Super-efficient solar-energy technology: ‘Solar steam’ so effective it can make steam from icy cold water Rice University scientists have unveiled a revolutionary new technology that uses nanoparticles to convert solar energy directly into steam. The new "solar steam" method from Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics is so effective it can even produce steam from icy cold water. The technology's inventors said they expect it will first be used in sanitation and water-purification applications in the developing world. Rice University scientists have unveiled a revolutionary new technology that uses nanoparticles to convert solar energy directly into steam. The new "solar steam" method from Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) is so effective it can even produce steam from icy cold water. Details of the solar steam method were published online November 19 in ACS Nano. "This is about a lot more than electricity," said LANP Director Naomi Halas, the lead scientist on the project. The efficiency of solar steam is due to the light-capturing nanoparticles that convert sunlight into heat.
Flowers in Ultra-Violet The compilation of species will continue to be updated at irregular intervals. All species listed here have been documented, and links are added whenever I can find spare time for updating. These images are made for illustrative purposes, not as artistic statements per se. However, there are lots of food for thought in the convoluted ways Nature expresses itself, so for once the artist can step backand let the subjects speak for themselves. If you are unfamiliar with the botany, just select any species indicated as having a "strong" response to learn how this looks. However, not all species have the typical bull's-eye UV pattern, which may be confined to symmetrical flowers. The UV range of the spectrum has no predefined colours, so we are free to assign any colour we like. UV fluorescence may be a common trait to most flowers, but might be of temporary occurrence for parts of the flower. In case you are curious as to why the species might have these patterns, read this to learn more.
Lettuce-Bot can kill weeds with 98% accuracy Humans have a pesky way of increasing in number no matter what we do. All those people also consume resources, and the strain on global food supplies will only increase in the future. As everyone scrambles to find a solution to this problem, we come back to one of our favorite problem-solvers: robots. Angel investors have opted to put $3.1 million on the table to move development of the Lettuce-Bot forward. Lettuce-Bot does this by taking advantage of recent advancements in computer vision systems. The Lettuce-Bot is not a miracle machine, though. Blue River, via Future Timeline
Tapping the Motion of the Ocean: Could the Tides Power Our World? | Environment on GOOD The city of Eastport, Maine is made up of a small group of islands just to the east of the eastern-most point of our eastern-most state. It houses about 1,300 residents, known for their dry humor, for their humbling heartiness, and for watching the sun rise hours before the rest of us get out of bed. The city boasts its annual pirate festival, its vague tie to a Mickey Rooney movie about a dragon, and the rip-roaring ocean tides that sweep its shores. To the east of Eastport lies Passamaquoddy Bay—an inlet of the Bay of Fundy through which 70 billion cubic feet of tidal water flow every six hours. The power of the ocean tides has never been lost on Mainers. It was as electrical power swept across the U.S., and the power grid was expanded, that folks in Eastport began eyeing the powerful tidal currents as one method of generation. The four TideGen turbines are a pilot program. Coastal towns and cities around the globe are watching this experiment with great interest.
Plants and fungi play the 'underground market' Science 12 Aug 11 Micrograph of fungi colonising roots of plant host, Medicago truncatula. Image: Jan Jansa Plants and fungi co-operate and trade with each other on a biological ‘underground market’, changing their trading partners if they don’t get a fair deal. The finding was made by an international team, including Oxford University scientists, examining how plants trade energy-rich carbohydrate they make using photosynthesis for phosphorus fungi collect from the soil. A report of the research is published in this week’s Science. ‘This is one of the first recorded examples of a ‘biological market’ operating in which both partners reward fair trading rather than one partner having the advantage and exploiting the other,’ said Professor Stuart West of Oxford University’s Department of Zoology, an author of the paper.
21 Vegetables that can grow in partial shade Knowing where to grow your vegetables is almost as important as knowing what types to grow in the first place. Your temperature zone defines what you can easily grow, but your ultimate placement of those chosen vegetables will decide how well they’ll grow for you. Here is a list of full sun, shade, and partial sun plants that grow well in most of North America. (Click through on the link for each vegetable to learn more about it.) Full Sun Vegetables “Full sun” means a minimum of six hours (usually at least 8) of sunlight per day. Cucumbers One of the easiest to grow, cukes have very broad leaves, a common trait in many full-sun plants. Eggplant These grow better in some climates than in others, but are a popular early spring and late fall harvest. Peppers Most types of peppers prefer as much sun as they can get. Squash Like cucumbers, squash plants have very broad leaves and beg for sunlight. Partial Sun Vegetables Light Shade Vegetables Leaf lettuce Most lettuce plants prefer less sun.
Award-winning device harvests energy from railway track vibrations Much of the abundant mechanical energy around us is irregular and oscillatory and can be somewhat difficult to efficiently tap into. Typical energy harvesting systems tend to be built for low power applications in the milliwatts range but researchers from New York's Stony Brook University have developed a new patent-pending electromagnetic energy harvester capable of harnessing the vibrations of a locomotive thundering down a stretch of track to power signal lights, structural monitoring systems or even track switches. As a train rolls down the track, the load it exerts on the track causes vertical deflection. "The U.S. has the longest rail tracks in the world, approximately 140,700 miles; that are often in remote areas," said Professor Zuo. Impact forces from repeated loading/unloading are also said to be reduced thanks to the incorporation of a flywheel to stabilize the generator. Source: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stony Brook University
How the first plant came to be The genome of provides essential clues to the origin of photosynthesis in algae and plants. Science/AAAS Earth is the planet of the plants — and it all can be traced back to one green cell. The world's lush profusion of photosynthesizers — from towering redwoods to ubiquitous diatoms — owe their existence to a tiny alga eons ago that swallowed a cyanobacteria and turned it into an internal solar power plant. By studying the genetics of a "glaucophyte" — one of a group of just 13 unique microscopic freshwater blue-green algae, sometimes called "living fossils" — an international consortium of scientists led by molecular bioscientist Dana Price of the University of Queensland, Brisbane, has elucidated the evolutionary history of plants. According to the analysis of 's genome of roughly 70 million base pairs, this capture must have occurred only once because most modern plants share the genes that make the merger of photosynthesizer and larger host cell possible.
Gardening Australia - The Self-Sufficient Gardener Organic Gardener Magazine, January/February 2009 In this first edition of ‘the self-sufficient gardener’, JERRY COLEBY-WILLIAMS explains how to salvage those ubiquitous polystyrene boxes from the grocer and turn them into great storage and growing containers. Most Australians call expanded polystyrene foam ‘styrofoam’ – but this is actually a trademark name, owned by Dow Chemicals, who claim to have ‘discovered’ this product, which was first made in Sweden. Polystyrene foam is one of the most widely used plastics. In its granular form, polystyrene foam is used by some less eco-aware gardeners in orchid and Saintpaulia potting mixes. Seedlings and cuttings Among the best uses for these boxes are raising seedlings and striking cuttings. Preparing the box Here’s how to prepare the boxes for planting:1. Suitable crops Great insulators Polystyrene foam is an excellent insulator and, because the boxes are generally white, they also reflect the heat. Storing root crops and bulbs
A 'Green' Gold Rush? Calif. Firm Turns Trash To Gas hide captionEnergy Of The Future? California company Sierra Energy is testing out a reactor that turns garbage — like these wood chips, metal fragments and plastics — into synthetic gas that can then be turned into a low-carbon diesel fuel. Christopher Joyce/NPR Second of a two-part series. Read Part 1 California starts the ball rolling Wednesday on a controversial scheme to keep the planet from overheating. Some permits will be auctioned today; the rest are free. It's a gamble. Dan Kammen, an energy expert at the University of California, Berkeley, helped write the climate law. "The way we say it," Kammen explains, "we've squeezed the lemon a little bit. Many of those low-energy products are made abroad. That includes people like Mike Hart. Hart has set up shop in a big warehouse at a mothballed Air Force base near Sacramento. hide captionSierra Energy is testing a reactor that makes fuel in a warehouse at an old Air Force base near Sacramento, Calif. "It's an exciting time," he says.