Were you a fan of the Mentos and Diet Coke fountains that EepyBird created? If so, you might tune in to "Samurai Girl" tonight (7pm, ABC) to see EepyBird's experiments with more than 250,000 sticky notes. You can also check out an extended version of the video, complete with how-tos, at EepyBird.com.
Here's a sneak peek, but definitely check the EepyBird site tonight for more.
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Stained-glass windows: Uplifting to look at, and good for your physical health, too.
Courtesy Mark RyanWhile Gene continues obsessing over the ways of the flesh (see below, and here), I shall take the high road and offer this post that involves both our corporeal and spiritual realms.
A recent study out of Australia's Queensland University of Technology shows that tiny particles of gold embedded in the paint of stained glass windows not only add to the beauty of church windows (which no doubt enhance the experience of being inside the church), but also have some health benefits.
It seems medieval glaziers, who could be considered the first nanotechnologists, used different sized gold particles to create a variety of colors. The windows produced over the centuries for churches across Europe are certainly uplifting to look at, but until now nobody realized the additional health benefits they carry for our physical beings.
What happens is when sunlight illuminates the stained glass, the gold nanoparticles resonate as they heat up. This resonance increases significantly the magnetic field across the element’s surface that in turn interacts with and destroys nasty pollutants like volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are present in the air.
"These VOCs create that 'new' smell as they are slowly released from walls and furniture, but they, along with methanol and carbon monoxide, are not good for your health, even in small amounts," said associate professor Zhu Huai Yong, a member of the team that did the study.
The chemical reaction purifies the air with only small amounts of carbon dioxide as a byproduct. Yong is excited about the prospect of using gold nanoparticles in future research.
"Once this technology can be applied to produce specialty chemicals at ambient temperature, it heralds significant changes in the economy and environmental impact of the chemical production," he said.
Proposed power grid for wind and solar: clipped from American Electric Power document
Courtesy U. S. Dept. of Energy
Is our power grid ready for wind and solar?
Renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal show promise for breaking our addiction to oil. One big problem, though, is moving this new energy to energy users. According to a recent New York Times article,
many transmission lines, and the connections between them, are simply too small for the amount of power companies would like to squeeze through them.
The grid today is a system conceived 100 years ago to let utilities prop each other up, reducing blackouts and sharing power in small regions. It resembles a network of streets, avenues and country roads.
“We need an interstate transmission superhighway system,” said Suedeen G. Kelly, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Upgrading our power grid faces multiple obstacles
Our power grid, with about 200,000 miles of power lines, is divided among about 500 owners. Upgrading transmission lines often involves multiple companies, many state governments and numerous permits. Property owners often fight new power lines saying "not in my back yard".
"Modernizing the electric infrastructure is an urgent national problem, and one we all share,” said Kevin M. Kolevar, assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability, in a speech last year.
Dept. of Energy recommendation
I recommend reading the Department of Energy report titled, "20% wind energy by 2030" (30 pg pdf). The United Sates plans to add 300 GW of wind power by 2030 (I figure that equals about 200,000 1.5 MW wind generators). They recommend an interstate power grid to carry electricity similar to how our interstate highway system carries cars and trucks.
American Electric Power also has recommendations
In an 8 page pdf document titled, "Interstate Transmission Vision for Wind Integration" American Electric Power, working at the request of, and in partnership with, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), presents a "high-level, conceptual interstate transmission plan that could provide a basis for discussion to expand industry infrastructure needs in the future".
Dead Sea Scrolls Xtreme: E-Scrollz
in History and Nature of Science, Structure of Matter, Scientific Enterprise, and Human Organism
Like this: But way better. And stuff.
Courtesy Library of CongressProtect your grills, everybody, because the future is looking to get all up in them again!
Over the next two years, the oldest known copies of biblical documents, the Dead Sea Scrolls, will be digitally scanned and placed online for all the world to examine at their leisure.
Well, not all the world. Just the parts with computers and access to the Internet, and just those people who know and care that the Dead Sea Scrolls are available for public study. So not all the world at all.
The first of the scrolls were discovered accidentally in a cave in the West Bank by a goatherd in 1947. Over the next thirty years, more scrolls—about 1000 documents in total—were found in 11 caves in the area. The documents include texts from the Hebrew Bible, dating to before 100 AD. The scrolls are also reported to contain an astonishing number of recipes and very dirty jokes.
The thousands of fragments of the scrolls were photographed in their entirety (up to that point) only once, in the 1950s. Many of those photographs are now crumbling, and so, despite the arguments of some Luddites who are no doubt on the way out themselves, scholars are taking advantage of this amazing time we live in (the future), and are subjecting the whole of the scroll collection to some fancy pants scanning.
The images of the texts will be taken in very high resolution and with varying wavelengths of light, highlighting details not readily visible to the naked eye.
The physical scrolls will be beginning a tour of the United States next month at the Jewish Museum of New York.
You always be my little man
in Structure of Matter, Scientific Inquiry, Scientific Enterprise, and Human Organism
The original Minifig: mocked horribly by later generations of minifigures, but, fortunately, incapable of feeling emotion of any kind.
Courtesy WakuranI'm a couple days late here, but it's time we recognized the Lego minifigure's 30th birthday.
That's right—on August 25th, 1978, Lego introduced the little yellow Lego guy. Lego had been manufacturing plastic interlocking bricks since 1949, allowing children across the world to practice engineering without realizing that they shouldn't be having fun, but it wasn't until 78 that they sold a little human like thing to enjoy our Lego creations.
Technically there were minifigures available in 1974, but the were faceless, armless pylon-men, and they couldn't enjoy anything. 1978 brought the lovable little man we know today.
Wired's piece on the birthday features this epic video embed:
And, yes, that does make me want to buy a bunch of Lego friends, and have a party for the 20th century, but I thought I'd leave you with a different, though no less triumphant, Lego celebration. Enjoy.
In the future, motorcycles won’t be cool.
in Physical Science, Scientific Enterprise, Motion, Flow of Matter and Energy, and Human Organism
A motorcycle race...: In the future!
Courtesy Private CustardA student in the transportation program of the < a href=http://www.artcenter.edu/>Art Center College of Design has invented a brand new paradox: a concept-motorcycle that is somehow simultaneously totally awesome and utterly, hopelessly dorky.
It’s a mega future tri-moto electro cyber transporto THX laser blade runner terminatrix rideable machine.
I guess they call it the conceptual exoskeleton motorcycle, Deus Ex Machina. But I think my name for it is still less dorky.
What? You want an actual description of the vehicle? Well, you could just click on the long link above, and leave Science Buzz forever, but we like you here. So at least read the rest of the post before you go.
The Deus Ex Machina is sort of a wheeled tripod, with straps and an integrated helmet to secure the rider. It parks in an upright position, but once it starts moving, the “arms” of the tripod extend forward, so the rider is in a sort of superman position. The motorcycle steers according to the rider’s body position, translating movement to 36 pneumatic muscles. Like, um, Robocop, I think.
The whole vehicle is powered with electricity, using fancy lithium ion batteries and ultracapacitors (check out ARTiFactor’s post for more on ultracapacitors), and is capable of reaching speeds of around 75 mph.
The Ultra Deus Mega Electromachina motorcycle is still very much conceptual, however. That is to say, while all the technological components exist (in some form) the vehicle itself only exists as a computer rendering at the moment. So it’s probably not very fun to ride. The designer maintains that it’s not a fantasy: “It’s a green vehicle,” he says, “and all of the numbers are based in the real world.”
The design itself seems more based in the Minority Report world, but whatev.
There’s a video here, too.
Driving while down: Is it the mood or the treatment that's the problem?
Courtesy Ben McLeodA new study out of the University of North Dakota is showing a link between antidepressant use and impaired driving, at least in some cases. Research lead Dr. Holly J. Dannewitz and her colleagues presented their results at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in Boston.
In the study, 31 people with varying degrees of depression and treated with antidepressants were compared with 29 control group members who were unmedicated. Those using antidepressants were divided further into two groups: those having high levels of depression symptoms and those with lower levels. Those suffering from higher symptoms were treated with higher doses of antipressants. All three groups took part in a driving simulation and were scored for typical driving-based decisions, such as reacting to stop signs, traffic signals, brake lights, changing speed limits, animals, bicycles and other cars.
The more depressed participants scored much worse in the study than the other two groups. When the scores were totaled up, participants not on medication got 69 points, those on medication but with milder depression symptoms scored 65, and those with elevated symptoms scored 54.
"We already know that depression causes concentration problems," said Dr. Dannewitz. "And now it appears that people taking antidepressants who also have relatively higher depression scores fare significantly worse when attempting to perform a computerized simulation of driving."
Previous studies have already shown lower concentration abilities in depression sufferers, and manufacturers of antidepressant medication often warn against driving or using machinery while on the drugs. So, it's not clear whether the poor scores were caused by the increased medication use or by the more depressed mood. Dr. Dannewitz hopes to sort this out with further studies using clinically depressed patients who are not on anti-depressants.
"There is obviously more work to do on this. We need a much larger study, but there certainly seems to be some sort of link," Dannewitz said.
SOURCES and LINKS
Medicine News Today website story
MentalHealth.net story
Info on anti-depressants
Electricity from wind was cheaper: I saved 44 cents on my July electric bill because 100 per cent of my electricity is from wind power.
Courtesy ARTiFactor
I saved money because my electricity comes from wind
About two years ago I signed up for Windsource (click to see my Buzz writeup). Windsource is an Xcel Energy program that allows customers to have all or part of their electricity come from wind (click here for details about windsource charges).
Benefits of wind energy
I did not sign up for Windsource to save money. I was willing to pay extra for wind generated electricity because wind energy has multiple benefits.
- No carbon dioxide emissions
- No sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, or mercury emissions
- No water consumption requirement
- Creates jobs
- Creates income for farmers
- Wind is forever (renewable)
- Wind energy reduces need for importing energy and exporting dollars
Want to help promote wind energy?
Renewable energy credits have provided incentives for investments in wind energy. A federal production tax credit (PTC) has an expiration date less than five months from now. If you agree that continuing incentives for renewable energy is wise,
Urge your Members of Congress to extend the Production Tax Credit (PTC)
Click the link above for help on how to take action.
The day we all die: September 10, 2008
in Earth and Space Science, Physical Science, Structure of Matter, Math, Scientific Enterprise, and Forces of Nature
Ask not...: It tolls for thee, bro, it tolls for thee.
Courtesy carl.jonesJust messin’, y’all!
Only some of us will die on September 10th! And that’s only because we were going to die anyway. There will be sudden heart attacks, tragic car accidents, hilarious full-body prolapses, and possibly some mysterious cases of spontaneous combustion, and none of that will have anything to do with the Large Hadron Collider turning on on the tenth of September.
That’s right, everyone, you can stop holding your breath, and start crossing your fingers, because the LHC now has a date for its first proton collision.
Some people have raised concerns that turning on the LHC could lead to the destruction of the earth in one of several very sciencey ways. Other people have shouted down these jokers, however, because they are very, very, very probably wrong.
And if the world doesn’t end, well, we’ll probably learn all sorts of rad things about the nature of the universe. We might even get some visitors from the future. But I might put a larger bet on the destruction of the solar system (but, you know, fingers crossed).
So, Buzzketeers, on September 10, do your best to protect yourself from the everyday dangers of existence. Wrap your head in packing foam, fill your tummy with starch-based peanuts, and keep yourself wet and/or naked to prevent sparks catching in your clothing and hair, because you probably won’t want to miss what’s coming out of the LHC.
Broccoli: The Super Food
Courtesy FIR0002New research coming out of Britain shows eating broccoli may reverse damage done by diabetes to heart and blood vessels. I’m always glad to hear anything new about the benefits of broccoli. Not that I have diabetes – I don’t. But broccoli is my favorite vegetable, and besides its potentially new vascular benefits, the leafy vegetable is high in fiber, full of vitamins C and K, and nutrients that have been found to reduce the risk of some cancers. A member of the cabbage family (Brassica), broccoli, along with other vegetables in the genus (including brussel sprouts, cauliflower, turnips, kohlrabi, and mustard seed) has been linked to the reduction of strokes and heart attacks.
Diabetes is a serious metabolic disorder resulting in abnormally high levels of blood sugar (hyperglycemia). The disease can affect nearly every part of the body, and left untreated can lead to blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage, and loss of limb. Diabetics have up to 5 times the risk of suffering from vascular diseases such as heart attacks, strokes because of damaged blood vessels.
The current research involves the anti-cancer compound sulforaphane, a product of another compound found in broccoli called glucoraphanin. Sulforaphane encourages production of enzymes that protect blood vessels, and reduce levels of cell-damaging molecules. When researchers at the University of Warwick tested the effects of sulforaphane on blood vessels damaged by hyperglycemia (high sugar levels), they noticed a nearly 75% reduction of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) molecules in the body. High levels of ROS -the result of increased blood sugar- can damage cells. The researchers noted sulforaphane also protected cells by triggering a protein that activated antioxidant enzymes.
“Our study suggests that compounds such as sulforaphane from broccoli may help counter processes linked to the development of vascular disease in diabetes,” said Professor Paul Thornalley of the University of Warwick. His team’s appears in the journal Diabetes. Thornalley added that he expects future tests of a brassica vegetable-rich diet could yield further health benefits for diabetic patients.
"It is encouraging to see that Professor Thornalley and his team have identified a potentially important substance that may protect and repair blood vessels from the damaging effects of diabetes,” said Dr Iain Frame, director of research at the charity Diabetes UK. "It also may help add some scientific weight to the argument that eating broccoli is good for you."
That brings to mind the time when the first president Bush said since he was president he didn’t have to eat broccoli anymore. (I think the quote was “Read my lips: no more broccoli”) Well, good for him. It just means more of the natural, leafy panacea for the rest of us.
SOURCE and LINKS
BBC website story
American Diabetes Association
More on broccoli
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