Category: Science & Technology News

Impact Lab > Science & Technology News
Great New Product, Science & Technology News, Solar Power, Wind Power

New battery design efficiently stores solar and wind energy

 Lab demonstration of the group’s new lithium-polysulfide flow battery contained in a simple flask.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University scientists have developed a relatively cheap, long-life “flow” battery that can be used to mitigate power fluctuations from solar and wind energy plants, therefore enabling them to become major suppliers to the electrical grid.

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Entertainment, Fashion, Great New Product, Great Videos, Science & Technology News

Wearable sound effects jacket

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/62465232[/vimeo]

in movies there are sound effects that make everything look and sound awesome. In the movies, we tend to experience something visual through our ears. When sound effects are added to visual content, it all becomes much more epic. Maybe that is why this wearable sound effects jacket was brought from idea to realization.

 

 

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Great Videos, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

Solar Roadway – a road built out of solar panels to charge our cars

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi14nhBACEk[/youtube]

For several years Scott and Julie Brusaw have been working on their Solar Roadway, a road made of solar panels. And, now, they’re finally ready with their first full trial: a 12 by 36 foot parking lot in north Idaho, about an hour from the Canadian border. Funded with a $750,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration, the 5,700-watt installation is set to be completed in April, and will be a key step in proving viability.

 

 

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Analysis, Science & Technology News

Older and wiser: Software developer’s skills improve over time

“Tech is a young person’s game.” “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks.” “A child could solve this problem–someone send for a child.”

Prejudice against older programmers is wrong and inaccurate according to new research.  Two computer scientists at North Carolina State University, in Raleigh have discovered a natural experiment to test the technical chops of the old against the young.

 

 

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Alternative Transportation, Photo Perspectives, Science & Technology News, Solar Power

Airplane flies across U.S. powered by sunshine

Solar Impulse

The goal of Solar Impulse is to fly around the world using no fuel other than sunlight. But before the solar plane circumnavigates the globe they will fly across the U.S. Solar Impulse took off on May 3 proving that airplanes can fly long distances on nothing more than sunshine. (Photos)

 

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Analysis, Business, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News, Solar Power, Wind Power

Shrinking cost of solar energy drives mega-projects around the world

US solar installations jumped 76% in 2012.

There has been a dramatic fall in the cost of solar power generation. Solar is at grid parity in many countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, and in parts of the US such as the Southwest. That means it is as inexpensive to build a solar plant as a gas or coal one. The pace of technological innovation in the solar field has also accelerated, so that costs have started falling precipitously and efficiency is rapidly increasing.

 

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Analysis, Health & Fitness, Latest Trend, Nanotechnology, Science & Technology News

The future of medicine is wearable, implantable, and personalized

As doctors and scientists continue to make huge leaps in terms of genome sequencing and scanning devices, everything about your medical treatment is going to change.

There are approximately 7 billion human beings on Earth and each of us is special and unique. We are the walking, talking instantiation of the 3 billion instances of four nucleotides (abbreviated GATC) that constitute our unique genome’s DNA. Just as important, the interplay of that DNA with the environment and our individual lifestyles determines our susceptibility and predisposition to diseases.

 

 

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Great Videos, Insects, Robots, Science & Technology News

World’s smallest flying robot takes off

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9FDkJZCMuE[/youtube]

A robot the size of a fly that is able to perform the agile maneuvers of the ubiquitous insects has been created bu scientists in the United States. This “robo-fly”, built from carbon fiber, weighs a fraction of a gram and has super-fast electronic “muscles” to power its wings.

 

 

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Analysis, Business, Science & Technology News

Mobile phone carriers profit from phone theft ‘are not innocent,’ says DC police chief

Carriers benefit from phone theft.

Theft of mobile phones is a massive and growing problem, accounting for more than 40 percent of all thefts in San Francisco in 2012. But is that a good thing for mobile carriers like AT&T and Verizon?

 

 

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Analysis, facebook, Latest Trend, Science & Technology News

189 million people use Facebook without ever touching a computer

Facebook has a grand total of 189 million “mobile-only monthly active users (MAUs).

Facebook has for some time been focusing on getting its network into the hands of everyone around the world, be they tech sophisticates in urban centers or nomadic herdsmen in South Sudan.

 

 

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