Tech post for 16-July-2008
Jul. 16th, 2008 09:45 pmProject Grizzly suit sold - for a bit over $2,000(US), a far cry from his original minimum bid of $35,000. Given he spent more than $40,000 making it, I suspect he feels he got the short end of the stick.
World's hottest chili pepper found - The Bhut Jolokia, also known as the "ghost chili", weighs in at 1 million SHU (Scoville heat units) as officially recognized by the Guinness World Records.
Yet one more thing nanotubes are god for: artificial photosynthesis - Photosynthesis involves absorbing photons and releasing electrons. In the case of plants, multiple electrons need to be released, then stored, to provide enough energy to synthesize carbohydrates. Until now, scientists have only been able to create systems that release or store single electrons when exposed to light, but a Chinese researcher has discovered that carbon nanotubes appear to be able to store multiple electrons, solving half the problem of artificial photosynthesis. He also theorized that a large number of phthalocyanines (PCs), each which emit single electrons, could be bonded to a nanotube and cumulatively act as a multiple emitter. In an experiment 120 PCs were bonded to a single carbon nanotube which was able to store 25% of the electrons that were released. The next step is to make use of those electrons to generate carbohydrates from carbon dioxide.
Stephen Hawking ponders moving to Canada - Hawking is being tempted by an offer to work at the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. A colleague of Hawking's, Neil Turok, has accepted an offer to head the Perimeter Institute, and Hawking is perturbed that the British government has cut funding to the institute at which he works. Turok has made an open to Hawking that he is welcome to work for him, an offer that Hawking is reportedly considering. Edit:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
waterspyder has pointed out that this story may not be correct according to other news sources. Cambridge University has called the rumour "unfounded speculation".
To the moon, I say! - Washington Post writer Michael Benson suggests that one option for the International Space Station is to put it into orbit about the moon. Specifically, he suggests hooking some of the recently-developed ion engines to the ISS and slowly boost it into progressively higher orbits until it is can be put into orbit around the moon.
World's hottest chili pepper found - The Bhut Jolokia, also known as the "ghost chili", weighs in at 1 million SHU (Scoville heat units) as officially recognized by the Guinness World Records.
Yet one more thing nanotubes are god for: artificial photosynthesis - Photosynthesis involves absorbing photons and releasing electrons. In the case of plants, multiple electrons need to be released, then stored, to provide enough energy to synthesize carbohydrates. Until now, scientists have only been able to create systems that release or store single electrons when exposed to light, but a Chinese researcher has discovered that carbon nanotubes appear to be able to store multiple electrons, solving half the problem of artificial photosynthesis. He also theorized that a large number of phthalocyanines (PCs), each which emit single electrons, could be bonded to a nanotube and cumulatively act as a multiple emitter. In an experiment 120 PCs were bonded to a single carbon nanotube which was able to store 25% of the electrons that were released. The next step is to make use of those electrons to generate carbohydrates from carbon dioxide.
Stephen Hawking ponders moving to Canada - Hawking is being tempted by an offer to work at the Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. A colleague of Hawking's, Neil Turok, has accepted an offer to head the Perimeter Institute, and Hawking is perturbed that the British government has cut funding to the institute at which he works. Turok has made an open to Hawking that he is welcome to work for him, an offer that Hawking is reportedly considering. Edit:
waterspyder has pointed out that this story may not be correct according to other news sources. Cambridge University has called the rumour "unfounded speculation".To the moon, I say! - Washington Post writer Michael Benson suggests that one option for the International Space Station is to put it into orbit about the moon. Specifically, he suggests hooking some of the recently-developed ion engines to the ISS and slowly boost it into progressively higher orbits until it is can be put into orbit around the moon.