Matrix Online: the news and media magazine of the British Science Fiction Association

Kites are being considered as an alternative to wind turbines for electricity generation. There are several concepts. One is to use rotating kites; another is to use the tug on the lines to turn a turbine. A third idea is to lift rotors using helium balloons to an altitude of six miles where the constant strong winds could generate a huge amount of electricity.

The challenge with all these concepts is steering the kites, computer control systems find it difficult to cope with sudden wind direction changes or sudden drops in velocity. Such problems can be solved.

Not as sexy as billion pound atom squishing, so it will probably work.

Source: Terrapass.com, The New Scientist

Commercial electricity generation from nuclear fusion has always been twenty-years away, every decade that is the claim and still no ‘Mr Fusion’ in sight.

A consortium of 15 nations, led by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, plans to use lasers to fuse hydrogen isotopes into helium. The project known as the High Power Laser Energy Research (HiPER) facility should start construction in 2011.

Meanwhile, China, the EU, India, Japan and the US, have agree to invest £2.5 billion to build ITER, the world’s largest nuclear fusion machine.

Their approach is to use plasma 10 times hotter than the core of the sun. Devices like the Joint European Torus (JET) have demonstrated the principal, but have had great difficulty containing such an unstable and dangerous material. Mastering this control is likely to take longer than the 40 years they are giving themselves.

Some involved are more cautious. “The current timetable is very, very, very ambitious,” said one who had worked on previous fusion projects. “I think it will be 100 years before we have commercially viable energy.”

Source: The New Scientist

Worried about a world where all humans are chipped like pets? It may not be just your freedom that is at risk.

There is a possibility they may cause tumours. A series of veterinary studies over the last decade has shown between one and ten percent of ‘chipped’ mice had cancerous tumours growing around the implants; however, animal test results do not necessarily apply to humans. It is easier to cause cancer in mice than people, so this could be an exaggerated risk.

To date, about 2,000 implants worldwide have been used on humans, according to manufacturer VeriChip Corp. Their representative said

“In fact, for more than 15 years we have used our encapsulated glass transponders with FDA approved anti-migration caps and received no complaints regarding malignant tumours caused by our product.”

It may be back to tattooed bar codes on the forehead.

Source: Associated Press

For the first time the spin of a single atom has been measured by a combined team of researchers from the University of California and the Center for Computational Materials Science (CCMS) at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. led by physics professor Michael F. Crommie.

“This demonstrates a new ability to engineer, fabricate and measure spin-polarized nanostructures at the single atom level,” he said, “This means we can now start incorporating it into other structures.”

This is a possible route into miniaturising digital computers using the alternate spins of an atom to act as the one and zero.

It was done by examining ‘nano-islands’ of cobalt seeded with atoms of either iron or chromium on a copper substrate at 4.8K (-268.4ºC).

Utilising a scanning, tunnelling electron microscope that can probe the spin and energy-dependent electron density of a surface they were able to determine the spin of individual atoms on the cobalt nano-islands.

It was then calculated that in such a situation, iron atoms would assume a spin state parallel to the spins of the atoms in the cobalt island, while chromium would assume an anti-parallel spin, which is exactly what the researchers found.

Demonstrating that they understand how the chromium and iron atoms interact is a vital step in developing a practical quantum computer because it is that interaction or ‘entangling’ of spins that will be used to perform calculation in any machine.

Source: sciencedaily.com

Imperial College London has created a new sensor for measuring the dynamics of human performance.

Currently used as an athletics training aid. Fitting behind the ear, the tiny sensor transmits data about posture, stride length, step frequency, acceleration, and response to shock waves travelling through the body to a nearby computer in real time. It is so small that it doesn’t change the way an athlete performs unlike similar bulkier devices, which also fail to provide data so quickly.

“The sensor we’re working on is inspired by the semicircular canals of the inner ear, which play a key role in controlling our motion and balance,” says Professor Guang Zhong Yang, who is leading the project.

Yang’s ambition is to advance its use in healthcare to monitor patients suffering from a range of injuries and illnesses, and to preserve good health and quality of life generally, but particularly for conditions that effect body movement.

Revolymer Ltd, an off-shoot company from the University of Bristol has developed a bio-degradable chewing gum.

Chewing gum littering is no small problem; for example, removing the stuff from Westminster City Council’s streets costs £95,000 a year, and earlier in 2007 the Irish Ministry of the Environment lunched a €1 million competition to find a non-stick chewing gum. The Minster also announced a €2 million “Gum Litter” pilot project to educate gum users in the disposal of the waste product.

The core of modern gums is synthetic latex, which does not degrade, resists chemical attack and sticks like glue.

Revolymer has created a new polymer that is less sticky, but more importantly is soluble in water making it easy to clean. They have not made it clear why it doesn’t dissolve in the mouth though tests on pavements shows it takes around 24hrs to disperse so it is likely that it dissolves very slowly.

Taste tests have shown no reduction in flavour and texture compared with others in the market.

Revolymer is planning to launch their gum some time next year.

Source: Revolymer.com and The Telegraph

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