volte di vuole».
POTENZIAMENTO - «Il fatto che una stimolazione sonora ad hoc possa avere particolari conseguenze sul cervello non è una sorpresa» commenta Michelangelo Iannone, ricercatore dell'Istituto di Scienze Neurologiche del Cnr di Catanzaro. «Abbiamo infatti osservato e misurato di recente l'effetto "sommatorio" del suono e dell'ecstasy sul cervello di animali da esperimento». «In particolare» chiarisce lo specialista, «abbiamo sommnistrato ad alcuni topolini una dose minima di ecstasy, incapace di produrre alcun effetto neurologico e abbiamo poi "somministrato" agli stessi anche una "dose" di suono a 95 decibel, cioè il massimo consentito, teoricamente, nelle discoteche, riscontrando un potenziamento degli effetti dell'ecstasy. Non solo, aumentando la dose iniziale di ecstasy abbiamo ottenuto col suono un potenziamento dell'effetto che è durato cinque giorni». «Questo spiega anche perché alcuni tipi di stupefacenti, come per esempio proprio l'ecstasy, siano consumate in quantità particolarmente significative in occasioni come i rave-party dove, evidentemente, la musica produce un 'amplificazione dei suoi effetti».Ma ha senso parlare di dipendenza? «Se una stimolazione nervosa esiste è verosimile che avvenga attraverso l'azione su determinati neurostrametttitori, come per le altre droghe, quindi è sicuramente possibile ipotizzare meccanismi e conseguenze non dissimili. Senza studi in merito non si può dire di più e si possono solo fare ipotesi, ma si tratta di ipotesi molto ragionevoli».
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