CubeSensors review: These little cubes want to make you and your home healthier

 

Gizmag reviews the senor-packed CubeSensors to see if they can make your home healthier (Credit: Simon Crisp/Gizmag) Image Gallery (29 images) In a bid to improve their lifestyles an increasing number of people are turning to sensor-toting wearables, but your environment can be just as important as your body. CubeSensors are sensor-packed devices which monitor external factors and give advice to improve your relaxation, productivity or, in conjunction with a Jawbone or Fitbit tracker, sleep quality. Never missing the chance to sleep in the name of work, we recently spent some quality time with the little cubes. The wireless CubeSensors themselves are stylish and unobtrusive little cubes which can be deployed in most rooms without worrying about disrupting the decor. Once in place they use an array of sensors to monitor aspects of the environment including air quality, temperature, humidity, temperature, noise, light and pressure. Feedback is given based on what you want to do in that room, either with a shake-prompted glowing light, or in more detail via a web app. In the box you'll find a micro USB power adapter, a base unit which connects to your router via ethernet cable, along with the CubeSensors and micro USB charging cables (the CubeSensors can last a month on a single charge). CubeSensors come in bundles of two, four or six depending on the number of rooms, and what you want to monitor. We were using the smaller pack for the review, and this meant quite a bit of moving them around around the house over the month-long test to use them in bedrooms, the living room and an office. If you want to monitor a number of rooms simultaneously, we'd advise opting for the bigger packs. Simple and friendly instructions make setting up the CubeSensors a painless operation which simply involves plugging everything in and going to the set-up website. During this process you'll also name each cube, and tell it what sort of environment it is to be located in with a choice of Live (for general living spaces), Work (offices) and Sleep (bedrooms). This sets the optimal target levels for the various settings based on research on indoor comfort and productivity. If you've assigned one of the CubeSensors to sleep, you can also pair it with a sleep-tracking Fitbit or Jawbone device. This lets you see the data from the CubeSensors along with that from the fitness tracker at the same time, the idea being that you can see if the room temperature, humidity or light coming in through the window is causing periods of disrupted sleep. Not only will you know how many times you woke up, but also why. In our time with the CubeSensors, we were impressed by not only the amount of information they can monitor, but also how they're not the sort of tech which requires constant attention. If you want to dive into the info via the web app you can, but equally the cubes can sit unnoticed unless you shake or tap them to prompt a blue or red light which shines through the white plastic and the pattern of holes in the metal front and rear. Blue means everything is fine, while red means you need to check the app to see what's wrong. When going to the web app, users can check the status of real-time monitored levels from the CubeSensors on a very accessible scale which ranges from sad face, to happy face. You can also scroll down to see how they've changed over the previous 24 hours. This 24 hour history can also be viewed by category across all wirelessly connected cubes. While most of these categories and their respective units of measure are fairly self explanatory, air quality detects VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). Along with letting users check specific numbers, the app provides real world actionable advice in a "Ways to Feel Better" section. This could tell you to "Open the windows as soon as possible" or "You might be comfortable with extra heating". While these might seem basic, the team behind CubeSensors say acting on this advice could help users avoid getting a cold, control allergies, or prevent a headache before it happens. In our tests the information from the CubeSensors was more useful than expected. For example, I found my living-room was frequently registered as colder than it should be for relaxing, and increasing the heating slightly did make it feel more comfortable (I wasn't doing this before as it didn't feel particularly cold). Meanwhile in my office the CubeSensor identified that more light would be beneficial for my productivity, and in my son's bedroom (where I really wanted to ensure the best sleep conditions) I found that the windows needed to be open for longer to get the air quality closer to the identified target. The way in which the CubeSensors use the information from an activity tracker to provide sleep environment analysis was also impressive. If looking at sleep information, users are presented with the various pieces of information tracked by the CubeSensor, and the optional sleep tracking from your fitness tracker. In our case this was a Fitbit Charge HR and sleep tracking was broken into periods of being awake, restless or asleep. This allowed me to see that a seemingly random but frequent 3am period of restfulness was actually being caused by a stray setting on my central heating kicking in for 15 minutes. However, the CubeSensors are not without issues. The big one being that information is currently only available for the previous 24 hours. This means you can't easily see if a change in habit is having the desired effect on your environment over a period of time. Another issue experienced is that the optimal ranges for the various settings are not universal: being used in a city it was nearly impossible for me to get the air quality to what was deemed a good level. Other things we'd like to see improved are the way in which you need to manually switch a sensor between modes. It would be nice to set a cube to act in Sleep mode from early evening and overnight, but maybe function to advise on Work or Live modes during the rest of the day. Considering how well the information is integrated between activity trackers and CubeSensors during sleep, it would also be nice if this could be expanded to work throughout the day. If you threw sensor-laden wearables like the Basis Peak into the mix, there could be some really interesting possibilities to provide an all-day body and environment picture. As the CubeSensors system develops and matures we have no doubt it will continue to improve. Updates in the pipeline include allowing users to access more historical sensor data to discover meaningful trends over longer periods of time. IFTTT integration is also due to land later this year so the measurements from the CubeSensors can be used to affect the behavior of other smart home devices, not just to track the environment. We were surprised by just how useful the CubeSensors were. In retrospect it's obvious environmental factors are as important to how you feel as your own body metrics, but it was interesting to see (and feel) the real world changes that could be experienced by acting on the CubeSensors' advice. Though we were checking the CubeSensors far less towards the end of our test, because we had nailed-down conditions in various rooms, seasonal changes would mean the CubeSensors kept being useful longer term. Getting started with the CubeSensors has a US$300 entry price for the small pack with two CubeSensors, $450 for the medium pack with four CubeSensors, and $600 for the large pack with six CubeSensors. This isn't cheap, but it's a household product rather than an individual one like an activity tracker and could benefit everyone there. For workplaces trying to optimize productivity conditions, it's not hard to see how the CubeSensors could easily pay for themselves several times over. Product page: CubeSensors

Olympus Air A01 turns your smartphone into a mirrorless camera

 

The Olympus Air A01 lets users take DSLR-like images and use interchangeable lenses with their smartphone Image Gallery (10 images) Olympus has announced its Air A01 add-on camera for smartphones, which turns your Android or iOS device into a very capable mirrorless camera, will be getting a wider release and heading to the US. Previously only available in Japan, the Olympus Air A01 is a smartphone-controlled camera similar to the Sony QX1, but features a Micro Four Thirds lens mount with a matching 16-megapixel sensor and is an open platform for developers. We've previously seen a number of add-on cameras for smartphones which claim to offer DSLR-like features, including the Sony QX100, Kodak Smart Lens and more recently the DxO One. However, because they all feature built-in lenses they're more like compact camera equivalents rather than interchangeable lens cameras. The Olympus Air A01 is different in that it allows users to mount Micro Four Thirds lenses, in the same way the Sony QX1 uses an E-mount. In addition to its Micro Four Thirds mount, the Air A01 features the same 16-megapixel Live MOS sensor (17.3 x 13 mm) and TruePic VII image processor as cameras like the OM-D E-M5 II. This enables a burst speed shooting at 10 fps (frames per second) an ISO range up to 12,800 and Full HD 1080p video recording at 30 fps. RAW capture is also possible, and the Air A01 features a silent electronic shutter with a 1/16,000-second maximum shutter speed. Once the Air A01 is wirelessly connected to a smartphone or tablet users can then control it using a dedicated OA.Central for Olympus Air app. This allows focusing, using a FAST 81-point AF system, by tapping the screen of the smartphone, and making changes to settings such as exposure, white balance and ISO speed. Smartphone photographers can also use the app to access to the same P, A, S and M modes as on an interchangeable lens camera, apply filters, or instantly transfer images. While the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled Olympus Air A01 can store images and video on a microSD card, they can also be automatically uploaded and securely stored on Amazon Cloud Drive. The device itself measures 56.9 x 57.1 x 43.6 mm (2.2 x 2.3 x 1.7 in) weighs 147 g (4.2 oz) and can be clipped onto a smartphone using the included smartphone holder. The built-in battery is said to be good for 320 shots on a full charge. The Air A01 can also be used when not attached to a smartphone, enabling use in situations and positions it might be difficult to use a traditionally shaped camera, and automatically knows which way around the cylindrical device is being held. It also features a tripod mount which could be handy for remote shooting. In addition to appealing to smartphone photographers who want better quality and the creative freedom allowed only by an interchangeable lens system, the Air A01 will also be of interest to developers and makers as it's an open platform. This means developers can produce their own apps for the camera using the available software development kit and makers can easily create accessories. The Olympus Air A01 will be available in the US from this month in black or white for US$300 body-only, or $500 bundled with a 14-42-mm EZ lens. It will also launch in Canada in August, unfortunately no other international availability has been announced yet. Product page: Olympus Air A01

New micro-supercapacitor structure inspired by the intricate design of leaves

 

Thu, 07/02/2015 - 10:58am Institute for Basic Science There was a time during the early development of portable electronics when the biggest hurdle to overcome was making the device small enough to be considered portable. After the invention of the microprocessor in the early 1970s, miniature, portable electronics have become commonplace and ever since the next challenge has been finding an equally small and reliable power source. Chemical batteries store a lot of energy but require a long period of time for that energy to charge and discharge plus have a limited lifespan. Capacitors charge quickly but cannot store enough charge to work for long enough to be practical. One possible solution is something called a solid-state micro-supercapacitor (MSC). Supercapacitors are armed with the power of a battery and can also sustain that power for a prolonged period time. Researchers have attempted to create MSCs in the past using various hybrids of metals and polymers but none were suitable for practical use. In more recent trials using graphene and carbon nanotubes to make MSCs, the results were similarly lackluster. An international team of researchers led by Young Hee Lee, including scientists from the Center for Integrated Nanostructure Physics at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and Department of Energy Science at Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, has devised a new technique for creating an MSC that doesn’t have the shortcomings of previous attempts but instead delivers high electrochemical performance. When designing something new and complex, sometimes the best inspiration is one already found in nature. The team modeled their MSC film structure on natural vein-textured leaves in order to take advantage of the natural transport pathways which enable efficient ion diffusion parallel to the graphene planes found within them. To create this final, efficient shape, the team layered a graphene-hybrid film with copper hydroxide nanowires. After many alternating layers they achieved the desired thickness, and added an acid solution to dissolve the nanowires so that a thin film with nano-impressions was all that remained. To fabricate the MSCs the film was applied to a plastic layer with thin, ~5μm long parallel gold strips placed on top. Everything not covered by the gold strips was chemically etched away so that only the gold strips on top of a layer of film were left. Gold contact pads perpendicular to the gold strips were added and a conductive gel filled in the remaining spaces and was allowed to solidify. Once peeled from the plastic layer, the finished MSCs resemble clear tape with gold electrical leads on opposite sides. The team produced stunning test results. In addition to its superior energy density, the film is highly flexible and actually increases capacitance after initial use. The volumetric energy density was 10 times higher than currently available commercial supercapacitors and also far superior to any other recent research. The MSCs are displaying electrical properties about five orders of magnitude higher than similar lithium batteries and are comparable to existing, larger supercapacitors. According to Lee, “To our knowledge, the volumetric energy density and the maximum volumetric power density in our work are the highest values among all carbon-based solid-state MSCs reported to date.” In the future, consumers will likely power their devices with MSCs instead of batteries. Applications for light, reliable energy storage combined with a long lifespan and fast charge/discharge time. The team’s MSCs could be embedded into an electronic circuit chip as power sources for practical applications such as implantable medical devices, active radio frequency identification tags, and micro robots. If engineers utilize the material’s incredible flexibility, these MSCs could be utilized in portable, stretchable, and even wearable electronic devices. SOURCE: Institute for Basic Science

Evidence for stable room-temperature skyrmions found

 

Thu, 07/02/2015 - 10:17am RIKEN In research published in Nature Communications, researchers from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science in Japan, along with collaborators in Europe and Japan, have identified a class of materials that displays clear evidence for stable skyrmions at room temperature and above, paving the way for the development of useful spintronics devices. Magnetic skyrmions are tiny, nanometer-sized magnetic-spin vortices that emerge in magnetic materials. Because they are so small, they could potentially be used as extremely dense memory devices, with the presence or absence of skyrmions being used to denote bits in computer calculations. Achieving this could lead to the advent of a new class of low-power-consumption devices dubbed "spintronics", which include high-density magnetic memory. However, skyrmions are not always easy to use. Though they occur ubiquitously in magnets, in a diverse range of circumstances, they are not always easy to control. The ultimate dream of researchers has been to create stable skyrmions—which do not decay—in a set chirality, so that their presence or absence can be manipulated to represent data for storage devices. Skyrmions emerging from a process called the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction have been considered to be particularly promising, as they are small (under 150 nanometers) and have a fixed direction of spin. As a result, they could host a large number of stable skyrmions which could be manipulated by electrical currents, and hence could be used to create high-density storage. Such stable skyrmions have been found in certain crystal structures, but in the materials studied so far, such as MnSi and Cu2OSeO3, the skyrmions emerge most strongly in low temperatures, requiring low-temperature manipulation. For the present study, the scientists decided to look at a type of magnetic material made up of cobalt, zinc, and manganese, whose structure seemed likely to host stable skyrmions. Using a variety of techniques, they were able to show indeed that when a magnetic field was applied, the material showed the clear presence of skyrmion crystals in both a bulk shape and when shaped into a thin plate. These skyrmions were both stable and chiral—meaning that they spun in a set direction—so that they could be manipulated to encode information. According to Yusuke Tokunaga of CEMS, who is the first author of the work, "We are quite excited about these results, as they may answer the long-held expectation that we can find skyrmion hosting systems in a variety of new materials. In addition, the fact that we have shown that skyrmions can be stabilized at room temperature and above opens the road to looking for ways to integrate skyrmions into spintronics devices without complicated cooling systems." The research was done by CEMS scientists in collaboration with scientists from the Paul Scherrer Institut and Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland and the University of Tokyo in Japan. SOURCE: RIKEN

8 Common Living Habits That May Shorten your Life

 

Health Lifestyle by Carl Preston For many of us, the idea of being able to live forever is one thing we never really stop believing until the day that we die. The problem is that many of us also have lifestyles that encourage a shorter lifespan and can actually reduce our time to come to grips with mortality. For anyone in this position, we recommend that you consider these ten lifestyle choices that many of us are making that actually puts each and every one of us in a position whereby we could be drastically shortening our own lifespans, even if it seems pretty healthy!   1. Living Alone Humans need interaction; we need love in our lives. If we want to find that love, though, we have to be able to get out here and find it. Those who take the easy “stress-free” option of living alone are actually limiting the happiness and enjoyment that we can get from the world. Never sharing love and intimacy with another person is a sure-fire way to reduce your lifespan by a considerable margin.   2. Sitting Too Often Do you work at a PC? Then you need to consider the importance of standing up and getting a bit more rest. It’s estimated by the JAMA Internal Medicine study had sitting for more than 11h per day increases the risk of death by up to 40% over the next three years alone! This is something that you need to consider moving forward, so if you need to get a stand-up desk you should!   3. Lack of Social Life Neglecting our friends and loved ones for solitary time isn’t always a bad thing; we all need our own personal space. However, taking the time that is needed to have a social life can improve our lifespan! Likewise, failing to do so increase our chances of passing on early. Prolonged loneliness can have the same negative health effects of having 15 cigarettes a day!   4. TV loving Many of us love to spend our time sitting in front of the TV and just zoning out, vegging there for hours to come. This can bring on things like diabetes and even heart disease. According to the NY times, every single hour of TV you watch after being 25 reduces your lifespan by around 21 minutes. That’s quite the state, but it’s something you really need to consider moving forward with your life if you want to live healthily.   5. Taking Extended time off You might think that quitting your job or going for a gap year could be a good thing but it’s actually quite unhealthy for the body. Your mind will get rested, sure, but you will find that premature death is far more common if you are taking that time off due to the serious inactivity that your body will be going through when moving forward.   6. Helping Annoying People Being the kind member of the workforce who helps out that annoying colleague might seem like a great idea, but how do you come to terms with the stress that they cause you? Putting yourself through the mill just to be nice might seem like a sacrifice that’s worth it for karma points, but it really isn’t if it’s driving you up the wall!  This can put you into stressful situations you really had no reason to be involved in.   7. Sleeping In The worst thing that you can do for your sleeping pattern is getting used to sleeping more than eight hours on a regular basis. It’s unhealthy for the body so even if you can get those extra hours, limit yourself to 7 hours at the most.   8. Exercising Too Much The last thing that you want to do is lessen your lifespan but unfortunately going through too much exercise in a week can do this to you. Just go to a doctor and get them to give you an idea of what you should be taking on exercise wise as it will give you much better ideas about how you can improve your health and your quality of life in general – just remember that seemingly being too healthy and exercising too much is going to make a marked difference to your overall lifespan moving through life.

Calcium supplements: A risk factor for heart attack?

 

I've read that calcium supplements may increase the risk of heart attack. Is this true? Answers from Martha Grogan, M.D. Some doctors think it's possible that taking calcium supplements may increase your risk of a heart attack. Other doctors believe that calcium supplements have little or no effect on your heart attack risk. There's concern about calcium supplements and heart attack risk because many people take calcium supplements to treat or prevent bone diseases, such as osteoporosis. A recent study from the National Institutes of Health suggests there is an increased risk of heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular diseases from taking calcium supplements for men only. Other studies suggest there is an increased risk for both men and women. It's thought that the calcium in supplements could make its way into fatty plaques in your arteries — a condition called atherosclerosis — causing those plaques to harden and increase your risk of heart disease. More research is needed before doctors know the effect calcium supplements may have on your heart attack risk. The calcium supplements that some doctors are concerned about are those that contain only calcium — not supplements that combine calcium and vitamin D or multivitamin supplements. Calcium from food sources, such as dairy and green leafy vegetables, is not a concern. Current recommendations regarding calcium supplements for people who have, or have risk factors for, osteoporosis haven't changed. As with any health issue, it's important to talk to your doctor to determine what's best in your case. See more Expert Answers source: mayoclinic.org

Chronic fatigue: Can a natural remedy boost my energy?

 

Are there any natural remedies that reduce chronic fatigue associated with chronic fatigue syndrome? Answers from Brent A. Bauer, M.D. Researchers have evaluated a variety of natural products for effectiveness against chronic fatigue syndrome. Most results have been disappointing. A few remedies — such as magnesium injected into the muscles for people with low red blood cell magnesium, a combination of fish oil and evening primrose oil, melatonin, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrate (NADH), coenzyme Q10, propionyl-L-carnitine, and D-ribose — have shown encouraging results in preliminary studies. However, many of these promising early results weren't confirmed by follow-up studies, or the original studies were too small to be conclusive. At this time, there's little evidence to recommend any specific natural remedy as a treatment for chronic fatigue. Dealing with a condition such as chronic fatigue syndrome can be challenging. There's a lot of hype about various treatments and "natural" approaches. As with any dietary supplement, talk to your doctor before adding something new to your care program. Some herbal products can interact with prescription medicines or have other side effects. See more Expert Answers source: mayoclinic.org

Hydroelectric dams drastically reduce tropical forest biodiversity

 

Widely hailed as "green" sources of renewable energy, hydroelectric dams have been built worldwide at an unprecedented scale. But University of East Anglia research reveals that these major infrastructure projects are far from environmentally friendly. A PLOS ONE study reveals the drastic effects of the major Amazonian Balbina Dam on tropical rainforest biodiversity. It reveals a loss of mammals, birds and tortoises from the vast majority of islands formed by the creation of the Balbina Lake. Credit: Eduardo M. Venticinque A study published today in PLOS ONE reveals the drastic effects of the major Amazonian Balbina Dam on tropical rainforest biodiversity. The research reveals a loss of mammals, birds and tortoises from the vast majority of islands formed by the creation of the vast Balbina Lake, one of the world's largest hydroelectric reservoirs. Lead author Dr Maíra Benchimol, a former PhD student at UEA and now at Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Bahia, Brazil, said: "Hydroelectric dams have been thought to be an environmentally friendly source of renewable power -- and in recent years they have been built to supply the burgeoning energy demands of emergent tropical countries. "Previous studies have shown that large dams result in severe losses in fishery revenues, increases in greenhouse gas emissions, and socioeconomic costs to local communities. Our research adds evidence that forest biodiversity also pays a heavy price when large dams are built. Prof Carlos Peres, from UEA's School of Environmental Sciences, said: "Of course, it is widely known that dams cause massive population losses in terrestrial and tree-dwelling species within lowland forest areas that are flooded. However, we're only beginning to realize the staggering extent of extinctions in forest areas that remain above water as habitat islands. "The Brazilian government is currently planning to build hundreds of new dams in some of the world's most biodiverse tropical forest regions. But the high biodiversity costs of mega dams should be carefully weighed against any benefits of hydropower production." The Balbina Dam in the Central Brazilian Amazon is one of the world's largest hydroelectric dams in terms of total flooded area. The creation of this dam saw a formerly unbroken landscape of undisturbed continuous forest converted into an artificial archipelago of 3,546 islands. The research team carried out intensive biodiversity surveys over two years on 37 islands isolated by the hydroelectric reservoir and three neighbouring continuous forest areas. They also surveyed land and tree dwelling vertebrates at these 40 forest sites. Further research focused on plants and used high-resolution satellite images to better understand the level of forest degradation on the islands. Key findings: - Clear evidence of widespread loss of animals on forest islands following 26 years of isolation, even under the best-case protection scenario ensured by the largest biological reserve in Brazil. - Large vertebrates including mammals, large gamebirds and tortoises disappeared from most islands formed by the creation of the Balbina Lake. - Of the 3,546 islands created, only 25 are now likely to harbour at least four fifths of all 35 target species surveyed in the study. - Island size was the most important factor predicting the number of forest vertebrate species retained. Dr Benchimol said: "We found that only a few islands larger than 475 hectares still contained a diverse community of animal and bird species, which corresponds to only 0.7 per cent of all islands in the reservoir." "In addition to the effects of area reduction, most small islands succumbed to wind exposure and ephemeral fires that occurred during a severe El Niño drought in 1997-98. Post-burn islands retained even fewer wildlife species than islands of similar size that had not been affected by wildfires." In another study published last month in Journal of Ecology the authors showed that fires on these small islands have a knock-on effect for animal life, with extinction rates accelerated by the reduction of habitable forest. Dr Benchimol said: "Different wildlife species respond differently depending on their lifestyles. Those that need small home ranges coped better with forest habitat loss caused by the dam. Nevertheless, the future demographic and genetic viability of small isolated populations in areas affected by major dams seems bleak, as few species are able to maintain gene flow by swimming long distances to reach other islands." Prof Peres said: "We predicted an overall local extinction rate of more than 70 per cent of the 124,110 wildlife populations of the species we studied occurring in all 3,546 islands across the entire archipelago. We're shedding new light into the devastating impacts of large infrastructure projects on tropical forest biodiversity, which should be considered in any Environmental Impact Assessments of new hydroelectric dams." 'Widespread forest vertebrate extinctions induced by a mega hydroelectric dam in lowland Amazonia' is published in the journal PLOS ONE on July 1, 2015. This research was funded by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), The Rufford Small Grant Foundation, the Conservation Food and Health Foundation, Idea Wild, the Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) programme, Amazonas Distribuidora de Energia S.A, Associação Comunidade Waimiri Atroari, and the Brazilian Ministry of Education. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of East Anglia. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Maíra Benchimol, Carlos A. Peres. Widespread forest vertebrate extinctions induced by a mega hydroelectric dam in lowland Amazonia. PLOS ONE, July 1, 2015 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129818

Solar Impulse 2 breaks three records en route to Hawaii

 

The Solar Impulse 2 has broken three aviation records during its flight from Japan to Hawaii Image Gallery (5 images) Solar Impulse 2 has started smashing records even before the longest leg of its round-the-world flight is complete. At around three quarters of the way to its next touch down in Hawaii, the single-pilot aircraft has broken the world records for longest distance and duration for solar aviation, with the record for longest ever solo flight of any kind thrown in for good measure. After a couple of false starts, Solar Impulse 2 took off from Nagoya, Japan on Sunday for its audacious five-day flight across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii with Swiss pilot and Solar Impulse co-founder André Borschberg at the helm. It has since stayed in the air for three days and nights without using a single drop of fuel, grabbing the distance and duration records, 5,663 km (3,518 mi) and 80 hours respectively, in the process. But an even more impressive achievement was the surpassing of the longest non-stop solo flight without refuelling. The previous record was set by American sailor, pilot and all-round adventurer Steve Fossett, who flew for 76 hours on his way to circumnavigating the globe for a second time in his Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer in 2006. As we write, Borschberg is at the controls of Solar Impulse 2 over the Pacific Ocean, grappling with a range of technical challenges and without the luxury of emergency landing sites underfoot. Undertaking daily yoga routines to keep his body functioning in the confines of the poky cockpit, Borschberg has switched on the autopilot and grabbed only sporadic moments of rest since Sunday, napping only so long as the regular turbulence will allow. If all goes to plan the Solar Impulse 2 will land in Honolulu after around 120 hours of flight. From there, his fellow co-founder and explorer Bertrand Piccard will continue the expedition to Phoenix, Arizona, then cross the USA, the Atlantic Ocean and fly back to Abu Dhabi were it all started on March 9.   Source: Solar Impulse

New method can make cheaper solar energy storage

 

Wed, 07/01/2015 - 7:46am This is a photograph of a single-flake-layer WSe2 thin film deposited on flexible Sn:In2O3 (ITO)-coated PET plastic. Credit: Kevin Sivula (EPFL)Storing solar energy as hydrogen is a promising way for developing comprehensive renewable energy systems. To accomplish this, traditional solar panels can be used to generate an electrical current that splits water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen, the latter being considered a form of solar fuel. However, the cost of producing efficient solar panels makes water-splitting technologies too expensive to commercialize. EPFL scientists have now developed a simple, unconventional method to fabricate high-quality, efficient solar panels for direct solar hydrogen production with low cost. The work is published in Nature Communications. Many different materials have been considered for use in direct solar-to-hydrogen conversion technologies but "2-D materials" have recently been identified as promising candidates. In general these materials--which famously include graphene--have extraordinary electronic properties. However, harvesting usable amounts of solar energy requires large areas of solar panels, and it is notoriously difficult and expensive to fabricate thin films of 2-D materials at such a scale and maintain good performance. Kevin Sivula and colleagues at EPFL addressed this problem with an innovative and cheap method that uses the boundary between two non-mixing liquids. The researchers focused on one of the best 2-D materials for solar water splitting, called "tungsten diselenide". Past studies have shown that this material has a great efficiency for converting solar energy directly into hydrogen fuel while also being highly stable. Before making a thin film of it, the scientists first had to achieve an even dispersion of the material. To do this, they mixed the tungsten diselenide powder with a liquid solvent using sonic vibrations to "exfoliate" it into thin, 2-D flakes, and then added special chemicals to stabilize the mix. Developed by Sivula's lab (2014), this technique produces an even dispersion of the flakes that is similar to an ink or a paint. The researchers then used an out-of-the-box innovation to produce high-quality thin films: they injected the tungsten diselenide ink at the boundary between two liquids that do not mix. Exploiting this oil-and-water effect, they used the interface of the two liquids as a "rolling pin" that forced the 2-D flakes to form an even and high-quality thin film with minimal clumping and restacking. The liquids were then carefully removed and the thin film was transferred to a flexible plastic support, which is much less expensive than a traditional solar panel. The thin film produced like this was tested and found to be superior in efficiency to films made with the same material but using other comparable methods. At this proof-of-concept stage, the solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency was around 1%--already a vast improvement over thin films prepared by other methods, and with considerable potential for higher efficiencies in the future. More importantly, this liquid-liquid method can be scaled up on a commercial level. "It is suitable for rapid and large-area roll-to-roll processing," says Kevin Sivula. "Considering the stability of these materials and the comparative ease of our deposition method, this represents an important advance towards economical solar-to-fuel energy conversion." Source: EPFL

Science Now - Episode 35

 

In this week's episode we learn about models that simulate how a majority of Americans can actually eat food grown locally, how robots learn, fun and educational video games for the classroom and finally we explore a future forest.

Credit: NSF

We're not alone, but the universe may be less crowded than we think

 

There may be far fewer galaxies further out in the universe then might be expected, according to a new study led by MSU. Credit: Photo courtesy of NASA/CXC/STSci/DSS/Magellan There may be far fewer galaxies further out in the universe then might be expected, according to a new study led by Michigan State University. Over the years, the Hubble Space Telescope has allowed astronomers to look deep into the universe. The long view stirred theories of untold thousands of distant, faint galaxies. The new research, appearing in the current issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters, however, offers a theory that reduces the estimated number of the most distant galaxies by 10 to 100 times. "Our work suggests that there are far fewer faint galaxies than we once previously thought," said Brian O'Shea, MSU associate professor of physics and astronomy. "Earlier estimates placed the number of faint galaxies in the early universe to be hundreds or thousands of times larger than the few bright galaxies that we can actually see with the Hubble Space Telescope. We now think that number could be closer to ten times larger. O'Shea and his team used the National Science Foundation's Blue Waters supercomputer to run simulations to examine the formation of galaxies in the early universe. The team simulated thousands of galaxies at a time, including the galaxies' interactions through gravity or radiation. The simulated galaxies were consistent with observed distant galaxies at the bright end of the distribution -- in other words, those that have been discovered and confirmed. The simulations didn't, however, reveal an exponentially growing number of faint galaxies, as has been previously predicted. The number of those at the lower end of the brightness distribution was flat rather than increasing sharply, O'Shea added. These simulations will be tested further when the much-anticipated James Webb Space Telescope comes online in late 2018. The improved technology will afford astronomers even more-detailed views of space than the amazing images that the Hubble has produced in recent years. The Hubble Space Telescope can see the tip of the iceberg of the most-distant galaxies, said Michael Norman, co-author of the paper and director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego. While the James Webb telescope will improve views of distant galaxies, the telescope has a relatively small field of view. As a result, the observations must take into account cosmic variance -- the statistical variation in the number of galaxies from place to place. That's what makes these simulations pertinent even as improved technology becomes available, O'Shea said. "A deeper understanding based on theory may be necessary to correctly interpret what's being seen, such as high redshift survey results," he said. In addition to O'Shea and Norman, the research team also included John Wise, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Hao Xu, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of California, San Diego. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA. Story Source: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Michigan State University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Brian W. O’Shea, John H. Wise, Hao Xu, Michael L. Norman. PROBING THE ULTRAVIOLET LUMINOSITY FUNCTION OF THE EARLIEST GALAXIES WITH THE RENAISSANCE SIMULATIONS. The Astrophysical Journal, 2015; 807 (1): L12 DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/807/1/L12

Colorful Cave Pavilion Installation

 

Posted: 01 Jul 2015 02:00 AM PDT

L’équipe de SelgasCano a imaginé un pavillon multicolore pour cette édition annuelle du « Serpentine Gallery Pavilion », qui a eu lieu à Londres. Faite de bouts de tissus rapiécés ou de fils qui font penser à des toiles d’araignées, cette installation a été réalisée dans le but de créer un « couloir secret » inspiré de la structure chaotique du métro anglais. Cette oeuvre architecturale sera exposée jusqu’au 18 octobre.

Fractals of Paris – La Défense

 

Posted: 01 Jul 2015 12:00 PM PDT

Le photographe allemand Carsten Witte a saisi l’architecture atypique du parvis de La Défense, quartier d’affaires de Paris. Sa série intitulée « La Defense, Paris Fractals » met en relief les bâtiments grâce à leur réflection les uns dans les autres. De par la technique de prise de vue, les clichés pourraient s’apparenter à de véritables illustrations.

Paper Sculptures by Jeff Nishinaka

 

Posted: 02 Jul 2015 12:00 AM PDT

Les sculptures de Jeff Nishinaka, artiste basé à Los Angeles, sont étonnantes par leur qualité et précision d’exécution. Ces sculptures immaculées représentent tantôt des créatures folkloriques tels que des dragons, des animaux ou des paysages urbains réalisés au détail près. À découvrir.