End the War on Freedom - Science/Technology

'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 14:06:49 -0500

Anne Trafton at The MIT News Office - Daniel Nocera claims to have discovered a catalyst that enables solar hydrolysis. Yay! The evermore solution to our energy problems. I hope. [tmm]

Quote:

The key component in Nocera and Kanan's new process is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas. The new catalyst consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity -- whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source -- runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced.

Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis.

The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and it's easy to set up, Nocera said. "That's why I know this is going to work. It's so easy to implement," he said.

Vote for Your Favorite iPhone Applications

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:49:07 -0500

webmonkey has a list of iPhone applications, with votes by readers. You can vote, or submit your own app, but my use of it was to find some good free apps I didn't know about.

iPhone 2.0

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:23:43 -0500

iPhone software version 2.0 was available today, a day before launch, from Apple's web site, thanks to the ingenuity of the Mac Rumors folks, who have since removed the URL, though it probably still works. I got the 250 meg download, and followed the simple directions to install it, and, voila, App-Store-ready iPhone. Below is a screen capture of a page full of App Store apps. That's another new feature of the 2.0 software. If, while holding the home button, you press and release the power button, it takes a picture of the screen, and puts it with the photos taken with the camera. You can view it there, mail it to somebody, or load it onto your computer.

The iPhone 3G hardware goes on sale tomorrow morning at 8am. I don't plan to buy one. My year-old iPhone works fine, especially with the nifty new software.

Valcent's Releases Profitable Initial Production Estimates For its Vertical Vegetable Growing Systems

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:36:19 -0500

Valcent press release - a new method of growing vegetables promises to make food productiion and biofuels much more efficient. If their numbers are correct, it looks to me like this could solve the world's food and energy problems for a good long time. See photo galleries for their High Density Vertical Growth System and High Density Vertical Bioreactor.

Quote:

El Paso, TX; March 13 - Valcent Products Inc. (OTCBB: VCTPF) -- Data from its fully operational field test plant has confirmed commercial production potential with several companies expressing interest to build out commercial plants on a joint venture basis. A commercial module of one-eighth acre (5,445 square feet) is estimated to have capital costs of $565,000; using a wholesale price for leafy lettuce of $1.10 per head, may have gross annual revenues in excess of $1,300,000 with earnings before tax of approximately $505,000 supporting management's estimated 89% internal rate of return over 10 years.

Valcent's High Density Vertical Vegetable Growing System (VGS) has now been operating over the last six months and has produced leafy lettuce, micro greens, spinach, herbs, mints, beets, strawberries, wheat grass, alfalfa and other grains. During this period, the system has proven production capabilities on average, of approximately 20 times the amount of vegetables per acre grown in a field while requiring only 5% of the water used for field crops. The VGS system will be sold in one-eighth acre modules that contain 1,320 grow panels and the production modules may be scaled, depending on the growers' output and crop diversity requirements.

...

The research and development team of Valcent Products Inc. has now completed twelve months of the algae vertical bioreactor development program. During a 90-day continual production test, algae was being harvested at an average of one gram (dry weight) per liter. This equates to algae bio mass production of 276 tons of algae per acre per year. Achieving the same biomass production rate with an algal species having 50% lipids (oil) content would therefore deliver approximately 33,000 gallons of algae oil per acre per year.

The primary focus of the 90-day continuous production test was determining the robustness of the field test bed. Other secondary tests were also conducted including using different ph levels, C02 levels, fluid temperatures, nutrients, types of algae, and planned system failures. It is important to note that the system has not been optimized for production yields or the best selection of algae species.

Scientists to test if cancer cure can work in humans

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:28:37 -0500

CTV.ca - Dr. Zheng Cui, an associate professor of pathology at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, has discovered that transfuse specific white blood cells, called granulocytes, from young mice into mice with cancer, cures the cancer, 100%. They plan to begin a human trial soon. Hope it works.

Focusing on Solar's Cost

Thu, 08 May 2008 06:00:51 -0500

Tyler Hamilton at Technology Review - a Hollywood-based startup, Sunrgi Solar Energy Systems, has created a concentrated photovoltaic module that they expect to be able to produce electricity at a price competitive with fossil-fuel generation. Hope it works. [gsc]

Quote:

Sunrgi, which emerged out of stealth mode last week, has created a concentrated photovoltaic system that uses a lens to focus sunlight up to 2,000 times onto tiny solar cells that can convert 37.5 percent of the sun's energy into electricity. Stronger concentrations of sunlight allow engineers to use much smaller solar cells, making it more economical to use higher-efficiency--but higher-cost--cells. Sunrgi, for example, will use cells based on gallium arsenside and germanium substrates.

...

Sunrgi estimates that its system will be capable of producing electricity at a wholesale cost of five cents per kilowatt-hour. Prototypes have been built and tested both in the laboratory and in the field, and the company expects to start commercial production in 12 to 15 months...

GeoBulb (TM)

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 09:48:12 -0500

C. Crane is selling an 800 lumen LED light bulb, that uses 8 watts of power and lasts for 30,000 hours. $120. Out of stock until mid-May. 800 lumens is equivalent to a 55 watt light bulb. That's 100 lumens per watt, and 250 hours per dollar. Still quite a bit more expensive than compact fluorescents, which get 1600 lumens (95 watt incandescent) from 23 watts (70 lumens per watt) and glow for 12,000 hours for $4.75 (2526 hours per dollar). I predict that the end of the compact fluorescent is nigh. Long live the LED!

The Uno

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 09:16:25 -0500

Glenn Roberts at Motorcycle Mojo - 18-year-old Ben J. Poss Gulak has invented a cross between a motorcycle and the Segway. The Uno, with two side-by-side wheels and a seat for one, foot pegs, and handle-bars, has only one user control, an on-off switch for the electronics. To go forward, you lean forward. To slow down, or go backwards, you lean back. Very cool. Lots of photo links at the bottom of the article. [gizmodo]

Holographic storage ships next month!

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 05:16:35 -0500

Robin Harris at ZDNet - eight years in the making, InPhase Technologies announced at NAB2008 that they will ship in May the world's first holographic disk drive. 300 gigabytes per write-once cartridge (Blu-Ray disks hold 25 gigs). 20 megabytes/second transfer rate. 50-year media life. $18,000 for the drive. $180 for media. Less expensive versions coming. Plans for 1.6 terabytes at 120 MB/s. Rewritable products under development. "Data at the speed of light."

Cancer Therapy Without Side Effects Nearing Trials

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:44:31 -0500

Jennifer Laloup at Wired - John Kanzius has invented a Radiofrequency Cancer Treatment that may soon allow many cancers to be completely eradicated with few or no side affects. Gold nano-particles are attached to targeting molecules, which attach to the cancer cells. Then radio waves are passed through the body, which causes the nano-particles to heat up and fry the attached cancer cells. Human trials may be only three years away. The story was on 60 Minutes last night.

Toshiba to Introduce Light Bulbs With 12,000-Hour Life

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 05:35:18 -0500

Satoshi Ookubo at Nikkei Electronics - A new compact flourescent light bulb, with the coiled tube hidden inside a conventional globe. Three spectra mixes available: warm white (810 lumens), day white (780 lumens), and daylight (730 lumens). 12,000 hour life, 10 watts power consumption. Available in July. Price not yet set. [gizmodo]

Experts Now Recommend Hands-Only CPR

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:13:15 -0500

Stephanie Nano at Wired - if an adult collapses and stops breathing, The American Heart Association now recommends skipping the mouth-to-mouth breathing and focusing entirely on pressing the center of the chest, 100 times a minute. For children, however, it's usually a breathing problem, not a heart attack, so mouth-to-mouth is still recommended.

Unless she's hot. ;)

Coronary Calcification Predicts Future Heart Attacks and Coronary Death

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:28:26 -0500

Bill Sardi at LewRockwell.com - a report in the New England Journal of Medicine has concluded what I've thought for a long time: cholesterol scores are not a good predictor of heart attack risk. Nope. It's calcification in the major arteries that serve the heart, something that happens more in countries that ingest lots of milk and milk products. Remember, cows' milk is for baby cows. [lew]

Medicine's Cutting Edge: Re-Growing Organs

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:18:40 -0500

Wyatt Andrews at CBS News - thanks to a powder his brother gave him, Lee Spievack grew back the tip of a finger he sliced off in the propeller of a hobby shop airplane. Soon, this technology may provide brand new internal organs, grown from your own cells. [gizmodo]

Quote:

That powder is a substance made from pig bladders called extracellular matrix. It is a mix of protein and connective tissue surgeons often use to repair tendons and it holds some of the secrets behind the emerging new science of regenerative medicine.

...

If this helped Spievack's finger regrow, Badylak says, at least in theory, you should be able to grow a whole limb.

Advances That Go Beyond Theory

In his lab at Wake Forest University, a lab he calls a medical factory, Dr. Anthony Atala is growing body parts.

HeartStart Home Defibrillator

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:03:19 -0500

Philips is shipping technology that could save your life.

One of my high school buddies had a heart attack last Sunday. Fortunately, he was at a friend's house. While his friend was getting him on the floor to start CPR, his friend's wife was dialing 911. A cop and two firemen showed up, who were fortunately nearby at the time, and their portable defibrillator saved his life; the CPR didn't start him up. The doctors couldn't find any blocked arteries or any other reason for it, so they diagnosed it as Sudden Cardiac Death, aka Cardiac Arrest. He's had an automatic defibrillator implanted, and expects to be released from the hospital today. Whew!

Had the cop and firemen not been nearby, or had they not had a portable defibrillator, I would likely have lost a friend. That's where Philips' machine comes in. It's automatic, hence very easy to use. $1,299, payable in 1, 5, or 10 interest-free monthly installments, or 12, 18, or 24 months with 18% interest. Prescription required.