Dialectics of Science and the Singularity

Discuss the future with a leading technologist, businessman and philosopher

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Spiralman
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:07 pm

Water shortages are a growing problem, but not for the reaso

Post by Spiralman »

Water shortages are a growing problem, but not for the reasons most people think & My Global Hydroponics Algebra


http://www.economist.com/displayStory.c ... d=13447271
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It is not the absolute number of people that makes the biggest difference to water use but changing habits and diet. Diet matters more than any single factor because agriculture is the modern Agasthya, the mythical Indian giant who drank the seas dry. Farmers use about three-quarters of the world’s water; industry uses less than a fifth and domestic or municipal use accounts for a mere tenth.

Different foods require radically different amounts of water. To grow a kilogram of wheat requires around 1,000 litres. But it takes as much as 15,000 litres of water to produce a kilo of beef. The meaty diet of Americans and Europeans requires around 5,000 litres of water a day to produce. The vegetarian diets of Africa and Asia use about 2,000 litres a day (for comparison, Westerners use just 100-250 litres a day in drinking and washing).

So the shift from vegetarian diets to meaty ones—which contributed to the food-price rise of 2007-08—has big implications for water, too. In 1985 Chinese people ate, on average, 20kg of meat; this year, they will eat around 50kg. This difference translates into 390km3 (1km3 is 1 trillion litres) of water—almost as much as total water use in Europe.

The shift of diet will be impossible to reverse since it is a product of rising wealth and urbanisation. In general, “water intensity” in food increases fastest as people begin to climb out of poverty, because that is when they start eating more meat. So if living standards in the poorest countries start to rise again, water use is likely to soar. Moreover, almost all the 2 billion people who will be added to the world’s population between now and 2030 are going to be third-world city dwellers—and city people use more water than rural folk. The Food and Agriculture Organisation reckons that, without changes in efficiency, the world will need as much as 60% more water for agriculture to feed those 2 billion extra mouths. That is roughly 1,500km3 of the stuff—as much as is currently used for all purposes in the world outside Asia.
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Freshwater fish populations are in precipitous decline. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, fish stocks in lakes and rivers have fallen roughly 30% since 1970. This is a bigger population fall than that suffered by animals in jungles, temperate forests, savannahs and any other large ecosystem. Half the world’s wetlands, on one estimate, were drained, damaged or destroyed in the 20th century, mainly because, as the volume of fresh water in rivers falls, salt water invades the delta, changing the balance between fresh and salt water. On this evidence, there may be systemic water problems, as well as local disruptions.
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Still, industry consumes less than a fifth of the world’s water and the big question is how to get farmers, who use 70-80%, to follow suit. It takes at least three times as much water to grow maize in India, for example, as it does in America or China (see second chart). In some countries, you need 1,500 litres of water to produce a kilo of wheat; in others, only 750 litres. It does not necessarily follow that water is being used unsustainably in the one place and not the other; perhaps the high-usage places have plenty of water to spare. But it does suggest that better management could reduce the amount of water used in farming, and that the world could be better off if farmers did so. Changing irrigation practices can improve water efficiency by 30%, says Chandra Madramootoo, of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage. One can, for example, ensure water evaporates from the leaves of the plant, rather than from the soil. Or one can genetically modify crops so they stop growing when water runs dry, but do not die—they simply resume growth later when the rains return.
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Few people yet recognize that the upfront costs of Solar powered, LED-lit, Hydroponic Indoor Agriculture and Aquaculture will very soon be affordable as an investment for growing many crops. As the costs of both solar power and LED lights continue to drop below parity with grid electricity and the incandescent bulb, and cereal crops and growth conditions are optimized for it, solar-powered, LED-lit Hydroponics Indoor Agro will be the most viable means of growing all types of food.

This will not just be the purview of Vancouver, Berkeley and Amsterdam pot growers who have based a $20 Billion/year industry on this technology.

Already in British Columbia, Canada, 99% of all tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers eaten in the province are grown in greenhouses using hydroponics.

And here’s a reminder about a development from last year:
Welcome to Thanet Earth: The biggest [Hydroponics] greenhouse in Britain unveiled
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... eiled.html
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The scale of the £80 million project is mind-boggling. When complete, its seven greenhouses will sprawl across 220 acres of Kent countryside [1/3 of a square mile], occupying the same area as six London Zoos.

Each greenhouse will be 1,240ft long, centrally heated and fed by its own private reservoir.

Conditions will be monitored and controlled by computers. Plants will be grown year round, suspended in vast rows from the 26ft-high ceiling.

A staggering 2.5 million tomatoes will be cropped every week of the year; 560,000 peppers and 700,000 cucumbers will be picked weekly during a shorter season between February and October.

This massive harvest will boost Britain's salad crop production by 15 per cent - reducing reliance on imports.

To enable production on this industrial scale, the science of hydroponics is utilised.

Similar techniques were used to create the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the floating gardens of the Aztecs in Mexico.
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Let’s have some fun doing Global Hydroponics Algebra to figure out what would it take to feed the whole world its salad vegetables through this method.

If 220 Acres of hydroponics = 15% (~1/7th) of UK salad vegetable consumption
7 X 220 Acres = 1540 Acres = 100% of UK salad veggie consumption

UK population is 61 Million
World population is 6.7 Billion

World is 110 X larger than UK

So 1540 Acres X 110 =
170,000 Acres is needed to feed the entire planet’s population their salad vegetables at a similar quantity as a Brit.

Since 640 Acres = 1 square mile,
170,000 / 640 = 264 Square Miles

New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, & Staten Island) = at 305 Square miles.
NYC is larger than what the planet needs for its veggies

Conclusion #1:
Today:
The entire planet can be fed fresh salad veggies at the level of consumption of the Brits by covering an area smaller than the size of New York City with a one story hydroponics greenhouse.

Conclusion #2:
By 2012, when they are cheap enough:
Since Solar Panels gather 10X as much light energy as plant growth-tuned, red and blue LEDs put out, a 10-story Solar, LED, Hydoponics requires the land area of only Manhattan itself (and not the other boroughs) to feed the entire planet’s population their salad veggies.

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Spiralman
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:07 pm

Philips lights major Cairo landmark with energy-efficient LE

Post by Spiralman »

Philips lights major Cairo landmark with energy-efficient LED lighting

http://www.ledsmagazine.com/casestudies/18452

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The stunning new lighting effects are created by state-of-the -art color changing LED technology from Philips, and the result is an exciting new image for this well-known Egyptian symbol.
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The LED lighting technology used is extremely energy efficient and uses on average 80% less than a similar scheme using conventional lighting technology. This means both cost savings and environmental responsibility. Additional benefits of LED lighting include the ability to control color effects, which are clearly visible in the case of the Cairo tower, a long lifetime with very low maintenance costs, and design flexibility.

The Cairo tower itself was built during the 1950s and 60s in Egypt and was designed with its partially open lattice-work to resemble a giant lotus plant. It stands 187m tall, some 43m higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza. Today it has become a symbol of Cairo and is highly visible on the Cities Skyline. It has proved very popular with locals, particularly courting couples, and tourists.
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The Cairo Tower should serve as a constant reminder to the Arab world of the power of LEDs; and to the rest of the world of the tremendous latent power of the Arab people beyond their oil endowments.

When combined with Solar power, Hydroponics, and low-energy Desalination, which all will converge in 2012 at amazing low price points, LED lighting’s world changing potential will be powerfully manifest, as the New Age of Enlightenment is explosively ushered in during this economic, and soon political and military crisis.

From Hilmi Volkan Demir, the Turkish D-light’s, 300 lumen/W, LED breakthrough to the new solar power project in Iran to the Abu Dhabi solar and wind powered city of Mazdar, to the gigantic Algerian-German Solar power projects in the Sahara, and now to the Cairo Tower of Egypt, the Muslim Middle East is joining the leadership of the Global Revolution of Light.

This is no “tragic, ill-fated, but courageous” Charge of the Light Brigade against impossible odds.

No, the Solar/LED revolution is the harnessing of a force of nature so profound and powerful that it will sweep away everything in its path.

Established regimes, local and global, ancient and modern, will be Blinded By the Light.

Light Up the World!
]

Spiralman
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:07 pm

Earth Day 2009, PlugIn Hummer Hybrid!! 100 MPG; 40 mile all-

Post by Spiralman »

Earth Day 2009, PlugIn Hummer Hybrid!! 100 MPG; 40 mile all-electric range & Hybrid Trucks Are Here for the Long (Medium and Short) Haul
http://www.automoblog.net/2009/04/22/ne ... er-hybrid/
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The H3 is a four-wheel drive Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (E-REV) designed to achieve more than 100 mpg in typical local daily driving with near zero emissions by driving up to 40 miles per day in all-electric mode.

[
Several years ago I noted that it was the largest vehicles that would be the easiest to convert to hybrids and all-electric vehicles.

Why did I say that?
Because the battery is the biggest issue in terms of size and weight.
For a larger vehicle the marginal cost of the larger and heavier battery is much smaller than putting it into a smaller vehicle.

If the battery system and electric drive train added an additional 1000 lbs, and the car only weighs 2,500, that’s huge impact (28.5%). But an H2, for example, weighs 6,500 lbs, so the additional 1000 lbs is a lot smaller marginal impact (13%), less than half the impact. So much easier to put them in the bigger vehicle; and in fact, you can put even larger batteries in, providing greater all-electric range than you could do with a Prius, etc.

In addition, many hybrids use regenerative braking where the momentum of the car is recaptured and used to recharge the battery. The heavier vehicle’s larger momentum has a much larger amount of wasted energy from stop and go driving, so a much bigger opportunity for recapturing wasted energy.

Almost half of all emissions in the US are from heavier vehicles, like light trucks and local industrial and delivery vehicles – buses, construction vehicles, delivery vans, garbage trucks, etc. as well as even long haul vehicles, including the super energy consumptive refrigerated trucks.

These larger industrial vehicles are the easiest to convert to hybrids, and since most of them are operated as part of industrial fleets, they have consolidated parking and maintenance, so they can be much more easily charged overnight or during the day.

The focus on small consumer passenger vehicles is woefully misplaced, since the easiest and largest impact is on these larger vehicles, where the marginal weight and size gain of the batteries and drivetrains is minimal, the wasted momentum from stop and go driving is the greatest, and the infrastructure set up costs are the lowest because they are part of vehicle fleets.

In addition, the bottom line cost savings impact of the energy savings is the top issue for a company or governmental department where transportation costs factor in, whereas for passenger vehicles people have all kinds of other lifestyle agendas that can take precedence over cutting down costs.


Slide Show: Hybrid Trucks Are Here for the Long (Medium and Short) Haul
An explosion in the number and kind of commercially available hybrid trucks means battery power isn't just for lightweight commuter vehicles anymore
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=hybrid-trucks


This Coca Cola refrigerated hybrid truck saves 30% over conventional vehicles

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MILITARY APPLICATIONS
The U.S. Department of Defense, the world's single largest consumer of liquid fuels, has worked with companies such as Oshkosh Corp. to develop hybrid versions of many of its vehicles. Oshkosh's Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck with the ProPulse diesel–electric drive system not only saves fuel, it also "serves as an onboard AC electric generator with enough output to power an entire airfield or hospital," according to the company.

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Definitely check out the Scientific American article and slide show for more details.
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Hybrid trucks use 20 to 50 percent less diesel than conventional vehicles do, depending on how they're used, and that adds up: FedEx calculated that its fleet of 170 hybrid–electric trucks has racked up 3.5 million miles (5.6 million kilometers) of service. The 200 hybrid trucks United Parcel Service (UPS) will add to its fleet later this year are expected to save 176,000 gallons (665,000 liters) of fuel per year, which is the equivalent of taking 100 conventional package delivery trucks off the road. Coca-Cola Enterprises is the most avid consumer of hybrid trucks in the U.S., deploying 327 hybrids out of a total fleet of 30,000.

Depending on how its driven, a typical medium-duty hybrid delivery truck from Peterbilt will average 12 miles per gallon (5.1 kilometers per liter), versus nine mpg (3.8 kpl) for the conventional version of the same truck, according to Peterbilt. The largest trucks on the road average six mpg (2.5 kpl), so the increase to eight mpg (3.4 kpl) achieved by Peterbilt's hybrid technology is significant.
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With his team, he is building a medium-duty plug-in hybrid delivery truck for the U.S. military. With conventional hybrids, he notes, "We might improve efficiency 20 to 30 percent. [But with plug-ins] we could conceivably displace 90 percent of [the] fuel used by conventional vehicles."
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The transition to hybrids and plug-in hybrids will only happen if these trucks come down in price, says Mark Duvall, director of electric transport at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Buyers typically pay a premium of between 30 and 60 percent above the price of a conventional truck for its hybrid version. For example, hybrid utility trucks used by Florida Power and Light Co. (FPL) cost $175,000, compared with around $115,000 for a conventional version.
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Spiralman
Posts: 107
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Gene-free, Adult Stem Cell Reprogramming

Post by Spiralman »

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1240525 ... smartbrief

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Scientists have reprogrammed mature skin cells into an embryonic-like state by using proteins instead of genes, a key advance aimed at overcoming safety concerns in one of the hottest areas of biological research. The stem-cell field has long aimed to harness the master cells of a human embryo, which can be turned into heart, nerve and other types of tissue. The long-term hope is that such tissue could be used to test novel drugs, or be transplanted into patients to treat diseases. But because the cell extraction destroys the embryo, the technique has ignited much ethical controversy.

In the past few years, scientists have found an alternative approach. By introducing several genes into a mature human cell, they have been able to reprogram it to a primitive, embryonic-like state. The approach carries risks, however. The genes are transported with the help of a virus, which can cause cancer. Plus, the DNA of the inserted genes may trigger other unwanted genetic changes in the target cell.

Now, instead of reprogramming the cell with four introduced genes, researchers have achieved the same result by inserting four proteins associated with those genes. This technique is deemed to be safer because it doesn't require genetic manipulation.

"We engineered these four proteins so that they can penetrate the cell" and return it to a primitive state, said Sheng Ding of Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., who led the research, which involved several institutions. The results are published in the online version of the journal Cell Stem Cell.

The science of reprogramming is at an extremely early stage. The latest experiment was done on a type of skin tissue known as fibroblasts, taken from mice. Dr. Ding now hopes to replicate the results with human cells. In addition, reprogramming remains a slow and inefficient approach, and would have to be drastically improved before it can be considered for clinical use.

For now, there is considerable progress toward making the technique safer. One team of scientists reprogrammed mouse cells by using an adenovirus, a less harmful type of transport vehicle. Another managed to remove the inserted viruses and genes once their job was finished. Dr. Ding, a chemist, said the ideal would be to avoid biological material entirely, and reprogram cells using molecules alone.

A race is on to commercialize the technique. Dr. Ding is a founder of Fate Therapeutics and Stemgent Inc., both based in San Diego. The biotech start-ups have teamed up to provide reprogramming-derived tissue to pharmaceutical companies involved in drug discovery. Earlier this month, another start-up, iZumi Bio Inc. of South San Francisco, struck a similar deal with Japan's Kyoto University, where the earliest reprogramming breakthroughs occurred.
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The Ding Laboratory

http://www.scripps.edu/chem/ding/

Spiralman
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:07 pm

Cure For Honey Bee Colony Collapse?

Post by Spiralman »

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 084627.htm

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For the first time, scientists have isolated the parasite Nosema ceranae (Microsporidia) from professional apiaries suffering from honey bee colony depopulation syndrome. They then went on to treat the infection with complete success.

In a study published in the new journal from the Society for Applied Microbiology: Environmental Microbiology Reports, scientists from Spain analysed two apiaries and found evidence of honey bee colony depopulation syndrome (also known as colony collapse disorder in the USA). They found no evidence of any other cause of the disease (such as the Varroa destructor, IAPV or pesticides), other than infection with Nosema ceranae. The researchers then treated the infected surviving under-populated colonies with the antibiotic drug, flumagillin and demonstrated complete recovery of all infected colonies.
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Spiralman
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:07 pm

Scientists Milk Cow Genome to Build a Better Bovine

Post by Spiralman »

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

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The genetic blueprint of domestic cows has been decoded in a scientific feat that traces bovine evolution and may lead to more nutritious milk, meat and increased food supply, scientists reported.

A six-year effort by more than 300 researchers sequenced and analyzed the 22,000 genes of the bovine genetic code, which includes cell instructions for making milk and muscles, according to the research published online today in the journal Science. The genetic data also reveal how the cow’s four- chambered stomach digests and transforms grass forage into body tissues that make high-quality beef.
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Industry has already begun to adopt tools for genetic analysis developed from the research, Green said in a telephone interview from the National Association of Animal Breeders conference in Baltimore.

A gene chip called the BovineSNP50, containing 54,000 probes marketed by Illumina Inc. of San Diego, California, has already been developed using the study data
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Building a Better Cow

The gene chip is already in widespread use to genotype bulls for breeding, Van Tassell said in a telephone interview.

“The industry has adopted this and it’s transformed everything about the genetic improvement of the industry,” Van Tassell said in the interview. “This is capturing naturally occurring variation. Think of it as a precision mating tool. It’s about managing diversity to build a better cow.”

The cow genome studies weren’t designed to encourage any effort toward genetic modification of cows or their food products, said Green.

“That’s not the focus,” Green said. “That’s not to say there won’t be some interest.” The project was intended “to improve productivity and well-being of animals using classic breeding,” he said.

Several of the scientists who were authors of the research said commercial breeding of animals has narrowed the range of hereditary traits, and they urged careful monitoring and protection of genetic diversity.

Preserving Variation

“It is crucial that we preserve this variation through appropriate breeding programs in order to maintain healthy cattle populations” that can weather climate change and new diseases, said Shirley Ellis, head of the Bovine Molecular Immunology Group at the Institute for Animal Health of the Britain’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

Gaining knowledge about the hereditary roots of livestock “may help us with diversity as we drill down to traits breeders want, be it a cow’s udder health or strength of the legs,” said Galen, the spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation. “It will also allow us to do more with less, get more milk from fewer cows and reduce our environmental footprint.”
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Spiralman
Posts: 107
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:07 pm

Superconductors for the Grid: Biggest sale ever; 80 km from

Post by Spiralman »

Superconductors for the Grid: Biggest sale ever; 80 km from American Superconductor to Korean Electric Power Corp.

Superconducting cables are starting to take a larger role in electricity transmission and distribution grids, as two deals announced this week highlight.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/ ... -6075.html

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American Superconductor Receives Wire Order for First Superconductor Power Cable to be Deployed in Korea's Commercial Grid
- LS Cable to Manufacture and Install 22.9 Kilovolt Superconductor Power Cable System in Korea Electric Power Corporation's Grid Near Seoul

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zht ... highlight=
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Under the terms of the contract, AMSC will deliver the wire to LS Cable by the end of 2009. LS Cable will then strand the wire into a superconductor cable system capable of carrying 50 megawatts of power. The cable system will be nearly a half mile in length, making it the world’s longest distribution-voltage superconductor cable system. It is scheduled to be installed by the middle of 2010 and energized in one of Seoul’s largest satellite cities by the end of 2010.

A power cable made with HTS wire inside can conduct up to 10 times the amount of power of the same diameter cable made with copper wire inside. By replacing copper cables with high-capacity superconductor cables in cities using existing underground tunnels and ductwork, utilities can avoid digging up city streets while also relieving grid congestion and increasing the reliability and security of power networks.

“As is the case in many countries around the world, Korea has been experiencing sharp increases in electricity demand and is relying more and more on renewable energy sources to meet that demand,” said KEPCO Chief Executive Officer Kim Ssang-Su. “With their ability to carry a vast amount of power in a small pathway, we see great promise for superconductor cable technology and look forward to energizing this first system.”

This project builds on the success Korea’s Development of Advanced Power Systems by Applied Superconductivity technologies (DAPAS) program, which has provided more than $100 million in funding for the development and commercialization of superconductor systems. In 2006, LS Cable and the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) successfully tested a 30-meter, 22.9kV superconductor cable. In 2007, LS Cable and KERI completed testing of a 100-meter, 22.9 kV superconductor cable system. Both of these projects were powered by AMSC’s first generation HTS wire and funded by the DAPAS program.

The cable installation in Korea also follows several recent superconductor cable deployments in U.S. power grids that have been partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. National Grid and American Electric Power (AEP) energized distribution-voltage superconductor cable systems in their commercial power grids in Albany, New York and Columbus, Ohio, respectively, in 2006. The world’s first transmission-voltage cable system was energized on Long Island in April 2008. This 138 kV system is a permanent part of Long Island Power Authority’s (LIPA) primary transmission corridor. At full capacity, LIPA’s power cable system is capable of transmitting up to 574 MW of electricity and powering 300,000 homes. Another superconductor cable project is now ongoing with Consolidated Edison in Manhattan with partial funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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Superconducting cables will continue to become more affordable.
The recent discoveries of new materials that have high temperature superconducting properties will ultimately result in continuing increases of temperature, and decreasing energy costs, for operating these cables. Out of concern for national energy security, governments all over the world are funding research into this now; and I’m confident they will achieve their objective and be able to forge lossless, fault-tolerant electric grids that span enormous distances. Both the US DOE and the EU’s equivalent have plans for transnational grids that span continents.

Ultimately (probably after the coming global security crisis) superconducting power cables, just like the Internet, will span all of the world’s oceans, and there will be many Inter-Hemispheric Power Connections, enabling farflung intermittent solar and wind power anywhere on earth to power everywhere else.

At every second of the day, somewhere on Earth the sun is shining bright and the wind is blowing strong.
Superconducting cables will be the arteries and veins in which the world’s lifeblood of electricity flows, pumped by the Heart of the Sunrise, without interruption and without the need for large-scale storage.

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Spiralman
Posts: 107
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Electric Car Batteries and Supercapacitor Breakthroughs: Zen

Post by Spiralman »

Electric Car Batteries and Supercapacitor Breakthroughs: Zenn Motors and the Zero Emission (Heat) and Zero Noise Signature Military

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/623621

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Zenn plans to use an EEStor storage unit to build a vehicle called the CityZenn that will have a top speed of 125 kilometres an hour and a range of up to 400 kilometres on a single charge. The technology could also be used to economically store massive amounts of clean energy from wind and solar facilities and then discharge the power when needed, putting renewable energy on equal footing with fossil-fuel and hydroelectric generation.

EEStor's credibility got a boost in January 2008 when U.S. military contractor Lockheed Martin announced an agreement that gave it worldwide exclusive rights to use and sell the EESU in military and homeland security applications.


Lockheed has even filed a patent for a lightweight soldier's battle vest that could contain an EESU and be used to recharge mobile electronics. Sources, however, say Lockheed has not invested in EEStor, despite rumours circulating the Internet.

"We're encouraged to see the progress EEStor is making on its product," said a Lockheed official who didn't want to be named but called the EESU a "game-changing" technology.

Boosting EEStor's credibility even further is an investment from venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Scientific American reprise
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=hybrid-trucks
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The U.S. Department of Defense, the world's single largest consumer of liquid fuels, has worked with companies such as Oshkosh Corp. to develop hybrid versions of many of its vehicles. Oshkosh's Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck with the ProPulse diesel–electric drive system not only saves fuel, it also "serves as an onboard AC electric generator with enough output to power an entire airfield or hospital," according to the company.

[
From environmentalists to revolutionary Islamists to the US Armed Forces, everybody is quite literally wearing green these days.
Looks like we’ll be dressing for St. Patrick’s Day every day for the next decade or two.
Works for me, green matches my eye color.
]
Improved Lithium Ion Battery Technology Could Fast-Charge Electric Vehicles
http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology ... c_vehicles
Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, first discovered about 10 years ago, already store energy needed to run power tools, medical equipment and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. LFP batteries are safer, less expensive and more environmentally friendly than most other rechargeable batteries.

But they do have drawbacks, including their slow rate of energy discharge. That means they can't provide the strong power boost needed for fast acceleration of an electric car, or the quick burst of a metal drill. Now a new technology, developed with support from the National Science Foundation's division of materials research, could speed up the discharge rate of a full LFP battery to only 10 to 20 seconds.

The research took place as part of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Gerbrand Ceder, professor of materials science and engineering at MIT, did some calculations and discovered that the cathode material in LFP batteries should be much faster at charging and discharging.

Ceder enlisted MIT graduate student Byoungwoo Kang to help figure out how to "speed up" an LFP battery's charge and discharge rate. Their results were reported in a recent issue of the journal Nature.

Why fast discharge?

"When you drive your car at 16 km/h (10 mph), to go faster you just push the accelerator," said Kang. "But if the battery can't discharge power quickly, there is no acceleration. With this new technology, you can release the power quickly for whatever you need, whether a car or any other application."

LFP batteries use electro-chemical processes to store and release energy. The battery charges up from some energy source, such as an electrical outlet in a garage. Then during discharge, while the battery is in use, the stored energy travels in reverse, providing voltage to run the equipment.
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Spiralman
Posts: 107
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HuDiNe - Researchers Build World's Largest Human Disease Ass

Post by Spiralman »

HuDiNe - Researchers Build World's Largest Human Disease Association Network

http://www.physorg.com/news159015435.html

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A portion of the disease network shows diseases connected to hypertension and ischemic heart disease in black and white males. Blue links indicate comorbidities that are strongest among black males, whereas red links indicate comorbidities that are strongest among white males. Comparative studies like this one can be performed for any disease using the project’s website (http://hudine.neu.edu).

If you suffer from hypertension, how much does your risk for developing diabetes or other illnesses increase? Medical experts have long known that many diseases are related to one another, even to the point that there are often no clear boundaries between different diseases. Such correlations occur because diseases can have multiple causes, and also because multiple diseases can have the same cause (for example, the same gene or protein pathway).
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The researchers found that the structure of the disease networks could increase their understanding of illness progression in several ways. For instance, they found that patients are more likely to develop diseases close in the network to diseases they already have. In a sense, the development of a patient’s illness can be thought of as a spreading process over the network.

In addition, diseases that are highly connected tend to be preceded by less connected diseases, and highly connected diseases are associated with higher degrees of mortality. In this way, a patient’s location in the network can serve as a predictor of the number of years he or she is expected to live. The researchers also found that an individual’s gender and ethnicity altered their personal disease network.
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“One possible application of medical health records is to compare the overall health status of different populations (e.g. cultural, geographical, etc.),” Hidalgo said. “Disease networks can inform us not only about the difference in prevalence between diseases, but also about differences in the strength of disease associations observed in different populations. In general, diseases have multiple causes and therefore differences in the associations between diseases are expected to be informative about the causes of diseases in different populations.”

He added that, in the future, doctors could use digital flip-charts to access the medical records of a patient, in which a patient's disease history would be represented by highlighted nodes in a disease network. Not only could the doctor see a list of the diseases that have previously affected that patient, but also other diseases that tend to co-occur with the patient’s diseases. Furthermore, the genes associated with those diseases could be only a click away.
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This is a very useful tool for people to get an idea of what their problems may be. Although like any self-diagnostic tool, one can become a hypochondriac, and convince yourself that you have any number of things, this does limit the possibilities. You can then leverage the information to dig deeper in other information sources. When you finally consult a physician you might be able to ask more relevant questions and help them to help you more effectively, sooner, and with fewer visits.

I conducted a search several illness symptoms that a friend has, and was able to make a few hypotheses about causes of seemingly unrelated problems, and they can evaluate pursuing various remedies, or ask for deeper consultation from appropriate specialist.

The node and edge graphs that this tool produces can have its elements moved around to get a clearer indication of linkage.

This is just a start. although the lines connecting the diseases don’t say anything more than that the diseases are connected, and they don’t answer whether it is a causality or just a correlation, or establish the limiting contexts when the correlations are true, it is still a nice start.
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Spiralman
Posts: 107
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Novel Systems Zero In on the $100 Genome by 2012

Post by Spiralman »

Novel Systems Zero In on the $100 Genome
Technology under Development Is Being Counted on to Provide Rapid and Affordable Sequencing

http://www.genengnews.com/articles/chit ... 864&chid=2

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Genome sequencing has gone through a precipitous drop in price since the first human genome was sequenced at a cost of billions of dollars. In fact, last year James Watson’s genome was sequenced for about $2 million. While this is still pricey, it represents a three orders of magnitude decrease on the way to the $1,000 price tag that would bring large-scale sequencing into the realm of feasibility.

This price schedule still has a way to go to fulfill the dream of the $100 genome that would make personalized medicine available for all. At Cambridge Healthtech’s “Next Generation Sequencing” meeting held last month, companies presented their technologies designed to move the field ever closer to that goal.
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“Our platform can be scaled up to eventually accommodate millions of sequences per year at an affordable cost,” said Dr. Radoje Drmanac. The company’s present commercial plan starts in June with the sequencing of hundreds of genomes with the aim of moving this number into the millions in five to six years. “With this many analyzed genomes scientists and doctors will have in-depth insight in causes of the 1,000 most frequent genetic disorders.
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“We are looking at the genome holistically, taking into account changes all the way from individual base pair mutations to large chromosomal rearrangements on the haplotype level,” explained Michael Boyce-Jacino, Ph.D., president and CEO of BioNanomatrix. “In fact, we believe major structural changes, combined with single base pair mutations, are the basis of human genetic variability.”
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BioNanomatrix and Complete Genomics have also combined their complementary technologies to collaborate under a five-year $8.8 million NIST-ATP grant with the aim of sequencing the entire human genome in eight hours at a cost of $100. Through this combination of public and private funding, the companies claim to be “on track to reach the goal of the $100 genome by 2012,” noted Dr. Boyce-Jacino.
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[The article mentions several different companies and technologies; I have interacted with both of these guys I quoted. Boyce-Jacino is definitely not someone who exaggerates, and if he thinks they’re on track for a $100 genome by 2012, then I am inclined to believe him. The methodologies they are pursuing sound very promising to me, although several of the others detailed are also intriguing.
The above graph displays a rapid acceleration of DNA information price deflation.
Unlike Moore’s Law for computer processors, the DNA information cost reduction has not required an accelerating investment in capital equipment, in fact quite the opposite.

The graph indicates that price has dropped by at least SEVEN orders of magnitude since 1985 until 2009. (I believe it is more likely a NINE decimal point change based on my personal experience.)
If the $100 genome is achieved by 2012, the cost will drop by an additional THREE orders of magnitude (1000-fold) in the next 3 years.
1985-2012, a 10 BILLION-fold drop based on the graph (1 TRILLION-fold based on my estimates of the early costs based on my own lab).

I don’t see any reason why the costs wouldn’t continue their accelerated decline down a $1 Genome or less.
There are too many different approaches that benefit from increased parallelization. The constantly lower cost of the instruments that do the work combined with the vanishing amount of human labor involved, not to mention that lower cost labor in China and India will be brought to bear make a $1 Genome before 2020 or even a 1 Cent Genome a possibility before 2025.

I suspect that cancer diagnostics and the study of the mosaic of varying cells within the brain will be one of the big drivers of the demand for the ever cheaper human genomes, because it is becoming apparent that many cancers are the result not just of several point mutations, but wholesale chromosomal rearrangements and varying numbers and sizes of chromosomes. This condition of extra or missing chromosomes in different cell types of the same species is called Aneuploidy. Brain cells also display anueploidy, also known as mosaicism.
Aneuploidy is a major violation of the central dogmas of molecular biology.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneuploidy


In addition, the need to sequence the multiplicity of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and viri that inhabit our bodies will also be a big part of the demand for the $1 Genome or the Three Penny Genome.

THE DEEP SYMBIOSIS BETWEEN BACTERIA AND THEIR HUMAN HOSTS IS FORCING SCIENTISTS TO ASK: ARE WE ORGANISMS OR LIVING ECOSYSTEMS?
http://seedmagazine.com/content/print/the_body_politic/


Finally, the mounting global security crisis combined with effortless identity theft will necessitate low-cost biometric tracking of people.

Miami Beach kindergartners get DNA swabs in case of disaster

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_d ... 00230.html


Mapping a Human Genome, via an eBay Auction
Starting Bid $68,000; discount from $350,000 in 2008; ~$1B in 2000

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/busin ... technology

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