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February 2006 Plenum News
2006 (enhanced)
2005 (enhanced)
Entire Year (minimal, early formats)
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02/28/06 - New Motor power saver uses wasted electricity
 The Utilisaver is one of a number of power factor correction devices on the market that promise to overcome an inefficiency in most electric motors. The power factor of a motor is the ratio of electricity used to the output of work, and a perfect score would be 1 to 1. But motors normally waste from 20 percent to 40 percent of the electricity they draw, bouncing it back up the power line and eventually down a ground wire. The Utilisaver captures that wasted electricity and channels it back to the motor, typically raising the efficiency level to about 95 percent. "I'm not a techie, so I don't understand all of the workings, but bottom line, it makes our pool pumps run more efficiently," Julius said. Even better, "if they run more efficiently, they don't run hot, and consequently, the consumer's pump and motor will last longer." Titon officials contend that the Utilisaver is better than other devices because it places the correction circuitry next to the motor, where it is most effective, while competitors place their circuitry in a main electric panel far from the motors. For industrial motors, the correction devices are custom-made and fine-tuned. These units can cost from $1,000 to $3,000. For residential use in pools and spas, Titon uses ready-made units that cost from $200 to $250, Baugher said. The basic technology for power factor correction has existed for years and can't be patented, Rayburn said. But the company has applied for patents on its system for computer-analyzing motors and custom-engineering Utilisavers. It also hopes to patent improvements in design and manufacturing. The more electricity costs, the greater the savings with Utilisaver -- and the faster the payback for the equipment, he said. Titon also is working on new versions of the Utilisaver designed for home appliances -- heavy power users such as air conditioners, heat pumps, sump pumps and washing machines.
02/28/06 - Predators keep the world green
 Predators are, ironically, the key to keeping the world green, because they keep the numbers of plant-eating herbivores under control, reports a research team lead by John Terborgh, a professor of environmental science at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. Their findings confirm the answer to one of ecology's oldest and thorniest questions: why is the world green? It also seems to put to rest a competing theory that plants protect themselves from herbivores through physical and chemical defenses. Within Venezuela's Caroni Valley, an area of 4,300 square kilometres was flooded in 1986 to create a lake (Lago Guri) containing hundreds of islands that were formerly fragments of a continuous landscape. Terborgh and his team monitored the vegetation at 14 sites of differing size. Nine of the sites were on predator-free islands, while the others were on the mainland or on islands with a complete or nearly complete suite of predators. They found that, by 1997, small sapling densities on small islands were only 37 percent of those of large land masses and by 2002 this had fallen to just 25 percent. Most of the vertebrates present in regional dry forest ecosystem had disappeared from small islands, including fruit eaters and predators of vertebrates, leaving a hyperabundance of generalist herbivores such as iguanas, howler monkeys and leaf-cutter ants. Besides proving that the green world hypothesis is correct, Terborgh's team's results have important implications for the debate raging in many countries over reintroduction of top predators such as wolves. "The take-home message is clear: the presence of a viable carnivore guild is fundamental to maintaining biodiversity," the authors wrote.
02/28/06 - Phase Conjugated Laser Images in thin air
A new system which sends glowing three-dimensional images into thin air is being developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tokyo, in collaboration with Burton Inc. and Keio University. A spokesman for the company says, “We believe this technology may eventually be used in applications ranging from pyrotechnics to outdoor advertising.” According to Burton Inc., the technology might also be used for emergency distress signals or even temporary road signs. The display utilizes an ionization effect which occurs when a beam of laser light is focused to a point in the air. The laser beam itself is invisible to the human eye, but if the intensity of the laser pulse exceeds a threshold, the air breaks down into glowing plasma that emits visible light. The required intensity can only be achieved by very short, powerful laser pulses - each plasma dot, or "flash-point", lasts for only about a nanosecond. But the resulting image appears to last longer due to persistence of vision. As with film and television, the impression of a continuous image is maintained by refreshing the flash-points.
02/28/06 - Blocking Cosmic Rays for Astronauts
 Galactic cosmic radiation poses a major challenge for spacecraft designers looking to protect astronauts on long missions into deep space. Without adequate shielding, these high-speed particles would cut through an astronaut's body, damaging DNA and increasing the likelihood of developing cancer. So far, no method of shielding has proved both effectie and practical. There are 3 basic shielding approaches; Materials, magnetic and biomedical. One idea being studied by NASA involves using a craft's liquid hydrogen fuel tanks to surround the crew quarters. This would provide shielding, but probably not enough to prevent an increased cancer risk.
02/28/06 - Chinese scientists use plants to battle pollution
Chinese scientists are now growing poison-accumulating plants to 'suck up' poisonous elements, mostly heavy metals like arsenic, copper and zinc, from polluted soil to repair contaminated lands. "In some parts of China, scientists have grown poison-accumulating plants, widely regarded as a 'hyperaccumulators' in academic circles, on poisonous soil to accumulate heavy metals," said Chen Tongbin, a researcher with the Geographic Science and Resources institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Chen's
research team has begun to renovate about 333.3 hectares of arsenic polluted fields in south China's Huanjiang County. According to Chen, water containing minerals at the upper reaches of rivers always pollute lower watercourses during floods in south China's Yunnan and Gianxi provinces, causing crop losses or even infertility in large areas of lower-reach fields. "The
soil pollution in Guangxi is serious. Soil contamination is the most dangerous because it is hidden, slow and fundamental," Chen told Xinhua.
02/28/06 - The Challenges of Longer Lifespans
Many of us can expect to live to more than a hundred. But until we treat old people with more respect, that's nothing to celebrate. Soon, reaching 100 will be normal. Some scientists predict lifespans of 1,000 years or more. Many older men live with young partners without being parodied as Viagra-popping Methuselahs scavenging for lost youth. Older women, conversely, get pity from a media that think anyone over 45 must be as seductive as the Turin shroud. The worst intolerance is reserved for couples in which both partners are elderly. Not long ago, a Portsmouth couple was put in homes five miles apart, refused the taxi they had been promised for daily visits and denied even the luxury of saying goodbye. They had not seen one another for four days when the wife died alone. Welcome to the departure lounge of prosperous Britain. This is how we treat the old. One in five pensioners lives in poverty, over-60s already well outnumber children and pensions policy is a shambles. God and the afterlife are being traded in for an engineered hereafter, in which you can spend a near-eternity in incontinence pants, forgetting your own name and going on grim bus tours of the Cotswolds. Even modestly stretched lives are changing the social topography. In an age of brevity - fast food, short careers, disposable partners - only life itself grows ever more durable. Relationships were never designed for such a marathon. The early Victorian marriage lasted an average of 15 years before one partner died, and divorce among the over-50s has increased by 50 per cent in two decades. Up to half of all baby-boomers are expected to be living alone by the time they are 75. If the social and financial problems of expanded lifespans have not been addressed, then neither have the ethical ones. Wanting to die is not just the reflex of the sick or desperate; it is also the natural reaction of affluent, happy people who feel that they have lived as long and as well as they found possible. Making people more death-proof is easy. The hard thing is going to be working out what all that extra life is really for.
02/28/06 - Hydrogen Fuel Cell bike
A British company, Intelligent Energy, opened up a California sales office to sell its hydrogen fuel-cell bike, the ENV. The ENV stands for "emissions-neutral vehicle." The bike runs on hydrogen stripped from bio fuels-anything from sunflower oil to soybeans. A five-ounce can of hydrogen will power the bike up to 100 miles. Top speed is 50 mph. The first ENV bikes are slated to appear in the United States and the United Kingdom in 2007. Retail prices will range from $6,000 to $8,000. The current cost of fueling is $4 per tank, but that price is expected to come down to 25 cents.
02/28/06 - Planet Earth As Weapon and Target
 Beginning with the use of nuclear energy for military purposes, mankind has entered a seemingly endless race to harness the natural forces within the planet, in the atmosphere and in space for waging war. The earth is already gravely affected by many of those secret research and testing programmes leading to unpredictable environmental and epidemiological consequences. "The term 'exotic weapons systems’ includes weapons designed to damage space or natural ecosystems (such as the ionosphere and upper atmosphere) or climate, weather, and tectonic systems with the purpose of inducing damage or destruction upon a target population or region on earth or in space." - (US Congress H.R. 2977: Space Preservation Act of 2001) Two areas of instabilities can be used to modify the climate-energy coming from the Sun, or energy escaping from the atmosphere of the earth. Huge manmade energetic explosions high up in the atmosphere used to trigger instabilities, might be possible at some time in the future; in fact the Navy exploded 3 nuclear bombs in the Van Allen belt in 1958 under Project Argus and violently disrupted it. Modification of long-wave outgoing radiation, changes in the transparency of the earth’s atmosphere to radiated energy, or of terrestrial regions (desert, vegetation, water, ice) provide the most likely possibilities for human "technogenic" intervention. The military has long wanted to eliminate civilian participation in space programmes in order to gain full control.
02/28/06 - Cyberthieves Silently Copy Your Passwords as You Type
Most people who use e-mail now know enough to be on guard against "phishing" messages that pretend to be from a bank or business but are actually attempts to steal passwords and other personal information. It has been eclipsed by an even more virulent form of electronic con - the use of keylogging programs that silently copy the keystrokes of computer users and send that information to the crooks. These programs are often hidden inside other software and then infect the machine, putting them in the category of malicious programs known as Trojan horses, or just Trojans. These criminals aim to infect the inner workings of computers in much the same way that mischief-making virus writers do. The twist here is that the keylogging programs exploit security flaws and monitor the path that carries data from the keyboard to other parts of the computer. The monitoring programs are often hidden inside ordinary software downloads, e-mail attachments or files shared over peer-to-peer networks. They can even be embedded in Web pages, taking advantage of browser features that allow programs to run automatically. And the SANS Institute, a group that trains and certifies computer security professionals, estimated that at a single moment last fall, as many as 9.9 million machines in the United States were infected with keyloggers of one kind or another, putting as much as $24 billion in bank account assets - and probably much more - literally at the fingertips of fraudsters. Being wary of unfamiliar Web links sent via e-mail is a first-line of defense, according to experts, as is avoiding questionable downloads and keeping up to date with Windows patches and antivirus updates. It is worth noting, however, that in a test of major antivirus programs conducted by Ms. Hoepers's group in Brazil last fall, the very best detected only 88 percent of the known keyloggers flourishing there.
02/27/06 - Fuel cell runs on charcoal
 University of Hawaii researcher Michael Antal has developed a working fuel cell that uses charcoal as its fuel and operates at bread-baking temperatures. The Antal system, which he calls an aqueous alkali biocarbon fuel cell, is unlike other fuel cell technology both in that it uses a renewable fuel and that it does not require particularly high temperatures. "This is effectively a battery that uses charcoal to make electricity," Antal said. Antal's cell operates at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit. By contrast, a carbon cell developed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory operates at 1,500 degrees. The key to his cell's operation is the very chemically reactive property of charcoal, which has a large surface area and burns at relatively low temperatures, he said. The carbon cell functions something like a car battery. It has an anode and cathode positive- and negative-charged terminals in a liquid solution, and if you put an electrical load - like a light bulb - between them, electrical current flows from one to the other. But that's where the similarity ends. In Antal's cell, the electrolyte is alkaline potassium hydroxide, not sulphuric acid. It is kept under pressure to prevent it from boiling away at 400 degrees. The negative terminal, or cathode, which acts as a catalyst, is made of nickel and silver or platinum. The positive terminal, or anode, is a porous ceramic column filled with charcoal powder. A piston keeps it pressurized, and serves at the attachment point for the electrical connection. In operation, hydroxide ions in the electrolyte attack the carbon, creating carbon dioxide and water. The process releases energy. The cell is fed air to provide the process with new oxygen, and it vents carbon dioxide. The charcoal does not burn in the sense of a campfire burning. The reaction occurs entirely within the liquid of the fuel cell.
02/27/06 - NASA engineer invents seawater to electricity converter
 In theory, the idea is simple. Almost any eighth-grader can tell you that spinning copper wires through a stable magnetic field makes electricity _ lots of electrons jumping off the magnetic field and zooming through a conductive metal. And since the ocean waves are already moving, why not cobble together a machine to harness that energy? The elder Woodbridge founded Aqua-Magnetics Inc., a small company that Tom now runs. Think Pogo Stick inside a floating drum. The rocking motion of the waves pushes a long cylinder of magnets up and down a copper coil. His prototypes stand about head-high, upside down in the family garage and are painted bright yellow, as the Coast Guard required. His small model generates 10 watts of power in a 6-inch wave chop. A full-scale version could generate 160 kilowatts. That one buoy is enough to power 160 houses, following the rule of thumb that the average U.S. home uses about 1,000 kilowatts of electricity each month. Smaller versions could make navigational buoys self-powered, providing warning lights and navigational signals to ships.
02/27/06 - Sub launched Robot bomber/spy Plane
 Lockheed Martin is working on a robot airplane for the U.S. Navy called the Cormorant that is LAUNCHED FROM A SUBMARINE, swims to the surface, unfolds its wings, then fires rocket boosters to get airborne. After bombing or spying -- the plane would have a 500-mile capability -- it returns to the ocean, where it's picked up underwater by the sub with the use of a robot arm. I want one.
02/27/06 - Novel micro-reactor makes biodiesel
 Chemical engineering researchers at Oregon State University have developed a tiny chemical reactor for manufacturing biodiesel that is so efficient, fast and portable it could enable farmers to produce a cleaner-burning diesel substitute on their farms using seed crops they grow on their own land. “This could be as important an invention as the mouse for your PC,” said Goran Jovanovic, the OSU professor who developed the biodiesel microreactor. “If we’re successful with this, nobody will ever make biodiesel any other way.” Current biodiesel production methods involve dissolving a catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide, in alcohol, then agitating the alcohol mixture with vegetable oil in large vats for two hours. The liquid then sits for 12 to 24 hours while a slow chemical reaction occurs, creating biodiesel and glycerin, a byproduct that is separated. This glycerin can be used to make soaps, but first the catalyst in it must be neutralized and removed using hydrochloric acid, a tedious and costly process. The microreactor developed at OSU eliminates the mixing, the standing time for separation and potentially the need for a dissolved catalyst. But more importantly, Jovanovic says, the microreactor, which is about half the size of a thick credit card, could help farmers reduce their dependence on mass-produced petroleum as well as reduce the need to distribute fuel via truck, tanker or pipeline. The microreactor, being developed in association with the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), consists of a series of parallel channels, each smaller than a human hair, through which vegetable oil and alcohol are pumped simultaneously. At such a small scale the chemical reaction that converts the oil into biodiesel is almost instant. Although the amount of biodiesel produced from a single microreactor is a trickle, the reactors can be connected and stacked in banks to dramatically increase production. “By stacking many of these microreactors in parallel, a device the size of a small suitcase could produce enough biodiesel to power several farms, or produce hundreds of thousands of gallons per year,” Jovanovic said. Using microreactors, biodiesel could be produced between 10 and 100 times faster than traditional methods, said Jovanovic, who is also developing a method for coating the microchannels with a non-toxic metallic catalyst. This would eliminate the need for the chemical catalyst, making the production process even more simple, a key to widespread use.
02/27/06 - Growing Energy
 A short drive through the flowing fields of rural Southwest Missouri, begs the question: If energy is the key to economic independence and the path to disentangling from a historically troubled region that regularly puts the blood and treasure of the American people at risk, why don’t we grow it rather than import it? The short answer is we can and should. Perhaps the better question is why haven’t we? The advantages for growing energy rather than buying it overseas seem obvious. Among them, according to the National Corn Growers Association: Ethanol is a net energy gain, which means it produces 67 percent more energy than it takes to grow and process the corn into ethanol. A single acre of corn can make enough ethanol to run a car for some 72,000 miles on E-10 Unleaded. E-10 is 10 percent ethanol, 90 percent unleaded gasoline. For every barrel of ethanol produced, 1.2 barrels of petroleum are displaced. A bushel of corn yields about 2.8 gallons of ethanol. A typical 40-million-gallon ethanol plant creates 32 full-time jobs and generates an additional $1.2 million in tax revenue for a community. If there are drawbacks for the Midwest, I can’t find them. The petroleum industry creates wealth and jobs for whole swaths of the country. Moving from a mineral to an organic base for energy would ultimately displace thousands of workers, everybody from the guy working the drilling rig to refinery technicians to the oil tanker captain. The pain of transition is one reason, some critics argue, for moving slowly.
02/27/06 - Sharper Images of Biological Samples
 Typically, microscope images of samples made of low-weight elements like hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, are characterized by poor contrast. In the new approach, contrast will be improved for a transmission electron microscope (TEM) by imposing a large relative phase shift to the electron waves scattered from samples. In a TEM device most of the electrons pass through the thin electron-transparent sample without scattering. Scattering of electron waves, when it does happen, occurs not because of absorption -- the amplitude of the electron beam is largely undiminished -- but through the shifting of the electron phase. Scattered and unscattered waves are focused and recombine downstream of the sample in a recording medium, typically a charged coupled device (CCD). Unfortunately, in weak-phase objects the phase shifting is slight, resulting in poor contrast. What scientists at the University of Karlsruhe and the Max-Planck Institute for Biophysics in Frankfurt have done to remedy this situation is to interpose a special free-suspended, micro-scaled electrostatic lens beyond the sample; this electrostatic lens has the effect of shifting the phase of the unscattered waves by a further 90 degrees but leaving the scattered waves unshifted. This dramatically improves the contrast in the resultant images. This electrostatic lens is called a Boersch phase plate in honor of Hans Boersch, who proposed the technique in 1947. It has not been achieved until now because of its demanding size specifications.
02/27/06 - Stress can cause long running health issues
Stress can be insidious. The pressures of daily life - jobs, relationships, money, raising children and now, war and terrorism - have become such constant companions that many of us operate with ever-present feelings of pressure, anxiety or burnout. The stress can become so unflagging that many people have accepted it as a standard part of life. Although we may try to ignore its presence, stress doesn’t go away. It just goes to work inside the body. Prolonged stress contributes to many physical and psychological ills. It overrides natural defences against viruses that cause AIDS, chickenpox and the common cold; encourages the production of inflammatory hormones that drive heart disease, obesity and diabetes; sparks flare-ups of rheumatoid arthritis and digestive disorders; creates depression and ages the brain. Australia's National Heart Foundation recently released a study that strongly recognised the connection between mind and body, ranking stresses such as depression and social isolation at the same risk level for coronary heart disease as high cholesterol, smoking and high blood pressure. The study found that loneliness and isolation could increase the risk of coronary heart disease fivefold while situations of acute stress, such as bereavement or disaster, could trigger heart disease. But chronic stress opens the floodgates, regardless of whether there’s a threat, allowing bacteria, viruses or tumours to flourish and making blood more prone to clotting. As their understanding of the biochemistry of stress increases, scientists around the country are developing and testing ways to protect the body from its ravages, using yoga and meditation, tai chi, psychotherapy and medications, and even experimental devices.
02/27/06 - the Ultra Efficient Car - 157mpg
 The car start-up developed a light-weight passenger car with outstanding aerodynamics. The Loremo LS is powered by a 2 cylinder Turbo Diesel engine with 20 hp and 160km/h top speed. The amazing thing is that the Loremo only needs 1.5l per 100km. This is approx. 157MPG! The Toyota Prius hybrid has only 55MPG (combined city and highway). With one tank (20l) you could drive 1,300km. Loremo AG plans to sell the Loremo LS for less than 11,000 Euros (~$13,000). he company designed the Loremo focusing on safety and efficiency and got rid of unnecessary functions. The car is small but still provides space for 4. The design of the car is very futuristic and has for instance no conventional doors. Loremo AG also plans to offer the Loremo GS with a bit stronger engine (50 hp, 2.7l/100km) that reaches top speeds of 220km/h (for the German Autobahn).
02/27/06 - Mashups = Hybrids
The term mashup comes from the music world where it means the combination of two or more songs to create a new musical work. HousingMaps.com is an example of a new type of Web site called a "mashup," which is a unique site that uses data from two or more other sites to add value to both of them. It's a relatively new phenomenon that some people are calling "the next big thing." Dan Gillmor, director of the Center for Citizen Journalism (housed at both Harvard and Berkeley) calls mashups "the Legos of the Internet except they don't all come from Lego. Anyone can plug anything into another piece." Rademacher's site takes data from Craigslist apartment listings and plots them on a Google map, creating a very useful site that neither craigslist nor Google had offered. Yet, Rademacher's site would have been impossible had it not been for the information supplied by these two popular sites.
02/26/06 - New energy saving technique
A new technique developed by Dr Hussein Zoubi from the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) promises to increase the efficiency of using solar energy by 35-40 per cent. The new invention, presented to University of Michigan by Zoubi, works to decrease electric consumption in addition to utilising solar energy. By placing sensors in the glass of a building's windows, the lighting and cooling of a room can be automatically altered according to the amount of sunlight entering the room, Zoubi said. The system maintains constant heat and lighting levels with the sunlight and the sun's heat taken into consideration. In addition, photocells are placed on the window blinds, which move along with the sun throughout the day, thus maximising their exposure to sunlight. "The sensors are connected to a computer which analyses the information input. Also, the computer directs alterations in lighting and air-conditioning," Zoubi explained. He added that the system could be used to support the entire electrical needs of a house. When the computer is removed from the system, it can become affordable and easy to build, Zoubi said, estimating the cost of each unit at $50 to $60. Zoubi obtained the patent for his invention in the United States. He returned to the Kingdom last month to continue his work as assistant professor in the architectural engineering department at JUST and hopes to use the invention to benefit his country. "This concept can particularly benefit Jordan, since the number of sunny days in the year are estimated around 250. On the other hand, in Michigan, where the study was conducted, there are only 50 sunny days a year," Zoubi explained. Zoubi told The Jordan Times he hopes to apply his discovery on a commercial level, provided he can obtain support from local institutions.
02/26/06 - Licensing versus Patents
Through years of dedicated work on their inventors’ behalf, Invent-Tech has developed and perfected a revolutionary method of securing licensing agreements, according to a press release. “2005 was our most successful year ever, in terms of maximizing the number of licensing agreements we’ve been able to secure for our inventors”, stated Juan Blanco, Invent-Tech’s Director of Product Licensing. “We are extremely confident that 2006 will prove to surpass all previous results using this approach. It has worked very, very well”. Invent-Tech’s proprietary invention licensing approach is so unique, innovative and effective, that they have recently applied for utility patent protection. Using this proven new methodology, Invent-Tech, in association with their patent attorneys and licensing subsidiary, has secured more than 100 licensing agreements for individual inventors from manufacturers and marketing companies. Only available from Invent-Tech, this method represents a tremendous shift in the status quo throughout the entire invention development industry. By providing such a significant advantage for their clients, Invent-Tech uniquely positions itself as the dominant market leader both now and for the future.
02/26/06 - The Disruptive Technology Office
“ARDA now is undergoing some changes of its own,” Harris continues. “The outfit is being taken out of the NSA, placed under the control of Negroponte’s office, and given a new name. It will be called the ‘Disruptive Technology Office,’ a reference to a term of art describing any new invention that suddenly, and often dramatically, replaces established procedures. Officials with the intelligence director’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.” Disruptive technology, indeed-disruptive of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Obviously, the NSA is too hot for this “early-warning system,” a system we are told is designed to snoop “al-Qaeda” phone calls and instant messages (sent from caves), and it will now be moved into its own digs and continue to operate. Echelon, Carnivore, Magic Lantern, etc., these are all “systems” designed to render our former constitutional republic into a sprawling Panopticon, or surveillance prison. “A government engaging in escalating criminal actions and becoming more and more secretive should not be watching and tracking us as if we’re all criminals,” write Paul Joseph Watson and Alex Jones. “This is systematic. They built the electrically wired cage around us and then they turned it on. The state is doing all this for the moment when they take your pension funds, private property, and guns because you won’t be able to resist. Big Brother will be two steps ahead at all times and there will be nowhere to hide,” as Winston Smith, the protagonist in George Orwell’s nightmarish dystopian novel, 1984, ultimately had nowhere to hide.
02/26/06 - Singapore building Sub-Orbital Spaceport
 "Singapore is one of the best-connected countries in the world. It is home to one of the world's busiest air and sea ports. Singapore, with its superior geographical and economic infrastructure, is primed to be the hub of a new, revolutionary form of travel - in space," said Eric Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Space Adventures. Space Adventures said it plans to offer parabolic flights to allow passengers to experience weightlessness, G-force training in a centrifuge, and simulated space walks in a neutral buoyancy tank, in addition to the sub-orbital flights. Visitors to Spaceport Singapore also would be able to fly aboard a variety of jet aircraft. Spaceport Singapore will cost an estimated minimum of $115 million, to be funded by a consortium of Singapore investors, and by Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, the Crown Prince of Ras Al-Khaimah, who last week announced he had partnered with Space Adventures on a spaceport in his country, part of the United Arab Emirates. KPMG Corporate Finance in Singapore also has begun to raise funds for the project. The consortium includes Octtane Pte, Batey Pte Ltd., Lyon Capital Inc., DP Architects, ST Medical and KPMG Corporate Finance, along with Space Adventures.
02/25/06 - Candle Heater for small rooms
 The Kandle Heeter(tm) Candle Holder is an attractive ceramic radiator suspended above a candle flame on a solid steel frame. And it really works! The steel and ceramic radiator collects and concentrates the heat from the candle flame, becomes hot (but not burning), and gently radiates the heat from the candle into your room. Invented and manufactured in Fortuna, California from solid steel and ceramic components the candle heater is just over 9 inches tall and just under 7 inches wide and deep. It weighs over four pounds and ships in a 200 lb test cardboard box. The steel and ceramic radiator is comprised of three nested ceramic modulators held together and separated by a solid steel inner core. The steel inner core is positioned directly above the candle and is driven to very high temperatures by the flame. It gets very, very hot! The nested ceramic modulators transfer and moderate the high temperature of the inner core, one to another, until the outer ceramic modulator becomes a gently radiating thermal body that releases the concentrated heat from the candle into your home or office. If you burn candles, it only makes environmental and economical practical sense to capture the heat that is normally lost to the ceiling and use this heat in your own environment. (A typical 4.5 oz. jar candle contains over 1,000 Btu’s!) “The Kandle Heeter(tm) Candle Holder makes a real difference in a small room or bedroom,” says inventor Doyle Doss. “And if there is a temporary power outage you will be able to create a warm room for your family and friends.”
02/25/06 - Danger of Explosive Gas
 (Wonder if hydrogen would do the same thing, were one silly enough to carry it in a balloon in a car? - JWD) All the windows were blown out, the vehicle doors were bent towards the outside and the roof was pushed about a foot higher than normal. [The occupants said] that they were taking a balloon to a Super Bowl party -- a balloon filled with acetylene, a very explosive gas used in welding -- so they could blow up the balloon while celebrating. However, on the drive, the balloon rolled across the back seat, possibly causing static electricity, and igniting the gas, causing it to explode.The couple said a passer-by gave them a ride home. Deputies called in an ambulance, who took the couple to Swedish Medical Center for possible shrapnel wounds and broken eardrums. Norman Frey, 46, faces a charge of possession, use, or removal of explosives or incendiary devices. He faces two to six years in prison.
02/25/06 -
Can fungi trim the gasoline habit?
Souped-up microscopic fungi could help cut the U.S. gasoline habit by converting a billion tons of agricultural waste into domestic fuel, while also slashing greenhouse gas emissions. Filamentous fungi and other microbes can be bred to break down an array of feedstocks, including wood chips, corn stalks and switch grass, that require no fertilizer and less input than traditional sources of the fuel. To make cellulosic ethanol, enzymes spewed from fungi convert cellulose from the fibrous parts of plants, such as stalks, into sugar that then is fermented. In traditional ethanol, yeast breaks down sugar from the starchy parts of plants, such as corn kernels. Scientists bioengineer fungi -- such as "jungle rot" that chewed through tents of the U.S. Army during World War Two in Guam -- to make the best enzymes for different fibrous plants. "Fungi are the scavengers in nature that break down cellulose anyway, so we're not trying to turn an elephant into a mouse," said Mark Emalfarb, president and chief executive of Florida-based Dyadic International Inc. Emalfarb said fungi Dyadic uses to soften and lighten blue jeans can break down corn stalks, sugar cane waste and rice straw into fuel. It's a step beyond making conventional ethanol in which yeast breaks down easier-to-process plant starch.
02/25/06 - ScubaDoo - The Underwater Scooter Invention
 (Definitely hackable for a much cheaper price. - JWD) You are seated on your ScubaDoo, with your head and shoulders within a clear dome, your air constantly replenished from the external compressor, enabling you to breathe normally! At a rate of 2.5 knots you’re able to ride amongst the spectacular underwater world, or remain stationary while you feed the fish. You can wear your glasses or contact lenses in the ScubaDoo without a problem. There’s no need to be a strong swimmer. The ScubaDoo can even be used by people with minor disabilities. "The Scuba-Doo 's new-look air intake is now fed by its own towed compressor, eliminating the use of an air tank for breathing purposes. This is ideal for the hire industry, as it means operators don't need to fill air tanks as often. The towed compressor option adds US$2500 to the US$14,500 price."
02/25/06 - Split Second 3D Imaging
EW technology which can recognise a face in a split second has been developed by computer scientists at Sheffield Hallam University. The software, which could revolutionise security systems worldwide, can produce an exact 3D image of a face within 40 milliseconds. Other systems have previously tried and failed to perform the feat - they took too long to construct a picture and produced an inaccurate result. Hallam's groundbreaking invention could be in use soon to tighten security in airports, banks, government buildings - and to produce ID cards. With legislation just passed to bring in ID cards from 2008 when passport applications are made, the software could come into its own. The new technology works by projecting a pattern of light onto a face, creating a two dimensional image from which 3D data is generated. The Hallam team behind the research believe no other system in the world can match their technology for speed and accuracy of information, taken from a single video frame. Professor Rodrigues said there were also implications for industrial inspections, medical engineering, archaeology and even entertainment. "The system means we can make a 3D scan of a moving object, such as a person speaking," he said. "The combination of facial data and recorded speech would enable a speaking 3D model to be displayed together."
02/25/06 - Free Hard Drive Health Monitor
 Freeware HDD Health monitors your PC’s hard drives for errors that predict an impending hard drive crash. HDD Health uses Self Monitoring and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.), which is built into all new hard disks to keep tabs on how your drive is doing. HDD Health also watches your hard drive’s temperature and sends you an alert email if it gets too hot or if the status changes to anything except “All’s well on the Western Digital front.” Free download, Windows only.
02/25/06 - Researchers Get Set to Test Biojet Fuel
University of North Dakota researchers say a new jet fuel they have developed from crop oils is almost ready for testing by the Air Force. Ted Aulich, a senior researcher at the Energy and Environmental Research Center, said the new fuel is cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the leading conventional jet fuel. He said the military is interested in the fuel because it could help reduce dependence on foreign oil. Wayne Seams, a UND chemical engineering professor working on the project, said scientists have improved the fuel so it performs at temperatures as cold as 60 degrees below Celsius. The Air Force specification is 50 below.
02/23/06 - New Walkman-type device to lower blood pressure
Scientists have developed a gadget that can lower blood pressure without the need for drugs. The device, which looks like a CDWalkman, helps open up blood vessels that have become narrowed, causing a build-up of pressure. Within days of starting on the machine, patients with high BP have reported dramatic drops. Resperate, which has been approved by the US FDA, is an interactive device that uses musical cues to encourage patients to alter their breathing. The device works by picking up the breathing rate of a patient through a sensor worn on a belt round the chest. Once the device has worked out the patient's resting breathing rate, it creates an individual programme to guide it from, on average, 18 breaths a minute to 10, using calming music to encourage slower breathing. Research has shown that just by making breathing slower and deeper, more oxygen is taken into the lungs and muscles surrounding blood vessels. If enough oxygen is not reaching these muscles they constrict, causing high blood pressure. Once the muscles relax, blood pressure is reduced.
02/23/06 - Heal warts with duct tape
 When I was younger (early teens), I had a wart on one of my toes that wouldn’t go away for years. I saw a podiatrist and a dermatologist, each of which took several turns dousing it with acid, freezing it, scraping it, injecting who-knows-what into it, and sprinkling it with Holy water to no effect - I’d even tried every single over-the-counter wart remedy they made; this sucker would not die. One day my dad came home from the pharmacist with some peculiar advice: duct tape. My first thought was that he meant to affix duct tape to it, then rip it off like a leg waxing; “ouch”. No, he meant to put duct tape on the thing and leave it there. So, I started wrapping duct tape around the toe and leaving it there. Every week I’d snip it off, soak the foot in soapy water, then add another strip of duct tape. In a month, the monster was half its usual size. In two months, it was completely gone. Imagine that. Fourteen flavors of acid accomplished nothing, and duct tape solves it.
02/23/06 - Borg AI designed space antenna
 For the first time, objects 'evolved by computers' will be launched into space in March 2006, if all goes to plan. The objects are antennas mounted on three small NASA satellites. Earlier, 80 personal computers, running artificial intelligence software, quickly 'evolved' the design of the small space antennas at NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. Here's a snip from a NASA article about the project: Like a friendly, non-biological form of the Borg Collective of science fiction fame, 80 personal computers, using artificial intelligence (AI), have combined their silicon brains to quickly design a tiny, advanced space antenna. If all goes well, three of these computer-designed space antennas will begin their trip into space in March 2006, when an L-1011 aircraft will take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The airplane will drop a Pegasus XL rocket into the sky high above the Pacific Ocean. The rocket will ignite and carry three small Space Technology (ST5) satellites into orbit. Each satellite will be equipped with a strange-looking, computer-designed space antenna. Although they resemble bent paperclips, the antennas are highly efficient, according to scientists. (via boingboing.com)
02/23/06 - Transparent Hybrid Canoe/Kayak
 (This really has no place here, but I am a fan of canoeing/kayaking and would love to try this out! - JWD)
This kayak/canoe hybrid has a transparent polymer hull that offers paddlers an underwater vista of aquatic wildlife and waterscapes unavailable in conventional boats. Seating two people, the sturdy canoe hull is made of the same durable material found in the cockpit canopies of supersonic fighter jets. Easy to maneuver, the wide canoe displaces a greater amount of water for more surface stability, and the paddlers sit lower to the deck, resulting in better balance. Adjustable seats allow paddlers of different heights to personalize their leg room. With a lightweight anodized aluminum frame, it can be easily stored or transported to and from the water. Includes two double-headed paddles, a water bailer, and two flotation devices. For ages 16 and up with parental supervision on calm water and while wearing a U.S. Coastguard-approved life vest. Weight capacity 425 pounds.
02/23/06 - Store bought meats dosed to look red
 The newer the redder, brown is an elderly hue, which of these steaks looks fresher to you? It’s a trick question as both were bought on the same date but one was dosed with carbon monoxide (CO), a technique that’s angering consumer advocacy groups. Supermarkets are trimming out their in-store butchers and buying pre-packaged cuts direct from the processing plants. The increasingly widespread use of “modified atmosphere packaging” replaces the oxygen inside with other gases, especially CO. Doing so makes the meat rosier. Customers buy meat mainly on how it looks. Better looking meat has a longer purchasability. “Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, says one study found that when meat in modified packages that included carbon monoxide was stored at 10 degrees above the proper temperature, salmonella grew more easily.”
02/23/06 - Umbilical blood can cure 100 diseases
 The stem cell is an immortal cell that is able to produce all the cells within an organ. The term is most usually applied to the hemopoetic stem cells of the bone marrow. Patents were reported to have recovered from the harmful effects of radiation after doctors transplanted a donor bone marrow to them. Later researchers learned how to secrete stem cells from the bone marrow. Then researchers found a way of secreting stem cells from the blood of an umbilical cord. The number of stem cells decreases as man grows older. For example, a 50-year-old human being has approximately 100 thousand stem cells. Now it is believed that stem cells from umbilical blood can be used for treating more than a hundred diseases. Today we inject the stem cells into a patient’s body in the hope to get them working on a damaged organ by transforming into cardiomyocytes in case of a myocardial infarction, or into hepatocytes in patients with cirrhosis. The diseases treatable with stem cells include certain kinds of leucosis, certain malignant tumors, which are usually incompatible with life. The stem cells can be used very effectively for treating strokes, myocardial infarctions, diabetes, chronic cirrhosis.
02/23/06 - WTO Forcing Unsafe GE Food on Consumers
 The World Trade Organisation- already under pressure for failing to deliver it's trade objectives- could fall apart if it insists on forcing GE foods on countries around the world. An initial WTO decision backing the US and a handful of countries in their efforts to force European nations to import GE foods is likely to prompt a backlash from consumers, growers and manufacturers as they fight to protect basic rights. "On the surface the decision is a terrible one for food safety, the consumers' right to choose and national sovereignty," says Jon Carapiet from GE Free NZ. "But the decision is such a fundamental attack on the integrity of the global food system that the international backlash could result in the collapse of the WTO". Consumers have previously been promised by the Biotech industry and governments that people will have a choice to avoid GE foods. But the WTO decision sounds alarmingly like a means of enforcing a "New World Order" that literally forces people to eat food they do not want in order to serve the interests of multinational corporations intent on dominating the food suppply. It is important to remember that the US government's own scientists advised against approval of GE foods under the current regulatory regime but were deliberately ignored. Evidence continues to mount of harm caused by some GE products already in use. The absence of a global agreement on testing methodologies for such foods has prompted the British Medical Association and other medical professionals to warn that the young, the elderly, people with reduced immunity, pregnant women, and unborn children are all particularly at risk.
02/22/06 - Energy Intensifier
 (This is an interesting series of pages though the writer seems to be a fan of the notorious Dennis Lee. In going through various pages, this 'intensifier' grabbed my attention as I have heard of such a design for many years and never found any details. The design looks like a standard hydraulic chamber which was in my college textbook. Here is a description of the 'energy intensifier that might explain his version of it a little better. Thanks to Paul Carlson for the headsup. - JWD) The rocket scientist was awed by Mr. Mentor's invention. He said that there were numerous “wrong turns” that his engine design could have taken, and that he estimated that Mr. Mentor’s engine should have taken a team of engineers twenty years to design. It came to him in a flash at a stoplight. The engine was an external combustion engine, not an internal combustion engine, meaning that the combustion took place outside the engine and not inside it, as with a car engine. The working fluid began its journey in a boiler. The boiler was subjected to a flame created by burning the fuel. As the working fluid boiled, the gas expanded and left the boiler through a pipe. The working fluid’s steam then met what Mr. Mentor called a pressure intensifier, which was one of his engine’s major innovations. The principle of the pressure intensifier was that high-pressure steam would come from the boiler and meet the piston head (area A in the drawing). As it pushed the piston down, it gave its energy to the piston, becoming a cooler gas at a lower pressure as it left the cylinder. The boiling point of any substance is determined by the attraction of the molecules to each other, and the temperature and the pressure it is subjected to. A pot of water, for instance, boils at 212° F at sea level on earth, but at less than 150° F on top of Mount Everest. If we put water in a jar and hook up a vacuum pump to create a vacuum, the water will boil at room temperature. The fluid that left the boiler was turned into steam by the heat applied by the flame. It gave energy picked up in the boiler to the piston, as it pushed it down. It left the cylinder cooler and at less pressure, which was closer to its condensing point than when it entered the cylinder. The journey of the working fluid makes its way to the piston’s other side in the pressure intensifier (area B in my drawing). The amount of force exerted by the piston is easily calculated, and is the pressure of the gas multiplied by the piston head’s surface. If the gas pressure was 100 PSI and the piston head’s surface area was 10 square inches, 1000 pounds of force would be applied to the piston (100 X 10) on side A. On the piston’s other side is another head. The pressure the piston exerted on the steam in area B would be the force exerted divided by the surface area of the piston’s head. So, if the piston’s other head was only two square inches in area, and 1000 pounds of pressure were exerted, the pressure the gas would be subjected to would be 500 PSI (1000 / 2). By knowing the pressure of the working fluid leaving the boiler (mainly determined by the boiler’s temperature), and adjusting the surface areas of both heads of the piston, any desired pressure could be applied to the working fluid in the back end of the cylinder. At a certain pressure and temperature, the working fluid would re-condense.
02/22/06 - Focusing incoming Waves for Power Plant
 Pioneered by scientists at Energetech, a small alternative-energy company in Randwick, Australia, a prototype of the $1.5-million device is now in testing off the Australian coast, and Energetech hopes to build another one near Rhode Island by 2007. Moored several miles offshore, Energetech's 40-foot-tall rig relies on the up-and-down motion of waves to force air in and out of a chamber, turning a turbine that produces electricity. The company's president, Tom Engelsman, says that a full-scale unit could power up to 5,000 homes; the output depends on the size and regularity of the swells. But recent theoretical work of two Chinese scientists on amplifying wave energy could soon make devices like Energetech's even more effective. The height of a wave increases as it moves into shallower water-that's why waves get steeper as they approach the sand. According to scientists Xinhua Hu of Iowa State University and Che Ting Chan of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a football-field-size array of solid columns, situated some 300 feet from the rig, could effectively act as a false ocean bottom. The part of the wave that flows through the columns would behave as if it had reached the shallows, doubling in height. When the trough of the wave passes beneath the chamber, air is sucked downward [see diagram,facing page]. Then, as its peak rolls through, air is forced back up, spinning the turbine faster. Bigger waves mean more airflow and, according to Engelsman, "The more air you pump through, the more energy you get." A generator converts the mechanical energy of the spinning turbine into electricity, which flows by way of an underground cable to a power station that hooks up to the main grid onshore. If the Rhode Island project is approved, it will produce two megawatts of power a year, enough to power 1,200 homes.
02/22/06 - India - New technology to generate hydrogen
The Polymer Electrolyte Membrane-based hydrogen generator breaks down water into hydrogen and oxygen, and hydrogen is separated by a polymer membrane. ‘‘This membrane is selective and permits only hydrogen to pass through,’’ said TIFAC principal scientific officer P R Basak who is here to see the smooth conduct of the field trial. ‘The generator can even be redesigned to run on solar energy,’’ said Kerala Science Council for Science Technology and Environment director K R S Krishnan. ‘‘This will make hydrogen a clean green competitor to oil,’’ he said. These generators, can be an alternative to the traditional cannon-like hydrogen generators.
02/22/06 - Chatter Bug - Unlimited Long Distance, $9.95/Month, No PC
 A small company will ship next month a tiny device that clips onto any phone line, offering unlimited long-distance calls to any number in the U.S. and Canada for only $9.95 per month. Best of all, the device uses VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), but doesn't require broadband access -- or any kind of computer at all. You might say, "So what? I can download Skype software and make calls for nothing per month." The advantages of the new device, however, will make it an attractive choice for many consumers and businesses. Allow me to explain. The gizmo is called the Chatter Bug. It's a product of Lagunawave.com, a company in Tucson, Ariz., that previously sold high-speed Internet access through Sam's Club and other retail outlets. If you have a local phone line, the device represents a new way to think about long-distance, which I call "VoIP over dialup." No computer, DSL, Cable, broadband or Internet connection needed. Unlimited long distance phone calls to the US and to Canada for $9.95 per month. $9.95 Low monthly rate includes: no contracts, cancel service at any time, no unexpected charges, no calling cards to buy, no "800" or pin numbers to remember. Just plug into your existing home touch tone phone and existing local service. $24.95 for the Chatter Bug and $9.95 a month for the service. Details and Ordering
02/22/06 - New Hydrogen Extractor
A team at CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology has developed a small hydrogen device, the size of a domestic microwave oven, to fuel a family car. The device can extract enough hydrogen per day from water to power a family car for up to 150km. Currently, the hydrogen unit runs on main's power, but researchers are investigating how to power the unit with renewable energy, such as solar and wind power. While the idea of fuelling your car with hydrogen generated from a solar panel might sound like science fiction, project leader Dr Sukhvinder Badwal says concepts such as the hydrogen economy are real possibilities.
02/22/06 - Low-cost services launch remains, mementos, etc.
 Even if you can't afford the $20 million for a launch into Earth orbit, you can still put a little piece of yourself into space for as little as $35. Cremated remains from 187 people - including "Star Trek" actor James Doohan and Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper - are due to be sent into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket sometime in March. The families of the dearly departed paid between $995 to $5,300 for the sendoff, arranged by Houston-based Space Services Inc. Colorado-based Beyond-Earth Enterprises plans to launch a rocket on a brief flight in October with hair samples or fingernail clippings sent by people who paid $34.95 for the “DNA kit” package. The company will also transport science experiments - no animals allowed - for $2,500. Space Services’ planned launch of ashes on an unspecified date next month from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California will be the fifth “memorial spaceflight” for the privately held company and its previous incarnation, Celestis Inc. It conducted its first “space funeral flight” in 1997 with the ashes of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and 23 other people from all walks of life. The ashes launched next month will be a secondary payload on the Falcon 1 rocket, with the Air Force's TacSat 1 satellite as the primary payload. A module containing capsules of ashes will orbit for years before falling into the atmosphere, Moore said.
02/21/06 - Claim of Self-Sustained Power source
 At Flynn Research, Parallel Path electromagnetism is explained as a method of controlling and directing magnetic flux within the core of a motor to provide an exponentially greater motive force than conventional motors. A Parallel Path motor uses a pair of permanent magnets in addition to the familiar stator-coil-rotor arrangement of current motors. The magnets, along with an air gap, allow all of the magnetic flux within the core to be manipulated and directed--this ability to manipulate the magnetic flux in the core of a motor is what provides the exponential increase in efficiency with Parallel Path technology. Best of all, the Parallel Path technology can be used with linear as well as rotary electric motors. Independent replications of the Parallel Path technology appear to support Flynn Research’s claims. Testing and Finite Element Analysis show that the Parallel Path system indeed manages to not only increase the magnetic flux in the core by a factor of four over conventional electric motors, but manipulate the flux to act in the direction of motion, generating considerably more motive power than conventional motors. What lends even more credibility to Parallel Path is that Boeing Phantom Works is apparently backing the technology and has recently presented with Flynn Research on the technology at the latest STAIF conference held Albuquerque, NM this Feb 2006 Flynn Research Also has a patent that is certainly worth checking out its number is US Patent No. 6,246,561.
02/21/06 - 6,500-Year-Old Voices Recorded In Pottery
 (Reminds me of a couple of 'Science Fiction Theater' episodes, using a slow curing crystalline material to capture sound and cooling lava that captured sound and video. - JWD) Belgian researchers have been able to use computer scans of the grooves in 6,500-year-old pottery to extract sounds -- including talking and laughter -- made by the vibrations of the tools used to make the pottery. Here comes the VIDEO (the interviews are in French, but you'll hear the pottery recordings as well). (via therawfeed.com)
02/21/06 - Things you don't want Google to find
 McAfee Senior Vice President for Risk Management George Kurtz demonstrated at the RSA conference in Silicon Valley yesterday how easy it is to find CONFIDENTIAL PASSWORD FILES and other secret stuff using Google. Kurtz demonstrated today at RSA conference, that protection software didn't prevent users and organisations to post those goodies online for anyone to find. "You almost get bored finding all these password files. It used to be fun in the old days when you found a password file. Now you just go to Google and find thousands of them," Kurtz said. So you removed that file with the password, but did you think about Google cache? Yes, that's the management interface for a Netgear router that was found using Google. It still had the default login and password settings. What more do you want? Search for sites with "Remote desktop web connection" in the title, and you'll find... remote desktops that you can take over. If the user sees you taking over, simply say that you're the system administrator working to bolster the user's security. Kurtz did that once during a security audit and it worked well.
02/21/06 - Using the Voice to detect and treat Disease
Using anomalous vocal patterns, the acoustic architecture of the voice is being uniquely investigated for its potential to model biological function, disease process and environmental exposures. As remarkable as this idea may seem, groundbreaking studies have shown that the acoustic parameters of the voice have the capacity to provide biometric information regarding states of health. Omeris, a non-profit organization founded to build and accelerate bioscience research in Ohio, has recognized that vocal acoustic studies conducted by Sharry Edwards, MEd., through her company Sound Health, Inc., have “brought a revolutionary idea to the forefront of the Bioscience Community.” Preliminary studies completed by Edwards included vocal studies for exposures and susceptibility to invading pathogens. The therapeutic potential of vocal profiling is the identification of pre-diagnostic biometrics which can be used to enhance or render inert, disease based biomarkers depending on the desired outcome. The research protocols have also provided information that can be used to develop a therapy phase using a set of designer frequencies which precisely targets a specific normalizing response. One of the most important projects being slated is the development of an on-line vocal sampling program that could gather research data by testing for toxin or pathogen exposure. Using this method, strategically located centers throughout the world could systematically sample vocal patterns that would be reported to a central location. Exposure to the bird flu viruses could be monitored through established mathematical templates derived from the acoustic measurements of individuals or groups suspected of contamination. Vocal analysis has been used during two pilot studies to create protocols that were used to relieve the unrelenting fibromyalgia and back pain for long term sufferers.
02/21/06 - Automatic Book Scanner with page turner
 ATIZ has developed an automatic book scanner that is of a somewhat-reasonable size. There are a couple other automatic book scanners out there but they are huge machines according to Art Sarasin, president of ATIZ. This machine uses a page-turning mechanism. It connects via USB 2.0 and all you do is designate how many pages you want to scan and it does the rest of the work. If you want the ease of this, you will have to pay for it. They are currently taking a preorders and it will be available next month for a hefty $35,000. BookDrive will digitize bound content in a variety of formats allowing the user to share and archive bound materials. It is just like any traditional flatbed scanners that you are familiar with, but BookDrive is unique in that it has an automatic page-turning mechanism inside. Simply entering the number of pages you want to scan, BookDrive then automatically outputs the entire content of the scanned book in a digital format without requiring constant supervision and interference.
02/21/06 - More on Kamens Generator and Water Still
 The electric generator is powered by an easily-obtained local fuel: cow dung. Each machine continuously outputs a kilowatt of electricity. That may not sound like much, but it is enough to light 70 energy-efficient bulbs. As Kamen puts it, "If you judiciously use a kilowatt, each villager can have a nighttime." The Slingshot [water purifier] works by taking in contaminated water - even raw sewage -- and separating out the clean water by vaporizing it. It then shoots the remaining sludge back out a plastic tube. Kamen thinks it could be paired with the power machine and run off the other machine's waste heat. Compared to building big power and water plants, Kamen's approach has the virtue of simplicity. He even created an instruction sheet to go with each Slingshot. It contains one step: Just add water, any water. (via worldchanging.com)
02/21/06 - Recover Scratched CDs with Toothpaste
 If you’ve ever owned a CD or DVD, you’ve certainly had to deal with scratched up, unreadable media. Hardware Secrets has a simple solution: a scratched CD can be recovered by polishing its plastic surface. If, after carrying out the above cleansing, the CD persists in giving reading errors, just polish the CD with toothpaste. That’s right, toothpaste. It works wonders, and you won’t spend a fortune buying professional cleaning kits. Having learned this trick in college, I can vouch for it. Don’t expect to recover your most damaged CDs, but you certainly can work a little magic. (via lifehacker.com)
02/20/06 - Claim of invention for Chaining Maxwell's Demon
 This is an experiment report on a special energy conversion. Two similar and parallel Ag-O-Cs cathodes in a vacuum tube eject electrons at room temperature continuously. A static magnetic field applied to the tube plays the role of the famous "Maxwell's demon". The thermal electrons are so controlled by the magnetic field that they can fly only from one cathode to the other, resulting in a charge collection and an electric potential. A load, a resistance for example, is connected to the cathodes, getting an electric power from the tube continuously. Here, the air within the laboratory is a single heat reservoir and all of the heat extracted by the electronic tube from the reservior is converted into electric energy, without producting any other effects. The Authors believe that the experiment is in contradiction to Kelvin's statement of the second law of thermodynamics. To better understand how the Demon works, play either of these two JAVA applets, Maxwell's Demon Game #1 (with yellow background and better explanation) or Maxwell's Demon Game #2 (with black background).
02/20/06 - Celebrate Engineers Week February 19th-25th
 Engineers turn ideas into reality. Feb. 19-25 is Engineer's Week, with the theme this year of "Engineers Make a World of Difference." Many engineering companies will send volunteers into classrooms to tell students and teachers what life is like as an engineer. Locally, we are focusing on middle schools and hope to encourage students to pursue classes in science and mathematics, skills crucial to engineering. Another focus is encouraging women and minorities to consider engineering careers. The numbers associated with engineering in the United States indicate clearly that our dominance in the field is threatened. Total numbers of engineers graduating from U.S. schools continue to decline, as do the numbers of women and minorities entering engineering programs. Despite very competitive salaries, it is a struggle to interest young people in pursuing degrees in engineering. The Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2003 reported that average engineering salaries ranged from $64,000 for industrial engineers to over $88,000 for nuclear engineers. Perhaps Thomas Edison summed it up best. He said, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." When it comes to attracting students to my field, we might say: "Engineering is missed by most people because it carries a pocket protector, wears tape on its glasses and looks like work." By applying the ideas of great thinkers, engineers have rewarded the world with freedom from drudgery, advancement of the human condition and an incredible growth in worldwide wealth. Please celebrate Engineer's Week with us and help us mold the next generation of engineers.
02/20/06 - Clean water from Solar Power
EnergyQuest, Inc. will be testing its new portable solar powered water purification technology near El Paso, Texas at an agricultural testing facility operated by the Texas Water Resources Institute of Texas A & M as early as February 2006. The system purifies water using only solar power. It is easy to store and portable making it invaluable for use in providing drinking water during disaster relief efforts. The system also has promising applications for agriculture in areas where water is brackish or unsuitable for crop development. The system purifies water while also reserving for future use or sale, any minerals or other useable by-products collected during the purification process, such as sea salt from an ocean water source.
02/20/06 - Cleve Backsters Primary Perception
 (I heard an Art Bell interview of Cleve Backster which evoked some memories of our meeting years ago. - JWD) Cleve Backster is a pioneer in research demonstrating how plants, or for that matter, any live cells have some surprising abilities to respond to thoughts and feelings and communicate in ways they wouldn't traditionally be expected to. It is very easy to do, and any skeptic ought to check it out for themselves. It is just that you need some kind of galvanic skin response meter. Like this. Which is essentially just an electronic instrument that measures resistance and that is very sensitive. A regular ohm meter isn't good enough as it isn't nearly sensitive enough. It takes something like a wheatstone's bridge, which gives large and fast readings on minute resistance changes. Or some more modern equivalent. And it needs to be attached to some suitable electrodes. For humans that would be something similar to a pair of tin cans. For a plant, the clips that otherwise would attach to the cans would do it. So, now, for the simple and interesting experiments. You attach the clips to some plant you have standing around the house. Any plant will do, but a big leafy thing would be good. The meter will just show the needle standing rather still. If you cut off a leaf of the plant, the needle will give a sizable reaction. Not very surprising. But the surprising part is that if you take your scissor and approach the plant, intending to cut a leaf off of it, it will also react in a similar fashion, without you having touched it. It seems to react to your intention somehow. Likewise if you have several plants, maybe of the same kind. Put them in different rooms, to rule out that they can, eh, see each other. Attach the meter to one of them and have somebody watch it. Then go to the other plant and either treaten to cut one of its leaves off, or actually do so. Either way, the plant in the first room will react as if it was happening to itself. Very simple to do. And it should certainly raise some questions in the mind of anybody who believes this would of course be impossible. And you can of course do this more scientifically and systematically, trying to exclude all sorts of other factors. And you can take it much further. And that is the kind of work that Cleve Backster has been doing.
02/20/06 - Claim of Sleep Inducing Machine
EarthPulse Sleep On Command® emits sequences of electromagnetic waves at tempos that gently tune down the mind and body enabling just about anyone to fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. Sleep On Command® magnetic waves are sequenced to intentionally guide consciousness toward deep sleep. 9 out of 10 clients sleep far better the very first night of use without any of the drawbacks of sleep medication. Instead of waking groggy, the built in timer tunes the user back to an alert mind state prior to their alarm clock ringing.
Once a small digitally controlled disk is placed under any mattress, it turns that bed into the world’s first electromagnetic sleep machine. The device is small and portable, and solves the problem of jet lag when traveling. To investigate whether EarthPulse® could improve the sleep of chronic lower back pain patients, the founder of an Ivy League University Hospital Pain Center conducted two informal pilot evaluations that indicated EarthPulse significantly improved sleep quality in over 80% of participants. EarthPulse Sleep On Command® is affordably priced at around US$500 and sold with a 90 day satisfaction guarantee. Deep sleep in the EarthPulse® field triggers a host of recognizable effects like enhanced strength and stamina, better mental focus and improved flexibility.
02/20/06 - Recyclers Raft from empty soda bottles
 Anyone who can unzip the ends and insert empty soda bottles into the polyester duc shell can use it. The need for a dependable float that is lightweight, easily transportable, doesn't require blowing up, and won't go flat has been ever present. Utilizing (recycling) empty 2 liter soda bottles as extremely durable bouyancy cells, that are easily replaced, and virtually free, is the type of "new millenium" thinking that RSEE Innovations is trying to promote. By getting consumers to recycle in order to use the product he hopes to inspire all ages to become more active in community recycling programs and unleash their creative side to the endless possibillities of reducing, reusing, and recycling.
02/20/06 - Troubleshooting can be just resetting power
"One of the most effective methods for troubleshooting electronics is unplugging power." The most effective troubleshooting/repair tool available for computers or microprocessor-controlled systems is turning power off, waiting a period of time, and turning power back on. Here’s why it works: Computers and microprocessors are control systems which are generally not fully controllable. This means that either the hardware or software can put them into a state where normal control inputs have no effect on the system. This topic is called “Controllability” in formal Control Theory jargon. I will use the term “computer” to mean computer or any microprocessor-controlled system. Your microwave, VCR, and fancy coffee pot are non-computer examples. One state that all functioning computers can recover from is the power-off state. Hardware and software engineers work diligently to make sure a computer can turn on into a known controllable state. In hardware, there are many causes for what is called a Single Event Upset (SEU). A power glitch, a cosmic ray passing through an integrated circuit (IC), or an alpha ray from the plastic IC package, can all cause an SEU, possibly changing a logic state (1 to 0 or vice versa), or triggering latchup in the pnpn layer most ICs have. In software, the computer can get caught in an infinite loop. How do you turn your computer off, and how long do you keep it off? Using the off/on switch or normal software shutdown will cure more than 90 percent of the problems, but not all of them. After turning off the computer, you need to pull the plug from the wall and make sure anything the computer interfaces with (modem, printer, etc.) is also turned off and unplugged. (Power strips are great for this.) If your computer has a battery, such as a laptop does, or a built-in UPS battery, you also need to remove this power source. The reason is that even if you turn off your computer, it still draws vampire power to keep certain monitoring and startup circuits alive -- which may be causing the problem. Now that you’ve turned it off, how long do you keep it off? Usually, but not always, 30 seconds is enough. This is because bleeder resistors across capacitors used to be designed to discharge logic, memory, and interface voltages to less than five percent of normal voltage in about this amount of time.
02/20/06 - Pointy leaves and plant respiration/growth
 (Fascinating study that correlates with ion flow from points. - JWD) Leaves with 'toothed' edges help trees, shrubs and other plants cope with the cold, US researchers say. the jagged, pointy edges on leaves are packed with xylem, a tissue that transports water and nutrients in sap. Most of the liquid evaporates by leaving the teeth through minuscule pores. "In the springtime when leaves are just starting to leaf out, leaves with teeth are, on average, losing more water than leaves without teeth," says Royer, now an assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at Wesleyan University. "This loss of water helps pull more sap up from the roots. Thus trees with toothed leaves probably have a higher rate of sap flow early in the spring than toothless leaves. "This is important because it delivers nutrients to the developing leaves, helping to 'jumpstart' their photosynthetic season. As you move to colder and colder climates with shorter and shorter growing seasons, it becomes increasingly beneficial to have teeth," he adds. Both energy-gathering activity and transpiration increased at jagged leaf edges by up to 45% during the first 30 days of the spring growing season. Leaves without teeth did not exhibit such a marked increase. Possessing teeth may not always be advantageous for leaves since the teeth also promote more water loss. Plants in drier regions seem to be better off if they have fewer teeth or are toothless.
02/20/06 - UPS Expands “Green Fleet” with 50 Hybrid Electric Vehicles
UPS today announced it had placed an order for 50 new-generation hybrid electric delivery trucks and also would acquire 4,100 low-emission conventional vehicles during 2006. The hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are being purchased in two sizes from International Truck and Engine and Freightliner LLC. The trucks will feature lithium ion batteries that are capable of faster re-charging and have a longer life than batteries used in previous generations of HEV’s. The truck bodies will be identical externally to the signature-brown trucks that now comprise the UPS fleet. The first of the 50 HEV’s will be deployed in Dallas this June and will join more than 10,000 low emission and alternative-fuel vehicles already in use. The UPS alternative fuel fleet - at 1,500 vehicles one of the largest in the United States - currently includes trucks powered by compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, electricity and hydrogen. Research also is underway with the Environmental Protection Agency on a hydraulic hybrid drivetrain. In 2001, the company deployed the industry’s first hybrid electric package car into regular service in Huntsville, Ala., where the truck worked a 31-mile route with about 160 pickups and deliveries each day. UPS then introduced its second generation HEV to its Kalamazoo, Mich., fleet in 2004, while at the same time deploying the first hydrogen fuel cell delivery trucks into regular service.
02/20/06 - Engineering Nerve Jumper Cables For Repair Spinal Cord In Animal Model
 "We have created a three-dimensional neural network, a mini nervous system in culture, which can be transplanted en masse," explains senior author Douglas H. Smith, MD, Professor, Department of Neurosurgery and Director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at Penn. Previously, Smith's group showed that they could grow axons by placing neurons from rat dorsal root ganglia (clusters of nerves just outside the spinal cord) on nutrient-filled plastic plates. Axons sprouted from the neurons on each plate and connected with neurons on the other plate. The plates were then slowly pulled apart over a series of days, aided by a precise computer-controlled motor system. In this study, the neurons were elongated to 10mm over seven days -- after which they were embedded in a collagen matrix (with growth factors), rolled into a form resembling a jelly roll, and then implanted into a rat model of spinal cord injury. "That creates what we call a nervous-tissue construct," says Smith. "We have designed a geometrical arrangement that looks similar to the longitudinal arrangement that the spinal cord had before it was damaged. The long bundles of axons span two populations of neurons, and these neuron constructs can grow axons in two directions -- toward each other and into the host spinal cord at each side. That way they can integrate and connect the 'cables' to the host tissue in order to bridge a spinal cord lesion."
02/20/06 - Japan, China, India and others must know something
While Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and other experts are betting on ethanol, hybrids and other futuristic technologies to keep America's 230 million cars and trucks moving, the globe's major consumers have put their money on Canadian oil sands. In a record early February surge of bids for tar sand oil leases for undeveloped acreage in Canada's Alberta oil sands area, a group of foreign bidders paid $651 million Canadian ($566 million U.S.). This was by far the largest amount ever paid for tar sand leases at one time. It is rather ironic that this bidding surge occurred one week after President Bush's State of the Union message, which never even touched on coal-to-oil conversion as an alternative to the choke-hold that the OPEC nations exert over the world's fast-growing consumption. There was nary a word about this proven coal-to-oil conversion system, which has been assiduously discussed for several months in the electronic as well as the print media. It is equally puzzling that there has been no alternative energy acknowledgment of the 300 million tons of coal which is buried under America's acreage. Pilot projects, such as that implemented by Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer have already proven successful as a synthetic fuel substitute.
The record prices paid in early February signify a wholesale acreage acquisition in the Athabasca oil sands region by the world's leading consumer nations that want to assure availability during the next few decades. These nations' monetary outlays, which are reaching multibillion-dollar proportions, seem to validate the Alberta oil sands as the only proven alternative to large scale crude oil production, now monopolized by OPEC. It's obvious that these major world powers, facing increasing fossil fuel needs, are not waiting around for some of the exotic alternatives alluded to in President Bush's State of the Union speech.
02/20/06 - PTO Requests Model of Warp Drive Invention
 (They need to make it a REQUIREMENT for WORKING MODELS for ALL HARDWARE patents, not just IDEAS! - JWD) The Worsley-Twist warp drive does not depend upon traditional emissions of matter to create thrust. Rather, the drive creates a change in the curvature of the space-time continuum - thus allowing travel by warping space-time. Worsley & Twist patent application recently suffered another setback. The Examiner has now requested a working model: Applicant is required to furnish a model of the instant invention. 35 U.S.C. 114. See Also 37 C.F.R. 1.91. Among other rejections, the Examiner has asserted a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101 for lack of utility - finding that the invention is inoperable. (via zpenergy.com)
02/20/06 - Soldiers Get Crash Courses on Gestures
An aid to soldiers and students, unspoken gestures can speak volumes and are gaining acceptance from researchers for accurately revealing how people think. "It tells you what people have in their heads. As such, it is a clear window into what they're thinking," said Justine Cassell, a professor of media technology and society at Northwestern University. "Many of the conflicts in the world today could be avoided if people could communicate better," said Hannes Vilhjalmsson, a research scientist at the University of Southern California. Vilhjalmsson helped create the Tactical Iraqi and similar simulation programs with money from the Defense Department. The soldiers can interact with residents after learning basic language and gesturing skills. The residents react according to how well or poorly a soldier handles a situation. A single woman will turn away _ and a nearby group of men bristle _ if a soldier charges up to her. Young children will warm to a soldier who stoops to their level and removes his sunglasses before asking simple questions, Vilhjalmsson said in displaying the program. "They are building an impression of you as you interact with them," he said. Simple motions are important, such as placing a hand over the heart in greeting. "Gesturing is not merely hand-waving. It conveys substantive information _ thoughts that often are not conveyed in words," said Susan Goldin-Meadow, a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago. When researchers asked children and adults to do two things at once _ solve a math problem and remember a short list of words _ those who gestured outperformed others who did not. "I am trying to argue here gesturing is facilitating learning," Goldin-Meadow said.
02/19/06 - High Efficiency Solar Cell breakthrough
 In a scientific breakthrough that has stunned the world, a team of South African scientists has developed a revolutionary new, highly efficient solar power technology that will enable homes to obtain all their electricity from the sun. The unique South African-developed solar panels will make it possible for houses to become completely self-sufficient for energy supplies. The panels are able to generate enough energy to run stoves, geysers, lights, TVs, fridges, computers - in short all the mod-cons of the modern house. The new technology should be available in South Africa within a year and through a special converter, energy can be fed directly into the wiring of existing houses. New powerful storage units will allow energy storage to meet demands even in winter. The panels are so efficient they can operate through a Cape Town winter. while direct sunlight is ideal for high-energy generation, other daytime light also generates energy via the panels. A team of scientists led by University of Johannesburg (formerly Rand Afrikaans University) scientist Professor Vivian Alberts achieved the breakthrough after 10 years of research. The South African technology has now been patented across the world. International experts have admitted that nothing else comes close to the effectiveness of the South African invention. The South African solar panels consist of a thin layer of a unique metal alloy that converts light into energy. The photo-responsive alloy can operate on virtually all flexible surfaces, which means it could in future find a host of other applications. Alberts said the new panels are approximately five microns thick (a human hair is 20 microns thick) while the older silicon panels are 350 microns thick. the cost of the South African technology is a fraction of the less effective silicone solar panels.
02/19/06 - Air Force Teleport paper (pdf)
 (Thanks to Bert Pool for the headsup on this, some incredible comments. It describes several approaches to teleportation along with experiments, both technical and using psychics with apparent teleportation abilities according to the testing done with them. - JWD) The paper goes into detail about four methods of teleportation; 1) Wormhole, 2) Quantum, 3) Extra Dimensional, and 4) Psychokinetic. One of the more interesting examples of controlled experiments with Uri Geller was one in which he was able to cause a part of a vanadium carbide crystal to vanish (Hasted et al., 1975). The crystal was encapsulated so it could not be touched, and it was placed in such a way that it could not be switched with another crystal by sleight of hand. A more spectacular series of rigorously controlled (and repeatable!) laboratory experiments occurred in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). In September 1981, an extraordinary paper was published in the PRC in the journal Ziran Zazhi (transl.: Nature Journal), and this paper was entitled, “Some Experiments on the Transfer of Objects Performed by Unusual Abilities of the Human Body” (Shuhuang et al., 1981). The paper reported that gifted children were able to cause the apparent teleportation of small objects (radio micro-transmitters, photosensitive paper, mechanical watches, horseflies, other insects, etc.) from one location to another (that was meters away) without them ever touching the objects beforehand. The experiments were operated under exceptionally well-controlled conditions (both blind and double-blind). The researchers involved included not only observers from various PRC colleges and medical research institutes, but also representatives from the PRC National Defense Science Commission. Reported in several articles are experiments involving the videotaping and high-speed photography of the transfer of test specimens (nuts, bundles of matches, pills, nails, thread, photosensitive paper, chemically treated paper, sponges dipped in FeCl3, etc.) through the walls of sealed paper envelopes, double layered KCNS type paper bags, sealed glass bottles and tubes with sealed caps, and sealed plastic film canisters without the walls of any of these containers being breached. All of the Chinese experiments reported using gifted children and young adults, who possessed well-known extraordinary PK ability, to cause the teleportation of the various test specimens. In all the experimental cases that were reported, the test specimens that were teleported were completely unaltered or unchanged from their initial state, even the insects were unaffected by being teleported. The experiments were well controlled, scientifically recorded, and the experimental results were always repeatable.
02/19/06 - Fiat Panda fuel cell auto ready for fleet testing
 The Panda Hydrogen is a true hydrogen prototype with a sturdy, reliable drive system. Panda Hydrogen incorporates a full power system, i.e. no battery is required for the accumulation of electrical energy. The new Fuel Cell System (electrical power generator) is able to deliver all the power required by the electric engine to ensure great vehicle handling. The system consists mainly of three fuel cells: an innovative turbo-blower to supply the cells with air, a humidification and cooling system for correct management of reagent gases and a set of auxiliary components, all developed within the Fiat Group. On the Panda Hydrogen, the Fuel Cell System is housed beneath the floor. The fuel cells are made up of several cells connected in series. Inside, the hydrogen and oxygen molecules are forced to react with the aid of a catalyst to produce water and heat. Electrical energy is generated with very high efficiency and zero emissions from the vehicle itself. The electrical power generation system is supplied with hydrogen at a pressure of 1.5 bars and oxygen contained in the air. It produces electrical energy so efficiently that 60% is available at just 20% of maximum power. The Fuel Cell System installed on the Panda Hydrogen also features excellent performance at low temperatures and a relatively simple construction that makes it particularly suitable for the production of light, sturdy and reliable generators for use on vehicles. The alternating current three-phase asynchronous electric engine and the transmission are located in the engine compartment together with the various accessories required to operate the system as a whole. The hydrogen that feeds the Fuel Cell is contained at a pressure of 350 bars in a tank made out of composite material installed beneath the car’s rear floor pan. All the distinguishing features of the New Panda passenger compartment are therefore maintained, including outstanding roominess for four people. At full power, the Fuel Cell engine on the Panda Hydrogen delivers 60 kW that allows the car to reach a top speed of more than 130 km/h, with acceleration from 0 to 50 km/h in 5 seconds. The car can also easily climb a gradient of 23% at take-off. The hydrogen tank capacity guarantees the Panda Hydrogen a range of more than 200 km over an urban cycle. Refuelling time is very quick at less than 5 minutes, i.e. comparable to the time taken to refuel a methane car.
02/19/06 - Race for space heats up with Competitors
 Thirty-four years after the last Apollo astronaut walked on the lunar surface, a new space race is underway. Each country is going for its own reasons-some commercial, some strategic, some for national pride. But if the plans come to fruition, the moon could become a busy extraterrestrial outpost for scientists, engineers and possibly ordinary citizens in the coming decades. It would also serve as a vital way station for man’s long-dreamed-of trip to Mars. Why bother with the moon? The US has been there. Six times. On each occasion, explorers have found the same barren world-a place of ‘‘magnificent desolation,’’ in the words of Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Visionaries such as Gregg Maryniak, director of the James S. McDonnell Planetarium in St. Louis, have little patience with those who say, ‘‘been there, done that’’ about the moon. ‘‘That’s like saying you’ve seen New York when you changed planes at JFK.’’ Today, the European Space Agency’s SMART-1 is the only craft in lunar orbit. It will soon have plenty of company. The Japanese are readying Lunar-A and SELENE for launch on missions to survey the moon’s geology and topography. Then comes India’s $100-million Chandrayaan-1 mission in September 2007. The 1,150-pound craft shaped like a 5-ft cube will orbit the moon’s polar regions for two years and make a chemical map of the surface. China is preparing to launch its Chang’e 1 probe at about the same time to study the lunar environment from orbit. By 2012, China would start work on a spacecraft capable of bringing material back from the moon. A landing by “taikonauts” would occur after 2017.
02/19/06 - Interesting Ideas Website
 A few more new invention ideas. Read about them, laugh at them if you must, modify them, use them and call them your own if you want. Air conditioning shirt. Backpacking in hot weather, I often stop to wet my shirt in a stream. The evaporative cooling as it dries is wonderful. Now if a shirt had little water "tanks" on the shoulders, a shirt could be kept wet and keep cooling for hours, perhaps. They would have to be lightweight, and they would have to release the water slowly. Even better would be tanks with an adjustable rate of flow, so you could have the shirt wetted at the same rate is was drying. Chip dip tubes. No more messy bowls of stale, drying chip dip with broken chips in it. Instead, you just apply the dip from a toothpaste-like tube, directly onto the chip. You get exactly the right amount, with less mess. They could be sold in six packs, so everyone can have their own tube. Hmm... What else can be put in tubes? What size should the tubes be? Here's a concept ripe for some new invention ideas. Steve Gillman has been exploring new ideas for decades. Visit his site for invention ideas, business ideas, story ideas, political and economic theories, deep thoughts, and more. Get a free gift too: http://www.999ideas.com.
02/19/06 - Indian Inventions
 Discovery Networks India channel has tied up with National Innovation Foundation and will be airing short films on a few grassroots innovators in the country like Saidullah during its programme "Beyond Tomorrow" starting this coming Monday. The programme talks about new inventions around the world that will be an integral part of the future. Seventy-year-old Mohammad Saidullah does not wait for boats. He can literally "walk" across water without any magic. No Leonardo da Vinci, he invented an amphibious bicycle that "wades" across water to get to his wife, Noor, during a flood in Bihar. Inventor Saini has done what most mobile manufacturers have not managed to do -- use his mobile phone to switch on and off tube-wells. "You can also switch your AC on and off with the mobile phone. I have also made a robot. It's important that people realise that a boy from a small village in the country can invent so many things, " he said. Remya Jose of Kerala who has a paddle-operated washing machine to Mansukh Prajapati of Gujarat who has his own refrigerator company "Mitticool", these innovators have been working hard to make the lives of others more comfortable. To keep vegetables fresh for up to five days, Prajapati has made a refrigerator that does not consume electricity and costs only Rs. 2,000. "It takes about eight days to make. The best part of my fridge is that the taste of the vegetables remains the same, unlike regular fridges. Now am working on an "R-O", in which the salty water gets separated, " said Prajapati, a potter by profession.
02/18/06 - Quantum Physics - The 'spin triplet' supercurrent
 Superconductivity occurs when electrical current moves without resistance, a phenomenon that gave rise to particle accelerators, magnetic resonance imagining machines and trains that float, friction-free, on their tracks. Under quantum physics theory, conventional superconductivity is not supposed to occur in ferromagnets. When electrons pass through these crystalline materials, they realign in ways that won't allow resistance-free conductivity. While supercurrent through a ferromagnet has been observed, it moved only an extremely short distance before resistance kicked in. But a team of scientists from Delft University of Technology, Brown University and the University of Alabama has now accomplished this physics feat, creating a "spin triplet" supercurrent through a unique ferromagnet. As explained in the current issue of Nature, the team's experimental system converts the spin, or rotation, of pairs of electrons in such a way that suggests they exist in three quantum states inside the new magnet. There's the standard "spin up" and "spin down" - a reference to an electron's angular momentum - but also a middle state. Picture a planet that was thought to rotate two ways: With its North Pole pointing up or pointing down. But now it's found that this planet can be made to rotate on its side, with its North Pole pointing out in a 90-degree angle. Xiao said the spin triplet current created with the ferromagnet would allow for new control in spintronics development. "Once you understand this new behavior of electrons, you can apply the knowledge in new ways to commercial products," he said. "The consequences can be significant." (I see in this a direct connection to Keely's claims of a triple/trinary energy current that is a key to all energy flows. "the ear cannot detect the triple chord of any vibration, or sounding note, but every sound that is induced of any range, high or low, is governed by the same laws, as regards triple action of such, that govern every sympathetic flow in Nature. Were it not for these triple vibratory conditions, change of polarity could NEVER be effected, and consequently there could be NO rotation." He showed that all sympathetic streams of energy are composed of triple currents of vibratory flows. This applies to magnetic, electric, gravital, and cerebellic (brain and mind) flows. These laws govern all molecular masses from the innermost subdivision of the atom to the galaxies and universe itself. These flows radiate from suns and stars to planets on down the scale to the very core of the atoms. Since these flows are vibrational in nature and tuned to their respective spheres Keely believed this was the basis for the term "music of the spheres". / About the photo of the triple streams as seen from a TV screen, see Triune Current. - JWD)
02/18/06 - SeaGen Wave power study in Wales
 The potential for using the power of the tides to generate electricity for homes and businesses in Wales is being taken a step further. With funding from the Welsh Assembly Government, tidal energy firm Marine Current Turbines will examine and identify locations around the Welsh coastline where its tidal stream technology could be suitable. The project is supported by the Welsh Development Agency’s Energy Office, which has worked closely with Marine Current Turbines to facilitate the development of this project in Wales. Marine Current Turbines and PMSS plan to identify sites for potential development and ultimately progress at least one of these sites to install a 10MW tidal stream farm (an array). A 10MW tidal stream array would generate sufficient energy to meet the equivalent demand of approximately 7,000 homes.
02/18/06 - Heart Predicts Future
"HeartMath recently unveiled evidence of a biological process through which human subjects were able to predict the onset of future events. Scientific instruments monitored respiration, skin conductance, EEG, ECG and heart rates of test subjects as they responded to visual stimuli. Imagery of peaceful and calm scenes produced no significant changes to their biological patterns whereas images of harmful events caused severe emotional responses. What surprised researchers the most was the sensors indicated distress up an average of three to seven seconds before the images appeared. Fluctuations to the subject's heart rate were the predominant indicator of impending trauma, a measured phenomena more significant in women than men." (via omninerd.com)
02/18/06 - Mazda begins leasing Rotary Hydrogen Vehicles
 Mazda announced today that it has received permission from Japan’s Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) to begin leasing the RX-8 Hydrogen RE to corporate customers. The RX-8 Hydrogen RE vehicles are equipped with a rotary engine, and feature a dual-fuel system that allows the driver to select either hydrogen or gasoline. Mazda undertook 29 months of development from the time of announcing the concept model to achieving the breakthrough, real-world rotary hydrogen vehicle. Employing a dual-fuel system, the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE can run on either high-pressure hydrogen gas or gasoline. This combination offers excellent convenience because it can be driven in remote areas where hydrogen fueling stations are not readily available, easing driver concerns about running out of fuel. In addition, this system boasts great environmental friendliness-zero emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas and near zero nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission when fueled by hydrogen-together with the natural driving feel of an internal combustion engine. It uses engine parts and production facilities that already exist in Mazda’s inventory, so this innovative engine can be built with a high degree of reliability at a relatively low cost. The standard monthly lease price is 420,000 yen ($3,554.80 USD ????) with tax included which is almost half the monthly lease price of a fuel cell vehicles already available in Japan.
02/18/06 - New high efficiency solar collector
A unique solar collector was developed by specialists of the Moscow “ALTEN” company under the guidance of Boris Kazandzhan, Professor, Doctor of Science (Engineering), Moscow Power Engineering Institute. Originality of the novelty lies in its extremely high efficiency. The collector not only manages to entrap the heat of solar beams falling on its surface, but also to utilize it to a great extent for direct purpose - for water heating. To increase efficiency of absorption of solar energy and to reduce loss of heat, a special selective multi-layer coating based on titanium carbide is used. On the outside, it is dark as it should be to absorb light well. But its peculiarity is that having become warm, the coating almost does not radiate thermal energy. Thus, the coating allows to entrap solar energy in the visible and near infra-red spectral region where more than 90 percent of solar energy is concentrated, and almost not to irradiate energy into the spectral regions corresponding to radiation of heat. The heat entrapped in such a way is collected by water that flows along copper tubes embedded into aluminium shapes covered by a selective coating and forming a so-called absorber. Instead of water, however, some other heat carrier may be used, but water is the cheapest of all. During a sunny day, one collector of 2 square meters in area can heat approximately 150 liters of water up to the temperature of 60 to 70 degrees C (140-158F). If necessary, water can be heated up to the boiling point. Several collectors can provide for hot water-supply and heating of a small cottage. Evidently, in the moderate climate, for instance, in the Moscow Region, it makes sense only during the “long” summer season since early spring till late autumn. In wintertime, one cannot survive only on solar heat, be the efficiency of such system even one hundred percent. However, in the mild European climate the system would serve all year round, to say nothing about warm areas. In near future, the first house with such heating will appear in the town of Sochi. Its front will be decorated with the ALTEN solar collector boards. The house will be provided with hot water the whole year round.
02/18/06 - Kamen wants entrepreneurs to bring water and electricity to the poor
 (Thanks to Bob Nelson at Rex Research for finding the two Kamen device patents now linked here. - JWD) Kamen invented two devices, each about the size of a washing machine that can provide much-needed power and clean water in rural villages. "Eighty percent of all the diseases you could name would be wiped out if you just gave people clean water," says Kamen. "The water purifier makes 1,000 liters (264 gallons) of clean water a day, and we don't care what goes into it. And the power generator makes a kilowatt off of anything that burns." Last year, Quadir took prototypes of Kamen's power machines to two villages in his home country for a six-month field trial. That trial, which ended last September, sold Quadir on the technology. The electric generator is powered by an easily-obtained local fuel: cow dung. Each machine continuously outputs a kilowatt of electricity. That may not sound like much, but it is enough to light 70 energy-efficient bulbs. As Kamen puts it, "If you judiciously use a kilowatt, each villager can have a nighttime." During the test in Bangladesh, Kamen's Stirling machines created three entrepreneurs in each village: one to run |
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