Breakthrough Thinking – Page 10

Batteries, Battery, Breakthrough Thinking, Energy

A new flow battery prototype aims to store vast amounts of renewable power for the grid

August 1, 2018

This ‘flow battery’ could power green homes when the sun goes down and the wind stops blowing.

With solar and wind electricity prices plunging, the hunt is on for cheap batteries to store all this power for use around the clock. Now, researchers have made an advance with a flow battery, the type of battery being developed to soak up enough excess wind and solar power to fuel whole cities. They report the discovery of a potentially cheap, organic molecule that can power a flow battery for years instead of days.

Continue reading… “A new flow battery prototype aims to store vast amounts of renewable power for the grid”

Breakthrough Thinking, cutting edge, Engineering

Making opaque materials totally transparent

July 28, 2018

Most naturally occurring materials have a disordered atomic structure that interferes with the propagation of both sound and electromagnetic waves. When the waves come into contact with these materials, they bounce around and disperse – and their energy dissipates according to a highly complex interference pattern, diminishing in intensity. That means it’s virtually impossible to transmit data or energy intact across wave-scattering media and fully leverage the potential of wave technology.

For an example, you need look no further than your smartphone – the geolocation function works less well inside buildings where radiofrequency waves scatter in all directions. Other potential applications include biomedical imaging and geological surveying, where it’s important to be able to send waves across highly disordered media.

Continue reading… “Making opaque materials totally transparent”

Breakthrough Thinking, cutting edge, Energy, Solar Energy, Solar Power

These living solar cells make energy, even in bad weather

July 24, 2018

When it comes to generating energy from sunlight, unusual solutions have been shown to make the process more efficient.

Now, a team of researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) has demonstrated how solar cells made of living organisms can generate energy even with limited sunlight. Known as “biogenic” solar cells, these cells could offer an alternative to synthetic cells currently used in conventional solar panels, providing an energy source despite bad weather. A paper detailing the research was published this month in the journal Small.

Continue reading… “These living solar cells make energy, even in bad weather”

Agriculture, Breakthrough Thinking, Food, Green Friendly

This lab-grown beef will be in restaurants in 3 years

July 20, 2018

Mosa Meat has raised a round of venture capital and plans of bringing $10 burgers (without any cows involved) to tables by 2018.

This lab-grown beef will be in restaurants in 3 years

When the Dutch stem-cell researcher Mark Post unveiled the first lab-grown burger in 2013–handmade fiber-by-fiber from cow cells in petri dishes–he announced that the single serving cost more than $300,000. But the research was promising enough that Post launched a startup called Mosa Meat to pursue making cultured meat at scale. The company now says that its first products will be on the market by 2021, fueled by a Series A fundraising round of $8.8 million, announced today.

Continue reading… “This lab-grown beef will be in restaurants in 3 years”

Alternative Transportation, Aviation, Breakthrough Thinking, Engineering, Science & Technology News, Transportation

Flying trains could be coming your way

July 15, 2018

French firm has designed an airplane with removable wings.

It’s presenting plane to Boeing, Asia to cut Europe dependence.

It sounds like something Q, the tech guy in James Bond movies, would create: A plane that lands on a runway, shrugs its wings off, turns into a train and rolls on to rails to drop you off at your local station.

Continue reading… “Flying trains could be coming your way”

Batteries, Breakthrough Thinking, Business, China, Energy

Where 3 million electric batteries will go when they retire

July 3, 2018

GM, Toyota and BYD are part of a potential $550 billion industry.

The first batches of batteries from electric and hybrid vehicles are hitting retirement age, yet they aren’t bound for landfills. Instead, they’ll spend their golden years chilling beer at 7-Elevens in Japan, powering car-charging stations in California and storing energy for homes and grids in Europe.

Lithium-ion car and bus batteries can collect and discharge electricity for another seven to 10 years after being taken off the roads and stripped from chassis—a shelf life with significant ramifications for global carmakers, electricity providers and raw-materials suppliers.

Continue reading… “Where 3 million electric batteries will go when they retire”

Breakthrough Thinking, Food, People Making a Difference, Shopping

Toronto pay-what-you-can store aims to tackle landfills and hunger

June 30, 2018

Initiative aims to reduce dumping of ‘waste’ and sell it at prices set by buyers.

In a bright, airy Toronto market, the shelves are laden with everything from organic produce to pre-made meals and pet food. What shoppers won’t find, however, is price tags. In what is believed to be a North American first, everything in this grocery store is pay-what-you-can.

The new store aims to tackle food insecurity and wastage by pitting the two issues against each other, said Jagger Gordon, the Toronto chef who launched the venture earlier this month.

Continue reading… “Toronto pay-what-you-can store aims to tackle landfills and hunger”

Breakthrough Thinking, Children, Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough

Inside the controversial new surgery to transplant human wombs

June 22, 2018

Pioneering surgeons have made it possible to transplant a human uterus that can bear children, offering hope to millions of women who never thought they could give birth.

On September 4, 2014, in Gothenburg, Sweden, his 36-year-old expectant mother lay on an operating table, suffering from preeclampsia—a pregnancy complication associated with high blood pressure. The baby’s heartbeat showed signs of stress. Normally the woman’s doctors might have taken a wait-and-see approach, treating her with medication and hoping to give the nearly 32-week-old fetus time to grow to full term of about 40 weeks.

But this was no normal gestation. This was the world’s first human nurtured inside a transplanted uterus. He was the product of more than a decade of research. For years, no one had been sure he could exist in that womb—let alone be born. This was not a wait-and-see situation.

Continue reading… “Inside the controversial new surgery to transplant human wombs”

Big Problems, Breakthrough Thinking, Money Talk

Basic income could work—if you do it Canada-style

June 22, 2018

A Canadian province is giving people money with no strings attached—revealing both the appeal and the limitations of the idea.

Dana Bowman, 56, expresses gratitude for fresh produce at least 10 times in the hour and a half we’re having coffee on a frigid spring day in Lindsay, Ontario. Over the many years she scraped by on government disability payments, she tended to stick to frozen vegetables. She’d also save by visiting a food bank or buying marked-down items near or past their sell-by date.

Continue reading… “Basic income could work—if you do it Canada-style”

Biotech, Breakthrough Thinking, Healthcare, Medical Breakthrough

Ultrasound-powered nanorobots clear bacteria and toxins from blood

June 13, 2018

The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency aims to create a broad-spectrum detoxification robotic platform.

MRSA bacterium captured by a hybrid cell membrane-coated nanorobot (colored scanning electron microscope image and black and white image below) (credit: Esteban-Fernández de Ávila/Science Robotics)

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed tiny ultrasound-powered nanorobots that can swim through blood, removing harmful bacteria and the toxins they produce.

Continue reading… “Ultrasound-powered nanorobots clear bacteria and toxins from blood”

Breakthrough Thinking, Engineering, Inventions

Scientists find way to bend, stretch diamond

April 24, 2018

WASHINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) — An international team of researchers has found that diamond, the strongest of all natural materials, can bend and stretch much like rubber and snap back to its original shape.

A study published on Thursday in the journal Science opened the door to a variety of diamond-based devices for applications such as sensing, data storage, biocompatible in vivo imaging, optoelectronics, and drug delivery.

Continue reading… “Scientists find way to bend, stretch diamond”

brain-computer interfaces, Breakthrough Thinking, communication, Inventions, Wearables

Computer system transcribes words users “speak silently”

April 11, 2018

MIT researchers have developed a computer interface that can transcribe words that the user verbalizes internally but does not actually speak aloud.

The system consists of a wearable device and an associated computing system. Electrodes in the device pick up neuromuscular signals in the jaw and face that are triggered by internal verbalizations — saying words “in your head” — but are undetectable to the human eye. The signals are fed to a machine-learning system that has been trained to correlate particular signals with particular words.

Continue reading… “Computer system transcribes words users “speak silently””