Zeolites are widely used as ion-exchange beds in domestic and commercial water purification, softening, and other applications. In chemistry, zeolites are used to separate molecules (only molecules of certain sizes and shapes can pass through), as traps for molecules so they can be analyzed.

Zeolites have the potential of providing precise and specific separation of gases including the removal of H2O, CO2 and SO2 from low-grade natural gas streams. Other separations include noble gases, N2, O2, freon and formaldehyde. However, at present, the true potential to improve the handling of such gases in this manner remains unknown.

Petrochemical industry

Synthetic zeolites are widely used as catalysts in the petrochemical industry, for instance in fluid catalytic cracking and hydro-cracking. Zeolites confine molecules in small spaces, which causes changes in their structure and reactivity. The hydrogen form of zeolites (prepared by ion-exchange) are powerful solid-state acids, and can facilitate a host of acid-catalyzed reactions, such as isomerisation, alkylation, and cracking. The specific activation modality of most zeolitic catalysts used in petrochemical applications involves quantum-chemical Lewis acid site reactions.

Catalytic cracking uses a furnace and reactor. First, crude oil distillation fractions are heated in the furnace and passed to the reactor. In the reactor, the crude meets with a catalyst such as zeolite. It goes through this step three times, each time getting cooler. Finally, it reaches a step known as separator. The separator collects recycled hydrogen. Then it goes through a fractionator and becomes the final item.

Nuclear industry

Zeolites have uses in advanced reprocessing methods, where their micro-porous ability to capture some ions while allowing others to pass freely allow many fission products to be efficiently removed from nuclear waste and permanently trapped. Equally important are the mineral properties of zeolites. Their alumino-silicate construction is extremely durable and resistant to radiation even in porous form. Additionally, once they are loaded with trapped fission products, the zeolite-waste combination can be hot pressed into an extremely durable ceramic form, closing the pores and trapping the waste in a solid stone block. This is a waste form factor that greatly reduces its hazard compared to conventional reprocessing systems.

Heating and refrigeration

Zeolites can be used as solar thermal collectors and for adsorption refrigeration. In these applications, their high heat of adsorption and ability to hydrate and dehydrate while maintaining structural stability is exploited. This hygroscopic property coupled with an inherent exothermic (heat-producing) reaction when transitioning from a dehydrated to a hydrated form make natural zeolites useful in harvesting waste heat and solar heat energy.

Detergents

The largest single use for zeolite is the global laundry detergent market. This amounted to 1.44 million metric tons per year of anhydrous zeolite A in 1992.

Construction

Synthetic zeolite is also being used as an additive in the production process of warm mix asphalt concrete. The development of this application started in Germany in the 1990s. It helps by decreasing the temperature level during manufacture and laying of asphalt concrete, resulting in lower consumption of fossil fuels, thus releasing less carbon dioxide, aerosols, and vapours. Other than that, the use of synthetic zeolite in hot mixed asphalt leads to easier compaction and, to a certain degree, allows cold weather paving and longer hauls.

When added to Portland cement as a pozzolan, it can reduce chloride permeability and improve workability. It reduces weight and helps moderate water content while allowing for slower drying which improves break strength.

Gemstones

Thomsonites, one of the rarer zeolite minerals, have been collected as gemstones from a series of lava flows along Lake Superior in Minnesota and to a lesser degree in Michigan, U.S.A. Thomsonite nodules from these areas have eroded from basalt lava flows and are collected on beaches and by scuba divers in Lake Superior.

These thomsonite nodules have concentric rings in combinations of colors: black, white, orange, pink, red, and many shades of green. Some nodules have copper inclusions and rarely will be found with copper “eyes.” When polished by a lapidary the thomsonites sometimes display chatoyancy.

Space hardware testing

Zeolites can be used as a molecular sieve in cryosorption pumps for rough pumping of vacuum chambers that can be used to simulate space-like conditions to test hardware bound for space.

Medical

Zeolite-based oxygen concentrator systems are widely used to produce medical-grade oxygen. The zeolite is used as a molecular sieve to create purified oxygen from air using its ability to trap impurities, in a process involving the adsorption of nitrogen, leaving highly purified oxygen and up to 5% argon.

QuikClot brand hemostatic agent, which is used to stop severe bleeding, contains a calcium-loaded form of zeolite.

Biomedical applications of zeolites include their use as detoxicants and decontaminants, as vaccine adjuvants, and as antibacterial agents. They are also used for delayed release drug delivery, as antitumor adjuvants, as antidiarrheal agents, in hemodialysis, to improve bone formation, and in the treatment of diabetes mellitus.

Zeolites are used in the treatment of Lyme disease, as a detoxifier.

Use as nutritional supplements

Zeolites are used as nutritional supplements. Some clinoptilolite-based dietary supplements have demonstrated antioxidant activity in humans.

Agriculture

In agriculture, clinoptilolite (a naturally occurring zeolite) is used as a soil treatment. It provides a source of slowly released potassium. If previously loaded with ammonium, the zeolite can serve a similar function in the slow release of nitrogen. Zeolites can also act as water moderators, in which they will adsorb up to 55% of their weight in water and slowly release it under plant demand. This property can prevent root rot and moderate drought cycles.

Animal husbandry

“Both natural and synthetic zeolites have been used in animal nutrition mainly to improve performance traits and, based on their fundamental physicochemical properties, they were also tested and found to be efficacious in the prevention of ammonia and heavy metal toxicities, poisonings as well as radioactive elements uptake and metabolic skeletal defects.”

In concentrated animal growing facilities, the addition of as little as 1% of a very low sodium clinoptiloite was shown to improve feed conversion, reduce airborne ammonia up to 80%, act as a mycotoxin binder, and improve bone density. It can be used in general odor elimination for all animal odors.

Domestic pet care =

Aquarium keeping

Zeolites are marketed by pet stores for use as a filter additive in aquariums. In aquariums, zeolites can be used to adsorb ammonia and other nitrogenous compounds. However, due to the high affinity of some zeolites for calcium, they may be less effective in hard water and may deplete calcium. Zeolite filtration is used in some marine aquaria to keep nutrient concentrations low for the benefit of corals adapted to nutrient-depleted waters.

Where and how the zeolite was formed is an important consideration for aquariums. Most Northern hemisphere natural zeolites were formed when molten lava came in contact with sea water, thereby ‘loading’ the zeolite with Na (sodium) sacrificial ions. These sodium ions will speciate with other ions in solution, thus the takeup of nitrogen in ammonia, with the release of the sodium. One deposit in southern Idaho near Bear River is a fresh water variety ( Na
Adapted from the Wikipedia article Zeolite, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

No related posts.

Water vapor and organic compounds

On July 11, 2007, a team lead by Giovanna Tinetti published the results of their observations using the Spitzer Space Telescope concluding there is solid evidence for significant amounts of water vapor in the planet’s atmosphere. Follow-up observations made using the Hubble Space Telescope confirm the presence of water vapor and also the organic compound methane. It is currently unknown how the methane originated as the planet’s high temperature (700°C, 1292°F) should cause the water and methane to react, replacing the atmosphere with carbon monoxide.

Evolution

While transiting the system also clearly exhibits the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect, the shifting in photospheric spectral lines caused by the planet occulting a part of the rotating stellar surface. Due to its high mass and close orbit the parent star has a very large semi-amplitude, the “wobble” in the star’s radial velocity, of 205 m/s.

The Rossiter-McLaughlin effect allows the measurement of the angle between the planet’s orbital plane and the equatorial plane of the star. These are well aligned. By analogy with HD 149026 b, the formation of the planet was peaceful and probably involved interactions with the protoplanetary disc. A much larger angle would have suggested a violent interplay with other protoplanets.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article HD 189733 b, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

No related posts.

Modeling echolocation in bats in darkness has led to a cane for the visually impaired. Research at the University of Leeds, in the United Kingdom, led to the UltraCane, a product formerly manufactured, marketed and sold by Sound Foresight Ltd.

Janine Benyus refers in her books to spiders that create web silk as strong as the Kevlar used in bulletproof vests. Engineers could use such a material—if it had a long enough rate of decay—for parachute lines , suspension bridge cables, artificial ligaments for medicine, and many other purposes.

Other research has proposed adhesive glue from mussels, solar cells made like leaves, bionic cars inspired by the boxfish, fabric that emulates shark skin, harvesting water from fog like a beetle, and more. [http://www.n100best.org/ Nature’s 100 Best] is a compilation of the top hundred different innovations of animals, plants, and other organisms that have been researched and studied by the Biomimicry Institute.

A display technology based on the reflective properties of certain morpho butterflies was commercialized by Qualcomm in 2007. The technology uses Interferometric Modulation to reflect light so only the desired color is visible to the eye in each individual pixel of the display.World’s first Biomimicry based city is Lavasa, which is based in Pune in Maharashtra state of India.

Biomimicry may also provide design methodologies and techniques to optimize engineering products and systems. An example is the re-derivation of Murray’s law, which in conventional form determined the optimum diameter of blood vessels, to provide simple equations for the pipe or tube diameter which gives a minimum mass engineering system.

==Videos

*[http://www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action.html Janine Benyus: Biomimicry in Action] from TED 2009

*[http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/18 Janine Benyus: 12 sustainable design ideas from nature] from TED 2005

*[http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_full_on_engineering_and_evolution.html Robert Full shows how human engineers can learn from animals' tricks] from TED 2002

*[http://www.scribemedia.org/2008/10/22/float-like-a-butterfly-with-janine-benyus Sex, Velcro and Biomimicry with Janine Benyus]

*[http://www.eveningnews.com/blogs/2009/11/08/fastdraw/entry5577007.shtml The Fast Draw: Biomimicry] from CBS News

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Biomimicry, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

No related posts.

In 2004, Gore co-launched Generation Investment Management, a company for which he serves as Chair. The company was “a new London fund management firm that plans to create environment-friendly portfolios. Generation Investment will manage assets of institutional investors, such as pension funds, foundations and endowments, as well as those of ‘high net worth individuals,’ from offices in London and Washington, D.C.”

We Can Solve It

Gore and The Alliance for Climate Protection created the ”We Can Solve It” organization, a web-based program with multiple advertisements on television focused on spreading awareness for climate crisis (global warming) and petitioning for the press putting more attention on the crisis, the government doing more to help the environment, and their ultimate goal is the end to global warming. Although focused mostly upon the United States, and Americans, it is an international petition and effort. It already has over one million signatures.[http://www.wecansolveit.org/]

Lectures and conferences

In recent years, Gore has remained busy traveling the world speaking and participating in events mainly aimed towards global warming awareness and prevention. His keynote presentation on global warming has received standing ovations, and he has presented it at least 1,000 times according to his monologue in ”An Inconvenient Truth”. His speaking fee is $100,000. Gore’s global warming presentations in several major cities have been associated with exceptionally severe cold weather, a juxtaposition since dubbed “the Gore Effect.” Gore is a vocal proponent of carbon neutrality, buying a carbon offset each time he travels by aircraft. Gore and his family drive hybrid vehicles. In ”An Inconvenient Truth” Gore calls for people to conserve energy.

In 2007, Al Gore was the main non-official representative for the United States in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, which is a series of discussions that plans to continue where the Kyoto Protocol left off when it expires in 2012. He used a famous World War II poem written by Pastor Martin Niemöller to describe how the international community is eerily accomplishing nothing in the face of the greatest crisis in human history. He ended the speech using his famous tag line: “However, political will is a renewable resource.”

During Global Warming Awareness Month, on February 9, 2007, Al Gore and Richard Branson announced the ”Virgin Earth Challenge”, a competition offering a $25 million prize for the first person or organization to produce a viable design that results in the removal of atmospheric greenhouse gases.

A public lecture at University of Toronto on February 21, 2007, on the topic of global warming, led to a crash of the ticket sales website within minutes of opening.

In March 2008, Gore gave a talk via videoconferencing in order to promote this technology as a means, he argued, of fighting global warming.

On 17 July 2008, Gore gave a speech at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. in which he called for a move towards replacing a dependence upon “carbon-based fuels” with Green energy by the United States within the next ten years. Gore stated: “When President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely in 10 years, many people doubted we could accomplish that goal. But 8 years and 2 months later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon.” Some criticized his plan. According to the BBC, “Robby Diamond, president of a bipartisan think tank called Securing America’s Future Energy, said weaning the nation off fossil fuels could not be done in a decade. ‘The country is not going to be able to go cold turkey [...] We have a hundred years of infrastructure with trillions of dollars of investment that is not simply going to be made obsolete.’ “

Repower America

On July 21, 2008 Al Gore used a speech to challenge the United States to commit to producing all electricity from renewable sources (AERS) like solar and wind power in 10 years

. Al Gore´s Alliance for Climate Protection has created the ”Repower America” project to promote this goal.

In this speech, Al Gore says that our dangerous over-reliance on carbon-based fuels is at the core of all three of the economic, environmental and national security crises. Our democracy has become sclerotic at a time when these crises require bold policy solutions .

Center for Resource Solutions supports Al Gore’s Repower America goal.

Civil disobedience to stop coal plants

On September 24, 2008 Gore made the following statements in a speech given at the Clinton Global Initiative:

“If you’re a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration.”

These remarks were similar to ones he’d made the previous year:

“I can’t understand why there aren’t rings of young people blocking bulldozers,” Mr. Gore said, “and preventing them from constructing coal-fired power plants.”

Environmental criticism

Four main environmental criticisms are regularly leveled at Gore: (1) he has an alleged conflict of interest from his role as both an investor in green-technology companies and as an advocate of taxpayer-funded green-technology subsidies, (2) he allegedly makes erroneous scientific claims, (3) he allegedly consumes excessive amounts of energy, and (4) he allegedly refuses to debate others on the subject of global warming.

In reference to Gore’s alleged conflict of interest, some critics have labeled Gore a “carbon billionaire.” In response to these criticisms Gore stated that it is “certainly not true” that he is a “carbon billionaire” and that he is “proud to put my money where my mouth is for the past 30 years. And though that is not the majority of my business activities, I absolutely believe in investing in accordance with my beliefs and my values.” Gore was challenged on this topic by Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn who asked him: “The legislation that we are discussing here today, is that something that you are going to personally benefit from?” Gore responded by stating: “I believe that the transition to a green economy is good for our economy and good for all of us, and I have invested in it.” Gore also added that all earnings from his investments have gone to the Alliance for Climate Protection and that “If you believe that the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don’t know me.” Finally, Gore told Blackburn: “Do you think there is something wrong with being active in business in this country [...] I am proud of it. I am proud of it.”

Criticisms of Gore’s allegedly erroneous scientific statements tend to focus on a British High Court’s ruling that Gore’s Inconvenient Truth documentary was deemed by the court to have nine significant errors.

Gore has also been the subject of criticism for his personal use of energy, including his use of private jets and ownership of multiple very large homes. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research (TCPR) has twice criticized Gore for electricity consumption in his Tennessee home. In February 2007, TCPR stated that their analysis of records from the Nashville Electric Service indicated that the Gore household uses “20 times as much electricity as the average household nationwide.” In reporting on TCPR’s claims, MSNBC noted that the Nashville Electric Service report “omits several other key facts. The former vice president’s home has 20 rooms, including home offices for himself and his wife, as well as a guest house and special security measures. Furthermore, the Gores buy energy produced from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. Tonight, ”Countdown” confirmed with the local utility officials that their program, called the ”Green Power Switch”, actually costs more for the Gores—four dollars for every 150& kilowatt hours. Meaning, by our calculations, our math here, that the Gores actually chose to increase their electric bill by $5,893, more than 50 percent, in order to minimize carbon pollution.”

A few months later, the Associated Press reported on December 13, 2007 that Gore “has completed a host of improvements to make the home more energy efficient, and a building-industry group has praised the house as one of the nation’s most environmentally friendly [...] ‘Short of tearing it down and starting anew, I don’t know how it could have been rated any higher,’ said Kim Shinn of the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council, which gave the house its second-highest rating for sustainable design.”

Gore was criticized by the TCPR again in June 2008, after the group obtained his public utility bills from the Nashville Electric Service and compared “electricity consumption between the 12 months before June 2007, when it says he installed his new technology, and the year since then.” According to their analysis, the Gores consumed 10% more energy in the year since their home received its eco-friendly modifications. TCPR also argued that, while the “average American household consumes 11,040& kWh in an entire year,” the Gore residence “uses an average of 17,768& kWh per month –1,638& kWh more energy per month than before the renovations.” Gore’s spokeswoman Kalee Kreider countered the claim by stating that the Gores’ “utility bills have gone down 40 percent since the green retrofit.” and that “the three-year renovation on the home wasn’t complete until November, so it’s a bit early to attempt a before-and-after comparison.” She also noted that TCPR did not include Gore’s gas bill in their analysis (which they had done the previous year) and that the gas “bill has gone down 90 percent [...] And when the Gores do power up, they pay for renewable resources, like wind and solar power or methane gas.”

”Media Matters for America” also discussed the fact that “100 percent of the electricity in his home comes from green power” and quoted the Tennessee Valley Authority as stating that “[a]lthough no source of energy is impact-free, renewable resources create less waste and pollution.”

Furthermore, organizations such as PETA have criticized Gore for not advocating vegetarianism. Gore responded by stating, “I’m not a vegetarian, but I have cut back sharply on the meat that I eat [...] It’s absolutely correct that the growing meat intensity of diets around the world is one of the issues connected to this global crisis – not only because of the CO2 involved, but also because of the water consumed in the process.”

Some have argued that Gore refuses to debate the topic of global warming. Bjorn Lomborg asked him to debate the topic at a conference in California. Gore replied that he would not, stating that “The scientific community has gone through this chapter and verse. We have long since passed the time when we should pretend this is a ‘on the one hand, on the other hand’ issue,” he said. “It’s not a matter of theory or conjecture, for goodness sake.”

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Al Gore and the environment, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

No related posts.

The equilibrium climate sensitivity refers to the equilibrium change in global mean near-surface air temperature that would result from a sustained doubling of the atmospheric (equivalent) CO2 concentration (ΔTx2). This value is estimated, by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (”AR4”) as ”likely to be in the range 2 to 4.5°C with a best estimate of about 3°C, and is very unlikely to be less than 1.5°C. Values substantially higher than 4.5°C cannot be excluded, but agreement of models with observations is not as good for those values”. This is a slight change from the IPCC Third Assessment Report (”TAR”), which said it was “likely to be in the range of 1.5 to 4.5°C”.. More recent work continues to support a best-guess value around 3°C.

A model estimate of equilibrium sensitivity thus requires a very long model integration. A measure requiring shorter integrations is the transient climate sensitivity which is defined as the average temperature response over a twenty year period centered at CO2 doubling in a transient simulation with CO2 increasing at 1% per year. The transient sensitivity is lower than the equilibrium sensitivity, due to the “inertia” of ocean heat uptake. Fully equilibrating ocean temperatures would require integrations of thousands of model years.

An estimate of the equilibrium climate sensitivity may be made from combining the effective climate sensitivity with the known properties of the ocean reservoirs and the surface heat fluxes; this is the effective climate sensitivity. This “may vary with forcing history and climate state”.

Although climate sensitivity is usually used in the context of radiative forcing by CO2, it is thought of as a general property of the climate system: the change in surface air temperature (ΔTs) following a unit change in radiative forcing (RF) and expressed in units of °C/(W/m2). For this to be so, the measure must be independent of the nature of the forcing (e.g. from greenhouse gases or solar variation); to first order this is indeed found to be so.

For a coupled atmosphere-ocean global climate model the climate sensitivity is an emergent property: it is not a model parameter, but rather a result of a combination of model physics and parameters. By contrast, simpler energy-balance models may have climate sensitivity as an explicit paramter.

Delta T_s = lambda cdot RF

The terms represented in the equation relate radiative forcing of any cause to linear changes in global surface temperature change.

It is also possible to estimate climate sensitivity from observations; however, this is difficult due to uncertainties in the forcing and temperature histories.

Climate sensitivity can be a useful summary of the sensitivity of the real climate, or of a given model climate. But it is not the same as the expected climate change at, say 2100: the TAR forecasts this to be an increase of 1.4 to 5.8°C over 1990.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Climate sensitivity, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

No related posts.

Skyvault’s computer system has to assemble the assault weapons systems for them to be attached to the exo-frames. They cannot be attached manually to the exo-frames’ hardpoints. The Centurions can eject the weapons systems from their suits at anytime.

The Centurions are also able to request Crystal or the Skyvault computer to recall their current assault weapons system and swap it with another platform.

* Max Ray (Sea)

** Cruiser – the basic sea system; a SCUBA system with a laser cannon and a Hydro-Missile. The propulsion system is able to function in and out of water, serving to give Max limited flight capabilities when out of the water. It also has a keelfin radar unit on the chest.

** Tidal Blast – a larger undersea system with two Shark Missiles (high-yield missiles that can fire at sea, land and air targets), a chest mounted reciprocating repulsar leison cannon, and a shoulder mounted grappling line. It is propelled by what appears to be jet engines that can function underwater, thus endowing it with high speed and limited airborne capabilities. Sometimes Max would request for the Tidal Blast system’s chest-mounted repulsar leison Cannon to be replaced by the dual torpedoes from Depth Charger for heavier firepower. It also comes equipped with a harpoon, and emergency sonic thruster, as well as a targeting device.

** Depth Charger – a self contained submersible with chest-mounted torpedoes, two aqua cannons, a periscope and a “Hydro-Mine” (which is a highly-destructive depth charge) that can be replenished by Skyvault as required. This weapon system has variable-geometry pontoons that allow it to either dive or skim along the water’s surface and in rare cases snow.

** Sea Bat – a high-speed underwater system with guns and missiles, similar to a manta ray in appearance. It is equipped with a chest-mounted Hydrofoil unit for sea-skimming and is armed with six Hydrofoil missiles (four on the wing, two on the legs). It also has an arm-mounted harpoon that can operate in heat-seeking mode. Also is armed with a depth charge.

** Aqua-Blazer; an upgrade system for Cruiser; it comes with extra control surfaces, air hoses, seismic missiles, coral missile, sea mine, harpoon, deepseascope and search light.

** Fathom Fan – Assault weapon system resembling an Air boat or hydrofoil with missiles and a small laser in the chest. The two hydrofoil pontoons house sea-skimming missiles.

* Jake Rockwell (Land)

** Fireforce – the basic land system; has a chest-mounted Plasma Repulsar (that looks and functions like a Gatling gun), forearm-mounted laser cannon and shoulder-mounted plasma accelerator bazooka that fires Plasma Shells (that is able to blow up almost anything). Radar module on the left shoulder.

** Detonator – a larger walker, with forward Freeze Ray Cannons (that operates like a Gast Gun) and an overhead radar-guided Sonic Ray Cannon. It has two Splicer Missiles (that have very high-yield explosive warheads) on either sides of the walker assembly, and a sonic screen, similar to a defence shield.

** Wild Weasel – a gun equipped human-motorcycle that could move in a prone or standing position. In prone position, the forward cowl of the “motorcycle” is armored. The Wild Weasel system is built for charging headlong into enemy fire and ramming into enemy targets. It is equipped with two Land Lasers flanking the left and right sides above the head armor assembly.

** Hornet – a helicopter with a small freeze ray gun in front, four sidewinder missiles and a canopy-mounted laser turret. It is sometimes assembled together with Splicer missile launchers and forward Freeze Ray Cannons from the Detonator assault weapon system for heavier firepower. It also comes equipped with sonic thrusters, two HF targeting sensors, and a tracking scope mounted on the rotor.

** Swingshot – a tracked gun platform having a pair of caterpillar tracks attached to a back-mounted sub-frame. Arm-level Megablasters with integral shields carry Trajectoid Missiles on the exterior. The system also comes with a chest-mounted howitzer. The tracked propulsion system can be energized to allow it to attract to any surface. In one instance, the tracks were swiveled upwards and energized to allow it to attract to the upper surface of a tunnel, whereby Jake can traverse the tunnel without getting into the water below.

** Awesome Auger – a drill like weapons system, rarely used. Similar in application to the Wild Weasel in that it can withstand a lot of abuse and is built to ram and tunnel through structures and enemies. It has Seismic Lasers that can soften the rocks in front of it to enable the auger drilling mechanism to penetrate them. It also has a mortar.

** Land Laser – a “lightweight” system similar to Fireforce in that it doesn’t hinder movement and doesn’t have excessive mechanical attachments. It comes with a missile rack on each leg carrying two Generator Missiles each (for a total of four). It also comes with a large back-mounted missiles and an arm-mounted triple-blaster.

* Ace McCloud (Air)

** Sky Knight – the basic air system; small, lightly armed jet pack like air assault system with forearm-mounted heat-seeking Stincel Missiles, a chest mounted Laser Bomb, Laser Cannon Pod, and a radar early-warning system on the jet pack that doubles as a laser designator for the laser bomb. The back pack has swing wings.

** Sky Bolt – a heavily armed fighter-jet, used for reconnaissance and air superiority; it is armed with a single pulse laser cannon, two rotating heat-seeking missiles, and two “Galactic Missiles” (mounted on both sides of the forward nose cone) that can be used to take out air and land targets and deliver a high destructive capability. It is sometimes combined together with Orbital Interceptor’s propulsion system and life-support helmet for extra-atmospheric or high-altitude applications. Skybolt is also equipped with a cloaking device that is sometimes utilized with Orbital Interceptor as well.

** Orbital Interceptor – non-atmospheric craft; usually used for space missions, but was used underwater on a couple of episodes. It has a “Multiparticle Missile” (that forms the nose cone of the Shuttle-like backpack) that can deliver a large blast radius. It is sometimes combined together with Skybolt’s weapons package to give it heavier firepower. The leg attachments of Orbital Interceptor are Particle Beam Emitters that function like tractor beams, as well as fire energy blasts. These can be used to help Ace attract metal objects while in flight, or to allow him to hang on to metal surfaces in zero-gravity. It is also equpiped with a chest target scanner, a rear radar homing system, life support helmet, and inner and outer atmospheric thrusters.

** Strato Strike – a medium-armed weapons platform with turboprop engines that resembles a powered glider. It is lightly-armed with Stun Missiles, and is highly maneuverable but is not very fast. It also has handle bars for passenger flight, and variable geometrical wings.

** Aero-Sault; an upgrade system for SkyKnight but its materials seem more to boost Orbital Interceptor. Comes with solar panels, stear jet modules, FSK bomb and launcher, capillary hoses, a blaster and a repular cannon.

* Rex Charger (Energy)

** Electro Charger Pack– backpack system that can absorb energy from surveillance devices, has laser cannons and a Nighthawk missile that creates a magnetic vortex or absolute darkness (by draining most forms of energy away from an area). It has an arm-mounted Redirection Cannon that can deliver an equal and opposite force to any form of energy that it is pointed at. For instance, it can be fired upon Strafers to nullify their lift and thus causing them to crash, or against an incoming sonic ray attack to create an opposite force of similar magnitude to hold it at bay.

** Gatling Guard – a very large weapon system that has the ability to nullify gravity and generate magnetic fields along with its own force field. The Gatling Guard platform has a large revolving missile magazine feeding the main turret. Three types of ammunition are available – Magnetic Imploder (that can also be used as a missile to deliver the energy that was absorbed from another source by the chest-mounted Energy Absorption/Retrieval Laser array), Gravity Negator (that nullifies the local gravitational field) and Solar Flare (a missile that delivers a momentary blinding flash of light of immense intensity, similar to a nuclear flash). Another possible missile type is a Magnetic Shield Generator that can erect a magnetic shield that blocks off any other electronic transmissions to an area, but does so with the side effect of altering the local weather. The Gatling Guard is also equipped with Quantum Thrusters and Solar Missiles. It is possibly the most powerful assault weapons system in terms of its sheer energy output and seemingly nature-manipulating abilities, and is often the last resort when a situation involves extraordinary phenomena that none of the conventional weapons systems can counter. The tasks that the Gatling Guard have undertaken includes neutralizing an artificial black hole and destroying an inter-dimensional portal/vortex. (Refer to Centurions Episode 51 – “Let the Lightning Fall” for a display of the Gatling Guard’s capabilities).

* John Thunder (Infiltration)

** Silent Arrow – Crossbow like weapon system that is worn on his back, has a large pursuit arrow with a net inside and a sonic knife that can break through walls and doors.

** Thunder Knife – Tracked system that has wheels on his hands that fire lasers, a missile back pack, and the ability to turn into a spinning saw type weapon. This assault weapons system is quite similar in usage to the Wild Weasel, as it allows John Thunder to charge into entire groups of enemies with guns blazing (and electric saws spinning).

**In addition to his two weapons systems John Thunder utilizes non cybernetic weapons:

***a Vibro-knife used in self defense

***a pair of electromagnetic gloves used to climb walls and ceilings to observe or evade while infiltrating

On rare occasions, one of the Centurions might use another’s weapon system. The results are usually comical as they are unfamiliar with controlling the weapon system. In the two part story “To Dare Dominion” for example, Max uses Sky Knight to provide air support in place of an injured Ace and later on uses a combination of Jake Rockwell’s weapon systems Hornet and Detonator to take part in the battle at Dominion.

The three main Centurions and most of their weapon systems, along with Doc Terror, Hacker, Strafer and Traumatizer, are available as toys. There is also a wind-up power pack meant to add “power to all Centurions heroes and hero assault weapons systems.” Kenner planned several additions to the Centurions toy line for 1987, including Rex Charger, John Thunder and their weapon systems, but most of the new items were canceled before reaching production due to disappointing sales of the original toys.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article The Centurions (TV series), under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

No related posts.

Burning Man takes place in the middle of a large playa and while not inhabited by humans itself, the area around the playa is home to many animals and plants.

Supporters of Burning Man point out that participants are encouraged to leave no trace (LNT) of their visit to Black Rock City and not to contaminate the area with litter, commonly known as MOOP (Matter Out Of Place). Despite the BLM and LLC insistence on the practice of LNT, the amount of residual trash at the site has increased over the years.

Damage to the playa

While fire is a primary component of many art exhibits and events, materials must be burned on a burn platform. At one time, burning was allowed to take place directly on the ground of the playa, but this practice allowed burn scars to form and was discontinued. On the last day, public shared burn areas are prepared for participants to use. While Burning Man does provide instructions on how to build a Burn Platform and what not to burn, there are concerns on whether some participants do not follow these instructions to the detriment of the environment and the participants.

Even water is not to be dumped on the playa, and used shower water must be captured and either evaporated off, or collected and carried home with each participant. Methods used for evaporating water normally include a plastic sheet with a wood frame. The playa dust often blows into these catch basins and some participants end up with a muddy mess to take home. Careful design of small scale evaporating ponds has become an engineering competition, to see what works best.

The Bureau of Land Management, which maintains the desert, has very strict requirements for the event. These stipulations include trash cleanup, removal of burn scars, dust abatement, and capture of fluid drippings from participant vehicles. For four weeks after the event has ended, the Black Rock City Department of Public Works (BRC – DPW) Playa Restoration Crew remains in the desert, cleaning up after the temporary city and making sure that no evidence of the event remains.

Burning Man and its effect on global warming

A group of San Francisco scientists are calculating how much the event will contribute to global warming. They have created the CoolingMan organization and have implemented a system that will calculate how many greenhouse gases Burning Man participants will create. The project has inspired many to look for positive ways to get involved in the global warming and climate change movements by seeking out solutions. The CoolingMan website suggests ways that Burners may offset the damage by planting trees or investing in alternative energy solutions.

However, in 2007 Burning Man’s “Green Man” theme received criticism for ”Crude Awakening,” the 99-foot oil derrick that consumed 900 gallons of jet fuel and 2,000 gallons of liquid propane to blast a mushroom cloud 300 feet high into the sky.

In an attempt to offset some of the event’s carbon footprint, 30- and 50-kilowatt solar arrays were constructed in 2007 as permanent artifacts, providing an estimated annual carbon offset of 559 tons.

On-site photography restrictions

Despite presenting itself as an event promoting self-expression, the terms of the Burning Man ticket require that participants wishing to use video-recording equipment (including, in practice, most digital cameras) sign over copyright in their images to Black Rock City, and forbid them from using their images for anything other than personal and private use. This has been criticized by many, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

A Burning Man spokeswoman replied that the policies are not new, were written by a former head of the EFF, were used when suing to block pornographic videos and ultimately arose from participant concerns: “We’re proud that Black Rock City (a private event held on public land) is widely acknowledged as a bastion of creative freedom. [B]ut that protection [of participant's freedoms] does necessitate the acceptance of some general terms of engagement when it comes to cameras… EFF seems to think that anyone attending any event somehow has an absolute right to take photographs, and then to do whatever they want with those images without any effective restriction or manner of enforcement. While we believe that such rights do make sense for any of us taking pictures in purely public spaces, this is not true in the private space of Burning Man — if it were it would mean that Burning Man couldn’t protect participant privacy or prevent commercialization of imagery.”

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Burning Man, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

No related posts.

One difficulty in searching is avoiding an overly anthropocentric viewpoint. Conjecture on the type of evidence likely to be found often focuses on the types of activities that humans have performed, or likely would perform given more advanced technology. Intelligent aliens might avoid these “expected” activities, or perform activities totally novel to humans.

Mainstream astronomy and SETI

There are two ways that astronomy might find evidence of an extraterrestrial civilization. One is that conventional astronomers, studying stars, planets, and galaxies, might serendipitously observe some phenomenon that cannot be explained without positing an intelligent civilization as the source. This has been suspected several times of pulsars, when first discovered, were called LGMs, because of the precise repetition of their pulses (they rival the best atomic clocks). Likewise Seyfert galaxies have been suspected to be ”industrial accidents” because their enormous and directed energy output had no initial explanation. Eventually, natural explanations not involving intelligent life have been found for all such observations to date. Specifically, pulsars are now attributed to neutron stars, and Seyfert galaxies to an end-on view of the accretion onto the black holes but the possibility of discovery remains.

The other way astronomy might settle the Fermi paradox is through a search specifically dedicated to finding evidence of life.

Radio emissions

Radio technology and the ability to construct a radio telescope are presumed to be a natural advance for technological species, theoretically creating effects that might be detected over interstellar distances.

Sensitive observers of the solar system, for example, would note unusually intense radio waves for a G2 star due to Earth’s television and telecommunication broadcasts. In the absence of an apparent natural cause, alien observers might infer the existence of terrestrial civilization.

Therefore, the careful searching of radio emissions from space for non-natural signals may lead to the detection of alien civilizations. Such signals could be either “accidental” by-products of a civilization, or deliberate attempts to communicate, such as the Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence’s Arecibo message. A number of astronomers and observatories have attempted and are attempting to detect such evidence, mostly through the SETI organization, although other approaches, such as

optical SETI, also exist.

Several decades of SETI analysis have not revealed any main sequence stars with unusually bright or meaningfully repetitive radio emissions, although there have been several candidate signals. On August 15, 1977 the “Wow! signal” was picked up by The Big Ear radio telescope. However, the Big Ear only looks at each point on the sky for 72 seconds, and re-examinations of the same spot have found nothing. In 2003, Radio source SHGb02+14a was isolated by SETI@home analysis, although it has largely been discounted by further study. There are numerous technical assumptions underlying SETI that may cause human beings to miss radio emissions with present search techniques; these are discussed below.

Direct planetary observation

Detection and classification of exoplanets has come out of recent refinements in mainstream astronomical instruments and analysis. While this is a new field in astronomy — the first published paper claiming to have discovered an exoplanet was released in 1989 — it is possible that planets which are likely able to support life will be found in the near future.

Direct evidence for the existence of life may eventually be observable, such as the detection of biotic signature gases (such as methane and oxygen) — or even the industrial air pollution of a technologically advanced civilization — in an exoplanet’s atmosphere by means of spectrographic analysis. With improvements in our observational capabilities, it may eventually even be possible to detect direct evidence such as that which humanity produces (see right).

However, exoplanets are rarely directly observed (the first claim to have done so was made in 2004); rather, their existence is usually inferred from the effects they have on the star(s) they orbit. This means that usually only the mass and orbit of an exoplanet can be deduced. This information, along with the stellar classification of its sun, and educated guesses as to its composition (usually based on the mass of the planet, and its distance from its sun), allows only for rough approximations of the planetary environment.

Prior to 2009, methods for exoplanet detection were not likely to detect life-bearing Earth-like worlds. Methods such as gravitational microlensing can detect the presence of “small” worlds, potentially even smaller than the Earth, but can only detect such worlds for very brief moments of time, and no follow-up is possible. Other methods such as radial velocity, astrometry, and the transit method allow prolonged observations of exoplanet effects, but only work with worlds that are many times the mass of Earth, at least when performed while looking through the atmosphere. These seem unlikely candidates to harbor Earth-like life. However, exoplanet detection and classification is a very active sub-discipline in astronomy, with 424 such planets being detected between 1988 and 2010, and the first possibly terrestrial planet discovered within a star’s habitable zone being found in 2007. New refinements in exoplanet detection methods, and use of existing methods from space, (such as the Kepler Mission, launched in 2009) are expected to detect and characterize terrestrial-size planets, and determine if they are within the habitable zones of their stars. Such observational refinements may allow us to better gauge how common potentially habitable worlds are. Using methods like the Drake equation with this data would therefore allow a much better idea of how common life in the universe might be; this would have a profound influence over the expectations behind the Fermi paradox itself.

Alien constructs=

Probes, colonies, and other artifacts

As noted, given the size and age of the universe, and the relative rapidity at which dispersion of intelligent life can occur, evidence of alien colonization attempts might plausibly be discovered. Evidence of exploration not containing extraterrestrial life, such as probes and information gathering devices, may also await discovery.

Some theoretical exploration techniques such as the Von Neumann probe could exhaustively explore a galaxy the size of the Milky Way in as little as half a million years, with comparatively little investment in materials and energy relative to the results. If even a single civilization in the Milky Way attempted this, such probes could spread throughout the entire galaxy. Evidence of such probes might be found in the solar system — perhaps in the asteroid belt where raw materials would be plentiful and easily accessed.

Another possibility for contact with an alien probe — one that would be trying to find human beings — is an alien Bracewell probe. Such a device would be an autonomous space probe whose purpose is to seek out and communicate with alien civilizations (as opposed to Von Neumann probes, which are usually described as purely exploratory). These were proposed as an alternative to carrying a slow speed-of-light dialogue between vastly distant neighbours. Rather than contending with the long delays a radio dialogue would suffer, a probe housing an artificial intelligence would seek out an alien civilization to carry on a close range communication with the discovered civilization. The findings of such a probe would still have to be transmitted to the home civilization at light speed, but an information-gathering dialogue could be conducted in real time.

Since the 1950s, direct exploration has been carried out on a small fraction of the solar system and no evidence that it has ever been visited by alien colonists, or probes, has been uncovered. Detailed exploration of areas of the solar system where resources would be plentiful — such as the asteroids, the Kuiper belt, the Oort cloud and the planetary ring systems — may theoretically yet produce evidence of alien exploration, though these regions are vast and difficult to investigate. There have been preliminary efforts in this direction in the form of the SETA and SETV projects to search for extraterrestrial artifacts or other evidence of extraterrestrial visitation within the solar system. There have also been attempts to signal, attract, or activate Bracewell probes in Earth’s local vicinity, including by scientists Robert Freitas and Francisco Valdes. Many of the projects that fall under this umbrella are considered “fringe” science by astronomers and none of the projects have located any artifacts.

Should alien artifacts be discovered, even here on Earth, they may not be recognizable as such. The products of an alien mind and an advanced alien technology might not be perceptible or recognizable as artificial constructs. Exploratory devices in the form of bio-engineered life forms created through synthetic biology would presumably disintegrate after a point, leaving no evidence; an alien information gathering system based on molecular nanotechnology could be all around us at this very moment, completely undetected. The same might be true of civilizations that actively hide their investigations from us, for possible reasons described further in this article. Also, Clarke’s third law suggests that an alien civilization well in advance of humanity’s might have means of investigation that are not yet conceivable to human beings.

Advanced stellar-scale artifacts

In 1959, Freeman Dyson observed that every developing human civilization constantly increases its energy consumption, and theoretically, a civilization of sufficient age would require ”all” the energy produced by its star. The Dyson Sphere was the thought experiment that he derived as a solution: a shell or cloud of objects enclosing a star to harness as much radiant energy as possible. Such a feat of astroengineering would drastically alter the observed spectrum of the star involved, changing it at least partly from the normal emission lines of a natural stellar atmosphere, to that of a black body radiation, probably with a peak in the infrared. Dyson himself speculated that advanced alien civilizations might be detected by examining the spectra of stars, searching for such an altered spectrum.

Since then, several other theoretical stellar-scale megastructures have been proposed, but the central idea remains that a highly advanced civilization — Type II or greater on the Kardashev scale — could alter its environment enough as to be detectable from interstellar distances.

However, such constructs may be more difficult to detect than originally thought. Dyson spheres might have different emission spectra depending on the desired internal environment; life based on high-temperature reactions may require a high temperature environment, with resulting “waste radiation” in the visible spectrum, not the infrared. Additionally, a variant of the Dyson sphere has been proposed which would be difficult to observe from any great distance; a Matrioshka brain is a series of concentric spheres, each radiating less energy per area than its inner neighbour. The outermost sphere of such a structure could be close to the temperature of the interstellar background radiation, and thus be all but invisible.

There have been some preliminary attempts to find evidence of the existence of Dyson spheres or other large Type-II or Type-III Kardashev scale artifacts that would alter the spectra of their core stars. These surveys have not located anything yet, though they are still incomplete. Similarly, direct observation of thousands of galaxies has shown no explicit evidence of artificial construction or modifications.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Fermi paradox, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

No related posts.

The strength and flexibility of carbon nanotubes makes them of potential use in controlling other nanoscale structures, which suggests they will have an important role in nanotechnology engineering. The highest tensile strength of an individual multi-walled carbon nanotube has been tested to be is 63& GPa. Carbon nanotubes were found in Damascus steel from the 17th century, possibly helping to account for the legendary strength of the swords made of it.

Structural

Because of the carbon nanotube’s superior mechanical properties, many structures have been proposed ranging from everyday items like clothes and sports gear to combat jackets and space elevators. However, the space elevator will require further efforts in refining carbon nanotube technology, as the practical tensile strength of carbon nanotubes can still be greatly improved.

For perspective, outstanding breakthroughs have already been made. Pioneering work led by Ray H. Baughman at the NanoTech Institute has shown that single and multi-walled nanotubes can produce materials with toughness unmatched in the man-made and natural worlds.

In electrical circuits

Nanotube based transistors have been made that operate at room temperature and that are capable of digital switching using a single electron. However, one major obstacle to realization of nanotubes has been the lack of technology for mass production. In 2001 IBM researchers demonstrated how metallic nanotubes can be destroyed, leaving semiconducting ones behind for use as transistors. Their process is called “constructive destruction” which includes the automatic destruction of defective nanotubes on the wafer. This process, however, only gives control over the electrical properties on a statistical scale.

The potential of carbon nanotubes was demonstrated in 2003 when room-temperature ballistic transistors with ohmic metal contacts and high-k gate dielectric were reported, showing 20–30x higher ON current than state-of-the-art Si MOSFETs. This presented an important advance in the field as CNT was shown to potentially outperform Si. At the time, a major challenge was ohmic metal contact formation. In this regard, palladium, which is a high work function metal was shown to exhibit Schottky barrier-free contacts to semiconducting nanotubes with diameters >1.7& nm.

The first nanotube integrated memory circuit was made in 2004. One of the main challenges has been regulating the conductivity of nanotubes. Depending on subtle surface features a nanotube may act as a plain conductor or as a semiconductor. A fully automated method has however been developed to remove non-semiconductor tubes.

Another way to make carbon nanotube transistors has been to use random networks of them. By doing so one averages all of their electrical differences and one can produce devices in large scale at the wafer level. This approach was first patented by Nanomix Inc.(date of original application June 2002 ). It was first published in the academic literature by the United States Naval Research Laboratory in 2003 through independent research work. This approach also enabled Nanomix to make the first transistor on a flexible and transparent substrate.

Large structures of carbon nanotubes can be used for thermal management of electronic circuits. An approximately 1& mm–thick carbon nanotube layer was used as a special material to fabricate coolers, this materials has very low density, ~20 times lower weight than a similar copper structure, while the cooling properties are similar for the two materials.

Overall, incorporating carbon nanotubes as transistors into logic-gate circuits with densities comparable to modern CMOS technology has not yet been demonstrated.

As paper batteries

A paper battery is a battery engineered to use a paper-thin sheet of cellulose (which is the major constituent of regular paper, among other things) infused with aligned carbon nanotubes. The nanotubes act as electrodes; allowing the storage devices to conduct electricity. The battery, which functions as both a lithium-ion battery and a supercapacitor, can provide a long, steady power output comparable to a conventional battery, as well as a supercapacitor’s quick burst of high energy—and while a conventional battery contains a number of separate components, the paper battery integrates all of the battery components in a single structure, making it more energy efficient.

Current applications

Current use and application of nanotubes has mostly been limited to the use of bulk nanotubes, which is a mass of rather unorganized fragments of nanotubes. Bulk nanotube materials may never achieve a tensile strength similar to that of individual tubes, but such composites may nevertheless yield strengths sufficient for many applications. Bulk carbon nanotubes have already been used as composite fibers in polymers to improve the mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of the bulk product.

Easton-Bell Sports, Inc. have been in partnership with Zyvex, using CNT technology in a number of their bicycle components—including flat and riser handlebars, cranks, forks, seatposts, stems and aero bars.

Solar cells

Solar cells developed at the New Jersey Institute of Technology use a carbon nanotube complex, formed by a mixture of carbon nanotubes and carbon buckyballs (known as fullerenes) to form snake-like structures. Buckyballs trap electrons, although they can’t make electrons flow. Add sunlight to excite the polymers, and the buckyballs will grab the electrons. Nanotubes, behaving like copper wires, will then be able to make the electrons or current flow.

Ultracapacitors

MIT Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems uses nanotubes to improve ultracapacitors. The activated charcoal used in conventional ultracapacitors has many small hollow spaces of various size, which create together a large surface to store electric charge. But as charge is quantized into elementary charges, i.e. electrons, and each such elementary charge needs a minimum space, a significant fraction of the electrode surface is not available for storage because the hollow spaces are not compatible with the charge’s requirements. With a nanotube electrode the spaces may be tailored to size—few too large or too small—and consequently the capacity should be increased considerably.

Other applications

Carbon nanotubes have been implemented in nanoelectromechanical systems, including mechanical memory elements (NRAM being developed by Nantero Inc.) and nanoscale electric motors (see Nanomotor).

In May 2005, Nanomix Inc placed on the market a hydrogen sensor which integrated carbon nanotubes on a silicon platform. Since then Nanomix has been patenting many such sensor applications such as in the field of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, glucose, DNA detection, etc.

Eikos Inc of Franklin, Massachusetts and Unidym Inc. of Silicon Valley, California are developing transparent, electrically conductive films of carbon nanotubes to replace indium tin oxide (ITO). Carbon nanotube films are substantially more mechanically robust than ITO films, making them ideal for high-reliability touchscreens and flexible displays. Printable water-based inks of carbon nanotubes are desired to enable the production of these films to replace ITO. Nanotube films show promise for use in displays for computers, cell phones, PDAs, and ATMs.

A nanoradio, a radio receiver consisting of a single nanotube, was demonstrated in 2007. In 2008 it was shown that a sheet of nanotubes can operate as a loudspeaker if an alternating current is applied. The sound is not produced through vibration but thermoacoustically.

Because of the high mechanical strength of carbon nanotubes, research is being made into weaving them into clothes to create stab-proof and bulletproof clothing. The nanotubes would effectively stop the bullet from penetrating the body, although the bullet’s kinetic energy would likely cause broken bones and internal bleeding.

A flywheel made of carbon nanotubes could be spun at extremely high velocity on a floating magnetic axis in a vacuum, and potentially store energy at a density approaching that of conventional fossil fuels. Since energy can be added to and removed from flywheels very efficiently in the form of electricity, this might offer a way of storing electricity, making the electrical grid more efficient and variable power suppliers (like wind turbines) more useful in meeting energy needs. The practicality of this depends heavily upon the cost of making massive, unbroken nanotube structures, and their failure rate under stress. Ultra-short SWNTs (US-tubes) have been used as nanoscaled capsules for delivering MRI contrast agents in vivo.

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes may replace platinum catalysts used to reduce oxygen in fuel cells. A forest of vertically-aligned nanotubes can reduce oxygen in alkaline solution more effectively than platinum, which has been used in such applications since the 1960s. The nanotubes have the added benefit of not being subject to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Carbon nanotube, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

No related posts.

More recent efforts have focused on turning Kingman and Heritage islands into nature centers. The islands were closed to the public in 2004 as improvements were made and trash removed. In 2005, Mayor Williams proposed turning the two islands into a formal wildlife refuge and building a $9 million environmental education center on Kingman Island. Williams proposed building the center as part of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, a multibillion-dollar plan to restore the river and economically develop the neighborhoods around it. Studios Architecture was chosen from among 10 firms to design the green building, which would extend out over the river, include a rooftop plant nursery, and use solar energy for heat. Local and national environmental groups also pledged their assistance. Williams proposed turning the two islands over to the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, which was managing the Initiative at the time, and in May 2007 legislation to turn the islands over to the Corporation’s successor was introduced in the City Council. The legislation passed and was signed into law. Just four months later, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development announced that proceeds from a $111.5 million PILOT bond would be used to improve Kingman Island and three other city parks. As of mid-2009, extensive improvements had been made. The two islands had about of trails, and the wooden footbridge connecting Kingman Island to the shore had been rebuilt. A square pier was built in the center of the footbridge connecting Heritage and Kingman islands, providing a place for bird watching, fishing, and for pedestrians to rest and view the marshes. The islands were home to more than 100 species of birds as well as mimosa trees, purple loosestrife, Queen Anne’s lace, and turtles. The D.C. government turned over maintenance of the islands in 2009 to the nonprofit group Living Classrooms, and the city continued to plan for an environmental center and more trails.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Kingman Island, under the G. N. U. Free Documentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

No related posts.