Playing with a model airplane wing in a wind tunnel led researchers at the University of Warwick to a surprising discovery: by waggling a wing, airplanes could be up to 20 percent more fuel efficient, saving huge costs and significantly reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from air travel.

Granted, the wings of the planes themselves won’t waggle, but by employing tiny jets to redirect air over the wing in a way that emulates the motion of waggling, the researchers believe they can achieve major reductions in mid-flight air drag on wings, allowing planes to fly with lower resistence and using less fuel.

“This has come as a bit of a surprise to all of us in the aerodynamics community,” said Dr. Duncan Lockerby of the University of Warwick, who is leading the project. “The truth is we’re not exactly sure why this technology reduces drag, but with the pressure of climate change we can’t afford to wait around to find out.”

Airbus S.A.S. 2005 — H.Gousse

The concept is based on the tiny ridges found on sharks’ bodies, which can reduce skin-friction drag by about 5 percent. But Lockerby’s team thinks the micro-jet system could end up reducing skin friction drag by as much as 40 percent.

The research, which has been undertaken by scientists at four universities around the U.K, is still in a concept stage, but researchers believe they could have the wings ready for testing by 2012. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Airbus are funding the research.

The aviation industry has long been working on solutions to climate change. The global aviation industry has a huge environmental impact, and earlier this year, four airlines pushed to include the airline industry in future climate treaties, notably the Copenhagen talks scheduled for later this year. The United Kingdom’s air industry has set a goal of reducing its emissions per passenger by 50 percent in 2020; at the end of last year Sustainable Aviation released a report projecting a leveling-off of climate intensity for the British airline industry.

Tags: airbus, greenflying, airplanes

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Miriam Makeba est morte à l’âge de 76 ans dans le sud de l’Italie, après avoir participé à un concert.

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Yes I am late, but yes I was at L’École de Commerce for the Democrats Abroad party as we watched the results come in. I am only posting this so late because a few people asked me or emailed me, Do you not support Obama? You haven’t said much lately on your blog about it. I supported Obama from the begining, I never liked Hillary. As I’ve been saying to everyone who says but do you think much will change, I say, who knows but it is the first time in my 37 years that I remember such hope and promise for a presidential term, that has to count for something. i don’t want to make too many predictions and then be all wrong, but I think for the American psyche, it is a tremendous victory. So there, I wrote about Obama, and not again until he f**** up, and hopefully it won’t be too soon.

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I can’t figure out this site, Video Site,where it comes from because none of the links work, but it is funny. It is a video that cautions you against the dangers associated with not voting. The thing is, you can go to the site and enter your friends first and last names and the names get added to the video so it looks like the video is really focusing on them. Watch the video about me, although we voted weeks ago with our absentee ballots, so don’t accuse me of not voting.

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France’s favorite unorthodox nun died recently. She had quite divergent political views from the Roman Catholic church. Soeur Emmanuelle supported things like contraception and allowing priests to get married. She spent a large part of her life with the poor in Egypt, for this reason Soeur Emmanuelle is often compared to Mother Theresa. Below is a selection of articles in the press about her. Most are in English but some are in French.

Video from Daily Motion with Soeur Emmanuelle

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/3230372/Soeur-Emmanuelle-Frances-unorthodox-nun-dies-aged-99.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soeur_Emmanuelle

http://www.peoplestar.co.uk/?news=268

http://www.france-amerique.com/articles/2008/10/22/soeur-emmanuelle-inhumee-dans-l-intimite-et-celebree-a-paris.html

http://expresse.excite.fr/news/2371/Soeur-Emmanuelle-nous-quitte-a-99-ans

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France Tales is pleased to continue a new monthly science post. France Tales is working in partnership with Imaginascience to bring you fun and interesting monthly science news. Imaginascience is based out of Toulouse, France, the science capital of France. Visit Imaginascience‘s website to see more about what they offer. They also have a fun science store, visit Imaginascience’s fun science store here.

Cool Science News of the Month

Fun! Do you know the IgNobels “Improbable Research” ?

Each year a jury elects the most incredible research and its odd conclusions. The ceremony just happened and you can have a look at the winners list and their curious findings. Did you know, for instance, that morals and dignity should apply to plants (Peace prize), or that researchers from Toulouse found fleas from cats and dogs do not jump to the same height (biology prize).
Read the full story here

Cool Science Video of the month

When the LHC particle accelerator went on, some feared that a black hole could be created in the process.

Question then, How does it feel to die in a “black hole accident”?

It is, by the way, a good way to introduce the “tidal forces” that are responsible for tides on earth…

Cool Spot for the Science Amateur

Incredible cave with giant crystals in Mexico. You should look at them on video because the temperature is too hot to admire them “in situ” more than 5 minutes…

Agrandir le plan

Cool Science Image of the month

When the particle accelerator LHC went on, some feared that it might trigger a new Big Bang.

Cool Science Fact of the month

American, Do you sleep nearby the Tybee bomb?
Read all about it here

Cool Science Experiment of the month

Do you know what the teacher of challenger shuttle wanted to do in space, had she eventually gotten there?

Read all about it here

Support Imaginascience

If you like what you have read Digg this post, Stumble this post, and certainly visit the Imaginascience website and the Imaginascience Fun Science online store.

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Here is a funny story about Bernard Kouchner and how his pronunciation got him in trouble, it comes from the BBC.

Israelis digest Kouchner ‘H-bomb’
Some Israelis may have choked on their breakfast when a newspaper headline quoted France’s foreign minister saying Israel might devour its arch foe, Iran.

Hebrew daily Haaretz splashed across its front page that Bernard Kouchner said Israel might “eat” the Islamic Republic before it got nuclear arms.

The following day Haaretz apologised, saying Mr Kouchner, speaking in English, had actually said “hit”.

Mr Kouchner also offered a diplomatic apology for the “phonetic confusion”.

When Mr Kouchner was asked about the possibility of Tehran developing a nuclear weapon, the Hebrew and English editions of Haaretz newspaper quoted him saying:

“I honestly don’t believe that it will give any immunity to Iran. First, because you [Israelis] will eat them before.”

You will eat (sic) Iran before it achieves an atomic bomb

He went on to say: “And this is the danger. Israel has always said it will not wait for the bomb to be ready. I think that [the Iranians] know. Everyone knows.”The comments were published on Sunday, as Mr Kouchner ended a two-day visit to the region, under the headline in Hebrew saying “You will eat Iran before it achieves an atomic bomb”.

On Monday, the paper published a correction and apologised for the “misunderstanding”, but it also said the transcription had been cleared with Mr Kouchner’s office prior to publication.

The paper did not explain how the mistake had occurred, but dropping the “h” is widely seen as a feature of English spoken with a French accent.

Haaretz’s current English online version of the story – with “hit” rather than “eat” – makes no mention of the earlier confusion.

It could be said any levity about the misquote belies the seriousness of the issue it relates to. The US, Israel and their western allies say they believe Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, an accusation Tehran strongly denies.

Israel, the region’s sole if undeclared nuclear power, has raised the possibility it might launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran to prevent it from becoming nuclear-armed.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/7658728.stm

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]]> http://francetales.com/2008/10/15/the-french-must-improve-their-english-pronunciation/feed/ 2 http://francetales.com/2008/10/15/blog-action-day-poverty/ http://francetales.com/2008/10/15/blog-action-day-poverty/#comments Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:39:14 +0000 Owen http://francetales.com/?p=541 Tweet This

Blog Action Day is a great site that unites bloggers working toward social justice. This year’s theme is poverty. Throughout the year they sponsor days of action to raise awareness and inspire action. I have been so busy that I have barely had time to keep up with my blog and work. I will leave you with a link to their site. You can see all the projects different bloggers are working on. Check out some of the projects people are working on, some are quite interesting.

Blog Action Day

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]]> http://francetales.com/2008/10/15/blog-action-day-poverty/feed/ 5 http://francetales.com/2008/10/03/french-fridays/ http://francetales.com/2008/10/03/french-fridays/#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:12:20 +0000 Owen http://francetales.com/?p=487 Tweet This

I just got back from French Friday. It was a group organized for English speakers to practice their French, I think. It has turned into an English conversational group. Now there are many French who attend to improve their English conversation skills. I’ve invited my students many times, but no one has come yet. They all promise but they never show up. Oh well, I’ll have to look elsewhere to practice my French.

English in Toulouse: French Friday Group

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]]> http://francetales.com/2008/10/03/french-fridays/feed/ 3 http://francetales.com/2008/07/25/bush-impeachment-hearing-begins-today/ http://francetales.com/2008/07/25/bush-impeachment-hearing-begins-today/#comments Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:56:26 +0000 Owen http://francetales.com/?p=406 Tweet This

Bush impeachment hearing is beginning today led by the efforts of Dennis Kucinich. He may not be a viable candidate for president but he sure is a tireless crusader. Watch the video, write the letter he talks about, do something. Even if the impeachment hearing goes nowhere, bringing attention to the lies and omissions of the Republicans can only help in the coming months before the elections.

Impeach Bush Now!

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