Lions Cubs on Look-Out wallpaper, Roboy robot likely to make debut in 2013

Lions Cubs on Look-Out wallpaper

Roboy robot likely to make debut in 2013

Roboy is a robot with a future. He represents a new generation of robots and an innovative research direction for science and industry. This pioneering project began a good five months ago at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the University of Zurich, and its goal is to develop one of the most advanced humanoid robots within the record-breaking timeframe of only nine months. Today “Roboy” is getting a new face and can already move his arms – and soon he will be presented to the public to celebrate the laboratory’s 25th anniversary at the robotics fair “Robots on Tour”.

Service robots are machines that are, to a certain extent, able to execute services independently for the convenience of human beings. Since they share their “living space” with people, user- friendliness and safety, above all, are of great importance. This is why so-called “soft robotics” – the development of robots that are soft to the touch, soft in their interaction, soft and natural in their movements – will play an ever greater role in this field.

“Roboy” – a “soft robot” – is a more advanced version of his famous brother “Ecce”. Thanks to his construction as a tendon-driven robot modelled on human beings (“normal” robots have their motors in their joints), Roboy moves almost as elegantly as a human. What’s more, at a later point in the project Roboy will be covered with “soft skin”, so that interacting with him becomes safer and more pleasant. Service robots are already used in a wide variety of areas today, including for household chores, surveillance work and cleaning, but also in hospitals and care homes. Our aging population is making it necessary to keep older people as autonomous as possible for as long as possible, which means caring for aged people is likely to be an important area for the deployment of service robots. We can very safely assume that service robots will become part of our environment in the future, as is already the case today for technologies such as smartphones, laptops, etc.

Roboy artist rendering by the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the University of Zurich

That Roboy will have some degree of artificial intelligence is always news since the more human-like a robot can be the more humans interact with them and have feelings about them. Though it is the use of artificial tendons and the soft technology that will make Roboy unique in the evolution of robots.

Sunset Magazine’s Top green home designs in the West. Sustainable materials and eco-friendly design principles reign at these exemplary low-impact homes. As innovative, attractive and cost efficient as these homes are I wish we would see more on new apartment buildings, and renovating older homes and multi-tenant buildings.

This is just a site I ran across – Sun Toys. A little late for the holidays, but the toys run on solar and artificial light ( though not fluorescent) are still educational and look like they would be fun to play with.

Solar Educational Vehicle Toy Kit by Dulany Solar LLC

 

That mystery picture from Friday was a hawksmoth caterpillar. They use mimicry – of a small snake in this case – to discourage attack by predators. Hawkmoth  belong to the family Sphingidae, which also includes sphinx moths and hornworms, that includes about 1,450 species. It is best represented in the tropics but there are species in every region.

Adult hawkmoth. Creative Commons license.

Italian neurologist and Nobel laureate Rita Levi-Montalcini dies at 103

Miss Levi-Montalcini lived through anti-semitic discrimination under fascism to become one of Italy’s top scientists and most respected figures.

She won acclaim for her work on cells, which furthered understanding of a range of conditions, including cancer.

 

 

Penn State Energy Prize for airborne wind turbines, Lung regeneration closer to reality with new discovery, Aurora Borealis Timelapse Video

ConocoPhillips, Penn State Energy Prize for airborne wind turbines

Wind turbines that float hundreds of feet above the ground or sea and are deployable in 24 hours are the focus of the “Aerostat Platform for Rapid Deployment Airborne Wind Turbine” project that is the winner of the 2011 ConocoPhillips Energy Prize, awarded by ConocoPhillips and Penn State.

…Ben Glass, CEO of Altaeros Energies, inventor of the Altaeros Airborne Wind Turbine and Adam Rein, co-founder, Altaeros Energies are developing wind turbines that are stationary blimps, which take advantage of the more consistent and higher speed winds at altitude. These floating wind turbines can be used in remote areas where they arrive in a box and, once inflated with helium, rise into the air, tethered by a conducting cable. The turbines can supply 100 kilowatts of electrical power without using fossil fuels or producing any greenhouse gases.

While initially the company plans to sell these elevated turbines for remote uses such as military applications, emergency power and other remote installations, eventually they will form the basis of offshore, deep-water wind farms floating high above the waves.

Aerostats, like these airborne turbines, are currently used in a variety of locations and contexts and can remain in the air for up to three months without replacing helium. The rules and regulations for deploying aerostats already exist and these inflatables have a proven track record.

Credit: Patrick Mansell. Adam Rein, showing off the model of the award-winning floating wind turbine.

 

It seems nit-picky but  it is worth noting that helium is abundant. Yet like hydrogen it is not readily available. So to fill these high altitude wind turbines it takes energy from a helium extraction plant. Thus the remote use of the turbines is more about getting energy to remote places at this point than about green energy per se. Still they are a great innovation for the intended purposes. Perhaps down the road they can find a way to use wind or solar produced hydrogen.

Lung regeneration closer to reality with new discovery

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College say they have taken an important step forward in their quest to “turn on” lung regeneration — an advance that could effectively treat millions of people suffering from respiratory disorders.

In the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Cell, the research team reports that they have uncovered the biochemical signals in mice that trigger generation of new lung alveoli, the numerous, tiny, grape-like sacs within the lung where oxygen exchange takes place. Specifically, the regenerative signals originate from the specialized endothelial cells that line the interior of blood vessels in the lung.

 

It is thought that human lungs may have the potential to regenerate their lung alveoli. At least until they are severely damaged by smoking or pollution anyway. being able to induce regeneration would be a way to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). For which there is currently no treatment.

Aurora Borealis Timelapse from Michigan 10-24-11.  Northern Lights as seen east of Martin, Michigan on October 24 2011

ABC News  Fisker “Exclusive” Is Actually A Recycled Fox News Story From 2009. Shame on ABC and Brian Ross for some deeply slanted reporting. The loan to Fisker was approved during the Bush administration. It was understood from day one that actual assembly of the electric Fisker would be done in Europe. The parts will be mostly from American suppliers and create American jobs. None of the loan, per the original conditions was used on its foreign assembly operations. Finally Fisker has been and is still on schedule to repay the loan. OK, one more final thing. All the slanted and fact-less reporting by ABC and conservative pundits may hurt the marketing of the Fisker. Thus those who just hate alternative technology and electric cars may make their hopes for failure of this new innovative American company come true. Brian Ross has been caught before doing some extremely sloppy reporting, that also had a conservative slant.

Florida has the Worst Reptile Problem in the World, Six year old digs up 160 million year old fossil, Solyndra Solar is Bump in the Road

Report: Florida has the Worst Reptile Problem in the World

The research states that from 1863 through 2010, 137 non-native amphibian and reptile species were introduced to Florida — the largest amount of any area in the world. Twenty five percent of the new reptiles came from a single, unnamed importer.

“Most people in Florida don’t realize when they see an animal if it’s native or non-native and unfortunately, quite a few of them don’t belong here and can cause harm,” said Kenneth Krysko, herpetology collection manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus.

…Fifty six of the species that have invaded are already established. This includes 43 lizards, five snakes, four turtles, three frogs and a caiman, a close relative of the American alligator. The first incident in 1863 occurred when the greenhouse frog, native to the West Indies, was introduced to the state. Cargo ships coming from Cuba in the early 20th century until about the 1940s accounted for a lot of the introduced species. Recently, the blame falls on the pet trade industry says the researchers.

This is a major disaster. Yet as it does not involve roofs flying off buildings or houses half-submerged in mud it is not getting the attention and funding needed to address the problem. Many species native to Florida, such as the beautiful bird of prey called the Florida Snail Kite, were already in trouble because of habitat destruction and pollution – now they have to contend with snakes that can climb trees and are capable of eating small alligators. The full report on Florida’s invasive species problem will appear in the science journal Zootaxa.

Scientists discover 12 new frog species in India. They also seemed to have rediscovered three species previously thought to be extinct.

Girl, six, digs up 160million-year-old fossil using plastic spade

Emily Baldry beams with pride as she poses with a 160million-year-old fossil she dug up using a seaside spade.

The six-year-old unearthed the 130lb, 40cm ammonite after accompanying her father Jon on an archeological trip to Cotswold Water Park, Glos, last year. Now it has been carefully restored by experts and is to go on show at a local visitors’ centre.

The fossil is officially known as a Rieneckia odysseus – but Emily, of Chippenham, Wilts, has affectionately dubbed it Spike.

She says: “I took him to school and all my friends think he’s great.” Dad Jon, 40, said: “It’s an amazing find.”

The picture of the budding paleontologist and her find is at the link.

Hutchinson prisoners have begun making dog beds

Some recycling efforts at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility have really gone to the dogs.

For more than a year, inmates at the local prison have been dismantling mattresses that would have otherwise ended up in area landfills.

The steel from the springs and the cotton batting in the mattresses are recycled, generating money for prison operations. Wood from the mattresses has been fashioned into flower boxes and benches. Through recycling, the metal and cotton from old mattresses has made more than $49,000 for the prison’s general fee fund, said Steve Schneider, spokesman at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility.

And now, inmates are using the foam and material from the mattresses to make dog beds.

The beds are being donated to animal shelters and sold in a Topeka veterinary clinic to sustain the Hutchinson Correctional Facility’s dog training programs, according to Beth Mechler, a program consultant for the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Old mattresses put a lot of stress on landfill waste yet they are not easy to recycle. Some issues include health hazards from body fluids and dust mites.

Solyndra Solar has been in the news a lot lately. Some of the people who just hate alternative energy and any attempts at improving the environment have blown one company’s ordeal way out of proportion – Solyndra Solar is Bump in the Road

That the federal government wastes money isn’t news. Expenditures from the Iraq War have been estimated at $3 trillion or more by the Washington Post. It bears repeating that the Iraq War wasn’t even necessary to begin with, and it has cost many lives. Politicians who are attacking the Solyndra federal loan as an indication that solar energy is not worth subsidizing, are wrong, and are simply trying to make partisan hay from a single mistake. Some of them seem to have very conveniently forgotten that Big Oil, Big Coal and Big Agriculture all receive federal subsidies amounting to a great deal of money, year after year.

The oil industry receives about four billion dollars a year in tax breaks from the U.S. government. Robert Kennedy Jr. said in an interview that oil and coal each receive about one trillion dollars a year in subsidies both directly and indirectly. Also, corn farming in the United States received $77 billion in subsidies from 1995-2010. These are just several examples of industries receiving support from the federal government.

If there was some kind of corruption involved with Solyndra Solar of course that would be a bad thing. Can anyone think of some industry – big oil, health insurance, financial institutions, mortgage companies – that has not had some kind of corruption associated with it. We do not generally close down whole industries because some people behave badly. Which is what anti-environment zealots are implying when they write about Solyndra – see one bad apple means alternative energy is bad. That argument doesn’t begin to make sense, but that does not stop it from being used.

Saddle-billed Stork

The Saddle-billed Stork (Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis) reaches an average height of 150 cm (5 feet) and a 270 cm (9 feet) wingspan. The are native to sub-Saharan Africa from Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya south to South Africa. They feed on frogs, crabs, fish and occasionally on small birds.

Kingdom:     Animalia
Phylum:     Chordata
Class:     Aves
Order:     Ciconiiformes
Family:     Ciconiidae
Genus:     Ephippiorhynchus
Species:     E. senegalensis

Blue-faced Honeyeater wallpaper, Tasmanian devil genome holds secret to survival, Metal particle generates new hope for H2 energy

Blue-faced Honeyeater wallpaper

Probably more apt to call them blue-faced nectar eaters. That brilliant blue is not feathers but skin. Like the vivid colors of many birds the blue does not manifest itself until maturity. Juvenile birds will have an olive to yellowish patch where the blue will be. The honeyeater is a native of Australia and New Guinea.

Tasmanian devil genome holds secret to survival

Scientists have sequenced the complete genomes of two Tasmanian devils in the hope of finding clues to preserving this highly endangered marsupial.

Devil populations have been decimated by a highly contagious facial cancer that is transferred when these aggressive animals bite each other.

The findings will help researchers select the best individuals to be kept in captivity for eventual re-release.

The research is outlined in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Tasmanian devil, Sarcophilus harrisii, gets its name from its high-pitch, blood-curdling squeal, and is renowned for fighting over access to animal carcases, which it grinds with the bone-crushing force of its jaws.

In 1996, a wildlife photographer snapped an image of an animal in the far north-east of Tasmania with a peculiar growth on its face.

The growth, it turned out, was neither benign, nor isolated to this one individual, but was a highly contagious, fatal cancer that seemed to be spreading through the population at lightning speed.

By 2007, conservationists reported that Devil Facial Tumour Disease, DFTD, had wiped out more than 90% of devil populations in the north-east of Tasmania, and was spreading west.

I just don’t see the Tasmanian devil surviving in the wild. As of now the only way to keep the cancer from spreading is to keep them in a captive setting and not let individuals have contact with each other. If a cure can be found for the cancer perhaps captive devils can be reintroduced into the wild some day.

Metal particle generates new hope for H2 energy – Hydrogen from water using solar radiation: new hope for cheap, clean energy

Tiny metallic particles produced by University of Adelaide chemistry researchers are bringing new hope for the production of cheap, efficient and clean hydrogen energy.

Led by Associate Professor Greg Metha, Head of Chemistry, the researchers are exploring how the metal nanoparticles act as highly efficient catalysts in using solar radiation to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Just last week I posted on the discovery by a Stanford research team breakthrough in using a silicon-based catalyst. Because of the lack of more specifics in this press release from the University of Adelaide it is difficult to tell whether the general principles involved are all that different. One is using some metal nanoparticles and the other a silicon-based compound. Both would use solar to power the reaction. The solar element is important since it takes so much energy to catalyze water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Is Los Alamos Nuclear Facility Safe from Nearby Wildfires? The short answer is yes.

This report from the L.A. Times indicates there might be a problem, Los Alamos residents evacuate as wildfire approaches – The Las Conchas fire has burned 50,000 acres and destroyed 30 structures near the town. The Los Alamos National Laboratory says the blaze poses little threat to its nuclear materials.

The anti-nuclear watchdog group Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, however, said the fire appeared to be about 3 1/2 miles from a dumpsite where as many as 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste were stored in tents. The group said the drums were awaiting transport to a low-level radiation dumpsite in southern New Mexico.

Lab spokesman Steve Sandoval declined to confirm whether there were any such drums on the property. But he acknowledged that low-level waste was at times put in drums and regularly taken from the lab to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project site in Carlsbad, N.M.

Sandoval said the fire was “quite a bit away” from that storage area. But he could not say what would happen if drums containing such waste were to burn.

“Unfortunately, I cannot answer that question other than to say that the material is well protected. And the lab, knowing that it works with hazardous and nuclear materials, takes great pains to make sure it is protected and locked in concrete steel vaults. And the fire poses very little threat to them.”

They have had time to secure any storage drums that might pose a danger.

 

Sea Cliffs Castle wallpaper, Using solar power to clean oxidation reactions, Slingjaw Wrasse

Sea Cliffs Castle wallpaper

Chemistry with sunlight – Combining electrochemistry and photovoltaics to clean up oxidation reactions. First let’s take a look at a common industrial reaction of the kind Dr. Moeller of Washington University in St. Louis is trying to make cleaner,

One example, he says, is an industrial alcohol oxidation that uses the oxidant chromium to convert an alcohol into a ketone. In the process, the chromium, originally chromium VI, picks up electrons and becomes chromium IV. Chromium IV is the waste product of the oxidation reaction.

In this case, there is a partial solution. Sodium periodate is used to recycle the highly toxic chromium IV. A salt, the sodium periodate dissociates in solution and the periodate ion (an iodine atom with attached oxygens) interacts with the chromium, restoring it to its original oxidation state.

The catch is that restoring the chromium destroys the periodate. In addition, the process is inefficient; three equivalents of periodate is consumed for every equivalent of desired product produced.

How to get cleaner end products and not use a lot of energy from coal-fired plants?

A simpler idea is also cleaner.

There’s another way to do it. “Electrochemistry can oxidize molecules with any oxidation potential, because the electrode voltage can be tuned or adjusted, or I can run the reaction in such a way that it adjusts itself. So I have tremendous versatility for doing things,” says Moeller.

Moreover, the byproduct of electrochemical oxidation is hydrogen gas, so this too is a clean process.

But again there is a catch. Electrochemistry can be only as green as the source of the electricity. If the oxidation reaction is running clean, but the electricity comes from a coal-fired plant, the problem has not been avoided, just displaced.

The answer is to use the cleanest possible energy, solar energy captured by photovoltaic cells, to run electrochemical reactions.

“That’s what the Green Chemistry article is about,” says Moeller. “It’s a proof-of-principle paper that says it’s easy to make this work, and it works just like reactions that don’t use photovoltaics, so the chemical reaction doesn’t have to be changed around.”

As Dr. Moeller points out not all products of chemical synthesis can be made cleaner just by combining solar energy with electrochemistry, but many chemical reactions can be. These oxidation reactions also save costs by making the chemical products reusable. To provide proof of concept Moeller and his associates used a $6 solar cell intended to a power a toy car.There are some photos of the small apparatus they used at the link.

Arizona Wildfire Spreads, Health Conditions Worsen (VIDEO)

The 672-square-mile blaze was no longer just an Arizona problem on Saturday as firefighters moved to counter spot fires sprouting up across the state line and lighting their own fires to beat it back.

Particles of soot were reported to be 20 times the federal health standard on Saturday. Coughing can expel some of the soot, but large particles can get lodged in the lungs and take a while to expel.

Slingjaw Wrasse

The ‘sling- jaw’ common name comes from being able to throw its jaw out to capture prey. It can do so for about the length of its body. Like most fish the Slingjaw’s jaw is not attached to its skull. The Slingjaw above is a female. There is a very short slow-mo video of a Slingjaw throwing out its jaw here. There is an extensive write up of the Slingjaw and related fishes of the genus here – The Slingjaw Wrasse (Epibulus insidiator) – The Fastest Jaw In The West (Pacific)!