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Egypt is not even close to being a democracy. It is a military dictatorship and Hosni Mubarak was a figurehead. Now, the military will be in the position of either continuing to govern through surrogates, in which case a number of powerful generals are liable to start jockying for power, or the military will realize its actual situation and start preparing for democracy. Everything depends on a genuinely honest election in September. But will it be honest? And, if it is, will Islamists gain inordinate power in a country that is ruled–so far–by the pious and the elderly, but mostly populated by a secular, educated youth? It cannot be forgotten that Egypt gave its young people good educations, so they are well capable of self-government.read more

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If the demonstrators march on the presidential palace, it is likely that Mubarak will order the army to shoot to kill. If the soldiers follow the order, things are going to get very ugly very fast. If they don’t, and the people enter the palace, it’s the end of Mubarak, whether he is there or not.
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While most glaciers are melting at an alarming rate, one of them is growing bigger–ALSO as a result of climate change. Hotter summers may actually slow down the melting rate of glaciers. Researchers have learned that increased melting in the warmer summer months is causing the internal drainage system of the Greenland ice sheet to adapt to allow for more melted water, without speeding up the calving of ice chunks and water flow into the oceans. This is happening because in hot weather there is so much water that it runs off into channels below the ice, decreasing the layer that sits on top of the ice sheets and causes melting over a much larger surface area. read more

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A new material that can repeatedly heal itself at room temperature when exposed to ultraviolet light means we can create products that can repair themselves when damaged, such as self-healing medical implants, cars and airplane parts. A "self healing" type of ultra-thin metal was part of the debris found at the site of the Roswell UFO crash over 60 yeas ago (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show).
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