All of Europe’s energy needs could be supplied by building an array of solar panels in the Sahara. Technological advances combined with falling costs have made it realistic to consider North Africa as Europe’s main source of imported energy. By harnessing the power of the Sun, possibly in tandem with wind farms along the North African coastline, Europe could easily meet its 2020 target of generating at least 20 per cent of its energy from renewable sources
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a way to charge lithium ion batteries in seconds, instead of hours, that could open the door to smaller, faster-charging batteries for mobile phones and other devices
Researchers say a chimpanzee at a Swedish zoo has proven that apes are as capable of forward planning as humans. Zoo minders have uncovered hundreds of stone caches being used by the chimp to hoard ammunition to hurl at visitors. The chimp at the centre of this study, an alpha male in his 30s called Santino, lives at Furuvik Zoo to the north of Stockholm
Exact replicas of a man’s thumb bones have been made for the first time using a 3D printer. The breakthrough paves the way for surgeons to replace damaged or diseased bones with identical copies built from the patients’ own cells. In theory, you could do any bone,
says Christian Weinand of the Insel Hospital in Berne, Switzerland, head of the team that copied his thumb bones. Now I can put spares in my pocket if I want,
he says
A man who lost his sight 30 years ago says he can now see flashes of light after being fitted with a bionic eye. Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London’s Moorfield’s eye hospital. He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks, using the bionic eye, known as Argus II. It uses a camera and video processor mounted on sunglasses to send captured images wirelessly to a tiny receiver on the outside of the eye
The ethical debate over embryonic stem cell use may soon be moot, thanks to a Canadian team of researchers who, together with a team out of Scotland, has found a safe way to grow stem cells from a patient’s own skin. The revolutionary finding, described in a paper published yesterday by the international science journal Nature, means doctors may be one step closer to treating a multitude of diseases, including Alzheimer’s, diabetes and Parkinson’s
A solar power milestone was reached when First Solar Inc brought its manufacturing costs for solar panels down to $1 per watt. But a study from the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs suggests that this might be the bottom for a price-point — if solar power is ever going to scale up to become competitive with other forms of energy
When the world’s largest fuel cell exhibition, FC EXPO 2009, kicks off in Tokyo, Sony will be there showing off the latest revision of its hybrid fuel cell technology. The system contains both a methanol fuel cell and a Li-on battery, enabling it to intelligently switch between power from the battery, fuel, or even both under high-draw circumstances. Sony will have two sizes on display: a portable model that could keep you talking on your mobile for a week, and a heftier interior
model that could do the same for a month. The company’s even attached a bottle of methanol to a wireless speaker, resulting in infinite placement possibilities and a groovy light show to boot. If that weren’t enough, the company will be demonstrating an updated, more efficient version of its sugar battery, which can be powered by Coca-Cola
In a discovery that could radically change how the world fights influenza, researchers have engineered antibodies that protect against many strains of the virus, including even the 1918 Spanish flu and the H5N1 bird flu. The discovery, experts said, could lead to the development of a flu vaccine that would not have to be changed yearly. And the antibodies already developed can be injected as a treatment, going after the virus in ways that drugs like Tamiflu do not
The basic concept of space-based solar power (SBSP) is having solar cells in space collecting energy from sun, then converting the energy into a low intensity microwave beam, sending it down to Earth where it is collected on a rectenna, and then fed into the power grid to provide electricity. Almost 200 million gigawatts of solar energy is beamed towards the Earth every second, which is more energy than our civilisation has used since the dawn of the electrical age. We only need a way to harness that energy and make it usable. Space Energy’s vision is to help create an energy-independent world, and improve the lives of millions of people by bringing a source of safe, clean energy to the planet from space. They are looking to become the world’s leading, and perhaps the first, SBSP enterprise
A small but important uptick in electrical output from the solar panels on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit this month indicates a beneficial Martian wind has blown away some of the dust that has accumulated on the panels. The cleaning boosts Spirit’s daily energy supply by about 30 watt-hours, to about 240 watt-hours from 210 watt-hours. The rover uses about 180 watt-hours per day for basic survival and communications, so this increase roughly doubles the amount of discretionary power for activities such as driving and using instruments. Thirty watt-hours is the amount of energy used to light a 30-watt bulb for one hour
Diamond will always be a woman’s best friend but the gemstone is no longer the world’s hardest material. Instead, a rare natural substance, called lonsdaleite, which is made from carbon atoms just like diamond, has emerged as 58 per cent harder than the gemstone
One of the first attempts to use gene therapy to treat HIV has produced promising results in clinical trials. When the therapy was tested on 74 patients, it was shown to be safe and appeared to reduce the effect of the virus on the immune system. In theory, one treatment should be enough to replace the need for a lifetime of antiretroviral therapy
A chemical from an ocean-dwelling sponge can reprogram antibiotic resistant bacteria to make them vulnerable to medicines again, new evidence suggests. Ineffective antibiotics become lethal once again for bacteria treated with the sponge compound, chemist Peter Moeller reported 13 February at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting
Almost 40 years ago, American scientists took their first steps in a quest to break the world’s dependence on plastics. But in those four decades, plastic products have become so cheap and durable that not even the forces of nature seem able to stop them. A soupy expanse of plastic waste — too tough for bacteria to break down — now covers an estimated 1 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean. Sensing a hazard, researchers started hunting for a substitute for plastic’s main ingredient, petroleum. They wanted something renewable, biodegradable, and abundant enough to be inexpensive. Though they stumbled upon a great candidate early on, many US chemists had given up on it by the end of the 1990s. The failed wonder material: lignin, the natural compound that lends strength to trees. A waste product from paper production, much of the lignin supply is simply burned as fuel. But while many scientists turned to other green options, a German company, Tecnaro, says it found the magic formula. Its liquid wood can be molded like plastic, yet biodegrades over time
IBM has filed a patent (US 7484451) for Bionic Body Armour, that could essentially allow us to dodge bullets like Neo in The Matrix. The armour would scan areas for incoming projectiles and when one is detected the system would deliver a shock to the muscles causing a swift reflexive action away from the projectile
A special tattoo ink that changes colour based on glucose levels inside the skin is under development by Massachusetts-based Draper Laboratories. The injectable nanotech ink could eventually free diabetics from painful blood glucose tests
A special federal court ruled yesterday that vaccines do not cause autism and that thousands of families with autistic children are not entitled to compensation, delivering a major blow to an international movement that has tried for years to link childhood immunisations with the devastating disorder
Photovoltaics, which convert sunlight into electricity, have long been touted as one of the most promising solutions to our energy needs. Unfortunately, today’s devices reflect a lot of solar energy as heat, which means that solar power is currently not as cheap as other forms of energy. Now, however, researchers in the Netherlands have developed an anti-reflective coating based on the nanostructure of a moth’s eyes, which could reduce the reflection from photovoltaic cells and thereby make them more efficient
Taking a leaf from the beauty industry, scientists have devised a way to make solar panels cheaper and more efficient — by spraying them on. Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU), in Canberra, solar company Spark Solar Australia, and Finnish materials company Braggone Oy are collaborating on a three-year project that could transform the production of solar cells
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