Heaving Dead Cats » innovation

Liquid Glass Is Groovy!

Neece — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:03:13 +0000

Happy Darwin Day everyone! Today is Darwin’s birthday and in honor of him, I thought I’d post this article about Liquid Glass, which could possibly be the coolest nanotech material I’ve seen in some time. I think it’s so cool mainly because of its versatility and the fact that it’s already in use in Germany, the UK and Turkey.

Why am I talking about nanotech on Darwin’s birthday? If you think about it, without evolution, we wouldn’t be able to manipulate our world so deftly and with such finesse. About 195,000 years ago homo sapiens first appeared in the fossil record. We started leaving Africa about 70,000 years ago, and migrated as far as the Americas 14,500 years ago.

A mere 10,000 years ago, we were mostly hunter-gatherers in nomadic groups. The first proto-states were developed only 6,000 years ago. Think of that! Look how far we’ve come in such a short time!

Think of how we lived just 100 years ago in 1910.

By 1910 many suburban homes were wired up with power and new electronic gadgets.
Vacuum cleaners and washing machines had just become commercially available, though still expensive for middle class folks
The telephone was new, and millions of American homes were connected by manual switchboard
People relied on the paper for their news, but radio technology was in its infancy
The age of the airship was in full swing. Only 7 years previously, the Wright brothers had flown at Kitty Hawk
Henry Ford introduced the Model T 2 years before and sold about 10,000 of them this year
Advances in the use of gases meant the first electric refrigerators and air conditioning units.
Neon lighting was debuted in Paris
Inventions included: escalators, teabags, cellophane, instant coffee and disposable razor blades
Women still had another 3 years of corsets

Things they didn’t have in 1910:

stainless steel
zippers
the modern bra
the modern band-aid
the pop-up toaster
sliced bread

But let’s get back to Liquid Glass. You spray it on. It’s transparent, non-toxic and can protect virtually any surface against almost any damage from hazards such as water, UV radiation, dirt, heat and bacterial infections. It’s flexible and breathable, which means it can be used on all kinds of products.

The liquid glass spray (technically termed “SiO2 ultra-thin layering”) consists of almost pure silicon dioxide (silica, the normal compound in glass) extracted from quartz sand. Water or ethanol is added, depending on the type of surface to be coated. There are no additives, and the nano-scale glass coating bonds to the surface because of the quantum forces involved. According to the manufacturers, liquid glass has a long-lasting antibacterial effect because microbes landing on the surface cannot divide or replicate easily.

Liquid glass was invented in Turkey and the patent is held by Nanopool, a family-owned German company. Research on the product was carried out at the Saarbrücken Institute for New Materials. Nanopool is already in negotiations in the UK with a number of companies and with the National Health Service, with a view to its widespread adoption.

The liquid glass spray produces a water-resistant coating only around 100 nanometers (15-30 molecules) thick. On this nanoscale the glass is highly flexible and breathable. The coating is environmentally harmless and non-toxic, and easy to clean using only water or a simple wipe with a damp cloth. It repels bacteria, water and dirt, and resists heat, UV light and even acids. UK project manager with Nanopool, Neil McClelland, said soon almost every product you purchase will be coated with liquid glass.

Food processing companies in Germany have already carried out trials of the spray, and found sterile surfaces that usually needed to be cleaned with strong bleach to keep them sterile needed only a hot water rinse if they were coated with liquid glass. The levels of sterility were higher for the glass-coated surfaces, and the surfaces remained sterile for months.

Other organizations, such as a train company and a hotel chain in the UK, and a hamburger chain in Germany, are also testing liquid glass for a wide range of uses. A year-long trial of the spray in a Lancashire hospital also produced “very promising” results for a range of applications including coatings for equipment, medical implants, catheters, sutures and bandages. The war graves association in the UK is investigating using the spray to treat stone monuments and grave stones, since trials have shown the coating protects against weathering and graffiti. Trials in Turkey are testing the product on monuments such as the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara.

The liquid glass coating is breathable, which means it can be used on plants and seeds. Trials in vineyards have found spraying vines increases their resistance to fungal diseases, while other tests have shown sprayed seeds germinate and grow faster than untreated seeds, and coated wood is not attacked by termites. Other vineyard applications include coating corks with liquid glass to prevent “corking” and contamination of wine. The spray cannot be seen by the naked eye, which means it could also be used to treat clothing and other materials to make them stain-resistant. McClelland said you can “pour a bottle of wine over an expensive silk shirt and it will come right off”.

In the home, spray-on glass would eliminate the need for scrubbing and make most cleaning products obsolete. Since it is available in both water-based and alcohol-based solutions, it can be used in the oven, in bathrooms, tiles, sinks, and almost every other surface in the home, and one spray is said to last a year.

Liquid glass spray is perhaps the most important nanotechnology product to emerge to date. It will be available in DIY stores in Britain soon, with prices starting at around £5 ($8 US). Other outlets, such as many supermarkets, may be unwilling to stock the products because they make enormous profits from cleaning products that need to be replaced regularly, and liquid glass would make virtually all of them obsolete.

Thanks, PhysOrg

A bit more info on it:

The flexible and breathable glass coating is approximately 100 nanometres thick (500 times thinner than a human hair), and so it is completely undetectable. It is food safe, environmentally friendly (winner of the Green Apple Award) and it can be applied to almost any surface within seconds . When coated, all surfaces become easy to clean and anti-microbially protected (Winner of the NHS Smart Solutions Award ). Houses, cars, ovens, wedding dress or any other protected surface become stain resistant and can be easily cleaned with water ; no cleaning chemicals are required. Amazingly a 30 second DIY application to a sink unit will last for a year or years, depending on how often it is used. But it does not stop there – the coatings are now also recognised as being suitable for agricultural and in-vivo application. Vines coated with SiO2 don’t suffer from mildew, and coated seeds grow more rapidly without the need for anti-fungal chemicals. This will result in farmers in enjoying massively increased yields.

…The really clever part is that there are no added nano-particles , resins or additives- the coatings form and bond due to quantum forces. Our research informs us that in all probability, we offer the most versatile coating in the world. This technology is now available for domestic use in Germany. Full scale retail availability in the UK will commence in early 2010.

Nanopool

Hate Darwin? Then Give Up Your Luxuries

Neece — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 04:01:03 +0000

So you’re a creationist or a fundamentalist, whatever. You know what? That’s fine. I don’t really care what you believe for yourself. Personally I don’t think you should be allowed to raise your kids in such a way as I think it’s cruel, but whatever. That’s just me being silly, thinking kids should have a fighting chance by teaching them what is real and how best to get along in the world, not teaching them that there was a talking snake and 2 naked people in a garden that screwed everything up for everybody. Oh, and a man died and came back to life and then flew to heaven and that’s why the kid drinks a sip of wine and eats a cracker every sunday. But oh yeah, Santa Claus was just a story his parents told him to keep him in line. Yeah, makes perfect sense.

Anyhoo… back to my issue. If you’re a creationist and/or fundamentalist, basically you believe the bible is the true and literal word of god, right? You believe your god created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. And if you’re a muslim, you believe whatever the quran says. You think evolution is nonsense. Hey, as long as you keep this to yourself too, I don’t give a damn.

But, if you believe your bible is so perfect and science is so flawed, then you have no need of science. So. After you finish reading this article, turn off the computer and give it to your neighbor. No more electronics. No cell phone, no microwave, no electric light. All of that is here because people… normal everyday people… wanted to make things better. According to you, god made everything perfect and the bible is the be all, end all of knowledge. Stop being a hypocrite and get back to trying to be like christ-like.

So you won’t be needing any other books. No magazines, no television. Sorry, just a bible. Which you don’t even need. The idea that everyone was educated to read and have a bible is rather recent. Oh, and you can’t have paper anymore. So you only get to use clay tablets. You can find your local pastor and listen to him tell you what god wants from you. And it will be a man. Because women need to know their place. So all you uppity women who think for yourselves, who make decisions and have opinions, get back in the kitchen and make your man his dinner. Go birth some babies. Girls, you’d better hope your dad can sell you for a nice dowry, because you certainly can’t fend for yourself.

You don’t get hospitals or medical doctors, of course. Women of childbearing years, you’ll be lucky to survive childbirth, which is natural only. And your kids will be lucky to reach age 5, but hey, god is taking care of you, so that’s just his will. No more antibiotics (which are mostly bad for you anyway), no allergy medicine, no blood pressure or diabetic care. Nothing to dull the pain. No advil, no tylenol, no oxycontin if you break your arm, no plaster casts for that matter, no epidural if you have a kid. I think you get leeches… wait, maybe not even that. Maybe you get some herbs. I’m sure there will be a few commenters who will be so kind as to correct me and tell me exactly what kind of medical care you can have. Whatever was in the bible. That’s what you get.

Sex is only to make babies, and you are a baby making machine if you’re female. So get busy, and don’t you dare enjoy it.

And food? You have to give up 90% of what you eat because it’s all genetically modified and cultivated in one way or another. Tomatoes are cultivated through careful breeding. They used to be wild and poisonous, if I recall correctly. So no tomatoes, no potatoes. Nothing that has been cultivated to become better, hardier, more resistant to problems. You can have whatever was grown in the bible. Because if it was good enough for jesus and his buddies, it’s good enough for you. That’s what was around when Adam and Eve were talking to the snake, so that’s what god thought was perfect. That’s all you need. No refrigeration, no grocery stores open all night to accommodate your every whim, no fresh fruit in winter. No pre-packaged corn flakes, or twinkies, no mcdonald’s, no pizza, no taco bell. Just jesus food. That you make yourself. Because you don’t need anything else, do you?

No car, of course. You’ll need a donkey. And you’ll have to walk a lot. But that’s not so bad. Jesus didn’t seem to mind.

No polyester or rayon cloth, of course. You can have linen and cotton. I’m sure there are a few others, just don’t combine them because that’s against the law in leviticus, if I recall. So, this means only sandals and leather shoes. No synthetic glues to hold them together of course. No rubber soles, either. Sorry. If god wanted you to have rubber soles and good footwear and 24 pairs of black pumps, he’d have given them to the jews and jesus. So you’re out of luck. Get over it.

No air conditioning, no central heating, no running water, no flushing toilet. No insulation for your home, which should be in the middle east since that’s where jesus lived and you probably want to go be in the holy land like him. No bug spray or even mesh nets to cover your bed for the summer months. No glass for anything, including windows. Like I said before, if god wanted you to have windows, he would have given glass to Noah.

You’ll have to live in tents that you make yourself. Because the people in the bible were nomadic. No home. No meat unless you catch it. Only local species of food. No oven. Open fire cooking only.

On the bright side, you get to stone anybody you like, basically, for any small slight. How convenient. Men, women will know their place. and you can marry as many women as you like. Afraid of gay people? Well then you can stone them. See someone wearing 2 types of cloth together? Reach for some big stones. Crush in their head in the name of god. How wonderful. Oh and your god loves the smell of burning flesh, so I hope you can afford goats. They’re his favorite.

Well, I’m sure there are a million more big and small things you need to forsake, because you wouldn’t want to be a hypocrite, would you? jesus wouldn’t approve. So start getting rid of all the things that man in his humble search for knowledge and a better life has invented and made better. Your Iron Age god is all seeing, all knowing, so whatever was back then is what you get, because the rest of it was done by humankind, for humankind. You don’t need it if god didn’t make it himself.

I Need A PrayerMAX 5000!

Neece — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:09:13 +0000

I saw this commercial for the PrayerMAX 5000 awhile ago on Pharyngula, but I was busy and never actually watched it. Silly me! This is awesome! I need two of these things!

Fold It- Play A Game For Science!

Neece — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:24:00 +0000

This is the neatest idea on so many levels. So you need to unwind and play a game. You’re tired of windows solitaire. How about playing a game that could contribute to curing a disease? How about helping science with your big awesome brain!?

You can go here to read about the science behind the “game”.

So basically, in a really simple nutshell, you’re using your intuitive awesome brain to do something that would take computers a huge amount of time and expense to do.

Proteins are part of lots of diseases, so understanding how they fold on themselves is very important.

If scientists understand how they fold, they can then design new proteins to combat the disease related proteins and cure the disease.

Here’s how protein is involved in cancer:

Cancer: Cancer is very different from HIV in that it’s usually our own proteins to blame, instead of proteins from an outside invader. Cancer arises from the uncontrolled growth of cells in some part of our bodies, such as the lung, breast, or skin. Ordinarily, there are systems of proteins that limit cell growth, but they may be damaged by things like UV rays from the sun or chemicals from cigarette smoke. But other proteins, like p53 tumor suppressor, normally recognize the damage and stop the cell from becoming cancerous — unless they too are damaged. In fact, damage to the gene for p53 occurs in about half of human cancers (together with damage to various other genes).

And here’s how protein is involved in Alzheimer’s:

Alzheimer’s: In some ways, Alzheimer’s is the disease most directly caused by proteins. A protein called amyloid-beta precursor protein is a normal part of healthy, functioning nerve cells in the brain. But to do its job, it gets cut into two pieces, leaving behind a little scrap from the middle — amyloid-beta peptide. Many copies of this peptide (short protein segment) can come together to form clumps of protein in the brain. Although many things about Alzheimer’s are still not understood, it is thought that these clumps of protein are a major part of the disease.

There are other things you’re helping too. Go here to read all of the science. Pretty cool, huh? Go here to sign up for a free account and start helping science by playing a game.

I havent’ started playing yet, but I signed up today. I’m ZeNeece over there.

A Solar Revolution In Our Future

Neece — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:45:47 +0000

In a giant leap for clean energy, MIT professor Daniel Nocera and his team, have developed a simple method to split water molecules and produce oxygen gas. This paves the way for large scale use of solar power.

Getting energy from the sun isn’t the hard part, it seems. It’s storing that energy that has been a problem.

These guys at MIT were inspired by how plants perform photosynthesis. Their revolutionary method uses abundant, non-toxic natural materials.

I won’t get into all the details, but I just wanted to share it with you because it seems pretty important and wonderful.

Here’s a link to MIT where they have a video of Daniel Nocera describing the new process and a lot more details.

This is just the beginning though. It’s still not really cost effective, but other scientists will be able to run with it and we’ll see where it all leads us in the near future.

Nocera hopes that within 10 years, we’ll be able to power our homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power our own household fuel cell.

Of course, the power companies will not like this. But hopefully it will all happen anyway.

Stretchable Silicon Camera “Eye”

Neece — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:56:10 +0000

Photograph of the electronic eye camera after integration with a transparent hemispherical cap and a simple, single component imaging lens. - Photo by John Rogers

The University of Illinois and Northwestern University have developed an “eye” camera. It combines stretchable optoelectronics and the design is inspired by nature. The layout is based on the human eye, so this camera is the next step towards an artificial retina, a la The Terminator.

It also opens up new possibilities in advanced camera design.

The camera has a simple, single element lens and hemispherical detector. It’s all integrated so that it is about the same shape, size and layout as a human eye.

Schematic illustration of steps for using compressible silicon focal plane arrays and hemispherical, elastomeric transfer elements to fabricate electronic eye cameras. - Photo by John Rogers

Found Here.

Farm Fountains and Aquariums

Neece — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:06:39 +0000

How about a self contained living river ecosystem in your living room? I love the idea of combining art into something practical, useful and also great for the environment, so this really fits the bill. This French designer, Mathieu Lehanneur created a fish hatchery and hydroponic growing system for plants. The water is chilled for the fresh water fish, then the plants get their nutrients from the fish water. They then clean the water for the fish. Brilliant! Of course, Mother Nature came up with the idea first, but hey, it’s still a great idea. Found at Inhabitat.

So, it’s very cool, but I don’t think it would fit into my budget. But I have another idea for you, which I also found at Inhabitat. The Farm Fountain!

Two artists, Amy Youngs and Ken Rinaldo, came up with this clever design. It uses aquaponics to create an ecosystem in your house. The water starts in the fish pond down below. Then the waste water is pumped up to the soda bottle planters and bubbles down through the soilless medium from one level to the next, until it gets back down to the fish. LED growing lights from an inexpensive floor lamp finish the ecosystem. Amy and Ken are really cool, because they give step by step instructions to make your own. Clever stuff! This one is right up my alley and I might have to see if my dear husband would mind having me create this in our home.

I have an AerogardenAerogarden which I got recently. I’ve grown some fantastic herbs in it, and will start some tomato plants when they’re finished, but this is even better, because it’s a complete ecosystem.

Heaving Dead Cats » innovation

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