A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience
Pocket power.
Why shoud you care about being green if there’s nothing in it for you? The reason you should care about renewable energy is that it gives you lots of ways to start generating your own energy to power all those energy hungry gadgets you love. You won’t even notice that you’re doing it thanks to future technology. (Pics)
Continue reading… “9 Renewable Energy Solutions Small Enough to Fit in Your Pocket”
Piezoelectric nanowires are the stuff that make power-generating pants a possibility, and that prodigious potential has drawn the attention of NASA. You see, self-powered spacesuits are awfully attractive to our nation’s space agency, and a few of its finest student researchers have discovered that the current-creating strands of zinc oxide can be made longer and straighter — and therefore more powerful — when freed from gravity’s unrelenting pull. That means nanowires grown in microgravity could lead to higher capacity batteries and the aforementioned juice-generating interstellar garb…
Continue reading… “NASA Makes Longer, Straighter Piezoelectric Nanowires in Microgravity”
Cornell University Vibro-Research Group
As a renewable energy resource, wind has lots going for it – but one major downside is the cost to set up the wind turbines themselves, not to mention the problematic visual impact and the noise pollution it generates (often likened to a small jet engine, especially for those living close by). However, undergraduate students from Cornell University’s Vibro-Wind Research Group are working on a space-saving prototype that will harness wind power more cheaply and efficiently – by transforming the wind’s vibrations into electricity.
Power generated from flowing blood, simple body movements or a gentle breeze could one day be converted to electricity to charge iPods, cell phones and other personal electronic devices.
Continue reading… “Electronic Gadgets Could One Day Be Powered By Blood Flow”
A pair of pants may help determine if elderly individuals have a high risk of slipping and falling by sensing fluctuations in their walking gait.