hippieflavor:
MIT research points to a much more efficient way of harvesting electrical power from what would otherwise be wasted heat.
“Such energy conversion can never exceed a specific value called the Carnot Limit, the maximum efficiency that any device can achieve in converting heat into work. But current commercial thermoelectric devices only achieve about one-tenth of that limit. A different new technology, thermal diodes, demonstrate efficiency as high as 40 percent of the Carnot Limit. Moreover, the calculations show that this new kind of system could ultimately reach as much as 90 percent of that ceiling.”
Awesome! In Electronics lab I used to work with peltier devices, which turn heat differentials into electric current, but their efficiency is not high, maybe 5% of the Carnot LImit. I am very please to hear about new discoveries in this area.
Imagine; these could be implemented in the skin of a car to use the engine’s heat to recharge the battery!
jrenich:
The future of San Diego’s airport. NICE.
I’m going to sue! I thought of this years ago!
Dr. Octavius was not available for comment
rodmitch:
Good info on how your laptop battery actually works.
Interesting; this article tells me that it is NOT, in fact, necessary to completely discharge my battery every cycle, and that leaving my laptop plugged in all the time is fine. However, the guys at the Apple store told me just the opposite when I asked them why my battery life had gone kaput very rapidly… I’m still not sure what to think
…The results attained by me have made my scheme of intelligence transmission, for which the name of “World Telegraphy” has been suggested, easily realizable… it will add materially to general safety, comfort and convenience, and maintenance of peaceful relations. It involves the employment of a number of plants, all of which are capable of transmitting individualized signals to the uttermost confines of the earth. Each of them will be preferably located near some important center of civilization and the news it receives through any channel will be flashed to all points of the globe. A cheap and simple device, which might be carried in one’s pocket, may then be set up somewhere on sea or land, and it will record the world’s news or such special messages as may be intended for it. Thus the entire earth will be converted into a huge brain, as it were, capable of response in every one of its parts. Since a single plant of but one hundred horsepower can operate hundreds of millions of instruments, the system will have a virtually infinite working capacity, and it must needs immensely facilitate and cheapen the transmission of intelligence.
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- Nikola Tesla
For those who aren’t familiar with Tesla you should know he was born 153 years ago. The guy was WAY ahead of his time.
Pretty cool. Yet I think Tesla would roll over in his grave if he saw us using this “brain” mostly for updating our Twitters
via azspot: transparentcommunity
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What really keeps a train on its tracks? (2:27)
justbrowsing:
Richard Feynman explains. What I love about this clip is that it gets me wondering why I’ve never wondered about this before. And what else I should be wondering about. If that’s whetted your appetite, here’s some more Feynman goodness. (via kottke.org)
I’m embarassed that I never knew this
“I’ve got more memory in my little finger than you have in your whole head!”
via fiatluxemburg
hilker:
“Hydrogen power has long been hampered by the lack of an inexpensive, renewable fuel. As it turns out, the solution may be right underneath us. Researchers at Ohio University have discovered that hydrogen can be produced from urine using an electrolytic process at only a fraction of the cost of generating hydrogen from water.
Researcher Geraldine Botte and team used the fact that hydrogen molecules in urea are less tightly bound than those in water to create an inexpensive nickel-based electrode that efficiently oxidizes urea. A voltage of .037V is required to break down urea. In comparison, 1.23V are required to break down water.”
no more roadtrip bathroom breaks! “drink as much as you want, kids!”
I can just picture the funnels & hoses built into the back of the seats
The Cool Hunter - Google Vision
Google Vision is a conceptual product…which would provide the user with a truly unique information hub by combining GPS, OLED technology and advanced image recognition in the form of a retractable screen
want want want want want want want want want
via puzzler
![Simpsons-Style Megadome Could Save Houston - io9
“Taking a cue from The Simpsons Movie, a team of engineers wants to enclose Houston inside a giant polymer dome. But the plan isn’t to keep pollution in, it’s to prevent heat and storms from destroying the city.” [via NextNature]
Perfect plan! Step #2, “Accidentally” loose key to dome doors
via landscapelifescape](http://23.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_krvenzDY3m1qzkp97o1_500.jpg)
![Just $1200 Stands Between You and Death by Jet Bike - Gizmodo
“This twin engine produces 100lbs of thrust by burning a mix of gasoline and kerosene—and can reportedly thrust a bike forward at 75mph…”
[h/t coworker Dan]](http://15.media.tumblr.com/kAmWItOW2p2bp8d7aBHI2Oaao1_500.jpg)
