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zip55

DIY

Guess This Part, Win a Tool

By Vin Marshall Posted on 11.16.2009 75 Comments
Since we inaugurated Guess This Tool, you've all proven way too hard to stump, so for this week's contest, we're mixing it up a bit and giving you a mystery part rather than a tool.

11.16.2009 at 10:18pm - Comment by zip55

a coupling?
Technology

How Much Power Does The Human Brain Require To Operate?

By Jeremy Hsu Posted on 11.6.2009 21 Comments
According to Kwabena Boahen, a computer scientist at Stanford University, a robot with a processor as smart as the human brain would require at least 10 megawatts to operate. That's the amount of energy produced by a small hydroelectric plant. But a small group of computer scientists may have hit on a new neural supercomputer that could someday emulate the human brain's low energy requirements of just 20 watts--barely enough to run a dim light bulb.

11.6.2009 at 06:25pm - Comment by zip55

you know what I don't get with moore's law is why don't we just make the silicon chip bigger???
Technology

DARPA Readies an Ultra-Fast Mini-Sub

By Posted on 7.28.2009 19 Comments
In a world of rapidly evolving threats, every branch of the military is looking for a way to respond as quickly as possible. But whereas the Air Force, Army and Marines can simply fly to whatever hot spot flares up next, the Navy, by its very nature, still needs to sail. That's where the Underwater Express comes in. Currently, the Navy's fastest submarine can only travel at 25 to 30 knots while submerged. But if everything goes according to plan, the Underwater Express will speed along at 100 knots, allowing the delivery of men and materiel faster than ever.

7.28.2009 at 12:43pm - Comment by zip55

wow 100 knots now thats more like it.
Science

Carnivorous Electronics Power Themselves With Digested Insects

By Dan Smith Posted on 6.29.2009 11 Comments
It’s the summer, which means swarms of bugs. And if you keep your window open to get cool summer breezes, it means swarms of bugs in your house. Artists James Auger and Jimmy Loizeau have designed a clock that puts those bugs--and the energy created when they're digested by the group's special fuel cell--to work for you.

6.30.2009 at 12:29pm - Comment by zip55

WOW, this is weird, cool but weird.
Technology

Finding Nature's Most Efficient Flight Mechanism

By Rebecca Boyle Posted on 6.18.2009 12 Comments
Movie courtesy of David Lentink With the help of a two-foot-wide robotic fly, a vat of oil, and some tricks with smoke and lasers, an aerospace engineer has learned that Mother Nature figured out long ago the most efficient way to fly. Well, at least if you're really small.

6.18.2009 at 12:57pm - Comment by zip55

"It's astonishing. What it shows is that aerodynamics is so important in shaping the wings in evolution, that very, very different organisms have all evolved the same mechanism to boost their lift," A little to "astonishing" to have just "evolved" don't you think?
Science

Using Nano-Geometry to Create Better Concrete

By Posted on 6.16.2009 2 Comments
The use of concrete dates back to ancient Rome, and the recipe hasn't changed much since then. Neither have some of concrete's drawbacks. In particular, the slow deformation known as "concrete creep" has afflicted structures from the Pantheon to the Pentagon. But MIT scientists believe they have solved the mystery of concrete creep, and thus opened the door to structures that will last tens of thousands of years.

6.17.2009 at 12:18pm - Comment by zip55

Well just cause we have a super long lasting concrete don't mean we will make "everything" out of it, besides if we have a building we have to take down we just blow it up.
Science

Move Over, Silicon; Here Come Quantum Bismuth Chips

By Stuart Fox Posted on 6.17.2009 5 Comments
Bismuth Telluride Valley doesn't quite have the same ring to it, but a new discovery may mean the end of silicon chips. After decades of using Bi₂Te₃ for its thermoelectric properties, researchers have discovered new properties of the material that paves the way for bismuth telluride chips constructed to power quantum computers.

6.17.2009 at 11:58am - Comment by zip55

Has anyone else noticed all the quantum computing innovation's lately we can't be far off from making a working computer now.
Science

Car-Powered Supermarket Check Outs

By Dan Smith Posted on 6.15.2009 32 Comments
A supermarket in the UK is using a novel way of harnessing energy from their customers. Embedding their parking lot with weight-sensitive plates, cars impart kinetic energy as they pass through, which is then collected and used to power their cash registers. When a car drives by, plates are depressed and the motion is passed along hydraulics to a generator, which produces 30kw of energy an hour. If one parking lot can power cash registers, imagine packing roads with this technology and how much energy can be recollected from all the world’s drivers?

6.16.2009 at 12:57pm - Comment by zip55

Sheez you guys slow down. Ok YES the road moves down and the car uses more energy to get back up again, but this happens with EVERY road so we might as well use this lost energy to power something. But anyway your both right so lets please move on to a real problem.
Science

Car-Powered Supermarket Check Outs

By Dan Smith Posted on 6.15.2009 32 Comments
A supermarket in the UK is using a novel way of harnessing energy from their customers. Embedding their parking lot with weight-sensitive plates, cars impart kinetic energy as they pass through, which is then collected and used to power their cash registers. When a car drives by, plates are depressed and the motion is passed along hydraulics to a generator, which produces 30kw of energy an hour. If one parking lot can power cash registers, imagine packing roads with this technology and how much energy can be recollected from all the world’s drivers?

6.15.2009 at 07:41pm - Comment by zip55

looks like you beat me to it bdhoro I should have refreshed my page before I posted my bad.
Science

Car-Powered Supermarket Check Outs

By Dan Smith Posted on 6.15.2009 32 Comments
A supermarket in the UK is using a novel way of harnessing energy from their customers. Embedding their parking lot with weight-sensitive plates, cars impart kinetic energy as they pass through, which is then collected and used to power their cash registers. When a car drives by, plates are depressed and the motion is passed along hydraulics to a generator, which produces 30kw of energy an hour. If one parking lot can power cash registers, imagine packing roads with this technology and how much energy can be recollected from all the world’s drivers?

6.15.2009 at 07:38pm - Comment by zip55

Hold it marcoreid what happens is when we drive by it pushes down on the plates powering a generator, now most of this down force is caused by gravity (duh) so this system is really powered by gravity not the cars "mechanical energy". to imfamous In that case the would have some sort of back up system to power the cash registers.