Better Technology Is On The Way
Engineers have been talking about generating electricity when we walk, for years. It certainly doesn’t seem like a hard thing to do. A tiny generator in a shoe or some sort of generator which has a sensitive device in it which when moved would generate a current could be made. There has been talk however on something which might be even better and that is using our body’s own electrical current. To do this the devices we would power would need to be very low wattage and current, but talk is we could power things like pacemakers this way and maybe a computer chip or two. Then there is the chance that sometime in the future we will be tapping into zero energy and not need to generate any current at all. Zero energy is energy we get from what call another dimension. In other words we know it exists, but are not sure where it is coming from. There have been a few devices created which seem to tap into this.
There are so many sources of clean energy on this planet it is a wonder oil and gas are still hanging on. I equate this to the diamond market. Those who know about diamonds know they are really worthless. There are far too many of them and they can also be made artificially and those are almost exactly like mined diamonds. The reason they are still worth so much is the market is so controlled it keeps their price artificially inflated. With oil, everything under the sun (excuse the pun) is being done to keep oil in play. When you have huge mega-billion dollar companies in the industry along with governments, it certainly slows down progress on clean energy. I wonder how many out there have noticed the restrictive laws on solar cells in many areas. Keeping houses and businesses on the electrical grid is impeding the progress we need to make our homes self-sufficient with clean energy use and to keep us safer because the electrical grid is a target.
There is a microscope which is almost indispensable in the field of science and it is called the Atomic Force Microscope or AFM. It is an incredible tool which has been refined to the point it can study samples which are a million times smaller than the width of a human hair. It did have a limitation however and that was it could only study something which was static. If you tried to watch something like a chemical reaction you would just see a mess. It was like trying to take a long exposure of a moving object. Scientists at MIT said they have solved this problem. They have been able to increase the speed of the microscope by at least 2,000 times. This means a chemical reaction can be observed in almost real time. This should be quite a help to scientists and may become invaluable in endeavors like drug development.
Years ago one of the Star Trek movies referenced an invention called transparent aluminum. As with many of the other devices in Star Trek, scientists have discovered a new material that is transparent and electrically conductive. Most of the touch screens on smart phones are made from a transparent metal called indium tin oxide or ITO. Indium has gone up in price steadily over the years keeping smart phones expensive. The screen is about 40% of the entire phone’s cost. Pennsylvania State University researchers worked with a class of materials in which the electrons flow like a liquid. In most metals the electrons flow more like a gas. One of the scientists stated, “We are trying to make metals transparent by changing the effective mass of their electrons.” In simple language, the scientists are going to use a much cheaper metal for the screen and make it transparent. The result should be a much cheaper cell phone.
DARPA conducted a study of how our future is going to look. DARPA is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. They are probably the government agency which is closest to the cutting edge of technology and they have predicted what our technology may look like in 2045. They said we are going to have a completely different relationship with machines and these will include cars, planes and even spacecraft. They said our computers will no longer need keyboards and mouses, but will respond to our voice commands and maybe our thoughts. One project DARPA is working on is a system in which robots would be able to ascertain our physical and mental state to assess our needs. They say one of the places this will be very useful is in the battlefield. They would know right away if a soldier was wounded and help them. Another scientist at DARPA is predicting mind controlled cars.
A lot of “smart” devices are entering our world and one of the latest is the smart bandage. It is actually called a smart wound dressing. It was designed by MIT. The bandage contains electronics and can be programmed to light up if a drug is running low, or in response to changes in the patient. The bandage will monitor many of the patient’s vital signs. Will a bandage like this eliminate the need for those costly machines in the hospital rooms? Only time will tell.
Finally cheap solar cells. Solar cells have been getting less expensive and more powerful over the years. Some have come out which work even during the night time hours. Now Australian solar power experts at the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium have begun to make solar cells on a 3D printer. The group consists of scientists from the University of Melbourne and Monash University. They have been working on this project for over seven years and have finally succeeded. It must feel very satisfying for them. One scientist said, “We print them onto plastic in more or less the same way we print our plastic bank notes. Connecting our solar panels is as simple as connecting a battery. It’s very cheap. The way in which it looks and works is quite different to conventional silicon rooftop solar." The next thing they want to do is develop a coating for the panels and a type of solar ink.
