New technology produces energy from fuel without burning it
The power plant centers around the use of solid oxide fuel cells. These cells generate power from natural gas through the same oxidation reaction used in conventional power plants, but they achieve that oxidation through a chemical reaction, not by burning the gas. When combined with carbon-scrubbing smoke stacks, this method produces just as much energy as a regular natural gas plant, but with 90 percent fewer carbon emissions.
The only drawback is the price, at least for now. If a pricing scheme similar to the cap-and-trade system in the Waxman-Markey bill enters into law, the cost of burning coal or natural gas for energy will exceed the cost per kilowatt hour of the MIT-designed solid oxide fuel plant.
Obviously, none of these plants have been built yet, but a prototype plant will go online in 2012, and the MIT plan utilizes only technology that already exists on the market. Considering today was a 60 degree day in New York City, in December, maybe those MIT boys need to work a little faster.
[MIT]
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The flight wouldn't exactly impress Lindbergh, as the plane only lifted a yard off the ground for a 1,148 foot trip. In fact, due to the short nature of the flight, the engineers nicknamed the test "the flea hop". However, it is the first takeoff by a solar-powered plane carrying a pilot ever in history, and the plane behaved just as engineers predicted in their models.
The plane carries only one person, but has a wingspan of almost 200 feet. And despite that long wing length, the whole craft only weighs 3,527 pounds.
This test is the first in a serious of flights building up to a 2011 trans-Atlantic flight. Eventually, the engineers hope to circumnavigate the globe over the course of 25 days. Not quite Chuck Yaeger speed there, but not bad, considering the vehicle's powered entirely by the sun.
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The devices, called the palatometer, uses an array of 118 pressure sensors to measure the movement of the tongue. Since tongue movements correspond to pronunciation almost as closely as vocal cord movements, a computer can calculate the desired word as often as 94.14 percent of the time. Even more important, the researchers will calibrate the device to recognize inflection. This allows users to raise their voice at the end of sentences to indicate a question, and generally avoid the mechanical, monotone sound associated with older technologies.
Other institutions, notably the University of Hull in England, have also developed similar devices. However, the palatometer is the only such invention that operates without any kind of surgical implant. The downside of the South African device, however, is a 0.3-second delay between when the tongue and mouth move, and when the computer calculates the right word. This leaves the mouth and the voice out of sync, giving the user the appearance of being dubbed over in a bad kung-fu movie.
The South African team needs to iron out kinks like the delay before the device can hit the market. But considering the pace their moving at, it shouldn't be long before the only people speaking with robot voices are Peter Frampton and Kanye.
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Kestrel Eye will be a network of 30 small satellites beaming images directly to troops on the ground to order. A mobile, backpack-ready ground receiver can link up with the satellites in real time, downloading two pictures a second covering five square miles in each shot. Those photos will then be stored on a central server so others operating in the area can take a look.
The ten-inch telescope is not capable of the high-res imaging of some of its intelligence – and increasingly its civilian – counterparts. But a resolution of five feet over five square miles is more than enough to pick out a building, locate an out-of-place vehicle or capture a convoy on the move.
But perhaps Kestrel Eye’s biggest advantage is that each satellite costs only $1 million, a fire-sale price compared to larger spy satellites. Since cost is the biggest killer of a lot of the military’s bright ideas, the low price tag means Kestrel Eye is in a good position to be in orbit by 2011.
]]>A designer proposes a military-style vehicle that can fight and survive fires
Firefighters currently rely on modified Toyota Landcruisers or other utility vehicles for doing recon on hotspots. Those work well in a pinch for navigating rough terrain, but carry only a meager water supply of 500 liters and cannot survive a burnover when flames suddenly sweep over the area.
The proposed Amatoya vehicle would use aerogel laminated insulation for its windows and body, and a temperature-controlled spray down system which draws on an auxiliary water tank specifically dedicated to that purpose. Military-grade thermo ceramic paint would swell upon heat exposure and add some sacrificial protection.
Driver and cannon operator would have central, forward and high seats, not unlike the cabin of an Apache assault helicopter. The cannon operator could control twin cannons that aim at hotspots detected by a thermal imaging camera and directional spotlights.
Amatoya also holds its own 1,800-liter water supply, as well as the 400-liter auxiliary water tank. Unlike current recon vehicles that can become prone to rollovers due to top-heavy water loads, Amatoya's design would position the water tanks central and low within the vehicle.
The vehicle design by Liam Ferguson includes four-wheel drive and plenty of suspension and ground clearance to deal with fire-broken terrain. Central tire inflation and run-flat tire technology would ensure that the vehicle does not get stuck in a dangerous location.
Tiny recon bots, aerial drones and massive supertankers have all surfaced recently as relatively new firefighting tools. But the Amatoya concept might outshine all of them just based on looks -- although there's no word on cost.
[via Yanko]
]]>Now Somali civilians can invest cash or weapons into pirate companies and hope for a share of the ransom money
The U.S. and other nations have committed naval warships and even aerial drones to the shipping lanes around the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden, but pirates from lawless Somalia have continued to attack ships at will.
Now even landlubber Somali civilians can invest in one of 72 "maritime companies" and hope that their favorite pirate band strikes it rich with the successful ransoming of a captured ship and crew. People don't even need to invest cash – RPGs and other weapons also accepted at the main pirate lair of Haradheere.
One wealthy former pirate told Reuters that the stock exchange had won local support by making piracy into a "community activity," which may underscore the root of the problem for nations seeking to battle piracy as a symptom.
Investing in piracy might evoke moral outrage similar to that which plagued early prediction markets. DARPA attempted to set up a prediction market in 2003 for intelligence experts to bet on certain events taking place, including terrorist attacks and assassinations, but had to shut down the operation after an angry Congress slammed it as a "sick" terrorism futures market.
Still, there's a big difference between using a relatively closed prediction market to bet on certain outcomes for intelligence-gathering purposes, and investing directly in a group responsible for carrying out illegal activities such as piracy. And if a prediction market bets on more optimistic things, such as PopSci's PPX, the moral element becomes a non-issue.
As for the pirate stock exchange, it seems like just another natural step for Somali communities that increasingly depend on illegal activities for economic subsistence. Somali pirates put a percentage of their ransom money back into their communities to pay for hospitals and public schools. Reuters quotes a woman who contributed a rocket-propelled grenade to one group of pirates and eagerly anticipates the dividends.
This suggests that all the high-powered Navy weapons or non-lethal gadgets in the world won't solve that problem -- much as we love our anti-pirate gadgets:
[via Reuters]
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The Intruder not only protects canines with a sturdy flak jacket enveloping their vital organs, but it sports a wireless camera so the handler can see what the dog sees, as well as speakers so the handler can issue audio commands. As a result, dogs can operate up to 300 yards from their handlers, a big advantage in emergency situations where dogs are often sent into areas deemed too unsafe for humans to operate.
At $20,000 each, the Intruder vests aren't cheap. But considering a military or police dog can cost upwards of $50,000, keeping a well-trained canine from going down in the line of duty is paramount. Not to mention, the operational enhancement from the extended range should up each dogs value on the battlefield or in emergency situations substantially. For our part, we'd be happy with a remote rig that lets us take the dog out to the curb without us ever leaving the couch.
]]>A desktop instrument can analyze genetic variations in blood samples within hours
The Verigene device can extract DNA from blood samples through a combination of microfluidics and nanotech, packaged into a single plastic cartridge. It's not quite a lab-on-a-chip in terms of size, but it packs a lot of testing punch.
Physicians already use slower, lab-intensive methods of pharmacogenomic testing for deciding how to prescribe cancer drugs, but Nanosphere hopes to expand is rapid desktop testing to drugs for other conditions. For instance, the anticoagulant drug warfarin can help prevent heart attacks, strokes and blood clots -- but physicians must prescribe it very carefully because patients can metabolize the drug differently, and might suffer from dangerous bleeding based on incorrect dosages.
Nanosphere has begun work on a newer test that can detect genetic variations within an hour or two. A patient's blood ends up in a disposable cartridge that houses a glass slide dotted with DNA sequences. Magnetic beads extract white blood cells, and sonic bursts pop the cells to extract DNA fragments. The DNA fragments flow over the glass slide and attach to complementary DNA sequences, before finally ending up sandwiched by gold nanoparticles.
The cartridge then goes into the Verigene device, where mechanical valves and air pressure mix different chemical reagents in separate chambers to produce different reactions.
Nanosphere has spent the past month installing its current-model devices in community hospitals and medical research centers alike -- but buyers will have to pay $40,000 to $80,000 for versions of Verigene that come with different testing modules.
[via Technology Review]
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