Daily Archives: November 30, 2009
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Yes, Virginia, There is a Climate Conspiracy
Just not the one you might think.
Climate change cover-up? You better believe it
There is, in fact, a climate conspiracy. It just happens to be one launched by the fossil fuel industry to obscure the truth about climate change and delay any action. And this release of emails right before the Copenhagen conference is just another salvo—and a highly effective one—in that public relations battle, redolent with the scent of the same flaks and hacks who brought you “smoking isn’t dangerous.”
Troubles Melt like Lemon Drops
Rainbow trapped for the first time
In 2007, Ortwin Hess of the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK, and colleagues proposed a technique to trap light inside a tapering waveguide, which is a structure that guides light waves down its length. The waveguide in question would use metamaterials – exotic materials that can bend light sharply.
The idea is that as the waveguide tapers, the components of the light are made to stop in turn at ever narrower points. That’s because any given component of the light cannot pass through an opening that’s smaller than its wavelength. This leads to a “trapped rainbow”.