LiTechSci

Conventional solar cells are expensive to produce and inefficient. They are produced with silicon and exotic materials which attempt to boost their effectiveness. In truth, the typical solar cell captures only about 20% of the potential solar energy and, obviously, are completely ineffective after the sun has set.

A group from the National Idaho Laboratory is attempting to change that. Their new solar cell design is made up of tiny spiraling antennas printed on a thin film. Each “nanoantenna” is about 1/25 the thickness of a human hair, and made up of common materials. The result is a thin, flexible and cheap solar cell that is 80% effective and can collect energy for hours after sunset.

The solar cells collect energy through resonance, the same way a television antenna picks up a signal. The difference is that the nanoantennae is designed on a scale to capture infrared waves. The key is that as the Earth heats up, it gives off infrared waves which can be collected by the antennae for several hours after sundown. Collecting energy from both the sun and the Earth is the key to its effectiveness.

The only hurdles that the group has left is perfecting the design of the cells and developing a way to convert the energy into a form that is usable. The energy produced by the solar cells is AC and fluctuates 10,000 billion times a second. This is much too often for typical appliances which run off of AC that fluctuates 60 times per second. The only perceivable way of collecting the energy is to develop a rectifier that can handle the fluctuations and turn it into DC which could be used to charge batteries.

Read more on the Idaho National Laboratory Web site.

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AP reported today that an asteroid, “2007 TU24″ which is between 500 feet and 2,000 feet long, will pass by Earth at around 300,000 miles away. Though this sounds like a large distance to us puny humans, if you look at it on a galactic scale, that is a near miss—1.4 times the distance of the moon from the Earth. As a matter of fact, an asteroid of that size passes near Earth every 5 years, and strikes Earth once in about every 37,000 years. Luckily, no known asteroid of 2007 TU24’s size or larger is expected to pass this close to Earth again until 2027.

Supposedly the asteroid will be viewable in dark and clear skies with amateur telescopes of 3 inch apertures or larger, so keep your eyes to the sky on January 29th at 08:33 UT.

For more information, read this Discovery News article.
See an interactive illustration.

Another asteroid is projected to pass Mercury the following (Earth) day. This one is to pass within 16,000 miles of the inner-most planet. Early models showed a 1 in 25 chance of Mercury being struck by the asteroid but now the odds are 1 in 10,000.

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Yesterday, NASA released information about a manned trip to Mars in 2031. Although much of the information will surely change before the mission actually begins, this BBC News article contains interesting information about the planned mission.

Some of the key points are:

• The mission will last 30 months, including 16 on Mars
• Cargo and living quarters will be sent separately, and a few years ahead of time
• The shuttle will be powered by 3 or 4 Ares V rockets fueled by cryogenic fuel
• The astronauts will be supported by a closed-loop habitat system which will recycle their air and water and allow fruits and vegetables to be grown on-board
• The mission will cost anywhere between 20 and 450 billion dollars

Overall, this is very exciting news. Few will deny that space exploration is important to our future, though many doubt anything useful will come of it. To me, the chance of being able to habitat elsewhere in the solar system is worth the extreme cost. Even if such a mission is a complete failure, there will be many useful technological advancements that will spawn from the investment.

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Growing up, I was always enthralled by the perpetual motion machine paradox. It’s one of those things that just nags at you, convincing you that there must be a way. In my mind I always envisioned a perpetual motion machine that was designed similar to a Christmas Carousel, except instead of powered by the heat from candles, powered by magnets below and on the turbine blades angled to repel. In actuality, this would not be considered a true perpetual motion machine, as the magnets create an electromagnetic field, which would be an external energy force powering the perpetual machine. Eventually, I figured this out and my dreams of winning the Nobel Prize in Physics was shattered. Yet, an article on Inhabitat reminded me of my childhood scheme.

The MagLev is a giant wind turbine suspended in air by magnets. The beauty of this design (okay, so its massive size probably bashes all hope of beauty) is that very little friction slows its spinning. Really, it is only susceptible to air drag, the same friction which causes it to move. Because of its low drag, it starts spinning at low wind speeds, it can withstand high wind speeds, it is very efficient for a wind turbine, and has very low maintenance costs. As a matter of fact, the company behind it claims that it should provide power at the cost of one cent per kilowatt hour. This is incredibly cheap, considering the average cost of coal energy per kilowatt hour is 1.75 cents [Source] (so widely used for energy because of its abundance and cheapness), and the average cost per kilowatt hour of modern wind turbines is around 5 cents [Source]. Another one of the huge benefits of the MagLev is that it takes up very little real estate compared to a wind farm of conventional wind turbines large enough to produce the same amount of power.

Although their cost is huge, $53 million, such a wonderful device could change the state of green energy. I would much rather look at one of these on the horizon than smog.

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I thought this would be a good to post on, since Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

At the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society, a group of researchers from Worcester Polytechnical Institute released information on the effects cranberries on E. Coli. They found that tannins found only in cranberries prevent E. Coli bacteria from attaching to cells within the human body, a necessary step for E. Coli to cause infection.

Cranberry prevents infection in a couple of ways. Cranberry juice creates a barrier that keeps the bacteria away from urinary tract lining and causes the tendrils on the bacteria to shrivel, making it harder for the bacteria to attach itself. To further demonstrate the effect of cranberry on E. Coli, bacteria grown in cranberry juice cannot produce biofilm, which is needed for infection.

Early results show that the more cranberry products you consume, the stronger their effects are on E. Coli. So, make sure you get an extra serving of the maroon canned goo this Thanksgiving.

Reference: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-11/wpi-csg111307.php

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I decided that my first Science post should promote my favorite source of sciency-goodness. This Week in Science is one of my favorite podcasts; I make sure I listen to it every week. TWIS is a show on KDVS (8:30-9:30am Tuesday, on 90.3FM for anyone in the area and interested), the radio station of the University of California, Davis. It is hosted by the brilliant Dr. Kirsten Sanford, and the master of alliteration, Justin Jackson. Together they create a formidable team; Kirsten with her deep knowledge of science, and Justin with his witty spin on topics.

Every week, Kirsten and Justin discuss the latest news in all science fields. They often have top scientists in their respective fields as guest speakers. More recently they added a segment called the Weird in Washington, where Dr. Michael Stebbins explains some of the more controversial developments in D.C. which may impact science research or the environment. The also play stories submitted by their listener-base, called TWIStributions, and generally have a good time.

Anyone who is thrilled by advances in science should tune in to this podcast. It’s informative, entertaining, and at times very humorous. I look forward to every second squeezed between Justin’s disclaimer and Kirsten signing off with: “It’s all in your head” on my walk to work Wednesday mornings. It’s certainly better than the beat of my feet.

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