Interest of the day

I love this exchange. Shara, age 3, asks Why?. Dad is a chemistry professor. Soon Shara is trying to say hydrophobic.

This short film, The Energy Fixers, describes the work of two companies that are working on sustainable energy production systems. BAL Labs is building microbes to convert seaweed into biofuel, and Makani Windpower is building tethered wind turbines. Both companies received ARPA-E grands.

Nature has posted the video Leonardo: Anatomist. Leonardo made a wax cast of the aortic sinus and cast it in glass. He then pumped water through it with grass seeds to understand the fluid dynamics of the aorta. He determined that vortices form and this is important for proper valve operation all in the 1500s. Modern surgeon figured this out only in the last 50-60 years or so.

The APS physics website has a very interesting image gallery. My favorite images include the 19 electrons trapped in an electric field, the electrons in a 2DEG, and the SEM image of ZnO nanostructures.

The BBC produced Issac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy as a radio play and it is available free on the web. I enjoy this series. I was fascinated by the concept that someone could mathematically predict large scale historical events sort of like a weather prediction. Psychohistory rules.

Researchers at NASA Goddard have posted the results of some simulations of what happens when two neutron stars collide. As the neutron stars collide a magnetic field forms and becomes stable. This magnetic field seems to be an important component of the process in the release of large amounts of energy as the two neutron stars become a black hole. The the energy released can out shine an entire galaxy for a short time.

Seamus Garvey professor of Engineering at the University of Nottingham proposes building 1000 ft wind turbines to compress air and store it underwater in bags. The turbine blades contain weights that compress the air as they slide back and fourth. This reduces the need to have all the energy concentrated in center, and allows the production of 100 MW. Present electric wind turbines are limited to 5 MW. In the underwater storage bag system, the water acts as the pressure vessel. The bags storage system is conceptually simple but requires high strength materials to keep large volumes of air on the sea floor. A prototype of this energy storage system has been tested recently.

DARPA sees the US losing its ability to make things so it's funding education programs for kid to teach them how to make. Fans of Make, will be happy to learn that they won a DARPA grant to support this effort.

Prof Jim Hansen proposes a global tax on carbon with dividends paid back to citizens that looks like a viable plan to cut CO2 emissions. We need a 6% reduction in CO2 now to be on track to get to 350 ppm. Failure to act means that future generations live with unpredictable and uncontrollable weather.

The Science & Entertainment Exchange provides technical and scientific expertise to the movie and TV industry. So, then you get a good story that has competent scientific content. They've been involved in every sci-fi movie out pretty much. Looks like a great gig. Check out the interviews with entertainers and scientists.