StormEffect

PowerSat is the first company I’ve read about to have a concrete and plausible plan for solar power satellites within the next decade. I explained this concept in a previous post so if you want more info check out the link to their site.

MIT (of course, who else? ) has discovered radiowaves can be used to effectively manipulate plasma used in would-be fusion reactions. Theorists are stumped and cannot explain exactly what is happening to induce this behavior. This brings Fusion based power generation one step closer to reality, a development that could effectively deal with most of the world’s energy problems.

Recently, GPUs (Graphics processing units) have garnered much media attention attention for their newly-tapped ability to process massively parallel data faster than than CPU (central processing unit, your processor). In fact, GPUs are so suited to parellel processing on a massive scale, they are edging in on super computers as a superior way to run scientific modeling simulations. (source)

Already, groups like SETI and Folding@Home have begun harnessing GPUs in the search for aliens and proteins, respectively. Now pathologists and epidemoligists have jumped onto the bandwagon, using GPUs to simulate the introduction of pathogens into complex (human) immune systems as well as the spread of those pathogens in society as a whole. 

In other words, every gaming PC just became a medical modeling super computer. Should this newfound power be used for good or for evil? Tell me below!

Hey there yall. Been quite the vacation from posting on the good old blog here, so I thought I’d return to you in a very meta-fashion.

Newsbits:

The ATI 4870X2 ($550) kicks the butt of every other “single” GPU available. Each card is outfitted with 2GB of GDDR5 RAM. It is actually possible to combine two of these cards in Crossfire X for a total of 4GPUs and 4GB of GDDR5 RAM. 64-bit Vista is an absolute requirement in this case, otherwise you’ll be running your monster gaming system with virtually no usable system ram. Woo for playing Crysis on a 30 inch computer monitor at 2560×1600 resolution! (link) Great, but I can’t wait until Fusion, a processor in which AMD will be slapping at least 2 CPU cores and a next-generation (5000 series) GPU core. Can anyone say, “the death of integrated graphics?”

Intel has finally released the USB3.0 specification. We are talking a 10x increase in transfer speed over USB2.0. Cool…I guess. But with eSATA already punching up transfer speeds as high as internal SATA, who needs the extra speed for anything besides a USB key? It’s not going to make my mouse any faster, that’s for sure. (link)

I just saw Tropic Thunder in theaters and was pleasantly surprised! Ben Stiller grabbed Jack Black and Robert Downy Jr. as well as the curiously unmentioned Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey and made an actually worthwhile comedy! Now I can forget about The Heartbreak Kid! *gag*

A new company has E. Coli crapping out Diesel. (link) It works like Cellulosic Ethanol (organic matter –> product). By producing Diesel instead of Ethanol, existing infrastructure is already capable of transporting and selling it. Ethanol requires a slightly modified engine and more expensive oil pipelines because it is more corrosive than normal gasoline. The start-up company responsible says with a few genetic modifications the E. Coli can also produce normal gasoline and even jet fuel! Very cool, but until this process is scaled up thousands and thousands of times, it isn’t much more than a proof of concept. The E. Coli used is allegedly harmless though, can anyone say home-made diesel?

I can’t remember if I already posted this, but check out my favorite site on CFLs and LEDs, seriously, click the link. When you get bored of the cave, pull on the lever. With recent LED breakthroughs, hopefully we can just forget about the CFLs and transition completely to LEDs. Of course, it’ll take at least 2 years (it always does).

Space Siege was just released, on Steam even! Too bad early reviews (including a review by my favorite video game editor, Jeff Green) call it absolutely average. I’ll still be picking up the game (probably on Steam), but I’ll wait for the 20 dollar price drop in a few months.

And finally, wonder where I was? (click for full resolution image)

Solar panels, yada yada…

Fusion is where it’s really at. Using 192 massive lasers sucking 500 trillion watts, we MAY have ignition!(source)

Fusion power is the other nuclear power. Instead of ripping atoms apart and harvesting the released energy as in fission, fusion takes two atoms and smashes them into one, releasing even MORE energy than fission. We have been using fission for many years, starting with the atomic bomb and leading to the many nuclear plants around the world. While we have touched on using fusion in hydrogen bombs, we have yet to make a viable fusion reactor.

The most common candidates for fuel I have seen (since we don’t live in a star and can’t just use everything up to iron on the periodic table) are tritium and deuterium, both isotopes of hydrogen. If we can create a fusion reactor capable of a sustained reaction, then we find the holy grail of energy (until we get to anti-matter). Cheap (relatively) fuel, waste that is only radioactive for decades instead of milennia, very little possibility for nuclear proliferation (neither uranium nor plutonium are directly involved), no possibility for runaway chain reactions,  and the bragging rights that our electric power source uses the same reaction as the sun.

Yes, my friends, fusion. Let’s hope we get there soon so we can all forget about oil and get on with our lives. And for those that are too far from the grid, SOLAR PANELS!

I think EVERYONE has considered how solar powered air conditioning would be a perfect solution to one of our biggest energy needs. As it gets hotter, you get more cooling! Right? Well, sort of, in reality central air conditioners use so much energy (several thousands of watts) that they would quickly overwhelm a standard residential solar panel installation even during sunny summer months.

But Professor Marcelo Izquierdo of the Universidad Carlos III of Madrid realized that there is another way we could solve our solar powered air conditioning problem. Instead of using a standard air conditioner compression system, he considered a technology that has been used by industry for many decades, absorption chilling.

Instead of powering a compressor to condense coolant through a standard air conditioning unit, absorbption chilling uses waste heat (from a turbine, hot garage, sunlight) to drive a circulatory system of cooling fluids. Here is one case where more outdoor heat would result in more indoor cooling. In addition, there could be significant energy savings as a result of the process. Also, these absorption air conditioners contain no ozone depleting coolants, while certain older central air conditioning units are still full of the stuff. (source)

Just a few considerations: How large will the thermal collectors need to be? Do they need to be roof mounted like solar panels? Is absorption chilling more efficient than simply mounting solar PV panels and using their electricity output to drive standard air conditioners?

Learn more about Absorption Cooling here, and here.

What if your windows could double as transparent solar panels? Free energy with your sunny view! Scientists at MIT have developed a solar concentrator in the form of a dye that can be applied to windows. The dye redirects sunlight toward the edges of the window, where solar cells pick up the energy. The obvious benefit of such a system is an unobstructed view through glass also generating solar power. Additionally, scientists claim that the dye can be applied to existing solar panels to increase efficiency significantly. (source)

(click to enlarge)

The dye presents a solution to certain bureaucratic barriers preventing solar energy from growing. Where I live, roof mounted solar panels are not allowed. Windows, on the other hand, are allowed. I am confident most other residential and commercial zones also permit the use of windows in buildings (hah), so I see no reason why this dye and solar cell system couldn’t be used in every building. Last time I checked, cars also had windows. Can anyone say free air conditioning? This technology will be implemented in three years, hopefully that means it will be entering the consumer market at the same time.

Researchers at Harvard have developed a hand-held device capable of detecting anything, anywhere. The device’s primary application will be diagnosis of disease. It borrows technology used in MRI machines, known as NMR, or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance.

In an MRI, NMR generates images by exposing the atomic nuclei in your body to magnetic fields and then bombarding them with radio waves, causing a telltale wobble in the atom detected by a current induced in special coils. The new device, instead of generating an image with this data, simply detects if the molecules are present. It does this by taking a small blood sample and carrying it through detector coils. Each coil is filled with a few magnetic nanoparticles bonded to special detector nanoparticles.

Large NMR machines have been around for awhile but have had limited application due to their low sensitivity. The new hand-held NMR device is 800 times more sensitive than its large progenitors, allowing it to detect very minute signs of affliction.

The Harvard scientist in charge of the project, Dr. Weissleder, has already filed for a patent and set up a new corporation, T2 Biosystems, in order to market the new device. Word from T2’s CEO is that the device will “hit shelves” 2 years from now. (source)

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A local commentator (Lone) brings up a good point, “Not only is this REALLY cool, but this is one of the most helpful systems I have even seen. However, wouldn’t this put some med students out of the job, sorta? I mean the only reason to have a doctor after this point is to get a prescription for whatever it is you might have…”

My take:

Technically, yes, this could theoretically do away with some diagnosis work, but doctors are still extremely important in compiling a final diagnosis and course of treatment. The practice of self-diagnosis using the internet is an indicator of what could happen. Some people may be better educated, but many others will often do significant damage to themselves or bombard their doctor with useless and often fraudulent research.

At this point, it is very easy to diagnose a broken bone, but would you attempt to set and pin it together on your own? (yes, Lone, I know you would, but I am addressing normal people).

Get ready for your heads to explode! The U.S. military is funding a new weapon that utilizes microwaves to deter violence called MEDUSA – Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio.  The device makes use of a “microwave auditory effect” which has been well-documented by scientists in the laboratory. Microwave beams aimed at pitchfork wielding activists or enemy combatants interact with the bones in the skull to create a debilitating, screaming noise. One might imagine MEDUSA having a “crispy flesh” side-effect, but the real damage could result from the high-intensity shock waves rocking around your brain, causing permanent neurological damage.

If the microwave is used at low power, it may also be possible to transmit auditory messages directly into the skulls of consumers. While the messages would be too faint to be picked up by conscious minds, they could wreak havoc on the subconscious, causing you to yearn for a Coke from the local Walmart for no discernible reason. I hope they don’t sell this technology to advertisers: subconscious spam would ensure the downfall of humanity. Think about it, everyone (including women) getting thousands of Viagra ads beamed directly into their heads 80 times a day.

What evil hath we wrought upon ourselves?!

(source)

Temperature gradients are the basis of thermoelectric generators. The potential difference allows for the creation of electrical current.

What does this have to do with Tornadoes?

One scientist, Louis Michaud, plans on harvesting a by-product of large scale temperature gradients – tornadoes – to generate electricity. The core of his proposed power plant, called the Atmospheric Vortex Engine (AVE), will generate a tornado and harvest energy from the resulting air currents. In order to supercharge and sustain the vortex, the power plant will feed it waste heat generated by the turbines. This creates a cutoff switch in case of emergency, such as if a giant, permanent tornado next door to your house escapes its earthly bondage to reign destruction upon its human oppressors. If the waste heat is cut off from the vortex, the vortex dries up.

Early calculations by Michaud predict a possible 200 megawatt output from such a power plant, enough to power a small city. (source)