Thursday, November 25, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Planned Portuguese Eco-City Is Controlled By A Central Computer Brain
Urban Operating System Living PlanIT via Fast Company
A new eco-city planned in Portugal takes a cue from biology, using a centralized computer “brain” to control functions like water use, waste processing and energy consumption. It’s the biggest attempt at urban metabolism, which attempts to compare cities to living organisms.
Orbiting 3-D Printers Could Print Out New Space Stations
Now that we’ve begun 3D printing anything and everything here on Earth, it’s time to move to the final frontier: printing space stations in orbit. It was only a matter of time. Now new company Made in Space is seeking investors and beginning tests to make space printing a reality, according to Space.com.
It just makes more logical and economical sense to print parts for spacecraft and space stations in space, says the company's founder. If parts do not need to withstand the G-forces of being launched, their mass can be reduced by 30 percent. NASA could just launch the gray goo known as feedstock into orbit, to be dealt with later. Manufacturing parts in space also means that anything that breaks wouldn’t have to be shuttled down to Earth for repairs. The broken part could be recycled back into feedstock, and the printer could just crank out a new one.
When we eventually make it to Mars, we could take the printers with us to create dwellings out of Mars dirt, or to print out robot components. Despite these big plans, Made in Space is still in its early stages. It’s already printed out some space-ready parts, but it needs to see how the printers will perform in zero gravity. If the printer passes that test, the next step could be a trial aboard the International Space Station.
Ginormous Traffic-Swallowing Straddling Bus Coming to U.S.
Overhead power lines, bridges and box trucks beware: The giant, lane-straddling bus Chinese engineers hope will someday conquer that country’s legendary traffic by swallowing it whole is one step closer to cruising over rush hours from Los Angeles to Boston.
The Straddling Bus is one part monorail, one part monster truck. As the incredibly awesome illustration above shows, the extra-wide, extra-tall bus straddles two lanes of traffic, allowing passenger cars and small trucks to pass underneath.
It’s the brainchild of Song Youzhou of Shenzhen, who announced yesterday the formation of a U.S. company that will develop business links stateside. U.S. Elevated High-Speed Bus (Group) is looking for manufacturers to build the vehicle and representatives to sell it.
“The word ‘revolutionary’ is so overused, but this new bus actually is revolutionary,” said company spokesman Mark Shieh. “Relative to the cost of a subway line or other rail transit, our bus delivers extraordinary value. Aside from the low cost, the time for construction is about one third that for a subway.”
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Artic Drifter
– Studio Les Bêtes
Antony Gormley @ the Denver Art Museum
Italy Lights Up for Space Station
Astronauts have taken a spectacular nighttime picture of Italy from the Cupola observation deck of the International Space Station (ISS).
Jonathan Amos Science Correspondent, BBC News
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Malin Grummas' CAS Mask
Dubbed as “CAS,” the air cleaning mask has the ability to filter particles smaller than 2.5 microns, which can be most commonly found in burning spots and too dangerous for human health. It comes equipped with an internal carbon monoxide meter that on detecting a sudden increase of the carbon monoxide level triggers a signal to notify the firefighter, while the tube automatically pushes compressed air in.
"... the crucial thing, and this really is the next meta-issue in green (forget about climate change, biodiversity loss, peak-whatever), is inventing and spreading new forms of behavior, illustrating a new form of community and building that community. Showing not telling those people not convinced that not destroying one another and the planet around us that we've got a better idea here, a better behavioral invention."
Monday, November 15, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Sandia Announces Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion Energy Generation
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin 
on 11.14.10
Image: Sandia National Laboratories
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have announced a breakthrough that could lead to break-even nuclear fusion reactions within 2-3 years. The goal of nuclear fusion research is to make energy from sea water, producing only the harmless gas helium as a result of the fusion reaction. It is the holy grail of clean, sustainable energy, the same process that powers our sun.
The nuclear fusion efforts involve research at the cutting edge of physics, where one of the avenues of exploration goes by the name "Z-pinch" (which should gain the technique immediate street cred should it be successful). So what is a Z-pinch? And how could it power the future?
Article continues: Sandia Announces Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion Energy Generation
Green River
epod.usra.edu/blog/2010/09/yampa-river-and-green-river.html
The photo above shows an impressive view of the appropriately named Green River (both top and center) at Steamboat Rock in Echo Park Utah/Colorado. It was taken from Harpers Corner near the Dinosaur National Monument. A short distance below Echo Park, the Green River loops around Steamboat Rock, crosses the Mitten Park fault, and empties into Whirlpool Canyon, a huge gorge spanning 1.5 miles (2.4 km) – it’s approximately 2,500 feet (762 m) deep. The canyon formed by the Green River, near the confluence with the Yampa River, is eroded primarily from Mississippian and Pennsylvanian strata. In the upper canyon walls, massive Mississippian and Pennsylvanian limestone beds form huge stairsteps of nearly vertical cliffs and steeply sloping ledges. Cambrian age rocks are exposed closer to the bottom of the canyon bottom. Photo taken in the spring of 2010.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Glowing Trees
Gold Nanoparticles Could Transform Trees Into Street Lights
by Timon Singh, 11/10/10
Street lights are an important part of our urban infrastructure — they light our way home and make the roads safe at night. But what if we could create natural street lights that don’t need electricity to power them? A group of scientists in Taiwan recently discovered that placing gold nanoparticles within the leaves of trees, causes them to give off a luminous reddish glow. The idea of using trees to replace street lights is an ingenious one – not only would it save on electricity costs and cut CO2 emissions, but it could also greatly reduce light pollution in major cities.
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