New Secret Weapon -- the Indestructible Sandwich
Reuters

Picnics and packed school lunches may never be the same again, thanks to the latest breakthrough by military science -- the non-soggy sandwich.

Spurred on by rather unappetizing U.S. battlefield fodder known as Meals Ready to Eat, scientists at the Army Soldier Systems Center in Nantick, Massachusetts, have devised a vacuum sealed sandwich that stays edible for up to three years.

"The water activity of the different sandwich components needs to complement each other," project officer Michelle Richardson told New Scientist magazine. "If the water activity of the meat is too high you might get soggy bread."

Using an array of chemicals to seal the meat and inhibit bacterial growth, the scientists have already produced pepperoni and barbecue chicken indestructible sandwiches, which have been given a cautious welcome by soldiers who agreed to try them.

Inspired by their apparent breakthrough, the scientists are now experimenting with pizzas, bagels, burritos and even the staple peanut butter sandwich.

Nation's First Fully Integrated Clean Mobility Center Opens
April 19, 2002

Long Beach, Ca.-CALSTART, Bikestation Long Beach, and Flexcar today opened the nation's first fully integrated Clean Mobility Center (CMC) where the public can select four types of zero-emission vehicles for convenient, short trips around town and from the transit station to their final destination. The grand opening "plug-in" ceremony occurred at the Bikestation facility on the Transit Mall in Long Beach in front of an enthusiastic crowd of supporters, public officials, and dignitaries.

The CMC's vehicle-sharing service, called City Wheels, includes environmentally friendly transit choices -- electric city cars, motor scooters and electric and conventional bicycles - in an effort to encourage transit use, reduce emissions, and relieve parking and traffic congestion. By demonstrating the convenience and flexibility provided by the shared use of a variety of vehicles, City Wheels aims to also encourage citizens to make a mode shift from conventional automobiles to cleaner modes of transportation, such as transit, bicycling and walking. Rest...

Ultra clean transportation fuels by deep desulfurization


A process that removes organic sulfur from liquid fuels at low temperatures and ambient pressure without using hydrogen, may help refiners provide fuels for fuel cells and meet the upcoming government's ultra-clean fuel requirements, according to Penn State researchers.

"Currently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allows 500 parts per million sulfur in diesel fuel and 350 parts per million in gasoline, but by 2006, the regulations will require only 15 parts per million sulfur in diesel and 30 parts per million in gasoline," says

Dr. Chunsan Song, associate professor of fuel science and program coordinator, Clean Fuels and Catalysis, Penn State Energy Institute. "Long before that, however, we will need ultra clean fuels for fuel cells." All the rest