Science Addict

With all of the craziness surrounding the recent stories about geothermal energy causing earthquakes, we thought we would point to a few good sources of information about the other types of man-made earthquakes.  For those of you interested in a nice summary of geothermal power plant and earthquake issues, we suggest that you take a look at this entry from 2007 that discusses the issue at length – before it became the recent hot media topic. 

There are quite a few recorded instances of earthquakes that have been caused by human activity, some with devastating consequences.  Current research points to 5 sources of man-man earthquakes:

1. Fluid injection in to the earth
2. Mining
3. Fluid extraction from the earth
4. Construction of dams and reservoirs
5. Nuclear testing

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Solar Powered Shingles and More

Your next roof may not actually be made of ceramic or asphalt tiles, but instead of energy-creating photovoltaics!  In Europe there has long been a trend in what is called building-integrated-photovoltaics (BIPV), in which solar-cells are integrated in to the design or materials of a building.  This technology has just begun to be applied in the US, and the future of BIPV is quite exciting. 

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory recently made an announcement outlining flexible rooftop solar panels, made to replace the large, bulky panels that we currently see on roofs around the world. 

The research team is using the same technology currently used to wrap LCDs with protective coatings to potentially wrap solar-cells.  Interestingly enough, the research is focused on mass-production and bringing the cost of solar cells down to $1 per watt of power, which is very competitive for solar-cells. 

There have been a number of recent rumors surrounding another exciting technology, photovoltaic “paint” that can be applied to steel sheets used on the outside of buildings, potentially generating many gigawatts of electricity.  A few really good links to information about this exciting technology:

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2008/10/solar-paint-on-steel-could-generate-renewable-energy-soon-53714

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/03/24/solar-power-without-a-solar-panel/

Aged 23, Henry Reily Collins has won the prestigious Worshipful Company of Ferroners’ (Ironmongers) prize at The University of Manchester, holds a Masters degree with Honours in Engineering, and is overseeing a £3 million building project praised by the Low Carbon and Energy Saving Trusts for innovative eco-friendly design.

When Henry found his prize-winning research for assessing crack damage to nuclear reactor vessels, potentially saving thousands of lives and money, was taken over by his University, his inventive mind looked around for the next project, and latched onto using new state of the art low carbon technology to convert an old silk mill into sustainable luxury apartments.

Next thing was to gain credibility for his designs, so after a lengthy and gruelling application process, his project was entered for the Low Carbon Building grant programme, up against over 100 seriously tough applicants. Henry sailed through into the final 16 along side other major corporations such as Oxford Brookes.

At Dandridge’s Mill, he is converting an old silk mill, adapting centuries-old technology, and using an Archimedean Hydro screw to generate power from the flowing mill race. The screw will generate 4KW of electricity which will be distributed to the apartments. This is all neatly designed to be backed up in the summer months, when flows are lower, by a solar PV array installed on the roof.
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As most readers will know, the hope for stem cells is that these kind of cells can be transformed in to any type of tissue, such as being grown in to tissue needed for a transplant.  In 2007 a major announcement was made announcing the concept of cell transformation, specifically by groups at Kyoto University and University of Wisconsin – Madison.  This new, major development builds on that work by using proteins instead of genes to reprogram skin cells in to more embryonic-like cells. 

This new  development now means that scientist are one step closer to using existing cells rather than embryonic sourced stem cells for research.   

Normal stem cells are harvested from embryo’s and come with a host of scientific, political and ethical objections.  Newer techniques are beginning to quell some of these objections, such as the announcement of a technique to harvest stem cells without destroying the host embryo.  You can read more about that here.  The new approach announced April 23, involves a significant change in the transformation method of acquiring stem cells – by using proteins instead of genes. 

The traditional approach for turning existing cells in to embryonic-like cells is risky because genes are used to reprogram a cell.  These genes are transported by using a virus that may cause unwanted side effects, such as undesired genetic changes in the target cell.  This new method achieves the same results as prior methods, but uses proteins to cause the changes in the target cell, rather than genes.  This is considered much safer because there is a lower risk of unwanted genetic side effects in the target cells. 

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The bones of dogs, pigs, and humans are shedding light on the rise of civilization in China. These remains contain a signature of the plants that all three species ate at the time and suggest that the ancient Chinese may have farmed millet before rice, new research shows.

The millet group of plants, like rice and wheat, are grasses that produce small, edible seeds. Archaeologists have long known that they were domesticated very early in China and India; the earliest known noodles, which are 4000 years old and were reported by a Chinese team in 2005, were made of millet. Although rice was domesticated in China’s warm and humid south, millet was domesticated in the north of the country, where conditions were much colder and drier. Yet archaeologists have debated whether these developments were independent or whether rice farmers from the south migrated north and began to cultivate wild millet–which grows much better than rice does in cold and dry conditions–thus transforming it into domesticated varieties.
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