Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed a breakthrough in green energy that uses freely available noise pollution to extract hydrogen from water molecules.
A team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison made crystals of zinc oxide that, when immersed in water, absorb vibrations and develop areas of strong negative and positive charge. These charges rip apart nearby water molecules, releasing hydrogen and oxygen gas.
“This is like a free lunch,” says lead researcher Huifang Xu. “You are getting energy from the environment just like solar cells capture energy from the sun.”
In order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), England’s Telegraph newspaper asked readers to submit what they would like to communicate to aliens before the visit Earth. Expecting wonderful, uplifting notes extolling our virtues as humans, the Telegraph was shocked to discover the opposite, with the overwhelming majority asking for aliens to please put us out of our misery.
For what would he learn about mankind? First, that we are vicious, creatures who have already done a great job of wrecking our home. “Please kill us now … have no mercy,” urged a gentleman from Indiana. “We are evil and you must defend yourself.”
“Keep away from this planet,” agreed Pamela from Sicily. “Mankind is only intent on depleting, abusing and destroying [it]. They will do the same to yours should they find it. Mankind is the worst virus in the universe. You have been warned.”
Nick from Calne was equally blunt: “If you manage to work out how to travel to us, don’t bother, as we’ll probably probe you, try to blow you up or worse still, steal your technology and invade… Have a nice day.”
Rob from Georgia, meanwhile, was prepared to throw the rest of mankind to the lions: “Dearest Aliens, If you choose to conquer Earth, please do not kill or enslave those of us who can name all 12 men to have walked on the Moon. We are the ones worth keeping around.”
Seema from Elgin had a compelling reason for ET not to bother with us: “If you’re planning to visit our planet, please know you will need to remove all metal from your person, take your shoes off and submit to a full body scan, carry all liquids/gels/aerosols in clear plastic bottles no bigger than 3.4oz, surrender all cigarette lighters and batteries, pack all jams and jellies (but pies can be carried on)… Oh, yes. Welcome to the Earth!”
The California Institute of Technology has announced the invention of a new type of solar cell, one that is way beyond current technology. Better yet, this new solar cell is comprised of 98% plastic and only requires 1/50th of the semiconductor material used in convention solar cells, meaning this new CalTech invention will be incredibly cheap to produce. Even better…CalTech’s new technology runs at 90% efficiency, which is a remarkable 4X greater than existing solar cells.
“Our technology uses 50-100 times less silicon,” he said, “in the form of a sparse array of wires. And that sparse array of wires has exactly the same light absorption and electricity-collection properties as the conventional silicon wafer cell.”
The tiny silicon wires stick up from the base, or substrate, looking something like a microscopic hair brush. And because the key component of solar cells is an expensive, highly purified form of silicon, there’s a real economic benefit to this design.
“So what that means is, in terms of cost, is you can use 100 times less silicon. And that’s potentially very significant.”
But the silicon is what converts light into electricity, so you might think using so much less silicon would reduce the electrical output, but Atwater says that’s not the case.
“The light comes in and is both directly absorbed by the wires, and some of the light bounces around in between the wires. And that bouncing around or multiple scattering in between the wires results in dramatically enhanced absorption,” Atwater explained. “In fact, the absorption enhancement that we see is in the range of 20 to 50 times the single-pass absorbance.”
Now that Avatar has shattered every record in the book and has become a global phenomena, the time has come for research and studies! Why is it people are feeling depressed and/or suicidal when leaving the theater? Actually, according to research about “Awe”, a movie like Avatar should find the majority of viewers feeling creatively juiced, socially connected and perhaps even a little spiritual.
Elicitors of awe include mountain ranges, cathedrals, powerful leaders, music, scientific theories, encounters with God, natural disasters, and James Cameron films. For me, Avatar induced awe in response to both the exhilarating fictional world but also the artistic and technical achievements I knew were required to create that world.
In a 2007 paper, Michelle Shiota, along with Keltner and Amanda Mossman, reported experimental findings on the effects of awe. In one study, people described recent experiences of either awe or happiness. Reliving an awe-inspiring event was more likely to make people to go outside for a hike after the experiment, or to do something creative like play an instrument or write. Further, subjects instructed to recall a recent encounter with beauty in nature said they felt the presence of something greater than themselves and felt connected with the world around them. Another group of subjects, after staring at a 25-foot Tyrannosaurus skeleton for one minute were more likely than people who stared at an empty hallway to use universal terms such as “a person” or “an inhabitant of the Earth” to describe themselves; they saw themselves as members of a larger group.
In regards to the sadness subjects reported in that study, the authors write, “It is not impossible that the discovery of the limits of the self during a self-transcendent emotional experience may produce some negative emotions.” Hence post-Avatar suicide-watch? If watching acrobatic cat people uplink their ponytails and fight giant exoskeletons in 3-D for two and a half hours doesn’t make you want to run outside and play or at least write some erotic Na’vi fan fic, I think you have bigger problems back here on Earth than just not having a tree house and a hot blue girlfriend.
Ever since the radio was invented, humanity has inadvertently beamed signals into the outer reaches of space. Every broadcast radio and television show ever aired is currently venturing across the universe, carrying our cultural signal to potential alien life that may or may not have the ability to decipher our strange entertainment.
However, with the dawn of satellite technology, Earth is broadcasting considerably fewer signals and as such, our planet has become nearly silent.
While old-style TV transmitters might generate one million watts, the power of a satellite signal was around 20 watts. Satellites also aimed their transmissions at the Earth, with almost none being allowed to escape into space.
Use of cable prevented the leakage of signals even more effectively.
”Now the actual amount of radiation escaping into space is about two watts, not much more than you get from a cell phone,” said Dr Drake.
”If this continues into the future very soon our world will become undetectable. Using ourselves as an example, it means the difficulty of finding other civilisations will be much greater.
”We’re going to have to search many more stars and many more frequencies.”
Any alien civilisations that existed were likely to be far more advanced than ours, he said. Their analogue TV age probably came and went long ago, before humans even thought about searching the sky for signs of intelligent life.
If you’re looking for a new line of work and have plenty of time ahead of you, then you may want to begin focusing on a career as a Space Pilot. Essentially the future version of an airline pilot, space pilots are set to be in high demand within 20 years, according to a study from the British government.
Potential jobs of the future will include more farmers of genetically engineered crops and livestock, specialists in climate change reversal, and personal branders who will help individuals to establish their own brand across social networking sites.
In addition, it predicts that police officers will be needed to monitor weather manipulation, and electronic waste data managers will be employed by people who do not want to be tracked online.
The report was commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills.
Loading ...
Loading ...
