Category: Research News
Insect Cyborg
In 2006 the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) asked America’s scientists to submit “innovative proposals to develop technology to create insect-cyborgs” It was not your everyday government request, but it was an utterly serious one. For years, the US military has been hoping to develop “micro air vehicles” – ultra-small flying robots capable of performing surveillance in dangerous territory. Building these machines is not easy. … Continue reading Insect Cyborg
Lead Exposure
This study compares changes in children’s blood lead levels in the United States with subsequent changes in IQ, based on norm comparisons for the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) given to representative national samples of children in 1984 and 1992. The CogAT norm comparisons indicate shifts in IQ levels consistent with the blood lead to IQ relationship reported by an earlier study and population shifts in … Continue reading Lead Exposure
Human Muscle, Regrown on Animal Scaffolding
In the months after a roadside bomb in Afghanistan blew off part of his left thigh, Sgt. Ron Strang wondered if he would ever be able to walk normally again. The explosion and subsequent rounds of surgery left Sergeant Strang, 28, a Marine, with a huge divot in his upper thigh where the quadriceps muscle had been. He could move the leg backward, but with … Continue reading Human Muscle, Regrown on Animal Scaffolding
Interesting videos on Physics
Pendulum Waves ****** Walter Lewin’s – Physics Class Continue reading Interesting videos on Physics
A biological battery
Plugging into sources of energy within our body — such as heat, internal motion or metabolites — to power implanted medical devices has long been the goal of biomedical engineers. Now researchers based in Cambridge, Massachusetts have demonstrated that a sensing device embedded in the ear can be powered by the ear’s own electrochemical battery. Our auditory mechanism picks up external sounds and sends information … Continue reading A biological battery
Electron Transport by Filamentous Bacteria
Necessity is the mother of natural selection. When conditions become threatening, maverick or mutant members of a group which can cope with the threat survive and multiply. The latest example is the discovery of a special type of bacteria in the ocean, which join together to form a long conducting nanowire cable to transport electrons and capture the oxygen at the surface for metabolic use. … Continue reading Electron Transport by Filamentous Bacteria
Maximum theoretical wind power
Wind turbines convert kinetic to electrical energy, which returns to the atmosphere as heat to regenerate some potential and kinetic energy. As the number of wind turbines increases over large geographic regions, power extraction first increases linearly, but then converges to a saturation potential not identified previously from physical principles or turbine properties. These saturation potentials are >250 terawatts (TW) at 100 m globally, approximately 80 TW at 100 m over … Continue reading Maximum theoretical wind power
Climate variability and violence
In an earlier post, I have referenced the effect of climate change on health. This week’s issue of PNAS has an article on climate change and violence, which is quite worrisome. Recent studies concerning the possible relationship between climate trends and the risks of violent conflict have yielded contradictory results, partly because of choices of conflict measures and modeling design. In this study, we examine climate–conflict … Continue reading Climate variability and violence
Science Education
Michael Faraday’s lectures at London’s Royal Institution in the early 19th century were so popular that the carriages dropping people off to see him used to choke Albemarle Street in Mayfair – as a result, the street was designated the first one-way road in London. Faraday was a master communicator who thrilled audiences with the latest discoveries in chemistry and electricity. He was as much a brilliant … Continue reading Science Education
Perpetual Motion of Thought 