CAR THAT MAKES ITS OWN FUEL

IsraCast: THE CAR THAT MAKES ITS OWN FUEL

The Hydrogen car Engineuity is working on will use metals such as Magnesium or Aluminum which will come in the form of a long coil. The gas tank in conventional vehicles will be replaced by a device called a Metal-Steam combustor that will separate Hydrogen out of heated water. The basic idea behind the technology is relatively simple: the tip of the metal coil is inserted into the Metal-Steam combustor together with water where it will be heated to very high temperatures. The metal atoms will bond to the Oxygen from the water, creating metal oxide. As a result, the Hydrogen molecules are free, and will be sent into the engine alongside the steam. The solid waste product of the process, in the form of metal oxide, will later be collected in the fuel station and recycled for further use by the metal industry.

Street names as a base for a history book

Lingua Franca - 21/01/2006: Does The World Need Esperanto?

Reading the above article on Esperanto reminded me of Ludwig Zamenhof street, near our blocks of flats in Bulgaria. This lead to the idea that since people had a reason to call a street what it is, it may be interesting to share it with others. Hence, imagine a book or a tourist tour around this notion.

adaptive cruise contro avoids jams; Traffic Simulation

Cruise control avoids jams (January 2006) - News - PhysicsWeb

The German researchers carried out computer simulations of traffic -- in which each vehicle is represented by a small particle -- to describe the dynamics of traffic on motorways. Their approach allows them to vary the number of different types of vehicle and driving styles -- such as cars and trucks, and fast and slow drivers. The simulations consider traffic flows that consist mostly of "human" drivers and a small number of "partly automated" ACC cars. The team found that even if just 10% of all cars use ACC then congestion is dramatically eased because "traffic breakdown" -- where cars come to a complete halt as in a traffic jam -- is delayed (see figure). "This is a benefit to drivers because fewer people are affected and the waiting time is smaller thanks to reduced queue lengths," explains Kesting. Moreover, the effect is scaleable so if, say, 20% of cars had ACC, then congestion would be reduced even further.
I was planning on doing similar simulation myself using pygame, as well as testing a "green wave" theory for traffic lights.

Algorithm detects Canadian politicians' spin

New Scientist Breaking News - Algorithm detects Canadian politicians' spin

He and his team analysed the usage patterns of 88 deception-linked words within the text of recent campaign speeches from the political leaders. They then determined the frequency of these patterns in each speech, and averaged that number over all of that candidate’s speeches. Martin received a ranking of 124, while Harper and Layton scored 73 and 88, respectively.
“I think it’s expected that any party in power is going to use spin more than the challenging party,” Skillicorn says. “They have a track record to defend.”

Measuring wrinkles, sun damage with software

Measuring wrinkles, sun damage with software | CNET News.com

I tested, firsthand, emerging bioscience technology that applies hard numbers to my skin's health. With two flashes of white-light digital imaging to my face and some sophisticated mathematical algorithms, the system I subjected myself to could calculate all that frightening detail in a few minutes. Clarity Pro skin technology This thing will either be youth-obsessed America's godsend or nightmare, I can't decide. Apart from numbers, the technology, called Clarity Pro, can depict the depth and severity of wrinkles in a 3D chart, show the extent of bacteria-filled pores in a graph, or represent UV damage in purple dots scattered about your face in a white-light image. It can also calculate how long a person can be exposed to the sun, in minutes or hours a day, before incurring more UV damage. When patents are finalized in the next year, the technology will also be able to forecast a patient's likelihood for skin cancer as a consequence of UV sun damage, according to Raj Chhibber, CEO and founder of BrighTex Bio-Photonics, the Silicon Valley-based maker of Clarity Pro.

Brown sugar is 70% white?

New Scientist Back Page - I'm sweet enough

At one time brown sugar was sugar that hadn't been fully refined, and if you buy coarse "raw" sugar this may still be the case. But today's brown sugar is most often made by adding molasses back into fine white sugar. Manufacturers do this because they can more easily control the proportions of sucrose and molasses and the size of the white sugar crystals, resulting in a more uniform product. You can do the same at home if you run out of brown sugar. Mix about nine parts caster sugar with one part molasses and stir, stir, stir. The fact that brown sugar is really 90 per cent white sugar means that they both have about the same energy content of 17 kilocalories per teaspoon. Certainly there are more minerals such as iron and calcium in molasses, but you'd need to swallow about a cup of the stuff to get close to your daily requirement, which would incidentally contain about 50 per cent of your daily energy needs.
A tablespoon of blackstrap molasses, which is still 70 per cent sugar, has an iron content which is similar to a steak and it also tastes great on special high-protein porridges.

Super-powerful new ion engine revealed

New Scientist SPACE - Breaking News - Super-powerful new ion engine revealed

Ion engines work by using an electric field to accelerate a beam of positively charged particles – ions – away from the spacecraft, thereby providing propulsion.

The conventional ion engine contains three grids perforated with thousands of millimetre-wide holes. These grids are attached to a chamber containing the charged particles.

The first grid operates at thousands of volts, while the second is kept at a low voltage. This voltage difference creates an electric field, which extracts the ions from the fuel reservoir and accelerates them out into space in one step. The third grid acts to stop electrons flying back into the ion beam.

Ideally, the voltage difference between the first two grids should be as high as possible, to maximise the speed at which the ions are expelled, and also the fuel efficiency of the engine. But when the difference approaches 5000 volts, ions collide with the second grid, and start to erode it.

The new design incorporates four grids. First, the ions are extracted from the reservoir using two closely spaced grids that both operate at an intermediate voltage of 3000 v to 5000 v.

Acceleration comes in the second stage, when the extracted ions are channelled between the second and third grids, across which a very high voltage is applied. The final, low-voltage stage, between the third and fourth grids, prevents electrons from the exhaust plume from flying backwards.

How to collect DNA for medical research

New Scientist News - One million people, one medical gamble

Both of the projects aim to revolutionise medical research by gathering information that will allow scientists to study in unprecedented depth how our genes and environment interact over the years to cause disease. That could one day lead to new treatments for disorders such as cancer, heart disease, asthma, multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis.
Similar privacy fears surfaced more than five years ago, when the Icelandic government allowed a Reykjavik-based company called Decode Genetics to commandeer the genetic, medical and family histories of the entire population of Iceland. The medical details of 270,000 people were to be entered into a huge database, supposedly encrypted to protect their identities (New Scientist, 15 July 2000, p 42).
One major difficulty lies in collecting reliable environmental data on what people eat and drink throughout their lives, or what chemicals or radiation they are exposed to and how much exercise they take. To help deal with such problems, the organisers of the US project are considering using microchip-based devices such as rings, bracelets and body patches to keep a continuous check on volunteers' heart rate and blood oxygen levels. Participants' cellphones could be rigged up to transmit data on physiology and diet, and microchip-based sensors could be placed around the body to record other data such as exposure to radiation, or even what they consume, including alcohol and tobacco.