Ninja Monkeys! » science

Researchers discover new alloy for generating ‘green’ electricity from waste heat

Vaughn Dickson — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:22:19 +0000

New multiferroic alloy Ni₄₅Co₅Mn₄₀Sn₁₀ goes from non-magnetic to strongly magnetic with only a small temperature rise, spontaneously producing electricity in a surrounding coil. Clean energy with no carbon emissions. Could be attached to your car exhaust, power station exhausts, etc.

Some of the heat energy is lost in a process called hysteresis, but the researchers found a way to limit that. Hysteresis just means that there’s a time lag between the material heating, turning magnetic, and inducing current in the surrounding coil so the conversion isn’t perfect. What the article doesn’t go into is whether the magnetic field is maintained with steady heat; if it isn’t, the metal would have to be cooled and heated repeatedly to keep inducing electricity in the coil…not very efficient.

More here.

Melt rocks with sunshine and parabolic reflectors

Vaughn Dickson — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:55:49 +0000

Madness? This. Is. Sunshine!

Why ice is slippery and other interesting phenomena discussed by Richard Feynman

Vaughn Dickson — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 10:41:05 +0000

If you are the slightest bit interested in how the world around you works, then you owe it to yourself to watch the 1983 Fun to Imagine series by Richard Feynman. http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/feynman/

I wish I had a teacher like this in school…all my science teachers murdered the curiousity they should have been nurturing, and I only revived it after school.

Researchers Say Women Secretly Desire Hairy Geeks

Vaughn Dickson — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:25:21 +0000

“The Daily Mail has a story about a study looking into women’s preference for men. More specifically, about how women say they want one kind of man, but really want another. From the article: ‘Most women claim to be attracted to tall, dark and handsome men, but a new study has revealed that facial stubble and a geeky personality are their biggest secret turn-ons. Despite complaining that it looks unkempt and feels rough to touch, the unshaven look on a man is actually a turn-on for 41 per cent of women. A slightly geeky personality came second, proving that women really do like a guy who knows their stuff when it comes to technology. A hairy chest was voted third, followed by a man who loves to read or cries at a soppy film.’”

[via Slashdot]

Hearts Actually Can Break

Vaughn Dickson — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:39:31 +0000

“It seems that there’s a grain of truth to one old wives’ tale; it turns out that you really can die of a broken heart, especially if you’re a post-menopausal woman. The Wall Street Journal reports on a phenomena called ‘broken-heart syndrome,’ which often occurs after great emotional distress. Quoting: ‘In a conventional heart attack, an obstructed artery starves the heart muscle of oxygenated blood, quickly resulting in the death of tissue and potentially permanently compromising heart function. In contrast, the heart muscle in broken-heart-syndrome patients is stunned in the adrenaline surge and appears to go into hibernation. Little tissue is lost.’ In the article a doctor notes, ‘The cells are alive, but mechanically or electrically disabled.’ Documented cases track heart attacks in people with seemingly healthy hearts after the grief of the death of a loved one. Intense feelings can cause the heart actually to change shape. Doctors call this ‘tako-tsubo,’ after the Japanese phrase for ‘octopus trap,’ so called because the syndrome was first identified by a Japanese doctor who noticed the strange shape in the left ventricle. Doctors note that while strong emotions like grief are usually associated with the syndrome, stress or a migraine can also trigger such heart attacks.”

Link

Mouse Uses Trackball to Navigate Quake 2-Inspired Virtual Maze

Vaughn Dickson — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:57:21 +0000

Princeton neuroscientists strapped a mouse onto a suspended ball and had it navigate a Quake 2-inspired virtual maze. This experiment was conducted “to study the individual neurons in the hippocampus that control motion.” Apparently it’s difficult to control and study the neurons of a mouse when it’s physically moving, and this method makes that easier. It may seem cruel, but I’m sure the mouse prefers it to dissection and skin cream testing. Why they didn’t use the millions of gamers who pay to do this is beyond me. Wired article has the details.

[via Techeblog]

Scientists make sperm-like nanopropeller controlled by 3D magnetic fields

Vaughn Dickson — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:55:08 +0000

These clever nano-scale critters are made of glass with one side covered by cobalt, which is magnetic, so it can be precisely controlled by a 3D magnetic field to travel through your body. They’re even capable of pushing objects 10000 times larger, so they could be used for delivering drugs to specific points of the body. Link to Newscientist.

Chimps have built-in GPS

Vaughn Dickson — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 05:50:08 +0000

Now if only I could get the one on my car dashboard to give me directions instead of flinging pooh…

If you’re ever lost in the jungle, follow a chimpanzee. New research suggests the great apes keep a geometric mental map of their home range, moving from point to point in nearly straight lines.

“The kind of striking thing when you are with the chimpanzees in the forest is that we use a compass or GPS, but obviously these guys know where they are going,” says Christophe Boesch, a primatologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.

Newscientist article.

Women talk three times as much as men, says study

Vaughn Dickson — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:54:53 +0000

but we knew this already. Article on daily mail.

H+ Magazine

Vaughn Dickson — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:57:03 +0000

Fascinated by robots, virtual reality, genetic engineering, longevity, performance enhancement, the singularity, and mind-driven human evolution? Then you need to check out the free digital magazine H+.

h+ covers technological, scientific, and cultural trends that are changing — and will change — human beings in fundamental ways. We will be following developments in areas like NBIC (nano-bio-info-cog), longevity, performance enhancement and self-modification, Virtual Reality, “The Singularity,” and other areas that both promise and threaten to radically alter our lives and our view of the world and ourselves.

More than that, h+ aims to reflect this newest edge culture by featuring creative expressions of humanity on a razor’s edge where daily life and science fiction seem to be merging.