The Dutch town of Hengelo will be trying out concrete that binds nitrogen oxide particles and using an additive turns these into harmless nitrates which are washed clean by the rain. Hengelo is testing this in one half of the new roads and measuring the effecacity by next summer.
The NASA Mars lander has found water and has sampled it. It hasn’t found anything organic in the water yet, but the mission is being extended by 90 days in the hopes of finding more.
Featured Article – A new way to weigh giant black holes
Professors in the US are using TV voting machines (called ‘clickers’) to test students’ knowledge of the subject being taught during lectures. As they vote, bar graphs go up in real time allowing people to see how the voting is going. Students using the clicker system score 10% higher than without and it seems to Read more about Using TV style voting in physics class[…]
The energy is stored at the edges of the windows themselves. The big difficulty in doing this has been getting the energy away from the centre of the window. Not only does this work on windows, but it’ll increase the efficiency of existing solar panels by 40 times.
That’s one to remember! Eating watermelons has around the same effect as popping the little blue pills does!
The EWG tested close to 1000 sunscreens, and it turns out that they can only reccomend 143 of them. 314 they urge caution and 495 (!), which include common, well known brands are basically downright dangerous to assume they’re sunscreen.
Most fysiologists and psychologists know that movements are initiated by the brain some time before the conscious mind thinks about them and ‘decides’ to initiate them. This article rounds up a little on desicion making in general, showing that the time could be up to 30 seconds before determination when making mistakes and 10 seconds Read more about Is free will governed by thought?[…]
So, if you were upset that ESA was hiring astronauts because you’re not a European and couldn’t make it, no problem! The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center is seeking an astronaut to support the ISS program./a> Surprisingly the job requirements are way less stringent than for the ESA. You can make do with a batchelor Read more about Become an Astronaut part 2[…]
‘Skin-tenna’ wireless signals creep over human skin allowing you to connect medical equipment or gadgets. These remind me of the Human Area Networks and Redtacton skin networks
It was the X-Prize that Burt Rutan’s Spaceship 1 took when it launched into space and recovered. Google is offering the Lunar X-Prize together with the X-Prize foundation for the first team that lands on the moon and transmits back to earth. The N-Prize is for a microsat launched into space for a price of Read more about The N-Prize[…]
Origo Industries has developed a system that captures the CO2 from your vehicle’s engine and then allows you to turn these emissions into fuel at your own home to re-power your car. The same fuel could also be used to power your house. The system uses a revolutionary new approach where CO2 is regenerated through Read more about Origo Industries: Capture your car’s CO2 and use it to re-power your vehicle – and your home[…]
In 2006 a second red spot was observed which now rivals the first in storm furiousness and also almost in size. The third red spot, recently discovered is the same size as the Earth and is growing rapidly.
Cheap, renewable energy for everyone? In Japan, Yoshiaka Arata has produced cold fusion in front of many witnesses AND claims the experiment is easily reproducible, which was a problem with the first time anyone saw it.
Instead of it taking 1000 years to degrade a plastic bag, he can do it in around 3 months with his microbes and their helper microbes.
Yup, by forcing people to not smoke where people who don’t smoke don’t generally go anyway, the incidence of drunk driving fatalities has increased. Another new way to kill more people invented!
Apparently, if you want to communicate over the galaxy, you need to use neutrinos instead of photons as neutrinos are much more noise free. We will hopefully have detectors for neutrino traffic next year some time.
Slashdot | Hubble Survey Finds Half of the Missing Matter
In the first time since 1992, ESA is looking for future astronauts. The requirements are stringent, but this is the job of a lifetime!
To the long list of objects vulnerable to attack by computer hackers, add the human heart. The threat seems largely theoretical. But a team of computer security researchers plans to report Wednesday that it had been able to gain wireless access to a combination heart defibrillator and pacemaker. They were able to reprogram it to Read more about A Heart Device Is Found Vulnerable to Hacker Attacks[…]
Don’t call it a flying car. It’s a “roadable aircraft.” It’s named the Transition, and the first full-scale model is taking shape inside a former machine shop on an industrial back alley in Woburn, MA. Between now and late July, the 10 employees of angel-funded startup Terrafugia will be spending “a lot of long days, Read more about From the Runway to the Road: Terrafugia Redefines the Flying Car—Make that Drivable Airplane[…]
In a study just published by Britain’s Which? Computing magazine, alarming levels of dangerous bacteria and other gross-out biological matter was found on many computer keyboards. A microbiologist examined and measured bacteria levels on 33 keyboards in an office, and one was found to be five times dirtier than the office toilet seat, carrying 150 Read more about Eeeeew! Study shows some computer keyboards are far dirtier than a toilet seat.[…]
This is a one horsepower vehicle. Literally. Get it?! It has a horse inside powering it, meaning it is literally powered by one horse! One horsepower! Do you get it? Hold on, let me explain more clearly for you. It’s called the Naturmobil, and it was built by Abdolhadi Mirhejazi of Dubai. Yes, it has Read more about The one-horsepower vehicle with an actual horse inside[…]
Dutch ecologist Roxina Soler and her colleagues have discovered that subterranean and aboveground herbivorous insects can communicate with each other by using plants as telephones. Subterranean insects issue chemical warning signals via the leaves of the plant. This way, aboveground insects are alerted that the plant is already %u2018occupied%u2019. Insects use plant like a telephone
Wedging yourself into an economy-class airplane seat is one of the atrocities of our age, but there’s help on the way. The Cozy Suite is a revolution in airline seating, giving you more room to yourself while giving the airlines the opportunity to pack even more sardines into their pressurized tin cans. Sure, it’s not Read more about Delta to install revolutionary Cozy Suite seats in economy class, tourists rejoice[…]