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By Neece, on February 12, 2010, at 2:03 pm
 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 [...]
By Neece, on March 13, 2009, at 9:22 pm
Charles Darwin celebrated his 200th birthday February 12 of this year. So of course many of the science podcasts I listen to, as well as many of the science and skeptic sites I visit, have been talking about evolution and Darwin and all that good stuff. Evolution is often paraphrased as the term, survival of the fittest, which is inaccurate. Here is how Dictionary.com defines it, as well as some other terms, just so we’re all on the same page:
- Survival of the Fittest
a 19th-century concept of human society, inspired by the principle of natural selection, postulating that those who are eliminated in the struggle for existence are the unfit.
- Natural Selection
n. The process in nature by which, according to Darwin’s theory of evolution, only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characteristics in increasing numbers to succeeding [...]
By Neece, on August 15, 2008, at 7:45 pm
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 [...]
By Neece, on August 7, 2008, at 6:56 pm
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 [...]
By Neece, on July 1, 2008, at 2:41 pm
Stumbling around the web, I found this article on Futuristic Materials. This stuff is just amazing, so I wanted to share it with you. Just think where we’ll be in 10 years if these materials go into products that are mass produced? I say it that way because I know there must be secret flying cars and robots that fold laundry out there, but still, I am driving my little old Subaru and folding my own laundry. And it’s the 21st century!
Anyway, enjoy these groovy new materials. They have awesome potential to change our world. And it makes me think, if I never imagined this stuff, what will they think of next!? Woot!
1. Aerogel: also called “Frozen Smoke”
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Neece & Butch’s Zazzle Designs – Sir Lee Tees
Neece & Jenny’s Zazzle Designs
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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.
Microchipping Students in Rhode Island
Well, Middletown School District in Rhode Island has started a pilot program to monitor students by implanting these little chips in their schoolbags. The district is in partnership with MAP Information Technology Corp. and together they are going to tag 80 students. Two school busses will be outfitted readers for the chips and with GPS [...]