New Materials Discovered In Volcanoes and Asteroids Are Harder Than Diamonds

February 18, 2009
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Scientists have discovered new materials borne of asteroid impacts and high-intensity volcanic eruptions that are significantly harder than diamonds. Known as lonsdaleite and wurztite, these newly-discovered compounds are created only under situations of incredible pressure. Lonsdaleite, like a diamond, is a specific hexagonal arrangement of carbon atoms that’s tested to be up to 58% harder than the hardest diamond; so far, it’s only been known to form during asteroid impacts. Wurtzite, also known as wurtzite boron nitride, is found during the most hard-core of volcanic eruptions and can be up to 18% harder than a diamond.

Given both materials’ extreme rarity in nature, little practical application has been proposed, although in…

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Filed Under: Environment, Misc.

Recent Fireball Sightings May Herald New Wave Of Meteor Storms

February 17, 2009
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Of particular note in the news recently has been the “fireball” witnessed by the thousands over Texas. Many initial reports cited last week’s satellite collision, hypothesizing that the sighting was a result of falling debris from the crash. Other fireballs have appeared recently, although they’ve received considerably less media coverage. On Friday the 13th of this month, stunned watchers in Kentucky witnessed another fireball, this time intensely green in color, whose appearance was forceful enough to rattle windows and shake buildings. Just hours before that in Italy, astronomers recorded three fireballs, one of which appeared ten times brighter than the moon.

Scientists now contend that the fireballs are not falling man-made…

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Filed Under: Environment, Misc.

Solar Panel Modification For The DS Lite

February 13, 2009
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A stalwart young adventurer by the name of “dark sponge” has figured out how to rig up a home-cooked solar array that’s just the right size and shape for the Nintendo DS, resulting in what is perhaps the first solar-modded version of the dual-screen handheld to hit the streets.

The modification utilizes panels on both the top and the bottom of the DS unit which are wired in parallel to produce six volts of power at 80 mA – just the right stuff for a trickle charge. The solar panels are 60mm x 60mm each and are affixed with scotch tape. Go ahead, folks, if you’ve got the guts; chances are…

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Filed Under: Environment, Gaming, Handhelds

Biomethane Powered Busses Storm Norway

February 4, 2009
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Just in from the Scandinavian wire is a juicy morsel that just might spin some green heads off their necks. Oslo is modding 80 of its busses in a way that’ll get them running on biomethane fuel cooked up from raw sewage. The new fartmobiles will run much more quietly and, of course, much more friendly to the environment.

Ole Jakob Johansen, the project’s leader, informs us that the city intends to save approximately €.0.40 per liter on fueling the busses. Oslo hopes to be carbon-neutral by 2050. This is a major first step towards that goal. We love this. Hats off to the Norwegians for their aggressive innovation.

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Filed Under: Environment

UK Garbage Truck Runs On UK Garbage

February 3, 2009
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An interesting tidbit from the lads up yonder on their island: In Huddersfield, England, a 7,000 pound Smith Edison Ford Transit garbage truck picks up waste, delivers it to a local Energy from Waste recycling center and power station, and then gets juiced up by energy generated from burning the junk it just dropped off.

The rubbish that the eco-friendly truck picks up amounts to 10 megawatts of extra electricity per day, all of which gets put back into the power system. The truck can do about 50 miles per hour and is virtually silent during operation. Truly a fascinating contraption, and a terrific example of sustainability in action. Props to…

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Filed Under: Environment

Helical Wind Tower Gives Power To The City

December 17, 2008
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One of the major drawbacks of wind generated power, the transfer of energy from remote and rural areas to populated ones, is soon to be overcome! Electricity will be generated on the spot even in urban areas with the help of Dr. Majid Rashidi and his helical wind towers.

No longer will off-shore and rural areas be the only place where wind power is generated, says Cleveland State University professor Dr. Rashidi, urban centers will also be able to harness the wind.

Even though the classical wind turbines are still more efficient, the urban spiraling towers are expected to still have a power generation ratio of 4:1, meaning that one tower…

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Filed Under: Environment

Genetically Modified Microalgae Could Produce Biofuel

December 17, 2008
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Biofuel is regarded as a cleaner alternative for fossil fuels, and cleaner is better therefore researchers are looking for new ways to “harvest” biofuels. According to a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, unicellular microalgae could be used to produce biofuel thanks to a technique that consists of genetically modifying these organisms.

The UC researchers believe that microalgae are “too green” and with little adjustments, we could produce tons of hydrogen and hydrocarbons. In order to make such big amounts of biofuel, the scientists tested the micro-organisms by minimizing the number of chlorophyll molecules used to harvest sunlight without interfering or damaging the process of photosynthesis.

During their study,…

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First Major Energy Study Shows That Wind Is The Cleanest Source

December 11, 2008
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Clean energies are the future. This is already a certainty, everybody from scientists to politicians are looking for a change, or at least this is what they say. At some point in the future, fossil fuels will be replaced by renewable energies as the Earth is getting more and more polluted mainly due to human-related activities. There is no doubt about the fact that we need electricity and machines, but we are so stubborn that we cannot replace our polluting cars with hybrid-cars and it’s clear that we need to change.

It would be a mistake to make these changes instantly so we need to know what’s best for our future…

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Electrified Ceilings - A Better Way To Light Up The House

December 10, 2008
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The EMerge standard, if adopted, will mean an improvement in the efficiency of the way electricity is consumed and distributed in buildings. The standard favors direct current (DC) over typical alternating current (AC) when it comes to DC-loving devices like LEDs, sensors, actuators and the like.

And best of all this technology does not need the rewiring of every building in order to be implemented. It can easily be adopted in any building through forming a hybrid layer within the building by electrifying ceilings, walls and floors with low-voltage direct currents. The type of power running through these ceilings and walls would be Class 2 as defined by the North American…

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The Watree Collects And Stores Water For Later Use

December 9, 2008
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The climate is changing, this is not something new and we already knew that. The problem is that these changes are not so good as pollution is making it worse. I don’t know if pollution affects the Australian climate, however, there are some major changes there too as rainfalls continue to diminish and the authorities have granted water restrictions as the water storage levels are getting thinner. The solution is called Watree, a concept water storage destined for urban sporting grounds.

Experts say that we shouldn’t waste a drop of water, but there are also some areas like buffer zones around sporting grounds which are unused and when the rain falls…

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Filed Under: Environment
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