Free Republic

The pyramid of aluminum shown in the photograph figures greatly in our nation’s history. This once rare metal was so prized that it was placed into a national monument by a grateful nation. Can you guess where? Now, aluminum is so common, thanks to an electrical refining process and plentiful, cheap electricity, that we throw it away in soda cans. Two seemingly unrelated events on opposite sides of the globe occurred this past week. One was the closure of an aluminum plant in Montana, and the other is the president of a European metals association threatened to move production overseas...

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison commissioned the fabricators at Kirkham Motorsports to build the ultimate, cost-is-no-object roadster. After years of labor, they've completed the all-billet aluminum Cobra. Click "more" to see them build one of the most spectacular custom cars ever.

Aluminium is the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust and is used to make bikes, cars and food cans. Now, thanks to research conducted at the University of Nancy, France, the metal may also be able to shed light on the processes that occurred during the formation of the solar system.Models of the evolution of the early solar system rely on knowing the precise times at which the oldest particles in the solar system formed. Some of the oldest particles clumped together to form chondrites - primitive meteorites - and these grain-like building blocks are known as calcium-aluminium rich...

Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. ‘Transparent aluminium’ previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion.

Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. ‘Transparent aluminium’ previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion. In the journal Nature Physics an international team, led by Oxford University scientists, report that a short pulse from the FLASH laser ‘knocked out’ a core electron from every aluminium atom in a sample without disrupting the metal’s crystalline structure. This turned the aluminium nearly...

The global-warming debate is shifting from science to economics. For years, the fight over the Earth's rising temperature has been mostly over what's causing it: fossil-fuel emissions or natural factors beyond man's control. Now, some of the country's biggest industrial companies are acknowledging that fossil fuels are a major culprit whose emissions should be cut significantly over time. A growing number of these companies are pushing for a mandatory emissions limit, or "cap." Some see a lucrative new market in clean-energy technologies. Many figure a regulation is politically inevitable and they want to be in the room when it's negotiated,...

They are customers of Appalachian Power who may have to raise rates because of the closing. CHARLESTON -- The snowball effect of Century Aluminum's closing could soon be felt by half a million customers of Appalachian Power. Century Aluminum was their largest customer, and that revenue has to be made up somewhere. Century Aluminum accounts for 10% of Appalachian Power's electricity demand in West Virginia. With the plant closing later this month, fuel used to make electricity will not be needed. However, Appalachian power customers will still have the responsibility of fixed costs like maintaining power lines. "They will have...

RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- The Century Aluminum shutdown means a ripple effect in Ravenswood, everyone touched in a different way. 88-year-old Charles Dillon worked at the plant. It wasn’t Century then, but either way the plant is clearly a cornerstone of the community. “Back when I was working there, it was during the boom years, which was you know, they didn't pay attention to the money they just, it went in one hand, and out the other. That is the way it went,” Dillon said. Dillon was a teenager during the depression, he’s seen this before, “they need to look...

So, this paper was published recently in Science Magazine: Complementary Active Sites Cause Size-Selective Reactivity of Aluminum Cluster Anions with Water The reactions of metal clusters with small molecules often depend on cluster size. The selectivity of oxygen reactions with aluminum cluster anions can be well described within an electronic shell model; however, not all reactions are subject to the same fundamental constraints. We observed the size selectivity of aluminum cluster anion reactions with water, which can be attributed to the dissociative chemisorption of water at specific surface sites. The reactivity depends on geometric rather than electronic shell structure. Identical...

- Researchers at MIT and the National University of Singapore have made significant progress in understanding a class of materials that has resisted analysis for decades. Their findings could lead to the rapid discovery of a variety of useful new kinds of glass made of metallic alloys with potentially significant mechanical, chemical and magnetic applications. The first examples of metallic alloys that could be made into glass were discovered back in the late 1950s and led to a flurry of research activity, but, despite intense study, so far nobody had solved the riddle of why some specific alloys could form...

A ship quietly intercepted in the Egyptian port of Alexandria was carrying aluminium tubes destined for North Korea, authorities say, increasing fears that Pyongyang is stepping up efforts to buy nuclear weapons materials. French and German authorities were said to have tracked the ship, Ville de Virgo, to the eastern Mediterranean and to have seized the tubes on April 12. German police arrested the owner of a small export company and said they had uncovered a scheme to acquire up to 2000 such pipes. Investigators said they had concluded that that amount of aluminium in North Korean hands could have...

The government ordered the destruction of documents on an alleged international nuclear smuggling network involving three Swiss engineers, it has been confirmed. The head of a parliamentary control committee said the material was shredded last November. The father and sons – Friedrich, Marco and Urs Tinner - are suspected of helping to supply parts for Libya's nuclear weapons programme between 2001 and 2003 through a trafficking ring run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atom bomb. Reports say the three worked as undercover agents for the United States intelligence service. There is widespread media speculation that Washington asked...

It's been three decades now since the ping of aluminum started drowning out the crack of a wooden bat on youth baseball fields across America. But that older sound of summer is making a comeback on some grassy diamonds these days — not for nostalgia, but safety. Some Illinois lawmakers, in fact, want to ban metal bats from youth baseball.

A top political adviser in Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign helped arrange an introduction in 2006 between McCain and a Russian billionaire whose suspected links to anti-democratic and organized-crime figures are so controversial that the U.S. government revoked his visa. Rick Davis, who is now McCain's campaign manager, helped set up the encounter between McCain and Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska in Switzerland during an international economic conference. At the time, Davis was working for a lobbying firm and seeking to do business with the billionaire. There is no evidence that McCain did anything for Deripaska after they met at...

U.S. scientists have discovered traces of enriched uranium on smelted aluminum tubing provided by North Korea, apparently contradicting Pyongyang's denial that it had a clandestine nuclear program, according to U.S. and diplomatic sources. The United States has long pointed to North Korea's acquisition of thousands of aluminum tubes as evidence of such a program, saying the tubes could be used as the outer casing for centrifuges needed to spin hot uranium gas into the fuel for nuclear weapons. North Korea has denied that contention and, as part of a declaration on its nuclear programs due by the end of the...

The first-base coach for the minor league Tulsa Drillers died last week after being struck in the head by a foul ball hit off a wood bat during a game in North Little Rock, Ark. The coach, 35-year-old Mike Coolbaugh, had played briefly in the majors in 2002 and 2003; he leaves a wife and two children. His death adds to the debate about dangers in baseball, which usually focuses on young players struck by balls hit off aluminum bats. Supporters of metal bats insist that debate is skewed. "Why is it when there's an injury from a ball hit...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Pellets made out of aluminum and gallium can produce pure hydrogen when water is poured on them, offering a possible alternative to gasoline-powered engines, U.S. scientists say. Hydrogen is seen as the ultimate in clean fuels, especially for powering cars, because it emits only water when burned. U.S. President George W. Bush has proclaimed hydrogen to be the fuel of the future, but researchers have not decided what is the most efficient way to produce and store hydrogen. In the experiment conducted at Purdue University in Indiana, "The hydrogen is generated on demand, so you only produce...

Report: Swiss Had Role in S. African Nukes Friday October 28, 2005 4:01 AM GENEVA (AP) - Switzerland played a key role in building the nuclear weapons of the former apartheid regime of South Africa, a government-sponsored report said Thursday. More than a decade ago, then-South African President F.W. de Klerk announced that his country had dismantled its nuclear weapons program. Peter Hug, the author of a report in the Swiss National Science Foundation's six-year investigation into Swiss-South African relations, said Switzerland and other countries provided technical support for South Africa's uranium enrichment efforts. Hug, a history professor at the...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. on Monday said second-quarter profit ballooned 62 percent as higher aluminum prices and strong demand from the aerospace and construction industries boosted results. Net income surged to $744 million, or 85 cents per share, from $460 million, or 52 cents per share, a year ago. The recent results include charges of $35 million, or 4 cents per share, related to the ratification of a U.S. labor contract and the costs of preparing for a potential work stoppage during the quarter. Revenue rose 19 percent to $7.96 billion from $6.69 billion due to...

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) -- Real estate broker Cyle Young got a shock when he drove by a house he bought two days earlier. The home had been stripped of aluminum siding from the ground to as high as a person could reach. "A couple days later, they broke back in and stole all the copper in it," said Young, who has since renovated the house and has it up for sale. "I can't tell you how many houses we've bought with no downspouts - gutters gone." High market prices for copper and aluminum are enticing thieves to steal metal to...

Abstract Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use...

On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical StudyAli Rahimi1, Ben Recht 2, Jason Taylor 2, Noah Vawter 217 Feb 2005 1: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department, MIT. 2: Media Laboratory, MIT. Abstract Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from...

A new type of transparent armor made of aluminum could one day replace glass in military vehicles. The product is called aluminum oxynitride. It is being tested by the Army and the University of Dayton Research Institute in Ohio. The material is a ceramic compound with a high compressive strength and durability, according to an Army statement issued this week. It performs better than the multilayered glass products currently in use, and its about half the weight. It is virtually scratch-resistant. "The substance itself is light-years ahead of glass," said 1st Lt. Joseph La Monica, who heads the research. Glass...

After 60 years, debate over fluoride still rages Sunday, July 24, 2005 The 30 or 40 patients who come through the Morris County dental office of Dr. Leonard Lawrence each week can get their teeth cleaned, drilled and filled. What they won't get is any fluoride - not in his cements, polishes or fillings.He doesn't even recommend fluoride toothpaste - just good brushing, flossing and eating habits - because he thinks its cavity-fighting claims aren't proven. "The basic knowledge about fluoride is that it is a poison," he said. "That's why there's a warning on the back of the toothpaste...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Sensitive national-security information was mistakenly released by the Treasury Department to former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, but no criminal statutes were violated, records show.</p> <p>Mr. O'Neill drew on some of the material -- part of a cache of 19,000 documents -- for a memoir released in January that was critical of President Bush. When a document stamped "Secret" was displayed on a CBS "60 Minutes" episode concerning the book, the Treasury Department sought an investigation.</p>

A NEW book linking autism and infant vaccines could cost the pharmaceutical industry billions of dollars. In Evidence of Harm, US author David Kirby tells the story of parents who claim mercury in vaccines contributed to an "autism epidemic" in America. Already, analysts are predicting the book could trigger a number of lawsuits against the pharmaceutical companies that made the vaccines. As many as 1.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with some form of autism and a conservative estimate puts the cost of lifetime treatment, education and care at $2 million per person. In the UK, campaigners blamed the vaccine...

Sources: Chavez Calls In Foreign Aid in Preparation for Crackdown?Dec 09, 2002 Summary The risk of violence is escalating in Venezuela, where multiple sources say President Hugo Chavez is arming domestic supporters and possibly calling in help from Cuban nationals and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Analysis The threat of major violence in Venezuela within the next two or three days is increasing rapidly in cities like Caracas and Maracaibo, Stratfor sources say. The government of embattled President Hugo Chavez is arming hundreds of civilian supporters, at least three small groups of Colombian rebels have crossed the border...

Ebay item for sale- Aluminum Foil Hat & info for John Kerry Supporters

Hours after the withdrawal of charges against Gauteng businessman Johan Meyer for contravening laws governing weapons of mass destruction and nuclear energy, Durban police swooped on a luxury penthouse on the beachfront and arrested a German-born engineer on similar charges. Police then chartered a special flight to whisk him to Johannesburg on Wednesday night. The 65-year-old engineer is also facing similar charges in Germany and was arrested a forthnight ago. While Durban detectives were making the arrest on the beachfront, detectives arrested another suspect in Sandton. Spokesperson for the police national commissioner Director Sally de Beer on Thursday confirmed the...

from the like-blue-LEDs dept. Alien54 writes "Scientists in the US have developed a novel technique to make bulk quantities of glass from alumina for the first time. (link includes a picture of samples) Anatoly Rosenflanz and colleagues at 3M in Minnesota used a "flame-spray" technique to alloy alumina (aluminium oxide) with rare-earth metal oxides to produce strong glass with good optical properties. The method avoids many of the problems encountered in conventional glass forming and could, say the team, be extended to other oxides (see also: A Rosenflanz et al. 2004 Nature 430 761). Scotty would be pleased."

The drugs now available to treat the memory and thinking problems of Alzheimer's disease have not lived up to the public's high expectations for them and offer such modest benefits on average that many doctors are unsure about whether to prescribe them. Although the drugs have their advocates, grateful for any sign of improvement, others express disappointment in light of earlier hopes that the drugs approved in the last decade would stop the disease or markedly slow it. At a meeting in late March at Johns Hopkins University, doctors and other health professionals heard Alzheimer's researchers debate the usefulness of...

nothing furthur breaking

HAMBURG, Germany (AFP) - A former North Korean diplomat is accused of ordering material from a German firm that could be used in the production of nuclear weapons, Germany's Der Spiegel reported in its Monday edition. The news magazine said a German businessman would go on trial in Stuttgart, southwest Germany, next month in connection with the case. The diplomat was named by Spiegel as Yun Ho Jin. It said he used to work as a Pyongyang representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. According to Der Spiegel, Yun Ho Jin ordered special aluminium tubes from...

Mirro plant sold for $4.5 millionNew firm, Koenig & Vits, buys mill from RubbermaidThe Associated PressMANITOWOC — A startup company has agreed to purchase the Mirro plant for $4.5 million, the company’s chairman said Saturday. Koenig & Vits Chairman Tim Martinez said an agreement has been reached to purchase the Mirro plant from Newell Rubbermaid. They were to write a check and get the deed to the nearly 1-million-square-foot plant on a 160-acre site Tuesday, he said. The new name will be Koenig & Vits, he said. Through a combination of major contributions by local investors, and state and federal...

The Coast Guard intercepted and boarded the ship, 'Athena' off the coast, then escorted it upriver to be docked. Since it docked at the Port of Longview Friday, it's been under constant surveillance from a Coast Guard Gunboat with Coast Guard and customs agents watching from shore. Just down river from the ship, fishermen Mike Young and Gerald Senesac reel in their catch and wonder why the cargo ship is being guarded. "With guns ready, there's got to be something different than what the government's saying," says Senesac. KATU's Dan Tilkin learned a few details about the ship: Before the...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.As many as 400 workers at the Ormet Corp.'s Reduction Plant in Hannibal could be laid off within 60 days, according to company officials. Ormet Primary Aluminum Corp. today announced that market conditions through the remainder of the year will determine whether it will be forced to curtail up to three of the six potlines at its Hannibal Reduction Plant. The curtailments may be necessary due to prolonged weak metal prices, volatility of alumina and energy prices, as well as other rising costs. As a result and as required by the Worker...

Portland Trail Blazers guard Damon Stoudamire was arrested on marijuana charges in Tucson, Ariz., after allegedly trying to pass through an airport metal detector with almost 1-1/2 ounces of the drug wrapped in aluminum foil. The team immediately suspended him and fined him $250,000. Stoudamire was stopped at the Tucson airport as he prepared to board a flight Thursday to New Orleans, police said Monday. He was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, both misdemeanors. Police said he was carrying almost 40 grams of marijuana. After Stoudamire set off the metal detector, he put the drug...

<p>The Pacific Northwest's time as a major source of the world's aluminum is likely past, an economist told a regional conference.</p> <p>The high cost of electricity needed to produce aluminum and the low prices that aluminum brings make it too expensive to operate the region's smelters, Terry H. Morlan said Friday in a presentation at the Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference.</p>

GERMAN prosecutors are questioning the head of a company suspected of trying to export aluminum tubes to North Korea that could be used for making nuclear arms, the Stuttgart prosecutors' office said. The company shipped tubes listing China as the destination without a permit from Germany's Bafa Export Agency, prosecutors' spokesman Eckhard Maak said. The deal was arranged by a North Korean middleman, arousing the suspicion that the real destination was North Korea, he said. "It's a hypothesis right now that North Korea was the final destination," Maak said in an interview. Whether the purchaser was North Korean or Chinese,...

Aluminum in Drinking Water Tied to Alzheimer's Mon Apr 14, 5:54 PM ET By Jacqueline Stenson SAN DIEGO (Reuters Health) - Adding support to a controversial theory linking aluminum with Alzheimer's disease, new research indicates the disease is more common in regions of northwest Italy where levels of aluminum in drinking water are highest. And when the investigators studied the effects of one form of the metal on two types of human cells in the lab, they found it hastened cell death. "We were absolutely surprised by these results," said study author Dr. Paolo Prolo, a researcher at the University...

WASHINGTON — Near Natanz in central Iran, 160 newly minted centrifuges stand in neat rows inside a nuclear complex that the United States and other countries were surprised to learn about seven months ago. This year, they will begin spinning hot uranium gas into nuclear fuel. In a nearby building, workers are assembling parts for 1,000 more centrifuges, part of 5,000 machines that will be linked in a vast uranium-enrichment plant under construction. When the project is completed in 2005, Iran will be capable of producing enough enriched uranium for several nuclear bombs each year. Details about the Natanz complex...

<p>BOSTON — Massachusetts could become the first state to ban aluminum baseball bats in high school play, a move prompted by injuries from line drives that can rocket through the infield at close to 100 mph.</p> <p>The state Interscholastic Athletic Association on Thursday will consider banning the bats from next year's state tournament. It will also decide whether to recommend a ban for all high school games.</p>

Saddam Hussein is developing nuclear capability, using pirated centrifuges to refine uranium IRAQ is using pirated copies of German equipment to process nuclear material in an assembly line that will regularly produce nuclear weapons, an Iraqi scientist who led a section of the Iraqi nuclear bomb programme before his defection in 1994 claims. President Saddam Hussein may need only months more to put together up to three nuclear cores, if he has not already done so while his programme has not been monitored, the defector says. Dr Khidir Hamza also said that, even if given unfettered access, UN inspectors would...

Thursday November 01 02:13 PM EST Spores, Additives Raise Iraq Questions By ABCNEWS.com Suspicion of an Iraqi link to anthrax attacks in the United States grows.   Former U.N. weapons inspectors tell ABCNEWS they've learned the anthrax spores found in a poison letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle are nearly identical to those discovered in Iraq in 1994. ABCNEWS has learned that at least two European chemical companies make aluminum-free bentonite, meaning further tests are needed to rule out the presence of the troubling additive in an anthrax-laced letter that was mailed to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Though ...

Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie An Effective, Low-Cost Solution To Combating Mind-Control Site Menu: What Is It? Building An AFDB Usage & Maintenance History Of Aluminum Use Aluminum Alternatives Testimonials External Links Special Note For "Website Evaluators" Add an AFDB button to your website today to let people know that they can stop the destructive forces of mind control! Rated Crank Dot Net "Met een 'Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie' blijven uw geheimen uw geheimen."- Planet Internet [1998-11-30] Welcome to the AFDB Homepage This non-commercial site is dedicated to spreading the word about the Aluminum* Foil Deflector Beanie and how it ...

Alcoa Donates Materials, Engineering Expertise for Mars Habitation Station Updated: Tuesday, July 9, 2002 10:32 AM ET NOTE TO MEDIA: Multimedia assets available PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 9, 2002--Alcoa aluminum might be going to Mars. Alcoa has donated approximately 1,500 pounds of 6061-T6 aluminum sheet and treadplate along with engineering expertise to the Mars Society, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to furthering the exploration and settlement of Mars. The aluminum products were used to produce the skin of the Mars Habitation Station (MarsHab), a test facility designed for living on the Red Planet. The MarsHab is the centerpiece for the Mars...

WASHINGTON, July 9 — The fizz has gone out of the recycling business. For the first time in more than 20 years, Americans are throwing away more aluminum cans than they recycle. Environmental groups and industry groups alike see it as an ill omen for the rest of the recycling business because aluminum soft-drink and beer cans are the single most valuable consumer commodity being recycled. WHILE POLLS show Americans overwhelmingly support recycling, the data show they are doing it less than they did in the early 1990s. “People are just too busy,” says Jennifer Gitlitz, research director for the...

Transparent Alumina - Three Times Stronger Than Steel A ceramic research lab in Dresden, Germany, has developed transparent Alumina by subjecting fine-grained (I'm guessing extremely fine-grained) aluminum to a whopping 1200 degrees Celsius ...the result of which is amazingly light but three times tougher than hardened steel of the same thickness, and it's see-through.  Needless to say, the Pentagon is quite interested.        For story (in German)  http://www.spiegel.de  According to a post at Slashdot (News for Nerds) this is not transparent aluminum but transparent Alumina, which is aluminum oxide - Al2-O3. Also found this link here, which...