MIT scientists announce they've turned natural gas into electricity without any pollution at a cost comparable to, or less than, conventional power plants. That includes coal, the cheapest power source. MIT's cost calculations come with the caveat that Congress passes the proposed carbon curbing legislation called Cap and Trade. In a slight of semantics more suitable for the Weyerhaeuser press release in INews today, MIT is saying if Cap and Trade is passed and we're forced to pay for our greenhouse gases, their non-polluting natural gas power plant will be the cheapest source of energy around. One can only hope they are right on all points. In the meantime, looking a little deeper into this press release, the process it describes uses solid oxygen rather than just ordinary air to burn natural gas to power the generators that produce electricity. Using solid oxygen produces 100 percent CO2 exhaust which is apparently easier to pump underground, a process called carbon capture and sequestration. There are enough qualifiers in this release to qualify it as a couple of pounds of you-know-what. However, we give them half a greenthumb up for effort.
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11.19.09
MIT is tinkering around with electrons again. Can't they just leave well-enough alone? This time they've come up with a new system of micro-circuitry that sounds like a cross between radio wiring and nuclear physics. We believe it has to do with something called a single quantum-dot. What this circuitry can do is a little easier to appreciate. It could mean cell phone and laptop batteries last twice as long, or longer, than they do right now. It has to do with reducing heat loss during the use of battery powered devices. It doesn't take a lot of power to transmit electrical signals over phones lines. It takes a lot more power to generate heat. Who hasn't chatted on their cell phone for an hour only to discover how hot it got. In the past, there has been nothing to stop these electrical devices from generating that heat through normal use, creating an enormous, unnecessary energy drain on the batteries in the process. This new single quantum-dot circuitry could reduce that heat lost by four to 10 times. Imagine charging your cell phone every couple days instead of every day. Or getting 12 hours out of your laptop battery instead of three? Check out the quantum dot link above, if you want to lose yourself in physics for a few minutes, or hours.
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10.12.09
MIT's Deshpande Center just shelled out $600,000 for technology that sounds more like science fiction than academia. Before we burden you with the details—here's the link to the press release—allow us to repeat our admiration for science today. Artificial viruses, artificial intelligence, nano-technology, robotics. Amazing things are happening now. All this great stuff happening out there and yet ignorance and avarice are still ruling half the planet. Sorry, we had to touch on today's spiritually themed NBN. Now, without further ado, here are a few the money winners and what we think they're working on.
Vladimir Bulovic for a “flexible paper thin micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) array that can be used for sensing and actuation over large surfaces.” What!? Sounds like a cross between a computer keyboard and a chalkboard. Do schools even use chalk any more?
Rohik Karnik and Jeffrey Karp for a “device for separating cells that could be used for the monitoring and diagnosis of a wide variety of diseases.” When they perfect this thing I'm buying a dozen.
Michael Strano for an implantable sensor that “will allow continuous glucose monitoring for diabetes patients, resulting in improved glucose regulation and better health.” Even I understand this one, and every diabetic in the country will get it too, if it works.
Karen Gleason for her work on “stable inorganic-organic hybrid light emitting diodes. Long-lived LEDs on flexible substrates providing energy efficient portable displays.” Any takers on what this is? Sounds like a hybrid neon/magnetic sign. Google images turned up this.
Lastly, we have Kripa Varanasi for his “Nano-engineered Surfaces for Ultra High Power Density Thermal Management." Said another way: Kirpa is finding ways to quickly cool down really fine electrical circuits that carry lots of energy.
We're over-simplifying and making light of work by folks considerably smarter than we are, which perhaps we do a little too often in this country. These people, and the grants MIT is giving them, are what make life a little bit better, and hopeful, for those of us who have no hope of understanding what they are all about. All we try to do here at NBN is make their work understandable so, when it come time to fund those grant programs, we're not holding back. Nice work ladies and gentlemen.
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10.07.07
This MIT report should be viewed as a comfort for those pulling for all God's creatures great and small. It says that plants and animals wiped out by an asteroid that struck this planet many millenia ago started rebuilding earth's ecosystems a lot faster than previously thought. We're talking 100 years before algae started showing up after the asteroid wiped out 80 percent of the life on earth. Still, it was thought that it took a lot longer for that algae to show up. Global warming at it's worst doesn't compare to the environmental damage this asteroid did and life bounced backed. So even with all the dire forcasts about global warming, it's nice to know it could be and has been, worse. We've done a lot of damage to this planet, but life will bounce back...once we stop.
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9.19.09
MIT is back in the nanonews. Apparently, they've found a way to bond silicon to another chemical called gallium nitride that plays a critical part in making semi-conductors. Big deal, you might say. The break-through itself may not exactly be the discovery of cold fusion. However, semi-conductors hold the key to the future of micro-electronics, in ways we can't hope to envision now. Could radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi possibly have envisioned the iPhone? It's little technological steps forward like this one here that got us from the tabula rasa to radio to instant messaging. Nanotechnology is the vehicle that will one day enable robotics that will make Blade Runner a reality. Is that a good thing? Give the release a read and see what you think.
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9.11.09
Duke University scientists are saying if we want to have fewer dead whales we need to lower ship speed limits through traditional whale breeding grounds. You need a PhD. to figure that out? Fast ships kill more whales than slow ships. Before we belittle this fellow's hard work too much, there is some good science making this release worth reading. However, the shipping industry only very reluctantly agreed to rerouting ships around a whale breeding ground outside Boston. Now this fellow wants to slow ships down along a very expanded speed limit area. Good luck. This is an image of the new Boston shipping lane created for Northern Right Whales. The shipping industry fought mightily over adding that elbow to the shipping lane.
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8.28.09
MIT scientists have built a robot that swims as well, if not as fast, as fish. This release says it has all kind of underwater applications such as outfitting the robofish with video cameras and sending them out to do surveillance work under boats and into plumbing and industrial piping. To quote the release: “Fleets of the new robots could be used to inspect submerged structures such as boats and oil and gas pipes; patrol ports, lakes and rivers; and help detect environmental pollutants.” Sounds kind of fishy. Have grant will spend it!
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8.26.09
The University of New Hampshire is preparing an evening education session on the Asian long horn beetle. They want to keep the pest from getting into New Hamshire. Here's another eradication effort that you have to question. Hiking through the woods earlier this summer in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, we came across several of the beetles. That's well within beetle-flying range of New Hampshire. It's incomprehensible that the infestation can be stopped from reaching New Hampshire. From what I know, the only way to battle the beetle is to chop down infested trees. This harken back to the American Chestnut, which was all over Appalachia before some disease carried over by colonists wiped it out. Now the chestnut has been showing signs of life as science has had some success breeding disease resistent trees. Like we discuss in ONews today: does it make sense to try and slow the advance of these invader? Perhaps, if people are willing to volunteer their time. But a lot of taxpayer money also goes into eradication efforts, and that's like shadow boxing.
8.21.09
This is just another reason for being in awe of science these day. MIT researchers are using artificial viruses to inject cancer killing chromosomes into mice with ovarian cancer. Who even knew there was such a thing as artificial viruses? Now, they are being used as a deliver mechanism for medicine, sort of like a tiny, tiny capsule. And, what's the delivery mechanism for this and all the other wonderful things being done in labs and R&D departments across the country?
The Internet. For anyone who spent their college years combing through library index cards looking for scientific abstracts, the future can only look very bright. Now, instead of writing down the abstract index card information and trudging off to the bound volumes in a college's stacks—a roughly 20 minute process—the same information can often be found instantly on the internet, or in electronic libraries. Twenty minutes versus 20 seconds. Make no mistake, this is a brave new world: using artificial viruses to kill cancer. And we've only just begun. It's going to be a whole new world. This is supposed to be an artist's rendering of an artificial virus. Looks more like the sandwich I scrapped out of the frig yesterday.
8.17.09
This UNH tuna competition lets fishermen compete while doing the right thing for the ocean's ailing bluefin tuna population. Tagging Tiny Tunas is more than a shamless exploitation of alliteration, it's a very successful fishing tournament sponsored by University of New Hampshire for professor Molly Lutcavage, who won the hearts of tuna fishermen across New England with her documentary that found, bluefine tuna numbers where much higher than suspected. That doesn't mean the fish aren't still taking it on the chin, so UNH has organized this tiny tuna tagging tournament Thursday.
Fishermen are paying $200 to get in this thing and the numbers of participants just keep going up. The tuna are tagged with little data recorders that track migration routes before the tags float to the surface to transmit the information. It's hoped the information will nail down the argument American fisherman make, that European fishermen are responsible overfishing bluefin and driving the numbers down. If that happens America can lean on its European allies to knock it off.
Breaking News! Surface Phonon Polaritons Mediated Energy Transfer between Nanoscale Gaps. If you're bewildered, it's quite possible the same can be said about anyone who read this other than the author. Here's a very, very crude translation based on reading about three paragraphs of the MIT press release. Scientists are finding heat transfers a lot faster between hot things and cold things when they get real close together. No-kidding, you might say. But the discovery suggests that the heat transfer is much, much higher than was formerly thought. This opens the door for all manner of heat transfer inventions. Heat energy lost through smoke stacks, car engine blocks, refrigerator condensers and such, is enormous. So can be the savings if this technology proves practical. Advanced science like this is the wildcard in our technological future. Pray for peace and cold fusion.
July 28, 2009
Here is some fun stuff out of the University of Florida. They are investigating tapping the gulf stream using underwater turbines to generate electricity. The Atlantic Ocean water current map below says it all. The gulf stream is pumping enormous amounts of water right past Miami, a city that's been know to flip on an air conditioner or two. How cool would it be, if you'll pardon the pun, to have those AC units power by Gulf Stream turbines just a quarter mile offshore. Here's a very well written story about similar efforts farther north. We are surrounded by environmental energy, we should be tapping into every bit we can. This is a rendering of the plan. The little things on the bottom are the turbines with cable linking them to the hotels. Look at the image below to get an idea just how much energy can be tapped right off the coast of southern Florida. That's a lot of power.
Speaking of environmental energy, Scientists at Florida State University's Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies have developed a new computer model that they hope will predict with unprecedented accuracy how many hurricanes will occur in a given season. That sure would have made the Katrina debacle less costly. Science to the rescue again. Lets hope they are successful.
MIT has come up with some crazy glue. The stuff is used for closing up wounds, like stitches. However, by slightly modifying the ingredients they can make lung glue, or skin glue or muscle glue. Helping finance the project is cigarette giant Philip Morris. How does a company responsible for more deaths than natural causes get into the heathcare business. It's a sticky subject. Here's is a skin glue from a slightly better known source.
Instead of fill-'er-up how about the old switcher-a-roo. That's what this thoroughly bewildering press release from UC Berkeley suggests could be a boon to the electric car market. In the middle of the release we find the news: battery-powered cars could compete much more effectively with gas vehicles if the batteries were switched at gas stations much like gas tanks are now filled. It's worth a read, just skip the first six graphs. Looks like there won't be any self-service islands if this technology takes off.
July, 14, 2009
Some great news out of Ugga land. The University of Georgia has found a gene that makes American Chestnut Trees resistant to the fungus that wiped them off the Appalachian landscape a century ago. It's included here because not many folks understand how important the American Chestnut was to this country's eastern landscape. They were called horse chestnuts because they were so common horses transporting folks through the woods in those days ate them in place of hay. What's also little know about this tree is the massive effort to bring it back to the states. It would be a wonderful addition to our forests. Let's hope this research leads some where. This is a picture of one of the largest American Chestnuts in the country. The photo up top is what American chestnuts used to look like. Click on this link to learn a little more about American Chestnuts.
June 17, 2009
I couldn't read this whole thing, but it looks great. Ever been in a traffic jam only to never see the cause? So have these folks and think they can do something about it? wonder way you stuck in traffic phantom traffic jams.
June 3, 2009
MIT has come out with an electronic device it says is modeled after the cochlea in the human ear. It's ultra small and, like the human ear, can receive a broad spectrum of signals. In this case radio signals including phone, internet, radio and TV. That's it for the purpose of the press release, but I want to take it a step farther. MIT also came out recently with a video discussing what the author called the sixth sense. It's essentially a tiny constellation of video camera, projector, speaker and wireless internet portal ( like a blackberry on steroids) that's serves as a portal to all information and communications available on the internet.
That is the sixth sense: an information superhighway with traffic going to both directions that's as attached to you as your eyes. So lets put the two together, tiny receiver modeled after the inner ear wired to a portal to the information super highway. Next step is the matrix without the chair and Keanu Reeves.
The folks touting this technology would be the first to say such an application is far, far down the road. They might even discount it altogether. But that's the beautiyof science, you don't have to be a scientists to think about it. And the way this technology is gaining steam it sure is fun to think about.
May 21, 2009 Chrome plating made safe? It's still not easy
MIT is apparently playing around with a more environmentally friendly replacement for the extremely toxic process of chrome plating. Along with striking joy into the hearts of many a Hummer owner, this news should also please a few environmentalists. Chrome plating involves sending send a ton of electricity into a chunk of chrome swimming in salt water and the metal collects on anything else swimming with it. (Do not try this at home folks, it's actually a lot more complicated than that. Here's a quick primer on electroplating if you want a real explanation.) That salt water, in turn, ends up swimming with hexavalent chromium, a known, potent carcinogen and the scourge of many a federal Superfund site. Given all the chrome there is in the world this work by MIT could be a big deal. More good news out of an institution famous for it. The MIT press release is a little tedious but after the first few hundred words it gets informative. Good Luck.e are currently creating content for this section. In order to be able to keep up with our high standards of service, we need a little more time. Please stop by again. Thank you for your interest!
MIT scientists 
MIT is 
Vladimir Bulovic for a “flexible paper thin micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) array that can be used for sensing and actuation over large surfaces.” What!? Sounds like a cross between a computer keyboard and a chalkboard. Do schools even use chalk any more?
Karen Gleason for her work on “stable inorganic-organic hybrid light emitting diodes. Long-lived LEDs on flexible substrates providing energy efficient portable displays.” Any takers on what this is? Sounds like a hybrid neon/magnetic sign. Google images turned up this. 
This MIT 
MIT is back in the 
Duke University scientists 
MIT scientists have built a robot that swims as well, if not as fast, as fish. This 
The University of New Hampshire is preparing an evening education 
The Internet. For anyone who spent their college years combing through library index cards looking for scientific abstracts, the future can only look very bright. Now, instead of writing down the abstract index card information and trudging off to the bound volumes in a college's stacks—a roughly 20 minute process—the same information can often be found instantly on the internet, or in electronic libraries. Twenty minutes versus 20 seconds. Make no mistake, this is a brave new world: using artificial viruses to kill cancer. And we've only just begun. It's going to be a whole new world. This is supposed to be an artist's rendering of an artificial virus. Looks more like the sandwich I scrapped out of the frig yesterday.
This UNH 
Breaking News! Surface Phonon Polaritons Mediated Energy Transfer between Nanoscale Gaps. If you're bewildered, it's quite possible the same can be said about anyone who 
Here is some fun 
MIT has come up with some 
Instead of fill-'er-up how about the old switcher-a-roo. That's what this thoroughly bewildering press 
Some great 
That is the sixth sense: an information superhighway with traffic going to both directions that's as attached to you as your eyes. So lets put the two together, tiny receiver modeled after the inner ear wired to a portal to the information super highway. Next step is the matrix without the chair and Keanu Reeves.
